The leader of the White City's underworld. Those who operate outside King Eric's Men are liable to find themselves shopped to the High Guard, if they're lucky.
King Eric has proved to be a patriot in the past and does not work with foreign powers save to gain some advantage over them.
Eric had some sort of friendly relationship with the late Lydia de Courci (Rebecca's first daughter) and there do seem to be some connections between the de Courci's and the crimelord.
Eric only ever meets with his most senior underbosses, and even them only briefly.
This is how Sam Fletcher met Eric after taking out his former no. 2:
Three days after your successful elimination of Wesley you walk out of the rain to into a modest merchant's townhouse to meet with King Eric. Inside the door, a scarred no-nonsense looking woman in her late thirties quickly divests you of your blades, and then with a crossbow pointed at your back (in as polite a manner as can be achieved in such circumstances) you are told to go on through.
Inside the sitting room a roaring fire blazes and sitting in an armchair by the fire is an utterly unremarkable man smoking a pipe. As the woman files in behind you and closes the door he gestures for you to take a seat besides him. Up close you are struck by how plain his features are; average height, average build, brown hair, brown eyes. Clothes that would not look out of place anywhere in the city. When he speaks, he sentences are short and to the point, and his voice too is undistinguished, save that his accent is that of a White City native.
He briefly discusses business with you, and asks a few questions about your plans and your achievements, his expression never wavering from non-committal neutrality. Your description of Wesley's Name worship brings a snort of amusement from the bodyguard, which he responds to with a slightly raised eyebrow.
Soon you find yourself being escorted back out of the door into the rain, trying to keep his features in your mind. Average height, average build, brown hair, brown eyes. King Eric.
Recent Events
- Attempt to obtain the four ceremonial halberds of the High Captains. He/she hoped to have an insurance policy for the future since possession of the halberd offered the possibility of a full pardon and elevation to the nobility. Thwarted by adventurers hired by Rosalind de Vermilli. (Rite of Steel)
- A group of the King's men were hired by Rosalind de Vermilli (implying that she may have a connection to the King) to make good-natured trouble for a group of adventurers hired by Sasha De Courci. Things went wrong when one of them conducted a glass ritual that sent part of the city of Streng to the Shattered Plane. A group of King Erics men were trapped on the Shattered plane: it is unknown whether they ever made it back to the real world.
- A glass version of King Eric appeared on the Shattered Plane, conjured by the psyche of Lydia De Courci. Most likely it was the shattered plane's interpretation of the real man (or woman).
- Sam Fletcher murdered a number of King Eric's underlings in order to become his new second in command. He was aided by Lady Sasha De Courci, who was disguised at the time, suggesting that the governer hoped having a hold over him would be useful to the city.
- Lydia De Courci claimed to have at one point been involved with King Eric and that the King was actually a woman. She may have been drunk or lying about either of these two things but it is true that King Eric's men had a vested interest in her, given that they followed and bodyguarded her. At one time there was a rumour that Lydia herself may have been King Eric but given the nature of her demise it seems unlikely.