Francis Charteris — The Protected Rake

Francis Charteris has learned that wealth, rank and well-paid retainers can turn consequence into a problem for someone else.

Charteris is a wealthy fighting gentleman whose household has become a machine for making accusations disappear. He gambles, lends money, pressures dependants and treats lower-status people as though the law were another negotiable expense. The campaign version preserves the core danger without reproducing later offices: Charteris is a land-rich knightly patron with enough retainers and political friends to make testimony costly.

At a Glance

• Role: Wealthy rake, predatory patron and protected noble
• Primary region: London and northern estates
• Status: Alive and active
• Campaign use: Social villain, corrupt patron, investigation target
• Threat: Retainers, debt, intimidation and status

What Is Francis Charteris Doing Right Now?

A household witness has fled Charteris’s estate carrying a sealed statement. Charteris wants the document recovered before it reaches London.

He is offering the party excellent money to retrieve “stolen correspondence” while another patron quietly asks them to make certain the witness survives.

Encounters

• Charteris receives the party courteously while armed retainers remain just outside the room.
• A magistrate-equivalent civic judge insists there is not enough evidence because witnesses keep disappearing.
• A gambling debt is used to force a minor noble into providing an alibi.
• A servant asks for protection rather than revenge.

Personality, Appearance and Manner

Entitled, calculating and rarely openly furious. He assumes pressure will work because it usually has.

He dresses richly but practically, carries a good sword and speaks to subordinates as if every favour creates permanent ownership.

Relationships and Influence

• Retainers: some loyal, some simply paid, all useful buffers.
• Debtors: a network of compromised lesser gentry and merchants.
• Victims and witnesses: people whose vulnerability is central to his power.
• Political friends: prefer not to know details so long as scandals remain quiet.

Equipment and Possessions

• Fine sword and riding horse
• Seals, debt bonds and private letters
• Household guards and messengers
• Gambling purse
• Keys to estate rooms and London lodgings

Using This NPC at the Table

Charteris does not fight until social pressure fails. If combat begins, he relies on retainers and retreats toward legal or political protection.

Adventure Hooks

• The Sealed Testimony: two factions race to possess a witness statement.
• The Bought Alibi: an indebted noble lies for Charteris.
• The Missing Servant: finding one person exposes a whole pressure network.
• The Gambling Book: debt records reveal why several officials refuse to act.
• The Patron Problem: stopping Charteris means confronting people who benefit from him.

Related Places and People

• British NPCs
• British Isles
• England
• London

Mythical and Historical Context

The historical Francis Charteris (about 1675–1732) was a notorious officer and abuser of his social power, convicted of rape in 1730 and later pardoned. He did not live in 1454. This page’s protected rake is a fictional medieval namesake; his rank, assets and household threats are invented for the setting, and the danger posed to witnesses is a serious matter rather than courtly mischief. The Grub Street Project preserves material on the documented figure.

Sources and Adaptation

Inspired by the historical Francis Charteris, adapted into a fifteenth-century protected noble antagonist. The focus is on abuse of wealth, status and patronage rather than later military titles or institutions.