The Tower of Fog Plot
King Cole
There are many ways to earn the adoration of the masses. Listen closely, give them what they want, or if you're particularly crafty convince them what you're selling is all they need. For Cole, it was enough to give them something to hate. Something to unify the masses under his banner, with promises of crushing a threat that may have never existed in the first place. And through blinding hate, they'd never realize that the true threat to their existence was the man they trusted without question.
Cole is a tyrant, and makes no real attempt to hide this. His spies sit on every corner street peddling wares in rags, or beside you in a tavern on a rum soaked, salt air filled night. His city watch patrol the foggy streets with dark eyes watching you closely, daring you to make any move what so ever that would allow them to enforce Cole's Justice upon you. Even those who stand above the unwashed masses are not safe... one wrong word and you can watch your entire legacy go up in flames.
As for the tyrant, he sits upon a dark iron throne overlooking his domain. A hunger inside of him, like a void dragging all light around it deep into the abyss, drives him forward. More... more thralls, more territory, more conquest, more destruction of those who oppose him. Not to craft an empire to rival the Nars, not to bring order or stability, not even for the sake of being the most powerful man alive. But because the act of conquest is a drug that the tyrant cannot resist.
Indeed, were the realm to fall into his grasp and the borders of his nation span endlessly into the realms beyond... he would merely burn it to cinders. So that, in this new world of ash and ruin, he could conquer it all again. Eternally feeding a void that'll never be satisfied. Always... always wanting more.
The Raven
The official records of the Raven state that she is a dangerous extremist and political opponent to the rightful King. That she is an agent of the Eldreth Veluuthra, and a mastermind of numerous attacks upon the righteous citizens of the realm, all to get across a message of fear. But the unofficial records tend to paint her in a more sympathetic light... sometimes. The Raven is the mastermind behind the Raven's Flock, essentially the only resistance movement still existing withing Cole's Realm.
In part thanks to an extensive propaganda movement, Cole managed to successfully demonize the elves after the Eldreth Veluuthra's attack on the festival of Lliira's Night, a brutal attack that left a good portion of the noble community dead, including many home grown heroes and role models attending the celebration. The end result was not pretty, with a complete racial outcasting of all elves (and some half elves) within Cole's domain.
While, officially, this knee jerk reaction was lessened soon after and elves ARE technically allowed to exist within his borders... the fact of the matter is it's not a very good idea. Either cordoned off into some of the worst districts within his iron coated city, or vanishing after a visit from the Watch, your life is not a particularly happy and lengthy one. And so the Raven tirelessly works to protect "her" people, her flock. Even as she bloodies her hands over and over to do so.
The old saying, of course, is he who fights monsters. And the Raven teeters on the edge of becoming exactly what Cole wants.