Although Orlando Aristotele was recognised as one of the Natalian language’s finest poets even within his own lifetime, he spent most of his adult life as a civil servant in the government of the Duchy of Mercurio. Given the turbulent state of Natalian politics, this saw Orlando imperilled by torch and pitchfork wielding mobs, bandits, assassins, kidnappers, the armies of rival Natalian states, floods, thunderstorms, and at least one ill-tempered wild boar.