Burgomaster Ismark Kolyanovich (a.k.a. “The lesser”)

Ismark is the only son of Kolyan Indirovich, and as such, was prepared by his father to take over as Burgomeister of the Village of Barovia when it would inevitably become necessary. However, while Ismark excelled at defending his home from the beasts of the Barovian wilderness (no small feat), he never took to the diplomatic skills necessary for running a community in a land presided over by Strahd von Zarovich. He was unable to hide his intense dislike for the vampire lord, and Barovia suffered Strahd’s wrath more than once on account of Ismark’s outbursts. On account of this, Ismark is not popular with the people of Barovia, who refer to him as “Ismark the Lesser”.

When Strahd became infatuated with Ismark’s sister, Ireena, and killed his father when the old Burgomaster attempted to stifle his romantic overtures, Ismark’s lack of popularity with the people of Barovia—now nominally his people—left him with no obvious course of action. He began to divide his time between training his sister in combat (theoretically to resist Strahd, though both he and Ireena knew this to be hopeless) and the bottle; he took a regular table at the Blood of the Vine Tavern.