His Greatness the King Teppicymon XXVIII, Lord of the Heavens, Charioteer of the Wagon of the Sun, Steersman of the Barque of the Sun, Guardian of the Secret Knowledge, Lord of the Horizon, Keeper of the Way, the Flail of Mercy, the High-Born One, the Never-Dying King or Pteppic for short (pronounced Teppic) is an Assassin and the former god-king of the desert kingdom of Djelibeybi. Never being fully here nor there, Teppic found himself torn between his love for freedom and ever growing Ankh-Morpork, and his duty toward his birthplace and the people of Djelibeybi , who view him as a god.
Pratchett has drawn on a couple of different gods in creating the god ruler of Djelibeybi as portrayed by Teppic and his father. Teppic displays one of the main Green Man traits when vegetation shoots begin to sprout around him when he assumes the role of god after his father's death. The Green Man is a symbol of spring and renewal in many cultures specifically the Celtic one. In ancient Egypt, which Djelibeybi is patterned after, Renpet, an aspect of Isis, was the goddess who personified fertility, spring and youth. She was often known as the “Mistress of Eternity” and her name was used to express the term “year”. She is depicted as a young woman wearing a palm shoot representing 'time' over her head. The Egyptian god of the annual flooding of the Nile (Teppic makes the river flood at Ankh-Morpork flood) is Hapi, an androgynous god with the aspects of a man (beard) and pendulous breast of a fertile woman.
Early life and education[]
Teppic was born in Djelibeybi to the late Pharaoh Teppicymon XXVII and Queen Artela (The Great Cow of the Arch of the Sky). His mother had some different ideas about his place in Djelibeybi and insisted that Teppic to be educated outside the kingdom - preferably as an Assassin, like her brother, his uncle Vyrt. Before leaving Djelibeybi, he was raised in the palace where he was educated by personal tutors, selected by his father, who left him alone to do whatever he pleased.
At the age of twelve it was decided that he should learn a trade, particularly since the pyramids business had bankrupted the kingdom. He was sent away to the city of Ankh-Morpork and enrolled in the Assassins' Guild.
Teppic came to the city of Ankh-Morpork expecting to be treated as royalty befitting his birth but with a help of his best friend and fellow Assassin, Chidder, was soon put straight on that matter.
Whilst at the Assassins' Guild he was placed in Viper House where his housemaster was Grunworth Nivor, who also taught him for Traps and Pitfalls. His teachers included Mericet, who taught him Strategy and Poison Theory, Kompt de Yoyo who taught him Modern Languages and Music and Lady T'Malia who taught Political Expediency. His best friends in Viper House are Chidder and Arthur Ludorum. These three and Cheesewright are based on the Rugby School characters in the 1857 novel Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes which introduced the character of Flashman later popularized in a series of novels by George MacDonald Fraser. Teppic parallels Tom, Chidder is Harry "Scud" East, Arthur is George Arthur and Cheesewright is sort of Flashman, Teppic eventually completed his education by completing the final examination, The Run under none other than the notorious Mericet ( <i>They said you had one chance in two unless you drew old Mericet as examiner, in which case you might as well cut your throat right at the start </i>). A few hours after graduation, Teppic was called back to Djelibeybi to assume the role of king and god upon the sudden death of his father. He was therefore never commissioned as an Assassin although he uses his skills throughout the novel.
Time as ruler[]
Following his father's accidental suicide, he was called back to Djelibeybi to rule under the guidance of Dios. He found that, compared to Ankh-Morpork, Djelibeybi was a backwards nation, clinging to tradition and the past to the point of bankruptcy. When he attempted to change the way things were run through modernizing the kingdom and showing leniency to prisoners, Dios opposed him, saying that what Pteppic really wanted was not what he claimed.
When Dios gave a hand maiden, named Ptraci (pronounced Tracy) the choice between freely being buried with the late king or being thrown to the crocodiles, Pteppic had had enough. He used his training as an Assassin to break in and free the hand maiden, fleeing on a camel to the nearby kingdom of Ephebe. He returns to Djelibeybi to destroy the Great Pyramid which has been built as the tomb for his father and which has warped space time and thrown Djelibeybi 90 degrees out of alignment with the rest of the Disc. Pteppic succeeds in destroying the Pyramid with the assistance of his newly resurrected ancestors, returning Djelibeybi to the real world and sending Dios back through time (where he meets the original founder of the Kingdom, thereby re-starting the cycle). Pteppic then abdicates in favour of Ptraci who he finds out is his half sister and leaves the kingdom behind him.