Lankinos Skylitzes was a Videssian officer who served on the steppe and could speak both the Khamorth and Arshaum tongues fluently. Unusually for a Videssian, he was laconic and dour. At some point prior to the Legion cycle, he served under Nephon Khoumnos. He was intolerant in matters of religion, showing unease at trusting the magic of a heathen shaman, but in other ways had more in common with the barbarous Arshaum than with Goudeles or the other bureaucrats of his own state.