Heavy Is The Crown Characters

Excession

Infohazard
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Writing Levels
  1. Advanced
  2. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
Genres
Horror, fantasy, sci-fi.
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Hulbrad Tristan



  • War does not determine who is right, only who is left. By that standard, Hulbrad Tristan is pretty damned left.


    At the beginning of the war, he was a clerk with no achievements to his name. In the end, he was one of the less than half dozen true warlords still standing.


    His men still refer to him as the clerk, and his command post as his office...but they also eat well, have dry boots, healthy horses, well maintained equipment, and good field intel. The truth about Hulbrad Tristan is that in the midst of battle, he is not a blinding tactical genius. He arranges things such that he does not need to be. His logistics skills are supreme, his battle plans simple, flexible, and brutally effective, and above all else, he has made it this far through knowing when and where to fight, and when to walk away.


    The man himself is quiet, detail oriented, and pragmatic beyond belief. He regards every death as a tragedy, and all war as pointless savagery. The only time his men have ever seen him truly angry was when Dellebron Jallence refused to yield at the Fall of Blue Trente. The Dellebron could not fall back, could NOT yield a fortress in the face of a hated enemy. Tristan's army were forced to slaughter their own number again of starving, cornered House Dellebron troops. In cold, desperate fury, Tristan dragged Jallence into the yard and fought him in front of both battered armies. With twin blades, he cut once for each refused chance to surrender, until poison soaked the ground and the Dellebron bled out.


    Then, as is proper, he sent home all of Jallence's personal panoply, along with the names of each mortal soldier wasted in his last stand, in a neat list, by rank.


    That was Tristan at his worst. At his best, he is a quiet presence, randomly inspecting his troops, cracking delayed action one liners (you get it and start laughing after he's already walked away) and maintaining correspondence with the rest of the House from his battered writing desk.


    Tristan is of average height, pale and dark haired. Clean cut but not especially handsome. He clips his hair short, but doesn't particularly bother to do so evenly. He regards his actions as speaking louder than his appearance, which may need working on.


    His shadow roils and warps, sometimes moving independently of him, and his eyes leak a black vapour from the corners.


    Tristan is the uncle of Edel, although he is only a little older than her, and of Helena.



  • Dexterity 4

    Strength 3

    Fitness 3

    Intellect 3

    Intuition 5

    Willpower 3

    Bearing 2

    Guile 2

    Composure 3


    Physical

    Awareness 3

    Athletics 3

    -----Endurance 5

    Melee 3

    -----Twin Blades 5

    Ranged 3

    -----Thrown 4

    Unarmed 3

    Defense 3

    -----Dodge 5

    Stealth 3


    Mental

    Academics 2

    Administration 3

    -----Choosing When And Where To Fight 5

    -----Logistics And Supply 4

    Medicine 2

    Artisan 1

    Lore 2

    Survival 1

    Investigation 3


    Social

    Persuasion 3

    Subterfuge 1

    Empathy 2

    Mingling 2

    Animal Handling 2


    Languages:


    Urd (native, 4)


    Tradestongue 2


    Precursor Spire/ Storm Circle 3


  • Speed: 8 [10/3]

    Combat Pool: 12

    Ranged Pool: 11

    Offence (Ranged): 7

    -----Thrown: 8

    Offence (Melee) : 7

    -----Twin Blades: 9

    Offence (Unarmed) : 7

    Defence: 7

    -----Dodge: 9

    ----- +2 Parry Dice

    -----> Sacrifice these Parry dice to do double damage.

    Magic Resistance: 3

    Soak: 3


  • Training: Subtle Fighter


    +1 to Melee rolls with knives.

    +1 to Ranged rolls with knives.

    +1 to Defense when dodging.


    Training: Dance of the Weasel


    Tristan is a deadly knife fighter, using a deceptive, agile, and above all, cruel Style.

    Athletics, Defense, Melee, requires training in using two blades.

    Uses twin daggers, or any similar small cutting and thrusting weapon.


    Waving Fang and Paw

    The tiny savage distracts and terrorises its prey. While knife fighters may not be able to hypnotise, they can damned well weave circles around their opponents, while their movements are hard to predict and account for.

    Any attempt to distract, deceive, feint or drive an opponent off balance gains two bonus dice, while the knife fighter's focus on evasiveness gives their Dodge rating a +1 bonus.


    Wheel & Pounce

    The knife fighter must be agile! As the weasel bounds and twists, falling left yet rising right, the knife fighter circles and flanks, their attacks always coming from an angle outside their opponent's defense.

    Attacks made from behind or flanking the target, possibly through a feint or similar combat manouevre, gain +1 each to Damage and Soak Negation.

    Hunter's Stamina

    The knife fighter's forearms are scarred and ridged, and the fighter is used to both pain and exhaustion. No-one gets out of a knife fight without bleeding for it.

    Add the fighter's Fitness again to their fatigue track while fighting using small twin blades, and the fighter ignores one die worth of injury penalties.

    Last Struggle To Breathe

    Just as the weasel sinks its fangs fast and repeatedly at the kill, the knife fight is not won with one solid blow.

    If the knife fighter can drive their opponent out of combat pool dice, then every attack made without being defended against does one point of automatic Health damage, in addition to its other effects.


    Knowledge: Reluctant General


    +1 to Medicine rolls when dealing with battlefield injuries.

    +1 to Administration when plotting and predicting the movements and intention of the enemy.

    +1 to Investigation when keeping track of the general condition of one's own forces, watching for potential trouble.


    Familiarity: House Hulbrad Dilettante


    +1 to Persuasion when attempting to just get something done now, please.

    +1 to Empathy when attempting to figure out exactly how high the person you are dealing with is.

    +1 to Animal Handling when dealing with twisted creations which defy all scientific ethics and reason.


    Ascendance 4


    Essence 20
    Powers:
    Hallucination – Cause penalty-causing Hallucinations in enemies, 5 Essence per die penalty applied
    Telekinesis – Move objects with Strength equal to Ascendance Rank, 1 Essence per rank in use.


    Expressions:

    Eyes Leaking Shadow
    Tristan's eyes appear to constantly weep a dark vapour, which immediately boils away in bright light. He can also, however, see perfectly in the dark, regardless of light sources or shadow.


    Slay Nothing
    When Tristan evades harm, injury, or certain death, he may leave behind a shadow in his shape, which for a few moments is mobile and autonomous. They respond like allies, act with Tristan’s knowledge, and move exactly like him, will cover his enemies and shroud his movements, but have no physical presence.

    The Humbling Weight Of Expectations
    The future is not set...but even its possibilities have weight and portent, and that future weighs heavily on Tristan's shoulders. When Tristan is in a situation where other people’s expectations of him are shaping the future fluid, he can deliberately lean into the archetypes they envision. Downside: Tristan has to fight their expectations of him. Benefit: ‘Steal’ a bar of a Skill, borrowing from the future to become the person that everyone else needs him to be, if only for precious moments.

    Disjointed Senses
    Tristan's latest adventure in growing madness is his tendency to react to things a split second before they actually happen. When this occurs, Tristan himself can be seen to almost flicker, as if he were badly tuned with the world....and he will be responding to an event before it even begins.

    +2 to Intuition, +2 to Speed for Initiative only



  • Tristan plans ahead, keeps his supply lines open, and does his homework. He doesn't carry much personal money, but he makes damned sure that the supply caches and dumps for the Omen Dogs contain food, tools, weapons, general supplies, etc. He can requisition horse, tack, basic arms and armour, spare boots, and petty cash pretty much at will. He also goes through a fair amount of ink and paper.


    He is a good rider, and a proficient archer, slinger, swordsman, and spearfighter, but Tristan's main personal armament is knives. Lots of them, in surprising places. Assume him to have more than a dozen knives on him at any time, plus a coil or two of razor edged garrote wire. After some particularly nasty spots during the war, he makes sure that in his right thigh pouch he keeps a couple of vials of unpleasant poisons...and in his left pouch, a selection of antivenoms and antidotes to all of the more common and some of the more esoteric toxins.


    His own personal armour is quite simple and unornamented. He mostly wears dark blues and greys, with overlapping layers of reinforced leather, lacquerwork, and chain over silk undercoats. His hair spends much of its time mussed and ruffled by his half helm.


    In addition to all of these more mundane items, Tristan bears the Knightslayer Blades. This matched pair of long knives had long been considered a lethal tool of assassination, but were judged to have limited use in open conflict, due to their limitation. However, in the capable hands of a member of the House capable of generating shadow even under the midday sun, the knightslayers have blossomed.


    Each knife is just a little too large to be considered a dagger, but not quite long enough to be a shortsword. Their delicately curved blades shine bright, with dark inset patterns of onyx, and the faintest glimmer of gold at the guards. In bright light, they are simply a superbly balanced and nigh unbreakable pair of dueling blades. However, when one of their blades makes contact with armour while that armour is in shadow, occluded from the sun or from torchlight, the blade will go through steel and leather, silk and oak, as if it simply is not there, and slice through flesh like a scissors through cotton.



  • Tristan's personal band are mixed, with fast moving cavalry, and wings of skirmishing infantry and archers, with a small corps of heavy infantry, big fuckers who hold the line while the world ends around them. They also include two packs of blothounds, wandering through the camp sniffing hands and guarding tents. These are his own personal forces, the fighters whom he took command of at the start of the war and who were at his back when it ended, the lads who were there during the worst of it and would follow him through it again. This corps of two thousand are now in the awkward position of forming the core of House Hulbrad's entire martial wing.


    The grognards of his force call themselves the Omen Dogs, in reference to the campaign for Charhall in the first winter of the war. A relatively small force under an untested commander, they found themselves being used as scouts and messengers. Every message they carried that winter led to the fall of one outpost or another, be it friendly or enemy, and for a long while....it was mostly friendlies. While falling back in disarray, the name stuck, for good or ill, and the men themselves adopted it.


    As a symbol of bad luck, they were isolated, and deployed to the northern lines, where their omen turned around. For the rest of the war, Tristan's cold pragmatism and foresight, and their own bloodyminded refusal to go down, brought them to victory after victory, safeguarding the House even after Imperus' forces resurged and won the overall war.


    Every officer in the Dogs is Invested, most of them by Tristan personally. He isn't especially warm and cuddly with his men, and they don't expect him to be. They simply expect him to get them through, and thus far, he has. The Investiture grants his soldiers cunning, and the Omen Dogs are known to be a force prepared for almost anything, with a sharp and observant officer corps having contingency plans and tactics prepared for fighting anyone on the continent.


    Tristan's personal Lieutenant is his one concession to risky decisions. She is a former opponent, who goes without the Investiture. Julie Boiret-Capp was a captain employed by Lybar forces during the second year of the war, a Storm Circle native, archer, and mercenary. She led a small force of elite troops, typically deployed to hold the most important positions for which House troops could not be spared, or sent into suicidal assaults with the promise of rich pay and reliable healing for the survivors.


    Her Golden Eyes clashed with the Omen Dogs over the passage to Rosen, a mountain stronghold north of the Shaydensea. Julie's own battlefield tactics were, strictly speaking, superior to Tristan's....but for every gain she made, Tristan's deeper preparations countered, his quick thinking officer corps adapted, and his well equipped men stubbornly fought back, until the Golden Eyes shattered and fell back to within the walls. This was after the slaughter at the fall of Blue Trente, and the Dogs dreaded what they might have to do....until Boiret-Capp tendered her surrender and admitted that she would not spend the lives of her men for a battle she could not win. Tristan personally accepted her surrender. Holding one of the knightslayer blades to her throat, he expressed his relief, and his congratulations, before offering her one of three choices. Julie could die. She could swear her parole and leave the field of battle until the war was over. Or she could quit the field of battle and then accept the position of his executive officer.


    When the Omen Dogs left Rosen two months later, their banner, an enormous black hound, had been altered, improved. The hound has, ever since, sported luminous golden eyes.


    Julie herself is not an immediately impressive figure. She has broad features, broad shoulders, and a broad Storm Circle accent. Her face is lent a dash of romance by the black patch she aways wears over her left eye.


    She has taken to her role with quiet efficiency and a loud parade ground bellow, filling the gaps in Tristan's planning and command, brooking absolutely no insubordination from any trooper, and standing resolutely at Tristan's back during parley. While the officers of the Golden Eyes were Invested upon being folded into the Dogs, Julie refused Investiture, citing her sorcerous talent. Tristan accepted this, making it a very rare statement of faith on his part. It has become a point of their partnership that Boiret-Capp knows that Investiture will always be available to her, while Tristan does not push the issue.


    Julie is a Torchbearer mutant. Her left eye is not blind. Quite the opposite, in fact. It shines golden, gleaming in the dark, and sees almost everything, piercing through illusion, deception, and chaos. When Julie strings her bow and needs to make that impossible, one-in-a-million shot, she removes the eyepatch. When all is madness on the battlefield, and she needs to see the path through for her soldiers, she lifts the patch. When she is beset by confusion, and the map is a shredded quilt of flags and pins, she removes the patch and sees where the enemy must make their stand.


    She tries not to rely on this power too much. If she uses her left eye more than a couple of times in a day, or if she uses it every day for longer than a few days running, she gets crippling migraines. When Tristan offered her the position as his lieutenant, she stood in his presence, lifted the patch, and looked at him with that golden eye. After a moment's silence, she agreed. In the time since, Tristan has asked her several times what she saw, but she has always refused to tell him.

  • Lezek Arcule, a warrior leading a small band of Invested fighters. Old ally/rival from the war, worked together after the destruction of Inklake left Tristan with a suddenly huge degree of autonomy. Got along quite well, as Tristan was not inclined to challenge the Lezek's boundless self worth and generally just took him at his word regarding his abilities. That the man is alive means he hasn't been wrong yet.


    Arcule is tall and deadly handsome. His jet black hair and snow white skin mark the House of Lezek in its winter Aspect. He actually rather annoys Tristan by looking like he could be a taller, better looking brother of his.


    Phillipe Gilgwyr, refugee leader. Contact, accepted Tristan's offer of cover as he evacuated the population of a town. Witnessed the rout and near annihilation of a splinter group of Djuke forces as the civilians fled the frontlines. Suspects, in his heart of hearts, that Tristan used the refugee supply lines as bait for Kali's skirmishers but also knows that far more civilians survived than if Tristan had done nothing. (Tristan did, in fact, predict that the Djuke forces were hungry and on the back foot, and that a wagon train of refugees would be far too tempting a target. He probably would have offered protection anyway. Probably.)


    Gilgwyr settled his people in the edges of House Hulbrad territory, with some of them going to Willoughby, while others scattered north into the mountains, fleeing as far from the then front lines as possible. Tristan wrote them passports for Rosen.


    Gilwyr is an older man of the Storm Circle, grey moustachioed and slightly portly. Was an innkeeper before the war, and afterward immediately set about opening a new pub.


    The Lady Whinthriss. Crantíre Seer. Kept predicting glorious victories for the Lybar forces in the second year of the war, only for her predictions to be fouled by Tristan's slow, careful, boring tactics, and absolute refusal to commit to any engagement which he didn't think he could win. Tristan has never actually met her, but his very existence annoys her. He is a warlord who does not believe in glory.


    Julie Boiret-Capp, the Storm Circle mercenary captain and Torchbearer mutant who has still never told Tristan why she agreed to be his lieutenant.


    Matthias Huelke, a book dealer who, every year, used to swing through the Manor where the Inklake now ripples and burbles. A friend of Tristan's from when he was a clerk and layabout, they used to demolish a few bottles of wine while Huelke was there to negotiate the season's terms each spring. When he caught up to Tristan after the declaration of the armistice he was shocked. He found his friend still wearing bloodstained armour, bellowing orders, and standing off the remnants of a Lezek warband. Matthias had actually tried to go talk to Tristan and tell him that he should stand down, that the war was over, that he didn't have to keep fighting. Julie knocked one of his teeth out for getting too close to the parley.


    Matthias is of City stock, a burly man, but profoundly peaceful. He spent the war hunkered down, and only emerged in the final year to try to spread word of the ceasefire. His friendship with Tristan is still slightly strained.


    Alyss Ghent, researcher and scholar. Alyss and Tristan were involved before the war, a slow, relaxed love affair fitting each of their positions and temperaments. Alyss had gained employment at the Manor, cataloguing ancient texts, while pursuing her own studies in history. She watched Tristan go to take command of the Dogs early in the war with a sinking heart, thinking that he was going to his death. Instead, Tristan thought that she had perished in the destruction of the Manor. He has only just found out that she is alive. They traded letters for as long as they could, but haven't seen each other for over two years.


    Alyss is of mixed Kaeri and City descent, bespectacled, short, dark, and quiet. She is an avid linguist and scholar. Her studies of history have left her with a strongly pacifistic bent, and Tristan is afraid that she would never approve of what he has become.

 
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  • Love
Reactions: Excession

  • History:
    Edel is daughter to late Hulbrad Cassius, younger sister to Hulbrad Helena, and currently serves as the assistant to the current Hulbrad Quartermaster.

    Edel had a happy childhood, originally spending it to follow somewhat in her mother's airy footsteps, wishing to become a performer, training as a dancer, a contortionist, a puppeteer. Her ambitions changed significantly with the death of her father, a casualty of the War of the Three Dragons. Drawing inspiration from her uncle, Tristan, she instead saw to help the House rebuild, and offer a helping hand to those who lives had been shattered by the conflict.

    In truth, she operates as the spymaster of the House, intending on recruiting skilled individuals from those who have been orphaned or otherwise isolated by the war, and training them up to be agents of the House.

    Appearance:
    Barely reaching five foot and three inches, Edel is short, dainty, and seemingly unassuming. Indeed, with her with pale blond tresses, deep blue eyes, and china like skin, there is definitely a very doll-like quality to the young woman. Still, the extra three eyes, in place of her eyebrows and in the centre of her forehead, though near unnoticeable when she has them closed, give her appearance an unsettling air. Coupled with the jet black insides of her mouth, and the pair of slight spurs jutting from the sides of her jaw, Edel meanders over the line separating appealing and disturbing.

    Personality:
    Polite and genuine, Edel has a quiet but expressive nature, kind and forgiving. She has no taste for conflict, but will take all things in her stride, and will try to see any argument from all points of view before making any decision. She also has a deep love of poetry, of wordplay and books. Much of her free time between organising things consists of short stanzas and haiku scribbled in the margins of her workbooks.

    Behind all of this is a will of steel, and a ruthlessness to protect the House and the people of Imeria from both external and internal threats. She is willing to do what it takes to ensure this, even sacrificing herself and her identity if it comes to it.



  • Strength: 1
    Dexterity: 3
    Fitness: 2

    Intellect: 3
    Intuition: 3
    Willpower: 4

    Bearing: 2
    Guile: 5
    Composure: 2

    Physical
    • Awareness: 3
    • Athletics: 5
    • Defence: 3
    • Melee: -
    • Ranged: -
    • Stealth: 4
    • Unarmed: 5

    Mental
    • Academics: 3
    • Administration: 3
    • Artisan: -
    • Craft: 3
    • Investigation: 3
    • Lore: 3
    • Medicine: -
    • Survival: -

    Social

    • Animal Handling -
    • Empathy: 3
    • Language: 4
    • Mingling: 1
    • Perform: 4
    • Persuasion: 3
    • Subterfuge: 5

    Skill Focus
    • Athletics: Climbing
    • Language: Tradestongue 4: Native Fluency
    • Language: Tock 4: Native Fluency
    • Language: Spirespeak 4: Native Fluency
    • Perform: Puppetry
    • Stealth: In Plain Sight
    • Subterfuge: Bare Faced Lying
    • Unarmed: Dance of the Five Spiders



  • Familiarity: Disarmingly Pleasant
    Polite, punctual, and friendly, once she talks you around to liking her, Edel is surprisingly difficult to say no to. +1 to Empathy, Persuasion, and Subterfuge, in situations where the opposing party is already positively predisposed towards Edel.

    Knowledge: Quartermaster Supreme
    Having lived and breathed nothing but numbers for the past eight years, Edel is the perfect quartermaster, even if she does only serve as an assistant. +1 to Academics, Administration, and Investigation, when dealing with dealing with the movement, surrounding bureaucracy, and general worth of trade goods and accompanying information.

    Training: Dance of the Five Spiders
    Classically trained in the performing style, Dance of the Five Spiders, back when Edel had originally intended to be an entertainer. This training simply allows her to use the style and its utility.



  • Offence: Melee: 3

    Defend Rating: 6

    Speed: 7

    Offence: Unarmed: 8

    Soak 2

    Combat Pool 10

    Offence: Ranged : 3

    Magic Resist: 4



  • Ascendance: 4

    Powers:

    • Hallucinate – Cause penalty-causing Hallucinations in enemies, 5 Essence per die penalty applied.
    • Telekinesis – Manipulate objects with your mind with an effective Strength equal to your Resonance. 1 Essence per use/per turn to maintain. 5 to strike a telekinetic blow.

    Essence: 20

    Expressions:

    • Silken Voice: Her voice resonates quite well, but carries with it an unearthly whisper. +1 to Guile
    To Spin a Tale: Can spin a tale that affects a situation. Has given her small spurs on her jaws.
    See the Weave: Can see the strings and weave of fate. Resulted in an additional three eyes.
    Skittering Words: Edel can invest a piece of information with Essence, let it go, and allow it moves from person to person with each retelling. When and if she gets it back, she can glean almost exactly when and where it was told, and by who, and until she gets it back, she has a rough approximation of direction and distance of its location.
    It is incapable of multiplying. The person telling it forgets with recounting, and if told to a group, it only is remembered by the singular main intended target. Furthermore, it must be recounted in entirety to pass on and be remembered, and approximately the same words and wording.


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Hulbrad Helena



  • History: -
    Helena is daughter to late Hulbrad Cassius, older sister to Hulbrad Edel, and currently serves as the recently appointed Architect of the House. She was content being the pretentious artist, wild in her flights of fancies, indulging in her anti-social hermitage and slumming with the lesser denizens of the kingdom in search of ideas and inspiration, but the war of the Three Dragons has dragged her out in the open, forcing her to become a people person and a House Representative. She… dislikes this turn of events immensely.

    Appearance: -
    A willowy, languid thing with no sharp edges in sight. Her hair, which almost reaches her knees is a dull indigo of incense smoke, and moves much the same. Tired grey-blue eyes, pallid complexion and limbs that look a little too long to be comfortable, ending in wicked black talons. All skin from her jawline down is densely tattooed in bruise-blue swirling patterns resembling moths hidden amongst flora. She often wears very simple, patternless, loose and open garb to allow her access to her “tools.”

    Personality: -
    Recent events have ramped up her Sleepy Bitch Disease, but when not listlessly contemplating existence from various cushiony beds, she swings into stages of manic artistic fervour, ignoring sleep and food in her pursuit of perfecting her work. She does not take very good care of herself, though throws herself into seeing the needs of her closest kin, seeing sure they’re happy and safe.



  • Strength: - 1
    Dexterity: - 4
    Fitness: - 2
    Intellect: - 4
    Intuition: - 4
    Willpower: - 3
    Bearing: - 5
    Guile: - 3
    Composure: - 3
    - - -
    Physical
    Awareness: - 4 - SF: - People Watching
    Athletics: - 0
    Defence: - 2
    Melee: - 0
    Ranged: - 0
    Stealth: - 4 – SF: - Move Unnoticed.
    Unarmed: - 0

    Mental
    Academics: - 4 - SF: - Architecture
    Administration: - 2
    Artisan: - 4 - SF: - Sculpture
    Craft: - 4 - SF: - Metalworking
    Investigation: - 2
    Lore: - 4 - SF: - Magic Artefacts
    Medicine: - 4 - SF: - Apothecary
    Survival: - 0

    Social
    Animal Handling: - 2
    Empathy: - 4 - SF: - Underlying Emotions
    Language: - 4 - SF: - Trades-tongue (2) Storm-tongue (1) Basechatter (1)
    Mingling: - 2
    Perform: - 2
    Persuasion: - 4 - SF: - Ernestness
    Subterfuge: - 2
    - - -
    Familiarity/Social: - Social Butterfly
    Or Moth rather, or Barfly. Whatever. Always flitting between her latest interest, she jumps from one group to another. Somewhat accepted in all of them, but not having any deep friendship connections in any of them. +1 to Empathy, Mingling and Persuasion when interacting with a new group of people.

    Knowledge/Mental: - Art Critic
    An artist knows their materials, And knows when they are shoddy or being shortchanged. +1 to Academics, Administration and Investigation rolls when regarding any material goods, magical or otherwise, and their integrity, quality and price.

    Training/Physical: - Hellforging
    A highly trained blacksmith, sculptor and silversmith, her spindled hands ensure she’s never without her tools even when she’s not in her workshops or studio. +1 Artistan, Craft and Lore when regarding any Hellforged items.
    - - -
    Offence: Melee: - 4
    Defend Rating: - 6
    Speed: - 2
    Offence: Unarmed: - 4
    Soak: - 2
    Combat Pool: - 6
    Offence: Ranged: - 4
    Magic Resist: - 3



  • Ascendance: - 4
    Powers: -
    Hallucinate – Cause penalty-causing Hallucinations in enemies, 5 Essence per die penalty applied.
    Telekinesis – Manipulate objects with your mind with an effective Strength equal to your Resonance. 1 Essence per use/per turn to maintain. 5 to strike a telekinetic blow.

    Essence: - 20

    Expressions: -

    Resonance 1
    : - SilkSmoke
    Her hair is made of a silk so light and soft is resembles gently roiling smoke. +1 Bearing

    Resonance 2: - VoidBrand
    Helena’s skin is more than just artistically beautiful, it is a malletspace, into which she can place items – becoming part of the canvas – and remove them at will. They have to be capable of fitting on the surface area, however.

    Resonance 3: - WordSmith
    She can take a word or words spoken by another, and by applying essence to them, can weave them using her hair and long, black taloned claws into physical objects.

    Resonance 4: - CocoonArt
    To be able to take normal or enchanted items and spend essence to cocoon them, and over many months they'll become hellforged items, without her spending vast amounts of blood. Normal items will take longer to forge than magical ones.



  • Her two main invested and indentured servants and… one would be hesitant to say friends, but they are certainly very close having spent many years with each other. Peculiar as they are literally polar opposites of each other in almost every physical way.

    Her Book-Keeper and Manager
    Lilian is a tall, lean and spidery figure, even more so than her charge. Preferring clothing of a dark, suit-like androgynous nature, trimmed neat hair slicked back on her head and deep set, dark eyes. Permanently welded to her briefcases and scrolls of information and a glittering pocket-watch at her hip. She is as severe and unflinching as her stony exterior exudes.
    As a dramatic and slovenly artist, her charge needs someone to organise and manage her creations. Lilian keeps track of her master’s works of art, naming and coding and organising them into their series. Storing them safely and making sure they are maintained appropriately. She organises her commissions and ensures a timely kick as the proverbial backside to get her moving when her muse is being lacklustre. She runs her galleries and displays, and the pricing for her pieces, haggles with buyers, and handles the money. She also deals with importing the material goods and manages the suppliers of those who lend their wares to her creations.

    Her Bodyguard and Matron

    On the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s Odette. Having been around for a little longer than her stringent manager, Odette has been there to have seen Helena in her human childhood and subsequent rise through ascension. She is a portly, short and stocky woman, a little older, that her fluffy blonde hair is streaked with white, pulled away from her round face, very pale eyes and glittering starlike freckles, giving her a permanent expression of absent minded delirium. Her clothes are practical, grey hued and embroidered with bubbly clouds. Her personality is not far removed from her appearance, being perpetually smiley and slightly off kilter. She is not however, a pushover. If Lilian is the Unstoppable Force, Odette is the Immoveable Object. Few can match her ability to plant her feet and ‘No. YOU move,” be that someone trying to cause harm to her Mistress, anything forcing entry to the premises, or even being the one who puts the glass down cos you’ve had enough, and we’re going home now.
    A brick wall has never been so placidly amicable.

    --

    Her Chronomancer Lover

    Helena is as flighty with her relationships as she is with most other aspects of her life. Taking self-care to a logical extreme, she expects to be cared for in every sense, and it rarely works. Respectful timekeeping on others behalf and going anywhere or doing anything was always an uphill battle. She goes through bedfellows and foul-weather friends on a regular basis for this reason. However, one stuck it out.
    Davis is a Human Chronomancer and an artist much like her. His architecture of spun glass and mirrors entranced the young Hulbrad and they were tumultuous couple for a while. But whereas others fled at her abysmal ability to be there for others, timekeeping is never much of an issue for a time mage afterall. They have worked together on many projects in the past, always breaking off in times of personal involvement, and reforming when their muses call for it.
    He lives in the south east stormcircle, his studios, workshop and influence about the city are obvious in their impact.
    Davis is a looming, broad-shouldered man with dark, warm toned skin, rough calloused hands and an honest gait and smile. He is a bit intense and overactive, with strong emotional swings and an additive personality. He dresses like a kaleidoscope and paint dye factory imploded. A perfect match, really.

    Her Artisanal Friends

    Great minds think alike, or fools seldom differ. It depends on who you’re asking, really. To those in a positive light, this group of individuals are a varied bunch from different backgrounds and races, all supporting a greater cause, using their talents and various forms of magic to create beauty and art and progress. To one not so inclined, they are a bunch of vagabonds that either got kicked out of high flying families – Guilds and Stormcircle familes, even an occasional Scion – to actual guttersnipes, and street hawkers, who spend most of their time high off their tits and throwing together garbage and calling it ‘Art.’
    War is always hard on art. It is often destroyed, burned, stripped for more useful parts, or very occasionally used as bargaining tools and stashed for future gains. Most of the group was in their hayday when the War hit and were scattered to the winds in a bid for self-preservation. Slowly though, they are beginning to regroup. The silversmith, Old Goblin Weejas, the tailors, ratkin twins Bernard and Benjamin. Even the Spiggan Aspen, and his love of paint.
    Only time will tell if all members made it through...

    The Various Merchant Sellers of Materials

    Not counting the original papermill that the Hulbrad family used to call their own, Helena holds an amiable relationship with several Merchants and their Couriers in various different parts of the continent from where she – read, her Manager – sources all of the materials she desires to work with. While she does not own these businesses nor have any stock in them, she has been a fervent customer and has treated them well in kind. Her generosity and frequency has endeavoured her to them. Something she might call upon in desperate times.

    To list a few: -
    Osian, Gruffydd & Alwyn Inc. – Trollish Miners who hack Marble and Limestone from the cliffs of the far frozen north.
    Horizonline Trades - Silk and Cotton and Spices imported from the south, from a Laman human, Owan and his entourage.
    Bought Iron - Metalsmithing and occasionally weapons that take her fancy from Orcish blacksmiths on the north coast.
    Plumtree Colours - Paints and Dyes from the north-east stormcircle from a 3- generation Rattis family, the Plumshires.
    Keepsit Seeds - Botany and Plant Materials from an agent of the world cap, a spriggan Silvertree wanderer called Pinefelt.

 
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  • History

    Hulbrad Lochlyn spent most of the war cataloging and researching, much as he spent most of his time before the war, the major difference being the number of requests for information he filled for the House. Rumors say he may have been present when the Lake of Ink was made. Since then, he has moved about more actively seeking knowledge for the house or running this or that errand, seeking this or that book.


    He has lived in the shadowed halls of library stacks and pressed his shadow into theirs as perhaps only a Hulbrad could. Though he does not live in the library now, the marks remain. Now, they are joined with a pain, a loss.


    Personality


    Lochlyn is quiet and bookish. He knows things and also has a tendency to know things he shouldn’t about others: the scions of House Hulbrad learned through the years not to share secrets in the shadows of the library. For his own part, Lochlyn keeps to himself but if an elder of the house requested knowledge he possessed, he could be quick to share it, though that is not to say he never learned caution.



    Lochlyn can be cheerful, even pleasant, if the topic at hand is a curiosity, a book, a matter of some interest or importance, but as he finds it usually isn’t, he finds he often has little to say even if he has much to hear.


    Appearance


    A shrouded figure drifting between the stacks. Silently spreading through the shadows of the library and the books themselves. Lochlyn’s presence is unsettling, not least because it is usually emerging unexpectedly from shadows, often with requested or desired information. Beneath the hood of his shroud, should one ever see it, is a plain enough human face framed by battish ears beneath short brown hair. He is physically unimposing being scrawny and gaunt. When he gestures or points, if his hands or fingers should slip from their shrouded sleeves, they are bony thin, supposedly like Lochlyn himself.




  • Physical

    Mental

    Social

    Strength: 1

    Intellect: 5

    Bearing: 4

    Dexterity: 2

    Intuition: 3

    Guile: 3

    Fitness: 1

    Willpower: 4

    Composure: 3




  • Physical



    Mental



    Social

    Awareness:

    3

    Academics:

    5 History, 4 Mathematics/Alchemy]

    Animal Handling

    -

    Athletics:

    -

    Administration:

    3

    Empathy:

    3

    Defence:

    3

    Applied Magical theory:

    2

    Language:

    [Urd Fluent]


    Spirespeak 3 (Fluent)


    Creak 2 (Conv.)

    Melee:

    -

    Artisan:

    3

    Mingling:

    3

    Piloting:

    -

    Craft:

    -

    Perform:

    -

    Ranged:

    -

    Investigation:

    3

    Persuasion:

    [4 Intimidatingly Creepy]

    Stealth:

    3

    Lore:

    5 House Origins/ 5 Magical Trad.

    Subterfuge:

    3

    Unarmed:

    -

    Medicine:

    -

    -

    -

    -

    -

    Navigation:

    -

    -

    -

    -

    -

    Survival:

    -

    -

    -





  • Familiarity: An Academic Knows Another - +1 Empathy, Persuasion, Mingling when dealing with other academics



    Training: One with Shadows - slip unnoticed from fights: +1 Stealth, Defend, or Awareness when avoiding combat or detection



    Knowledge: Eldritch Librarian - +1 to Lore, Academics, and Administration : The House Hulbrad library is home to many books, many books in shadows.




  • Health:

    10

    Condition:

    20

    Offence

    -

    Defense

    Offence: Melee:

    2

    Defend Rating:

    5

    Speed:

    1

    Offence: Unarmed:

    2

    Soak

    1

    Combat Pool

    3

    Offence: Ranged :

    2

    Magic Resist

    4







  • Resonance: 4


    Essence: 20


    Powers:

    • Hallucinate – Cause penalty-causing Hallucinations in enemies, 5 Essence per die penalty applied.

    • Telekinesis – Manipulate objects with your mind with an effective Strength equal to your Resonance. 1 Essence per use/per turn to maintain. 5 to strike a telekinetic blow.


    Expressions:


    Slips Between Shadows- Lochlyn is unnaturally gaunt. So much so that those seeking him can lose track of him between two shadows: while standing in overlapping shadows, gain a bonus to Dodge/Stealth



    The Shadows Have Ears - Lochlyn's hearing and ears have been sharpened from years in the relative quiet of libraries: While slipped between shadows, can hear through all nearby shadows



    Shadowy Subversion: Commit essence to grapple/restrain/move targets.



    Shadow Knowledge: Stealing a shadow and adding it to his own grants him knowledge of the contents of the original shadow. (Many books in House Hulbrad’s library once cast no shadow.)





 
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Hulbrad Adeline


  • Time has meaning. It is just how one interprets it that matters.

    Born a scant 270 years before the outbreak of the War of the Three Dragons, Adeline seemingly was and always had been. It wasn’t through a redoubtable presence or by raging against life that this age had been achieved. It was by simply being unwilling to act in response to the rules. In her true youth, Adeline had been a flickering presence. Only acting on her passions and personal interest, gathering acumen through patience and victories over those wishing to stand against her by simply forgetting their existence. It was a strange time in the life of a strange being in an age long since vanished.

    Then came Cassius.

    He was the port in the storm of her life. Someone to build meaning from. All her pursuits from before were meaningless in comparison to what the man was to her. The only thing keeping her from vanishing into the ether completely. Cassius was all that she was and wasn’t. With him she was finally able to create lasting impact on the world around her. Wonders that would be never be rivaled, baubles that should only have existed in dreams, and memories that would exist beyond her.

    He even gave her the gift that would arguably impact the world more than she ever could, her daughters. She loves them both dearly, more than anything. They are the embodiment of the love between Cassius and herself. Her daughters would be raised never wanting but never spoiled. Free to pursue what they wished with Adeline being ever proud of them no matter what. It was just that as they grew into their own, becoming self sufficient and their own souls formulating, Adeline didn’t see the need to finish the project. Eventually she would see them both less and less. Traveling, overseeing the building of her wonders, gathering herbs and rare trinkets. Whatever caught her eye and whatever she didn’t forget. Cassius the only one able to reign her in, she relied on him for updates on their family.

    Cassius was her better in every way. And then he wasn’t.

    She had been at her Home in the manor, Cassius frittering away in his rock. She’d been in her gardens, tending and planting while enjoying the smoke of a crop from a century back when it happened. Years back she’d started a project, one of thousands really, that was intended to protect her House. It never went beyond a prototype before she lost interest and moved on. A lifeline, a pocket dimension to hide inside of. A shield that was impenetrable by merit of not existing. The last thing she remembered was the deep inhale she took before everything froze around her.

    Adeline is woman of more than a quarter millennia of age, yet a has body that doesn't seem to be affected by the ravages of time. Living inside a bubble of Expression that her own subjective reality exists, things like logic, magic and objectivity all seem to disobey their most basic of laws.

    Her hair a solid void, a darkness from whence no light escapes, it falls down to the floor and pools around her. Her eyes are opaline, the whites a rose pink. Her face extremely friendly yet somehow appearing both detached and involved at the same time. Full lips above a tightly chiseled jaw. Freckled cheeks give a distinct look.

    Her body is soft and seems to be constantly smelling of exotic spice, akin to a holiday. She appears similar but different at almost every angle, sometimes the skinniest obese Hulbrad, sometimes the fattest cachectic, sometimes the tallest of the short and at others the shortest of the massive. Often clad in a grey tailcoat, tail long enough to reach her feet, and in soft leather soled boots to match, she wears only grey and the palest of blues to match her eyes. She has a bad habit of nail biting and often will clap in delight. She smokes her own herb profusely and often arrives in a cloud of smoke that varies in scent with the time of year.

    Adeline is the mother of Helene and Edel, much much older sister to Tristan and a widow to Cassius.



  • STRENGTH: 2
    DEXTERITY: 2
    FITNESS: 2

    INTELLECT: 4
    INTUITION: 3 (+1 Hulbrad)
    WILLPOWER: 4

    BEARING: 3
    GUILE: 1
    COMPOSURE: 2

    Physical (16)

    Awareness: 3 (5)
    Unarmed: 2 (3)
    Defense: 4 (8)
    Focus: Displacement dodging

    Social (18)


    Persuasion 3 (5)
    Empathy 2 (3)
    Mingling 2 (3)
    Language: 2 (7)
    Urd (Native), Stormtongue (2)

    Mental (45)

    Academics: 4 (8)
    Focus: Infernal Construction History: Architecture of the Impossible
    Administration: 1(2)
    Artisan: 5 (11)
    Focus: Infernal Artifacts
    Medicine: 4 (8)
    Focus: Herbology
    Craft: 5 (11)
    Focus: Hellforged Impossibilities
    Lore: 3 (5)



  • Familiarity: Infernal Creations
    Be it a lowly hut put up by an Invested or the most glorious sword forged by the Lezek masters, Adeline knows it. Having been in and around Scions her entire existence, everything in regards to how or why it would be crafted or created is understood by her. She may not know how to use it, but she knows how to make it.

    Knowledge: Esoteric Herbology
    As a side hobby, Adeline grows and tends to exotic plants from across the world. She also makes a tidy sum selling dried and rolled herbs to be smoked by those that can afford her steep prices. It is even said that Adeline is currently harboring not one but two tree folk within her enigmatic estate. When it comes to properties of plantlife, Adeline may possibly be the greatest expert in the known world.

    Training: Impossible Existence
    Adeline is a self taught practitioner of a Hulbrad skill set the emphasizes inaction against those that take action. When living in and around the impossible, those that take action suffer the consequences. Through patience and inaction, the most powerful may be easily circumvented Never remaining in the same place, it utilizes warped positions, teleportation, and leverage to overcome and eliminate foes in embarrassing fashion.

    Ascendance 5

    Essence 25

    Powers:

    Hallucination – Cause penalty-causing Hallucinations in enemies, 5 Essence per die penalty applied

    Telekinesis – Move objects with Strength equal to Ascendance Rank, 1 Essence per rank in use.


    Expressions:

    Voided hair
    Not just the absence of light and color, but the absorption of it. Contained in body length locks, her soft hair is almost mesmerizing to look into. Bonuses to applied bearing rolls

    Non Aging

    Despite being a quarter of a millennia old, Adeline hasn't aged past the looks of youth. Appearing as she did at the natural of age of 28. It is unknown if she actually has a natural expiration date.

    Spatial Distortions (2)

    Adeline projects a passive aura of oddity where rules of reality warp and bend. This can suppressed through willpower and indulged in by the feeble minded. In and around the ten meter mark, Gravity sometimes distorts, water flowing uphill, perpetual motion possible. Magical energy riffs occur, causing countless side effects and making the path difficult.

    Wall walking

    Often times Adeline Just leaves her earthly bonds and will walk upon walls, ceilings, and the improbable surfaces she creates with ease.



  • While her younger sibling plans, Adeline does nothing of the sort. On the cusp of living in multiple instances at once, Adeline has always had difficulty in planning anything meaningful in the long term. What should only take a month can take years and what should take decades sometimes only takes minutes. Instead of fighting against this, Adeline has fully embraced it. Working on what she either wishes or remembers at her own erratic pace.

    While usually this is at best annoying and at worst, crippling. Adeline’s reality is subjective and amazing benefits have arisen now and then. Through her largess, Adeline has been able to conjure up supplies long lost, remember locations of wonders right at the last moment, and pull up favors from contacts no living soul was aware of.

    Adeline is a creator. Be it creating fantastical wonders to dot the lands, growing the wide varieties of plants she finds, or her very children. She is not however, the best maintainer.

    When out and about, Adeline prefers tight fitting corset like tailcoats and soft soled boots, primarily in grey or soft blue colors. When at home or in comfort, her clothing preference shifts dramatically. Loose fitting robes or tops with trousers, often bare footed. Similar color scheme though. Both of these are oft accompanied by clouds of smoke as Adeline enjoys sampling her own stock far too much.

    Scattered across pockets and pouches on her person, Adeline carries several different instruments of value in fields scientific, artisanal, and infernal. She also makes sure to carry a personal supply of smoking equipment ranging from pipes, rolling paper, and certain dried plant leaves for rolling.



  • Adeline's followers are surprisingly quite rare. It takes dedication to follow that which doesn't lead. As such many, if not all of the mortals that make up her retinue are not actually stationed near or around her but are instead implanted across Imeria. When reaching completion of whatever whimsical project she had been working on, Adeline will select the most competent mortal and grant them her Investment. Tasking them with maintenance and overseeing function, they are expected to act independently and with merit befitting an elder of the House of Sloth. Seeing them as worthy enough to take care and even finish things for her, many of them haven't seen her since their investment.

    Jren Rith - Invested sixty years ago when he was 20, Jren is a smallish man of indeterminate origin, likely one of the random bloodlines ending up in a mountain hold. Now aged, his Investment has given him a somewhat detached view of things. His world, his existence, is running the Servitors Garden. A massive machine developed by Adeline that worked as a self sustaining farm with only one person being required to operate it. Capable of feeding a small city when operated properly, the Garden appears as a grey pyramid from the outside. Inside is an intricate web of flowing water, tilling machinery, and ready for delivery bales of wheat, squash, and the surprisingly sweet Honeydew melons. Rith is the only operator and currently locked out of the facility as Yrva attempts to reverse engineer the Hulbradim mysteries.

    Floats-Upon-Reed - Investing a Dryad was always a strange idea to consider so who else but the Elder of strange dreams would commit to it. Floats-Upon-Reed is a Treefolk warden of Adeline's Winter Gardens. She is a Flowering Dogwood who expresses her Investment through the highly, highly, potent hallucinogenic pollen of her flowers. Not so much tending Adeline's garden as she more so acts as a mouthpiece for it. The Gardens themselves are located in the Shadynsea on a particularly mobile floating rock that seemingly has it's own gravitational center, allowing for the entirety of it to be cultivated. The Winter Gardens hold little value for Pirates but are consistently sought after by those seeking academical ingredients.

    Benjamin Runner - The youngest and most recent of Adeline's Invested, Benjamin is by far the most mobile. Instead of being tasked to a wonder, Benjamin is a prolific mortal traveler. Having regaled Adeline with tales of the world that she hadn't even heard of, she offered him Investment with the purpose of cataloging his travels. Benjamin however since his investment, no longer sleeps. Instead he falls into a nightly state where his body will write out the events of each day with near perfect recollection.

    Zachariah Shule - Caretaker of the Gate. Shule is yet another older man assigned to the upkeep of one of Adeline's wonders. More a janitor than anything else, he puts around inside a small cabin located a few minutes walk away from Adeline's Gate. The Gate is a large semi solid, semi airborne set of pillars with impenetrable vapor like bars between them. The gate has never been passed through and the bars themselves seem immune to all forms of damage. The Gate however, stands alone. There is nothing of note on either side for miles. There isn't even a wall to go with it. It's merely a Gate in the middle of an open field to the south of Willoughby. Becoming a notable tourist attraction due to the nature of the bars, Shule merely keeps the trash from the tourists down and sells small trinkets from a cart.



  • Yrva Krok - Krok is the Yrva responsible for seizing the Servitor's Garden away from Hulbrad. He knew there was opportunity and wealth in doing so, his goal to establish smaller versions of the Gardens across Imeria to monopolize food production. So far meeting with minimal success, his capital is waning and causing significant discourse in his holdings. He stands firm in his attempts and seemingly won't give in.


    Harold of the Vale - Harold is the foremost non - Trollish expert in Northern Architecture and quite the irritant to the balance Adeline strikes with life. He simply refuses to establish any rapport with Adeline and she fears he will die and take his hidden knowledge with him.




 
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Neat!

That said, the Curselands don't exist yet. That won't be for a couple decades yet.
 
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I’ll save that bit for later then~