Name: Countess Heidra va Rastenbruck
Gender: Woman
Age: 23
Race: Undead
Side in War: Dragon Cultist

Appearance/Description:

This portrait was made of Heidra some time before her execution. Since then, she was decapitated by the royal headsman after the civil war, so that her head needed to be stitched on by the Dragon Cultists to function properly. The job was servicable, although her head is a bit lopsided as a result. A good deal of hair has fallen out, as well. The general decomposition of her flesh after lying in a mass grave for a week or so also took its toll throughout her body, with a great deal of flesh having fallen out or eaten by insects. She is able to disguise it as best she can, sometimes wearing a mask or applying makeup to hide the signs of decay on her face to avoid detection. She also perfumes herself to hide the stench of the undead.

Backstory/Bio: Heidra belongs to the Rastenbruck dynasty, one of the many noble dynasties vying for dominance in North Vedrus, with the Rastenbrucks controlling an ancestral mountain keep to the north of Astal named Orrinnfell. She and her father became the last surviving members of their family after several cousins either died from a deadly plague that swept through the north or were executed by the King of Astal for plotting against him, making Heidra the sole surviving heir to the Rastenbruck dynasty and Orrinnfell Keep. Her father avoided the fate of his cousins by taking the side of the king, becoming a general in the Imperial Legion, and by sending his sole heir Heidra to Astal as a hostage. In Astal, Heidra was given a court education in the liberal arts and even extensive training in espionage, a popular profession among the nobility in the paranoid atmosphere of the tyrannical king's court.

When the king was murdered, however, the Ironbanes suspected Heidra's father of complicity, and so executed Heidra as punishment before moving to attack Orrinnfell. Fearing the prospect of his dynasty's destruction and his ancestral keep falling forever into the hands of the government, and mad with grief over his daughter's death, Heidra's father the Count made a deal with the Dragon Cultists to resurrect his daughter in exchange for his life. The cultists agreed, but further stated that the resurrected Heidra must serve the will of the Dragon Cult as the civil war goes forward. Heidra's father made the bargain, and signed his will declaring the County of Orrinnfell to be inherited by "the body of Heidra va Rastenbruck." The life force was then drained from him. Soon afterward, Heidra's body was exhumed from a mass grave outside the walls of Astal, and her father's life force was infused into her body, reviving her. The Dragon Cultists then bestowed her with her rightful title of Countess of Orrinnfell, although by then the Ironbanes had taken control of the keep.

Ever since then Heidra has been determined to one day come back to Orrinnfell and regain her birthright, to become more than a Countess-in-absentia. In the meantime, she must act as an agent for the Dragon Cultists, playing both the Ironbanes and Goldenblades off of each other, using espionage to defend the interests of the Dragon Cult. At court she was a proficient fencer, but whenever honest one-to-one combat fails she is often the first to fight dirty. Besides that, she is extremely obsessed with learning, books, and spellcraft, though try as she might she never had a talent for magic.

Choice of Weaponry: Rapier and carving knife.

Garb: Light, rough-hewn garments given to her by the Dragon Cultists-not exactly fit for a Countess, but on top of these garments she wears a long black cloak for keeping out the elements. She also has a bauta mask that covers her entire face, and together with the cloak she disguises herself from being revealed as undead.

Personality: Heidra grew up in an atmosphere of fear, suspicion, and dread, so she is naturally paranoid and suspicious of people's motives and finds it hard to trust people. She is very conscious of her class and education, often looking down on lower class characters. She is extremely determined at getting what she wants, to the point that she often becomes obsessed with completing her goals. Her caustic wit has a tendency to get on people's nerves. Despite everything, however, she knows an ally when she sees one and will not throw one away lightly, being extremely loyal to them as long as it serves her purposes. She has learned to be deceptive and manipulative, and most of the time she wonders if even she knows who she really is anymore beneath the lies. Her great ideal is taking back her birthright and avenging her family, and she will use whatever pragmatic means to do it.