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Duchess Mirie Agustria of Caelin
35 | Human | | Female | 5’ 5” | 115lbs
Goal: To back an outcome most advantageous to the Isle of Caelin and its business interests.
History: Mirie is the daughter and only child of the previous Duke of Caelin, a proud and stubborn man guided by emotions that often stymied the development of his lands. Her mother, on the other hand, was an influential merchant lady who taught her much of what she knew in trade and statecraft before sadly passing to a sudden illness during Mirie’s twelfth summer.
At its core, Caelin was not a land that was abundant with resources. Independent and proud of it, it was a windswept isle, but prosperous and wealthy from the flow of Northern trade from foreign lands to the mainland, and from the financial institutions that sprung from it. This made the city of Grand Bank, at first named after its large land banks along the coastline, into the de facto financier of the province.
Aside from the small peninsula on the mainland opposite the Grand Bank that housed a lighthouse and ferry, the duchy was entirely contained on the Caelin Isle. Combined with a large merchant fleet that could be pressed into wartime service at any moment, it was a natural fortress that made Caelin nearly impossible to seize without outsize effort.
When Lugwig II unified Arrowfell, Caelin refused to bend its knee. Unfortunately for all involved, in the absence of the moderating influence of his wife, the Duke of Caelin’s governance of the Isle had become increasingly divorced from reality.
It resisted even past the fall of Rockhold and Aethera. It resisted nearly into ruin, for while it could not be taken easily, the strength of its institutions and merchants relied on its relationship with the mainland.
An idiot could see this, but the Duke could not. Left alone, the Isle would burn from the inside, but his daughter moved to prevent it.
In the twilight days of Ludwig II’s campaign to unify the province, Duchess Mirie donned the ducal crown at the age of fifteen, but her accession was not smooth. She would wear a reminder of the struggle that fateful night on her face for the rest of her life, and the mental scars for just as long.
In the end, as Lugwig assembled his fleet, he and the new duchess were able to come to a mutually beneficial agreement, for Caelin needed Hathforth’s patronage as much as Hathforth needed the island. Mirie would kneel to the new king, but Caelin would enjoy greater autonomy in exchange for more favorable rates and services to the crown as Arrowfell’s bank.
As duchess, Mirie was not a good role model. Although blessed with good looks, she was extremely hedonistic; she drank, wore scandalous dresses, and most certainly slept around—it was hardly a scandal if nearly everybody knew she’d allegedly shared a bed with half the province. Nonetheless, she was a duchess that people respected, a woman that knew what her people needed and how to give it while enriching herself at the same time. She grasped the given peace and ran with it, making herself, the people of the isle, and its merchants more prosperous than even before under the reign of the king.
When the rebellion came, destroying the perfectly good status quo, she quietly stepped in line, for while the king was a good man, as it had been before, survival came with working with the new Queen, Hathford and the mainland. The discovery of the Glasic Fields served merely as further reinforcement.
As long as the new management would continue the mutually beneficial relationship between Caelin and the Crown, the duchess would not take issue with the Queen. Nonetheless, she began to look for alternative arrangements and mitigating steps. Given the queen’s dubious actions, what proper leader would not make plans? It felt likely that the woman would soon turn her full attention on the riches of the Grand Bank, and over ask.
However, she would remain to see where the wind would blow. For now, both the Queen and the good Duke Rhinecliff remained valued clients.
It was just good business.
Seed: The faceted ruby-red crystal that hangs on a necklace between her breasts is the Aequum Ventis. It allows Mirie to align up to three mundane crystals to the seed’s tune. Once aligned, she can instantly teleport herself to one of the assigned crystals even over vast distances, although the longer the distance, the longer it will take for it to recharge.
Magic:
- Ice Blade – Instantly condenses and chills the water in the air to create a wieldable solid blade of ice.
- Wind Blade – A sharp, fast burst of air that can cut into flesh and hard leather.
- Fair Winds – Manipulates a bountiful gust of wind that can do many things, from small things like dropping a piece of paper in the user’s hands, creating strong upward drafts to mitigate falls, to grander acts like propelling a sailing ship to cruising speed or blanketing a large area with windy weather.
- Wind Storm – An upgraded, violent version of the previous spell that create storm-like wind effects in a small area. The smaller the area the more concentrated it can be, allowing the user to blow down walls or send people flying.
- Wind Shield – Creates a violent thin layered section of air around the caster or a target that will deflect physically based attacks up to a point. Allows and accelerates outward attacks.
- Mental Shield – Passively shields the mind from intrusion or control. Greater intrusions require both mental effort and tapping into further life-energy beyond the initially crafted rune.
- Seal Room - Wards a room, preventing those outside the room from entering or eavesdropping through physical or magical means.
- Binding Contract – Similar to existing variants, this grants the ability to create truly binding signed contracts. Breached contracts will result in terrible side effects up to and including death, however lesser penalties can be specified.
- Reveal Element – Determines the rough composition of objects nearby, as long as the caster has an understanding of the objects.
- Detect Lie – Well, are you fibbing or not?
Skills: Swordsmanship, commerce, leadership, military strategy, logistics, seamanship.
Faction: Outside of being the head of House Agustria and ruling Caelin, Mirie’s own trading business, assets, and board seats give her de facto leadership of the Grand Bank Consortium, a body of companies based in the Grand Bank that make collective decisions for better business. While she cannot directly control the decisions the constituent companies make without overstepping, it allows her to leverage more assets and a network of merchants for information.
City: Mirie’s seat of power is the city of the Grand Bank, located on the Easternmost peninsula on Caelin, and three days from Hathforth by sea. Importing most of its food to feed its populace, the island itself is relatively barren land, with little resources besides scattered communities that grow a bit of wheat or the island’s specialty product, olives. Much of the splendor of the island is centralized in the Grand Bank, a bustling city of trade second only to Hathforth. A forest of tall ships make their home in the harbor here as the first port of landing with Arrowfell, carrying all sorts of goods from the Northern lands which often continue on to Hathforth. Despite the eye-catching merchant houses built of imported marble in its market center, it is perhaps the least religious city in the region. Hedonistic establishments galore cater to all walks of life, from weary sailors looking for a warm bed and a night’s companionship to high-class clubs where merchants and nobles drink, smoke, and gamble the night away as they conduct their deals.
The Grand Bank, although named after the geographical feature, has lately come to embody its true name as the banking capital of Arrowfell. Although the population of the city is on the smaller side for a trade city and ducal seat, its citizens rank among the wealthiest, chiefly among them the Duchess Mirie, financing and insuring merchant endeavors and high-capital projects across the province. Militarily, it has little in the way of a standing army outside merchants’ guards, but its trading fleet can easily be pressed into the maritime defense of the island if necessary.
Assets: As mentioned above, the Grand Bank is truly a grand bank, and little else. However, it does export olives and olive oil in limited quantities, in addition to the typical fisheries of a port city. Fermented fish sauce is another local specialty, although very divisive.