Ame sleepily adjusted her ceremonial garbs as she listened to the Lord Steward's address. Her attendants had been informed that today's address was of particular importance, and thus had wrapped Ame head-to-toe with the most intricate of fineries. Most frivolous, in Ame's opinion, as her hair had been twice tied and perfumed with garrishness Ame was sick of already. This much, though, she knew to hide. Ame did not betray anything other than a collected gaze to the Steward, even as the announcement loosed an aura of excitement upon the crowd. As much as she could rather tear off these robes and hide back in her comfortable domicile, back in the world of books and numbers, her mantle was to sit here and represent the might and dignity of Valkenkarr.
The weight didn't settle her nerves. Heavens, now everyone was up and offering their own little two coppers to the news. The other Knight-Commanders, many of them fresh faces save for Idris, uniformly expressed a cautious optimism. It was hardly surprising. Alveria was on the brink of collapse, both from within and from even Ame's own country. A true heir was easily the saving grace that the beleagered state needed, but to have such a light shine from beyond the pale so easily? And without any other detail than the rumor-mill of mountain folk? This was walking a fine line between optimism and naivete.
A miracle or simple illusion, though, it meant the Steward was finally making moves. Ame could hear the distant rustlings of the attendees, and further still; a giant clock hand shaking off rust and grime as some invisible cog or a time-eaten beast purred into life. In time, horses will ride through the mountains and the news they bore would arrest the ears of the Council. A thunderstorm in the distance...
Ame snapped back into her own consciousness as the tempered voice of Kalowick spoke near her. It was due to be her turn next, and her title of Champion-Apparent demanded a voice. She rattled her mind for what to say, but came up with little more than empty platitudes. The profession of her current station was to offer such ceremonies with presence, but Ame found herself lacking in depth and measure.
Keep it simple. Don't stand out. Valkenkarr needs to show straightforwardness right now, no need for dramatics.
She swallowed a deep breath and stepped forward as her turn came. Her vacillation was swept clean from her voice as she spoke up, her guise of measured resoluteness as practiced as ever. "Lord Steward, consider it done. Valkenkarr stands with Alveria, and we will restore the heir to the throne, as sure as snow and steel."
Ame was always a bookish and curious type, never looking for fame or fortune. Responsibilities are, after all, just distractions of the material world, and she was much more interested in the spiritual and the arcane. She enjoyed the simple life of living in her older sister's shadow, nodding along to whatever half-hearted praises and prizes were thrown at her. Such a lifestyle made her undersocialized and unequipped for the life of the spontaneous champion, much less one that should be riding alongside the strongest champions of the kingdom. This much, she knows, and she is mature enough to understand the weight of her position within the world. She has since tried to push herself more and more into social settings, but is often awkward and can't seem to get her words right during high pressure moments.
| BACKGROUND |
With the weakened Alveria in turmoil in the south, the usually isolated and aloof Valken barons were split on how to deal with their southern neighbour. Some of the more militant barons, keen to shore up their influence through closer ties with the outermost regions of Alveria, pushed for immediate economic annexation of Alverian trade outposts. Not only would they free their country from the heavy mercantile tariffs, but they could levy their own fee upon the other baronies should they gain control over the few mountain passes that maintained trade over the two kingdoms. The moderate barons who would gain nothing from such an aggressive push advocated for more opportunistic diplomatic and religious concessions.
Weiss Felfarer was both a compromise and a gamble. As an accomplished champion in the arena, Lady Weiss was due to be married off to Alveria anyway, but famously refused the hand of any marriage unless the would-be suitors could defeat her in fair combat. At the combined Grand Council's request, she bowed her stubbornness and agreed to secure the hand of House Estival, the House that had the ports closest to the mountain passes to Valkenkarr. For the hardliners, Valkenkarr would collectively reap the benefits of severely reduced tariffs and some influence over the much needed trade ports. For the moderates, they would be able to sate the bloodthirst of their southern counterparts and demonstrate their political prowess of the usually unwieldy Felfarer clan.
Weiss quickly rose in infamy and rank, garnering support from local fringe believers of the northern faiths whilst also gaining respect from knight commanders with her knowledge of battle tactics and brute strength. Soon, she was in the close company of knight commanders and putting down insurgencies left and right. Most famous of these exploits included her alledgedly wrestling an armored bear to submission as a show of force. This is, however, not her story. Weiss was killed in the bloody coup several years ago with her involvement in the coup remaining unknown. The entirety of her landing was burnt in a mysterious fire at the night of the coup, and her body was never found.
Although the popular narrative was that she died in defence of the steward loyalists, the lack of solid evidence and unifying answers sent many of the baronies in the north into an uproar. Hardliners immediately started moving military units, and others started scrambling for a solution before Valkenkarr would start a full blown invasion in search of a blood-debt. The Felfarer House in particular was in hot waters both from the Valken and the Alverians who suspected Weiss of treachery.
Ame Felfarer was the last minute stop-gap attempt to stop the brewing conflict. Weiss' much younger and disinterested sister was forced into the limelight. Befitting the rest of the Felfarer clan, she was always aloof and quiet, although unlike her sister Ame was also altogether removed from the cavalier lifestyle of a champion. Burdened with the sudden responsibilities of having to soothe tensions in a international incident in the middle of a possible civil war, she mostly let the Felfarer clan diplomats speak for her.
Due to her elusiveness she earned the reputation of being icy and ill-mannered, and many questioned her Champion-Apparent status as she only inherited the title from her sister and by will of the Valkenkarr Council, never having participated in a duel herself outside of ceremonious scripted combats. Her saving grace was the enthusiastic vouching of the Alverian College, who praised her as 'esoteric but honest' in her forays into alchemy.
| RUNE AFFINITY |
Ame is eligible to accept runes which would theoretically enhance her magic, but as a pledge-kin accepting Alverian rune would cause a major diplomatic incident, Ame will refuse any offer of a rune.
| SKILLS |
Ame's primary subject of interest is alchemy and detection magic. Her Arcane Eye grants her the ability to detect poisons and traces of magic not ordinarily seen by untrained eyes, and can often figure out the mechanics of a given spell if she spends enough time. This also grants her limited darkvision but ironically is limited in more mundane environments.
With her portable alchemy kit she can craft various elemental flasks that can quickly imbue a material with an elemental affinity, making blazing blades and polearms of everfrost. She can also perform limited transmutation with enough materials, but she is more interested in crafting poisons than transmuting objects.
Ame's study subjects into the arcane has been broad and wide-ranging, but due Alverian skeptics always looking over her shoulders she has limited her forays into the traditional Old Magic of the north in favor of a more fundamentalist approach favored by the Alverians. Thus although she has a good grasp of traditional avenues of knowledge, Old Magic is still something she avoids.
Ame is somewhat weak on the physical front and will prefer to avoid direct combat, but is handy with a knife and staff if she is cornered. She often coats her knife with a paralytic poison to disarm rather than disfigure her enemies.
| TALES |
Lady Ame's quarters was always cluttered, filled to the brim with textbooks and strangely shaped alembics. Though she was always slow to catch up to her responsibilities to keep her room tidy, Ame's questing into the world of alchemy was the most earnest of all. This much, Ame's attendant Frej knew. It was, after all, she who had to clean up the various messes Ame left behind in her messy pursuits. But what Frej did not anticipate was a torrent of silver smoke as she opened the door, the boxes of supplies stacked up in the middle of the room as a makeshift desk, and the piercingly sharp scent of spice.
And in the centre, legs sprawled out and slumped over the desk, head craned back like a forgotten doll, was the Champion-Apparent, dead. The 'dead' awoke with a start, eyes half open and narrow as Ame arrested notice of her surroundings. "Hmm? Hmm! Who's there?"
Frej realized she had held her breath and sighed out with fresh irritation. "You scared me half to death, Lady Ame! How many times did I tell you not to -"
"Frej, oh good." Ame cut her off cheerily, then groped her servant's face closed to her's. "Quick, look - my lips. Are they blue?"
"M'lady?" Frej said, bewildered despite herself.
"Blue? Purple? Don't tell me black. I'll have to remake the entire process if they're black."
Frej pushed Ame away firmly but with a little more force than she intended. She growled, tempering an urge to storm off with reminders of her alliegences. "They're *fine*, Lady Ame. Healthy, unlike whatever mess you've been making here."
"Pink? Good. Quill. Ufft, open the windows too. And careful not to go above the workbench. I think the fumes rise." With a clumsy clatter Ame started to gather what was apparently the result of whatever she was attempting. A collection of vials filled half-way with base gray paste, still steaming somewhat from its precipitous experiment.
"As you say - but you must explain yourself. What were you doing this time?"
"Uhh, salves. Quill? Yep, that one. Inhalation of resulting fumes is detrimental but the salve should be fine otherwise..." Ame stuck her tongue out in contemplation, checked the grey paste in her hand once again, before raising her gaze to meet Frej's icy stare from the windowsill. Ame smiled, but it was unclear if she had a shred of apology laced within it. "I'm already aware of what you're going to say."
"That's because we've gone over this conversation many times before, Lady Ame. And what you're doing is even more unacceptable with the Conferral Ceremony in just a few suns."
Ame blinked innocently. "The Ceremony?"
Frej palmed her face. "Oh, stars."
Some memory dawned on Ame's face and worked its way into a knowing smile. It would not last, however, as Ame sunk her attention back down to the glass jars she was balancing in her hand. "Three scoops should be enough for a leg, right?" She asked no-one as she whisked the vials into a box and balanced it in her hand.
"Lady Ame, you must come outside. You've been cooped up here for heaven knows how long and you've neglected even your most basic duties."
"Stop nagging me. I AM going outside. Here, hold this for me." Ame shoved the box of vials into Frej's relunctant arms, and led the both of them outside the Valken quarters with hastened pace.
Frej considered her options, whether to truly put her foot down on this delinquent Champion or just like the rest of the times, allow Ame to run off scot free. Lady Ame had shown very little interest in most things except for her sole passion in alchemy, and even then it was rare to see Ame so peppy. Especially not after Ame had been bestowed by / cursed by the Champion's title. Perhaps it would be best to choose neither and simply treat the walk toward wherever Ame was leading them to an uncomfortable silence.
It was Ame who broke the silence between the two, apparently unaware or uncaring of Frej's attempts to ice the tone between them. "Frej, can I tell you a story?"
"After this, you get changed into your ceremony robes."
"Alright. You know about healing magic? Healing magic now is relatively abundant and easily distributed, but it's actually a complex spell that has been refined over centuries. A major component is to answer the question, 'how do we stop the process from being painful?' Rapid regeneration of flesh including pain lines would be absolutely agonizing, so an enormous amount of research went into numbing the experience of pain and trying to suppress it during and after the healing process. It's still a fair bit limited, and a major component of its limitations is times when you'd need the patient to be awake and aware of the sensations to diagnose the process of the treatment, rather than blanket knocking their sense of pain out.
That's where alchemy comes in. The golden egg, you see, would be to find a salve that can allow people to still 'sense' pain but not 'acknowledge' it as pain. Sort of detach the feeling from the 'feeling'. But for hundreds of years, whilst healing magic advanced, medical alchemy floundered in finding this miracle cure.
You see, the biggest issue with the foremost methods in alchemy was mold. You're supposed to store flasks in dry and cool areas to avoid mold, but there is this one strain of mold that loves that kind of environment. This mold's property was to not necessarily disrupt any alchemical reaction, but sort of slow the entire thing down when it was in the vicinity. It was particularly bad in trying to cultivate living substances and this mold would basically halt all processes altogether. Ryliehr Jenson was one of the foremost researchers, but he had a nasty habit of never actually sealing the processes properly. He was so bad, in fact, that his entire cabinet was effectively overgrown with this kind of mold and he was kind of useless in his field of research.
But you see, it was this very mold that disrupted these alchemical processes that was the key to solving the puzzle! Reasoning was, if mold could stifle reactions in a tube, why not stifle pain reactions in a human? It was only because Jenson had cultivated so much mold in his cabinet that he saw the cross-effects of mold upon alchemical reactions, and it was only because he had been pondering upon it for so long that the retarding effects of mold was applied to the human body. Jenson started out as nearing the end of his career as a disgraced and disorganized jetsam to being the patron of modern medicinal alchemy."
Frej raised her eyebrow. "...has your neglect of your responsibilities discovered any miracle molds?"
"No, I'm not done yet. Jenson got all the accolades and credit or the practice, but you know who I think was the real key to all this? Jenson's maid. The maid was ordered several times to kick out Jenson and clear out all the weird stuff he was growing in his cabinet. If for a single moment, the maid faltered in her faith in Jenson's unconventional methods, if for single time she said, "yes, mold is bad and I don't trust Jenson", then so much of what we can accomplish for injuries today would not be possible. Jenson may have his name in the history books, but it was only through the grace of his supporters that he even managed to avoid a terrible fate.
People often fixate on the single, most straightforward solution to what is 'supposed to happen'. It's only rational. When people create hypotheses about the world and it works, then there should be no reason to simply abandon the approach and start from scratch. But some people have to be out there, testing out new theories. Wandering out into the night and feeling around, blind if they have to. And the onlookers - they have a choice. They can simply curb all other paths and simply pull people back into the light, or have faith in those who walk into the dark."
"Patience is a virtue, but faith is not. It can be blind. Fatal." Frej sighed, but she knew that once again, Ame had run off beyond Frej's reach. "Still, I understand what you wish to convey, Lady Ame."
"Maybe! Jenson may very well have simply bunked on his discovery, after all. But we know if his maid didn't give him a chance in the first place, we kill that possibility entirely. Ah, we're already here." The pair stopped before a small steeple. Frej could hear muffled crying from beyond the wooden door.
"This is the infirmary. Not the royal one..." Frej connected the dots between Ame's story, the building before them, and the little vials full of grey paste. "Lady Ame, you have been busy."
"Oh you're not too wrong neither. I'll go get changed, just tell the Knight Commanders I'll be late."
"Is this really necessary?"
"I certainly hope not Lady Ame. But the world knows no boundaries and neither should we."
"Knowing them and crossing them are two different things."
"And still we must know if they will be a threat to you or Valkenkarr."
"And if the other Knight-Commanders find out?"
"About what, Lady Ame? This is the most basic of precautions. They will be in a position of understanding."
"Fine. Just get it over with."
"Leilani Suldevi. One of the oldest of your cohort, aside from the Archmage, though we don't have too much on her. We know that she cultivated her sorcery skills from her childhood in Olenta, then became a knight-commander from twenty-four. She was a defender during the coup and slew one of the other knight-captains in defence, and was one of the leading commanders to start nominating new figures to replace the old."
"Sounds straightforward."
"Yes, though it could also mean this dossier is incomplete."
"I trust your intelligence capabilities. Is she nice?"
"You should know by now that niceties are only a weapon. But I suppose she could be called nice. Blunt, or a little competitive. But generally cordial."
"That's all I ask."
"Kalowick of Green Paths. His background is also straightforward. Grew up in Greenwood and trained as a druid from birth, then got recruited by his then mentor Varn to hunt down rogue sorcerers at age sixteen. Kalowick was also the one who initially discovered the coup plot and slew Varn upon the battle field once he found out his mentor was a conspirator."
"Oh, I know this one. Didn't he possess a crow to sneak into the forest camp to eavesdrop on them?"
"It does prove a couple things, mainly that he's a loyalist through and through. This is not some convolution, and if Kalowick is vetted for, so is Leilani."
"He didn't strike me as quite the brutal man. A little unsettling, if you stretch it, but not someone who'd be so bold."
"And I advise you to keep yourself scarce around him. We won't need to hide anything, but we don't need someone to keep reading us either."
"Look around for suspicious looking animals, got it. Who's this next one, he looks fun."
"Quite the contrary."
"You're sighing. You've run into this Vincent."
"Vincent Ryder is a strongman with much personality."
"Oh, and I thought this was a tactical briefing? I'm supposed to be the one who wants to leave."
"Ahem. Also grew up fighting, as a part of the Greypeak peacekeepers. Recruited by Knight Commander Lanza, after apparently taking the head of a cave troll. It's hard to discern, since he has a fondness for spreading rumors about his successes. We don't know where he was during the night of coup, but we can confirm he wasn't with the conspirators. If I had to venture a guess, out drinking with the guards."
"So... suspicious?"
"He's another person to be cautious around, although for a different reason to Kalowick. He's excitable, and ambitious. Not enough to turn his sword against the bloodline, but enough so that I'd describe his loyalty to be aligned but not central."
"Enough talking about him?"
"Yes. Luckily, Caiman Black is easier to talk about. He's a knight, and carries all the associations with the word on his back. Inherited his title from House Black, and have been serving in the royal knightly order all his life. Took over the Knight-Commander role when his father died two years ago, and hasn't fluctated from his position since. He's, well, he's a bit like you, Lady Ame."
"I'm hoping that's a compliment."
"Like a cat. Impersonable, aloof, clumsy in expression. But fundamentally dedicated to the charge of their station."
"Let's just move on."
"Very well. Astloveran Hjoren Kilstaf."
"Say that again in Common?"
"Astlo. Archmage Astlo."
"Oh. We don't actually need to talk about him, he's like written every other book in the Academy."
"Yes, he's quite self-evident to many who have studied spellcraft, although his origins are still unknown to many. A contributing factor to his infamy, you may presume."
"I heard he's actually a half-dragon in disguise, which is why he wears that cloak all the time to hide all the scales - ack!"
"A Champion-Apparent should not spin the tall tales of ill-advised students. If you've enough time to gossip, you've enough to finish reading these dossiers yourself."
@LucidRain - 100% accepted. The only thing I'd like you to do, is help me come up with a reason why she goes on this journey with the party. Or let me know if you'd rather her stay back in Olenta. I'd rather the party, but I'm willing to work with you on this character~
I reckon it could be something along the lines of needing to prove her worthiness as Champion-Apparent and help allay fears among Alverians that Weiss was somehow a foreigner who participated in the coup attempt. Ame personally would rather stay in Olenta but it's more a necessity for her survival to try and contribute to loyalist causes.
Work in progress, still trying to get a nice faceclaim.
AME FELFARER
| 23 | Female | Champion-Apparent |
| PERSONALITY |
Ame was always a bookish and curious type, never looking for fame or fortune. Responsibilities are, after all, just distractions of the material world, and she was much more interested in the spiritual and the arcane. She enjoyed the simple life of living in her older sister's shadow, nodding along to whatever half-hearted praises and prizes were thrown at her. Such a lifestyle made her undersocialized and unequipped for the life of the spontaneous champion, much less one that should be riding alongside the strongest champions of the kingdom. This much, she knows, and she is mature enough to understand the weight of her position within the world. She has since tried to push herself more and more into social settings, but is often awkward and can't seem to get her words right during high pressure moments.
| BACKGROUND |
With the weakened Alveria in turmoil in the south, the usually isolated and aloof Valken barons were split on how to deal with their southern neighbour. Some of the more militant barons, keen to shore up their influence through closer ties with the outermost regions of Alveria, pushed for immediate economic annexation of Alverian trade outposts. Not only would they free their country from the heavy mercantile tariffs, but they could levy their own fee upon the other baronies should they gain control over the few mountain passes that maintained trade over the two kingdoms. The moderate barons who would gain nothing from such an aggressive push advocated for more opportunistic diplomatic and religious concessions.
Weiss Felfarer was both a compromise and a gamble. As an accomplished champion in the arena, Lady Weiss was due to be married off to Alveria anyway, but famously refused the hand of any marriage unless the would-be suitors could defeat her in fair combat. At the combined Grand Council's request, she bowed her stubbornness and agreed to secure the hand of House Estival, the House that had the ports closest to the mountain passes to Valkenkarr. For the hardliners, Valkenkarr would collectively reap the benefits of severely reduced tariffs and some influence over the much needed trade ports. For the moderates, they would be able to sate the bloodthirst of their southern counterparts and demonstrate their political prowess of the usually unwieldy Felfarer clan.
Weiss quickly rose in infamy and rank, garnering support from local fringe believers of the northern faiths whilst also gaining respect from knight commanders with her knowledge of battle tactics and brute strength. Soon, she was in the close company of knight commanders and putting down insurgencies left and right. Most famous of these exploits included her alledgedly wrestling an armored bear to submission as a show of force. This is, however, not her story. Weiss was killed in the bloody coup several years ago with her involvement in the coup remaining unknown. The entirety of her landing was burnt in a mysterious fire at the night of the coup, and her body was never found.
Although the popular narrative was that she died in defence of the steward loyalists, the lack of solid evidence and unifying answers sent many of the baronies in the north into an uproar. Hardliners immediately started moving military units, and others started scrambling for a solution before Valkenkarr would start a full blown invasion in search of a blood-debt. The Felfarer House in particular was in hot waters both from the Valken and the Alverians who suspected Weiss of treachery.
Ame Felfarer was the last minute stop-gap attempt to stop the brewing conflict. Weiss' much younger and disinterested sister was forced into the limelight. Befitting the rest of the Felfarer clan, she was always aloof and quiet, although unlike her sister Ame was also altogether removed from the cavalier lifestyle of a champion. Burdened with the sudden responsibilities of having to soothe tensions in a international incident in the middle of a possible civil war, she mostly let the Felfarer clan diplomats speak for her.
Due to her elusiveness she earned the reputation of being icy and ill-mannered, and many questioned her Champion-Apparent status as she only inherited the title from her sister and by will of the Valkenkarr Council, never having participated in a duel herself outside of ceremonious scripted combats. Her saving grace was the enthusiastic vouching of the Alverian College, who praised her as 'esoteric but honest' in her forays into alchemy.
| RUNE AFFINITY |
Ame is eligible to accept runes which would theoretically enhance her magic, but as a pledge-kin accepting Alverian rune would cause a major diplomatic incident, Ame will refuse any offer of a rune.
| SKILLS |
Ame's primary subject of interest is alchemy and detection magic. Her Arcane Eye grants her the ability to detect poisons and traces of magic not ordinarily seen by untrained eyes, and can often figure out the mechanics of a given spell if she spends enough time. This also grants her limited darkvision but ironically is limited in more mundane environments.
With her portable alchemy kit she can craft various elemental flasks that can quickly imbue a material with an elemental affinity, making blazing blades and polearms of everfrost. She can also perform limited transmutation with enough materials, but she is more interested in crafting poisons than transmuting objects.
Ame's study subjects into the arcane has been broad and wide-ranging, but due Alverian skeptics always looking over her shoulders she has limited her forays into the traditional Old Magic of the north in favor of a more fundamentalist approach favored by the Alverians. Thus although she has a good grasp of traditional avenues of knowledge, Old Magic is still something she avoids.
Ame is somewhat weak on the physical front and will prefer to avoid direct combat, but is handy with a knife and staff if she is cornered. She often coats her knife with a paralytic poison to disarm rather than disfigure her enemies.
Can we get a feel for what kinds of surrounding lands would be interested in Alveria? I'm thinking I'll write a character who's been initially given over to Alveria as a way to solidify diplomatic relations with the weakened kingdom.
Woah, there's been a lot of development since I've been asleep! Glad to have gotten my foot in before the doors closed, this looks like it's going to be fun.
A couple questions as I am brainstorming some ideas:
1. How much of this is going to be intrigue vs. combat? I'm thinking, since a lot of people are going for direct combat characters, I'll make an investigative character who relies on visions and magically enhanced senses to investigate certain clues.
2. Are we going to have a discord channel or something equivalent? I find that when I'm discussing characters discord smooths things over easier and more quickly.
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