AtomicNut

The Folly of a Felicitous Prince [CLOSED]

OOC: damn, ninja edits.

<Snipped quote by AtomicNut>

The whisperings of peers could be at the root of the king's distrust toward his mother.

What about the birth order for her daughter? Do you have any preference? She shouldn't be too much younger than her brothers since I plan for my character to be the oldest of her generation. Yet having a boy first would probably be less worrisome than having a girl first, and I think it would be good for Lucrecia's position to have been stabled somewhat by providing the king with an heir before any suspicious daughters. So...maybe my character's mother could be born between the two...or be twin sister to Adrian @Sarcelle Renard, but younger twin or older twin? (I'm thinking older. Like, "Oh, oh - there a girl. ...phew, there's a boy too." [Sexism is so fun.])

Edit: Aime specified that the girl be born after her brother ascended to the throne. Maybe that's not necessary though? 'Cause then she'd be 20 years younger than the old king and it would have to be a teen pregnancy for my character to be of marrying age, and I don't want that to be the case.

@AAB

I don't know, Aime seems to have somewhat of a mess of statement. At one point confuses mother by daughter. Maybe both would work? I mean, the youngest spring chicken which mommy Lucrecia had to leave as a baby (cause Lucrecia doesn't age, a decade gap between siblings is possible). And she's not the kid's cousin, but aunt.

Alternatively, her mother was the oldest child, but since it was the previous king who wanted to marry a Witch, her status would be protected (although the people were really waiting for a boy, which appeared just before people tried to riot or something).

The Folly of a Felicitous Prince [CLOSED]

Witch Queen Lucrecia

• Name: Lucrecia of the Black Woods
• Age: Unknown, but she is way older than she looks, possibly centuries.
• Role&Kingdom:(Former)Mother Queen of Hiertania
• Skill and/or Weapon: Lucrecia is a master of dark arts, the witchcraft. For that very reason, it is very difficult to gauge her actual age, as the occult has methods in which one may preserve, alter and extend one's youth. For the most part, Lucrecia keeps to the subtle parts of the arcane arts, such as using divination with cards and crystal balls, conjuring protective and luck charms, and overall helping to heal people with her knowledge of herbalism. However, they are called dark arts for a reason. The Witch Queen knows of forbidden rituals to summon forbidden spirits beyond the veil of reality, speak with the departed, as well as curses and spells that can rip out the flesh out of one's own bones, and even cause severe misfortune or disgrace. She can even conjure the elements of nature to flail her opponents with.
• Personality: Lucrecia is severely stunted emotionally. Centuries of seclusion and dabbling in the dark arts have made her unable to express emotions easily or read them effectively. Despite this very reason, she is a rather gentle soul who only wishes to understand the truths and pathways of the arcane within this reality and she would rather live in peace and seclusion than openly wreak havok and mischief. She is also rather sparse in her use of the arcane, as she understands the dark arts are a double edged weapon and one shouldn't alter the laws of nature readily. Lucrecia has the wisdom of several lifetimes, and she has seen kings and wars come by, which is one of the reasons of her emotional detachment, but rather fair in her judgement. She however, can't handle crowds too much, and the politics of the court give her quite the headache. Despite this, she loved her husband and children with passion, even if she couldn't show it properly. As an hermit, she does not mind doing her own house chores, which is a point of contention with servants sometimes.
• Biography: Lucrecia's early life as well as a lot of things are shrouded in mystery. She doesn't even recall all of the details herself. She does remember that she was born to another witch in a rather remote place called the Black Wood, and she learned the black arts from her. For the vast majority of time, she kept herself learning and experimenting her arts in seclusion, barring the occasional visit of a local who was in dire need of help, an adventurous soul, and sometimes even the routinary angry mob. Very rarely, someone coaxed her to perform a long service or join their lot for adventures or services.
  
  But no one was like the then Prince Andromalius of Hiertania. Decades ago, an adventurous and somewhat foolish Crown Prince made his way into Lucrecia's hut in the Black Wood. He was a dashing young comely man, and Lucrecia noted that many women would have been swooned by his appearance alone. Not Lucrecia though. She only regarded him as a potential employer with corteous indifference. However, Lucrecia herself was at loss at words when the Prince himself requested for her magic to make him a worthy ruler of the kingdom, as he felt he was not up to the task. After some prodding, the old witch managed to yank out the real reason for such an outlandish request. Andromalious was a kind man, with self esteem problems. He was in constant fear of not being up to the task and disappointing the many vassals he had come to appreciate and love. Lucrecia herself then understood what she had to say.
  
  A kind nudge, some words of wisdom were what he needed. He comforted the panicked prince by saying that as long as he kept the welfare of his vassals at heart, rather than personal glory and fame, nobody would find grave fault on a ruler so humble he would beg aid from a witch, the last of her kind, for the good of the kingdom.
  
  And then the fool asked for her hand in marriage. It was the first time Lucrecia ever blushed and showed a vivid expression in her face. Words failed to form and her heart skipped several beats. Many had tried before, but only this man had managed to steal the heart of the old witch. Lucrecia accepted, and she aided Andromalius to the best of her ability during his reign, as well as bearing him his children. She even managed to turn the tide of the battle on several occassions against Seteria, by using her considerable magical power to call forth lightning storms and tear armies asunder with fire and lightning, all for the sake of saving his beloved from a losing battle.
  
  However, not everything was well. Many in the court secretly resented Lucrecia, and they openly defied her. It didn't help that she wasn't the most talkative nor social person, choosing to remain a silent presence right next to the King. She didn't have many sympathies among the now annexed Seteria and the other kingdoms, either, having been witnesses of her fury and her role in conquering said annexed kingdom. Resent turned into fear and hatred quickly, and she kept in secret that she had been targetted by several court retainers from her husband and children. When King Andromalius passed away, the situation quickly deteriorated, and Lucrecia left the court in haste, after exchanging parting words with her children.
  
  Decades passed, and news reached Lucrecia that one of her sons, the King, had passed away, while the other one, the current Regent, had written her a letter requesting for help. She quenched the sorrow in her heart, and decided to come out of hiding once more, this time to aid his son, instead of his husband, to keep the kingdom in peace.
• Appearance:Lucrecia doesn't look one day older than 30, despite her actual age being much more. She is a rather slim and average woman, with raven hair as black as the night, and dull brown eyes which seem lost in the distance. She prefers to dress in very simple worn clothes and cloaks, but out of deference towards the Regent, she has taken a more regal clothing once more. She rarely makes facial expressions or inflections when she talks. She is seldom seen without her staff.
• Extra:

The Knight of Sin (V1.1)

Name:Alecto, the Knight of Sin / "No good" Ally
Age: Over a century old.
Role&Kingdom:Black Knight, currently posing as maid of the Second Prince in Hiertania
Skill and/or Weapon: Alecto's abilities are but pale shades of what her parents had, but the fact she can combine both of them is what makes her outstanding. While not the best sword of a kingdom, Alecto is good at fighting in armor and with knightly weapons, and can keep at bay all but the most outstanding fighters, thanks to a rigorous training. And although her skills with the arcane are but a fraction of what her mother, the Witch of the Black Woods is capable of, Alecto nevertheless is skilled in divination, enchanting and cursing, herbalism (she even knows the recipe of the youth potion) and she even has tried to conjure the elements for her aid. However, she is unable to manipulate the weather, reanimate the dead or summon spirits. She is also somewhat apt at passing herself as a commoner beneath notice, thanks to a basic knowledge of chores. Her best impression is that of a clumsy, somewhat lazy maid.

Personality: Alecto is a person consumed in loathing and rage. She is disappointed and disgusted with the world at large. She also despises herself and her own accursed existence, and yet at the same time, she considers herself the center of her particular universe. A comprehensive nihilist with occasional suicidal tendences, Alecto has always starved for affection her entire life. She wishes to be something important, the center of attention of something, but it doesn't matter what. She just wants to leave a legacy in the world by exerting petty revenges by proxy to what she considers the most despised existence, her own mother Lucrecia.

Alecto has a soft spot for people considered expendable and resent their own fates for it, and she loves to whisper in their ear and act as their sycophant as they keep descending further and further in their own ambitions. Deep down, she is also jealous of the status quo of her half relatives, and she wishes the Crown of Hiertania to crumble, so she can finally act as the older sister she think she deserves to be.

Under her assumed maid guise, Alecto, or Ally, as she's referred to, acts as somewhat spaced out clumsy maid, who manages to somehow get by in her daily chorus, hiding her true talents and viciousness beneath a rather harmless and lackadaisacal persona.

Biography:Long time ago, the Witch of the Black Wood, Lucrecia, was besieged by a mob who threatened to kill her. Not wanting to abuse her magic on the ignorant plebeians out of moral concern, she offered carnal pleasure to a wandering black knight mercenary who was passing by. In return for her lust and affection, the Knight drove off the mob and the Witch retained her home.

However, there were unintended consequences. Alecto was conceived and born of such an union. At first, the child brought no small joy to Lucrecia, that welcomed, perhaps, that she would have someone to pass on her legacy, just as her mother had done before her. However, as time passed by, the young Alecto grew sick of her small world, and desired to meet her father. Lucrecia was reluctant, but she eventually conceded.

Her father wasn't all what she thought to be. He despised magic, and had no paternal love for the teenager witch, but he nevertheless craved for her own arcane power, and as such emotionally exploited the youth to the most. In order to increase her survivality at his side, he trained her in the ways of the sword, and before she became twenty, blood of men had already stained her sword countless times.

However, it was to be expected that her father would perish before her, and that her magic prowess brought the wrong kind of attention. In his last throes, the man spat the truth to Alecto full of resent, and died cursing the existence of the young witch. That broke Alecto inside, and her mind was stained with resent and rage. She sought to ravage the world, plunder everything and make the lands burn just to stave off the deep sorrow she felt.

For a time, this was the case, as she reinvented herself as the Knight of Sin, a dangerous brigand that pillaged several kingdoms alongside a band of marauders. Yet, when words of her mother's engagement to a prince came to her ears, Alecto plotted another kind of revenge. Her mother was now vulnerable, as she had loved ones. She, who had never come to her rescue would see how the royal family fall in disgrace. And perhaps, even perhaps, die at her sword for giving birth to her.

She didn't really need to plot that much, the opportunity presented herself in the form of the ambitious second prince... she just needed to keep whispering in his ear.

Appearance: Alecto has seemed to have inherited her own mother's striking black raven hair and fine facial structure, although her eyes seem to be a different shade of brown. When she decides to reveal herself, she wears a dreadful black armor inscribed in protective runes, as well as a sword. She otherwise dresses like a servant:


Extra: Jelly Half Aunt turned Maid of the Prince.

The Folly of a Felicitous Prince [CLOSED]

I find it ironic that Lucrecia's son, the King, treated so badly her memory and kin just because they could have magic powers. When said powers saved Andromalius, the previous king from defeat several times. I mean, retainers and superstition could fear her and resent her, but himself? I doubt Lucrecia would even hit her son once. (Well maybe on the butt when he was misbehaving).

The Folly of a Felicitous Prince [CLOSED]

I think I'll pass on the retainer, probably stacking many cards agains the second prince that way.

The Folly of a Felicitous Prince [CLOSED]

@AtomicNut

Well I was thinking that if we do have the Aunt, she would be placed more northern west on the same continent. Mostly Hiertania is open land, but maybe the southeast near the border of Tiadan would have forest and wood.

@AimeChambers

I can roll with that.

The Folly of a Felicitous Prince [CLOSED]

@AtomicNut

Whatever you decide, I'm debating whether to get the northwest island Kingdom of Kyim connected with this, but they wouldn't actually interfere with the politics of Hiertania, so I'll just have them as a side country. We also have the side country of Tiadan which borders Hiertania and Lutaires, but is separated from the elvenish country by a mountain range.

@AimeChambers

I dunno, I never thought where the Black Woods (Lucrecia's home) are actually located.

The Folly of a Felicitous Prince [CLOSED]

@AtomicNut

Ah! Well we don't know how the Regent king feels about his mother, the daughter loved her a lot. The king however despises anything to do with magic. He doesn't feel to good about killing his own blood, so he never sent troops to find her, but he was thinking of throwing the princess at her if he did find the Witch Queen. The other family members like the princes and such have never heard of her, the King would have her calling out her name a punishment.

@AimeChambers

And yet she ran as soon as she heard of his deathly illness, only to miss his death by a few hours. Sad indeed. I am considering a retainer of the Witch Queen as well, the only one she has, (was considering a third child which she carried in her when she left) but I can settle for a Knight-Errant who just befriended her, and got magical trinkets as a result (and is a black knight).

The Folly of a Felicitous Prince [CLOSED]

SOOO much is happening in the OOC and I'm so happy! It's a shame I've been gone because all this is really cool! Now on to the questions, starting out first with @AAB

The king would be extremely fearful and against having a girl as a princess because of the magical bloodline. Which meant that she may have been sent away from the castle if a girl was actually born. However! There is a loop hole! The Witch Queen could have had a daughter as well before she left for the mountains and after the King ascended the throne, she wasn't exactly banished, but put under house arrest far away from the castle. There she was heavily watched in case she showed some kind of magical power and was allowed any luxury she wished.

Then the queen had a baby and she either died in childbirth or died of sickness. The King had never found any sign of magic from his sister in later years (whether she hid them, or the blood's power skipped a generation) and the King reluctantly accepted to bring her into the castle. He always was planning to use her as a political marriage with a prince from Kyim (I haven't worked on their country yet, so yeah...) But before they could work on actually dates for marriage, he fell ill. So she has a betrothed and is not allowed to fraternize with boys.

A few things... She would never be loved by the King, just extra baggage given by his weird sister, but that doesn't mean that the princes and the queen didn't like her! The queen was a kind hearted woman that died to young, but she probably would have taken care of the princess.

NEXT! @Cubix I am totally ok with getting a personal servant of the second prince, though you may need to go in specifics with @Chiru about the details that she knows about his plans. I'll read the CS as soon as I get done with the Regent king's

@AimeChambers

Wow, poor Witch Queen. She loved her kids and husband, she truly did, but everyone hates her guts. She would take any girl with magical aptitude empathically under her wing though, if word came to her ears of their mistreatment.

The Folly of a Felicitous Prince [CLOSED]

@AAB@Sarcelle Renard@AimeChambers And now I am thinking Lucrecia arrives on top of an eagle, LOTR style and scares the crap out of the garrison before sheepily saying "It has been years" to her son/ the Captain of the Guard.

(Mentions dont work on edits properly, sorry for the double post)

The Folly of a Felicitous Prince [CLOSED]

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:) Actually, what I would like most is to be half-sister to the second. Whether I'm half or full sister to the first I don't have a strong preference on.

(I don't usually use anime pictures. Do you know of a good source I could look through to select from?)

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Ooh, I just saw this.
My character would be a responsible princess. In reading more about your character, I wondered whether mine might have a love/hate relationship with her grandma. And if my character realized she may be capable of magic, it would probably frighten her. (And whether or not my character has sisters or cousins, unless the king had an older sister who had a daughter at a young age, my character would be the oldest granddaughter of your character.)

@AAB

It is up to you. Lucrecia never got to meet any grandkids, probably.