Devonshire Characters

Regginal is the eldest son of a Sheriff from Pendleton. His selection as Heir Designate of Devonshire was much publicized and well known. Regginal was a known supporter and long-time friend of Baron Richard Stanley d'Arundel. However, soon after taking office, Regginal began a series of changes in his Duchy that were unexpected. He did not oppose the selection of a strong, intensely orthodox Cardinal (a member of the Claw, even); he extended the powers of the Barons and made their offices hereditary; and he declared the use of magic to be a capital offense.

What the world did not know, and still does not, was that he was under the influence of a gem given to him in a dream by his first love (then long dead). The gem was intended to aid him in making decisions and give him a more equal footing with the other, psionically enabled, Dukes. Instead, it sapped his will and made him little more than a puppet to other people's whims and desires.

The gem was destroyed (by our party of brave adventurers). Since then, many of his changes have been moderated. But, the toning down of these steps has been slow and more cautious. Regginal never appears publicly. Typically, for public appearances he sends either the Lord Regent or, when appropriate, Tabytha.

The player-only version of what is going on is that Regi's will had been so sapped by the gem that when it was destroyed there was nothing of him left. His body yet lives, but he is in no better shape than the Duke-Mother. Worse, in fact. At this point, the Lord Regent (by virtue of being married to the Duchess' sister) could have forced the issue and become Duke himself. He chose, instead, to support Tabytha in ruling the country quietly and from behind the scenes. When writing storylines for Devonshire, remember it is Tabytha and Geoffrey who are really running things, not Regi.

Duchess Tabytha Rebecha Williams Wellington

Tabytha is small, standing hardly five feet tall and slender of build. Her hair is flaxen blonde, her eyes blue. She often wears her hair down. The combined image is one of a perpetual little girl -- no matter how old she is, people still think of her as a little girl. Unfortunately, with this image firmly entrenched in people, even attempts at dressing older fail to remove it. It is an image which causes her no small amount of frustration. The fact, though, that this particular little girl is the Duchess is a fact that few people forget a second time.

By now, the tale of how Tabytha was wed to Regginal after her sister's death is well known. At first, Tabytha disliked the idea only because it should have been Allyson. Regginal was a decent sort of fellow. She knew there were precious few Duke's daughters not caught up in purely political marriages, and there were many people out there much worse than Regginal. Well, that's what she thought. Unfortunately, the gods took a hand in Regi's life and things went sour from there.

Tabytha's psi abilities are limited. She has neither range, nor power, nor control. What she has is the ability to see a person's future, or see (as images) their thoughts. But, the ability only manifests itself with people she is very close to emotionally, never with strangers. She has no skill, per se, at this ability. Her father had always taught that it was a bad thing and not to be used. (If you equate the topic of "psi" in the Devonshire household with the topic of "sex" in a Southern Fundamentalist Christian family, you are spot on.)

The combination of several years spent with Regginal, while he was under the influence of a relic, and seeing him see Allyson instead of her, the loss of her first child, and the other events surrounding the Ducal Family have had their effect on the Lady Tabytha. My most recent descriptive for Tabytha is "Teflon Heart". She is very close to her sisters, her cousin Gloriana, and a few other friends she made prior to her wedding. Everyone else remains at a nice, safe distance. Years of necessity have made her able to put on the correct public face for whatever situation she is in. She can say or do whatever is "right" at the moment, and feel virtually nothing. This is not the case, however, with those people mentioned above. With them, her guard is down and they get the full, unfiltered Tabytha.

Publicly, Tabytha is extremely popular. She was the little girl to did the right thing for family honor, the gorgeous daughter of a very popular Duke and Duchess, everybody's little girl.

In matters at court, she is quietly known as a very capable duchess. More than one formerly-at-court noble has been dispatched to life in the high, cold, frozen mountains on the Morkon border after crossing her. She has, in his own strange fashion, Regginal's heart and his ear. She is very aware of the exact limits of her political power, never crossing them, but allowing no encroachment. Conventional wisdom says that she is most impressed by unselfish service and loyalty to the duchy and the ducal family. It also says that those that forget these preferences would be well advised to note that there are still plenty of mountain passes between Devonshire and the Morkon lands that could house a forgotten, misguided courtier.

Victoria Elayna Pemblehock Devonshire, Duke-Mother

Victoria is the aging mother of Tabytha, formerly Grand Duchess. Her husband died nearly three years ago, and she has been going downhill ever since. His death, and Tabytha's subsequent unhappiness, was just a little more than she could manage. She remains in the castle, and is tended by a small horde of servants, and more than one physician, but mostly, her time is spent simply staring out her window.

Margaret Andriana Williams Stanley

Margaret takes after her mother. She is tall for the era, standing about 5'-10". That's smaller than her husband, but most people are smaller than her husband. She's thin of build. Margaret was older when Allyson died, it was a loss, but not an irrecoverable one. Actually, for Margaret it was something of a blessing in disguise. While Alistair (her father) was alive and truly running things, she and all her sisters seemed destined for purely political marriages. Allyson's death and Alistair's subsequent doldrums allowed Margaret to marry her childhood sweetheart, Geoffrey Stanley (currently the Lord Regent).

Psionically, Margaret is a dud. Even at this age, she has shown neither power nor skill in any area.

Llywelynn Victoria Williams

Llywelynn is the fourth daughter of Alistair and Victoria. Her name is a very old family name, dating back to before the Great Elf War, which is fitting, since her favorite pastime is reading the heroic tales of that era. She stands about 5'7" tall, and favors her father with her brown, almost black hair.

She doesn't fit in well with the other girls at court. In the first place, she's much more likely to be found curled up on a comfortable branch of her "special" tree in the apple orchard, reading and dreaming about knights and fair ladies than joining the others for needlework and gossip in the solarium. She knows how to behave properly at state functions, but despite the efforts of the best teachers money can buy, she is a disaster on the dance floor and can barely maintain her seat on her horse during a hunt. None of the young men presented to her as suitors have come close to those she has read about in the tales, and unfortunately, her opinions about them have been painfully clear.

Elynn also has an unnerving habit of playing pranks on her family and the servants. At least, everyone is pretty sure that she is the author of the pranks - she denies most of them. All she knows is that if she really wants something to happen, somehow it usually does. For example, when one of the local swains cornered her and insisted that she join him on the dance floor, to her great relief the musician's lute strings suddenly broke. The music stopped and everyone retired for refreshments.

When she finishes a book and has forgotten to bring another with her, she can reach out and wish for the one left behind in her bedroom and it will appear in less time than it takes her to finish an apple.

In other words, Elynn is not a psionic dud. She is strongly telekinetic, though she would be horrified if anyone told her so.

Elynn is a PC.

Other Devonshire Sisters

There are two sisters, Francis and Finella, left unaccounted for in all of this. I'll flesh them out as they are needed.

Geoffrey Bastian Stanley, Lord Regent

Stanley is a young fellow, the son of the Regent before him. His family is tied to the Eastern Stanleys, but it is quite far back. Nevertheless, he did inherit the genes that run so strong in Stanley men. He is about six feet tall and stout of build. He could have easily leaned toward knighthood, but chose the less strenuous role of Regent-in-training in his youth. He is a gentle man and not disposed to any violent emotion that anyone can easily remember. The role of head bureaucrat suits him well as he minds the details of government to the point of fastidiousness. Geoffrey is married to his childhood sweetheart, Margaret Williams (sister of the Duchess). As you can well imagine, Geoffrey is loyal to the Ducal Family. He cares not a bit for some of the changes imposed by Regginal, and was pleased to see the direction the duchy is going most recently. No one is held in higher esteem by the Duchess than Geoffrey.

Andre Montgomery Holmes, Lord Marshall

Physically, Holmes is precisely the opposite of what you would expect to be commanding the Duke's own Guard. He is a small fellow, no more than 5'-2" tall, slight of build with a manner almost effeminate. There is very little that he does that is not carried to extreme. He is very intense and easily caught up emotionally in what he is doing. This intensity is the source of not a few winces in Castle Devonshire as his voice is particularly rich in the upper register, and has a tendency to be just plain shrill when he is excited. Andre is a very religious man who is especially careful about all observances. His religion is genuine, neither dogmatic, nor superstitious.

Militarily, Andre is uninspired. He relies almost entirely upon the tried and true tactics involving lots of heavy knights and a few medium cavalry.

Andre will be 40 years old in YR 230. He is unwed.

Waleran Bigod, Cardinal of Devonshire, Baron of Theonomy

Waleran Bigod is about forty years old. More than anything, his age is apparent from his ever-widening waist and the greying fringe of red hair that rings his head. His features are sharp and angular, made even more so by his goatee. More than anything he looks like (and acts like) a fox.

Waleran was born in about YR 190, and is yet another orphan taken in by Harkan Abbey. He was raised there by the priests, and ultimately served as apprentice to Cardinal Silas of The Claw.

Waleran is, more than anything else, a political animal. He is a vengeful soul who is absolutely driven to never, ever see himself as the poor helpless waif he once was. Waleran, in fact, embodies all of the excesses which the Church is most known for: he spends far more time on politics than on any services, his quarters and accoutrements are opulent even by Ducal standards, and his entertainments would make a Borgia blush. Needless to say, Waleran is unwed.

While Waleran can always be counted on to do whatever is politically expedient, there can be no mistake that he leans far to the right religiously. The recent Lateran Council was not, by his reckoning, quite strong enough. But, it will suffice for the time. He is said to have been infuriated by the Refutation of the Helm, authored by Mother Agnes. The two of them, even long before this recent row, could find no common ground, neither professionally nor personally.

Initially, Waleran was friendly with Duke Regi. From the character perspective, it seems this relationship has cooled since Diane's death at the hands of an angry mob. From the player perspective, "cooled" means "0 Kelvin" -- Diane was particularly close to and especially fond of both Tabytha and Gloriana Stanley. Waleran managed to have the two priests who did the dirty work quietly reassigned to some unspecified duchy on the West side of the Realm ere some good knight took it upon himself to do what I'm sure Tabytha would have wished for upon finding out about it.

Artemas Alva Mitchell, Baron of Elsbane

Artemas is 50 years old as or YR 230. He stands a scant 5'-6" tall, and boasts a mere 12 ST (barely normal in a province of high-country miners) and is more than a little overweight. His face is blotched with great dark stains -- like large freckles.

Overall, the barony of Elsbane does fairly well under Artemas. He is fairly intelligent, with what seems to be a natural gift for administration. Of course, that gift only show itself when you can get him to actually do some work. More often, he can be found either attending or hosting or planning for the next party. Artemas is another, like many people from Elsbane, who manages to be very religious personally while having absolutely no use for the political maneuverings of the priests or the jockeying for power among the high clergy. His acidic comments against the clergy have often been mistaken for irreverence, when in fact, it is simple cynicism.

@heading 3: Erinn Morgana Mitchell, Baroness of Elsbane

Erinn is one of the more colorful characters in the duchy. Physically, she is young, tall and strong -- and considered thus even in a barony where "tall and strong" is the norm. To be more precise, she is 21 years old, stands about 6'-4" tall (pushing giant class in this era), weighs in at 170 pounds, and has a 15 ST.

Erinn is, however, stronger of back than of brain. Mentally, she is noticeably slow. Socially, she has some tact, but certainly is not known for it. Rather, she is known to speak her mind on whatever topic is at hand -- she is brutally truthful, and more than a little irreverent. Three years ago, this got her into trouble when she spoke her mind about a well-known vicar in her area. "Misbegotten spawn of Tiamat" was the precise wording (it seems he had recently given her a penance well in excess of what she thought was appropriate). As events unfolded, her comment was proven to be more correct than she thought. The priest -- a Tiamat cultist after all -- was hanged and she became more popular than ever.

One of the things Erinn has also been heard to speak her mind on in the early reign of Regginal I. "If you are going to allow priests to run about hanging whoever they will, then you may as well not have any laws at all. Maybe we should all just become priests, so at least they'd have to hang each other." Officially, the other barons did not comment. Unofficially, they simply nodded.

It is well known that her marriage to Artemas is purely political. In fact, it is common knowledge in the household that her tastes run more towards young women than old men.

Maurice Woodrow Glouchester, Baron of Glouchester

Maurice is the sort of person you would most expect to find married to someone like Ranice, and the person you'd most hate to have it be. Maurice is a stonecutter, who worked his way unscrupulously through the local guild until he was able to marry the Guild Master's daughter -- Ranice.

Physically, he is about 5'-9" tall, weighs in at 155 pounds, with brownish red hair. He is about 50 years old, and is fairly average in appearance and build.

Maurice has an average intelligence -- he's neither a rocket scientist nor the village idiot. He makes up for this, though, with a driving ambition and the energy of a man possessed. He is quite imaginative, often working out elaborate, virtually bullet proof, schemes for whatever he is after next. The only thing that keeps him from it is a tendency to cut corners. Often, he cuts the corners closer than he should, leaving an elaborate plot in shambles about his feet.

Publicly, he supports whomever is convenient at the moment. He gives the public face (an obvious facade) of being very religious. But, his actions show a man who is not tied closely to the Church at all, and who cares for Waleran Bigod not at all. He supports Duke Regginal unconditionally -- the recent enhancements to baronial powers were made just after Maurice petitioned the Duke for such things personally.

Ranice Ronal Glouchester, Baroness of Glouchester

In YR 207, a child was born to the former Baron and Baroness of Glouchester. The Baron, as it happens, was a bastard son of Alistair's father. The Baroness, as was well known, was a sister of Duke Alistair. Ranice, as you can guess, isn't put together entirely correctly.

Physically, she is 5'-3" tall, weighs about 120 pounds, with a frame that can only be described as fragile. She is actually quite attractive (1-sigma). Mentally is the more interesting part. Ranice is the intellectual equivalent of an 8-year-old. For a woman of 23 years, that places her IQ at about a 6. But, owing to that gene pool of hers, she is fully psionic. Her one power is the ability to heal people on touch. Her healing, though, tends to coincide with fainting -- she just doesn't have the ST to support it nor the skill level to cheapen it.

You can guess how people view a child-like figure, always perfectly pleasant, always perfectly polite, always perfectly truthful, who also heals people and then swoons. Ranice is viewed by many of the locals as saint. The Church does not publicly or officially support this notion, though the local priests are quite open about the fact that they believe it as well. This, of course, may have more to do with the fact that Ranice is easily manipulated and having a saint in your parish lines your coffers quite nicely. The recent investigation into a visitation in this Barony only served to support this claim.

Sir Franklin Erwin Miller, Baron of Galsworth, Knight Commander of the Old Home Guard

Erwin is the diplomat of the group. Erwin is extremely intelligent, and tends to see the second and third order precursors of things that will affect him almost immediately. He is a planner and strategist. This is the man who cut local taxes on his market, and was able to demonstrate how that actually increased his tax revenues.

Erwin stands about 5'-11" tall and weighs in at 165 pounds. He is 56 years old (in YR 230), with white hair and freckled, wrinkled skin. He has one lazy eye, that tends to droop when he is tired or bored. The effect is the appearance of a doddering old man -- precisely the incorrect thing to ever think of Erwin.

Erwin is deeply religious: the sort of fellow who truly and honestly attributes all of his accomplishments to the Will of God, but isn't obnoxious about it. Erwin trained, as a lad, to join the priesthood. He'd studied and worked and prepared, but somehow just didn't feel right about taking the final vows. Something just didn't feel right about it, so after much prayer, he decided to move on to other things. Finally, he left the priesthood and took a position working for the Baron before him. Being one of the precious few people who could read and do numbers, his position in the hierarchy was stable. Ultimately, he rose to become the former Baron's chief advisor, and at the age of 40 years was chosen as the Baron's successor. He has ruled ever since.

Personally, Erwin's deep convictions come across badly for some people. He is, by nature, a distant, cold sort of person. He does not form friendships readily. Neither is he especially lonely. He's just sort of an island unto himself. Often, though, the combination of his convictions and his emotional distance gives him the appearance of haughtiness.

Erwin has made it perfectly clear to his son that Ducal decree or no Ducal decree, he's going to have to go out and earn the title of Baron. It will not be simply handed to him. In all ways, the Baron supports the Duke. Divine Right is, after all, an accepted notion.

Pandora Nananne Miller, Baroness of Galsworth

Pandora is another person much like her husband. She is cool, reserved, and basically very distant. She speaks when it is expected of her, and is quiet all other times. She is, in general, a person who is easy to forget. So, this writer will.

Francis Harold Hastings, Baron of Hastings

Francis in a fairly fellow (born in YR 193) as barons go. One can only assume that appearance has nothing to do with social status in the Realm, for if it did this fellow would be mucking stable someplace. He stands an even six feet tall, and weighs in at a feathery 155. His hair is red and his eyes brown. He has a long, hooked nose (giving him the appearance of a zipper when viewed from the side).

As a child, Francis was chided mercilessly about his appearance (how many ways can the language finish the phrase "he's uglier than...."). The result was a troubled young man with a violent temper.

Fortunately for Francis, wealth does mean something. As the tenth child of a minor functionary in Hudson, his prospects for an easy slide into nobility looked frightfully small. As such, he set out to make a name and a fortune for himself.

His basic intelligence, and a few gems liberated from his parents, allowed him to make money quite quickly buying and selling gems. As it began to appear that Francis was just about fall flat on his face, he learned that his parents had died and left him (and all the children) quite a large, easily liquidated, inheritance. Francis was on his way. Having learned from his previous mistakes, Francis was able to parley his newfound sum into enough wealth to make a successful bid for his successor's daughter's hand.

He is the fellow who has learned from most from his experiences the most rapidly. His temper is under tight control (giving the appearance of total non-violence). Life is pretty good.

Francis will support whatever prevailing political wind will increase the size of his coffers most rapidly.

Averyl Henrietta Hastings, Baroness of Hastings

To meet Averyl, you'd think that she were absolutely the unhappiest person you'd ever met. She is, by nature, pure depressive. She stands about 5'-7" tall, has a square jaw, drooping eyelids, and a slump about the shoulders from years of always being the tallest little girl around.

When she can find the energy to actually do something, she is fairly intelligent and has a natural talent for organization. Unfortunately, the times that she actually gets excited about something and stays that way are precious few and precious far between. Averyl is just your basic depressive alcoholic.

Gunther Aldritch Preston, Baron of Preston, Chairman of the Fraternal Order of Chemists and Natural Philosophers

Gunther is the Guildmaster here in Devonshire of the FOCNP. He is an elderly gentleman of about 50 years. He's worked his way up through the guild from his apprenticeship as a boy and is currently at the pinnacle of his career. The recent Ducal funding of the Guild Hall here and the completion of the work it was granted for (well in advance of any date it was expected) leave Gunther in the best position imaginable.

Gunther is neither especially greedy nor ambitious. "Wise" is more the term usually used for him. He is intelligent, but has the wealth of life experiences so often found missing in guild members. Working with this many builders and masons and things in the construction of his Guild Hall is a rare challenge for him -- a thing he hadn't expected to find after he became head of the Guild and Baron.

Gunther is a traditionalist. While he is loyal to the Duke and to the Duchy completely, he would be scandalized by the idea of Little Tabytha actually running the show.

Florida Page Preston, Baroness of Preston

Florida is the easiest example to cite for why the "Fraternal Order of ..." isn't so Fraternal. She is a full member of the guild, and a quite well respected one as well. In research and study, she is both her husband's pupil (his one great break from tradition was when he married his apprentice) and his better. Had there been bibliographies in this time, you'd find her name listed prominently in more of them than anyone else.

So, why did an excellent researcher like this not get chosen to head the Order? Mostly because she didn't want it. She'd rather be studying somewhere nice and quiet than dealing with a bunch of disgruntled funding grubbers. She is much, much more comfortable in the lab than anywhere else. Most people who know her find this to be disappointing. She is very friendly, likeable, warm -- an absolute master at making whomever she is talking to think they are at the center of the universe. She simply doesn't like large groups of people.

Florida's parents were poor dirt farmers; folks who were glad to be rid of another mouth to feed. She inherited their natural size and strength. She's 5'-6" tall, thin, athletic, and blonde. Think 2-sigma beauty.

Haven Karlan Townsend, Baron of Townsend

For quite some time now, folks have been speculating on the coming death of Haven Townsend. He's nearly 60 years old and has a list of maladies long enough to leave doctors just shaking their heads. Yet, he's been in this state for nearly four years and just isn't dying yet. His current condition borders on vegetative.

The fact that the players will know, but NO character will have, is that his wife is secretly the head of a coven here in Townsend. She's been using just a little magic to just barely keep him going. You see, so long as he is in this state and his state is known, nobody comes along and tries to mess with her position. She doesn't actually run the duchy at all. In fact, the government is growing more corrupt and less effective as time goes along. But, she really doesn't care. She has the power base here that she wants and life is good.

Ralina Loise Townsend, Baroness of Townsend

Were there a title for "Witch of Devonshire" she would get it. Ralina is younger than her husband by a good 20 years. She's been a Tiamat Cultist since she was a child -- her parents were. At this point, her skills (both magical and otherwise) are highly developed. She is the one keeping her husband alive and incapacitated so that she can manipulate events from where she sits. In fact, it was Ralina who (with a little help from her deity's minions) twisted the amulet from its original purpose. Face it, had that thing been left to work as it was intended, she'd have been found out quite quickly. Fortunately, twisting an existing enchantment is not an overwhelmingly difficult thing.

This is, of course, all player knowledge. Those few characters that would know her at all would know her as a loving, devoted wife. The woman who has tended her husband's final moments personally since he got ill. A poor lady, soon to become a widow, but in the meantime stuck in the netherworld reserved for people with loved ones who are just about to die.

Ralina is 42 years old, 5'-4" tall, black hair, dark, dark brown eyes. She is neither spectacularly attractive nor unattractive.

Vicar Ron

Fr. Ron is a vicar, which conveniently makes him one up on most every PC priest he's likely to encounter. Notably Pavane and sister Anne. Fr. Ron introduces himself as simply, Fr. Ron. The title of Vicar he saves for when it's really needed -- like when he's telling itinerant priests what to do. When it comes to movers and shakers in the duchy, well, Ron just doesn't qualify. Not really. He's here because the group has met him, he's an up-and-comer, and the group can likely expect to meet him again.

Fr. Ron is a very conservative man. He doesn't froth, but he does get his words in. He is also an accomplished healer and worker of the arcane. St. Martin's renunciation doesn't apply to him -- he's one of the clergy.

He's a pain in the butt to have around. He is always asking all other members of the clergy to toe the line.

Fr. Ron expects the miracles of the church to be performed as affirmations of faith. If you can't espouse how faithful you are, or can't be lead to prove to the world (or at least the church) how faithful you are, you aren't worth it. If other members of the clergy do not lay this boon of demonstration and affirmation of faith upon those they heal, they aren't doing it right.

Fr. Ron is a PC.

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