Valkyrie Profile Covenant of the Plume
Wylfred
Type: Swordsman
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Homeland: Crell Monferaigne
Cast into poverty by his father's slaying in battle, Wylfred's family was soon
after struck by tragedy yet again, losing his younger sister, Elsie to hunger.
Left with only the Destiny Plume that lay at his father's final place of rest,
Wylfred vows revenge upon the valkyrie for all he has suffered.
Ancel
Type: Warrior
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Homeland: Crell Monferaigne
Wylfred's oldest friend joins him out of the concern of his well-being, while
harboring hopes that he might somehow dissuade Wylfred from the fruitless path of revenge against the Battle Maiden. Another childhood friend of Ancel's,
Tilte, also draws his attention of late.
Cheripa
Type: Archeress
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Homeland: Artolia
Though an accomplished assassin serving the Artolian court, watching her
fellow soldiers fall one by one into unmarked graves forced Cheripa to
question the life she had led for as long as she could remember. Resolving to
see all the world has to offer before succumbing to such a fate, she deserts
the assassin's guild and sets forth for adventure.
Lockswell
Type: Sorcerer
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Homeland: Artolia
Once a high sorcerer in the king's army, Lockswell was cast into the dungeon
while the crown executed his wife and those of her house for treason. Loath to
lose an able man, the court offered clemency on the condition both he and his
infant daughter cast off their worldly bonds and enlist in the assassin's
guild. Confronted with the choice of life or death, Lockswell elected to save
Cheripa and relinquish his heart to the shadows.
Darius
Type: Swordsman
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Homeland: Villnore
Born to destitute nobles, Darius was surrendered for adoption to a merchant
house as a boy. He would later rejoin his true house at fifteen years of age
when his birth-brothers began to fall one after another to a vicious
contagion.
Aristocratic circles spurned him for his less-than-noble upbringing, and only
though military service has he been able to restore a modicum of honor to his
name. He has but a lone friend in Earnest, an elder student of the Officer's
Academy who never spoke ill of Darius' birth nor looked down upon him.
Gwendal
Type: Swordsman
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Homeland: Gerabellum
The soulless sellsword Gwendal scours the lands of Midgard, hoarding plunder
at will and sparing nary a thought to those he wrongs. Thievery, extortion,
murder - no deed is beneath the unsavory villain.
Earnest
Type: Lancer
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Homeland: Villnore
A loyal knight of Villnore descending from a noble and distinguished line,
idealistic and sincere Earnest was dispatched to Artolian territory in order to
gain the trust of downtrodden serfs waging a rebellion.
He and the rebel commander, Natalia, have come to share a bond of friendship
that transcends affection. Also dear to him is Darius, an underclassman from
the Officers Academy with whom he holds a candid rapport.
Natalia
Type: Rogue
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Homeland: Artolia
After losing her lover to the Great Famine, Natalia decided to take up arms and
lead the serfs in rebellion against the despotic regime that left them to
starve. Aided by Villnore, she was able to turn an angry mob of untrained
farmers into a formidable insurgency.
Behind her fiery temper and stoicism lie deep-seated feelings of self-loathing
and regret over abandoning her children.
Heugoe
Type: Lancer
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Homeland: Villnore
Once a commanding officer in Villnore's military, Heugoe suffered near-fatal
wounds during a battle when the host he led was sabotaged from within.
Miraculously, his body recovered, but his spirit was later broken when it was
revealed the traitor was none other than his very own son.
Despair and depression drove Heugoe from the military to search for an early
grave, and he soon took up work as a mercenary. Haunted by his past, he sees
the face of his son in a boy of the same age.
Mischka
Type: Warrior
Age: 12
Gender: Male
Homeland: Unknown
Mischka's entire world consists solely of his twin sister, Mireille, his every
wish devoted to her happiness. She is the only family for whom he has ever
cared, never giving a second thought to the parents that abandoned the two of
them as infants.
Mireille
Type: Swordswoman
Age: 12
Gender: Female
Homeland: Unknown
Her twin brother, Mischka, in tow, Mireille fled the orphanage in which the two
were raised after they were auctioned off separately as slaves. The pair managed
to survive by peddling whatever wares passed through their innocent hands to
mercenaries in the battlefield, many of whom were more than willing to regale
the twins with grim tales and teachings of their trade. They soon took sword to
hand themselves, and devoid of any moralizing influence, possess no ethical
compass other than their own survival.
Duwain
Type: Lancer
Age 46
Gender: Male
Homeland: Artolia
Duwain was rescued in clutches of certain death by Wylfred’s father, yet failed to reciprocate the deed when the opportunity arose. As the enemy closed in around Thyodor, Duwain stood paralyzed by fear, his mind consumed with delivering the life-saving antidote his wife required.
In the end, the medicine came too late, and Duwain’s cowardice had been for naught. For months on end he sought to drown his sorrows in drink, until at last he encountered Rosea, a saintess bearing an uncanny resemblance to his late wife. In an act of penitence, he devoutly accompanies the saintess hither and thither as she heals Artolia’s ill and wounded.
Rosea
Type: Sorceress
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Homeland: Artolia
Raised in the church house on whose steps she was left as an infant, Rosea was
blessed with the gift of mystical powers from an early age. Her gifts did not
go unnoticed by the royal court, and once of age, she was promptly summoned to
serve the court magus.
After controversy forced her from her post, Rosea chose to roam Artolia's lands,
brining vital relief to the impoverished peasantry. In gratitude and reverence,
the people have dubbed her "the Saintess Rosea".
Lieselotte
Type: Sorceress
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Homeland: Artolia
The daughter of struggling street peddlers, Lieselotte learned the con and
steal long before she could read or write. Ironically, it was while attempting
to defraud a man who happened to be a court chronicler that her life took a
turn for the better. The chronicler, enamoured instantly by the girl's charm,
took her under his wing and brought her into the palace, where the court
archimagus, Cennair, would later unearth her innate talents for spellcraft.
Liesolette ascended to the rank of court magus before the nefarious incident
resulted in her banishment and left her to wander aimlessly, seeker whatever
work came her way.
Ushio
Type: Samurai
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Homeland: Isle of the Yamato
Native of a distant land who washed ashore on Artolian soil as a child after his
ship was lost to a storm at sea. There he was rescued by the court archimagus
Cennair, who had merely gone to survey the area. Relations did not at that time
exist between Artolia and the Yamato, and so there was no way to return Ushio
to his homeland. Sir Cennair successfully convinced all involved that the boy's
welfare would best be served if he himself were to raise him and so it came
to pass.
On reaching his fifteenth year, per Yamato tradition, Ushio left Sir Cennair's
ward to set forth on his swordwalk.
Valmur
Type: Archer
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Homeland: Artolia
As first son of the venerated House Haughn, Valmur was given an exhaustive
education in the arts of war no sooner than he could stand, expected to one
day follow in the hallowed footsteps of his honored forebears. In his youth,
however, Valmur took quickly to the book and slowly to the blade, and soon
came to doubt his own heroism-- a doubt which still lingers to this day.
Phiona
Type: Warrioress
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Homeland: Artolia
Hot-tempered daughter of House Haughn who alongside her brother Nicolas
persisted in spurring their sheepish elder brother, Valmur, to action. Nicolas'
sudden death upset the balance, and now the once mighty house seems destined
for ruin. Though she knows betrothal to another house awaits, Phiona's pride
will not let her accept her true house's disgrace, and for this she lashes out
against Valmur, lord of the house.
Fauxnel
Type: Sorcerer
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Homeland: Artolia
Artolian court magus who has assumed the position of the court archmagus in absentia, granting him temporary rule over all palace sorcerers. A former colleague of both Rosea and Lieselotte, Fauxnel was said to be ultimately involved in the mysterious death of Sir Cennair, for which the two were banished.
Auguste
Type: Pugilist
Age: 60
Gender: Male
Homeland: Artolia
Auguste met his first battle holding tight his sorcerer’s rod, only to dispense with it forevermore on witnessing the beauty of unarmed combat. His imagination captured, Auguste thenceforth dedicated all of his energies to perfecting the way of the fist.
After a lifetime spent defending his clan’s honor, Auguste was forced to bury his son Nicolas, and no longer did the virtue of dying a warrior’s death appeal to him. He wishes solely that his remaining children outlive him, so that he need never suffer the agony of losing a child again.
Reinhilde
Type: Archeress
Age: 52
Gender: Female
Homeland: Artolia
Devoted wife of Auguste, former Lord of House Haughn. Reinhilde has stood by her husband in all matters, trusting in his vision over that of the house’s current lord, her son Valmur. The sudden death of her son Nicolas, has called her faith in names and nobility into question. All she wishes for are the survival and the well-being of her children.
Langrey
Type: Sorcerer
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Homeland: Artolia
Eldest prince of Artolia, but not its crown prince. That honor belongs to the son of the queen regnant, Prince Kristoff, per the traditions of Artolian succession. Nevertheless, there are those who argue that since Langrey’s mother was of a birth more noble than the queen’s, the throne is by right his, and Artolia has been embroiled in conflict since the princes were mere babes.
Langrey’s wishes for Artolian prosperity are genuine, and he laments that his kingdom does not enjoy the wealth its neighbors do. It is for that very reason, the future welfare of his homeland, that Langrey seeks to rule.
Kristoff
Type: Warrior
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Homeland: Artolia
Crown prince of Artolia, but not its eldest prince. By the laws and customs of old, the first son of the king and queen regnant, Kristoff, is entitled to the throne, yet some contend there are grounds that substantiate the claim of the elder Langrey, first son of the king who was born out of wedlock. Regardless, Kristoff cares deeply for his elder half-brother.
While trying to calm the political furor raised in the wake of his father’s death, Kristoff passive demeanor has been a great detriment, placing him at the mercy of his insistent and insidious advisors.
Roienbourg
Type: Lancer
Age: 55
Gender: Male
Hometown: Artolia
Old friend to whom the former king had entrusted the fosterage of his two sons. Weary of ceaseless political infighting at court and assigned the title of margrave, Roienbourg left the palace and the young princes to tend to his demesne in the southern borderlands. Following the king’s death, he looked on from afar as the succession controversy unfolded, and recognizing the infighting would ultimately spell Artolia’s ruin, took up the banner of Joshua, eldest son of Duke Valery, brother of the former king.
Ailyth
Type: Hound of Hel
Age: Unknown
Gender: Female
Hometown: Niflheim
Loyal servant of Hel, Queen of Niflheim, who assumes the guise of a lady so as to move freely about Midgard. Ailyth’s true form is in fact that of the ravenous demon-hound Garm.
Lenneth
Type: Chooser of the Slain
Age: Unknown
Gender: Female
Hometown: Valhalla
Valkyrie presiding over Midgard at present. Sent forth by Odin, the Battle Maiden scours the killing fields for fallen warrior souls upon whom to bestow eternal heavenly glory. The Chooser of the Slain is revered as a savior by some, reviled as a death goddess by others.
Hrist
Type: Chooser of the Slain
Age: Unknown
Gender: Female
Hometown: Valhalla
Her fervent loyalty to Odin often compels of Fate’s three daughters to act with blatant disregard for the will of mortals.
Only one Battle Maiden remains awake to recruit einherjar at a given time. While Lenneth tends to the duty of Valkyrie, and Silmeria remains to the custody of the Lord of the Undead, Hrist’s spirits lies dormant within a mortal body in Midgard.
Arngrim
Type: Warrior
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Hometown: Artolia
Artolian mercenary soul not incarnated at present, yet destined to achieve great renown once he is again born. Though once an einherjar of Hrist’s, Arngrim was returned to the cycle of transmigration after running afoul of Odin.
Freya
Type: Giver of Life
Age: Unknown
Gender: Female
Hometown: Valhalla
Goddess of Creation who stands ever faithful by Odin’s side, and to whom the All-father entrusts the consummation of his command.
For her ability to conjure being were there once was none, Freya is worshipped by mortals as a goddess of life and fertility. Yet, what the goddess giveth, she also taketh away, and those who cross her soon find the Goddess of Creation is equally capable of punishing her children as she is of nurturing them. Hers is a power before which gods and men alike are compelled to kneel.
No comments:
Post a Comment