Alive in the Red Revolution

Game Master Tiger Claw

A daughter of Galt, Thisbe grew up as many children in Isarn did: scrappy and hungry.

Thisbe was only 8 when her Mother sent her with 5 copper to the bakery to stand in line for bread. Close to the bakery, she met a group of kids throwing dice on the street. It only took a tongue in cheek comment and the promise of fortune for Thisbe to put her coins down on the next roll. With a smug grin and a “sorry kid”, her 5 copper was gone.

Her family went hungry that week and it was her fault. Thisbe vowed never to gamble again. And, being a cunning kid with a head for numbers, knew she had to learn how to get on the other side of that game.

After the Twelfth Decree, her mother lost her job as a lamplighter. When the notice came, without severance and long after the fuel supply went dry, it called her mother “irrelevant”. From then on the streets were dark, and Thisbe went hungry.

To give her some credit, Thisbe’s Mother didn’t give in immediately. She found a few odd jobs, but it never added up to much. Then, one day out of the blue, Thisbe came home to a feast: a roasted hen, vegetables, bread and butter on the table. There was even sugar for the tea! Suddenly, the Cormorant family’s fortune turned for the better.

Her Mother paid a small clerk’s office in the Wine Quarter to take Thisbe on as an apprentice for 2 years. Thisbe quickly mastered figures and proofs, demographics and statistics, much to the surprise of the Head Clerk. A quick study and devoted worker, Thisbe found immense pleasure in manipulating and understanding numbers. She began applying what she learned in all areas of her life, thus discovering that with data came the power to make better choices and do more with less. Numbers didn’t lie. For the first time in her life, Thisbe felt empowered. And she liked it.

At first, Thisbe wasn’t sure where the money was coming from, until a pair of goons started showing up to their apartment in the Cider Vault, threatening her Mother and ransacking their home. Once she followed them back to the Lucky Iris, a gambling den & lending house known to be ran by the Vice.

Not long thereafter, Thisbe’s Mother began to decline. She came home from a day of working in the bakery without 2 of her fingers on her left hand. The next day, 2 more were gone, the bloody stumps remaining untreated and turning black. Thisbe watched her Mother disappear before her eyes. Not only did the Vice eventually take her entire left hand, but her Mother had given into a deep despair that lead her to the daily use of pesh.

Thisbe realized that the Vice clearly knew her Mother would never be able to repay their loan. They made a calculation and took the risk of her Mother either dying, or becoming their indentured servant. They weighed her life in the balance and set a fire in Thisbe’s bones that has yet to be extinguished.

On a day that seemed like any other, Thisbe went to the Warehouse District to find her Mother and bring her home. This day, however, Thisbe found her cold body slumped in the dilapidated building she frequented to get high. Her Mother was alone when she died and, only 14 at the time, Thisbe lost the only family she knew in this world.

Thisbe’s rage and despair led her to cursing the system in Galt that would allow this to happen. She vowed that her Mother, and all victims of the Vice, would be avenged.

It was then that Thisbe started on the path into the heart of the Vice, where she planned on burning them down from within.

Unable to pay the tuition to finish her clerk apprenticeship, Thisbe had to find a way to survive. It started out as a dice game on the streets. Expanded to back alley card games and, eventually, she was hired by the Vice as a dealer at the Lucky Iris. No one ever got too lucky at Thisbe’s table and the bosses took notice.

Two loquacious leg breakers were complaining about their boss, a bookie for the Iris who managed his affairs violently yet relied on them to do the grisly deeds. Mysteriously, the bookie ended up dead a few days later.

At their recommendation, the Vice promoted Thisbe and she now does loan and bet accounting, sending out the two thugs as needed for muscle, but usually relying on her meticulous planning and reputation instead of overt force.

Thisbe has made covert maneuvers in her current position to funnel funds away from the Vice and back into the organizations which serve the people of Galt.

The previous bookie fell far short of Thisbe’s mathematical genius and she made simple work of convincing the bosses to adopt her own methodical accounting systems. In truth, they seemed less interested in how she kept the books as long as the money kept coming.

Under their noses, she’s judiciously created false players, who collect pithy winnings from time to time. A silver won here and there is an expected deviation, even in the Iris where the House’s edge is steep. Should any of her bosses question the winnings, Thisbe only has to show them her complex and meticulous ledgers.

In fact, under Thisbe’s tenure as accountant, the Lucky Iris has become the most profitable it’s ever been. She’s made suggestions to the Pit Boss to change the games of pure chance, to incorporate more games of combinations and skill, thus increasing the likelihood of the House winning and repeat players. Thisbe has been instrumental in predicting average gain in the Iris’s games and in creating the illusion that their games are fair. More money coming into the Iris means more she’s able to siphon and put in the hands of those that need it.

Once a sizeable fund has been collected, Thisbe sends Little Boy and Fat Man to deliver the so-called winnings. She spends time running them through every aspect of their mysterious deliveries and occasionally helps them prepare disguises if needed. Thisbe leaves the mark of a red hand from her glove on their left cheek, to signify their connection to her, and signs a note Complements of the Scarlet Hand, on each delivery. While she has yet to be in direct contact with her beneficiaries, none have refused the coin.

While Thisbe has barely scraped the surface of understanding the inner workings of the Vice, including where the vast amounts of gold goes, she knows her game is a long one and she keeps sharp for potential opportunities to dig deeper.

When Thisbe isn’t working at the Lucky Iris, she keeps her razor focus on her goals. Not allowing herself many distractions, she perfects her calculations, practices her rapier, prepares extracts and keeps abreast of current events in Isarn and Galt. Preferring unfiltered data, Thisbe makes a point to attend significant political events where she can keep her profile low.

She still lives in the same dilapidated apartment, where she grew up, in the Cider Vault.

Thisbe is careful and methodical in her words and actions. With so many eyes and ears in the Vice, she keeps her political views held close. She refuses to allow her personal feelings to be used against her.

Thisbe sees potential value in connections to all groups, so she doesn’t take any cards off the table with the hopes she can play them all to achieve her goals. However, in the true Galtan spirit, she would much rather throw the game in its entirety.

Her work as the Scarlet Hand over the years displays a strong lean towards the charitable and egalitarian works in the city. Those who might blunder into her apartments would find Galt Gazette issues and stolen books on Galtan revolutionary history.

Although kept close to her heart, Thisbe’s true orientation to the various groups in Isarn follows:

The Revolutionary Council
Thisbe is not only opposed to this Revolutionary Council, but all Revolutionary Councils. Until the yoke of power is torn from the Council and the people are free from all rulers and States, Galt can never succeed in liberating themselves.

By her estimation, the people have done the work in providing for their welfare with sparse and happenstance assistance from the Councils. The people of Galt don’t need the Council system. And, even worse, it’s a grotesque waste of resources to keep it in place.

The Grey Gardeners
Thisbe considers the Grey Gardeners as an unaccountable, feckless organization of brutes. The so-called stewards of the Final Blades are little more than power hungry masked perpetrators of violence on Galtans. In Thisbe’s view, the spirit and ideals of the Revolution are ever changing, thus a stagnant rule of “law and justice” are inherently oppressive. If an opportunity to undermine the Grey Gardeners were ever to present itself, Thisbe would take it.

Senate
Regardless of Party, Thisbe doesn’t hold stock in representative government. She sees the Senate as a bloviating, resource-sucking waste of time. Thisbe would consider the potential benefit in befriending certain Party members to see piecemeal reforms pass, thus making it easier for the people to overthrow the Councils and all government. If pressed, Thisbe will wave off the inquirer with vague support of the Egalitarian Party, as she believes that airing her true political beliefs is dangerous to her goals.

Court of Bees
Thisbe is bitter towards the Court of Bees, yet considers the coalition less of an immediate target than the Vice. The coalition of merchants and theocrats are an irritating aspect of the larger government’s systemic operation, yet her focus is elsewhere.

Milanite Factions
Thisbe has sought out the hospital run by the Sisters of Everbloom many times in her life. It was there that she was converted to a follower of Milani, inspired by her revolutionary spirit and the Sister’s devotion to the health of her people. Though Thisbe doesn’t particularly have a dog in the faction fight, she feels aligned in spirit with the Blood Rose.

Erastil’s Commune
Thisbe holds the Commune in esteem as an example of the cooperation to meet the needs of Isarn’s people. While skeptical of the role of the elders and curious as to whether all resources are distributed equally, Thisbe has sent a few of her special packages to the Commune and admires the work the Commune does for the City.

Pathfinder Society
Thisbe’s scientific mind is drawn to supporting the Society, though she hasn’t made overt attempts in support. Thisbe still seeks a safe way to get funds to the Pathfinder Society as she’s yet to make contact with their members in hiding.

Thisbe works heavily with the toughs she “liberated” from their previous boss. They seem to trust Thisbe, or possibly fear her; as long as they do as their told, Thisbe doesn’t particularly have a preference.

Fat Man - Fat Man works as a bouncer for the Lucky Iris, where the Vice has employed Thisbe as its bookie & lender. Fat Man speaks little, but is an intimidating 300 pound strong-arm that Thisbe relies on from time to time. He doesn’t say much and takes orders well: the perfect man.

Little Boy - Little Boy, a grown man who is a few inches shorter than he would like, is the fast-talking swindler who keeps the tables moving and the players engaged. Sure, he might take the opportunity to swipe a few coins off the unsuspecting guest, but Thisbe doesn’t blame him for that. His most notable feature is his unnecessary vocabulary, of which, he constantly employs. “A partisan who lacks in fecundity and grace is of no consequential caliber!”

Thisbe isn’t a striking woman, being slim in the wrong places due to years of lack of nutrition. She’s taller than most of her gender and the severe bone structure of her face lends itself to her air of superiority. She keeps her dark hair long, though when working at the Iris, puts it in a tight bun to dissuade any disgruntled losers from pulling it. She carries a few light scars on her brown skin, the remaining evidence of scrapes with her rough neighbors in the Cider Vault. She can usually be found wearing worn clerk’s attire, outgrown and mended as it’s the same suit from the apprenticeship in her youth. She keeps a pair of gloves in her pocket, one of which leaves the scarlet hand mark known to her beneficiaries.

One wouldn’t call Thisbe friendly, although she is confident in her communication. She mostly keeps to herself and only develops those relationships which assist her goals. Logical to a near fault, Thisbe uses her methodical mind to convince and disarm those she works with. She’s yet to lose a logical argument. Overall, an outsider would view Thisbe as cool and detached, even boring. The mask Thisbe wears has succeeded in hiding her fervent hatred for the Vice and the burning fire of revolution that builds inside.