Terna's page

If someone were to offer to tell Terna of her parent's fate without saying what it was, or said that it was something they could learn she would be very suspicious of the offer, though she would certainly see what they wanted in return, and would be willing to barter for the information. If she came across a lead on her own it would be a somewhat pleasant surprise as she doesn't have any current expectation that she'll learn what happened to them, and she would follow it, though not to the exclusion of other more pressing matters.

Terna never heard what happened to her parents. She assumes that they were killed in the uprising because they never sent for her, but acknowledges that something else could have happened. Should she learn that one or both of them are alive her reaction would depend on the situation. If they are free and living in at least as much comfort as Terna is she is likely to be highly resentful that they abandoned her in the backwater village where she's been living the past 80 years or so. The more comfortable their lives, the more resentment, even if there's a plausible reason that they couldn't have sent for her. If she learned that they were being held captive or something equivalent she would seek out more information, though at this point she'd be suspicious that it's a trap. If she found that they had indeed died she would be somewhat sad, though it wouldn't bother her too much at this time.

Given that Terna was taught that her duty is to her family as much as herself, she would be relieved that her parents were alive and honor them, though she'd also be leary of them trying to take from her any of the power that she's managed to amass without them unless they can demonstrate their capability and competence make them better suited as the ones who hold the power.

As a side note, I've altered Terna's backstory on the character sheet slightly from what I posted in thread so that the local noble Franoldo died seeking vengeance upon is now dead as well, and his grandson is the one that Terna had sent her followers to undermine when they got caught. It seems like a more likely time line given the longevity of humans and gnomes.

Terna was born 95 years ago, back in the good times when the Asmodeus was openly worshiped and recognized as the preeminent god in Talingarde. Her parents, Limna and Thostrompularn Strumplehoff were ministers with sway in the lands surrounding Daveryn. They had power and exercised it as was proper to provide for their own comfort for themselves and their daughter. They weren’t overly cruel to those beneath them, but the rightful place of everyone in the well ordered hierarchy was well understood.

When the fall started and the Mitrans were tearing down everything that made Talingarde great, replacing it with the chaotic messy system that exists today, Limna and Thostrompularn could see the writing on the wall well ahead of time. The sent Terna, then still just in her teens barely able to understand the situation, with their trusted human stewart Frandorlo to hide her away in obscurity somewhere near Farholde. Should the uprising be put down Terna could return when it was safe, but if things continued as it seemed likely they would, at least they would have spared the life of their beloved daughter so that she could carry on their legacy and maybe even someday avenge them.

Frandorlo raised Terna the best he could, though her new life was nothing like the one she had been torn away from in Daveryn. He made sure that Terna learned her family history, the politics of the past and the present, her rightful powers and responsibilities and the teachings of Asmodeus. He taught her everything he knew about languages and contracts, how to use them with precision and how to influence people into doing what she wanted them to do regardless of where their own interests might lie. Most importantly, he taught her that it was her destiny to return this land to the order that had been so unceremoniously stripped from it.

As Franoldo aged, he made a new family in the village that was their seat of exile. A family who would be Terna’s only servants for most of her life. They did their best to serve her, and she appreciated their efforts, rewarding them as she could, but because they must do so in secret, the effects were often far more limited than they should be. Franoldo died in his sixties, carrying out a mission of vengeance for Terna over a slight from a nearby baron, Lord Blustov, and Terna mourned the passing of a most useful tool.

The past decade Terna has started to feel that the time to act must be near if she’s going to be able to gain any benefit from a return to order herself. As such she spent the better part of those ten years building up a loyal following of the humans in the village around her to overthrow Lord Blustov as the very first steps of the campaign to take back Talingarde. She had begun to reach out to others who shared similar interests in other parts of the country, slowly and carefully so that a concerted act could be in many places at once.

Sadly, it seems that Terna did not act carefully enough, and at least one of her attempts to contact potential allies got the attention of those loyal to King Markadian. Terna doesn’t know who, but someone tipped of Lord Blustov that Terna’s loyal villagers were starting to dig tunnels under the walls of his castle in anticipation of the strike which would be coming sometime in the future. When they confessed what they were doing, why they were doing it, and who they worked for, Terna didn’t even have time to consider flight before the guards had her in chains and she was on a wagon bound for Branderscar. When she arrived, her conviction for the act of Sedition was handed down with impressive speed, and now she finds herself on the verge of literally losing her head.

Terna can (and will) act as a face. In combat she'll be all about control and giving allies more options, less so about direct damage herself. She should shine more out of combat where her abilities to manipulate those around her should help with this particular scenario.