The Night Swan's page

Edelmira’s mother, one Basilea Karthis, is an alchemist of some skill and focuses her particular academic obsession on the topic of blood. She has always railed against the poor luck of being born to such a middling line of a great family. But she developed a theory as to how to fix this. She believes in the power of blood to retain memory and experience between the generations, and she seeks to find methods to activate such latent qualities in her own bloodline. While her branch of the family may be weak, their blood can connect them to greatness, and by tapping into that vein, elevate her line to what they had always been denied.

Edelmira once was a middle child with nine siblings, all of various legitimacies. By the time she was ten, she was the only one left. Draughts, tinctures, vivisections. Dungeon days with only rats for company. She and her siblings were always indoors, always separated. Spent from the day’s tortures, she would stare out her window every night at the nearby pond and play a game: if she saw a swan, the next day would be easier. Perhaps it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but it always was. To this day, she is not sure whether her mother truly considers her a success or just convinced himself she is one. The scars over her whole body, her nightmares every night, the terror at the sight of a rat—none of it feels successful. She takes no comfort on the strength she has been left with. Her mother’s efforts, when brought to the heads of the family, were viewed with skepticism at best and horror at worst. With her ambitions crushed, all those years of sacrifice ruined, Basilea turned in on herself. To this day, she labors away in her tower with little heed to anyone, appearing only when summoned and behaving increasingly erratic.

She spent most of her teens alone. She read, mostly. As she left her dungeons and began to meet others outside her mother’s household, as she educated herself more-and-more on revolution and reform, she came to realize her father’s madness was not a simple defect of the mind. All of Taldor is mad with blood. Descent and lineage mean everything when they should mean nothing. Her father had been a weak man crushed by a world gone mad. She would dismantle that world. Piece by piece.

When she finally made her debut in Oppara a few years ago, she played her role perfectly, and she has never stopped. She will use her access and ability to maneuver through the web of Taldan high society and tear it down. In the interest of building revolutionary power, she took up a second identity, one that allows her to act according to her ideals and sense of justice more openly. She chose the moniker Night Swan as a little joke with herself, a reminder that her job is to make tomorrow better.

When Martella Lotheed approached Edelmira to discuss the possibility of working with her, Edie was skeptical. Princess Eutropia’s position appears to be much more reformist than her own. However, nobody can do all the work of changing a nation alone, and the connections she would be able to make eventually tempted her into accepting. One can only use the material conditions they are given as best they can, not wait hoping for perfection.

Anyone who works as a mercenary for a decade and comes out the other side alive is sure to have stories about being in the right place at the right time or following an instinct that saved their life, but Gremori Drexler is infamous for them. At 21 on a job in the Worldwound, she pushed a disguised succubus off a parapet onto a square of cold iron pikes, thus freeing a squad commander from her domination a crucial moment. Four years later, she out of nowhere shot an arrow into a crowd in Kintargo and slew the paravicar about to murder one of the Silver Raven commanders. Most say she’s just lucky. The cynical say they are organized stunts to market herself. She herself is not telling, famous as well for her peaceful, unstrained demeanor.

She was on a hiatus from mercenary work—laying low from Thrune in the wake of the disastrous Glorious Reclamation—when she showed up to accept the position as Edelmira’s martial tutor. Edie, barely 18 and still finding her footing as a woman, was immediately smitten with the woman eight years her senior. Gremori is the only person other than Herbert she has told about what really happened to her siblings. They took tea together, talked for hours, and played Imperial Conquest long into the night. As a final gift, Edie gave Gremori a commissioned copy of the game designed for sturdiness and ease of travel. Edie wanted so desperately for those days to continue, but she could not let herself ever confess her true feelings between their teacher student relationship and her all-consuming mission to remake Taldor leaving no room for romance Nevertheless, Edie still looks for news of the Red Tigers mercenary company and their leader, dreading the thought of someday standing across her on a battlefield. She dares not admit that she hopes to meet her again on equal footing and say all that was unsaid.

She made fast friends with a young boy, Herbert Merosett, in her early teens. They both were given to similar seriousness, carrying gravity beyond their years that kept them separate. They were each others’ only friend, lonely children of little import to Taldan politics. He was the youngest of a bureaucrat family, disgusted with his family’s obsession with petty accountings and symbolic gesturing towards power. Edelmira was built to be a dreamer even as her life conspired to drag her down, and Herbert admired her lofty goals in spite of all. Edelmira admired his ruthless logic and loyalty. They were both seen as something they were not—Edelmira as a boy and Herbert as a girl—and talked often of how to fix this error.

As the both turned 16, as the Grand Prince himself was finally going to be visiting and meeting both of them, they conspired a plan. Herbert spent months tracking down obscure legal and official documents, as well as intercepting missives to the Grand Prince to make some edits. Edelmira ingratiated herself with the servants and courtiers. The Grand Prince arrived to meet not Herbert Karthis and Edelmira Merosett, as their parents had named them, but Edelmira Karthis and Herbert Merosett, as they had named themselves. Those edited missives had switched their names, so this was all as expected. Basilea, hardly able to question or challenge the Grand Prince, acquiesced. With all legal and official mention of the two of them changed to reflect this new reality, Taldor’s bureaucratic inertia set in. Nobody cared about these two minor nobles anyways.

Afterwards, as they drank wine in quiet celebration, Edelmira raised a toast. ”As we change ourselves, we change the world.” Herbert clinked his glass against hers. They were bound along this journey now, having each traded a piece of themselves as a covenant between brother and sister. She would not rest until she has bled all the blue blood out of the world, and he will always be there to hand her the knife.

Edelmira is usually noticed in the following order: eyes, height, hair, clothes. Her eyes are of a piercing pale blue that verges on purple, and she tends to stare with an unflinching directness at whomever has taken her attention. She is much shorter than people expect her to be, her presence outweighing her mere 5’2” stature. Her hair is of a creamy brown color and falls free and straight down her back with a couple of ribbons matching her eye color to keep it out of her face.

She very intentionally choose outfits that hide her build and expose no skin. Most of her body is covered in scars, relics of her abusive youth, and she has taken great pains to ensure nobody notices them. Her muscles are powerful and defined, but she prefers that they are unnoticed. She usually dresses in Taldan military finery, as suitable for a woman of her standing and family.

Edelmira is careful to maintain a perfectly polite and proper public persona. She goes to the right parties and talks to the right people. To the world, she is a driven social climber playing the game just the same as everyone else.

In truth, she is a bookish, retiring young woman who would rather spend a day reading history or political theory and not talking to anyone. She is an earnest, intense person who has no natural inclination towards lying or deception and has needed to intentionally develop those traits to survive. She believes it her duty to change the world, that she was given great privilege and great pain so that she could understand what she needed to do. She finds no joy in faith for she cannot understand why the gods allow for such injustice and violence to exist in the world.

Edelmira Karthis, The Night Swan
Vigilante/16, Sorcerer(eldritch scrapper)/1
CN/CG Medium humanoid (human) (Taldan)
Init +5 Senses: Perception +14
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Defense
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AC 40, touch 16, flat-footed 39 (+13 armor, +1 Dex, +8 shield, +3 natural armor, +4 deflection, +1 insight)
HP 188
Fort +19, Ref +18, Will +19
Conditional Modifiers
-2 vs swarm nausea, +2 vs inhaled and ingested diseases
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Offense
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Speed 50 ft
Melee Aymr +29/+24/+19/+14 (1d10+13/x3), Cold Iron Dagger +25/+20/+15/+10 (1d4+8/19-20), Mwk Cold Iron Battleaxe +26/+21/+16/+11 (1d8+8/x3)
Ranged Cold Iron Dagger +19 (1d4+8/x19-20) or Cold Iron Throwing Axe +19 (1d6+8/x2)
Special Attacks Martial Flexibility (4/day), Perfect Vulnerability
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +3):
1st(3/day)--Fastidiousness, Serren’s Swift Girding
Cantrips--Grasp, Light, Oath of Anonymity, Spark
Bloodline Imperious
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Statistics
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Str 26, Dex 12, Con 20, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +16/+11/+6/+1; CMB +24; CMD 37
Feats
Noble Scion (Karthis)
Additional Traits
Shield Focus
Shield Brace
Power Attack
Eschew Materials (b)
Additional Traits
Cornugon Smash
Great Fortitude
Weapon Focus (halberd) (b)
Weapon Specialization (halberd) (b)
Armor Trick
Cleave
Great Cleave
Improved Unarmed Strike (b)
Snake Style
Traits
Charming Smile, Cunning Soul
Young Reformer Revolutionary
Mock Gladiator (halberd)
Avid Reader (knowledge [nobility])
Memorable
Weathered Emissary
Drawback
Entomophobe
Skills (armor check penalty -5, not included below)
Acrobatics +30 (+36 to jump) (17 ranks)
Appraise +9 (1 rank)
Bluff +28 (17 ranks)
Climb +13 (+15 with climbing kit) (1 rank)
Craft (armorsmithing) +10 (2 ranks)
Diplomacy +28 (17 ranks)
Disable Device +8 (1 rank)
Disguise +22 (+42 with seamless guise) (12 ranks)
Escape Artist +2
Fly +22 (17 ranks, headband)
Heal +0
Intimidate +28 (17 ranks)
Knowledge (arcana) +9 (1 rank)
Knowledge (dungeoneering) +9 1(rank)
Knowledge (engineering) +9 (1 rank)
Knowledge (local) +25 (17 ranks)
Knowledge (nobility) +25 (17 ranks)
Linguistics +10 (1 rank)
Lore (revolution) +15 (7 ranks)
Perception +14 (6 ranks)
Ride +2
Sense Motive +24 (17 ranks)
Sleight of Hand +22 (17 ranks)
Spellcraft +9 (1 rank)
Stealth +15 (10 ranks)
Survival +2 (+7 to track)
Swim +13 (1 rank)
Use Magic Device +25 (17 ranks, headband)
Languages Taldane (common), Kelesh, Halfling, Hallit, Osiriani
SQ Vigilante Specialization (avenger), Seamless Guise, Dual Identity, Social Talents (Renown, Loyal Aid, Hidden Magic, Great Renown, Quick Change, Incredible Renown, Triumphant Return, Instant Recognition), Vigilante Talents (Heavy Training, Steel Soldier, Shadow’s Speed, Perfect Vulnerability, Leap and Bound, Signature Weapon, Sweeping Strike, Armor Skin), Unshakeable (+16), Startling Appearance, Frightening Appearance
Gear
Ovetrian’s Plate (modified +4 rallying full plate), Aymr (+3 cruel shrinking silversheen halberd w/knight’s pennon of battle), +1 adamantine short sword, Signet Ring of Protection (+4), Belt of Physical Might (+6 str/con), Circlet of Persuasion, Amulet of Natural Armor (+3), Cloak of Resistance (+5), Ring of Mind-shielding, Lucky Horseshoe, Headband of Brilliant Intellect (+4), +5 Heavy Steel Shield, Boots of the Cat, First Aid Gloves, Wayfinder with Deep Red Sphere Ioun Stone, Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone, Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone, Cold Iron Throwing Axe (4), MW Cold Iron Battleaxe, Cold Iron Dagger, Pathfinder Pouch, Mask, Noble’s Outfit, 100 gp of Jewelry, Hollow-heeled Boot (2), Hip Flask, Ink, Inkpen, Journal, Grooming Kit, Climbing Kit, Signet Ring, Subversive Vest, Wire Saw, MW Thieves’ Tools, Crowbar, Tabard, Antiplague (2), Antitoxin (2), Sunrod (5), Book of Puzzles (10 uses), Imperial Conquest, Earplugs, Tacky Silk Rope (50 ft), Cold Iron Grapple, MW Armorsmithing Tools, Anvil, Armor Ointment (2), Scarsalve, Smoked Goggles, Smelling Salts, Armor Truss, Iron Rope, Adamantine Wire Saw, 1264 gp 8 sp 7 cp

Oil Bless Weapon x1
CLW x1
CMW x1
Enlarge Person x2
Oil Daylight x1
Darkvision x1
Fly x3

Cure Light Wounds (16 charges)
Cure Light Wounds (50 charges)

Serren’s Swift Girding x2

1264.87
+107639
-90000 belt of physical might +6
+20000 sell belt of physical might +4
-30000 pale green prism ioun stone
8903.87

HP: 161/188
AC: 40/16/39
Saves: F20/R19/W20 (+2 vs ingested/inhaled diseases)
Hero Points: 3
Spells/Conditions Active: Fastidiousness, heroism, stoneskin, prayer, resist fire 30

0: (Grasp, Light, Oath of Anonymity, Spark)
1: 1/3 used (Fastidiousnessx1, Serren’s Swift Girdingx0)

Aymr:
[ dice]1d20+29[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d10+13[/dice] damage.