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Background
A skilled healer and apothecary, Lasair was educated and ordained as a Priestess in Falconhome and is the cousin and trusted ally of Duke Symon Gerrell. Given the recent events in regard to the Faith - the machinations of Cardinal Ramius and the treason of the former Duke and Duchess - she has taken it upon herself to re-ingratiate the church amongst the nobility of Rivana.. starting by aiding the rebuilding in Blackstone.
- Cover
- Early Days
- Ah, Young Love..
- The Crown
- Sir Kael
- Trust & Treason
- The Walls of Blackstone
- Bitter End
- New Beginnings
Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.
It was often, if quietly, lamented that Lasair Gerrell was something of a handful. Was there ever a child so bright, so full of life, that she could torment her tutors all the live long day and still have little want for sleep? Was she perhaps a trial designed to test their diligence? The scholars at the Cathedral of Sandoval privately would have wagered on it. That said, the daughter of the renowned Sir Paul was charming in equal measure.. and such a zest for knowledge and understanding has its own appeal, no matter how wearying.
Lasair began her seminary studies, as all other priestesses do, at the age of eight. Though rather than being sent to Sanctum, her family preferred that she be educated in the rather insular environment of Falconhome, lest she become too enamoured of (or corrupted by) the outside world. Not unlike her cousin, Symon, this approach only heightened her curiosity for the same, as well as tempering her resolve that, some day, she would see it all.
The arrival of some lordly refugees in 1853 brought with it an opportunity for learning that neither she nor her cousin had expected. Aidric Carling and Tristan Tracano. The former she found to be smug and opportunistic, the latter quick-witted and sweet. Both had a surprising wealth of experience in ‘the real world’ and they seemed to accept Symon quite willingly into their ‘boys club’. Lasair herself, of course, was not exactly invited.. but she hung around them all the same; tolerating Aidric’s teasing and learning to snap back with a retort rather than remain demurely silent, if she wanted to gain any footing with the pair.
In the winter of 1858, when Lasair was fourteen, someone arrived at the Cathedral who would, though they could not have known it then, become a source of both joy and sorrow in the years to come. Eduard Farrant, the young bastard of Fernan, was a squire under one Sir Gregory Dash; a paladin of considerable merit who was welcomed to bide out the unfavourable weather in the outbuildings. The accommodations were humble, intended really for pilgrims to the site. But they didn’t seem to mind. And Lasair found their company a rare pleasure, something to while away the long nights.
With Eduard in particular, she became increasingly infatuated. The ‘romance’ that blossomed between them over the next few months was no real cause for concern; children playing at the games of their elders. It was oddly thrilling, stealing out after dark for secret trysts, the tentative forays into awkward, adolescent fumblings. Would she have laid with him? Her heart and body began to think of it, perhaps. Fortunately, the young woman was ruled by her sharp mind. And Eduard never pressed after her first refusal of such gentle advances. She was to be a priestess, after all.. and while she would, one day, marry, she intended to keep her honor intact until then.
When the two departed, come Spring, it was with a promise to remain in touch and maintain the forged bonds of friendship between all three. Many letters were exchanged in the years to come, as Rivana toiled through much darkness and strife.
While Normont had closed its borders to the unrest brought by the Succession War, declaring itself neutral (to the displeasure of many), the duchy had eyes and ears enough to keep track of events as they happened. And when it finally came to an end, Lasair was permitted to accompany her father to the coronation of Queen Alysande - her first venture outside of Falconhome and something of an eye opener. While she was, of course, brought up to behave as a dignified and pious young lady should, she found the whirlwind of court somewhat overwhelming at first. Just turned nineteen, she was amused by the flirtations of several young men during the festivities; apparently all the more intriguing to them for her polite rebuttals alongside that mischievous sharp wit and subtle beauty.
Vanity, of course, was something she should frown upon. But it’s always nice to be admired. Especially when one has never really considered herself a creature of any great interest, really. Lasair also found herself oddly interested in the fashions of the courtiers, bringing many ideas home with her to embellish her own, somewhat more modest attire. It’s a hobby she has maintained, particularly when she needs something to keep her hands busy when her mind is elsewhere.
Within a month, her aunt Alyanna was voted in as the Archduchess of Rivana. The celebrations in Falconhome, though not on so grand a scale as the royal coronation obviously, were a delight nonetheless. And, amidst the parties and seemingly neverending numbers of well-wishers, Lasair would meet Kael Brennan.
Sir Kael was a Paladin and sometimes Gatefinder, widely travelled and, at thirty, eleven years the senior of the initiate. Their friendship, founded in a shared interest and talent for herbs and apothecary, slowly blossomed into the sort of romance one reads about in terrible poetry or romantic stories designed for young women with no experience to draw upon. Like Lasair. She enjoyed the thrill of having so worldly a man show interest in her and the fascination of the things he taught. He, undeniably, found the feisty young woman attractive - she had grown to be something of a beauty, all the more charming for her apparent lack of awareness about it - but he loved her as much for her stubborn force of will and avid learning. They challenged one another, debating late into the night over every topic imaginable, spending their time apart contemplating better questions or counters.
And before she quite realised it, she was in love. Oh, how she loved him. But her seminary was not yet over. And their mutual, if reluctant, decision was that they would wait until she was ordained before considering further overtures of betrothal. True, she would have cast aside all rank and title in favour of her Faith.. but would the Gerrells ever accept her marrying a common-born Knight?
For the time being, she simply tried not to think of it. The years she spent enamoured with her beloved were the happiest she had ever known.
By Janvier 1866, Lasair was fully indoctrinated into the One Faith - ordained as a Priestess alongside a handful of her peers at the Cathedral of Saint Sandoval. She was, by no stretch of the imagination, the most exemplary of them. But that is perhaps what saved her from becoming entangled in the treason of her Aunt and Uncle. She had remained close with a select few of her cousins - namely Symon and Tiadora. So, when the former sent for her, she had no cause for undue concern. Besides, she wanted to ask him a few things about his Greathawk, seeing as her parents had gifted her one for her accomplishment. No, nothing about the visit worried her.
Until he revealed what he and his little sister had uncovered.
With Symon finding and Tia decoding the letters that condemned their parents by their alliance with Alphard Haldis, and with the details of the Thorn camp location, it was now essential to warn the Loyalist forces. And Symon was short of trusted allies. Shrewdly, his parents had dispatched those they considered most likely to stand in the way of their underhand tactics - including Lasair’s own father, Sir Paul. Who then could he trust to see his messages delivered to the Loyalist leaders? Well, they do say you should be careful what you wish for. Having longed to see more of Rivana, her appetite for travel whetted by the excursion to the Coronation tourney, Lasair now found herself with the opportunity.. but under dangerous circumstances.
She would hide within Kael’s retinue, for all intents and purposes naught but a healer accompanying the Paladin on his travels.. and deliver Symon’s warning to Thaddeus Greycen, who commanded the forces of Seaguard and was, even now, making his way North.
It wasn’t exactly an excellent plan. But a raven might be intercepted. Besides, she wanted to help, and not just her own kin. There would be many wounded if the loyalists took the fight to the Thorns.. and she was a healer-priestess. It was her place. Or so she would keep telling herself, whenever gut-wrenching fear threatened to freeze her in place. She was no knight. She was a pacifist by nature, relying on the force of a glare or carefully placed meaning in her words - and of course her title - to keep ill intent at bay. It wouldn’t work against blades and bows.
She took only enough time to send a hasty message to Eduard, bidding him return to his homeland, before they departed under cover of darkness.
The Battle of Blackstone. It still seems odd to Lasair that she can claim, in some small way, to have taken part in a battle. Once the message was safely delivered into the hands of Thaddeus Greycen, she elected to remain within her guise and assist the loyalists as a healer, though admittedly well back from the lines. The arrival of Eduard was a source of at least some good cheer. For a brief time, anyway.
It was decided that he and Kael would be one of several pairs sent out to scout the territory ahead of the army. The Farrant bastard knew his lands well and Kael was particularly skillful in managing such things unseen. It should have been a simple mission.
So why, as she bid them farewell and watched them crest and disappear over a small hillock, did Lasair have the stomach-churning feeling that they would never be all together again?
The scouting itself was a success. But the pair were set upon by a Thorn patrol as they made their way back to the loyalist camp. While they fought admirably, it swiftly became clear that they would be overwhelmed and Kael, as the more experience of the two, realised it first. He put himself between Eduard and their opponents, buying enough time for the young Paladin to escape and, with any luck, bring their vital information to the army that waited.
He made it, if just barely. Kael was not so fortunate. Valiant to the end, he had given his life to ensure that many more would be saved.
Lasair tried not to resent Eduard for surviving… but she struggled, especially in the beginning. Concentrating on her work in the healers pavilion, she treated his grievous injuries with all care.. and yet she was changed. Grief, even silent as it was, took its toll upon the previously vivacious creature. She smiled less, laughed rarely. She sought comfort in her Faith and mustered the will to fortify herself against such feeble things as emotion.. but all that did was rouse in her a deep-rooted sorrow that she continues to swallow.
She might have returned home.. but she didn’t feel quite ready to. Not with this all-consuming bitterness to contend with. Instead, she remained in Black Hills. The pavilions of the battle were replaced, as the army moved on and patients limped home, by a simple hospice in the town; offering shelter and aid to the many who had lost homes and loved ones in the devastation. There was much to do here, many in need. And it helped her to have something to focus on beside her own troubles.
It was late March when her aunt, the treacherous former Archduchess, was beheaded in Sunsreach. Oddly enough, the news would prove a turning point for Lasair. Rather than any feelings of sadness or remorse over the woman’s execution - which she, Symon and Tiadora had no doubt set in motion - she felt only anger. Outrage. That the foolish mistakes of a handful of supposedly Godly men and women could wreak such havoc for the future of the Faith they were supposed to cherish. Between the Gerrells and the Cardinal, it was understandable that Rivana had lost her trust in the church. Understandable.. but unfair. And unnecessary. Then and there, she made a private vow that she would do everything she could to restore the standing of the One Faith in the Southern Kingdom.
But how best to begin? A single hospice on the fringes of the map would hardly make any difference, in the grander scheme of things…
The answer would present itself swiftly enough. The next month, Eduard was legitimized by the Queen and chosen by Duke Symon as the new Lord of House Farrant. A Paladin, charged with the rebuilding of a house long since fallen into disrepute, and standing on lands ruined by battle. If ever there were an opportunity for the goodness of the Faith to be proved, this was it.
Setting aside her own personal grievances with the young lord - they’re hardly his fault, in the end - Lasair placed herself as the Priestess assigned to Blackstone, there to offer help and counsel to her long-time friend, reasoning that it is the first step to reingratiate the church with the Kingdom of Rivana.
On the Grid
This can be a cover, lyrics or anything that encompasses your character.
Her attire looks of surprising quality. A keen eye would note it's the little details that hint at finery, though - careful embroidery, along with flattering choices in fabric and hue easily passing for more expensive than they likely are. Today, it's a pretty, calf-length riding coat with a deep cowled hood and bell sleeves, warm cloth in patterns of mostly cream with soft pastel blues and golden detailing. It contrasts quite pleasantly with a rigidly boned corset, embroidered with a quaint theme of sepia meadow flora, and a full length skirt of dark brown that swishes about her legs and laced boots as she moves. As always, a heavy pendant rests in the swell of her bosom; a brass likeness of Saint Sarah. A weighty, low-slung belt bears the numerous pouches and vials required of her profession; crafted of tooled, rich mahogany leather. QUIRKS
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PERSONALITY
As a Priestess of the One, albeit trained in the rather insular enviroment of Falconhome rather than Sanctum, Lasair is both warm and approachable to all she meets; generous to a fault and kind regardless of station, be it offering counsel to nobility or a suitable herbal remedy to an ailing goatherd. She's well-known and trusted for her ability as an apothecary and standing as the eldest daughter of the renowned Paul Gerrell.
Travelling leathers, standard priestess robes and Lasair's prized greathawk, Castor
Relationships
Couviere
Rivana
Lord Aidric Carling : An obnoxious and bullying child, you were. Have you improved any, as a man grown full? We shall see. You fought alongside my late father - that has to count for something. |