Adalyde de Conflent
Backstory and Description[edit]
Adalyde is a noblewoman of Catalonia, a minor descendent of both the royalty of Aragon and the Counts of Conflent who ruled the region prior to the lands coming under the auspices of the Counts of Barcelona, who hold the barony of the region. (Technically the lord is a valvasore, a landed noble of Catalonia who commands at least five unlanded knights)
As a child she was a compulsive wanderer who was more at home trapping rabbits, hunting ducks or spending time in the kennels with her family’s dogs than on the manor at her mother’s side. As she grew older and it was made clear that she was expected to marry and to take over the running of a household, Adalyde determined to enter into beguinage in a northern town. Not the life she would have chosen, Adalyde could never really be called a city girl, but it was an alternative to marriage that appealed more than life in a convent. (While there she made the acquaintance of Felise, who would later become a grog of the covenant)
After a couple of years though, she relented to her parents demands, as fate dealt her family a grievous blow. First her father and then her older brother were afflicted by a bestial madness, then a wasting sickness which claimed both of their lives. Desperate to preserve some legacy of her family, her mother begged her to marry. Adalyde relented and was married to Raimon of Montpellier, a cousin to the young King James I on his mother’s side. Her mother then retired to a convent herself, leaving the couple to preside over the manor.
Married life was not, in the end, unpleasant. Though it could not be said that it was a loving marriage, Raimon made no demands of her that she did not willingly accede to and was no brute, even if she found him something of a bore. (Nor, truth be told, was he much of a warrior. Which did disappoint her somewhat.)
However, the marriage was scarce more than a few months old when her husband fell to the same madness that had claimed her father and brother. This time, a wise woman came to the manor and told them that this malady was the result of a curse placed upon the family line by the devil. The wise woman offered to life the curse, on condition that she be left alone to tend to Raimon on the night of the full moon. Adalyde initially agreed to her demands, but on the night of the ritual a messenger arrived, saying that her mother had received a vision from the Blessed Virgin, warning her that a great evil was being committed upon her family that night. Adalayde and her knights burst into the bedroom to see a diabolical ritual being performed. The witch was using some kind of enchanted fur to draw the demonic power into herself. Adalyde struck the witch down with her husband’s sword and ripped the fur from her husband’s writhing body, and was engulfed by darkness.
She woke several months later, bid to rise by the voice of an angel. The angel told her she was on a ship headed for Egypt. She was told that her husband (cured since that night) had taken her with him on crusade, and that her husband’s piety and her mother’s prayers for divine intervention had been answered, though the curse would linger until they had done their duty on successful crusade. Indeed, as time went on Adalyde would find that she every full moon she would transform, assuming the shape of a great dog with steel-like paws.
As the crusade grew more desperate, Raimon was wounded and Adalyde was compelled to take up the sword by necessity, and found the arts of war so natural it was as if it was a part of her she simply had not been aware of until now, like she had spent her entire life with one arm tied behind her back. She quickly outpaced her husband and his knights in skill, which brought accusations of devilry until angelic guidance brought about several undeniably miraculous victories and rescues on the field. Alas the Crusade itself was a shambles, and Adalyde barely escaped with her life. Her husband was not so lucky, and was captured before they could flee. He is alive, but the ransom being demanded is high, for it seems the Egyptian lord who has him greatly overestimated the extent of his blood ties to the king.
Thus it is that Adalyde, now returned, is duty-bound to pay this ransom, but has had no luck taxing, begging or borrowing the money. Rumours of fairies gold, though desperate, are perhaps all that is left though her guardian angel cautions her against placing her hopes in the virtue of such soulless creatures.
Basic Stats[edit]
Name: Adalyde de Conflent
Characteristics: Int +0, Per +0, Str +2, Sta +2, Prs +1, Com -2, Dex +2, Qik +2
Size: 0
Age: 21 (21)
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues:Guardian Angel, Landed Noble, Warrior, Puissant Single Weapon, Extra Attributes, Skinchanger (Dog, namely a Pesanta, a creature of Catalan myth. She changes by means of a fur belt that she can wear. Adalyde cannot get rid of this, as even if she destroys it, it reappears every full moon after her involuntary change.)
Flaws: Oath of Fealty, Compassionate (greater), Lycanthrope (Dog, namely a Pesanta, a creature of Catalan myth.), Duty-bound (Seeks gold to secure husband’s ransom.)
Personality Traits: Brave +3, Compassionate +3, Pious +1
Reputations: None
Combat Stats[edit]
Weapons: Longsword and Heater Shield: Init +2, Atk +14, Def +13, Dam +8
Soak: +11 (Full Chain) (+5 if Angel approves)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1-4), -3 (5-8), -5 (9-12), Incapacitated (13-16), Dead (17+)
Equipment: (When ready for battle) Long sword, Heater shield, Full Chain
Encumbrance: 2 (Load 9) (Burden 4)
Abilities[edit]
Bows 2 (Hunting game)
Single Weapon 5(7) (Heater Shield)
Great Weapon 2 (Spears)
Athletics 3 (Running)
Brawl 2 (Dodging)
Swim 1 (Long distances)
Area Lore (Catalonia) 2 (Lay of the land)
Language (Southern French/Occitan) 5 (Nobility)
Organisation lore (Nobility of Catalonia) 2 (Web of alliances)
Organisation lore (Church) 1 (abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa)
Awareness 2 (Smell)
Intrigue 1 (Enemy plots)
Folk Ken 2 (Nobles)
Survival 2 (Keeping fed)
Hunt 2 (Tracking)
Animal Handling 1 (Dogs)
Leadership 2 (Vassals)
Profession (Steward) 2 (Overseeing husband’s holdings)
Etiquette 1 (Amongst nobility)
Charm 1 (First impressions)
Ride 2 (In Combat)
Chirurgy 2 (Sword Wounds)
Notes[edit]
Note: Adalyde is descended from the old counts of Conflent, now replaced/absorbed into the territory of the Count of Barcelona. Her husband, Raimon of Montpellier is a valvasore, a landed vassal/baron/banneret with approximately five knights under his command. While he is a prisoner in Egypt she tends to his duties as a lord, thus having the Landed Noble and Oath Fealty merit/flaw.
