Evelard Severstern

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Evelard Severstern

Logos: Last of an English Bloodline
Mythos: The Merlin

Gentleman Advocate | Routine

"I lend my aid, that I might retain my humanity."

• Fixer (A)
• Exclusive Friends (B)
• Sword and Pistol (C)
• Ancestral Library (I)
• Weakness: Enemies Abound
• Weakness: You Must Listen to Me!
• [Flipside: Relic - The Oaken Staff]
• Attention: 0

Good Memory Improvement: Every session, you can choose to get up to three Clues on a location or person within the domain of your routine. The first Clue is free. When you take the second Clue, the MC gets to ask you a question, which you must answer truthfully. On the third Clue, you expose yourself to danger (as in the Investigate move).

High Druid | Adaptation

"In whom are the sleeping members of my Circle hidden?"

• Druidic Magic (A)
• Traits of Beasts (J)
• Under the Open Sky (D)
• Weakness: Inscrutable
• [Flipside: Defining Event - My Father's Death]

Blood of Demons | Bastion

"How do I become an Angel again?"

• Immortality (A)
• Drop of Blood (I)
• Unholy Demeanor (G)
• Weakness: Anger Unleashed
• [Flipside: Personality - Engaged Socialite]

Opportune Advisor | Subversion

"What Thrones are already under the control of Advisors?"

• 1000 Faces (A)
• Let Me Whisper in Your Ear (D)
• Your Mind is an Open Book (F)
• Weakness: Class Barriers
• [Flipside: Training - Investigative Spy]

As a Gentleman Advocate, Evelard solves problems for his Exclusive Friends. He's a Fixer, someone with connections and the ability to organize operations and wheel and deal. When worst comes to worst, he can rely on his training with Sword and Pistol, and his sanctuary is the Ancestral Library he inherited. He can be overcome by the Barriers of Class, though those specific barriers will vary as he varies the class that he appears to belong to.

The High Druid, Evelard searches for his lost Circle, as he needs allies for his cause. They are sleeping somewhere in Britain, resting beneath the souls of the men and women of the isles. He confers unto his allies the Traits of Beasts, and his Druidic Magic is most potent Under the Open Sky, but his undoing is his Inscrutability; when his schemes and devices are too convoluted and opaque, he loses the trust of his allies and his powers work against him.

Tormented with the Blood of Demons, Evelard's Immortality makes less relevant many wounds. A Drop of his Blood can empower many of his abilities, but shed too freely, his Anger will be Unleashed, and his nightmares are filled with terrors of unleashed moments past. While Evelard prefers negotiation and influence, revealing his Unholy Demeanor will hasten the compliance of a reluctant foe.

The Merlin is ever and always an Opportune Advisor. What Evelard understands is that there are hidden Thrones, people of power, and Advisors not unlike himself are positioning themselves in a Great Game to control them. In his quest to ensure the Game progresses in the manner best for England, Evelard Whispers in Ears while wearing one of 1000 Faces, through which he can reach any subject in need of his advice. No secret or piece of knowledge can hide from him long; to him Your Mind is an Open Book. He has to exercise caution, however, as he falls in Love with Humanity too easily, and can quickly turn from benevolent predator to stricken prey.

A Day in the Life

Evelard stepped from the carriage and regarded the country mansion, composing his thoughts before embarking up the marble steps. His mission here was to put a word of caution into the Duke's ear, staying the signing of the treaty at least until word from Evelard's compatriots across the Channel had arrived. A few days, perhaps. A week would be too long. But the Club needed to know what was happening in the Blue Forest before they could allow any diplomatic action to be taken.

His name would get him into the ball, but it would not grant him access to the inner chambers where the Duke's advisors would gather. For that, he would need to adopt the face of Viscount Tremaine, and that would require a bit of derring-do to get the Viscount alone in the sitting room where Evelard's accomplice both waited and would stand watch. It wasn't going to be an impossible evening, but by the Oak it would be a viper's nest. He wasn't certain of the number of agents from the Nations Seen and Unseen who would be in attendance on this Solstice Moon, each seeking to influence the course of modern events. But there was no question the place would be full of observers, each reporting to their secret lord. Some, no doubt, looking to interfere.

Well. Nothing was accomplished from hesitation. Best to walk through the door and start the dance than get lost in the endless permutations of an imperfect plan. He made his way to the ornate doors.

"Ah. Lord Severstern," a familiar voice drolled as he stepped through the foyer. "How excellent. And here I thought the night was going to be one of tedium."

By the Seven Storms. What was the Count of Ravens doing here? Had the Night Court broken their cypher? Evelard gave the hawk-nosed man a courageous smile, but he knew from looking into the necromancer's eyes that the spiderweb was already drawn tight around him. The trap was sprung, and he'd never seen it coming. He could only hope that the others would see it for what it was and make rapid alterations. But the treaty's delay was lost.

Notes

• Evelard Severstern has committed treason against the Crown. He helped smuggle an Irish 'traitor' out of custody and to a safe harbor in Holland, and the trail of the traitor has been lost. Evelard is in possession of evidence that proves the Irishman's innocence, but would embroil a school friend, Baron Teynham, in a conspiracy that he would be unlikely to recover from. Caught between two relative innocents whose lives would be destroyed by political intrigue, it was easier for Evelard to put himself at risk and protect the two men from harm than to try to untangle the complicated mess, so that is what he did. Only time will tell whether it comes back to bite him.

• You wish to know What Thrones are already under the control of Advisors? You call yourself an Advisor, and so does this mean there are others like you? And the way this is phrased implies that you know of the existence of thrones that are under other Advisors' control. Tell me more about these other Advisors and why/how this is a driving Mystery for Evelard: does the Merlin want to be the only Advisor these Thrones seek counsel from? Or do these other Advisors somehow pose a threat to the well-being of England?

Evelard
"This Agent within me, this Merlin, has informed me... quite persistently, I might add... that there are seats of power within Britain that will determine the fate of the Empire, and that Agents are jockeying for control of them. One of the tasks It has given me is to discover the nature of the Thrones... they apparently change in form through the ages... and then we must work to ensure that the Agents that gain control of them have proper intentions. But no, I don't think I... or It, rather... is meant to control any of them, but instead, perhaps, to control the Agents... the Advisors? Or to advise them? I'm not entirely certain of the plan, there. The Merlin is... not entirely forthcoming on such matters. I get the sense that more will be revealed in due time."

The Merlin
"Five Thrones Govern the Energies of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, the Kingdom United under the Crown. They are neither Fixed nor Immobile, nor is their Shape Predictable. They will have Advisors, and Many are the Number Who Seek to Control Them. We Must Ensure that the Right Hands and Tongues Guide the Thrones, for the Good of All."

OOC
The 'Thrones' are a holdover of the Merlin Mythos, places or items or people of power that hold certain energies for the concept of Britain. I'm thinking along the lines of the Fisher King. 'Advisor' is also parlance of the Merlin, indicating an entity of power capable of shaping, guiding, and advising a Throne.

I'm thinking that the Merlin doesn't entirely understand what's going on with the Mist, and it's language for a Rift is to call a Rift an Advisor. To the Merlin, whatever's going on must be because the Thrones are out of whack and the Rifts are warring for control. So a key agenda for the Merlin and the person it is manifesting in is to identify either the Thrones or their Advisors and start to make sense of things and bring Britain back to normalcy. That's what the Merlin does; appear at special times in the fate and history of Britain and work to secure it and stabilize it, and then go dormant again until the Merlin is next needed.