Name: Lady Linnea of Burmorrow

Occupation:  none currently

Actual Age/Apparent Age:   She believes 28, she can’t be sure/mid-twenties

Gender:  Female

Sexuality: Whatever it needs to be at the moment

Race/Species:  Human

Appearance:
By human standards, Linnea would be considered pretty, perhaps even beautiful among the more common blooded.  While she carries herself with all of the confidence and elegance of a noble born, she lacks the more refined features of one. As well as the height, average among women of the lower castes.  If one were generous, her dewy skin could be compared to that of the pale moon, though clearly she has not truly lived secluded from the sun.  So perhaps a pearl instead, if one were being generous. Her eyes do bear the brightness of sapphires and are quite arresting.  Though they are framed by dark lashes and brows, surely a testament to her birth.On the other hand, by some miracle, her long, flowing hair is quite lovely, a poet would perhaps compare it to sunshine warmed with honey. However, true to her status, she does not wear it in the elaborate fashions of court, rather allowing it to flow down her back in soft waves. Currently she wears the fashions of her homeland, though not the current ones. In deference to her recently deceased husband, she covers her head in a black scarf for mourning.

Personality:
Gentle and meek are words commonly used to describe Linnea. She speaks softly and kindly, often wearing a light smile. This suits her all too well as it hides what she has become. Like a dagger sheathed in silks, soft and deadly. For the past twenty years she has been embroiled in spy-craft, trusting none, deceiving everyone. This has refined the resilience that forged her youth as a street orphan.

Her sweet words and gentle touches promising an intimate connection of spirit and thought. Everyone and everything is a tool. A resource. Her mind and her loyalty are the only things she truly holds as valuable. Though some may wonder exactly to what she is loyal. She is loyal to the people of her birth nation, doing what was needed to ensure as few as possible died in the coup. To ensure no matter how dark the future seems, there is a hope remaining.

But all of that was before she arrived at Al-Jalasa. Now in a new city, all ties to her past life severed, she seeks to make herself anew. Still, certain things she will never allow herself to relinquish. Kindness to her fellow children of the streets, kindness to servants, slaves, and others of the forgotten and overlooked. Perhaps she can become the gentle woman others see, though is that truly something she wishes? At the moment she is unsure, her future unwritten. Alone in a foreign city with only the riches she could carry, she looks forward to the challenge.

Abilities/Skills:
Slippery. Skilled at getting into and out of places where she doesn’t belong. Stealth, nimble fingers, and the ability to blend into the background assist with this skill.
Silver Tongue: Linnea’s late husband often said a woman’s tongue can be as sharp as a blade and as fickle as a storm. She embodies this saying with her gift of twisting conversations and manipulating situations to her advantage. Her wit and charm hiding her true motives.
Poisoncraft: She has knowledge of toxins and poisons, able to create deadly concoctions or use them to incapacitate foes.
Networking: She has a gift for weaving a web of informants, especially among the often overlooked people of the streets and servants

History:
Linnea remembers little of her childhood before she met the man that would later become her husband.  She didn't even have a name before he gave her one. Feelings of hunger, cold, and desperation are all she can recall from that time.  She knows she was an urchin in the capital city of Spireholt in the Kingdom of Aurion, undoubtedly relying on begging and theft to survive. She does distinctly remember the moment her life changed. With a piece of sharpened rock as a blade, she slit the purse strings of a young man in the market. He gave little indication of noticing until she tripped and caught on his cloak.  Rather than punish her, he allowed her to keep the coin purse and gave her an address with instructions to arrive at midnight. As it was winter, she had little to lose and fewer places to keep warm, so she made the journey.  It was there the young man introduced himself as Cacian and offered to train her to be a spy. Quite the offer for a child living on the streets.

Her years under his guidance were not easy. He often pushed her beyond her physical, mental, and moral limits in order to hone her into the perfect tool. Ten years after he took her in, they uncovered and foiled an assassination plot against the heir, earning the eternal gratitude of King Thorian. It also earned Cacian a title, Lord of Burmorrow. The landed title offered new opportunities to serve the King in his role as spymaster. It also drew the attention of lower nobility seeking to tie themselves to one of the King’s favorites. Having no time for courtship or the vapid daughters thrust at him, he took Linnea as his wife.  The twenty years in age difference between them meant little to the court, or to the newly married couple as they never consummated the marriage. In public they were husband and wife, in private they remained teacher and student.

In the past few years, whispers of discontent among the heirs drew the attention of the spymaster. The King was healthy, though it was said he was growing lenient with the incursions into the kingdom by bandits from the neighboring lands. His oldest son, Korin, learned statecraft at his father’s side while the  younger, Elander led the army.  It was this which sealed the King’s fate. With the support of the generals, Elander attacked the capital city and its mountain fortress. Cacian and Linnea knew there wasn’t a way to prevent the second born from ascending to the throne and keep the kingdom intact. So they hatched a plan.

Linnea approached Elander, offering to turn against the King in exchange for allowing her to live. She also suggested Korin be left alive, offering to use her husband’s network to spread the rumors that Korin was responsible for the King’s death and Elander stormed the fortress to remove the new regicidal King. In his eagerness and arrogance, Elander agreed, upon on the conditions that she kill her husband and  poison to kill the King. It was as the two spies expected and planned for.

The King was poisoned as was Cacian, both by his own hand. They used the last of their influence to ensure Korin was surrounded by those loyal to him in the prison. As well as set plots into motion that would allow him to one day reclaim the throne. Linnea expected she would follow her husband to the grave once Elander was on the throne.

Instead he offered to let her live, so long as she left the lands and to never return. So she chose Al-Jalasa as the place of her exile. The title of Lord of Burmorrow was not stripped from her husband after death, though the lands were absorbed by one of Elander’s sycophants. To further salt the wound of her banishment, she was allowed only one satchel to carry her belongings and was prohibited from bringing anything of value with her.  The King should have been more specific as she considered coin a tool, not a thing of value.  She left with every single seam and hidden pocket filled with coins and gems to start her new life.

She has just arrived in Al-Jalasa aboard the Wanton Lass. She has little desire to become embroiled in politics once more, though old habits die hard.  The idea of purchasing an establishment of some sort has caught her interest.


Other information:
Rumors about her arrival:
The human kingdoms within the Eastern Mountains are numerous and often of little consequence to the city of Al-Jalasa. However, a recent arrival has brought the name of the Kingdom of Aurion to the lips of those that deal in information. The sudden ascension of Prince Elander to the throne after the tragic and suspicious death of King Thorian has rumors flying. It is said the true heir and elder, Prince Korin, lays wasting in the dungeons beneath the mountain fortress.  Rumor abounds of potential war as the newly crowned King Elander has an eye on returning his kingdom to its ancient roots of expansion and bloodshed. While interesting, it is of little importance to the citizens of the city. What truly drew their notice was the arrival of Lady Linnea of Burmorrow, widow of the late King’s rumored spymaster, Lord Cacian of Burmorrow.

Few gossip as freely as sailors and those aboard the Wanton Lass have quite a few stories to tell on their arrival in port. They speak of how Lady Linnea, whom they simply call the Lady, was escorted by a man she referred to as Hound due his loyalty to the new King.  This Hound rarely spoke to any aboard the ship other than the Lady and then in harsh and angry tones. He refused to allow her the comfort of renting a cabin, insisting she sleep in the hold, huddled among the cargo with nothing other than a thin blanket. She arrived without servants and was allowed to board with only a satchel for her things. Despite her treatment, she was kind to the sailors and few other passengers, often risking the wrath of her companion to be so. One sailor reports they saw Hound strike her to which she stated it was a fine thanks for turning against her husband and her king, only to be banished and beaten.

Character Goals: 
Live a life free of political entanglement.  Purchase a business of some sort that would attract clientele from all walks of life. Build an information network in the city to ensure she knows when assassins are coming for her. Old habits die hard, after all.

Sex and Romance:
Sex is a tool to Linnea, she has never known it to be anything else.  While she understands the concept of love, it is not something she has known or feels she will ever know. Her true sexuality is unknown, even to her. This is something I am happy to have the character explore.

Potential plotting:
Despite the goals of the character, the player would be thrilled to completely ruin the plans of a nice retirement.

• I believe Linnea will take issue with the Sisters, not that there are slaves but the way the slaves are treated. Any allies or opposition in character is welcome.
  
• If there is a business that the other players would like to see, either as a place of employment or place of enjoyment, I am happy to have her take on that venture.
  
• If you wish to have your character become an enemy, ally, lover, or romance, please reach out. I love coming up with potential scenarios to bring characters together.
  
• I have not come up with anything beyond the details in her history so if the GM or players wish to use and expand on any of it, please feel free. (Even if it is to the detriment of my character.)