Charlotte Embry

"Oh sugah huney ice tea!" - Before handing over an unconscious elderly woman to a random bystander

Charlotte Embry is a holy paladin of The Matriarch, goddess of compassion and light, as well as a mother of three.

Biography

Charlotte Embry was born in the small town of Wayford, located in the Vallaterrian Freelands. It was a smaller town, out in the plains, but close by to a large river and within sight of the forest. Wayford offered the usual services of a town it’s size, black smithy, inn, and trading post, but it was the town’s chapel that drew travelers in from all over. The small temple to The Matriarch in town was home to a mystic artifact. An idol bearing The Matriarch's sign that with the power to heal both the body and mind. Rumor had it that the idol could even strip away suffering and reverse fortune. Charlotte was the oldest of two sisters, born to a very loving family. Her parents owned the town’s bakery and were decently well off for commoners. Because of their altruistic attitude, donating some of their goods each month to the hungry through the church, they were quite popular among the community. The two sisters lived a happy childhood within the out land town. When she wasn’t in school, Charlotte would spend her free time helping out at her parents bakery, volunteering at the town’s chapel, or helping her family’s friends, the Embrys, on their farm just outside of town. Her sister Jessalyn was much more of a bookworm throughout her childhood, and would often spend any free moment she had in deep study or experimentation. As it turned out, she had a particular knack for magic, one that ran in the family. Even so, both sisters were quite popular around the town, and had many friends.

Near her fifteenth birthday, Charlotte had begun to develop feelings for Gerrell, the Embry’s son, and her childhood friend who she would always tend the horses with. He was full of life and had dreams of being a hero of the realm, questing for righteousness. After a short while, the two became a couple. Charlotte was as happy as she had ever been, but this was about to change. Sightings of strange activity happening in the nearby woods and deep plains late at night had been reported by the town watchmen, but nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, there were many wild beasts in the Freelands after all.

Nobody was ready for the first surface raid. The beasts attacked hard and fast, and it was only by a miracle the remnants of the watch were able to push them back. Charlotte was cut off from her family and feared the worst. Her prayers were answered however, and her family survived with minor injuries. Defenses were set up in a hurry, but every fortnight the drow would attack, always pushing slightly closer. Sometime after the third raid, townspeople were quickly trained and armed in defense of their home. The man leading this ragtag militia was a Fraecian knight named Arturo Amoroso, and a relatively new arrival in town. His leadership and tactical experience made up for the townspeople’s inexperience and they were able to hold the gate against the monsters. Charlotte, who was stationed in the chapel with the town’s children, elderly and clergy was met by drow who had found some way in. It was them who had sent the beasts, hoping to overrun the town and destroy the idol. Through a miracle it seemed, Charlotte was able to hold them off, just long enough for others to come to her aid.

With the drow and their monsters pushed back, in the coming weeks Arturo went about sealing the entrances the scouts found, and gathering some trained warriors to help safeguard the town. For their bravery and competency in a crisis, Arturo offered anyone in the town the chance to sign on to the Fraecian vigil and learn how to defend those in need. Gerrell was the first to sign up, along with several other boys from the town. Charlotte, fostering a deep desire now to be able to defend those in need, as well as not wanting to be away from Gerrell, signed up on the final day much to the reluctance of her parents.

She spent the next six years training and patrolling with the Vigil. Charlotte's commanding officer was a brash man, who despite being competent was always quick to pull the trigger. Charlotte never agreed with his ways, preferring a peaceful approach to a more heavy handed one, but the final straw came when a premature attack on a thieves den resulted in Gerrell almost losing his leg. With Gerrell out of commission, Charlotte was considering stepping down out of disgust at this, but was soon offered a place in the Order of the Golden Chalice, for her compassion and heroism. A holy group of devout paladins, sworn to the service of the Triad and the protection of the common man. She and Gerrell accepted, and after becoming knights spent the next seven years in service to the Golden Chalice, marrying halfway through. Near the end of their service with the order, a meeting with a misunderstood necromancer went south and resulted in another heavy injury to Gerrell’s leg, ensuring he could never front line a battle again.

Distraught at almost losing her love a second time, Charlotte decided to settle down in the coastal city of Genovissia and start a family, putting her knighting days behind her. She gave birth to her son Lance a year later and made a living off selling baked goods in the city marketplace. Despite everything she still found the time to pitch in at the town chapel, and make several friends within a short time. Her husband Gerrell, despite his bitterness at having the life he wanted stripped from him, began work down on the docks as a bookkeeper, and found some comfort in his son, and loving wife. Everything would soon change, as her family fell on hard times, and the city became threatened by outside forces.

Personality

Charlotte is a kind and caring soul, dutifully watching over those in her charge, and acting as a beacon of hope to those around her. She is always ready to give the benefit of the doubt, and believes that everyone deserves a second chance. She prefers to settle problems peacefully, but is not adverse to violence if she is pushed to it. While she doesn't enjoy the killing of the more sentient races such as fellow humans and elves, she will fight fearlessly to protect those she cares about should there be no other alternative. She values her family above all else, and the only thing that competes with that ideal is her service to her god. She is the acting mother-bear among her close friends as well.

Skills and Abilities

As an ordained member of the Order of the Golden Chalice, and a former member of the Fraecian Vigil, Charlotte is more than a capable combatant. She is proficient with every martial weapon wielded conventionally in her time, but her true mastery lied with using a shield both offensively and defensively. She can channel the holy energies of The Matriarch to heal the sick and wounded, and smite those who would do others ill. While her mastery of the arcane is nowhere near her sisters, she has proficiency in a few other magic abilities, such as draining the strength of the wicked, enhancing the strength of her own attacks, and a host of small magic effects. Her own personality is quite the useful tool as well, as she uses her good-natured attitude and words to her advantage in most situations.

Appearance

Charlotte is a human woman with a light complexion appearing to be in her late twenties, despite her actually being thirty four. Her face is kindly, with gentle curing features and weary but bright hazel eyes. Her naturally wavy chestnut hair is often kept up in a messy up-do, though on the occasions that she lets it down, it reaches slightly past shoulder length. She wears enough makeup to accent her natural features, but nothing overly noticeable. Her overall figure is slightly curvy, kept in good shape from normal exercise, though still slightly softer than her actual service years. When around town, she usually dresses plainly, in a comfortable dress and heeled boots, often seen with an apron. After taking up the sword again, she defaulted back to her trusty gear from Order: a suit of chainmail with a red tabbard bearing the golden chalice of her order, a heralded steel shield of the same insignia, a short cloak, and a chainmail coif and steel face helmet. Once she has upgraded her gear, she chooses sturdy steel platemail, bearing the insignia of The Matriarch on the chest, with crimson faulds around the waist.

Family

Buford Bishop - Father

A powerfully built man in his youth, Buford worked a good part of his life performing manual labor as a construction worker. Initially against the idea of making a livelihood off of his wife's bakery idea, but that was before he tasted the confections. A tough but fair man, with a very soft spot for both of his girls.

Grace Bishop - Mother

Grace Bishop is the daughter of a seamstress, and spent the good majority of her time working in her mother's shop. Early on she found that she had a natural talent for baking, and decided that what the little town of Wayford really needed, was some proper baked goods! With her mother's blessing, and a fair bit of financial help, she purchased the old bakery on the edge of town, and went about breathing new life into it. Word quickly spread in the small town, and it became a local favorite, especially among the construction workers who she offered the leftovers to free of charge, leading to her meeting her future husband Buford. Grace is a lively woman despite her age, and has a very matronly build to her, with greying, wavy auburn hair, and kindly green eyes. It's plain to see where Charlotte learned a lot of her mannerisms from.

Jessalyn Bishop - Sister

Charlotte's younger sister of six years. Jessie (as Charlotte affectionately calls her), spent her childhood divided into two pursuits. One was sticking to her sister like a shadow, and the other was learning everything that she could about the world around, although her observations were rarely silent. Even before her due diligence, Jessie's natural magical talent was apparent, and was often a talking point of the villagers. By the time she was 10 she was fixing wagon wheels with mending for Mr. Fielder down the way, and helping old Mrs. Gresham feed her horses with mage hand. When the drow attacked, Jessie became painfully aware of how little her understanding of herself and her surroundings became. She survived without so much as a nick on her, but that day would remain with her forever.

Years after her sister left home to join the vigil, Jessie moved into the city, and went on to study at the arcane university. She showed a good deal of potential and graduated with some of the highest marks in her class. She kept in close touch with Charlotte, (Nicknamed Lottie by Jessalyn) all throughout her schooling, and was even more excited to inform her of her new career as a researcher of the arcane, traveling to many places around her home country and beyond it. Jessie's job usually keeps her very busy, as the years rolled on, but she still sends letters to her sister and to her parents from time to time.

Gerrell Embry - Husband

The second oldest son of the Embry family, Gerrell grew up with large ambitions and dreams. First it was to create a country wide horse peddling business, then it was to gain the power of the town relic to be the ultimate medicine man, and then it was to join the army and see the world while doing good. He finally settled on his dream the day his hometown was attacked by the drow. He would become just like the knight would led the defense that saved the town, and seeing his chance he took it, never more sure of anything.

Gerrell was a compassionate boy, often chastised by his father for having his head in the clouds. He got along well with the other children, often organizing village wide play wars with the other boys. His family was close friends with the Bishops, but his first real encounter with Charlotte outside of family gatherings, was when his brother's pressured him into stealing some fresh pastries from the Bishop bakery kitchen. He was caught by Charlotte, who stopped him, but brought him a basket of sweets later that evening after seeing his guilt. The two began spending many evenings together on the Embry ranch, taking care of the animals together.

Gerrell was ecstatic upon his admittance into the vigil. He was traveling overseas, and could finally live out his dream of being a hero, and with his lover at his side. Things were great for the first few years until he sustained an injury from a poor call made by the company captain, taking him out of commission as a warrior. Gerrell was crushed, and to add insult to injury, not too long after his fiancee was taken under the wing of the Order of the Golden Chalice, and took an oath as a paladin. Jealously seethed inside of him for years, and when Charlotte settled both of them down, being confined and forced to work a normal job again ate away at him. He became more jaded, and bitter as well as pessimistic. He tried to find comfort in the rank and file nature of his new work, but the praise of his dedication and order he brought, did little to soothe the ache in his soul.

Clayton Embry - First Born Son

The child that was wiped from the memory of his mother, father, and everyone they knew. Poor Clayton was lost to the False Hydra at the young age of two.

Lance Embry - Second Born Son

Lance Embry is a young boy of 10 years of age. He is an active child, with a love of sports and playing soldier with the other boys in town.

Annabelle Embry - Second Born Daughter