Mescaffier

“Jane! You’re early, your life’s work is dirtied by the fools who adore you … The poison makes a portrait of your face in the mirror, smiling with fright.” ♪♫♪♩ lmost a decade … It had been almost a decade, now, that Johanna had struggled with this illness. She was only a small child when the plague had begun to tear its way through Rittersberg, but she would have never thought it’d reach her, of all people. She was strong – even if she was not born so. She was bold, and cunning, and … “Sick. You are sick, Johanna. Have you lost your hearing?” But the Barclay girl was nothing if not stubborn. For six long years her body fought off what should have been fatal. But it left its mark upon her, for, year after year, she lost more and more of herself. The scarring from the disease riddled her flesh, and her resolve had grown weak from all her time indoors, away from her kin and her dear friends. Especially her dearest, the Crown Prince. “We will get through this together. Everything. I don’t care who stands in our way.” She had seen it all. Caius’ mother had grown maddened. His father was an adulterer, and his bastard lived side-by-side with him in their palace. His brother was cold, and apathetic. His sister was even stranger. The Horens were frightening and wildly confusing to the Barclay. But there was a flower hidden behind all of those thorny brambles – Caius. They had grown up together as each others’ closest friends and confidants. Naturally, his parents saw her as the best candidate for his betrothal - little had they known, the two already planned for it. The future had been so, so bright, until . . . “Infertile?” It was the plague. At last, it had gone. It had taken her beauty with it – her face, her limbs, were riddled in patches of scarring and dried, leathery skin. Caius did not care. It had not taken her life, and that was what mattered most. During the last of her meetings with her physician, the woman’s findings were presented to Johanna … bluntly. The pain, the thinning hair. The plague had left a last parting gift upon the Reinmaren woman, or rather, it had taken one in its parting. She would bear no children. How could she tell Caius? His parents? Her family? What Empress of Man would give no heir? She would watch her beloved Caius be married off like cattle to another girl. Johanna would live in disgrace, and, perhaps as a lonely old woman, recount the time when she almost became an Empress – when she almost lived happily-ever-after with her love – when she almost had a family of her own. ═════════════ 𖤓 ═════════════ 23rd of Tobias’ Bounty, 654, upon the sea-cliffs of Reinmar’s coast, the twin of Prince Rodimar – a girl of House Barclay who was none too pleasant, and quite scarcely seen, was found disemboweled upon a sword. A note was found upon her. 23rd of Tobias’ Bounty, 654, It is cold here. I am tired. My life is over before it begins. Why? What did I do to deserve this? What curse was put upon me? Upon Rodimar, and our siblings? My parents have died, and I have grown to become so ugly and marred by pocks and scars. The damned plague made me live my best years as a shut in. Oh, woe is me. I am sorry, I am so sorry. I am not strong enough. “Ƿyrd byð ſƿiðoſt, ƿinter byð cealdoſt, lencten hrimiᵹoſt, he byð lenᵹeſt ceald.” “'Fate is swiftest, winter is coldest, spring is rimiest, it is the longest cold.'” A scarce few recipients would find letters for them; CAIUS @cadazio TANTE EDITH @WhimsicalOwl RODIMAR @yeeter2k Author's Note :J

Johanna woke in similar fashion to when everyone had learned Siegfried's father, Prince Erwin, had passed – and that was not long ago. Her father had been the Prince of Reinmar for a scant few years, and now . . . "Fellspawn killed him?" Johanna cried, staring in outrage to the poor handmaiden that'd woken her. She backhanded the woman, and threw down her bedside table, scattering all the vials of medicine and damp cloths that had been used to treat her, in the state she were. "It's not fair!" Her fitful screams of rage and sorrow echoed through their palace in Leonstadt. The sickly Barclay would not easily let this go – she had never even gotten the time to say a last goodnight to her dear father. "I'll kill them! The Devil-children, the Undead, the Vampyrs – they're all going to die! To the hells with them all!"

Helena, damned to the Hells below, had the briefest pause in her eternal battle – forgotten as she would surely become, she could be glad her husband (who were in a slightly higher realm than she) would not face the same fate.

The Empire will take care of this ..

A powerful rebuttal was sent to them, by the girl they'd captured but a few days prior . . .

Issued by JOHANNA MATHİLDE BARCLAY In the year of our Lord 646 ÖHNE UND TÖCHTER DES IMPERIUMS, BEHOLD, THE WILDS ARE SO BESET BY SHADOW, that no lone soul may walk it unguarded. Most recently was I held captive by the Salvoman and the devil; from the result of injury and the recovery that follows, I struggle to fulfil some tasks on my lonesome. I thus call forth unto the stout-hearted and the steadfast, so that they might attend my person and stand as an aide in my hour of need. Duties may include handling my social appointments, assisting with the care of my pets (a most beloved gyrfalcon and many faeries), assisting with travel, and other typical duties like that of a handmaid or servant. Fellspawn, the Salvoman, the Hordeman, the Dwedman, and the Magi need not apply! My parents said so. WER RASTET, DER ROSTET Her Ladyship Johanna Mathilde Barclay, Lady of Reinmar, Ward of the Celosian Court, Page to His Grace Sir Lothar

A first entry to young Johanna’s diary. The only people with access to this diary would be those who find it in roleplay; please do not metagame! ╔════ DIARY ════╗ ╚════ OF A GYRFALCON ════╝ Johanna Mathilde Barclay Of Reinmar A BLAZING & BALMY DAY . . . A young tribeswoman ventured over hill and dale, til’ she came upon the great orange buttes of the mesa. Dust swept the great plains, and so it led her to a town that rose like a scar above it, with sand-blasted timber walls and creaking doors. Trust had been her foe that day; for the girl had been lured into capture by the ranchers of Salvo. ═════════════ 𖤓 ═════════════ 23rd of Harren’s Folly, 646, It was just last month that I was held captive by the Salvoman. I met a blue devil – she frightened me, at first, but taught me of her people. How many of them are ‘agents of Ixris’ … and that you may tell if they are by the brand he leaves upon them! But she then shut the gate behind me, and I knew something was wrong. Men in masks and strange, wide-brim hats funneled in. They stole the crossbow I’d lifted from a dwarf … thankfully, nothing else. And then the devil poured glue on me! She was intent on giving me horns, but, by Gotte's grace, it was the Salvoman that warded her off. Later, did they both fight together against my kin when they came to save me. → My CAPTORS! I even made a friend during this, Jolly. She said she’s from ‘space’, and that her mom is a god, and how they take trips around the stars. I believe her, because she’s purple. The entire ordeal was very embarrassing … I mean, I am very grateful! But there were so many of my kin that came all that way, and they could’ve gotten hurt. I wish I was strong enough to have fought them all off. Their leader tried to execute me while I was being rescued. He shot me, thrice, which I am still healing from. It messed up my shoulder quite badly. I've never felt this kind of sadness before. Caius visits lots! He’s the only friend I told about this … if anyone else knew the Salvoman predicament, I’d … just feel very ashamed. He visited again today, and he told me all of what’s been happening, and why his mother hasn’t been so present. His father had a bastard, apparently, and it now lives with them in the palace. My vater and mutter, and all my tutors, have always impressed upon me and my bruder how no Barclay has ever sired a bastard. I cannot help but wonder if perhaps the Crown Prinz was possessed by Iblees to do this. No man chosen by Gotte would hurt his family so, nor would he bring himself into such ill-graces with them. I hate to see Caius so sad and afraid. Anywho. He told me more about what his mother told him. Many people will want to hurt him, and even more will want to dupe him, so he needs to start thinking of his future. She said I would be a good Empress, to which he concurred. → Me killing an epic beast (Caius said we cannot kill dragons because the Imperial family are dragons (they are?) so this is some kind of demon, or, something I believe I'm more of a Knightly-person than an Empress-person. Caius said I could be both, probably, although I think I'd be chagrined if I had to be accompanied by a bunch of guards simply to go hunting! Oh, well. Perhaps if I am a Knight-Empress-Guard then I can be my own retinue! “Hyge sceal þe heardre, heorte þe cenre, Mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað.” “Will must be the harder, heart the keener, Spirit the greater, as our strength dwindles.”

Johanna Barclay rubbed her hands together as she glimpsed the flier. The child felt the sudden capitalistic urge to begin dropshipping precious Crownlands goods produced cheaply by the incoming Dwarven refugees. "CAIUS! Will you invest in my brand?" she hollered to the prince. @cadazio