Brigid

Brigid is well toned and physically fit for a woman in her twenties. She swung a lot of swords and hammers and gets regular exercise just from being an adventurer. She also trains regularly in her downtime.

Brigid's hetercromia is her most noticeable facial feature. Her right eye is yellow like one of her father's eyes and her left eye is blue like both her mother's eyes.   She has mixed earth and fieryand features with a dash of air giving her skin tone that characterizes a lot of House Gruffyl and Swynfaredian Dragonbloods in general. This gives her complexion a slight orange tint depending on the lighting.

  While Brigid is very skilled with swords, both making them and wielding them. She learned FIre Blast early after becoming a sorceress, but she doesn't use Fire Blast particularly often. Brigid usually leans on supporting actions ds support over direct attacks.   She often uses Invisibility or Chameleon Cloak spells get the party into position, and then she uses Augmentation Theurgy and Crafts Theurgy to make her party stronger.   Only after the prep work is done does does she pull out the sword and start swinging. Since she has made permanent magical items for most of her party members by this point, she doesn't actually have to start a battle casting "buff spells" if she doesn't want to, a relatively recent change.

Brigid is frequently playing undercover roles, so she usually avoids having a signature look. So wherever she goes she usually dresses to blend in with whatever role she is playing.  

She used reagents she gathered adventuring along with the metal from Tihalt's original sword to forge magical bastard sword which is her primary weapon. Her backup weapon is a non-magical arming sword she made herself, one of the first quality she swords she crafted.   She crafted magical bracers storing Augmentation theurgy in them, for not just herself but for her party as well. She recently made a spare and bequeathed it to Duke Vern Palbuc, to support the war effort and for no other reason.

  Brigid's motherdied when she was quite young. Even with one foot in the grave, her mother was able to arrange Brigid with a lunar apprenticeship to make sure she was still looked after. Brigid was apprenticed to a blacksmith, Master Crue. Being a tomboy she had showed a special interest in swords. Master Crue humored her and let her work on swords as long as she got her regular tasks done first.   As a well-mannered orphan, Brigid got the attention and sympathy of the local Lanterns who visited often and taught her how to play the lute. This arrangement worked with Master Crue who wasboth a Lantern-sympathizer and music lover. He often used poems and songs as his "timer" for how long to do different aspects of the smithing process.   She was a barely passable neophyte illusionist and an almost laughably bad invoker. Despite being a sorceress, she was somewhat of a disappointment to Rohdri.   A favored soul of Zarthus is not likely to be comfortable in the political cesspit that is House Gruffyl even if she wasn't being bullied and shamed for her abilities. Her time with House Gruffyl was miserable and she a adopted mousey submissive exterior just as a survival mechanism which didn't help her in the long run.       She heard tales and rumors of a heterocromatic Keeper named Kormatin causing lots of trouble for Swynfaredia. Kormatin was reputedly a bastard with an anonymous father. Brigid scrumptiously caught a glimpse of Kormatin's mother, Lady Alina and confirmed that she was indeed Rohdri's "type". That and her own intuition told him that Kormatin was her brother and her destined ally.   She eventually tracked Kormatin down. She dropped her disguise and introduced herself and explained how she wanted to defect from Swynfaredia, and how they were probably brother and sister and how Rohdri was awful.   Kormatin was already running adventures and counter espionage missions with two Guardians, Ragani the gnome and Tihalt the archer. Brigid became their fourth party memberand immediately was quite helpful. Her magic skills and fighting skills were not great but she had useful insider information for how Swynfaredian culture works. She also had more exposure to black markets and various underbellies of society. Kormatin and the others were raised in relatively sheltered environments, so they were definitely on the backfoot in these less savory environments.   ince she grew up in the nest of liars that is House Gruffyl, Brigid was able to help her new party in that regard too. Brigid frequently took the role of party's "face" in various social interactions when the party is acting undercover. Paranoia and a lack of confidence led to Brigid maintaining the "Emila the Bard" disguise for a few months after joining Kormatin's party. Suppoedly, Emila wanted "to chronicle Kormatin's adventures". At the encouragement of Kormatin and the others, she eventually decided to be Brigid and not to hide who she is and where she came from while in Fumaya.   The party crossed wits and often swords with Swynfaredian spies on both sides of the Fumaya-Swynfaredia border, thwarting many Dragonblood schemes including an assassination attempt against Baron Fyodor Deorac. In between fighting Dragonbloods, they had other adventures including ogres and a vampire. Tihalt died heroically defending Brigid and Ragani from a pack of ogres, and this has given the party a justifiable prejudice against any and all cannibal mutants.     Brigid knew that Rohdri sired a lot of bastard children because he was a lecherous scumbag, but also because he was hoping to sire as many sorcerous children as possible. Later, Brigid and Kormatin found out that Rohdri was applying to the scientific method to old Swynfaredian superstitions regarding sorcerous babies with the goal of figuring out which superstitions were actually tre and and which were bovine excrement. Kormatin and Brigid learned via an oracle of Greymoria and that Greymoria really didn't like Rohdri's plan. Greymoria herself had put a finger on the scales to set up Kormatin and Brigid to shut Rohdri down. A Lantern and Keeper would be able to do things that the Children could not, and Rohdri is destined to be brought down by one of his many children.   Over three years of "walking the Dragons' Path" have helped Brigid become much stronger, greatly improving her combat skills and her magical skills. She continues blacksmith work whenever she had spare time and access to a forge. She able to advance her Crafts theurgy to let her craft permanent magical items, swords being her preference.

Growing up as a bastard child in rough circumstances, Brigid vowed that she would not put her hypothetical unborn children into that scenario. After narrowly avoiding being married off to an asshole Fang Warrior, this soured her on the idea of having romantic relationships at all. Brigid considered formally adopting clerical celibacy even though that is not something Lanterns commonly do and Brigid was only an honorary priestess, not a full priestess.     Brigid developed a sort of school girl crush on Duke Vern Palbuc largely because he is good looking and her same age, but also because he represents the polar opposite of Count Rohdri. Vern was someone who is courageous and honest and maybe even a little naïve to nuances. He favors direct action over subtle machinations and he genuinely cares about his subjects. Being a duke doesn't hurt his appeal either.     In a weird way, it helps that Lord Stanislaw deliberately tried to sabotage Vern's marriage prospects by keeping appropriate matches away from him. Brigid is essentially the first woman his age he met who is attractive, nice and smart that Vern has had any extended interaction with.

Brigid possesses a keen mind and is a fast learner. Brigid had a good relationship with her first blacksmithing and music teachers, but she never needed to like a teacher to learn something. She learned how to read subtle cues and weave plausible lies under the brutal tutelage of House Gruffyl despite loathing them.

Brigid went from being a weakling sorceress who was openly ridiculed to being a very powerful sorceress who is greatly admired. She "eureka"ed a rare spell, Chameleon Cloak, something few sorcerers can boast of. She won a glorious sack of hay at the 1838 Hay Day Festival for her illusionist prowess.   More imporantly, she is a valued member of Fumaya's most famous and celebrated adventuring party.   Brigid was initially very introverted and often self-deprecating, but she has come out of her shell more and more as she found her confidence. She still has the ability to put up a good poker face when the situation calls for it, but she is less prone to wear a mask of indifference as her default setting.   Brigid has certainly grown in confidence in the last few years but this has not made her arrogant. She is never hesitant to share praise with her allies and party members. She has no issues playing second fiddle to her brother Kormatin. Brigid's contributions to her adventuring party are too numerous to mention, but she was especially instrumental during the party's efforts to engineer coups in Swynfardia's puppet states in the Borderlands..

Brigid is over her childhood trauma for being bullied as a "weakling" because she is no longer weak in any sense of the word. Being around good and supportive people has helped her break out of her shell.   Though there is no clear evidence it was her fault, she blames herself for accidentally leading the Arcane Registry to a Lantern hideout her friends were using in Swynfaredia long ago.   Brigid has survivor's guilt that Tihalt died saving her life and on some level feels that his unrequited romantic feelings for her led to this act, though that's kind of silly. TIhalt is just that kind of person and he saved Ragani too who had more platonic affection for.

With her mother, Brigid grew up poor and struggling but never questioning that she was loved. Once claimed by Rohdri, Brigid always had a full belly and a nice bed to sleep, but she was in a harsh environment devoid of real warmth or affection, let alone trust.

Rohdri tried to encourage his children to be harsh pragmatists. Brigid would probably not admit this, but more than a little bit of harsh pragmatism did imprint iself onto her psyche. The Lanterns had a much stronger impact on her early moral development which became very Zarthus-friendly which softened her hard edges a bit. Core Zarthus principles include valuing industriousness, found families, and sticking up for the little guy. Also questioning the powerful.  

  Brigid's initial anger has dimmed and she has met more and more relatively decent Swynfaredians, even decent Dragonbloods such as Count Llewellyn ap Selwyth. She is hoping to forge a lasting peace, but she will not hesitate to kill Swynfaredians if doing so will protect her new adopted home.   Brigid is trying to help as many of her half-brothers and half-sisters as she can, whether they are sorcerers or not. Not so much because it will annoy Rohdri, but because she genuinely wants to help them.

Brigid has openly renounced her ties to House Gruffyl and her father Count Rohdri ap Gruffyl. Despites this, Rohdri still insists she has an open door to come back whenever she wants. Brigid amd Kormatin had a very awkward family meal with Rohdri where Rohdri made them uncomfortable by telling them how proud he was of them despite everything. Evem of Rohdri was actually telling the truth, Kormatin and Brigid have personally transgressed a lot of powerful Swynfaredia, including the Queen herself. It's unlikely Rohdri could protect with his Count titles.   Brigid is a respective member of the Lanterns both in Fumaya and in Swynfaredia and something of an ambassador/messenger for the two groups.   Through her affiliation with Kormatin, Brigid has an "in" with every religious group within Fumaya's Nonagon. Most unusually, she has a good working relationship with the Fumayan Children. They respect her magical prowess, and Greymoria herself gave Brigid a nod of approval through an oracle.   Riding the coattails of Kormatin and Sir Bendek has allowed her a place within Fumaya's upper classes, many call her "Lady Brigid" even though she is not formally a noblewoman. Without her ties to Kormatin and company, she'd never be able to court a duke.

  Brigid's mother Gaenor the bar wench died when Brigid was still a young girl and her blacksmith mentor became a surrogate father until Brigid's sorcery manifested and Rohdri claimed her.   Rohdri can turn on the charm when he wants to, but it's clear he views his bastard children as little more than useful pawns, and the treatment she recieved at the hands of her half-siblings was, if anything, worse.   Growing up, she tried to find found family with the local Lanterns. Later she decided Kormatin was her true brother. After finding a sense of confidence in her identity, she has begun reaching out to aid Rohdri's wayward children, at least the ones that she didn't deem to be irredeemable assholes. Including but not limited to Wanda the bastard of Palbuc, Ifan the step son of scabbard maker, Henio the hat maker, and to a lesser extant Howelll who has recently expatriated himself from Swynfaredia and renounced the Gruffyl name which of course is a great way to win Brigid over.   In order to keep Ifan out of Rohdri's clutches, Kormatin and Brigid basically volunteered to adopt their kid brother as a permanent ward. Ifan is now the sixth permanent member of Kormatin and Brigid's adventuring party though Ifan is clearly the "sidekic" or "squire".

Brigid was literally born into the spiritual family of Zarthus. Exposure to Kormatin and many other representatives of Fumaya's Nonagon have since pushed her into a more ecumenical stance.