Player Info

username: u/willmagnify

discord username: willmagnify#3219

Character Info

Character Name: Constance Praiseseven

Title(s): Member of the Council of Commons

Age: 54

Appearance: Constant could be described as plain, if one wanted to be kind. Of common birth, Constant’s appearance is equally common – especially when compared to that of the lords and ladies in whose proximity she often finds herself. The woman has a mane of greying hair that she keeps tucked in a bonnet, two squinting eyes crowned by the slight marks of her age and thin lips that only rarely curve into a smile. Regardless of this plainness Constant does know how to carry herself with dignity and a certain self-satisfied pride; she would usually wear a long, simple gown and decorate herself with a few tasteful jewels and a somewhat less tasteful golden seven-pointed-star around her neck.

Starting Location: En route to Gulltown with Lord Tully's party

Trait: Shrewd

Skill Points Pool: 18

Attributes:

Skills: Networking, Surveillance, Commerce, Stewardship

Mastery: Magnate

History

Despite the station she has reached at this particular time in her life, Constant's existence has been rather unremarkable. She was born in the first moon of 305 in Saltpans, the daughter of a well-respected apothecary and a woman born of an equally wealthy and prominent family of merchants, trading between the Riverlands and the Vale. Her childhood was comfortable, but far removed from the world of politics, courts and dragons. The Mootons, the lords overseeing her hometown were distant figures in her daily life, and the Tullies who ruled her kingdom even more so. The apothecary's daughter's driving virtues were respectability and diligence as she aided her parents with their endeavours and the running of their household.

A plain-looking youth, with no illustrious surname despite her wealth, Constant was in no rush to marry: with no host of suitors vying for her hand, she focused on stewardship, her family's business and her faith, an ever-present trait that she cultivated through the years as a matter of pride. Had she not been so tied to the earthly matters of her family, the young Constant would have likely become a Septa – a missed path that she is quite glad not to have taken. It was at twenty-seven years old that, out of the same sense of duty that kept her in Maidenpool, she followed her mother's advice and married Jon, a cousin of her mother's and next in line to inherit the greatest share of the family's holdings.

The marriage was a good one, but far from passionate. The groom was prettier than the bride and their conversation glacial, but they both had a good head for business, and saw their fortunes grow has they worked together, made ties with other families of burghers from Maidenpool and Saltpans, standing at the centre of a network of likeminded individuals striving for their own interests. As Jon and Constant's cooperation grew stronger, so did their respect to one other and, eventually, they welcomed a single daughter, Merry, into their family.

Motherhood did not keep her away from her occupation, to which she was far more suited, but softened her, somehow. Inspired by the book of the mother and moved by compassion in seeing the dispossessed children of the impoverished Riverlands, she decided that she was ready to invest into something much more valuable than spices and silver – people. She opened a successful orphanage in her hometown, followed by one in Saltpans and another in the countryside between those two cities: run by herself, septons, septas and other kind-hearted individuals, those institutions became safe havens for those young souls. It was not a purely charitable move on Constant's part, however: she had a lot to gain, both in standing and reputation, in becoming the matron of these establishments. Within years of their opening, her kindred group of wealthy merchants, and unlanded men of the gentry saw the woman, who was dubbed (or dubbed herself) "Praiseseven" with respect and admiration. Despite her rather unpleasant presence and unwinnable sternness, none could say Constant was not righteous, pious and wise; something that brought great joy to her.

The children's homes were followed by workshops were young boys could train with an apprentice and charitable funds to provide dispossessed maidens with a small dowry; initiatives that won her the respect of her community, high and low, and, finally, the attention of Lord Tully himself.

Constant was therefore catapulted into the Lord's zealous wave of reform and inclusion, and invited to sit – or rather, stand – at his Council of Commons. With a new station, came pride. Constant, eager to declare that she was as distant and disinterested in politics as she was in gambling, was quick to accept the invitation and the burghers she spoke for were glad to have a woman with a proven record of diligence, piety and efficiency to represent them. Now, as close to the ear of a High Lord as any man in her nameless lineage had been, Constant aims high as her husband remains with his feet solidly planted on the ground – and his nose in his ledgers.

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SC Info

Character Name: Merry Praiseseven

Title(s): N/A

Age: 24

Appearance: Highborn ladies receive songs in praise of their great beauty wherever they go: with no great name to come before her, Mya has never been afforded this privilege, never being referred to as more than “pretty”. She is a modest-looking girl: a round freckled face, dark eyes, brown hair that falls in waves on her shoulders, and a slight pug nose. None of Mya’s features seem to match with her mother’s: she is round and soft where her mother is rough and angled, healthy and rosy where her mother is weathered by age. The girl carries herself with a sweet, pleasant demeanour and always has a kind smile, especially when around children.

Starting Location: En route to Gulltown with Lord Tully's party

Trait: Diligent

Skill Point Pool: 12

Attributes:

Skills: Stewardship, Rhetoric, History & Culture, Medicine

History

Merry's pampered youth was even more pleasant than her mother's, aided by the fact that the girl was far more pleasant that Constant. Her father Jon, throughout her childhood, would always tell her that she was given the perfect name; wherever she went, whatever she did, Merry was jovial, serene and kind. With her mother and father being constantly occupied, Merry was raised by a nurse first and then a Septa, who, in a peculiar inversion of roles, provided her with warmth and kindness where her mother gave her talks on morality and discipline. Characteristically, however, Merry has never born any ill-will towards Constant: eager to please and to learn, she always followed her wherever she went – whenever she was allowed. Following a similar path to her mother, the only child helped her as she grew up, not as much with merchant routes and accounting than with the newly opened orphanages, which, when she had turned thirteen, had opened their first chapter. A kind hand and eager for companionship, Merry became a close friend to the children, who she came to regard as an ever-growing pack of siblings. She learned to tend to their bruises and their hearts, reading them to sleep, calming them as they sobbed. It was at sixteen that Merry began to desire a child of her own, but she was twenty when her mother even thought to entertain talks of her marriage: despite that, no match had been enough for Constant, who always sought to delay the conversation, with some amount of bitterness and discomfort on Merry's part.

Looking forward to the next chapter in her life, Merry continues her good work in Maidenpool, sometimes accompanying her mother as she goes about her business in the Riverlands: now, as she travels to the coronation of a New King, rubbing elbows with people who are clearly uninterested in knowing her name, she awaits her mother's decision with some worry: especially as she heard of what was mentioned at the last Council of Commons...

Family