Post/Author/DateTime	Post
JulesCARV 01-15-08, 02:53 PM	House Pingel, the Counts of Melvekshire, were loyal vassals to House Villiersen, the Electors of Kellex. One of the daughters of the house, Retta Pingel, was noted for her beauty, expansive intellect, sorcerous power, and unstable temperament. When she found out that she was betrothed to marry Valan Villiersen, the heir of Kellex, she was delighted at the prospect of such a fortunate marriage. However, the wedding was unexpected called off when Aiko, the bastard daughter of Tetso Uromaki, was unexpectedly granted legitimacy by the emperor. Valan was betrothed to Aiko instead, as the Uromakis were a house at least comparable in power to the Villiersens, and far above the Pingels. The news of the cancelled wedding did not reach Retta Pingel until the day the wedding was supposed to take place. Retta was already in her white wedding dress -- a dress she wears even to this day. Enraged by the cancelled wedding, Retta swore that if the Houses of Villiersen and Uromaki felt they could discard her so easily, she would destroy them. She vowed not to take off her wedding dress until either her groom came back to her and made good on the promises or the houses had been utterly destroyed. At first, she lived as an outlaw raider, attacking caravans suspected of being invested with Villiersen or Uromaki money with a band of adventurers-for-hire. Her own family attempted to bring her back. When they could not come to an agreement, the Pingels allowed their wayward daughter to leave, in accordance with the preconditions for the initial meetings. The Villiersens, however, grew impatient with the Pingels' inability to end their daughter's depredations, and began to suspect that the Pingels were aiding Retta's banditry. Within a few months, the Villiersens had the Pingels stripped of their fief and exiled, their old land titles granted to adjacent lords. The Pingel Manor, however, was left abandonned, so that it would not become a bone of contention among the new lords. Retta's anger at the Villiersens increased when her family was dispossessed of its rightful titles, but she was pleased that at least Pingel Manor was left undefiled. Eventually, she returned to the manor secretly, flying alone and invisible, finding it stripped of everything of value. There, she began plans to sabatoge the new lords of the Pingels' rightful domain, rendering the soil barren and creating "accidents" on the new lands, while continuing to conceal her own presence. Many began to suspect the Pingel Manor was haunted, and mages and exorcists were sent to hunt down whatever evil resided there, but Retta evaded them, and they found nothing but an abandonned, rotting castle inhabitted by a few rats and pigeons, and eventually the lords granted the Pingel's fief stopped making any attempt to work the barren, lonely lands. It was soon overgrown by weeds. Left to work alone, Retta grew increasingly mad, but her powers grew greater. She began to seek secret support from other rivals to the Villiersens and Uromakis, such as House Pirraneaux, and even the Amarid Caliphate. Eventually, an old woman, she embraced lichdom, while continuing to dream of her revenge against all who had wronged her. To this day, she holds court in the ruins of Pingel Manor, her skeletal form, with strips of dried, ruined flesh still attached, wearing the tattered remains of her white wedding dress. She still remembers her vow -- never to take it off, until all who have wronged her have been destroyed, or the Villiersens make good upon their promise to send her a groom.
Kolytszusk 01-15-08, 04:36 PM	Now that is an awesome character. Myself, I can't find anything wrong with her. Good job ^^