[Medium Sized Model - 25mm Base]
[Presupported with LYS files in 32mm & 75mm Scale]
The Madame of Grimhelm’s infamous Pretty Things & Pearls bordello, Madame Octavia has seen many of Baldur’s most prominent men come and go in her house of pleasure, though in wake of the impending rebellion, the Field Marshal has called for her property to be seized and the Madame to be arrested. Fleeing the scene, Octavia now leads Grimhelm’s resistance in wake of escalating tensions, and reveals how powerful infernal magic can be to those who have wronged her.
A Nosmeni born on the plane of Minera, raised in the Stacked Sea of Grimgate, one of the most crime-ridden districts of Baldur’s capital; a festering slum sprawling into the hills, buildings knit so tightly they practically suffocate one as they walk the roads and alleys between them. It was in this hellscape of brick and mortar that Saskartha was born, an only child to a human father and Nosmeni mother, a scorned relationship in the eyes of Baldurians. Nosmeni were ill loved in most corners of Tharador, yet in Baldur especially they were despised, thought to be harbingers of the abyss, bringers of doom, wielders of foul magic. The arcanophobia of Baldur’s populace tempered their hatred towards the infernal beings more than any other cultures, seeing that every Nosmeni held the potential to use some basic forms of magic, meaning just about any one could be a potential mage in hiding.
Saskartha’s father was a northman, one who had fled the harsh blizzard beaten winters of Brightstone to settle in the more moderate weather of Grimgate. He was smitten with the beauty of Saskartha’s mother, courting her and eventually fathering a child with her. The child’s life was filled with love from her parents, but it was solely them that showed her love: the people of Baldur spat at her feet, refused service to her at their shops and refused to school her. Yet her father and mother told her there was little need for her to worry, as the two raised her with their own knowledge, much of it secretive to the commoners of Grimgate. Her father, she found, was in truth a Blood Mage, fled from Brightstone with a bounty on his head. His work as a bloodletter in the slums was his way to obtain fuel for his power, and aid the community while he was at it. That same power was instilled in Sakartha, and her father aided her in honing it, while her mother taught her reading, writing, history and how to use her infernal magics, being a Nosmeni.
It was by dire fortune that one of her father’s clients happened to be an Inquisitor, one who had kept his Liturium pendant on him when he arrived for his bloodletting. The antimagic metal betrayed her father’s nature, who grew suddenly nauseous, bumbling with mistakes and failing to hone the bloodletting, resulting in the Inquisitor loosing considerably more blood than needed, and an emergency blood transfusion to take place. The Inquisitor grew ill after, and when questioned by his colleagues, suspicions were raised. The family home was stormed, Saskartha watched her parents taken from her, never seen again, while a city guard dragged her to a local orphanage, kicking and screaming. Though held fourteen winters to her name, and was one of the eldest children at the orphanage, she was relentlessly bullied and beaten for her infernal appearance. It was two years of hell for her to endure before the orphanage finally released her, and with nowhere to go, the only place she could find work was in a local bordello in Exaltation Alleys, Cake By the Sea, a place that promised to clothe and house her provided she could work. Though she was too young to be a call girl, and perhaps too exotic, she could earn a living as a cleaner, cook, barmaid and whatever else Madame Susanna needed of her. The first two years were tough, but the staff of the Cake were kind to her, and for the first time in years she felt a sense of belonging. Though the clients might shudder or jolt at the sight of her, they knew better than to gawk or harass her.
Finally when she came of age, the Madame put Saskartha to work with the rest of the girls, but told her to choose a new name that wouldn’t be such an eyebrow raiser for clients looking at the menu. Octavia is what she landed on, and ultimately it became the name she preferred, for the name of her past only reminded her of bleak and miserable times. Octavia quickly became one of the most popular girls at the Cake, much to the chagrin of her colleagues, for she used her devilish charms to kindle burning fires of desire in the hearts of her clients, who would pay top coin to come back and see her, again and again. Meanwhile she used the coin she earned to pay private investigators across the city to try find her parents, all to no avail. After half a decade, she lost hope. There was no trace of their arrest by the Inquisitors, and they had surely perished soon after the raid that day. When she came to this realisation, her enthusiasm for her work and her grip on her clientele weakened. Madame Susanna relieved Octavia of her duties, encouraging the young girl to leave the city, travel and come back when her soul was in a better spot.
She did as she was asked, using what was left of her coin to finance her trip around Baldur. It was in this time that she met the Half-Orc inventor Tomas Lumens, sharing a seat with him on a locomotive bound for Edimir. The two came to realise the similarities of their stories, and the ostracization Octavia and Tomas had both always felt for their appearance in Baldur. The two found an ally in each other that day, and would become close contacts for the rest of their days. When the first thoughts of revolution turned in Tomas’ mind like cogs in a winding clock, he sent word to Ophelia, asking her to establish a front in Grimhelm, a way to keep a cell active and keep eyes on the Crown’s armies. Enthusiasm burned in her once again, she had been working at the Cake again for two years, and used all her savings to move to Grimhelm and purchase an old abandoned warehouse that she would turn into her own bordello: Pretty Things & Pearls. Though the establishment was legitimate and serviced many of Baldur’s finest soldiers, Octavia kept a long list of her clientele, making a special note of officers married with wives and children: a list of blackmail victims for when the time required. Though seemingly predicting this, or having caught wind of it from a squealer or traitor, Field Marshal Kurt Williams ordered Pretty Things & Pearls seized within hours of declaring Martial Law.
Octavia was once again left without a home, but has used her connections in the resistance to establish a new residence and home for Grimhelm’s cell. Now she leads them after Tomas’ demise, and hopes that her years of clientele rapport building pays off, armed with a very intricate knowledge of army installations and people of interest across the city, as the highest paid officers also seem to have the biggest mouths. She only hopes that things can end before blood is spilled on her door, for being forced to use her blood and infernal magic will take her to places she does not wish to ever visit.
