Kestrel Ruehl

Character Sheet: Google Sheets

Kestrel's mother was a human scholar in the small barony of Kyonora, and her father was her mother's servant. Kestrel grew up as a servant in her mother's home: she had her mother's name, but in all other ways she was merely another maid. When Kestrel was 12, her parents were both killed during a riot protesting the Baron's rule. The Baron seized Kestrel's mother's lands and holdings, and Kestrel was put on the street. She managed to make her way to [larger town or city], where she resorted to thievery in order to survive.

When Kestrel became a woman, she dreamed of the Prince Of Leaves. In her dreams they danced through the night in his palace of Lost Hope, and he promised to make her powerful, and loved, and feared, as all the women of her bloodline had been for a hundred generations. Kestrel had been told stories about the Prince Of Leaves by her father, but they paled next to the reality. Kestrel always had a gift for persuasion, but with the touch of the Prince Of Leaves, her ability to beguile and intimidate became supernaturally potent.

Eventually Kestrel attracted the attention of Kazu "Greasy Thumbs" Gulick, a small-time but ambitious gangster. Gulick employed her as a messenger, and then later as a debt collector. She was delivering an extortion threat to a petty noble when she had her first true adventure. She didn't know what Gulick had on Lord Marga, and she didn't need to know in order to deliver her message. Unfortunately, Gulick gravely underestimated Lord Marga: he was no mere corrupt council member. Kestrel discovered that Lord Marga was a skin-changer — a monster who could disguise itself by wearing the skins of others. When Lord Marga found Kestrel in a hidden room filled with jars of oil and perfectly preserved suits of human skin, he flew into a rage. She fled to the closest person she thought she could trust — and who might be able to help her — Aedin, a soldier who had lost his love and had found comfort in earthly vices. Together they fought the skin changer, defeating it and driving it into the sewers.

Now in her early 20s, Kestrel is something of an enigma. Those whom she likes like her a great deal in return, while those whom she doesn't like are often afraid of her. Ironically, although she has an impressive effect on those who come to her attention, she has few friends. Kestrel's small social circle is primarily composed of others whose lives have crossed the line between civil and criminal society, such as Lucien, a city guard for whom Kestrel has a grudging respect, and Marcus, a gifted actor touched by madness.

Philosophy

Kestrel values relationships with others — her friends and those whom she trusts — as the highest moral imperative. If she likes someone, she will do anything for them: keep her word to them, defend them, and help them. If she dislikes someone, then she sees no need to keep her word or aid them.

Kestrel is a criminal, but for her this holds no shame. She does not consider the law to be anything other than a set of rules set down by the powerful: neither inherently good nor inherently bad. She explained it once to Lucien like so:

"There is a river that I want to cross. There is a bridge across the river. Many people take the bridge. But if the bridge is busy, or uncertain, or far away, I will wade across the river instead. The bridge isn't good or bad: it's just a bridge. And if I get wet wading across the river, that's no one's business but mine.

"Now, if a man with a sword blocks my path, and says I must use the bridge, maybe I will — or perhaps I will find a way around the man with the sword. But whatever I do, whether I take the bridge or not, or wade across the river or not, that's simply a choice. My choice. And if the man with the sword attacks me, and I hurt him, or even kill him... well, I've no wish to harm anyone... but I will, if I need to."

About the Prince Of Leaves...

The Prince Of Leaves is a Faerie, a mythical being. The Prince typically wears a leaf green coat, and possesses long, silvery hair the shape and texture of thistledown. He has pale, perfect skin, bright blue eyes, and perfectly formed eyebrows that terminate in an upward flourish. His skin is always deathly cold, and his voice has the sound of distant music. He is the ruler of several Kingdoms in Faerie, although the only one Kestrel has visited is Lost Hope, which principally comprises a brugh (earth barrow) magically imbued to resemble a great mansion and its surrounding lands.

Although not actually evil, the Prince frequently shows a blunt disregard for the thoughts, feelings, and well being of others while being overly sensitive himself, and he has so little a grasp on the social conventions of mortals that he more often than not mistakes innocent actions or misunderstandings as direct, personal insults to himself or his friends. Described as mercurial, his mood can and often does change from one extreme to another within the space of minutes. Furthermore, if the Prince has taken a dislike to someone, he is not above making scornful remarks about perfectly mundane qualities, such as their height, the make of their boots, or the way they cut their meat.

The Prince has a disdain for mortal magicians which borders on vendetta. While he does not go out of his way to find and confront mortal wizards, he delights in misleading them or foiling their efforts when he encounters them. From time to time, when Kestrel has met a wizard, the Prince has whispered to her, urging her to flick the wizard's ear, to tear a page out of one of the wizard's books, or to free a trapped fiend from its prison. His contempt for mortal magic does not extend to the Prince's friends and cohorts, of course.