Lambscress
Earlen Bernhild Loiren- Dhuosna (a.k.a. Lambs)
There were Clockmakers in the temple, but they were her Clockmakers. They played by her rules, and had no contact with the main branch of the guild. They were lucky, she thought, they were even given salaries at all. Most of them knew so little, could do so little. It was why Lambscress did not trust the living with her real work.
Bernhild Loiren, known later as Lambscress, is a major figure in The Matter of Rhudd as well as early Gannwyll folklore. A former socialite and artisan who lived through the fall of the Heno Empire, she is considered an ancestress of the Gannwyll Gwydd, particularly the House of Larix. She was a participant in the very first Koaneg Eskern Tournament, is old friends with Armelle, and is thought to have founded the Resurrectionists with her husband Primrose.
Physical Description
Special abilities
Bernhild is a skilled Resurrectionist, one of if not the best in all of Rhudd. She is an expert at raising and programming them, as well as able to make many of the components herself. Much of her success lies in being able to create Double Walkers who will be fundamentally loyal to her.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Bernhild grew up in the chaos and power vaccum that was the late Heno Empire. She was placed in an orphanage run by Cynipina in infancy and had a difficult upbringing within their culture. She credits her caregivers for moulding her into a resilient and resourceful person, and believes that they gave her the best chance she had at surviving. She used her unique knowledge of Cynipine textiles to apprentice as a tailor, and would find a lot of success designing costumes for theatre. Her highest point was designing costumes for the royal family.
During a span of many liaisons, rumours began to circulate that she could asexually reproduce, a trait typically seen in Cynipine people. Lambseare would reveal to Primrose that her caregivers experimented on her with this same morbid curiousity in mind.
Bernhild was captured during the sack of Kaer-Is for questioning. They were unable to break her despite torture. Idalia Lark would help free her, and after gathering their few allies would flee together. She became one of Idalia's Handmaidens, marrying Reinard and having seven children with him. Somewhere in between then and her migration Northwest to Ralhaz, Bernhild and her close allies were turned into Aliruna.
She would reemerge in Gannwyll Gwydd lore as a mentor to Old Nick.
Mental Trauma
Bernhild was forced to adapt to Cynipine culture fully within her upbringing, which would be considered abusive and distressing to most outsiders. She carries a lot of trauma around pregnancy and childbearing, further compounded by her body being conditioned to reproduce asexually over many torturous years.
Intellectual Characteristics
Lambscress is a very calculated, patient thinker She is known for not being shaken up easily, and for being able to withstand large amounts of pain. She has a strong, fearless energy but with calm confidence. Her hubris lies in her fear of being vulnerable or comfortable. She constantly creates chaos in order to break her surroundings down and then mould them back together, which is a very Cynipine worldview. Thus she tends to transform any environment she's in, which can be both beneficial and detrimental.
Morality & Philosophy
Lambscress is very competitive and opportunistic, seen by many to lack empathy. She struggles to sympathize with people, so it is very difficult to get under her skin. Originally someone who did not express loyalty to anyone, she has grown sympathetic to her spiritual descendants, the Gannwyll Gwydd, and is shown to favour them. It is not until much later in her after-life, when she becomes involved with Mallt, one of Old Nick's grandchildren, that she expresses despair at her unaddressed trauma.
Taboos
“You must remember the Bindings of Hope, Lambs - Ye must leave fate in the hands of time. That means no waking the dead."
Lambscress, as a Resurrectionist and Aliruna, is a walking taboo even within her own descendants. By the time in which The Murder Ballad takes place,
Relationships
Comments