Penny the Wise
Wizard Padrais Wuren
Wizard under Gwydion Ainros
Padrais Wuren had been a swineherd's daughter, a lesser offshoot of the middling Clan Warren, and this would be used against her often in her early career as a speller. She taught herself to spell figures in order to help her father compete with wealthier swineherds, and this eventually brought her to the attention of the young Clan Crossing, and Lord Caereg took her as a speller to Wizard Haelma. Padrais proved competent and industrious, yet several others advanced beyond her due to their ambitious natures.
It was because of her low birth, and what many called a "mean mind for penny counting," that Padrais came to be called Penny. She seemed indeed destined for a life of meanness, until Lord Caereg passed and was replaced by his second son Creean. Creean had no mind at all for figures, but he quickly noted Penny's reputation. It was less than a year later, when Wizard Haelma died during a trip to the Fiirwood, that Lord Creean made Penny his Wizard. Many scoffed at this, but Creean was a fierce man who would not be countered.
Though a passable magician and excellent speller, it would ever be mathematics at which Penny excelled, and she quickly discovered and ameliorated much waste at Great Cross. Trade flourished, new buildings were erected, and Lord Creean had hopes to make his town the rival of Revelback and Saolmoth. Even in the Lean Summer of 856 RA, the first of King Gwydion's reign, Great Cross was better provisioned than any other settlement and ready to face the Hard Winter. What Lord Creean could not foresee, nor even could Wizard Penny, was a summons from Aerwoth. Young King Gwydion had jailed his wizard and required a new one, and royal decree said it must be Wizard Penny.
It is fortunate that Penny was a humble woman. Not only was she being torn from her home in the middle of great advancements made by her own ingenuity, but she was the King's third choice. His first choice, Jaell from the Green Isle, had flatly refused; and his second, Heather from Dubraigh, had been blocked by an early blizzard. Thus Penny came to a new position unwanted, surrounded by resentment, and expected to fix an enormous problem she had not created: solving the Hard Winter that was already upon them.
Prince Allad Ainros had served as High Magus (what we would now call a Regent) for ten years before Gwydion took the crown, so Penny had a strong ally in her cause. The two organized a betrothal between young King Gwydion and Princess Maeve of Clan Timber in Bastis. Maeve was a beautiful and charming woman who would ultimately bear celebrated children with the king, but more immediately this alliance meant importing food from Bastis, which was far less affected by the harsh Winter. Yet even now the Hosts seemed to be conspiring against them, for severe blizzards prevented the imports from crossing to the East. More imports were brought from eastern nations, but their origins were unclear. The foods were strange, and many feared they came from the unknown and feared swamps of Samaya, so many chose to starve rather than eat. Penny and Allad did much good, yet in the end it was too late, and Revellia suffered greatly.
When Spring finally broke, the people were grim and desperate for hope. Wizard Penny, now called Penny Cross because of her origins, quickly arranged for Princess Maeve to join them in Revellia. An enormous wedding was planned, several days of feasting (on lean imports from Great Cross) and celebrations were devised, and hope seemed to renew in the canton. Despite these early failures, the young king would one day be known as Gwydion the Great, and many spellers and wizards put this down to the efforts of Penny and Prince Allad.
In 864 RA, the Grand Hostel was at last completed at Great Cross. Though Penny and Allad managed to funnel taxes toward this effort, it was also largely due to the improvements Wizard Penny had made when still serving Lord Creean. By this time, many had started to call her Penny the Wise.
Prince Allad and Penny the Wise effected many positive changes for Revellia, though most went unremarked upon. They did not win great battles nor go on mythic quests, but they made their home a better place. Penny was vital to much of this work, yet she spent most of her life in Allad's shadow. Prince Allad himself had once been a feared and hated figure, but during the beloved Gwydion's reign he slowly became so glorious as to cover Penny's own fame. If there was any resentment for this, however, she did not voice it. In fact, when Prince Allad died in 870 RA, she was noted to have said, "Our finest jewel has perished from the monarch's crown."
There was no true replacement for Prince Allad, so Penny the Wise found herself doing twice the work in the final years of her life, and she was by no means young. One morning in the Summer of 873 RA, she reported a tightness in her chest whilst breaking her fast and discussing grain planting reports from the major settlements, as she did most mornings. That evening, whilst dining and working over diplomatic communications between ports with two of her spellers, she collapsed at table. She was bedridden for fifteen days, yet continued many of her duties with the aid of her spellers. There had been some hope of her recovery, yet Penny herself arranged for the summoning of Heather Snowfall from Dubraigh, to serve as her replacement.
Some stories say Penny died peacefully in her sleep, but the more popular claim says she choked and seized at midday during a light lunch whilst discussing the transition of duties from herself to Heather Snowfall with the speller Melka, on whom she had come to depend heavily during her time in bed. Melka herself would one day spell a history of her time serving Penny the Wise; it reports that even as she died, Penny tried to fight past her aches and continue working. In the end, even she could not overcome the weakness of the flesh.
Penny the Wise was buried in the royal crypts of Clan Ainros. It is sometimes rumored that Elisel the Enchantress was granted the same privilege, but this is not certain. We know Penny's final resting place only thanks to the works of the speller Melka. It may well be she was the only wizard to ever be so honored.
Ethnicity
Professions
Life
4829
4873
44 years old
Circumstances of Death
Died of a burst heart
Birthplace
Great Cross
Children
Eyes
Black
Hair
Chestnut
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Ghast
Other Affiliations