Lady ven Bickendordle

Claimant and Spymaster

A nameless bastard or a clever claimant. Everyone here knows about her, but opinions vary. Will she ruin our way of life; turning us into something foreign, or will she respect our ways. I suppose we'll figure that out eventually.

— Johanna of Gelvitz, 1559 AA

Lady ven Bickendordle is an influential noblewoman who lives in the Empire of Pallernia. Her first name is unknown to nearly everyone, even to her closest companions. She is the bastard daughter of the Duchess of Lutwesserlan and a merchant from the Peasants' Republic of Aussel. Lady ven Bickendordle's claim to Lutwesserlan, the massive spy network she owns, and her cleverness are all a concern to her mother's legitimate son and heir to the duchy.

Personal History

Lady ven Bickendordle was born in Lutwals, the Duchy of Lutwesserlan, in 1539 AA. Her mother, Adelheid, was at the time the heir to Lutwesserlan, and her father, Hinnerk, is a merchant from Aussel.

Her parents had met each other at a small feast in Aurkustel in 1538 AA. After getting to know one another, the two met up again later. From that encounter, the two had managed to conceive a child out of wedlock.

Tossed Aside

Orange Pumpkin by Jessica Lewis

A few months after her encounter with the merchant from Aussel, Lady ven Bickendordle's mother Adelheid's infidelity became known to her family. Her father, Obrecht, demanded that she'd get rid of the child as soon as possible. The young woman, overwhelmed with the whole buzz that surrounded her mishap and worried about the scandal that keeping it would cause, agreed with her father.

Adelheid Intelik was kept locked in the castle for the duration of her pregnancy and a day after she had given birth, Duke Obrecht had a servant dispose of the child. The servant felt sorry for the child and chose to take it to the Hillenistic clergy in Vlaard.

Childhood

Let's call her Tiyla for now. Once she is older, she may choose her own name and seek out her own destiny.

— Kirijksus Getra Uklatavi

The young girl spent her childhood in the safety of a large wettkirijk. Since her parents hadn't named her, Kirijksus Getra Uklatavi unofficially named her Tiyla. She later told her that she was free to change her name later and that in the records, she was still without a first name. On her 16th birthday, she gave a name to the Kirijksus. Both of them decided to keep the official name a secret.

After leaving the clergy, Lady ven Bickendordle worked as an assistant to several prominent local merchants, spied for a nobleman, and taught reading and writing for an affordable price. When doing different jobs, she introduced herself with different names. She was Tiyla the Teacher, Alea the Assistant, and when working as a spy, she would go under the name Eerika.

Spymaster

Potatoes by Marco Antonio Victorino

After years of hard work, a noble in Aurkustel hired her to run a relatively new network of spies. The nobleman had already known about her tendency to change names, and Lady ven Bickendordle introduced herself as Freika Opentzenik. She was given a small room in the nobleman's manor. A week after she had moved in, her employer introduced her to the spies. Most of them were young and inexperienced. Nearly half of them weren't even adults, just homeless kids who had been offered an opportunity to earn money.

Lady ven Bickendordle took care of the young spies. She trained them all she knew about eavesdropping, and she brought in an expert to teach them how to pick locks. As the spymaster and her spies grew closer, they began to resent their employer. The nobleman kept ordering his spymaster to send her people out on near-impossible tasks without a care for anyone's wellbeing.

Claimant

The author will come up with a clever quote later.

— The Author

After years of risking her people, Lady ven Bickendordle turned on her employer. While her spies had been out on missions, she had gathered enough dirt on the nobleman to blackmail him. As her people returned from another challenging task, she moved to his room. On the way, she had a change of heart. Instead of extorting him for his wealth, she decided to keep the man's secrets to herself. At night, Lady ven Bickendordle and the spies left without a trace.

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She moved her group further east, closer to her homeland. They acquired a hideout in Brenkvern. From there, Lady ven Bickendordle sent her spies out to the nearby towns. They looked into the pasts of the most powerful nobles around. One of them stumbled across evidence suggesting that the new Duchess of Lutwesserlan, Adelheid Intelik had a bastard child with someone called Hinnerk ven Bickendordle. The surname of the father surprised the spy, and he brought the document back.

The spymaster didn't seem surprised when she heard the news, but with the newfound evidence, she had what she needed to claim the Duchy of Lutwesserlan as her birthright. More spies were sent out to investigate into the Duchess' other children. After a year of running the spy network out of Brenkvern, she decided to return back to Vlaard. There Lady ven Bickendordle married Joakim Hollerhen, the son of a wealthy noble who was interested in an alliance with the clever claimant.

Mental characteristics

Sexuality

Homosexual

Species

Human

Ethnicity

Ruekish

Year of Birth

1539 AA 28 Years old

Circumstances of Birth

Born out of wedlock

Gender

Female

Eyes

Hazel

Hair

Brown, wavy, shoulder blade length

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Light brown

Height

1.67 m

Weight

66 kg

Known Languages

Pallernic, Ambrelic

Family

Father

Hinnerk ven Bickendordle

Mother

Adelheid Intelik

Siblings

None

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Spouse

Joakim Hollerhen

Lover

Johanna of Gelvitz

Children

None

Future Content

More information about Lady ven Bickendordle's spouse and her lover, Johanna of Gelvitz coming soon.