Hildegarde von Drachenfels

Mother of Prinz Jaggar von Drachenfels of Aalban

Earth Elementalist of the Fifth Circle

AC 1016

"Nein! I will not have it! It will be done in the proper Aalbanese way, the way it has always been done, and the way it will always be done!"

Appearance

Frau Hildegarde von Drachenfels is a formidable and intimidating Hattian matron, appearing larger and portlier than her actual size. She seems to be in her mid-sixties, although the senior Aalbanese courtiers recall that she has always looked old and well preserved. Her sharply sculpted facial features are strongly Hattian, from the distinctive Ludenburg nose and the chiseled cheekbones, and rather manly jowls. She never smiles, and the disapproving frown on her face seems permanently etched. Not a single strand of hair is ever out of place in her severe coif, and the regular streaks of gray hair against the jet black gives the appearance of a perfectly-banded black onyx. Her most menacing features are her slate-gray eyes in an ever-threatening stare.

Frau Hildegarde wears only the most formal and traditional dresses, more Hattian than Aalbanese in fashion. She is always in black or dark gray, as if in constant mourning for her deceased husband. The few accents on her clothes, such as veils, sashes, and girdles, and simple but fine jewelry, are always in dark golden earth tones.

Personality & Quirks

Frau Hildegarde von Drachenfels considers herself the solid bedrock of which the Drachenfels family, the Aalbanese Principality, and Hattian traditions are securely established to endure eternity. Her visage and demeanor suggests a fixed, earthy steadfastness, resisting change and destruction. Frau Hildegarde is extremely conservative in her attitudes, strictly adhering to rigorous rules and age-old traditions. Her thinking is slow and deliberate, but once her mind is set on a matter, her decisions cannot be swayed and her opinions can never be eroded. Her stubborn perseverance at a long-term task is monumental, and her willful patience—especially for holding a grudge and plotting revenge—is legendary.

The Matriarch of the Drachenfels family has not a grain of maternal instincts about her. She is critical, judgmental and demanding of her family, perhaps more so than towards other people. (Frau Hildegarde never knew her mother, who was a powerful wizardess, believed to have been lost in a journey to the Elemental Plane of Earth.) She has a heart of stone that neither gives nor receives any form of warmth, love, or affection.

Background

Frau Hildegarde von Drachenfels has always lived a difficult life. Born in Leenz in AC 922, Hildegarde was the only daughter of Herr Eberhard Ludenburg, an authoritarian military wizard of pure Hattian bloodlines, despite the intermarriage with Alphatians common among other Aalbanese families. Herr Eberhard was a staunch adherent of time-honored Hattian customs and the Ludenburg family traditions, and strictly educated his three sons and only daughter to uphold these proud institutions. Being the youngest child and the only girl, Hildegarde was given no less discipline and no special treatment as her brothers, save that she was not required to become a military wizard herself. Herr Eberhard, however, arranged for the next best thing: that she be betrothed to the most prominent and most influential military wizard of Aalban, none other than Herr Morgaithe von Drachenfels, son of Prinz Georg von Drachenfels and heir to the throne of Aalban.

Completely aware of the status and expectations as the wife of a Prince of Glantri, Frau Hildegarde has since not lived her own life, but rather the life prescribed by tradition and demanded by duty. Nothing remarkable occurred in her life that could distinguish her from other grand dames of Aalbanese and Hattian history; she obeyed her husband, bore him children, raised her family, and stood by her husband's side as he governed the Principality of Aalban. Perhaps the only aspect of her life that was distinctly personal was her wizardly studies in earth magic.

Only when Prinz Morgaithe died in AC 983 did Frau Hildegarde begin to aspire more for personal power. Yet her plot for seizing control was still restricted by the traditions she so scrupulously follows and upholds. Though her ambition would be to rule Aalban, she would never overtly be oppose her son, Prinz Jaggar von Drachenfels, nor the laws which make him Prince of Aalban. At the most, Frau Hildegarde tries to undermine his power by manipulating the rest of the Drachenfels into her schemes.

For decades, Frau Hildegarde has also been laboring on acquiring magical power in the Secret Craft of Earth Elementalism. She had achieved the fifth circle of power since the turn of the millennium, but she has not yet challenged the present High Master of Earth Elementalism, Signor Innocenti di Malapietra, former Prince of Caurenze, for supremacy in the Craft. As befits a proper Earth Elementalist, Frau Hildegarde is willing to perfect her, plan, scheme, wait, bide her time, until she can be ensured of a secure victory.

Web of Intrigue

Frau Hildegarde has no true affection for her family. To her, they are pawns to ordered and controlled, or at best, subordinates that bring her prestige and glory. Of course, this only includes family members she actually cares about. Most of them, she ignores or downright loathes.

Frau Hildegarde's primary peon is her daughter, Helgar von Drachenfels, who obeys the Drachenfels matriarch unquestioningly—or so she believes. Frau Helgar has learned the best way to deal with her indomitable mother is to pit her against her brother Jaggar.

Frau Hildegarde would like to control her son, Prinz Jaggar von Drachenfels, as much as she does Helgar. However, Herr Jaggar has attained his own magical power and political influence, and can rightfully stand up against his mother, even flaunting her failed attempts at domination to her face. They are not fond of each other, but they do have a cautious and grudging respect for one another.

By far, the most constant object of Frau Hildegarde's relentless hatefulness is her daughter-in-law Frau Gertrud von Drachenfels, Jaggar's Alphatian wife. As if the Hattian bigotry and racism against their historical enemy were not enough, Frau Hildegarde chooses to subject Gertrud to all the spite and ill will that she cannot afflict on Jaggar. Poor Gertrud is in no position to oppose her mother-in-law and can only suffer the torment.

Similarly, Frau Hildegarde takes no pains to hide her disgust at Gertrud's pathetic sons. The physical weakling Sigmund von Drachenfels dishonors the proud military legacy of the Drachenfels and the Ludenburg family, while Roderick von Drachenfels is the magically impotent one. When Herr Roderick ran away from Ritterburg—out of disgust of his family's attitudes about his status as a mundaner—Frau Hildegarde, of course, chastised as an act of supreme disobedience and disrespect to the family! And when Sigmund recently married Frau Walburg Löwenroth, an intelligent young Aalbanese noblewoman, proficient in magic, and thoroughly competent in politics—and most likely to run Aalban when Sigmund inherits it—Frau Hildegarde at once voiced her protests against this ambitious, social climbing upstart!

Frau Hildegarde does not concern herself with many matters beyond Aalban. She does however maintain cordial, though very formal, ties with the Malapietra family of Caurenze, particularly Signora Lucrecia di Malapietra. This is not out of any Thyatian patriotism, bur rather to keep a vigilant watch over her future rival in the Secret Craft, Signor Innocenti di Malapietra, the High Master of Earth Elementalism.

Style of Magic & Combat

Statistics: 15th-level magic-user (AC 1000), 20th-level mage (AC 1014), Earth Elementalist of the 5th Circle; Str 13, Int 16, Wis 13, Dex 10, Con 17, Cha 11; AL N (D&D and AD&D).

Languages: Thyatian (Aalbanese, Caurenzan, and Glantrian dialects, all with a distinctive Hattian accent.)

Weapon Proficiencies: dagger, staff.

Skills: heraldry, etiquette, reading/writing, spellcraft.

Progeny Ability: Hold person once per day, by a stern gaze. If the victim meets Frau Hildegarde's stare as she is using this power, the victim also suffer the illusion of turning into stone, although is no actual physical petrification.

Items: The Stone Throne of the Ludenburgs

In following the Ludenburg family traditions, Frau Hildegarde was initiated into the Secret Craft of Earth Elementalism. She has a natural affinity for her element, not only in her spellcasting, but also in her temperament, way of thinking, and physical attributes. (There were once rumors that Frau Hildegarde's mother was descended from a medusa sorceress from the Plane of Earth. Of course, Frau Hildegarde could not accept that she is anything but of pure Hattian bloodlines. However, Frau Hildegarde does have an extraordinary Progeny ability that suggests otherwise.)

Since her installment into Schloß Ritterburg, guarded by the most disciplined military troops in all of the Principalities, Frau Hildegarde has had little need to engage in actual combat. But out of regimented habit since her youth, Frau Hildegarde regularly seeks out her battles, whether in mock duels with apprentices and resident magists, or in her routine trips into the Elemental Plane of Earth.

Though she was not a military wizard like her brothers, Frau Hildegarde's style of magic is ordered, controlled, and militaristic. However, she is neither imaginative nor creative in her use of spells or the crafting of her own spells, and has been critiqued as predictable in her spellcasting program. In preparation for combat, Frau Hildegarde invariably begins by setting up impenetrable defenses, using enchanted items, formidable abjurations, and the first circle Elementalist ability of protection from elements. She then dons a veritable arsenal of magical rings, wands, and rods.

In combat, Frau Hildegarde's initial moves would be to summon denizens from the Elemental Plane of Earth (generally earth fundamentals, sandlings, earth elementals, and krysts, in order of increasing strength), which she manages to control with utmost precision. (Though Frau Hildegarde can easily conjure urdeens, she prefers to employ these elementals of chaos only as opponents for training.) Frau Hildegarde saves her direct-damage spells, if her opponents get passed her summoned pawns. Very few can survive her earth-based offensive attacks, and none as yet has broken through her magical defenses.

Although Frau Hildegarde has never quite reached dire straits in combat, she claims that does have one final move in desperate times. She has inherited a secret and powerful spell from the oldest Ludenburg Earth Masters, which calls upon a frightening and destructive force from the Elemental Plane of Earth, known only as "The Horde." Frau Hildegarde herself has never cast this spell and not fully aware of its effects, but she is resolute is using it if she has to against her inevitable battle with High Master Innocenti.

"She means, it has to be done her way—or not at all!"

(Helgar von Drachenfels, who knows her mother all too well)

References:

History of House Ritterburg 

Spells of the Secret Craft of Earth Elementalism 

An Aalbanese Tale 

Author: Kit Navarro