Rowan Zarovan
Mistress of Prince Harald Haaskinz of Sablestone
Water Elementalist of the Third Circle
AC 1017
"Magic is a property of Forces which are best left unseen and unknown. I shudder to think of the Power which could infuse our land with such potential for greatness....or destruction."
Appearance
Rowan Zarovan is a Traladaran immigrant of mixed Darine and Callarii heritage. The result of this exotic parentage is striking: Rowan is a young woman of startling, breathtaking beauty, even by Glantrian standards. Her high, elven cheekbones and sculpted features blend effortlessly with her olive complexion, misty grey-green eyes, and curly black hair to create an ethereal loveliness destined to draw the attention of every man in the vicinity. Combined with a ready smile, intelligent but slightly shy gaze, and voluptuous figure, Rowan's beauty is said to outshine even that of Princesa Carnelia de Belcadiz.
But Rowan is a practical girl, and wears her beauty with an air of casualness that borders on nonchalance. She prefers to dress in plain, functional dresses in dark colors, surmounted (when in the laboratory) by utilitarian wizard's robes, pockets loaded with notes and spell components. Her tempestuous mane of hair is typically tied back in a simple leather thong or plain ribbon.
Background
Born in AC 990 in western Karameikos, Rowan is the daughter of Talis, a half-elven forest ranger, and his Darine wife, Riga. After her father's untimely death, Rowan grew up among her mother's people, the Manusa—the magically talented branch of the wandering peoples. She became known at a young age for her extraordinarily strong magical abilities, which far exceeded those of her relatives. Certain superstitious tribal elders were known to consider Rowan's heightened talent a threat, or even a curse.
Well aware that her talents made her an outcast among her people, Rowan nursed her magical abilities in secret, learning to read the magical runes of her father's people as well as much of the arcane alphabet while off on her own. She pretended to be a "normal" Darine girl, learning the domestic arts in addition to fortune-telling, dancing, riding, and self-defense. But by puberty, Rowan was beginning to learn to configure the most basic of cantrips on her own.
At eighteen, Rowan demanded to be sheared in the Traladaran tradition. Her mother protested (since she was only one-quarter Traladaran, Riga argued, why did it matter?), but the elders agreed, seeing it as a way to rid themselves of the wild talent. So Rowan set out on her own. She never intended to return, and indeed, new exactly where she was headed: Glantri, the land of magic.
Traveling north and east, Rowan found work with a caravan on its way to Darokin. In Darokin City, she contracted with a show traveling as far north as Corunglain. After a long winter in Corunglain, waiting tables at a local inn, Rowan finally found her windfall: she was hired by an entertainment company on its way to Glantri City.
In the magical foreign capital at last, Rowan found work and a place to live, then began working at sharpening her spellcasting skills. When she believed that she was ready, she applied for entry at the Great School of Magic. She was devastated: the competing applicants were all infinitely more adept at the art of magic than she!
But Master Harald Haaskinz was in attendance at the audition, and saw enormous potential in this uneducated foreign girl. Here was a young woman who had taught herself to read magic and to cast basic spells entirely on her own. Not only did Haaskinz accept Rowan as his student, but he also offered to sponsor her education, if she would agree to be his apprentice. Rowan readily agreed.
In the years following her admission to the Great School, Rowan literally devoured all the arcane knowledge she could get her hands on. Even Harald Haaskinz, one of the School's greatest prodigies, was impressed by the young woman's drive to learn for knowledge's sake alone.
Over time, this brilliant apprentice became Harald's right hand, his personal assistant in all matters involving the School. When Harald was promoted to the position of Grand Master following the Great War, Rowan gained even more influence in the Prince's busy life, scheduling his appointments, coordinating his research, and even taking over his classes when Council sessions or personal research ran over.
Perhaps it was inevitable that someone so beautiful and intelligent as Rowan would catch Harald's eye. People had whispered for years about the way he looked at her when they walked together, how he stared when she laughed. But Rowan still remained oblivious to her mentor's feelings.
Finally, in 1014, Lord Ralindi Virayana, another protégé of Harald's, invited Rowan to dinner at his Glantri City residence. After a wonderful evening, Rowan was wondering at the Krondaharan heir's intentions, when Ralindi suddenly (and awkwardly) blurted that his friend Dominick Haaskinz would like to know her intentions with his father, since the old man was sick in love with her. Rowan was stunned, and could only stammer that she had only the greatest respect for Prince Harald, and his family. She then fled to her own apartments.
Over the next few months, Rowan scrutinized Harald's every move, every word. To her amazement, the old Prince did appear to be sweet on her: he visibly softened when they were alone together, and did everything in his power to make her laugh over silly things, and to overly praise every aspect of her research. Why, he even appeared to be younger—Was he taking potions of longevity?
Rowan's heart melted for this lonely Prince who had seen her potential when she had been nothing but a heavily-accented foreigner with a single cantrip, who had taken her in and treated her with nothing but the utmost respect, and who trusted her implicitly with some of the most important details of his life. Harald had been a second father to her, a mentor, a friend.
On a rainy spring evening in AC 1015, he also became her first, and only, lover.
Since that night, Rowan has had eyes only for Harald. The Prince, stunned that someone so young and desirable as Rowan could actually love him, is thoroughly happy for the first time in his long life—he could only be happier if he could marry his true love, but a scandalous divorce and hasty remarriage could ruin him politically. And so Rowan continues as Harald's assistant, knowing that it is the person closest to him in academia who is closest to him overall.
But gossiping tongues in Glantri never cease to wag, and the Prince of Sablestone's affair with a girl in her twenties is bound to cause a stir. Most recently, rumor has the pair together at decidedly non-academic social events, such as the last opera of the 1016 season.
The most scandalous rumor of that evening, purported by none other than the notorious Noussoir du Marais, hinted that the "little Traladaran wanderer's" dress was a slight bit tight in the waist...
Personality & Quirks
Rowan is a light-spirited woman who can nonetheless be as tempestuous as the water she studies, if her ire is roused. Fiercely loyal, she has over the past eight years shifted the entire focus of her life onto Harald; she lives only to assist, and to please, him. While Rowan does not keep the strict moral code of the Dom (and in fact would be considered an outcast among her people now), she is still both religious and superstitious, and venerates the forces of Nature even as she learns to manipulate them. An accomplished astrologer and fortune teller, she often amuses Harald and his sister Lady Tereis Haaskinz with predictions of their futures.
Web of Intrigue
Rowan has no political ambitions of her own; she simply desires whatever is best for Harald, academically, politically, or personally. To this end, she has, at times, been rather unscrupulous (She once stole Harald's master keys in order to secretly destroy the spellbook of a Fourth Circle Water Elementalist who was considering challenging Harald as Master of the craft), but her intentions are good.
Rowan knows that Harald will never marry her even if he divorces his wife, for her "gypsy" (Darine) heritage is sneered upon by Glantrian high society, but she doesn't care—she is the woman he loves. Asadel Haaskinz knows of her husband's affair with the "dark-skinned harlot" and raves against it, but has so far done nothing of consequence. Dominick, Harald's son, is glad to see his father happy for a change, with something other than his research. Harald's sister Tereis considers the free-spirited Darine good for her brother; she and Rowan have become good friends. As for Harald himself, he considers Rowan the woman he wishes he had married (and damn those who comment on her ethnicity); she is his friend, confidant, protégé, and lover. But he will never permit her to interfere with the politics of his realm, and limits the number of public appearances they make together; to the polite society of Glantri, Rowan is naught but his faithful apprentice.
Style of Magic & Combat
Statistics: 9th-level wizard, Water Elementalist of the 3rd Circle; Str 9, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 17, Wis 12, Cha 16; AL C (D&D), CG (AD&D).
Languages: Traladaran, Thyatian (Glantrian dialect), Elvish (Callarii dialect).
Weapon Proficiencies: dagger.
Skills: reading/writing, spellcraft, riding (land-based), astrology, herbalism, dancing, etiquette.
Rowan has studied her entire magical career under Harald Haaskinz, and has never had the desire, or ambition, to develop a magical style of her own. She studies Water Elementalism primarily to assist Harald, and learns other spells in order to help her in her duties as Harald's assistant. Rowan considers her main academic goal to better herself firstly, for knowledge's sake, and secondly, in order to better serve her mentor. If she (or Harald) were threatened, though, Rowan would fight, unleashing her formidable array of elemental spells.
"That two people so in love must conceal their affections, lest their enemies consider it a weakness: that is the tragedy of this world."
(Prince Ralindi Virayana. Friends wondered if he in fact referred to Prince Harald and Rowan, or to himself)
References:
Spells of the Secret Craft of Water Elementalism
Dominick's Heart, a story about the Reluctant Prince of Glantri
Author: Jennifer Guerra