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: HP = 70, PP = 56, EP = 40, Status = Fine---The Family---
-Those In Charge-
Garm Astrogoth - Adoptive grandfather, dying family patriarch. Made motions to end the practices of slavery and indentured servitude, very successful both financially and militarily, basically saved the dynasty in his youth and thus gets a lot of leeway in how he runs the region.
Claire Astrogoth - Garm's wife. Been dead for fifteen years.
-Her Competition-
Bastien Astrogoth - Grace's younger brother, born shortly after she was adopted. Has largely been nice to her, has not begrudged her the chance to take over the family. Average height, dark haired like Garm, even build.
Maxime Astrogoth - Branch family, daughter of Constanin, only other girl competing. Extremely militant. Outwardly friendly to Grace. Extremely fit, long red hair, considered a rare beauty.
Giles Renou - Distant branch family member who was given the chance to compete in the Choosing. Unknown party, was largely respectful the few times that Grace met him. Stocky, blonde haired, wears glasses.
Solomon Astroagoth - Son of Lucrece Astrogoth, considered by most to be a frail weakling, has no talent whatsoever for military matters, either in leading them, planning them, or acting on them himself. Decent at mathematics, poetry, and business. Makes his position on Grace unclear. Sallow faced, dark of hair.
-Her Enemies-
Aliza Astrogoth - Oldest member of the family, wife of the patriarch before Garm, a man who nearly ran the province into the ground. Fervently racist, suggested that Grace should be drowned, shot, decapitated, killed to be stuffed, and numerous other horrific things to Garm's face, often within Grace's earshot. Garm's great aunt.
Lucrece Astrogoth - Aliza's daughter, Garm's cousin, as conservative as her mother but much more diplomatic about it. Extremely nice, charitable, but thinks of Grace's opportunity to take over the family as completely illegitimate. Solomon's mother. Manages the estate when Garm is away.
Constantin Astrogoth - Member of the branch family, nephew of the head of it and noted commander at arms, particularly against river pirates coming in from the South. Fervently opposed ending slavery, has a lot of rural land directly under his control, primarily to the Southeast. Father of Maxime.
Valentine Renou - The head of the largest and most powerful branch family, managed to get his nephew Giles into the running to take over the family by deeds. Extremely militant, holds the Northeastern border against a clan of orc raiders.
Thomas Renou - Brother of Valentine, accomplished knight, fervently religious and conservative, called a paladin despite favoring modern weapons and armor. Trained Giles. Loved by the public and the army for his victories, but hated by Garm for being especially brutal.
Garm Astrogoth - Adoptive grandfather, dying family patriarch. Made motions to end the practices of slavery and indentured servitude, very successful both financially and militarily, basically saved the dynasty in his youth and thus gets a lot of leeway in how he runs the region.
Claire Astrogoth - Garm's wife. Been dead for fifteen years.
-Her Competition-
Bastien Astrogoth - Grace's younger brother, born shortly after she was adopted. Has largely been nice to her, has not begrudged her the chance to take over the family. Average height, dark haired like Garm, even build.
Maxime Astrogoth - Branch family, daughter of Constanin, only other girl competing. Extremely militant. Outwardly friendly to Grace. Extremely fit, long red hair, considered a rare beauty.
Giles Renou - Distant branch family member who was given the chance to compete in the Choosing. Unknown party, was largely respectful the few times that Grace met him. Stocky, blonde haired, wears glasses.
Solomon Astroagoth - Son of Lucrece Astrogoth, considered by most to be a frail weakling, has no talent whatsoever for military matters, either in leading them, planning them, or acting on them himself. Decent at mathematics, poetry, and business. Makes his position on Grace unclear. Sallow faced, dark of hair.
-Her Enemies-
Aliza Astrogoth - Oldest member of the family, wife of the patriarch before Garm, a man who nearly ran the province into the ground. Fervently racist, suggested that Grace should be drowned, shot, decapitated, killed to be stuffed, and numerous other horrific things to Garm's face, often within Grace's earshot. Garm's great aunt.
Lucrece Astrogoth - Aliza's daughter, Garm's cousin, as conservative as her mother but much more diplomatic about it. Extremely nice, charitable, but thinks of Grace's opportunity to take over the family as completely illegitimate. Solomon's mother. Manages the estate when Garm is away.
Constantin Astrogoth - Member of the branch family, nephew of the head of it and noted commander at arms, particularly against river pirates coming in from the South. Fervently opposed ending slavery, has a lot of rural land directly under his control, primarily to the Southeast. Father of Maxime.
Valentine Renou - The head of the largest and most powerful branch family, managed to get his nephew Giles into the running to take over the family by deeds. Extremely militant, holds the Northeastern border against a clan of orc raiders.
Thomas Renou - Brother of Valentine, accomplished knight, fervently religious and conservative, called a paladin despite favoring modern weapons and armor. Trained Giles. Loved by the public and the army for his victories, but hated by Garm for being especially brutal.
---The Region---
Astoria - Region in Northwestern Badaria. Has control of several trade routes between Anudor, Crolia, and heartland Badaria. Ruled by the Astrogoths.
--Andros - Regional capital, large city.
--Andros - Regional capital, large city.
---The Criminals---
Grace hasn't met them...
---Everyone Else---
None yet
Time of Year: Mid Spring.
Seeing her "grandfather" so sickly ill, his once healthy body wasted and covered in sores, had likely been an unpleasant experience. Despite his ailing condition, the joviality and liveliness had still shone bright in Garm's eyes when he had given them first the introduction to their family's traditional contest when it was time to choose an heir, and then given each of them the instructions of their task individually in private. Each had taken nearly half an hour, and Grace had been no exception; Garm had gone over the many ills faced by the people of Astoria, and how certain predatory elements to provide illicit solutions to those when the people in charge did not right those ills. It would be her responsibility, if she took over the family, to right those ills and seal the holes in their care of the citizenry, so if she could break the hold of the powers that be in the shadows, he had said, she would be fit to wield the family's power in the light.
She had been given two days to prepare in the family estate, gathering what she could for arms and armor from the family's expansive stocks, and then she was sent out from the Astrogoth estates out on the road to Andros, the regional capital. It was a journey that she had made many times on horseback or by carriage, and only a few hours longer by foot. It was a cloudy day in late spring, threatening a storm in the coming downs but now offering only white puffy clouds with occasional hints of blue sky in the gaps between. The winds were gentle but insistent today, leaving the wheat and corn fields to either side swaying gently, and the leaves of the orchards and berry farms swaying even as it carried off the last hints of the morning's reminder of winter's recent passage for the day. It wasn't just agriculture that she passed, however; cows mooed and sheep bleated at her through the barrier of the fencing keeping them on their ranches, a few herding dogs bayed at her in friendly challenge, and the occasional horse or donkey would stare at her as she went on her way. The region controlled by the Astrogoth family was a breadbasket even for Badaria, a truly verdant region, and that verdance had brought wealth as regions without its fertility had bartered for their produce. That wealth, in turn, had brought strength, but also a fair share of jealous neighbors... Though under Garm's leadership, few such forces had made overt intrusions into their lands.
Passing over a stone bridge crossing a canal, Grace would see Andros looming closer, the stone walls - a vestige of ancient times where such defenses would make the difference between the survival or sacking of a city - grim where visible but decorated with colorful banners and streams of ivy covered in strings of white and pink flowers, visible even from here. The settlement had spread outwards from the intervening decades, producing a sprawling township outside of the walls, and it was this that Grace approached now. Farmhouses gave way to townhouses, fields gave way to gardens and yards, and soon she was striding into a market square.
People were ignoring her and pausing to stare at her in equal measure as she strode into the town. She had been given her instructions - to root out the criminal organization that had taken up residence of the region - but for how she was actually to accomplish that... She was supposed to figure that part out entirely on her own. The symptoms of it were visible right out in the open, however; Grace would see a large stage set up not far up ahead. A ring of armed guards were set up in a loose semicircle around it, the men clad in advanced mail with tower shields, heavy handguns like the one that she herself carried and traditional legionary shortswords hanging at their hips, and truncheons in their hands. A crowd of gawking peasants were arrayed to watch, giving the guardsmen a wide berth but watching what was taking place nonetheless, many of them shaking heads or glaring at the sight.
Past the guards sat several rows of nobles, participating in the auction taking place upon the stage. On the stage stood a number of figures. One was an announcer, who stood before a podium, a local man of ruddy skin and portly figure. Another, seated off to the side, was a woman in a booth in conservative, official dress, a quill poised over a piece of paper, marking her as a scribe more likely than not. Another, a man of exceptionally dark, skin in an expensive looking but colorfully flamboyant suit of red and green, of a style similar to the local one but mixed with some foreign elements besides its color, stood by the side of the stage; the merchant who had brought the goods. Two handlers with whips paced back and forth among the goods. There were two guards on either side of the stage, garbed and armed much the same as those keeping the peasants at bay. Finally, however, there were the goods being auctioned to the lesser nobility; eight women, all clearly of foreign birth.
These had likely been taken from Anudor, judging by their appearances. Three were human, or at least lacked any signs that they were anything else; one a dark skinned woman with visible scars, tall and lean, another shorter and softer, with more curves and a pleasant caramel skin, with visible swirling tattoos on one thigh and under one eye, and the last was a bronzed skinned beauty with a curvy frame. Two were elves, both of chocolate skin and curvy. The last three were the catfolk of the dessert, the su-ku-ta; two of tanned complexion, one thin and the other muscular, with a third much paler, resembling skin tones more commonly seen in Crolia or Northern Badaria, with crimson hair that stood out compared to the dark lockes present on the other seven. All eight of them wore expressions of utter despondency, looking away from the crowd who were bidding on them save when the handlers cracked their whips threateningly; the tears streaming from their eyes and fearful reactions to the cracking of the whips further evidence of their despair. All of them were clad in as little as possible; metal collars around their necks, tying chains stretching to their wrists and ankles together, legwraps, and ragged loincloths and tops that left very little to the imagination.
Slavery was, of course, still entirely legal in the region. There was nothing illicit about what was going on... But these women were also obviously being sold to fulfill the depravity of the wealthy, having been stolen from their homes by raids to fulfill that need. It was a practice that Garm had always told her that he found utterly distasteful, despite the popularity of it, and of the more common practice of forcing those men taken in battle or so badly in debt that they could be legally enslaved to work the least desirable jobs. Whether Grace would actually try to do anything about this display - perhaps find out more about who was responsible for it or somesuch - was up to her, however. She could just as easily keep on walking by...
