Character: Her Highness, Zulenna Luzhakna, Princess of Holfung-Borzoi

Character Sheet (Her Highness, Zulenna Luzhakna, Princess of Holfung-Borzoi)

Combat Value: 9

Until a short time ago, you were Zulenna Luzhakna, Princess of Holfung-Borzoi. Now, that title is ash in your mouth. What are you now? Just a walking corpse that hasn't fallen down yet.

Holfung-Borzoi may not be the largest Duchy in Europa, but none can argue with its antiquity. For centuries, it has stood against the chaos that always threatens to envelop it -- proud, strong, and mostly bull-headedly determined to not give in. Time and again, one Spark or another tried to conquer the land, or simply destroy it in their usual madness. The Royal Family always showed that basic nobility counts for more than insane genius.

That was the environment you were raised in. You were taught that there are two kinds of Sparks: the powerful ones, to be respected but resisted, and the minor ones, to be used as tools. Oh, there were always other concerns as well -- making sure the economy is tended to and no one starves, paying attention to natural disasters and the occasional raiders. But the Sparks were always the big danger, almost the definition of the "outside" to be guarded against.

Of course, you weren't originally going to be groomed as a future Duchess. Your older brothers Manfred and Jacob were in that position, and they were well-trained. Well, trained in the arts of diplomacy, anyway -- not so much those of war. When the Spark Wars got to their worst, thirty years or so ago, Manfred was killed trying to stop a great Clank from crushing a peasant village. And Jacob was killed in a foolish duel when you were only six years old, leaving you as the sole heir to the throne. Your father the Duke was already getting on in years, and there never was another child. His brother had only ever had one child, a daughter Marie who ran away at age seventeen to join a Circus, of all things. So everything rested on your shoulders.

Your parents disagreed about the most important things for you to learn. Mother still wanted to raise you as she had intended: as the future bride of some great noble. She schooled you in the womanly arts, and you like to believe you learned them well. In your time on Castle Wulfenbach, you refined your sexuality into a weapon, learning that, as your mother had always said, no man can resist a beautiful woman who knows how to use her charms. Meanwhile your father emphasized strength and physical confidence. He had put a blade in your hand before you could even walk, and now he insisted that you become its greatest master. After the death of poor Jacob, you were eager to learn: you swore that, when it came time for you to duel, you wouldn't lose.

Mostly, though, both of them taught you how to rule. If you were going to be Duchess, you needed to understand what that meant. You needed the sort of poise that demanded respect, if not always love. You needed to be better than the rest in all things, so that everyone would know that you were a force to be reckoned with. Ordinary concerns of the common herd were not for you -- your life was one of service to your role. Above all, it meant protecting your people against everything that threatens them. Sometimes, that even means protecting them against their own worst instincts: the entire point of the Monarchy is to be above ordinary passions, coolly ruling them for their own best benefit. The Sparks were always out there, and you always had to be ready to keep them from conquering the lands.

And in the end, your responsibilities meant losing what little freedom you had as Princess. After the Heterodynes vanished, before you were born, things began to get bad. Oh, they had helped many people, including Holfung-Borzoi -- there is no doubt that, without the improved defenses they provided twenty years ago, the Duchy would have long since fallen. But they hadn't been everywhere, and when they vanished they left a power vacuum such as the world had never before seen. Sparks rampaged through the lands, and the Kingdoms warred endlessly with each other.

It was no surprise that, in the end, it took the strongest Spark of them all to restore peace. Klaus von Wulfenbach hadn't been all that important in his younger days -- always overlooked as the sidekick to the Heterodynes. But when they disappeared and he returned, he decided that the Heterodynes' gentle approach had been shown a failure. So if peace could not be coaxed, it would be forced. He began to conquer land after land.

He came to Holfung-Borzoi late in his campaign, knowing that her defenses were strong and her threat to others low. But he was clear in his message: like everyone else, your Duchy would have to kneel before him, or face the might of his army. Your father actually thought about resisting, but in the end he knew that pride had to give way to realism -- even your Heterodyne-built defenses would not stand against the full force of Wulfenbach's Clanks and Jaegermonsters. So your parents gave the Baron their allegiance -- and, as a token of that pledge, the heir to the throne.

You must admit that your time on board Castle Wulfenbach has not been entirely unpleasant. The Castle may be an airship, but it is massive beyond anything you could have imagined -- a city larger than the one in which you were born. And it is truly the center of the continent: you have found yourself rubbing shoulders with half the Royalty of Europa, as they come to pay court to the Baron. You have been well-educated, in an environment far more cosmopolitan than your homeland; in the final analysis, it is possible that the whole matter has trained you even better to become Duchess than staying at home would have done.

You weren't the only Royal Hostage, of course: the Baron has used this particular approach effectively, for keeping control of many different lands. Over the years, there have been dozens of children in the Castle's "school", some of them rather younger than you when you got there. But you have mostly paid attention to those of an age with you. They aren't really your "peers" -- even the noble children were generally heirs to lesser lands than Holfung-Borzoi. But they have been, to some degree, friends, at least insofar as you've allowed them to be. You can never forget that you are a noble and they aren't; that necessarily colors your interactions with them. You cannot be too familiar with the commoners.

The oldest of the group was also the first one there: Theopholous DuMedd. He's a fairly minor Spark, but the last of the infamous Mongfish line, the Sparks who first hounded the Heterodynes, and then married into the family. Theo has been Head Boy in the school for some years now, owing to his fondness and aptitude for children. (A taste you've never really shared.) He is a would-be troublemaker, but a bit too responsible to cause real difficulties.

The truly eager problem child was always the mysterious Gilgamesh, and you fear that you sneered at him quite a bit in your youth. It came as quite a shock when Gil turned out to be the Baron's son and heir, placed with you for his education. You still marvel at the cleverness of that: it resulted in the lot of you being friends with the future Baron, and gave him much deeper insight into who you all were. You couldn't even resent him too much when he was sent off to Paris for finishing school.

The other girl your age in the group was Sleipnir O'Hara, daughter of a minor Irish lordling. You and she have never gotten along well -- you find her rather irresponsible, and there is simply something in her tomboyish manner that irritates you. You suppose it is rather like having a sister, though: you have found yourselves somewhat close despite the lack of affection.

Most respectable of the gaggle has always been Zami Yahya Ahmad ibn Suliman al-Sinhaji -- he introduces himself to everyone as "Z", but you find that disrespectful, so you generally call him Zami. Even with him, your relationship has often been touchy, but he understands how a nobleman should act and think, far more than Theo and, really, quite a bit more than Gil. Zami's father, the Iron Sheik, rules all of Persia, making him one of the few people close to Wulfenbach in terms of political power and influence, and you can tell that he will grow into a worthy heir.

Tending the lot of you has been Von Pinn, a fairly mysterious creature. She is obviously not human: she is too strong and too fast, beyond even most Constructs. And her teeth are -- disturbing. She affects the harshest possible tone at all times, trying to be the sinister headmistress of the school. But you took her measure years ago, and confirmed it a few months ago: she not only will not, but cannot harm her students. Indeed, she is deeply protective of the group of you, and you are sure that, in her own strange way, she cares for all of you quite a bit.

That was the group, until Agatha Clay came along, four months ago. Your feelings about her are more mixed than those for anyone else. At first, she was simply an annoyance: a common village girl, brought on board to control her supposed lover Moloch, who the Baron believed to be a promising new Spark. She was foolish, astonishingly ignorant of much of the world, prone to embarassing herself sleepwalking, and generally a nuisance. You took some small pleasure in baiting her, and showing that a commoner didn't belong with this group. (The obvious romance she was developing with Gil did nothing to endear her to you further -- he clearly deserved better.)

And then, a month later, it all collapsed. Agatha's true name was revealed to her and everyone else: not Clay, but Heterodyne. Her surface foolishness aside, this was the daughter of Bill Heterodyne and Lucrezia Mongfish, arguably the two greatest Sparks of the age, and she was turning out to be a Spark of no small ability herself. More importantly, she was the last of the family that had saved your land, which meant that your debt to her is beyond price: in a very real sense, your allegiance to her is stronger than that to the Baron.

So when Agatha set out to escape the Castle, it was clear that your duty was to help her do so. And you like to think that you did, delaying her capture long enough for you to get away. You faced down Von Pinn -- perhaps the most frightening thing you've ever had to do, but you had spent years learning not to be intimidated by anyone or anything. As you expected, she couldn't hurt you.

And then that monster DuPree wandered in. You had always known that she had no concept of honor, but you hadn't realized quite how low she was. She came at you with a cutlass -- a crude sword, startlingly you simply by the notion that anyone would try to attack you with one. You defended yourself -- and she plunged a hidden dagger right into your heart.

You don't remember what it was like, being dead. Perhaps that is a mercy. Perhaps your family's tales are true, and all that was really Zulenna Luzhakna went away that day, leaving only a shell to wake up. You feel like a real person -- well, somewhat. From the moment you awoke, there was a hollowness there. Because you knew instantly that, whatever you might be now, one thing you were not was "Princess".

The Baron meant well, but it was all humiliating, almost beyond bearing. Waking up naked on a laboratory bench, like a common Construct -- it simply wasn't right. And even after you were dressed and ready to talk, getting a coherent answer out of anyone was almost impossible. Agatha had escaped, only to be killed not long after by a wandering Clank in the Wilderness; surely that alone demonstrated that justice had fled the world. Theo had escaped after her, and his whereabouts were unknown. Sleipnir had, characteristically, tried to follow Theo and failed. Only Zami had stayed behind, out of responsibility to his people and to his friend. It didn't even occur to you that when he said "friend", he meant you. All his other virtues aside, for that grace alone he gained you as a loyal ally from then on.

He has stood by you since, as things have become more difficult. So has Sleipnir; while you still can't think of her as a bosom companion, she has been showing a great deal of basic decency in the past months. They helped you recuperate, until your strength (if not your spirit) was back to normal. Things almost seemed like they might end well, until the communique from Holfung-Borzoi finally came. Your father had gotten word of your death and revival, and the resulting heart attack had nearly killed him. He was on his deathbed now, and you were being summoned home.

Zami and Sleipnir both insisted upon accompanying you; the Baron relented, on the grounds that it would be educational for them to see how these things work. Von Pinn was assigned to chaperone and guard the three of you, making sure that no harm came to you. (And, you are sure, that the two of them did not use the opportunity to escape.) You made quite the motley group: Zami and you dressed up as proper nobles, Sleipnir in her usual trousers (disrespectful, but so in character that you couldn't find it in you to care). And Von Pinn dressed herself in a combination of her usual skintight leather along with a proper society gown, resulting in an outfit so bizarre you couldn't even comment on it.

You were disconsolate the entire way home: you tried to hide it, but unsuccessfully. Zami and Sleipnir assumed you were simply mourning for your father, and that much was true, but their assurances that you would make a fine Duchess stung like barbs. You couldn't tell them what was going to happen -- you tried several times, and found yourself having to bite back tears each time. So they were shocked when you were ushered into the Ducal presence, and promptly disinherited.

It was inevitable, and you had seen it coming from the moment you were brought back. The Noble Houses have never looked kindly on the practical of revival. They can see where it leads: to the sort of madness that rules England, with a perpetual Queen ruling for centuries in growing insanity. Death is a natural part of existence, deeply intertwined with inheritance, and the Nobility rests as much upon the one as the other. So your father could no more countenance a revival inheriting his throne than he could a Spark. There was no justice in it; it just was.

The humiliation came next, though. You might not be Princess any longer, but you were still a servant of Holfung-Borzoi. And having committed the arch sin of getting yourself killed, your new assignment was to find the new heir to the throne.

That took you by surprise. You hadn't thought of your cousin Marie in years. When she ran off and joined the circus, she effectively cut herself off from the royal line, and had not been considered a valid candidate afterwards. But with you out of the picture, she was now the only viable member of the Royal Family left, and even the least Royal was better than the alternative. You knew the politics well: if the Royal Family were to die off, there were plenty of vultures circling to take over. The various petty nobles would fight each other for the throne, and regardless of who won, it would be a disaster for the Duchy -- every last one of them is a venal creature, more concerned with their own ego and purse than the peoples' benefit. So Countess Marie might be a poor second choice, but she was far better than the alternative.

You can only pray that she understands how important it is for the leader of the Duchy to have strength. What you know of her worries you -- she is, by all accounts, a very nice person, but rather soft-hearted. You have spent your life training to have the strength of both arm and will to serve properly in this role. She has none of that. Does she have the will to put the defense of the land above all else?

You tried to set off on your own -- since you were no longer Princess, there was no reason for the rest to stay with you. But they wouldn't hear of it: Zami and Sleipnir insisted that you were a friend in need, and they would help you find Marie. Even Von Pinn insisted that, until and unless the Baron told her otherwise, you were her charge and she was responsible for protecting you. So the three of you began to reseach, traveling town to town to learn what had become of your older cousin.

You quickly discovered that she had joined "Master Payne's Circus of Adventure". The very thought of a noble working in such a thing makes your skin crawl. But as you learned more, it became clear that she had married the master of the circus and was now running the thing, so at least her instincts were still appropriate -- she at least hadn't reduced herself to the position of a menial. Tracking the circus was no small thing: it travels from town to town almost at random, rarely telling one where they will be going next. But you have finally found it.

It is time for you to confront your dear cousin, and hand off your life's responsibilities to her. You can't stand the idea of telling her the details -- like most nobles, she undoubtedly thinks little of Revivals, and the embarassment is a bit too painful to deal with. Just tell her that she is the new heir and must immediately depart for home, and wash your hands of it.

And then -- who knows. What is there for such as you? Raised to rule, now left with nothing. There is a small part of you that almost wishes Marie had some dire secret like your own, that you might be forced to claim your heritage. But there is no chance of that: while running off to join the Circus may be below her station, she is still a normal human (unlike you, now), and the land must have a Duchess. And while there is a small part of you tempted to challenge her for it -- to challenge this foolish rule that bars you from your birthright -- there is no way to do it. A military solution, while tempting, would simply tear the lands apart. And the idea of begging the Wulfenbachs to back your claim is galling: they might do so, given your history on the Castle, but it would mean accepting that their rule is all that matters in the land...

Public Info

Personality

You are a noblewoman. What else is there to say about your personality? You are reserved and controlled whenever you can be. Some say that makes you cold and snobbish -- you just know that it is the way you have learned to be.

But sometimes the frustration damned near kills you. It's not that you don't want to have close friends to laugh with like the rest, or that you don't want to love freely. You just don't have the right to do so. Duty is a noble's life. All else is secondary.

Some People You Know (Her Highness, Zulenna Luzhakna, Princess of Holfung-Borzoi)

Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach: Ruler of most of Europa, perhaps the most powerful man in the world. Strong, sometimes a bit cruel, but exceptionally smart, with a deep understanding of the role of the nobleman. Almost a tragic figure in how much he has thrown himself into his role of leader.

Gilgamesh von Wulfenbach: The Baron's son, an old comrade of yours. Clever, but sometimes hot-headed and self-centered. He may grow into a good ruler someday, but he has much maturing to do.

Agatha Heterodyne: The now-dead heir to the Heterodyne clan. You were just starting to respect her, and then she went and died, damn her! You mourn her, but mostly you mourn the land -- a new Heterodyne would have shaken things up, but if she was half the person her father was, she could have done so much good.

Countess Marie: Your long-lost cousin, the new heir to Holfung-Borzoi. Does she have the strength of character to rule well? Can you stand to hand the throne to her?

Master Payne: Marie's husband, the owner of the circus. You don't know much about him, but the notion of this commoner coming in as the new Duke makes you twitch. Is he capable of it, or will he simply humiliate the Duchy? You could do worse than to learn more about them before turning the keys to the land over.

Zami Yahya Ahmad ibn Suliman al-Sinhaji: Son of the Iron Sheik, heir to all of Persia. Probably the closest thing you have to a friend, Zami will make a fine leader of his people.

Professor Tarsus Beetle: Former ruler of Beetleburg, home of Transynvania Polygnostic University, where Agatha was schooled. You met him several times when the Castle came to Beetleburg -- he seemed like a good man. You heard that he died the day that Agatha was found, rebelling against the Baron. You still find that mysterious, but you can never understand the ways of the Sparks.

Sleipnir O'Hara: Tomboy heiress of a minor Irish clan. You have trouble admitting it, but she has become something of a friend.

Theopholous DuMedd: Last of the Mongfishes, who ran off shortly after your death. In retrospect, another friend. If you ever see him again, you can't decide whether you will embrace him or flatten him with the pommel of your sword. Probably both.

Othar Tryggvassen: A legendary hero, but you are rather suspicious of him. It is clear that he and the Baron have been adversaries, and you respect the Wulfenbachs enough to suspect that Tryggvassen may be less pure than his legend makes him out to be.

Von Pinn: Your teacher, jailer, and bodyguard all at once. Highly trustworthy in her predictability, but you can never forget that, much though she cares about her charges, her first loyalty is necessarily to the Baron.

Wooster: Gil's English butler, who accompanied him back from Paris. Very proper and controlled -- one of the most perfect servants you have encountered in your time on board the Castle.

Bangladesh DuPree: The Baron's hired killer, who poses as a Pirate Queen. She killed you once, but that will not happen again. The next time you cross swords, you won't be the one on the ground at the end of the fight.

Jenka: The Baron's other hunting dog, a Jaegermonster, but smarter than the rest of them, almost more like Von Pinn than like the typical Jaeger. She makes you slightly uneasy, but you respect her unswerving devotion to her duty.

Moloch von Zinzer: Agatha's supposed lover; in reality, just a soldier caught up in things above his head. Last you saw of him, he was going to be shipped off to Castle Heterodyne. You don't have much respect for him and the way he allowed the Baron to be misled, but he did protect Agatha indirectly by doing so, and no one deserves a fate like that.

---

Female Human (from Comic) (Status: In Game)

Pictures
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/cgi-bin/gg101.cgi?date=20060630

Plots:
Runaway Students (Runaways)
The Succession of Holfung-Borzoi (Succession)
People of the Mirror-World (Mirror-World)

Items

Rapier (Rapier) -- An elegant, long, thin blade, this is exquisitely sharp, so it is effective either for thrusting or slashing damage. This sword gives Zulenna a +3 in combat, Gil a +2, and Agatha, Theo, Sleipnir or Z a +1.

Abilities and Disabilities

Distractingly Sexy (Distractingly Sexy) -- Men are, by and large, complete idiots, especially around a beautiful woman. Your mother knew that quite well, and therefore trained you from an early age to be able to manipulate them effectively.

You may distract any man or group of men for up to one minute by smiling sweetly at them, spending one Point, showing them this card, and engaging them in conversation. For that duration, they must focus completely on you, paying no attention to anything else that happens in that time. You may only play this once on any given player.

Resist Intimidation (Resist Intimidation) -- You have spent your entire life learning how not to be overpowered by the strong personalities around you. As such, if someone tries to use the Intimidation ability on you, you may spend one Point and resist it. Roleplay this: you are steeling your nerve to stand up to them, successfully.

Prepared for Sneak Attack (Prepared For Sneak Attack) -- You have spent months stewing, thinking about how Bangladesh DuPree stabbed you through the heart with her hidden dagger. The woman is completely dishonorable, in her refusal to duel fairly.

Well, you are ready for her now. If you face her in combat, and she tries to use a sneak attack on you, it will not only be entirely ineffective, you will have a +3 for that round of combat.

---

Historical Background

The following were notes while the character was evolving. They do not necessarily represent the way it came out.

The most annoying of the hostages on board the Castle. Is greatly at pains to put everyone in the appropriate pecking order, with herself at the top. Especially despises the working classes. Everyone dislikes Zulenna, and make fun of her behind her back. Arrogant in the way that only someone supremely insecure can be. Gives orders to everyone, and just assumes they will be followed. Quite willing to [mess with peoples' minds] when she needs to. She is sexy, knows it, and is [quite willing to use it]. (And [can't stand it when a man resists her].) All that said, she is also (v3, p111) quite brave when honor demands it, and courageous with her blade.

Zulenna is a [talented fencer], and characteristically arrogant about it. She regards it as a particularly noble form of combat, unique to the higher orders of society. She is [not a Spark], and is therefore very protective of what she sees as her Royal prerogatives. Note the implication: Royalty is not strictly Spark-related in this world. This also has some notable implications as to Zulenna's force of personality; she seems unswayed by the usual Spark tendency to make others respect / like / obey them. (Or perhaps that's why she's so arrogant.) --Darker Justin: unproven, I think, but a good point. Of course, that ties in really well with the plot idea that Zulenna is an unbroken Spark, and we have her breakthrough over the course of the game.

For all her vaunted cool, she is prone to needling, and it [isn't hard to piss her off]. She and Agatha don't especially like each other.

She instinctively tends to [defend Klaus' actions]. This isn't really surprising -- from her POV, he's Royalty, and Royals stick together.

While there are very few people who Zulenna respects, the Heterodynes are (v3, p110) among them. The Heterodynes saved her family, and she feels a deep debt to them. This seems to imply that, while she may not like Agatha very much, she will (v3, p111) risk much to protect her.

Zulenna was stabbed (v3, p113) quite seriously by DuPree, and killed. However, Klaus made it quite clear (p116) that he fully intended to revive her. It is also quite clear that this is against the traditions and policies of the Royal families -- a clear breaking of taboo. (From the wording, it sounds like it's a succession issue -- presumably they forbid revivals because it can be used to disrupt proper succession.) This has the makings of a great plot. What is Zulenna, from her point of view? What is the legal status of revivals? Klaus doesn't care, but we suspect that Klaus is a construct himself, so he wouldn't. (All of this is strongly supported by Volume 9, which makes quite clear that revivals are disqualified lest they retain the throne indefinitely.) But has she been disowned by her family? Do they even know about her status? How does she feel about herself? The potential for angst is rich.

Having been stabbed by DuPree, Zulenna is deeply suspicious of her. The dislike is palpable, and she is always expecting an attack. She has a hidden special ability of Counter Sneak Attack: if DuPree attacks her with her Sneak Attack skill, it fails completely, and Zulenna instead gets a +2 for that round. Basically, she blocks the hidden dagger and turns it back, since she's been wanting the excuse to do this for months.

Zulenna's combat ability is solid but not remarkable. But she gets a big (~+3) bonus with a sword, and she starts the game with one. Zulenna should have a pair of matching abilities. On the plus side, she should have "Great Swordswoman": she is one of the greatest wielders of the blade, and has a serious plus in hand-to-hand combat. She probably taught Gil most of what he knows, and she is probably as good as any non-Spark can get. OTOH, she also has an "easily goaded" disability: if someone does goad her (and this must be roleplayed), she suffers a brief -2 in combat.

Amount of Character Potential: Good (Strong roleplay, good ties, and a plot.)