Princess Alessandra Hildegard

The daughter of a disgruntled factory working father and bartending mother, Vanyryan Alessandra Rowena had no role models growing up. Her father would often go out to bars and stumble home drunk, or get in trouble with the law. One night, her father got into a fight at the same bar Alessandra’s mother worked at, and the opponent tried to stab him in self-defense. He grabbed the knife and killed the patron, only for the mother to try and restrain him. In his drunken rage, he lashed out and slit her throat, right before the authorities arrived. He charged at them, only for the soldiers to kill him. Now an orphan, Alessandra had to find a way to make a living. An old acquaintance from her teenage years told her there was a business she had begun working in, but she could not discuss it in public. She took her to the main building this supposed business was housed in, and to Alessandra’s hidden disgust, it was a prostitution ring. Alessandra had no idea what to do, so she complied. Her handler was a man that abused drugs and often would lash out, so she only spoke when spoken to. When her first client appeared, she knew her handler was watching, so she allowed the man to take her in. Alessandra came to the conclusion that she could not live on like this, and she ended the session. The client, however, did not take kindly to this and he grabbed her and pinned her to his bed. She cried out for help, only for the perverted sociopath to tie her down and gag her. However, it was too late for him, as the door to the man’s apartment burst open and a young Vanyryan man in his mid-twenties entered the bedroom, and knocked the man unconscious. The man helped her up and ungagged her, introducing himself as Lucian Hildegard. She found him to look familiar, and realized that he was the son of King Radomir Hildegard himself. Lucian explained that he had chosen to rescue her and end the prostitution ring as part of his Rite of Passage to become Prince of Vanyrya, but he explained that he wished to assist her further. Willing to  turn her life around, Alessandra became one of his assistants at their castle. She eventually became the head assistant, and she grew very close to Lucian. The two would spend nights walking through the town, through the forests and the castle garden. One of these nights, the two noticed a man abusing a young drazard pet, and they stopped and reported him, while taking in the lizard creature. Alessandra would soon raise her as her pet, naming her Shaersih. Alessandra slowly began to fall in love with Lucian, but knew that her status as his assistant would dissuade him. As he grew older, his traditionalist father began to arrange his wedding and had him choose from “suitable candidates” as his father stated. Lucian then revealed that he reciprocated Alessandra’s love. He then convinced his father to allow them to marry, and they were soon a couple. Alessandra was then finally able to rid herself of her wretched family’s name. As he was now the Prince of Vanyrya, Lucian’s marriage to Alessandra allowed her the opportunity to become Princess, once she passed a Rite of Passage of her own. She began to train at the castle grounds.

One night, while Alessandra was out with Lucian, they returned home to find her quarters in the castle broken in to and raided. To her extreme dismay, there were vulgar phrases painted all over the walls such as “Princess Whore”, “Rowena is a tramp” and “Lucian married a hooker”. Alessandra had masked her pain for as long as she could remember, but for the first time in her life, she broke down crying, with Lucian tearfully comforting her. She was overcome by rage that she was forced to remember her shameful past and demanded to know who did it, and how they found out about her past. She questioned the guards, and one of them eventually admitted to allowing a few of the assistants that harbored a grudge against her out of jealousy for  Lucian’s affection. The guard and the maids were brought before King Hildegard, and they were to clean up Alessandra’s quarters at once and once they were finished, they were to surrender themselves to punishment in the dungeons. Alessandra eavesdropped on them in her quarters, and she was shocked to find that they planned on assassinating the King. They believed that he was far too soft of a leader and that he lacked the firm conviction and borderline ruthlessness that his xenophobic father, the late Kragen (who had started the Expansion War) possessed. They vandalized Alessandra’s room as a message that the King had truly lost his way when he allowed his son to marry a woman such as Alessandra, even though she had abandoned her old ways and transformed herself. Alessandra warned the King, only for the two to be interrupted by the knight and the maids. Alessandra, armed only with a knife, fought against the three maids first, and reluctantly killed them in self-defense. The knight stepped forward and drew his sword. Alessandra used her size and agility to her advantage and managed to dodge the man’s swings, and she eventually snagged the man’s sword and stabbed him with it. After this, ten more knights entered the room, the rest of the members of the conspiracy against the King. One of the knights made the mistake of shouting,

“Of all the people to protect him, the King chooses this miserable little whore?”

Hearing this, Alessandra then became consumed by rage, and brutally attacked all of the soldiers at once, killing them all. The King, truly astonished by what the woman was capable of, considered that as her Rite of Passage and anointed her Princess of Vanyrya.

Despite her title as Princess, Alessandra longed for battle, as well as the opportunity to leave Vanyrya and see the other Worlds and what they had to offer. Little did she know, this opportunity would soon present itself.

Personality-

Alessandra has come a long way since her troubled upbringing. She had gained more respect for herself, and carried herself with more confidence. With the help of Lucian, she was significantly well-trained in martial arts, and had a predilection for twin daggers. Although she is more respectful and professional, she has retained her snarky sense of humor, and often makes dry, sarcastic remarks about things she finds humorous or disdainful.

When the team recruited Florena Arcenas, she developed a sister-like bond with Alessandra, who soon came to view the young Eltoran sorceress as the younger sister she never had.