Marvella DeLorde
Cassandra Ruby DeLorde (a.k.a. Marvella)
Cassandra DeLorde, better known as Marvella DeLorde, is a Zandralese bard, ex-mercenary, fencer, and current ringleader and mistress of ceremonies for Marvella's Menagerie of Might and Magic, a travelling carnival of food, games, and exotic delights.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
For a woman of her age, Marvella is in peak physical condition. She has a slim figure of toned muscle that she hides beneath her frilly, loose-fitting clothing. She can be seen with the rest of the workers every morning and evening helping to put up or tear down the carnival.
Body Features
Owing to her tiefling heritage, Marvella has bright red skin, a pair of bone-white, segmented horns jutting up from her head, yellow sclera with black pupils, and a long, spade-shaped tail.
Special abilities
When she's in an area where tieflings are forbidden, Marvella will disguise herself as a younger version of her human sister as she remembers her back before they left Zandrazil.
Apparel & Accessories
Marvella wears a long gambeson jacket over a tight-fitting corset and blouse with a frilled ascot. She wears a pair of tight-fitting breeches and high-heeled leather boots along with a studded belt featuring a buckle of the Platinum Dragon's symbol.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Marvella was born to a human family living in the port town of Umbark on the Aubergine Coast in Zandrazil. She has a younger sister, Luna, and her childhood was fairly tame. Her parents accepted their tiefling daughter and protected her from anyone who would treat her differently due to her appearance. Marvella was educated by her mother, who was an amateur violinist and seamstress, and her father, who was a carpenter and practicing fencer. Marvella's father taught both of his daughters how to use a sword, though Marvella took to the training better than her sibling. Her mother taught her how to play music and instilled a passion for entertainment in her young tiefling daughter.
When she grew older, Marvella began to sell these talents as a mercenary up and down the Aubergine Coast. She fell in and out of several adventuring parties and honed her skills as both an entertainer and a fighter. She'd return home frequently to visit her family and especially her sister, with whom she was very close and protective. When her parents died, Marvella retired from her mercenary career and proposed to her sister that the two of them instead start a travelling carnival, wanting to engage in her non-violent passion.
Marvella gathered together several local entertainers and contacts from her previous life, sold the DeLorde family home and purchased several wagons in order to start a travelling carnival. Marvella and Luna served as co-owners of the carnival, originally named The Delightful DeLordes' Wandering Menagerie. They left their hometown of Umbark and traveled up and down the Aubergine Coast, making a name for themselves along the way, until finally chartering a ship to take their carnival off the continent and into lands unknown.
Their journey took them East to the isolated continent of Sekajota, the home of the Hokken Empire. Their wondrous carnival was a huge hit with the local population. But while there, Luna fell under the influence of the elder god Tharizdun, a piece of which was sealed beneath the city of Kugane, unbeknownst to its current inhabitants. She would start ranting to Marvella about the Broken Chain, going on tirades about the injustice in the world and how the two of them should serve a higher purpose. By this point, Marvella was older and fully divested from her adventuring days, and wanted nothing to do with these great delusions her younger sister held.
One night, during a particularly heated argument, something seemed to possess Luna, who lunged at Marvella with a violent rage. Marvella instinctually drew her rapier and slashed her sister across her face, leaving a deep gash in Luna's cheek. The attack brought Luna to her senses, at least momentarily, and she cursed out her sister for attacking her before fleeing into the jungles of Sekajota. Marvella broke down in tears, unable to bring herself to follow her sister after what she'd done. The carnival packed up the next day and left Sekajota and her sister behind.
Unbeknownst to Marvella, her sister was not the only member of the carnival that had fallen under the influence of Tharizdun. Other cultists used their positions within her troupe to convince Marvella to continue onward to the Wandering Isles, where another piece of Tharizdun was sealed away. It was there she picked up several new members of the carnival troupe, including one Fion Swiftfist. Continuing to follow the advice of those she trusted, not knowing of the influence the elder god now had on her carnival, Marvella set sail for Shandalar, where a third piece of Tharizdun was sealed away in the northern part of the continent.
Sexuality
Pansexual
Mental Trauma
Marvella has frequent nightmares of the night she and her sister got into their big argument, when her sister attempted to attack her and Marvella responded by slashing her sister's cheek, leaving a deep scar.
Intellectual Characteristics
Marvella is quick-witted and sharp-tongued, owing to her long career as both a mercenary and the mistress of ceremonies for a magical carnival. Her long, storied life provides her with a wealth of knowledge related to the customs of various cultures in East Divostra, and she has a long memory for things that pique her curiosity.
Morality & Philosophy
Marvella is a free spirit looking to protect the weak and underprivileged. She has a particularly protective nature toward children thanks to her relationship with her younger sister and the way their parents raised them. She's plays along with authorities and hierarchies to the extent that she keeps her nose clean, but underneath that appeasement is a seething contempt for anyone infringing upon other's freedoms.
She's well-off enough now that she's hard to buy off, though if she thinks she can put some money to good use, there is a price to enlist her skills. The money her carnival steals from the wealthy is meant for redistribution, helping to prop up the poor.
Relationships
Alignment
Chaotic Good
Current Status
Retired sellsword running a travelling carnival
Current Location
Species
Ethnicity
Date of Birth
18th of Notosturn, 783 ME
Year of Birth
783 ME
57 Years old
Birthplace
Umbark
Spouses
Siblings
Luna DeLorde
(Sister)
Children
Pronouns
She/Her
Gender
Female
Eyes
Blue
Hair
Frizzy white hair with black roots, tied into dreadlocks
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Red
Height
5'10"
Weight
150 lbs
Aligned Organization
Elvish
Hobgoblin
Infernal
Orcish
Sylvan
Comments