Rose Mintorel

Mayor Rosaline Mintorel- Nailo (a.k.a. Rose)

The current mayor of Relorien has been referred to as "the longest running experiment in benign neglect to date." Despite constant calls for elections, Rose Mintorel continues to win her mayorship despite a self proclaimed lack of interest in politics and the political. Such a figure does not garner votes and good-will on political disinterest alone, however, and the history of Rose is almost inextricably linked to that of the forest city of Relorien.

Early Life

"You'd keep expecting her to sing. She'd step onto the stage like some sort of songbird, but then she'd lift her viola and start to play. She had this look of utmost concentration when she played, and you realized she wasn't paying attention to anyone else in the room. Just the music. It made you just glad to be there - like it was a privilege and not a show.

— Frederich Elk - Vistik Patron of the Arts

Rose's origins are closely guarded by her - but it is known that she originally hails from Viztik (what is now Polarien), and that her start into the arts was that of dance. She did not feel she was a particularly good dancer, however (and still doesn't) - believing her success was dependent entirely on what people still call "exceptional" beauty. Not content to merely be beautiful, Rose set out to also create something beautiful.
While she learned to play many instruments in her youth, she quickly learned to love the viola. But mastering the works of others was not something that sat right with her either. She needed to make something beautiful herself - and that involved inspiration. And inspiration came from travel. Her adventuring career began on just such a simple (and ill-informed) sentiment as that. She headed North from Vistik towards Garik (now Relorien), a newly established logging settlement upriver. It was a rapidly growing settlement, attracting artists of all kind due to the abundance of mind-altering substances growing there (lending the name Dreamwood to the surrounding forest).
It was somewhere between Vistik and Garik that she met Stefan of Valerius - a disgraced Completist Knight turned hedge knight. Answering plaintive cries for help, Stefan dispatched a troll that had driven Rose up a tree, and the two became traveling companions.

The Defense of Garik

In Garik, Rose and Stefan helped lead a defense against three wild gnoll tribes that had formed a coalition to sack the settlement. It was on the barricades erected in defense of Garik that Rose met Finnel Mintorel, a paladin of Yngor. The ensuing months were a harrowing, running battle in the Dreamwood that also, according to Rose, were something of a whirlwind romance between her and Finnel.
The settlement of Garik was put to siege many times - and its lack of walls came close to its undoing many times. The main roads barricaded, the attacking gnolls would often resort to attempting to set fire to neighbouring buildings, or batter holes through the structures to gain entrance to the city. It was only through the heroic effort (and sacrifice) of many of the citizens and workers of Garik, that the settlement pulled through. Rose's use of horn and bugle was critical in the organization of fire brigades and to direct attention to where it was needed most.

The Wolflands are Born

To call the period after the defense of Garik a lull would be a misrepresentation. It was during this period that Rose, Finnel, and Stefan made a fortune in adventuring. First through ongoing efforts to defend the city from gnollish reprisal, and later by traveling into the Cloudspine Mountains on lengthy expeditions to find treasure and combat hideous aberrations that crawled there from the fallen nation of Kerlutz.
Upon returning on one of these expeditions, they found that the six cities of the province were in open revolt against the Shivirran Empire - and that legions had been dispatched to quell the rebellion. While there's no record of Rose participating in any of the famed battles in the Wolflander Liberation - she is acknowledged as having played a vital role in playing the diplomat between the peoples of the Wolfen Cities and the Sword Elven tribes of the North, gaining their aid in the fight for freedom against the Shivirran Empire.
As the war drew to a bloody close, the city of Garik was renamed Relorien - and to christen its new name, Rosaline Nailo and Finnel Mintorel were married there, in the first officially recorded wedding of the new nation.

To Entertain a Dark God

"I've never been more nervous. It's nerve-wracking enough being invited to play for someone as renowned and as dangerous as Stasian Darkes. But to learn that there was a literal goddess in the audience? What's even the protocol for that? And there was my Rose, playing under the scrutiny of the Necromancer."

— Finnel Mintorel

One might think that participation in siege, adventure, and revolutionary war would be enough to retire happily on. This was certainly true for a brief interlude in Rose's life. The new Mintorel family commissioned a large home in the city of Relorien - one that might house their companions and friends alike. Rose composed several pieces for the violin in this downtime - even submitting "The Shriek of the Mortars" to the newly crowned King Polarius as a national anthem, though he chose a song that could be sung in favour of one that must be played by an orchestra.
Shaking her out of this brief respite was an invitation to play at Castle Darkes in the Forest of Whispering Speakers. An infamous locale, but also a great honour - as the concerts held there only invited the most esteemed artists and only catered to the most wealthy and esteemed of guests. Accompanied by Finnel and Stefan, the trio traveled to Castle Darkes where, as legends would have it, she did not just play for Stasian Darkes, the resident noble of the castle, but for The Necromancer - the Bane of Civlization, the First Vampire herself.
Rose's solo performance, since titled "Darkes", was apparently so rousing that the ghosts of the forest gathered into the hall to hear her, and The Necromancer was so impressed that she offered to grant a boon to Rose. There is, of course, an alternate telling of this story in which The Necromancer was so taken in by Rose's beauty that she was seduced and that the elf slept with the fearsome goddess - but as this is the story Rose herself likes to tell, there's not a lot of credence to the story. Rather, it's the version of the story told in bawdy taverns and flophouses.
Regardless of how she came to earn the boon, Rose asked for an instrument that would take the place of an orchestra - even when played solo. She was granted a viola of ebony that, when played, would conjure up a spectral orchestra to play alongside the musician. While at first it was simply called "Rose's Viola" or "the Darkes Viola" - it quickly became known by the name Rose gave it: Shriek.

Halting the March of Kerlutz

As though entertaining a deity were not enough, Rose and her companions were soon embroiled in the defense of the Wolflands and Twinlands from the march of the Kerlutzian Legions. Scholars still debate about the origins of Crimsonlock, The Red Terror, but there was little doubt as to her goals and origins. Within the heartlands of Kerlutz came a vampire of such ruthlessness and viciousness as to beggar belief.
The trio blunted the vampire's advance over the Cloudspine Mountains with the aid of the Galanodel tribe of sword elves. However, a much larger force marched on the Twinlands, with the dread vampire at its head. Rose was supposedly at the Fall of Thorn, aiding in the rescue of a magical artifact there to aid in the defeat of the vampire. Rose, Finnel, and Stefan spirited the artifact, a magical shield named The Vampire's Vanity.
Before the gates of Altimaier, in the sixth month of an undead siege, the vampire Crimsonlock was finally defeated. Rose was present for the titanic final battle, and while she was not the one who struck the death blow, she was instrumental in the group's success. Playing Shriek to the utmost of her ability, Rose confounded the vampire - presenting an opening in her otherwise invincible guard.
With the fall of their vampire leader, the Kerlutzian legions crumbled on the field, or retreated in the retinue of other, lesser vampires - North into the Kerlutzian wastes.

Well Deserved Retirement

"What do you mean, 'is it a true story'? Of course it's a true story. All stories are true stories."

— Rose Mintorel

After the fall of Crimsonlock, Rose set about retiring for good. Treasure, fame, and a growing body of famous symphonies were more than enough for her. Finnel and Stefan, likewise, were well past their adventuring prime - having dedicated the last thirty years to revolution, adventure, and standing against the dark.
Today, Rose lives a deliberate life of decadence. Her elven lifespan long outlasted her friends and lovers. A kind of melancholy exascerbated by loneliness permeates the large Mintorel estate these days. At first throwing herself into politics with vigour, turning the city that she loved into a centre of the arts within the Wolflands, she has since grown content to languish in her achievements and memories, letting the city, for the most part, govern itself.

Alignment

Neutral Good

Current Status

Mayor of the city of Relorien

Species

Elf

Ethnicity

City Elf

Other Ethnicities/Cultures

• Wolflander

Age

439

Gender

Female

Eyes

Silver

Hair

White, cut to about the nape of the neck

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Alabaster pale

Height

5'3"

Weight

104lbs

Belief/Deity

Agnostic

The Shriek of the Mortars

One of Rose's more famous compositions - a violin concerto in E Major. It is widely believed that this song lent its name to the subsequent naming of Rose's enchanted viola, Shriek.
While the piece features no vocals, it nevertheless remains a piece rooted firmly in the Wolflander Liberation. The title refers to the loud whistling of shot fired from gnollish hand-mortars as they shot into the dense forests surrounding Polarien - and they are the underlying melody of the piece, adding a sense of urgency and speed.

Darkes

The solo performance for The Necromancer was adagio in E-flat major. A heroic, perhaps even bombastic, piece to suit the oppressive nature of the castle and its occupants - it evoked the darkness of the Forest of Whispering Speakers without condemning it, meaning to inspire listeners to look for beauty amongst the strange and the macabre.
Strangely, this piece cannot be performed solo upon Rose's viola, Shriek. Whenever she tries, the spectral orchestra expands the performance dramatically - the spirits themselves unable to contain their desire to participate in a concerto designed to venerate them.