Myrtle Gemcutter
Myrtle Gemcutter (a.k.a. Karvu)
Myrtle Gemcutter is the eldest bastard daughter of Lady Marissa Gemfire, and given the lady is neither interested in marriage nor particularly marriageable by the standards of Arkheran nobility, that also places her as the current heir to the Rainbow Fort barring any shenanigans from the Gemfire cadet branch. While currently known as an exceedingly clever, politically-minded young woman, she was not always this way.
Born to Marissa Gemfire when the future lady was merely sixteen, Myrtle was initially raised by her grandparents, Marissa's only significant contribution being breast milk when she wasn't foisting the task off to wetnurses. Her grandfather, Lord Morris, tried in vain to assure Myrtle that Marissa loved her, but once Myrtle's critical faculties developed, all this demonstrated that even people who loved her would be willing to lie blatantly; she would accept her grandfather's love, but not the laughable claim that her mother did the same.
With both Mara and Morris acknowledging that Myrtle was likely always going to be a sullen child, they opted to shift their efforts towards intellectual development, which they were much more successful with. Myrtle would grow up reading numerous historical transcripts of political exchanges, along with some of her grandmother's traditional Malassaian poems. Morris would come to realise that even at eight, Myrtle demonstrated a desire to learn about the true role of nobility than her mother ever did.
Morris feared Marissa would come to resent Myrtle the older they became, and decided to test this hypothesis by asking Marissa if she wanted Myrtle to be legitimised as her heir. When she declined, claiming that the last thing she'd want for her to feel secure in her place; that was apparently the making of a matricide plot to Marissa. Morris took these remarks to indicate that he'd failed both his daughter and granddaughter, and unfortunately, he never got a chance to rectify his error, as he would die from a heart attack the year after.
The loss of her grandfather drove the normally withdrawn Myrtle to become more vocally sad, angry, and vindictive than ever, setting a poor example for her five-year-old half sister, Amerei. She would accuse her recently-ascended mother of not caring about her father's death, and pull numerous mean-spirited pranks including dousing Marissa's bed with pig's blood to invoke some level of feeling in her mother. Before she could fix the issue, Lady Dowager Mara Gemfire would die of a shaking fit, leaving Marissa alone with her antagonistic firstborn.
Instead of stepping up to be a mother, Marissa did what anyone who knew her would expect; she tracked down Myrtle's father, Sir Damien Crystalglass, and informed him that Myrtle's mystery sire was in fact him. Unlike Marissa, Damien took his role as a parent seriously, and would take her into his house. While initially resistant, proclaiming that he didn't know her, Myrtle would come to appreciate her father's efforts. At first, she tested his limits, but when he consistently disciplined her and set clear boundaries, Myrtle would round out into a well-meaning, self-disciplining girl.
Under his tutelage, she would channel her aggressive side into physical training for both sword and gun wielding, resume her research into historical politics, and become a young woman respected in both the barracks and the city hall of the Rainbow Fort. Unable to ignore her daughter's progress, Marissa Gemfire accepted Myrtle as her heir while continuing to deny her the true Gemfire name, conveniently using her as a replacement on council meetings she was too bored to attend.
It was just as well; Myrtle was happy to forge connections with council members who quietly disdained Marissa's flagrant disregard for her job, gain prestige and influence, and ultimately, prove her mother to be the failure she knew she was. She would come back into Amerei's life at the same time, swearing to act as the good influence she failed to be before on the parentless girl, who'd recently taken to pranking her mother much akin to her own younger self.
As her star continued to rise and puberty would hit her like a comfortable pillow, Myrtle would gain admirers and devotees. Some men want to sleep with her, others want to personally overthrow Lady Marissa and install her as lady ahead of time, but as always, Myrtle upholds her publicly loyal facade, all while eagerly awaiting her mother's final humiliation. From her devotees, she would come to return the admiration of a boy named Monroe, who she intends to marry once she becomes lady. This decision has, in turn, roiled up certain male followers of her, who are mad with envy over her ludicrous decision to be in a relationship.
In turn, envy has come from the wives of certain supporters too, as well as Lady Marissa herself, who has recently worked to undermine and undo certain policies Myrtle agreed to only because Marissa declined to offer input at the time, only to retroactively use it as an opportunity to sabotage her heir. Lady Marissa has even accused Myrtle of stealing Sir Damien away from her, as though she was ever interested in marrying the knight that, as far as Myrtle knows, she abandoned without a second thought.
All this envy-based turmoil has recently made her, for whatever reason, focus on her bizarre, shifting stag-skull birthmark upon her thigh. All alone, she sometimes hears whispers telling her that all this madness isn't a coincidence, that deep down, she was made to induce craving, resentfulness and misery in all she knows. Even Amerei, who she's desperately tried to love, resents her looks, relatively unproblematic puberty, and possession of a father figure. Time and time again, two syllables echo in her head: Karvu. What this means, or why it somehow sounds like 'Green Stone' in her mind, she's yet to figure out.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Myrtle is a small-nosed, pretty young woman with an adult's figure from a young age. She's light olive in skintone from her Malassaian quarter, with almond-shaped blue eyes and blonde hair. She tends to wear practical clothes for the cold, preferring fur-lined coats and cloaks, sometimes Gemfire white and other times the multiple colours of her personal sigil. She has a stag's skull marking on her right thigh, branding her as the current sinchild of envy.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Sir Seamus Whitewood (friend and confidant)
Monroe of the Rainbow Fort (boyfriend)
Alan of the Rainbow Fort (stalker)
Monroe of the Rainbow Fort (boyfriend)
Alan of the Rainbow Fort (stalker)
Family Ties
Religious Views
Myrtle is mostly irreligious, but she's recently started to hear voices in her head implying that numerous cases of jealous pursuit by young men, along with envy from her mother and sister, are not coincidences. She's being told to embrace a certain evil about herself, and while she's entertaining the idea it's her own madness, a part of her refuses to accept this, believing it to truly be a god in her head.
Alignment
Lawful Neutral
Current Location
Species
Ethnicity
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Heir to the Rainbow Fort
Sinchild of Envy
Sinchild of Envy
Year of Birth
535 AGA
16 Years old
Circumstances of Birth
Illegitimate
Birthplace
Rainbow Fort
Children
Current Residence
Rainbow Fort
Gender
Female
Eyes
Blue
Hair
Blonde
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Light Olive
Height
5'8''
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Malassaian
Old Galdusian (Basic)
Comments