The Windy Road: Player Characters

Here are some quick notes on the player characters in Windy Road. If you have a better description of your PC, please email me and I will update the site.

Alec Hollenger, Knight of Human Brilliance (played by Kirby)

Alec Hollenger was a 1920s-era British aristocrat turned Fabian socialist. Even before his ennoblement, he was a brilliant, handsome man who was a great success at anything he turned his hand to. Now, he's still that, only more so.

Bearskin, Baron of Romance (played by Jeff)

Bearskin appears to be a well-groomed, ageless, military man -- I'm thinking a vaguely Age-of-Napoleon uniform, not unlike the young Baron von Mun chausen as he appears in the Terry Gilliam movie. His outfit is blood-red, and over it he wears his simple bearskin coat, which is likewise clean and spotless, not filthy at all.

Silvia Maria Kobayashi, Duchess of Cities (played by Chris)

Silvia was born in 1976 in Sao Paulo, to wealthy parents. Her father was a local politician of Brazilian/Japanese descent, who had managed to create a comfortable life for himself and his family during the period of the military government. This all started to come apart in the mid 1980's, as ARENA lost power. Silvia's Father was tried for corruption in 1986, and died of a stroke during the trial. The family was cast into (relative) poverty. This was Silvia's first glimpse of the great contrast of cities -- wealth, grandeur, poverty, and squalor.

Silvia's design uses a crescent moon as the background. The light portion of the crescent moon borders the bottom of the design, while the dark portion (which is deep blue) serves as background. Rising out of the light portion of the crescent moon is a sprig of ash, which is entwined at its base with aster and candytuft. The design is bracketed on the left by a curved stalk of wheat, and on the right by a curved branch of evergreen. The wheat, evergreen, and the base of the ash meet and cross just above the center of the (upturned) light portion of the crescent moon.

The crescent moon is a symbol of the Wild. Ash is associated with grandeur (and also with Yggdrasil). In the design, the ash is entwined at the base with aster, which represents variety, and candytuft, which represents architecture, but can also represent indifference. The wheat and evergreen are, respectively, symbols of wealth and poverty.

Pictures of aster, candytuft, wheat, and ash.

Nezha, Desire's-regal (played by Neel)

Nezha was an AI from the 27th century, who was ripped from the noosphere and given a human body, a soul, and an estate by Akraisel. She looks like Katherine Hepburn, if she were playing Albert Einstein in an experimental theater production.

Desire's design is a left-facing violet catchfly, with five unjoined, inwardly turned petals, on a sable field. It is bracketed on the left and right by two stalks of Persian darnell, which curve inward over the flower. And at the bottom is a scroll bearing her motto, "Mundus Vult Decipi".

The sable field indicates that she is an agent of the Dark. The catchfly is a flower symbolising Traps -- it is so named because it has a sticky center, upon which flying insects land, get stuck, and die. The closed violet petals represent Madness, and having five unjoined petals represent Boldness. Persian darnell is a grass closely resembling wheat, which stands for Prosperity, but which actually means Vice. "Mundus vult decipi" is Latin for "the world desires to be deceived". (The full proverb is "mundus vult decipi; ergo decipiatur", which means "the world desires to be deceived; therefore it is". The second half is intentionally missing.)

Pictures of catchfly and of darnell. Also, I could not use Nezha's motto without linking to J.B. Cabell.

Tess, Duchess of Loss (played by Jess)

Tess is a blonde waif with too much eyeliner and no shoes. She usually appears in jeans and a t-shirt, pockets stuffed with yellow chrysanthemums whose petals she nervously shreds and eats. Frequently she carries a child's toy, a set of keys, or some other formerly prized possession, although her main purview is emotional loss rather than physical. Once a young working-class girl with a new husband and budding maternal asperations, she lost the baby at the time of her enNobling and, soon after, her husband. Now she focuses what interest she can muster on her Familia and on the protection of her Estate. She performs her duties as gently as she can, and although she tries to see her work as a thing of Heaven's creation and therefore beautiful and necessary, she is constantly consumed by guilt and sadness over what her actions have wrought.

Tess's design is a full yellow chrysanthemum on a white background. In the foreground, four black thorn branches curve over the flower. The white background symbolizes her affiliation with Heaven. The yellow chrysanthemum can mean slighted love -- it is the bloom found on the graves of Angels. The thorn branch symbolizes severity. Tess employs the design in her wardrobe to some extent, such as an embroidered flourish on the hem of her veil, and she carries bunches of yellow chrysanthemum with her wherever she goes.

Here's a picture of a chrysanthemum and a thorn bush.

Merlin, Viscount of Story (played by Dan)

Merlin was a journalist, who when ennobled, discovered that his memories had been overlain with the memories of his favorite fictional characters. He is flamboyant and dramatic, and cannot fail to make a powerful impression wherever he goes.

Merlin's symbol is composed of white closed flowers that bloom in tiny clusters of three petals. The stem proudly displays its grass-like leaves in whorls of three, as it wraps around a caduceus. Dancing atop the staff is a tongue of white flame. The flowers look to this flame for their sustinance. This design is mounted on a gray background with a white raindrop pattern that makes known Merlin's affiliation with the Light.

Our Merlin doesn't look like this picture, but it's still cool.

Thechari, Marchessa of Tea (played by Sara)

Thechari is an spirit of the tea ceremony, that was promoted to become the power of Tea when Akraisel enchancelled. Thechari resembles a human woman with an addax's head.