Queen of Sorrows--Dramatis Personae

[Evie]

The House of Horthy



His Hortic Majesty Adémar, Hort of Orsal and Prince of Tralia



Her Hortic Majesty Queen Miranda Araxelle Renata Evaine Haldane von Horthy of Orsal and Tralia, daughter to Uthyr III and Soraya, King and Queen of Gwynedd



The Royal Children: Princess Rezza, Princess Silvé, and Prince Létald von Horthy

The House of Haldane



King Uthyr III (Uthyr Michael Kelson Rhys Haldane) of Gwynedd--Late King of Gwynedd



Dowager Queen Soraya Ilseveta Amalia d'Auxerre di Fianna Haldane, Widow to King Uthyr, the Queen Mother



Cinhil Alroy Nigel Jashan Haldane (Cinhil III of Gwynedd), Late King of Gwynedd



Queen Alixa Xandrina Éloïse Buyenne-Furstán Haldane, aka Alixa of Joux--Cinhil's dowager queen



King Nicholas Richard Brion Alexander Haldane ("Colin")



Catalina Sofiana Richenda Maria Vastouni Haldane, aka Queen Catherine of Gwynedd, wife to King Nicholas ("Colin") of Gwynedd and daughter to King Mikhail and Queen Noora of Andelon.

Princess Miranda Araxelle Renata Evaine Haldane von Horthy (see House of Horthy)



Father (Prince) Camber Malcolm Blaine Uthyr Haldane



Princess Richeldis Anastasia Michaela Eliana Haldane

Prince Christopher Alaric Joram Rhys–Not pictured. Died aged 5, would have been 11 at the beginning of Queen of Sorrows if he had lived and 18 at the beginning of Pawns and Queens.



Princess Elisa Marise Alexandra Meraude Haldane

The House of Morgan



Duke Joscelin ("Joss") Morgan, Duke of Corwyn and Earl of Lendour



Lady Gabrielle Morgan, sister to Duke Joscelin and heiress presumptive to Corwyn


The House of Bogdanovich



Lord Davorin Bogdanovich, Lord Chief Chamberlain to the Hort of Orsal and Prince of Tralia



Lady Jesaminda Bogdanovich, daughter to the Lord Chief Chamberlain


Ladies-in-Waiting to Miranda Haldane, Princess Royal of Gwynedd



Lady Genevieve ("Genie") Coris of Marley, youngest daughter to the Earl of Marley



Lady Ailis Mhairi MacArdry, younger daughter to the Earl of Transha

Lady Jesaminda Bogdanovich (see "House of Bogdanovich" above)



Mirna (blonde) and Arijana (brunette)



Marija (blonde in foreground), Anna (brunette), Svetlana (blonde in background)



Jadviga (blonde), Katja (redhead), Danelija (brunette)



Zjata (standing), Viktorija (seated)



Eva (blue gown) and Elisaveta (mauve gown)

Queen Miranda's Chaplain



Father Gareth Emrys, husband to Lady Genevieve Coris and father to Brendan Emrys

The Arilans



Lord Geoffrey Arilan, Chief Intelligencer to King Uthyr of Gwynedd



Lord Jourdain Arilan (deceased), former intelligencer to Uthyr III, eldest son and late heir to Lord Geoffrey



Sir Sebastian Arilan, intelligencer-in-training and squire to Nicholas Haldane, second son to Lord Geoffrey

Lady Marija's children



Dmitri Ademarović



Damaris Ademarović (deceased)

Additional characters



Lord Brendan Emrys (standing)--son of Lady Genevieve Coris Emrys and Fr. Gareth Emrys
Laird Ciardha Montrose (bending to touch the ball)--son of Lady Ailis MacArdry Montrose and Laird Lachlan Montrose



Oisín Ó Súileabháin, senior squire to King Nicholas of Gwynedd (as of January, 1465)



Comte Réhon-Rogan von Horthy of Nouveau Richemont, distant cousin to the Hort and heir presumptive to Orsal and Tralia prior to Prince Létald's birth



The Corps Phénix, a band of mercenaries made up mostly of Jouvian troops but available for hire by others outside of that Kingdom



Matej Adamović, Duke of Bočna.  One of the Tralian noblemen loyal to the House of Horthy. Also a brother-by-marriage to Comte Réhon-Rogan



The Wine Merchant



The Fake Draymen (Morgan's strike team)



Rolf and the Youth



The Nursemaid



Captain Conor O'Flynn, younger brother to the Earl of Derry, captain of the Corwyner ship Vanguard



Olga the chambermaid

The Camberian Council

This is unchanged since 1464 (Pawns and Queens), and the full member list with portraits can be found here:

https://rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,3196.0.html

[Evie]

As with the Dramatis Personae page for Pawns and Queens, keep checking back for new portraits as other characters appear in the story, as well as updated portraits of some characters as they grow from teens to adults during the course of the story.

[DoctorM]

This looks like it will be fascinating.

[Evie]

This looks like it will be fascinating.

I hope you'll enjoy it. It mostly takes place in Orsal and Tralia, for a nice change of pace.

[revanne]

Nicholas is too handsome to be allowed out.

[Evie]

Nicholas is too handsome to be allowed out.

Yes, I was feeling a sudden very strong sympathy for Mellie, who didn't stand a chance once she encountered that wonderful vision of masculine loveliness while puberty was hitting her like a ton of bricks. 😅

[Nezz]

Nicholas is too handsome to be allowed out.

We were discussing this very fact at great length last night in our sims channel. At Great Length.

[Evie]

Nicholas is too handsome to be allowed out.

We were discussing this very fact at great length last night in our sims channel. At Great Length.

😂😂😂

[Evie]

Catalina says not to worry, she's going to place a Moving Ward around the man for his own protection. 

[Laurna]

I love the Marley and Transha girls. They look like fun and trouble rolled up together, I do not see how Camber found his way into the seminary with girls like that around.

[Evie]

I love the Marley and Transha girls. They look like fun and trouble rolled up together, I do not see how Camber found his way into the seminary with girls like that around.

They were probably verrrrrrry well chaperoned when they were still in Rhemuth, especially in their younger years, though it also helped that they are both slightly older than Camber at a developmental stage when girls tend to mature faster than boys, and Big Sister Miranda also probably warned them away from the brother she'd nicknamed the "Haldane Hellion." 

And at any rate, Camber's decision to go to seminary didn't happen until shortly after Colin and Mellie were expecting Balian, with all of the scandal and gossip that that engendered, so I'm sure that would have served as a wake-up call that one trifles with the affections of highborn ladies at one's peril and at the risk of the young lady becoming socially ruined. Teen Camber was always up for a bit of fun and not always the best at moderating his impulses, but he also had a reasonably well developed conscience. So once it occurred to him on a more than theoretical level that certain types of fun activities might have harmful lifelong consequences for someone else, he would have found other ways to seek out that sense of excitement and adventure. Granted, some of those other ways might not have been the most advisable either. I'm sure a lot of the white hairs Uthyr and Soraya acquired in later years were probably due to their youngest son's escapades before he had developed some sense of moderation. 

Genevieve is a direct descendent of Richenda Morgan (via her firstborn son, Brendan Coris) and looks very similar to how I envision Richenda. And Ailis is descended from Jass and Ailidh MacArdry through their son Ciaran.

[Evie]

Recently added: Miranda's new Tralian ladies-in-waiting.

[DerynifanK]

Question , what do all these ladies-in-waiting actually do? It seems a rather large household to serve one person.

[Evie]

Question , what do all these ladies-in-waiting actually do? It seems a rather large household to serve one person.

Traditionally, ladies-in-waiting assisted a Queen in such things as personal care (helping them get dressed and undressed in their multilayered clothing that often had back-lacing and/or many fasteners to contend with), bathing, hair-dressing, etc. They also often helped to manage and curate the queen's extensive wardrobe, jewelry collection, and other personal items or State regalia. They might be called upon to perform secretarial tasks such as helping with correspondence or assist with the planning and carrying out of Court events. They provided companionship and entertainment to the Queen during her personal time (for instance, playing music, singing, or being available as dance partners for the Hort's courtiers at public events, since apart from the Queen's Household, royal courts were often very male-dominated settings), participated in public events, ran errands, made purchases, sometimes helped to oversee the Palace servants or helped to manage the household budget. Basically, whatever a Queen might need staff for, she could enlist the assistance of one or more ladies-in-waiting to do. Selecting a courtier's wife or daughter for the prestigious position of being the Queen's lady-in-waiting was also one way of rewarding one's loyal noblemen, so that's likely why at least some of Adémar's selections for Miranda's retinue were chosen. A Queen was expected to be able to keep up appearances, and having a household of ladies-in-waiting to assist her in all of the tasks she was expected to perform helped her to do that. And in the highly sequestered, class and gender-segregated culture of a medieval court, they served as companions for the Queen and ideally as friends as well, selected from noble families of suitable rank to be considered appropriate for a royal lady to associate with, since it's not like Miranda could just go out into the town and join a social club or a hobby organization to find new friends or whatever. (Also, if Miranda wasn't already fluent in the local language when she first arrived in Orsalis, she soon would be from daily association with the fluent native speakers who have been added to her household, although Queens often brought their own ladies from their homelands also, like Catalina did in "Pawns and Queens.")

For the ladies themselves, not only was it an honor to be asked to enter a royal household, it was a valuable educational experience as well as a prestigious position. If you were single, then being so highly placed in a royal household could make you more sought after as a potential bride, since as a woman having the ear of the Queen, that would potentially be a position of some political power. Not to mention faithful service might be rewarded in more tangible ways as well.

[DerynifanK]

Thank you. I had no idea they had so many responsibilities. I can see now why she needed so many to help her.