Character Sketch

Blackwood Gazette #234- Rinkenbach and Sinclaire Become Sarnwain’s Most Wanted After Alleged Sabotage of Djidanni Drilling Operation

rybpierce, , , , , , Leave a comment

by Basilio Mura, Nor Easter Correspondent

19/4-The Triumvirate is left with numerous unanswered questions this week, after the Empress of Nor Easter received reports that Nor Easter’s favorite ex-power couple, the alchemist and industrialist Rigel Rinkenbach and on again/off again N.E.S.S. Agent Pixie Sinclaire were reportedly seen escaping from a Djidanni oil interest minutes before it exploded.

The explosion occurred in the early morning hours last Friday. Witnesses to the incident report seeing two individuals matching the descriptions of Rinkenbach and Sinclaire fleeing the area before the well erupted into a gout of flame. Given Sinclaire’s record of service as a saboteur during the war with Crowndon, and Rinkenbach’s inextricable connection to Blackwood, it isn’t difficult to establish a motive for the incident and the expertise needed to carry it out.

What is difficult to understand, however, is how these events came to be. When last we heard of Rinkenbach, he’d been absconded with by kidnappers wearing the same blue uniforms as those worn by the Arms Summit attackers. As for Pixie Sinclaire, she was last seen in the colonies, and according to several sources was part of ongoing operations there. Further, none of this takes into account how the two came to be working together, considering their messy personal history, as documented by Nor Easter’s most salacious tabloids.

The incident has sparked a massive manhunt across Sarnwain, regardless of how the pieces do or don’t fit together, and separate three million Inter-Imperial scrip bounties have been placed on Sinclaire and Rinkenbach’s heads. The Primarch of Pharassus is said to be enraged, calling for Nor Easter to explain the actions of its citizens under threat of war.

The Empress, as is to be expected, denied any knowledge on the Empire’s part of this alleged sabotage, citing Rinkenbach’s official status as missing and reminding us all, once again, that the Nor Eastern Subterfuge Society is dormant during peace time.

One can only hope that such ‘official’ responses will be enough to stem the Primarch’s wrath. Regardless, the Triumvirate Authority is said to be preparing its fleets to take action should the need arise.

Blackwood Gazette #234- Rinkenbach and Sinclaire Become Sarnwain’s Most Wanted After Alleged Sabotage of Djidanni Drilling Operation

Blackwood Gazette #181-Political Scholar Andoni Saldazar Stripped of Tenure, Disappears

rybpierce, , , , , Leave a comment

By Isairo Palantes, Monteddorian Correspondent

26/8-Two weeks after giving an interview to the Gazette speaking out against Alejandro Julianos’ activities in the colonies, it has been reported that Andoni Saldazar, a respected political scholar and professor at the University of Monteddor, has been stripped of his tenure. He has not been seen since clearing his office and leaving the campus.

The dean of administration at the university denies that Saldazar’s termination had nothing to do with his remarks.

“This has been a long time coming,” the dean told us. “While his recent comments were troubling, he has for years been undermining the structure of the university and trying to disrupt our curriculum, proposing extreme changes to not only what is taught, but who we should teach and on what basis students should be accepted.

“His behavior as well was troubling. Whenever something didn’t go his way he’d lock himself in his office and refuse to teach. On more than one occasion he left the city without informing anyone, sometimes for days at a time. I wouldn’t be surprised if his current disappearance is one such sojourn.”

However, a close friend of Saldazar, Halma Lucia Llavarado, thinks something else is afoot.

“The dean told you he never told anyone where he was going, but that isn’t true,” Llavarado said. “He always told ME. In fact he often spent that time with me. He hasn’t this time. Not a letter, or a transmiphone message, or anything. I fear that something terrible has happened, and I think a certain party might be behind it.”

While Llavarado refused to say who this certain party is, many who know Saldazar believe it is Julianos. It wouldn’t be the first time the disappearance of a political dissident has been laid at Julianos’ feet either, though it would be the most high profile.

Blackwood Gazette #181-Political Scholar Andoni Saldazar Stripped of Tenure, Disappears

Character Profile- Arufina Villanova

rybpierce, , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Arufina_Portrait

Arufina Villanova is a member of a society of assassins known as the Scarlett Circle, an organization trumped in mystery and cloak-and-dagger-ness by only the Ephemeral Cartographers. Her older sister was a Cartographer before the war, and Aru might have been as well. Something else happened, however, and Arufina’s sister disappeared, putting Arufina on the run.

Continue reading “Character Profile- Arufina Villanova” →

Character Profile- Arufina Villanova

Character Profile: Pixie Sinclaire

rybpierce, , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
Pixie_Portrait_hair_COMPLETE
It’s supposed to be a compass…

Pixie Sinclaire…where to begin? Most of her childhood was spent traveling the NorEastern countryside with her father, digging around in old caves and tombs. At the age of fourteen, her father was arrested and deported for grave robbing–ahem, sorry. “Unlicensed Archaeology”–leaving Pixie to fend for herself.

She was recruited into the North Eastern Subterfuge Society, where she served the Empire during the war with Crowndon as an agent provocateur, smuggling plans in and out of enemy territory and sabotaging Crowndon equipment.

It was during this time that she ran afoul of Sir Rigel Rinkenbach and, despite her better judgment, began a long and sordid relationship with him that ended due to a disagreement on whether or not Rigel should build weapons of mass destruction to end the war.

Hey, people have broken up over smaller things, right?

After the war, Pixie went to work for herself, setting up shop on Libertine’s Roost in Demon’s Eye bay, home of pirates, mercenaries, and alchemists without conscience.

Character Profile: Pixie Sinclaire

Character Profile- Sir Rigel Rinkenbach

rybpierce, , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
"Pleased to meet you, hope you know the rest."
“Pleased to meet you, hope you know the rest.”

Sir Rigel Rinkenbach is the most brilliant mind in the Imperial Triumvirate, and he knows it. He is also completely devoid of morals and has no time to waste on ethics. The only thing he cares about, if he can be said to care about anything, is the rapid advancement of civilization.

It was this attitude that got him ex-communicated from the Academic Alliance of Alchemists and Alliterators, and led to his estrangement from the equally brilliant Pixie Sinclaire, the only other person on the planet Rigel might consider having the potential to be his equal…someday. Perhaps. Maybe.

Captain la Pierre holds a grudging respect for Rinkenbach, but doesn’t necessarily trust him, and he certainly doesn’t like him…he’s a NorEasterman, after all. But he’s capable, and when you’re on the run for your life, that’s nearly the only thing that counts. He also knows the formula for Blackwood, the substance that makes the world go round.
    
Rinkenbach has a taste for the finer things in life; gramophones, tea, and chess. He prefers a duelist’s stance when fighting, and uses a rapier. He possess the ability to think around problems, rather than through them (like Klaudhopper), but he realizes the importance of a blunt approach. A cunning strategist, la Pierre often laments not having Rinkenbach on his side during the war.

“I like your brand o’ thinkin, Rink. If not for the loopy machinations of cunning, lunatic minds such as your own, we’d have never gotten off the ground!”
-Roderick la Pierre, Captain of the Pernicious Platitude, overheard during a train heist.

Character Profile- Sir Rigel Rinkenbach

Character Profile: Klaus Klaudhopper

rybpierce, , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

 

"Fill your hand, you son of a crumpet!"
“Fill your hand, you son of a crumpet!”

Klaus Klaudhopper is brash and quick to action. As the ship’s navigator, he has an obsession with getting where he’s going, when he wants to get there…which sometimes doesn’t take into consideration the safety of the crew, other air ships, or the people on the ground below.

As the youngest of the crew, Klaudhopper has seen the least action. He lied about his age to join the army (on a bet, no less, made by a fellow townsie who’s ultimate goal was simply to get Klaudhopper away so that his girlfriend would be left available), but alas, his enlistment came near the end of the war, which Admiral Roderick la Pierre unintentionally cut short, condemning Klaudhopper to an eight year contract guarding the governor’s crumpet stores.

His place on the crew is a tenuous one, as he blames la Pierre for ruining ‘his war.’ He sticks around, however, because la Pierre grants him a certain liberty and pays well. Not to mention, there’s really no other place to go.

Klaudhopper favors twin dueling revolvers given to him by Who, No-One-Knows, And Who, No-One-Asks, the Prime Surveyor of the Ephemeral Cartographers.

Character Profile: Klaus Klaudhopper

Character Profile: Captain Roderick Beauchamp La Pierre

rybpierce, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

So, as I said a couple of days ago, I am a story-teller. Then I left a website with a bunch of pages and nothing on them. Then I got hits and started thinking…hmm. I better start telling some stories!

Today I bring you a small helping, one of the main anti-protagonists from a series of stories and, hopefully, videos, I plan to write, produce, and release here through YouTube.

I’m also considering ideas for a Vlog. Since I’m wrapping up a degree in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics, it would probably be conducive for this theoretical vlog to showcase an effect and go into detail the inspiration for the effect and how it was produced. Many of these effects will be obvious, but I think I will try to integrate some of them into the video, and leave the audience to figure out where the effect is, thus giving me some much-needed practice on my compositing skills while also giving the viewer something fun to do other than look at my ugly mug.

Without further ado, I give you Captain Roderick Beauchamp La Pierre, main anti-protagonist of “Blackwood Empire”!

Absinthe and Airships...Never a Good Combo...
“I’m teh King uth the Norf!”

Captain Roderick Beauchamp la Pierre: Former Admiral of the Crowndon aerial navy. Now a disgraced pirate. Lost almost his entire fleet of 42 ships in a desperate gamble that didn’t quite pan out during the Battle of the Divide. He was stripped of his command and exiled from the Northern Empire. He is now the captain of the Pernicious Platitude, a pirate vessel salvaged from the ship he went down on during the war.

Character Profile: Captain Roderick Beauchamp La Pierre