Szasza Markovitch
Baroness of Vladimirov
Witch of the Third Circle
AC 1000
"A glass of wine, perhaps? And please tell me again your name..."
Appearance
Szasza Markovitch is a true beauty. Her father, Baron Nikolai Markovitch, was of dark Boldavian bloodlines, but her mother, Lady Jacqueline Dumont, was a blonde Averoignian, making Szasza a gold-haired brown-eyed pale-skinned charmer. She usually wears seductive red dresses, which work like magnets to Glantrian noblemen, and hides her paleness with makeup or magic.
Lady Szasza constantly uses her witch's charm, so she is usually the queen of the party (unless Countess Geneviève de Sephora is present.) But Prince Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany has ordered her to stay in Boldavia, so she is seldom seen in the jet-setting parties of Glantri City.
Although she is slightly older, she looks like she did when she was 25.
Personality & Quirks
Lady Szasza is always hunting—men. She is a deadly seductress, whose mysterious aura makes her even more attractive. She always looks at men straight in the eyes. She speaks slowly, her voice like black velvet. Her courtly manners are perfect, and she has learned to speak without the Traladaran accent many Boldavians have.
However, if she does not like someone, she is quite different. She is a professional in the elegant insults, like speaking to only your companion but completely ignoring you. If she is angry, she can go completely out of control. Her voice becomes a deafening scream, usually yelling curses or magical words for casting spells of destruction.
She has been called by some, a manic-depressive. She is either gleefully happy or depressingly sad, wrathfully angry or amorously seductive, hot as a Belcadizan picante or cold as a Boldavian tomb. Her moods change faster than Caurenzan fashion. One moment, she will fall in love with any handsome and influential nobleman nearby. In the next, she might just as easily drink him dead. One might never live to see her next mood swing. She can be particularly dangerous when it comes to betrayal in any form, as she both jealous and vengeful.
As she is the favorite ally of Prince Morphail, she can—and will—kill nearly anyone recklessly, trusting that the Prince will keep her alive.
Background
Lady Szasza is the only child of late Nikolai and Jacqueline Markovitch. Her father and mother both became vampires soon after she was born, but they never told her. Baron Nikolai was an important servant of Prince Morphail of Boldavia, a powerful necromancer who was taught by Morphail himself. Lady Jacqueline, on the other hand, had no magical ability.
Nikolai, however, resented the magical control Prince Morphail had over his wife, so he eventually allied himself with Prince Brannart McGregor to overthrow Morphail. Unfortunately, Szasza learned of her father's coup, having already been charmed by Morphail, and betrayed her parents to the Prince. Morphail swiftly executed Lady Jacqueline, to teach Nikolai a lesson in loyalty, and to prevent him from worrying about anyone else.
Baron Nikolai was crushed. In the long night hours, he developed a spell, Nikolai's vampiric counterpart, to save his daughter from Morphail's vampiric control. On Szasza's twenty-fifth birthday, Nikolai planned to make her a nosferatu under his, not Morphail's, control. But Morphail had learned of his plans and made Szasza into one of his vampires.
In AC 995, Baron Nikolai was murdered by Prince Morphail. Lady Szasza, still charmed and in love with Morphail, succeeded him as the sole heir.
After this, however, Morphail turned his back on Szasza, having tired of the affair with her. Szasza felt herself betrayed, and begun developing a plan to make Morphail marry her.
Web of Intrigue
Baroness Szasza wants to make herself increasingly important to Morphail, so she allows him to use her to get close to the nobility of Glantri. She lures people with invitations to Vladimirov, where she charms them and kills them. The vampire pawns she creates, tend to become her short-time lovers and spies. Lady Szasza usually ensures that her pawns keep Morphail's Vampire Law. This both widens Prince Morphail's power and makes Lady Szasza important to him. If he kills the Baroness, many vampires in Glantri are freed. Vampirism will spread and the pawns will probably want revenge against Morphail.
The Baroness has a bitter rivalry with the other vampire barons of Boldavia. She is very jealous of Morphail's attention, and constantly tries to backstab the others. She blackmails Baron Lazlo Wutylya of Mariksen of his misbehaviors and openly despises the ugly Baroness Natacha Datchenka of Pavlova. To the others, she plays a naïve but charming lady, and even had an affair with Baron Youri Ivanov of Palatinsk (wherein she tried kill him). She has also tried to kill the Baron Piotr-Grygory Timenko of Kutchevski by revealing his nature to a group of vampire hunters. The hunters failed, and now Lady Szasza fears that Piotr-Grygory will learn of her treachery.
Style of Magic & Combat
Statistics: 12th-level vampire mage, Witch of the 3rd Circle; Str 16, Int 17, Wis 8, Dex 13, Con 14, Cha 18; AL C (D&D), CE (AD&D).
Languages: Traladaran (Boldavian dialect), Thyatian (Glantrian dialect), Sylaire, Elvish (Belcadizan dialect).
Skills: etiquette, seduction, persuasion, spellcraft, reading/writing, brewing, dancing, diplomacy, fortune-telling.
Weapon Proficiencies: dagger, knife.
Lady Szasza is a Witch, but also favors necromancy. As a Witch, she has developed a set of curses as charms. As a necromancer, she inherited a wide repertoire of necromantic spells from her father, and has blackmailed some from Laszlo Wutyla. An example of the former is Szasza's dozen ravens. An example of the latter is Nikolai's vampiric counterpart. An example of the two combined is Szasza's vengeance, a powerful curse that is said to strike her killer. She deliberately lets it be known that she has this spell, and that if she is slain, all hell breaks loose.
She also brews the potions with Witchcraft. Many of these are augmented by vampiric or mortal blood, and she has a quirk of making them appear like blood-red wine.
"My friend, she is dangerous. Stay away from her... Besides, I saw her first!"
(Anonymous gentleman to another in a party in Rymskigrad)
References:
Author: Markus Olavi Montola