Lady Irisa Maugerite Hawthorn - she does not hold the title of Princess even among her own people in Ruchye.

29

She/Her

Aesthetics

Irisa is from the region of Ruchye within the Atalan Empire -- a region along the southernmost border of the new Empire, with a desert in its west and a range of tall, unforgiving mountains along its southern border.

Ruchye was the first former kingdom to fall when the kingdom of Atalan joined with another to form the new Atalan Empire, and consumed its three closest neighbors in a bloody conquest. Rather than fight a long and bloody war, Ruchye instead chose to relinquish its power and offer to join Atalan as its new fighting force.

For the people of Ruchye, life is always a struggle for power. Life is a dance with death. Hot versus cold, desert versus water, life versus death, to fight versus to dance. So this exchange of power was nothing new to them. Leadership passed among the royalty and nobility of Ruchye within a process known as the 'Great Game', where anyone with a drop of royal blood could come before the Council of Elders to make their case for the position of King or Queen when the time for power exchange came -- and it did, fairly often.

So they agreed to this new reality several generations ago on the basis that they would operate mostly still on their own terms, following their own laws, and spreading their fighting skills and prowess to other regions... and perhaps, someday, the opportunity would arise to involve Atalan in a 'Great Game' of their own.

5 ft 7 in

Flexible and athletic; Irisa does not have the figure of a typical noble woman. She has a dancer's lithe and toned body structure, but with the surprising power of a warrior.

Green

Black

Irisa generally does not let it get longer than the tops of her shoulder blades; long enough to be pulled into a ponytail but short enough to keep it out of the way in times of trouble

Irisa has many small nicks and scars across her body from her adventures, primarily on her arms and legs from glancing blows, and one jagged mark across her left hip from an unlucky dagger swipe.

Regan Hawthorn - current Duke and head of House Hawthorn. He has been married three times, widowed twice. He has 7 children and his third wife is pregnant with his 8th.

Children - Raiden, Kaemon, Irisa, Yenika, Ilyana, Kaida, Diora

Lady Tatiana - first wife, mother of Raiden, died in childbirth with 2nd child

Lady Verena - second wife, mother to Kaemon, Irisa, Yenika, and Ilyana; died of mysterious sickness, believed to have been killed

Lady Idalia - third and current wife, mother to Kaida and Diora, pregnant with her third child and Duke Regan's eighth.

Raiden is married to Lady Gisella of House Cauthon, a noble family from within Ruchye who can also trace their lineage back to a time before the Empire.
They currently have two children, Damon and Berina.

Kaemon is recently married to Lady Thalassa of Reigate, a major port city in the region of Evelion.
They are currently expecting their first child.

Yenika is currently being courted by Sir Evander Stonemoth, a knight from a minor noble family in Acrima who has been trained in Ruchye's knightship program.
She wishes to make the courtship official with a betrothal, but she has been forbidden to do so by Lady Idalia until Irisa weds, since Irisa is the elder.