Hanna Aileanach Talakar Mardrein, known as the Western Mountains Fire, is the wife of Blaine Talakar Mardrein, Queen of Atlania, and one of the major western mountain figures of her age. Born a noble of Lanrwstalg, she was raised among the hard traditions of the western mountains and served as a warrior in the vanguard of her father’s army before her marriage. Though she would later become queen, diplomat, mother, and household anchor, Hanna never lost the force of the shield-bearing mountain woman she had been in youth: spirited, willful, quick to anger, and very difficult to bend once she has decided what must be done.

Her marriage to Blaine Talakar began as a political arrangement, but it became one of the stabilizing pillars of the Talakar line. Where Blaine is cold, disciplined, financial, and often emotionally guarded, Hanna brings fire, warmth, public strength, and fierce family loyalty. During the Valarnan invasion, she rose from noble warrior to true leader, helping guide and rally the western mountain tribes through the crisis. Like many Atlanians of her generation, she fought not for glory but for survival, and she would likely have carried the war all the way to Valarna itself had Blaine not convinced her, for his own sanity and for their children’s sake, to step back from front-line command and leave the continuing war in Michael’s hands.

As queen, Hanna became a powerful diplomatic asset for Blaine. Her western mountain ties gave the Talakar family support from a major portion of the kingdom, and her public steadiness helped soften some of Blaine’s colder reputation. She is motherly and deeply caring in private, but in public she can be stalwart, commanding, and unyielding, especially when Atlania’s stability or her family’s safety is at stake. Her favorite possession, the interconnecting gold bangles Blaine gave her for their wedding, with another added for each child, reflects the way she understands family: linked, visible, precious, and meant to be guarded.

The lich incident involving James devastated Hanna more deeply than most public accounts can capture. After Robert Dùghlas LeTreis was crowned and the Talakars withdrew to Stanzgar, Hanna was ready for a change of scenery and a quieter life away from the center of Atlanian crisis. Blaine continued to occupy himself with minor politics and finance through the Bank of Stanzgar, but Hanna turned her attention toward making their new manor warm, inviting, and livable. In later life, her role shifted from warrior-queen to family caretaker, especially in helping look after James after the Grand Emperor’s possession left him broken. Hanna remains the Western Mountains Fire, but by then that fire burns less like a battlefield signal and more like a hearth guarded with iron.

Western Mountains Fire

Queen of Atlania and the Western Mountains

42

Female

N/A

Hanna wears her hair long and braided, a practical style suited to both a western mountain noblewoman and a former vanguard warrior. The braid keeps her hair controlled while riding, fighting behind a shield, traveling, or managing the demands of court and family, but it can still be dressed with ribbons, pins, or small ornaments when she appears formally as queen. Her style should feel sturdy rather than delicate: feminine, but not fragile; neat, but not overly courtly. It suits her well as the Western Mountains Fire, a woman who can move from battlefield command to household warmth without ever seeming less formidable.

Deep red

6'

145

Hanna’s most notable identifying marks are the dozens of small scars along her forearms and calves, earned from years of fighting behind a shield. They are not grand, dramatic wounds, but the practical marks of a vanguard warrior: cuts from blades slipping around a shield edge, fragments of broken weapons, splinters, debris, and the chaos of close fighting. The scars make it clear that Hanna’s battlefield experience was real and physical, not ceremonial. Even as queen, they remain quiet proof that the Western Mountains Fire once stood in the front lines herself, shield raised, taking the small injuries that come from refusing to give ground.

Hanna is tall, fit, and strongly built, with the active body of a western mountain noblewoman trained for riding, shield work, and battlefield command. At six feet and around one hundred forty-five pounds, she is not heavy, but she carries herself with the strength and endurance of someone who spent years fighting in her father’s vanguard and later leading during the Valarnan crisis. Her build is practical rather than ornamental: lean muscle, good posture, and the physical confidence of a woman accustomed to armor, weapons, rough terrain, and long days in command. She still has a motherly warmth to her presence, but it is the warmth of a hearth guarded by iron.

Hanna has tanned skin, shaped by her western mountain upbringing, years of riding and training outdoors, and her time fighting in the Valarnan crisis. Her complexion is warm and sun-touched rather than deeply coastal or southern, fitting someone from Lanrwstalg and the western mountains rather than the gulf or far south. The tan pairs well with her deep red hair and green eyes, giving her a grounded, hardy Atlanian look: noble, active, and weathered enough to show that she was never merely a sheltered court woman.

Atlanian

Green

Hanna carries a deep hatred for Valarnans, shaped by the invasion that devastated Atlania and forced her generation to fight for survival. Like many Atlanians of her time, she does not view Valarna as a distant rival or ordinary enemy, but as the force that brought slaughter to her homeland, threatened her children’s future, and demanded sacrifices from every corner of the kingdom. Her hatred is not as coldly strategic as Blaine’s; it is hotter, more personal, and rooted in the memory of fighting from behind a shield while her people bled. Even after the war ends, Hanna is slow to forgive Valarnan influence, Valarnan excuses, or anyone who expects Atlania to forget what was done to it.

none in particular

Hanna is spirited, willful, and difficult to move once she has settled on a course of action. In public, she carries herself with the stalwart authority of a shield-bearing mountain leader, speaking firmly, standing her ground, and giving others the sense that she can be relied on when fear or confusion takes hold. In private, especially with her children, family, and close friends, she is far warmer and more openly caring, though often in a motherly and slightly overbearing way. Her temper shows quickly when those she loves are threatened, but so does her devotion; Hanna comforts like a hearth and defends like a fortress.

Hanna is motivated by her family’s safety, Atlania’s stability, and the practical burdens that keep a kingdom alive, including taxes, supplies, and the loyalty of its people. She is deeply protective of her children, husband, and close allies, and much of her public strength comes from the belief that leadership means making sure families survive the disasters nobles and enemies bring upon them. During the Valarnan crisis, this made her a fierce wartime leader; later, as queen, it made her a valuable stabilizing force for Blaine. Hanna’s concern for taxes is not greed or dry bureaucracy, but a practical understanding that armies, roads, households, food stores, and recovery efforts all depend on someone making sure the realm can actually function.

Hanna’s greatest flaw is that she is quick to anger, especially when her family, homeland, or judgment is challenged. Her fire makes her a powerful leader in crisis, but it can also make her stubborn, sharp-tongued, and difficult to redirect once she has decided someone is wrong. She can become overprotective to the point of smothering, particularly with her children and later with James after the lich incident. Hanna’s instinct is always to shield, defend, and push through, which means she sometimes struggles to step back, let others fail, or accept that not every danger can be met by standing firm and forcing the world to yield.

Hanna is a skilled swordswoman, shield fighter, and stateswoman, equally capable of standing in a vanguard line or holding together a tense political room. Her battlefield talents come from real experience, not ceremonial training; she understands formation fighting, personal courage, and how to lead frightened people through a crisis without letting fear break them. As a stateswoman, she is forceful, practical, and good at rallying loyalty, especially among the western mountain houses and tribes who trust her strength. Hanna’s greatest talent may be steadiness under pressure: when others panic, bargain, or look for escape, she plants her feet, raises her shield, and makes people believe survival is still possible.

Hanna’s hobbies show the warmer, more personal side beneath her shield-bearing public image. She enjoys sewing and cooking, especially when these let her care for her family in practical, familiar ways rather than through court ceremony. She also loves horse riding, tree climbing, and falconry, all of which fit her western mountain upbringing and her restless, active nature. Even in peace, Hanna is not a woman suited to sitting still for long; her favorite pastimes either keep her hands busy, keep her household close, or return her to the open air, high branches, horses, hawks, and mountain winds of her youth.

Hanna is motherly, forceful, and a bit overbearing, with a warm heart wrapped in the discipline of a western mountain warrior. She cares deeply for her children, family, and close friends, but her love often expresses itself as protection, instruction, and firm correction rather than softness alone. In public, she is stalwart and commanding, the kind of woman people rally behind because she seems impossible to break. In private, she is warmer, more domestic, and openly devoted, though still quick to anger when those she loves are threatened or foolish. Hanna is best understood as a hearth-fire with a shield in front of it: nurturing, fierce, practical, and dangerous to anyone who tries to harm what she guards.

Herbed goat stew with barley dumplings, a hearty western mountain comfort dish she associates with home, family, and feeding people after hard work.

Hawks

shield and warhamer

The interconnecting gold bangles Blaine had made for their wedding an extra added for each child.

Cornsilk

Hanna is a stateswoman, Queen of Atlania, and later the primary caretaker of James after the lich incident. Her role begins in the western mountains as a noble warrior and leader, but expands into diplomacy, royal family management, and the practical work of keeping major factions loyal to the Talakar line. As queen, she is not merely ceremonial; her ties to Lanrwstalg and the western mountain houses make her a powerful political asset for Blaine, helping him hold support in regions that trust her more readily than his colder, more financial style of rule. After the Talakars withdraw to Stanzgar, her occupation becomes quieter but no less important, focused on caring for her damaged son, maintaining the family household, and turning their new manor into a place of stability after years of war, kingship, and catastrophe.

Hanna’s politics are strongly pro-Atlanian, rooted in loyalty to the stability of the kingdom, the safety of its people, and the strength of the Talakar line. She is not a detached court theorist; her politics come from war, family, taxes, supplies, and the practical reality of keeping a realm alive after devastation. Her western mountain background makes her especially valuable as a bridge between the royal house and the mountain nobles who trust her strength and judgment. After Blaine’s second abdication and the family’s move to Stanzgar, Hanna becomes increasingly pro-Stanzgarian as well, not out of disloyalty to Atlania, but because her daughter Eve and son-in-law Nicholas are tied to Stanzgar’s future. Her loyalties remain family-centered and pragmatic: she supports whatever protects her children, preserves peace, and gives her family a chance to live beyond the disasters that marked her reign.

Atlanian Mysticism

Hanna’s job is to serve as diplomat, queen, family anchor, and political bridge between the Talakar crown and the western mountain houses. In public, she helps stabilize Blaine’s rule through her reputation, mountain ties, and force of will, giving the royal family a warmer and more rallying presence than Blaine usually offers on his own. In private, her job becomes the protection and care of her family, especially after the lich incident leaves James broken and the Talakars withdraw from Atlanian rule. Whether acting as queen, negotiator, mother, or caretaker, Hanna’s role is to hold people together when war, politics, grief, or royal duty threatens to pull them apart.

Late Rainy Season

she was a noble of the western mountains, she was a warrior in the vanguard of her fathers army, she married Blaine Talakar at 27, the valarnan invasion saw her raised to a true leader of men, she like many fought for survival, she would have fought all the way to Valarna itself but for his sanity Blaine convinced her to finally stop leading from the front and take care of their children. Leaving the fight in the capable hands of Michael. Following Michael being forced to step down as king as his health rapidly declined, she found herself as a powerful diplomatic asset for her husband, a major chunk of the kingdom being willing to rally behind her family. She was devastated by the lich incident and when the Talakar's moved to Stanzgar proper she was ready for the change in scenerie, a slower less important way of life. Blaine continued to embroil himeself in minor politics with the bank of Stanzgar, but Hannah was more interested in making their new manor more inviting.

well educated

A large condor