Langlicia, the Master Spy

Description:

Langlicia is a trained spy, specializing in covert work that involves infiltration, deception, and blackmail.  Her spy code name is "Meade" and this is only known to those she worked for and with during her time in Aresia, as described below.

Race:

Langlicia is a Thylean Aurae Nymph who is about 120 years old, though she currently chooses an appearance that makes her look like a young half-elf woman whose age is comparable to a 25 year old human.  Notably, she is a first-generation nymph, meaning that she was directly spawned by the Great Mother rather than born of nymph parents.  Her reason for being created is to understand the conflict between the Titans and the Mortals on the Thylean continent.

Because of her training as a spy, she is highly practiced at consciously suppressing her natural attractiveness to others, since being "invisible" (or at least unremarkable) is far more useful for a covert operative.  [This explains her lower Charisma score than one would ordinarily expect from a nymph.] She is, however, still quite good at being a distraction and/or attracting attention on purpose when she wants to.

Like other nymphs, she does have a desire to "collect" interesting individuals around herself, which for her takes the form of establishing contacts who are willing and able to supply her with information.  She uses this network of informants to help her to survive and to further her purpose of learning about the world and the Titans/Mortals conflict in particular.

As a first-generation Aurae, she has an innate connection to the sky, the stars, and the energy of the clouds.  She has learned to use this ability to manifest static electricity for brief periods into small weapons which can be held or thrown, which lead to her becoming a SoulKnife Rogue.

Alignment:

Langlicia is of Chaotic Neutral alignment.  This is generally consistent with nymphs in general, and in her particular instance it primarily comes from having no real allegiance to anyone but the Great Mother Herself.  She puts great value on maintaining her personal freedom to carry out her calling to learn about the world around her unfettered by rules and restrictions.

She thinks little of the concepts of "Good" or "Evil", and mostly sees the accomplishment of whatever task is before her as the end goal, by whatever means are most effective and expedient.  While she would generally have a slight bias toward doing good, she would also never shy away from doing harm if she felt it useful to do so.  She is, in fact, capable of both great kindness and great cruelty in equal measures.

Class(es):

Langlicia is multiclass of SoulKnife Rogue (Level 7) and Shadow Monk (Level 5), leaning more heavily into the Rogue than the Monk.  As a result of this particular combination of classes, she seldom uses weapons when in combat and is very comfortable going around without carrying any.

The exception is that she does routinely carry a Daggar of Warning, which is kept hidden in a pocket of her clothes that was sewn in specifically for that purpose.  In practice, she treats it more like a talisman or amulet for its warning magic rather than as an actual weapon.

Origin of Her Name:

Her name is, in fact, the very first clue as to her true nature and identity as a spy, hiding in plain sight.

Her first name is basically the concatenation of "Langley" and "CIA".  (The main headquarters of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is in Langley, Virginia.)  The name "Meade" is from Fort Meade, in Maryland, the location of the headquarters of the U.S. National Security Agency.  [GM Note: I wouldn't expect a Canadian to get the reference.  We'll see if any of the others do, but so far it looks like the answer is no.]

Early History:

Langlicia was brought into being over a hundred years ago as a reaction to the Titans/Mortals war of five hundred years ago.  After the spirits of the night sky watched from above and after contemplating and puzzling over what happened and what it means for a few hundred years, the Great Mother sent forth Langlicia to learn what could be learned first-hand.

Her first contact with mortal civilization was in the Kingdom of Aresia.

[GM Note: I had chosen this prior to learning that it was the ship's destination, but I'll use this to accelerate the other players' learning about the character's history.]

She was initially mistaken for a half-elf child, and taken in as an orphan.  When it was discovered that she had certain special mental abilities (the SoulKnife-related psionics), she was removed from the normal orphanage to a new remote facility simply called "The Farm."

The Farm:

"The Farm," it turned out, was the code name for a state-run training facility for children where they are taught to be spies and other types covert operatives from a young age all the way into young adulthood.  Lani's natural curiosity lead her to essentially go along with it willingly, thinking that the life of a spy would be perfect for her overall mission for learning about the politics of the mortal world.

There, she learned how to use her natural talents as a nymph for things like persuasion, investigation, and deception (along with how to rein in the effects that her natural beauty has on others); plus with the practical skills of spycraft such as slight-of-hand and stealth [Rogue].  She also learned to develop her mental skills to be able to wield the natural static electricity of the sky into a weapon that she could pluck from the air at will and use in multiple ways before returning it to the sky whence it was drawn [SoulKnife].  Finally, she was trained extensively in the fine arts of unarmed combat and the technical theory and strategy of combat in general [Monk].

The training was very difficult and demanding at times, but she chose to stick with it and ultimately "graduated" after about fifteen years there and sent into the service of the Kingdom of Aresia as a covert field agent.  Though she never quite developed the nationalistic loyalty that her fellow trainees did, she was still highly motivated by the carrot of being taught how to gather information efficiently and effectively to help satisfy her innate curiosity about the mortal world and its politics in particular.

In all that time, she managed to maintain the fiction that she's really a half-elf rather than a nymph with most of the people there.  (She maintains that lie to this day, claiming to be a half-elf rather than an aurae nymph in the vast majority of her interactions.)

After The Farm:

Leveraging both her natural talents and skills she was taught, she became one of Aresia's most successful spies, gradually taking on more and more difficult missions and being elevated to a rank that would assign her as a team leader whenever they would act in small groups.  (This was a common practice for those with Psionic abilities similar to hers, since their "whisper" ability could be leveraged as an effective--and silent--command and control method.)

[GM Note: First off, based on the given backstory, Lani has DEFINITELY been to the City of Aresia before and definitely knows her way around.  She's not revealed that to the others, however.

I'm going to assume (or at least the character will) that the "parkour" people we saw are fellow "graduates" of The Farm since they were undoubtedly using monk abilities while attempting to remain unseen.  While she is wary of them, she doesn't really fear them per se since she's confident that she knows their methods and tactics very well--and probably has more experience than they do.  I even deliberately made an in-character comment about how they should be treated as MORE dangerous than the "gladiator" fighters which, even if it's not objectively true, would still be her opinion on the matter.  She also deliberately didn't say anything more about them since that would probably reveal more about herself in the process.

It could become an interesting character moment for everyone if the party ends up interacting with one or more of them directly, or if we were to come into conflict with them.]

It was during this period that she discovered both the joys of learning information from any and all sources within her reach, as well as the true meaning of the Farm's "Knowledge is Power" motto.

The larger lesson, however, was that information could also be dangerous, and that there is great power in a secret when revealed.  This wisdom is the primary basis for her extreme secretiveness.  Some secrets have the power to destroy a person's life.

The Bitter End to a Promising Career:

This lesson was re-taught to her first-hand when her employment by the Kingdom of Aresia came to an abrupt end due to political machinations.  When a high-ranking noble of a powerful rival family to that of Queen Helen (the sort of scenario where this other family could itself have easily become THE Royal Family if a few key events in the Kingdom's history had gone slightly differently), this noble used his influence to learn about a covert operation being carried out against the Kingdom of Mytros and warned Mytros about it in an attempt to embarrass the Queen.

Rather than punish the noble or his family for this revelation of a state secret (which would have carried with it a number of political difficulties on its own), the Queen instead chose to deal with the rival family privately while disavowing the spies involved in the covert op.

Those spies were publicly declared enemies of the Kingdom, tried for treason in absentia, and given death sentences if ever found and captured within the Kingdom of Aresia.  In fact, two of the five field agents involved WERE soon caught and executed so that the Queen could save face.  Langlicia and two others were never found.

This was now more than 20 years ago, so the memory of the incident--and the associated danger--has faded over time.  But it is difficult to know how much the danger has faded, so Langlicia is extremely cautious in her dealings with anything related to the Kingdom of Aresia.  Her long-term plan is essentially to continue using her skills to avoid discovery and capture, and hopefully in a few hundred years it will be long forgotten.

That said, she currently has significant enmity for Queen Helen and indeed feels that the Queen personally betrayed her.  (Her opinion of the Kingdom of Aresia itself is generally neutral to only slightly negative, as she understands the difference between the Monarchy and the Monarch.)

She still, nonetheless, has a death sentence over her head in Aresia and conducts herself accordingly.  One of the primary ways she does this is using her nymph ability to make herself appear as a somewhat younger version of herself than how she typically appeared during her time in service to the Kingdom of Aresia.

Present Day:

Langlicia roamed around for a couple of decades, but recently came into the service of Lord Ajax and Lady Maireed, using her skills to help the family thrive and prosper in return for political protection and a stipend for expenses.

She is currently on board the Ultros and has ingratiated herself with the party known as the "Chosen of the Oracle" with the tacit approval of the Oracle Versi herself and having persuaded the apparent leader, Berrain, that she can be of service.

Her REAL reason for being on board the Ultros is to keep tabs on Andi and make sure that she stays alive long enough to return to the family and get married as planned. [GM Note: This is, of course, the suggestion you made and which we agreed upon.  Over time, I'll need to learn more about this situation so I can flesh it out more and properly role-play it.]

Personality:

Most of the time, she presents a very confident (sometimes bordering on arrogant) attitude which comes from being sure of her talents and knowing how to use them.

She is also very secretive, and seldom reveals personal information to anyone unless it is someone with whom she feels a strong connection and/or bond of trust.  When she does talk of herself, she is always evasive.  When questioned, she'll respond with questions of her own, with lies or half-truths, with blatant, obvious lies that aren't intended to be believed, or -- most commonly -- with deft deceit that avoids lies entirely and yet still doesn't answer the question.  More often that not, these tactics work due to her exceptional skills in acting, deception, and persuasion; along with the knowledge that her beauty is itself a tool that is effective in making people more inclined to forgive her more frustrating and even anti-social behavior.

The one trait that always shows through though, is her curiosity.  Information -- especially secret information -- is like an addiction for her.  While it does drive her to be a highly-effect spy, it is also sometimes a temptation which can lead her to make what would otherwise be obviously-bad decisions.  [ GM Note: For example, entering the throne room of Queen Helen was an objectively terrible idea, but she couldn't help herself because she wanted to know what would transpire during the party's audience and whether or not she'd be recognized.  Similarly, she introduced herself to the party by infiltrating a meeting that she wasn't invited to under a false pretense and lingering there to hear what was being discussed.]

She can also be a flirt at times, but this is mostly used as a technique of information-gathering. 

Relationships to Other Characters:

At this early part of the game, there are only a few other characters and NPC's with whom she has more than a superficial connection.

• Andi : Ostensibly the reason she joined the voyage, she will be watching out for Andi and protecting her, even to the extent that it would mean choosing to protect Andi instead of someone else in a key moment.
• The Oracle Versi : As a fellow nymph, she will put greater trust in Versi than she would in others.  She has already used Versi indirectly as a way of persuading the party to allow her to join.
• Rosenea, the Dryad of the Ultros's Mast : Again, as a fellow nymph, she will feel kinship and sympathy for the Dryad's plight, and maintain a sense of loyal protectiveness because of it.
• Berrain : Because she has observed that he seems to be the leader of this group (and owing to his exceptional charisma), she is affording him a measure of respect that she might not grant otherwise in order to better ingratiate herself with this group.  She is also somewhat amused by his romantic overtures, and not put off or offended by them; but in reality thinking of it more like something akin to a child giving his teacher an apple--especially in light of their actual difference in age and his status as a mortal.

Role Playing Notes:

There are a couple of things I'll do while playing this character that have certain reasons or meanings behind them:

• As you've seen, she is very secretive about herself and will lie and/or be evasive when answering questions about herself, leaning into her strong Deception and Persuasion skills.  With that in mind, I will be deliberately dropping hints to the other players as we go (e.g. her demonstration of stealth and psychic blades in the meeting).
• As mentioned above, she'll also deny being a nymph to most everyone (with the notable exceptions of the other nymphs, whom she regards as sisters), and claim to be a half-elf.
• There are two somewhat-different personalities that she'll put on display: the kind, smiling, helpful false front act that she maintains most of the time in order to win people over; and the direct, down-to-business real her that will only rarely come out.  The former will be indicated by the kind, higher-pitched British Accent voice you've heard a lot of.  The latter will be indicated by a harder Scottish Accent voice that means she's being more serious and not really trying to make you like or trust her in that moment.  In fact, it is a huge indicator that she's putting a high level of trust in whomever is hearing it for her to "break character" in this way.  (The one time I did use this with Queen Helen, I forgot myself and it came out as a low Cockney sort of accent instead.  I regret this slip.)  Actually, the latter will be indicated by a more angry sounding lower-class accent, since this is now what I've actually done 2-3 times now and frankly, it feels and sounds more natural than switching to Scottish.
• In the English accent she'll routinely call people by affectionate pet names such as "darling", "dear", "love" and the like; which is a common technique for ingratiating oneself with others.
• On the rare occasion that she uses the Sylvan language, that will be indicated by a French Accent.  (I may even use some actual French just to screw with the other players.)
• The "real her" will still lie and be evasive about answering questions.  As mentioned above, I'll mostly try to talk her way out of things without actually lying if possible but resort to lies if necessary.
• She will generally NOT use romantic or sexual seduction as a means of influencing someone, considering it "too easy" and maybe even a bit beneath her.  Her innate curiosity about the world includes a desire to learn to do things the same way the mortals do and not rely on her racial advantages.  (But not never . . . .)
• A sort-of exception to the above is that she will be flirty with Berrain more often than not because (1) she finds it amusing to do so, (2) she finds him somewhat attractive due to his high Charisma, and (3) he started spurning her advances, leading her to see him as a sort of "challenge" since she's wholly unaccustomed to her flirting being rejected.
• Because she really IS an aurae nymph, while on the ship she will be very fond of being up on deck in view of the sky, especially at night.  Her usual routine for most nights will be to go on deck in the early evening to watch the sunset, and then enjoy viewing the night sky for a few hours before actually going to sleep at about midnight.
• I'm deliberately having her do things related to music, dance, and poetry to give the false impression that she's also a bard (she's not).  I'll also deliberately have her occasionally feign being a cleric with her Emblem of the Great Mother.  If the opportunity arrives, I'll try to find other ways for her to act as if she is made from other classes.
• The "Langli" song was specifically done to plant a couple of seeds in the minds of the other players.  First, the "Just came to bring her home" line is the first reference to the connection with Andi, and the overall message of the song is how she's questioning this path she's taken, since it runs counter to her Chaotic-Neutral alignment.  I wrote a second verse and part of the third but decided to back off doing too much of that for now.