Changes: Cordelia Hasenbach

Revision as of 18:37, 17 February 2020

“Because it was right, because they could, because no one else would.

Because We Must.

Gods Above, let that be enough.”

- Cordelia Hasenbach ^[1]

Cordelia Hasenbach is the First Prince of the Principate of Procer and the main driving force behind starting the Tenth Crusade. She has been opposing Dread Empress Malicia since age 13, and serves as Malicia's main opponent from Book 1.

After serving as a regular human ruler opposing Villain rulers for more than a decade, Cordelia turns down the offer of a Name for herself. Twice.

Personality

Cordelia is Lycaonese and comes from a long line of warriors that have dedicated their lives to defending their borders against the Ratlings and the Kingdom of the Dead with sword and shield. Cordelia wields different weapons. Her chosen weapon is diplomacy and the most devastating parts of her arsenal are her intelligence and charisma, matched with her encyclopedic knowledge of parliamentary procedure.

Cordelia has incredible control over the emotions she outworldly portrays but within her thoughts, her warrior upbringing occasionally shines through, as she must frequently remind herself to maintain a polite demeanour when speaking to her political opponents.

Cordelia has dedicated her life to Procer, and deeply believes in its principles and ideals. While extremely aware of its many flaws, Cordelia believes that Procer can be more.

Cordelia is at heart a kind woman, who cares for the people around her and believes in doing the right thing. According to her Agnes Hasenbach, Cordelia will choose kindness whenever possible. However, Cordelia is fully capable of making the hard decisions necessary to preserve her nation. In the most notable of these instances, Cordelia was faced with the fact that the Dead King was attacking both her home principality of Rhenia and the principality of Hainaut (a lukewarm political ally) at the same time. Cordelia did not have enough soldiers to defend both, and chose to send the soldiers she had to defend Hainaut, a more strategically important part of Procer, instead of sending the soldiers to defend her home. Cordelia made this decision knowing full well, that in doing so she had condemned the people of her principality to death.

Background

Her Most Serene Highness Cordelia Hasenbach, First Prince of Procer, Prince of Rhenia and Princess of Salia, Warden of the West and Protector of the Realms of Man, was born the heir of Rhenia before taking the title of First Prince.

Procer Civil War

At age 13, Cordelia realised that the Civil War in Procer was unnatural. She spent several years searching for the cause and discovered, with the help of her cousin the Augur, that Dread Empress Malicia had initiated and was prolonging her country's civil war.

Cordelia obtained proof that Malicia had been extending Procer's Civil War by funding different Proceran rulers (through intermediaries) in order to deepen sectional hatreds between the provinces and destroy Procer as a nation. Cordelia warned the rest of the Principiate about the fact that the Dread Empress was funding their causes. The other rulers refused to listen and continued to take the gold of the Dread Empire.

In order to end the civil war and preserve Procer as a nation, Cordelia went to war for the crown of First Prince. After a little over a year of fighting, Cordelia's uncle and General, Klaus Papenheim, helped Cordelia win the Civil War. At age 19, Cordelia Hasenbach became First Prince of Procer.

First Prince

Cordelia spent her first years trying to rebuild Procer from the Civil War, and prepare to strike back at Praes - Freeing Good-aligned Callow in the process. To her dismay, she learned that Procer over the years had alienated every other Good-aligned nation on the continent. This made gaining much needed allies extremely difficult.

During Book 2 and 3, Cordelia managed to establish enough diplomatic ties with Ashur and Levant to gain support for the Tenth Crusade against The Empire Praes and the newly re-emerging Kingdom of Callow. By doing so they also form the Grand Alliance between those three nations.

The Tenth Crusade

Book 4 sees the Tenth Crusade start off by trying to invade Callow. This was done using only Proceran troops attacking from two fronts. Notably, Cordelia gathered her most ardent political supporters in one of said fronts.

War against Keter

With short warning from Catherine Foundling, the second part of Book 4 sees a sharp refocus of the tenth crusade, to defend man against the Dead King.

Appearance

Cordelia is a tall, blond and blue-eyed woman in her twenties (26 as of Book 4). She has a warrior's frame with broad shoulders, but usually tries to appear more dainty (as is fashionable in Procer) by wearing flattering dresses. Cordelia takes great care to project an impeccable appearance and will always present herself with perfect hair, makeup and clothing. She has a fondness for blue dresses, and her blond hair is usually set in curls or ringlets.

Catherine describes Cordelia's looks as average and states that the most striking parts of Cordelia have been created through careful artifice. However, Catherine notes that although Cordelia is not a great beauty she is incredibly compelling, and her charisma and presence are such that she pulls people into her orbit.

Cordelia has a permanent burn of the symbol of laurels on her palm. She acquired this burn after preventing the White Knight from rendering judgement, by snatching his coin out of the air, mid-flip. It was during this instance that Cordelia refused the grant of a Name from both Above and Below. ^[2]

Relationships

Klaus Papenheim: Cordelia's uncle, Prince of Hannoven and her foremost general. The most experienced living general on Calernia. He was vital in securing Cordelia's title as First Prince during the Civil War in Procer. He is her closest advisor and staunch loyalist, though Cordelia frequently finds petty ways to annoy him when he displeases her.

As of recent books, a slight split has grown between them as Klaus was unwilling to chase the Legions-in-exile through the Proceran heartlands, writing them off in exchange for a better strategic position. A split that further widened when Cordelia threatened to charge him with treason should he march his army to defend his home of Hannoven instead of the more strategically inclined Hainaut.

Agnes Hasenbach: Cordelia's cousin and Oracle. An odd, lonely girl who was shunned by others but whom Cordelia took care to spend time with even before Agnes acquired the Name of the Augur. Cordelia is shown to both care for and trust Agnes, ensuring that her cousin is happy and that her needs for solitude and isolated gardens are met. Agnes is Cordelia's most valuable asset and continues to provide Cordelia guidance, even though Agnes acknowledges that she is slowly losing her grip on sanity, as is the curse of most oracles.

It's hinted by Agnes in "Interlude: And Yet We Stand"^[3] that Agnes lost her parents, after which Cordelia took Agnes into her household as family. Interestingly, Cordelia herself never thinks about this in her POV chapters, implying that while Agnes was greatly impacted by this act of kindness, Cordelia's personality is such that she assumed the responsibility without any expectation of repayment.

Friedrich Papenheim: Cordelia's relative. He would have been Klaus's heir and the Prince of Hannoven had Klaus not declared Cordelia to be his heir. Cordelia is incredibly grateful that Friedrich never seemed to resent her for the usurpation of his birthright. At Cordelia's coronation as First Prince, she wore a leather and ratling teeth bracelet that Friedrich gave her, for luck, after Klaus declared her his heir.

After Friedrich's death, Cordelia hides his final letter to her under her dress, in order to carry it with her. ^[4]^[5]

Gallery

References

[1] ttps://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2016/12/28/interlude-precipitation/

[2] ttps://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2019/09/04/interlude-and-yet-we-stand/

[3] ttps://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2019/09/04/interlude-and-yet-we-stand/

[4] ttps://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2019/01/14/prologue-5/

[5] ttps://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/12/12/interlude-triptych/

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@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 Her Most Serene Highness Cordelia Hasenbach, First Prince of Procer, Prince of Rhenia and Princess of Salia, Warden of the West and Protector of the Realms of Man, was born the heir of Rhenia before taking the title of First Prince.
+==== Procer Civil War ====
-At age 13, Cordelia realised that the Civil War in Procer was unnatural. She spent several years searching for the cause and discovered, with the help of her cousin and Oracle, the Augur, that Dread Empress Malicia had initiated and was prolonging her country's civil war. Cordelia obtained proof that Malicia had been extending Procer's Civil War by funding different Proceran rulers (through intermediaries) in order to deepen sectional hatreds between the provinces and destroy Procer as a nation. Cordelia warned the rest of the Principiate about the fact that the Dread Empress was funding their causes. The other rulers refused to listen and continued to take the gold of the Dread Empire. In order to end the civil war and preserve Procer as a nation, Cordelia went to war for the crown of First Prince. After a little over a year of fighting, Cordelia's uncle and General, [[Klaus Papenheim]], helped Cordelia win the Civil War. Before the age of 20, Cordelia Hasenbach became the First Prince of Procer.
+At age 13, Cordelia realised that the Civil War in Procer was unnatural. She spent several years searching for the cause and discovered, with the help of her cousin the Augur, that [[Dread Empress Malicia]] had initiated and was prolonging her country's civil war.
+Cordelia obtained proof that Malicia had been extending Procer's Civil War by funding different Proceran rulers (through intermediaries) in order to deepen sectional hatreds between the provinces and destroy Procer as a nation. Cordelia warned the rest of the Principiate about the fact that the Dread Empress was funding their causes. The other rulers refused to listen and continued to take the gold of the Dread Empire.
+In order to end the civil war and preserve Procer as a nation, Cordelia went to war for the crown of First Prince. After a little over a year of fighting, Cordelia's uncle and General, [[Klaus Papenheim]], helped Cordelia win the Civil War. At age 19, Cordelia Hasenbach became First Prince of Procer.
+==== First Prince ====
+Cordelia spent her first years trying to rebuild Procer from the Civil War, and prepare to strike back at Praes - Freeing Good-aligned Callow in the process. To her dismay, she learned that Procer over the years had alienated every other Good-aligned nation on the continent. This made gaining much needed allies extremely difficult.
+During Book 2 and 3, Cordelia managed to establish enough diplomatic ties with Ashur and Levant to gain support for the Tenth Crusade against The Empire Praes and the newly re-emerging Kingdom of Callow. By doing so they also form the Grand Alliance between those three nations.
+==== The Tenth Crusade ====
+Book 4 sees the Tenth Crusade start off by trying to invade Callow. This was done using only Proceran troops attacking from two fronts. Notably, Cordelia gathered her most ardent political supporters in one of said fronts.
+==== War against Keter ====
+With short warning from Catherine Foundling, the second part of Book 4 sees a sharp refocus of the tenth crusade, to defend man against the Dead King.
 === Appearance ===