Marissa Winborne

Lady of Ortin's Keep
 Age
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High Lady **Marissa Winborne** is the fourth-born child of Tybolt and Katelyn of House Winborne and is the ruling High Lady of Ortinbras. She was betrothed to the King's direct heir, but was refused after two years of waiting because a more suitable match arose. Instead, she was married to Ragnar Droko, the mountain clan's chieftain's son, to peace out of a war. She is the mother of Robiorn, Taegan and Dannika Winborne.

## Appearance and Character

Marissa has the Winborne blonde hair, but her hair has a few natural waves and curls, her eyes are a more blue-green than the traditional blue. She is wilful, ambitious and has a certain low cunning. She is, in her opinion, politically astute and thinks of herself as her father's daughter, and feels slighted when people do not jump to her erratic commands.

She resents the customs and conventions put on her because of her gender, but never realises that people do not come to her or respect her commands because she is an ineffectual leader and not just because she is a woman.

Her quick temper and easily wounded pride frequently lead her to make rash decisions, and she rarely considers what unintended consequences her actions might have. She lacks the patience for dealing with the tedious yet vital details of administration, and increasingly avoids facing unpleasant facts, surrounding herself with sycophants rather than honest and competent advisers.

Marissa grew up in the foster of the Royal family, to be taught how to be a lady. At twelve, she returned to Ortinbras as a fully fledged Lady.

## History

When Marissa returned to Ortinbras from her foster, when she came of age, Marissa wasn't married like she was promised, instead of marrying her betrothed of the prince, she was denied any right to the marriage as the King saw it more fitting to marry his son to another Lord's daughter. Marissa, her father and her siblings all took this as a huge insult. The Winbornes haven't been so bitter with the crown since they first bent the knee to the crown hundreds of years ago.

When Marissa was young, a visionary named Helga granted her a prophecy. She spoke: *'When the snows fall and the mountains rain fire, the Wolf King dies but the pack survives'* Marissa never understood this prophecy, it made no sense. She associated the mountains raining fire with a volcano, but the volcanoes in Trost went extinct years ago.

She was granted a spot on Tybolt's council, to learn the ways of politics. Marissa believed herself that it came naturally, despite the bad decisions and the unorthodox way of going about it. During a war with the High Mountain clans, the Winbornes weren't doing so well, the climates of the mountain peaks were so extreme, that the attrition on the small armies was massive. As a result, Marissa was married matrilineally to the Chief Leader's son, Ragnar. At first, she didn't like Ragnar, but she grew to love him, eventually. Once Marissa had her first child at sixteen, and subsequent children later, she fell in love with them and swore to do anything to protect them, even if it meant doing outrageous acts. When her father died, she was near-thirty. The throne was taken by Akron, her eldest brother. Akron was possessed, or so a lot of the realm thought, stricken with madness, he got himself killed by Marissa's son. The throne was then passed to her. She pardoned her son for killing his lord but the realm did not agree. Since, Marissa has ruled for a half-decade and the citizens are starting to become riled at their impatient and ill-advised ruler, she too is becoming riled at the stress of ruling a lordship. She never expected to be on the throne.