Mary Starkweather

*"The people faded away, the arches, the vaulted roof vanished. I raised my seared eyes to the fathomless glare; and I saw the black stars hanging in the heavens: and the wet winds from the Lake of Hali chilled my face."*

-Mary Starkweather

## History

Sister of Theresa Starkweather. An experimental theologian who studied with the Illuminated, she eschewed arcane magic. During the era of the empire, a young Mary Starkweather espouses the theory that the great old ones might be entities such as he might be worthy of worship. Only Grundelthum Sunder, at that time a high-ranking mage in the Branch of the Staff, approved of Starkweather's thinking. What Starkweather did not know at the time was that Sunder had already made a pact with the old ones. Of course, the mage said nothing of it to the lowly Starkweather, but gave her a few pointers towards reading material that might interest her.

## Personality

A seer whose visions were tormented by the sight of Lost Carcosa, Mary Starkweather was constantly searching for books relating to other realms in order to identify the city beneath the twin suns. Constantly on the lookout for the strange and unusual, she engaged in continual study to learn about what she saw, eventually turning to forbidden and esoteric methods to find a path there. Having concluded that nothing would stop her, she came to worship the King in Yellow, believing that through him she would find Carcosa.

## War of the Philosopher-Kings

Starkweather remained with the Illuminated during the post-war years, maintaining an interest in the old ones. She worked in the Branch of the Staff, and was one of the few scholars who backed Master Grundelthum Sunder's insistence that the Arendurians would have to one contend with these entities. Starkweather had by then deduced that Sunder was a warlock, confronting him over it. Sunder replied only with an esoteric remark about taking "a sip from the cup" - no more than necessary.

## After the War

After the War of the Philosopher-Kings and the discovery of the Pallid Mask, Starkweather began to break from Sunder's cautious philosophy, espousing the open worship of the Great Old Ones. During this time, she began to serve as an agent of the Carcosai, finding their beliefs more to her liking. After the fall of Arendur, she denounced many of her colleagues during the war crime trials, shocking the courtroom with her fiery testimony and castigating the ideological foolishness and timidity of her former colleagues.

Mary Starkweather would volunteer to go on the Second Northern Expedition organized by Flavius Luteus Scaevola, along with her sister Theresa, Arthur Renwick, Shorden Hiem, and Aldia As'theri.

The five would enter Thule through the Northern Dome, and face Hastur in the Wild Abyss. Hastur would create a copy of Shorden Hiem, who would don the Pallid Mask and become the King in Yellow. The explorers, who had learned of the Dream of the Old Ones, would make a covenant with the King to protect New Arendur. Aldia As'theri would stay behind, and the other three would return to New Arendur. The Starkweather sisters would help Scaevola found the Church, while Renwick would found St. Franz's College.