Brandish Descry

* Biography
* Threat Assessment
* Trivia and Notes
* Gallery

### Brandish Descry: Once Upon A Time...

Brandish was born to the King and Queen of the Golden Realm, the heir to the Great House of the Bears, House Descry. Brandish was a rotten child by all accounts, but he was also quite exceptional. Cunning, intelligent, fast, strong and handsome — he was born leader. Brandish would need every edge he could get as a member of one of the few royal families in Europa that lacked a true royal bloodline and therefore did not carry the potent magical abilities that other princes enjoyed.

Secretly, without his parents' knowledge, Brandish began his obsession with dark research in the occult at a young age. The prince hoped he could find a solution to overcome what he saw as a weakness when he compared himself to other Europan heirs. When he heard his father had sent a great dwarven sorcerer to the dungeon, Brandish began going to the dungeon to study with the dwarf. Brandish promised the dwarf a swift release if he obliged the prince. However, when the jailers told his father, Brandish was banished from the dungeons and all magical study — and Brandish was unable to secure the dwarf's pardon from his father.

This reprimand put a distance between the King and his heir. Brandish poured himself into his martial studies. He finished the courses at the military school he was sent home in record time with his officer's rank (though rumors claim he was rushed through due to his violent outbursts resulting in the murder of other cadets and at least one instructor).

Shortly after his return from the academy, Brandish was present for the trial of Gwen Fletcher and her father. Brandish slew Gwen's father in a heated moment. Seeing his son's volatile nature firsthand, the Golden King tried to sedate Brandish by giving him the beautiful blonde as a concubine but Brandish was soon overcome by his love for Gwen and made demands of his father to allow them to marry. The King sent his son's lover to the dungeons to teach his son a lesson about obedience.

Brandish did not really learn the lesson. Gwen and Brandish's dwarven occult instructor escaped from the dungeons soon afterward and in the escape, the dwarf took the time to seek out Brandish and curse the prince — transforming the Golden Realm's Little Bear into an actual bear.

For years, Brandish lived out his days in the Magical Forest where he was befriended by a magical herbalist and her kind daughters. Those two girls would eventually give Brandish the chance to strike down the dwarf sorcerer that had cursed him. Able to devour the dwarf's still beating heart, Brandish was able to take control of his own curse and transform himself back into the form of the handsome prince he was meant to be.

Brandish would go on to marry one those girls, who turned out to be the daughter of King Phillip of the neighboring Silver Realm but their romance would ultimately be short-lived to Brandish's ongoing secret romance with Gwen, a war against the Silver Realm and the Sheeda, and Rose Red receiving word for her sister's ultimately (and false) demise.

In his war against the Sheeda, Brandish (who now King) was forced to surrender to the Sheeda who captured and tortured King Brandish. In the course of his torture, Brandish's heart was removed and replaced with a powerful relic that made Brandish a magical being but also gave Queen Gloriana the means to control him.

However, Brandish didn't like being any one's minion. **[see 'The End?']**

### Supplemental Reports

* (*Submitted by Four-Eyes*) Though a king, Brandish is often called "Prince" by others — this was due to House Descry having no royal blood, the rumors that Brandish played a part in his own father's death, Brandish being a puppet king, and him having abandoned his kingdom. Rather than taking offense to this, Brandish often calls himself the "Prince of Kings." Whatever that means.
* (*Submitted by Herald*) **The End?:** After being made a literal puppet to the Sheeda, Brandish devised a heist with his lover Gwen (or Goldilocks as she was now called). Gloriana could only control Brandish when she held his heart so Brandish had many lucid moments where he could be himself. Using a lookalike to pose as the king for a routine courtroom duties, Brandish disappeared in the night and rode for the Sheeda stronghold where Gloriana kept Brandish's heart. Though the ruse was discovered and the lookalike was killed, that was all part of the plan. Sheeda patrols reported seeing the riding for the hold where his heart was held. When word reached the stronghold that the king was attempting a one-man assault, Gloriana went to hold to take the heart in hand and tell Brandish to surrender himself. However, as the Sheeda Queen entered her vault, a small blonde slipped out of hiding, charged into the vault and stuck the queen with an unforged iron blade. As the queen clutched her wound, the blonde grabbed the heart and a number of other relics she could throw into a magical bag and ran off. After she had hidden the heart, Goldilocks and Brandish abandoned his kingdom altogether and sailed to Americana where they took on new lives until they made the trip to Earth and joined Fabletown.

## Threat Assessment

### Resources

* **Fable Physiology:**
	+ ***Immortality:*** Brandish lives without aging.
	+ ***Resurrection:*** Like other Fables, Brandish is able to return to life after suffering a violent death — though he is nowhere near as popular as he thinks he should be.
* **Magical Endowments:**
	+ ***Heartless:*** Brandish's heart was replaced with a Bleed Engine, making Brandish much more difficult to kill.
	+ ***Sorcery:*** Brandish is able to channel magical energy needed for spells and rituals through his Bleed Engine, making him a powerful (though unskilled) sorcerer.
	+ ***World-Class Military Expert:*** Brandish is a remarkable swordfighter, general, and is also a great marksman.

### Weaknesses

* **Heartless:** "Hold the Heart of the Bear, Control the Crown" goes the line. As another side-effect of this, Brandish is known as being notorious philanderer and having zero compassion for just everyone.

### Analytics

* **Physicality:** 3 — Trained / Exceptional
* **Occult:** 5 — Master / Remarkable
* **Weaponry:** 6 — World-Class / Superb
* **Expertise:** 5 — Master / Remarkable
* **Range:** 5 — Master / Remarkable
* **Strategy:** 5 — Master / Remarkable
	+ **TOTAL:** 90
	+ **RANKING:** Elevated Threat

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

* He has a crush on Snow White.
* The Crooked Man and Georgie Porgie are his associates.
* His coat of arms is three bears.
* He taught Rose archery.
* Goldilocks managed to seduce Brandish. However, the king would not approve, so their trysts were left to the summer estate where Brandish had Goldilocks establish herself in secret.
* During the war his father died (under mysterious circumstances) and he took over the Golden Realm. Goldilocks was appointed as a royal advisor.
* He proved himself to be a poor ruler. The war with the Evil Queen had taxed the Golden Realm dearly. There had been a peasant uprising (inspired by Tsaritsa) and the Evil Queen had persuaded many of Brandish's court to act against him. Brandish had been forced to surrender and now ruled a mere puppet kingdom.
* Rose came back after some time, but he wasn't interested in taking her back. He blamed her for everything bad that happened, as she had been the one to convince him to take arms against the Silver Queen. Brandish tried to arrest her, but she fought his men. He almost cornered her in the stables, but Rose used her abilities to turn his horse against him.
* Among the stolen scrolls was one to summon the Headless Horseman.
* For some time, he lived in Sleepy Hollow with Goldilocks as Abraham Van Brunt and Katrina Van Tassel.
* When Ichabod Crane fell in love with Katrina he tried to frame Brandish for witchcraft. When he discovered Brandish knows actual magic Ichabod shot him. Brandish in return summoned the Headless Horseman. When Ichabod Crane reached Fabletown, he and Goldilocks were forced to dismiss the dullahan.

### Notes

* Brandish Descry is a character from *Fables*.
* He is composited with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, Ichabod Crane's rival from the *Legend of the Sleepy Hollow* story and Boo Bear from Fables who is based of the baby bear from Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

## Links and References

* Appearances of Brandish Descry

1. ↑ Network Files: Brandish Descry
2. ↑ NFX: Rose Red
3. ↑ Network Files: Headless Horseman
4. ↑ Network Files: Ichabod Crane