Briar Rose

* Biography
* Threat Assessment
* Trivia and Notes
* Gallery

Katrya the Pure, Sofiya the Wise, Nyura the Graceful, Ionna the Gifted, Alyas the Noble, Yeva the Lively (Godmothers, Deceased)
Vindemia the Fancy (Godmother)

### Affiliation

Dannyzens (Member)
Iron Realm (Princess)
Seppantyre (Princess)

## Biographical Information

### Date of Birth

First Day of Summer, between 1330 and 1344

### Marital Status

Dating (Puss-in-Boots, Boyfriend)
Divorced (Prince Charming, Ex-Husband)
Exes (Morpheus, Former Lover)

### Residence

Apartment 410
The Woodlands Building
Fabletown
Danny the Street

## Physical Description

### Briar Rose: Once Upon A Time...

Rosamund Zellandine was born to a king and queen who had great difficulty conceiving, thus her birth was celebrated by the whole Kingdom of Seppantyre. Her godmothers, the great faeries of the neighboring Twilight Lands, each bestowed a gift onto her, one of them being the gift of eternal wealth.

However, Carabosse, the queen of the Unseelie Court was visiting the Twilight Lands at the time and became quite angry when she learned she had not been invited to the celebration of Rosamund's naming day. Barging into the throne room after the sixth blessing had been bestowed, Carabosse cursed the child with death if she should ever prick her finger. The seventh great fairy godmother arrived late and was able to intervene by giving her blessing of protection against magic during the naming day ceremony. This blessing caused the curse of death to spread out to those around the child, becoming a mass sleeping spell rather than a single death sentence.

To hide the child from further wrath from Carabosse, Vindemia took the child into the Twilight Lands to raise her until she was of age to be brought to court for marriage. As added protection against Carabosse, Vindemia cloaked the child in a new name of Briar Rose. Under Vindemia's instruction, the Twilight Lands itself was compelled to protect the young princess from any injury to her hands.

She grew from a child to a beautiful young woman, playing with the faeries of the Twilight Lands and living a blissful life, unaware of her true nature as a princess of Seppantyre. Briar Rose was taught by Vindemia and other faeries in courtly discipline and classical matters (or as best faeries understand such things) but was not told of her birthright until three days prior to her being brought to court.

At the feast held in her honor when she came to reclaim her birthright, the princess became so curious about the strange environment of her family's castle and ventured out to explore. She came upon a spinning wheel and became so curious as to the contraption's function, she removed her gloves to touch it. Just as she did so, her mother burst into the room and told her daughter not to touch it. Startled by her mother's shouting, Briar Rose pricked her finger on the spindle. All at once, people in the castle began to collapse to the floor as the castle itself became covered in a massive bramble of magical design.

As the sleep took hold of Briar Rose, she stumbled about the castle, trying to stir everyone else awake, but to no avail. Once everyone else had succumbed to the call of mystical slumber and the bramble was fully formed, not even Briar's mystical protections could prevent her from also drifting to sleep. She managed to lay down on a comfortable bed as the world around her faded to black.

### Briar Rose: Happily Ever After?

For over two hundred years, Briar Rose slept. The Kingdom of Seppantyre became a vassal state of Aquitaine with its entire royal family and collective nobility unconscious and sealed away in the "Castle of The Sleeping Beauty". Without the castle to support or protect it, the surrounding farms and markets closed up, its residents moving elsewhere as the bramble slowly began to consume the surrounding land. Not even Vindemia could pierce the magic barrier, and she abandoned the kingdom in favor of the Twilight Lands' other neighbor nation, Gascogne.

The bramble had become so thick and covered so much ground, that no one lived in the entire valley and the castle itself became nothing more than a footnote, only of value to the rare foolish treasure hunter that attempted to pierce the thick barrier. And then, following the departure of his first wife, Prince Charming of the Northern Iron Realm decided to ride south to Aquitaine's court, looking for a new wife. Finding all the noblewomen there not measuring up to his expectations, on a whim, he decided to investigate the Castle of The Sleeping Beauty, having heard that the slumbering princess was impossibly beautiful.

As Charming himself had come from a strong magical bloodline with blessings of his own, he was no mere treasure hunter and was able to navigate the bramble, though with great difficulty. Upon piercing the outer barrier, Charming found the castle interior filled with corpses as those not protected by their own faerie magics had long since died in their unnatural sleep. But as for Briar Rose herself, she was resting as beautiful as the day she laid down for her impossibly long nap. Charming delivered her a kiss and to his delight, she stirred awake.

The bramble disappeared and when Briar Rose saw the carnage her curiosity had created, she felt horrible. Charming did his best to comfort her, but he also was insistent that they should ride north with haste as his adventure had already delayed his return to the Iron Realm. Briar Rose asked for what reason she would ride with him, and he explained it was for their marriage.

Briar Rose did ride north, but only after collecting some personal effects and after she and Charming buried the bodies of her family and made a proper pyre for the others. Briar Rose felt awful abandoning her family home, but then again she had always thought of the Twilight Lands as her home and Charming promised her his own kingdom had a truly wonderful Magical Forest on its border.

After her marriage, Briar Rose found herself slowly warming to Charming. She never really had a taste for courtly politics and the like but did enjoy spending time playing with the children in the capital city and riding out to the Magical Forest. When the Sheeda began to encroach upon the border towns, Briar Rose asked for permission to negotiate a truce with the Sheeda. Charming balked at such a notion, but Briar Rose was adamant that she had a good relationship with the Fair Folk and could reach an agreement with the Sheeda. Again, Charming and the entire Iron Court mocked her relentlessly for this belief, saying that she must still be asleep because she must surely be dreaming.

Enraged by this ongoing harassment, Briar Rose grew angry with Charming. She moved out of his bedchamber and took up residence in a humble apartment elsewhere in the castle. Briar Rose felt it was only a matter of time before his lust for her would open his mind, but instead it was not three days before she heard he had been sleeping with three of the kitchen maids. Briar Rose fashioned a catchy tune vividly describing the prince's infidelity and began to sing it at the next courtly gathering. The song became an instant hit among the nobility and the servants, but not with Briar's husband. Within a week, the Iron Bishop was summoned to the castle to grant a divorce, but by that time, Briar Rose already had her things packed.

Single once again, Briar Rose traveled south to Aquitaine where she became a member of the court there and tried to appeal to the king there to restore her birthright as the Princess of Seppantyre and allow her to rule her family's kingdom as its queen. The king was skeptical that Briar Rose was who she claimed to be and used this as an excuse to deny her claim until, one day when Briar was quite upset, she removed her gloves and threatened to prick her finger with a needle in the middle of a grand gala. The king's bluff was called as he quickly smacked the needle from Briar's hand.

The king agreed to release Seppantyre as soon as the paperwork could be drawn up. However, that very night, Carabosse led a small team of Sheeda infiltrators into the ballroom and took the guests captive. Not afraid of Carabosse, Briar Rose stepped forward to confront her. Carabosse, not recognizing the young woman, fired a bolt of entropic magic at the princess. The sorcerous energy went haywire around the princess. Carabosse fired another bolt, this time the excess magic struck the chain of a chandelier which fell down upon Carabosse, leaving her horribly maimed.

As Briar Rose marched out of the ballroom, the faerie queen demanded to know the young woman's name. Briar Rose replied, "Princess Rosamund Zellandine, your grace." Carabosse scoffed, saying that was impossible, to which Briar Rose said "You're right. You killed Princess Rosamund long ago, didn't you?"

Briar Rose left unmolested by Sheeda or Aquitaine guard. She rode south to Seppantyre to await the king's paperwork at her family's castle. Though the castle was looted, it remained deserted. Briar Rose made a comfortable life for herself there. She had the paperwork signed over, restoring her birthright and kingdom to its full glory, but her powers remained limited as she was forbidden to take the title of queen until she was married. As she began to entertain suitors, Vindemia came to warn her goddaughter that Carabosse had lost her position as Queen of the Unseelie Court after being exposed as being a Sheeda collaborator.

### Briar Rose: Moving On

As it was only a matter of time before Carabosse would incite the Sheeda to invade the vulnerable kingdom of Seppantyre, Briar Rose issued a royal order of evacuation. Abandoning her family home once again, Briar Rose traveled west with Vindemia to the Twilight Lands to make use of a faerie circle that could take them to the Dreaming. Previously in her long slumber, Briar Rose had become all too familiar with the Dreaming and adapted to life there quickly. However, when she learned of a community of Fables living on Earth, she chose to make the trek to that reality and settled in Fabletown where she quickly became a valued member of the community, particularly for her ever-expanding checkbook and her ceaseless generosity.

When the Manhattan Fabletown was destroyed, Briar Rose was one of the first Fables to be restored to life. She awoke in France and there established herself as a successful musician under the name Belle Dumont. While touring the states, after twelve years as a world-famous musician, Snow White met with Briar Rose after a concert and asked her to join them at the newest Fabletown. Briar announced her retirement at the end of her tour and Belle Dumont disappeared from public life immediately thereafter.

Belle Dumont does remain credited with songwriting credits for many of today's most popular artists' biggest hits. On occasion, a tabloid here or there reports a sighting of Belle Dumont in various locales around the world, but her movements are unpredictable - seen in Milan one day and Smallville, Kansas the next. Every now and then, Belle Dumont does hold a special concert for a charitable cause, such as St. Danny's Children Hospital Relief Fund or the Farmers And Builders' League Expansion Service, and these events almost always sell out in mere minutes of going public.

As for Briar Rose, she enjoys sleeping in to the late morning most days. In her waking hours, you can usually find her at Brewed Awakening, drinking a quadruple shot latte, chatting it up with Rapunzel or one of the other members of the Charming Ex-Wife Club, or possibly penning her next great hit. In the afternoon or early evening, she's likely to be found at the Perpetual Cabaret, either enjoying the ambiance or testing out her latest song with the audience there. Around seven in the evening (Danny Standard Time), you're bound to find her at Udderly Delicious, drinking down some warm milk and winding down for the night. She's rarely up past nine.

## Threat Assessment

### Resources

* **Fable Physiology:** Briar Rose is a human-looking being of Vorpal energy.
	+ ***Immortality:*** Briar Rose lives without aging.
	+ ***Resurrection:*** Due to her popularity among the "Mundies", Briar Rose can survive almost anything, including absolute death - though she still feels pain and does her best to avoid such harm.
	+ ***Dreamy Charisma:*** As a trueborn princess of the Silver Realm, Briar Rose has the passive psychic ability to captivate the attention of those around her. In particular, Briar Rose tends to appear in the dreams and daydreams of those sleeping around her. When she is also asleep, she often shares dreams with others nearby. On occasion, Briar Rose is able to become a lucid dreamer and take a more active role in her navigation of the dreaming. She is considered an honored guest of the Dreaming and counts Morpheus, the Lord of the Dreaming, as a past lover.
	+ ***Fairy Godmothers:*** Though Briar Rose's blessings mean her godmothers are not bound to service, Briar Rose does retain a rather potent psychic link to several powerful faerie sorceresses, only Vindemia Faye remains living. However, Briar can call upon the counsel of her deceased godmother's spirits, particularly in her sleep.
* **Endowments of the Fae:** Not very long after her birth, Briar Rose received several mystical blessings from a group of good fairies - of course, with Faeries being what they are, some of these 'blessings' are a mixed bag.
	+ ***Mythical Beauty:*** Katrya the Pure promised that Briar Rose would grow up to be the most beautiful woman in the land. This enchantment has ensured that Briar Rose is considered to be physically attractive by most persons, regardless of sexual preference. Further, her hair appears to be mystically enchanted to never suffer from "bed-head" and her skin never has any unsightly blemish. Of course, this means that even when "dressed down" Briar tends to stop traffic and always finds people awkwardly staring at her.
	+ ***Mythical Wit:*** Sofiya the Wise decreed that Briar Rose would have the wit of an angel. Briar claims to never feel particularly witty and wonders if she got the wit of a rather dull angel. That said, she does seem to be particularly quick on the ball in regard to religious lore and obscure occult knowledge.
	+ ***Mythical Grace:*** Nyura the Graceful gifted Briar Rose with a wonderful grace in everything she does, from the dance floor to the boudoir. Briar never trips or stumbles on accident, and when intentionally pushed, shoved, or sent off-balance she can usually recover in a flawless fashion. Even when shoved from great heights, she always seems to luckily land on a soft surface or experience a strange updraft that lessens her impact considerably.
	+ ***Mythical Wealth:*** Ionna the Gifted promised that Briar Rose would always be wealthy. This has turned out to be a very useful gift, as Briar never has much trouble acquiring money of any kind. Even if she gives away her entire savings, she can become quite wealthy with very little effort in a short amount of time.
	+ ***Mythical Singing:*** Alyas the Noble promised on her honor that Briar Rose would sing like a nightingale. While Briar Rose sings (in the most heavenly voice you've ever heard), birds of all kinds tend to flock around her.
	+ ***Mythical Talent:*** Yeva the Lively blessed Briar Rose with the ability to craft delightful songs and play all sorts of music to the utmost perfection with any instrument.
	+ ***Mythical Protection:*** Vindemia the Fancy blessed Briar Rose that magic of any kind shall never be able to harm or kill her. As such any lethal applications of magic applied to Briar Rose will either dissipate harmlessly before reaching her or have its effect altered, such as placing her in a neverending sleep. If she should be rendered unconscious in such a fashion, this protection also enacts a counter-enchantment of the highest order which will render everyone else in Briar Rose's proximity asleep and will cause a thick bramble of magical thorns to surround those affected. Those pricked by the thorns of the magical growth will succumb to the same everlasting sleep as Briar Rose.
* **Pugilist:** Briar Rose studied under legendary boxer Ted Grant in the 1960s. She chose this particular discipline to make excellent use of her constant need to wear armored gloves.
* **Armored Gloves:** Briar Rose wears thick protective gloves to mitigate the risk of her hands being pricked or cut.

### Weaknesses

* **Curse:** Carabosse, the first Queen of the Unseelie Court, cursed Briar Rose to die should she ever prick, cut, slice, or otherwise injure her hand in any injury which drew her blood. However, due to the Vindemia's blessing for mythical protection, this curse was mitigated to place Briar Rose under a deep and eternal sleep. Briar Rose can be awoken by "true love's kiss" but due to ancient laws of faerie custom, what constitutes true love's kiss for a princess appears to be a kiss from a prince - and a prince whose love for Briar Rose is complete and true. Of course, this being faerie magic, what constitutes a "prince" has been questionable. Sheriff Bigby keeps a dog named Prince at the Rozzers' Station to deliver wake-up calls to Briar should she ever prick her finger on Danny the Street. Also, Ali Baba, as a "prince of thieves" claims he once woke Briar from one of her naps, but Briar has yet to confirm this happened, and it is possible this is Ali Baba's many creative interpretations of his personal history.
* **Grogginess:** Briar Rose tends to usually operate in what appears to be a sleepy haze. She's usually mentally sharp and aware, but still is prone to daydreaming or catnaps if left unstimulated for any length of time. This appears to be due to Charming's love for Briar Rose not being truly as authentic or chaste as he believed when he delivered his kiss to Briar Rose. While Briar is fully capable of maintaining a normal sleep schedule, she could easily sleep sixteen hours each and every day.

### Analytics

* **Physicality:** 3 — Trained / Exceptional
* **Occult:** 3 — Trained / Exceptional
* **Weaponry:** 3 — Trained / Exceptional
* **Expertise:** 5 — Master / Remarkable
* **Range:** 3 — Trained / Exceptional
* **Strategy:** 2 — Basic / Typical
	+ **TOTAL:** 37
	+ **RANKING:** Low Threat

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

* Acronym of Farmers And Builders' League Expansion Service is FABLES.
* She was once awakened from one of her legendary naps by the Sentinel dwarf Laflik the Foul
* When the Headless Horseman attacked the second Fabletown trying to hunt down Ichabod Crane, she pricked her finger and caused a growth of a massive briar.
* She is in a band with Boy Blue, Peter Piper, Puss-in-Boots, and Jill Horner.

### Notes

* Briar Rose is a character from *Fables*.
* In the comics the seventh fairy which saved her from a curse is called Leysa the Defender.
* In the comics the dog Prince belonged to the Mundy police force.
* Her name Rosamund Zellandine is a nod to Brothers Grimm *Little Briar Rose* and courtly romance *Perceforest*.
* Her alias Belle Dumont come from the French name for Sleeping Beauty *La Belle au bois dormant.*

## Links and References

* Appearances of Briar Rose

1. ↑ NFX: Briar Rose
2. ↑ Network Files: Laflik the Foul
3. ↑ Network Files: Headless Horseman
4. ↑ NFX: Snow White
5. ↑ Network Files: Boy Blue