Laurence De Montfort

> "There can be no truce with the Enemy. Not even when they are reasonable, helpful – especially then, because if you let the rot take even a moment then you will *always* have to amputate the limb."
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## Aspects

Sever

Listen

Decree

### Appearance

She is old and short. She wears robes instead of armor. and carries a sheath at her hip which is usually occupied by a sword. She is heavily scarred from years of fighting.

### Personality

Laurence is characterized by her bluntness and lack of tact. Her poor social skills are attributed by other characters to her Role, which seldom requires diplomacy. She has a deeply ingrained cynicism towards royalty and anyone working under the banner of Evil, built up through her years of work as one of the few Proceran heroes.

### Biography

Laurence was born in Montfort, Procer, the daughter of a cradlemaker. She knew from a young age that she wanted to be a swordswoman, trading with a blacksmith for a cheap iron sword. She left home as part of a caravan and worked as a servant to earn her keep. She eventually settled in the town of Souquet, where she became a student of the former Lone Swordsman Ortega, a Saint. He trained her, and together they worked to fight Evil in Procer.

Laurence initially gained visibility by killing the Salutary Alchemist, though she was under a transitional Name, Wanderer, at the time. She also killed the Alchemist's patron prince (and serum-addicted puppet) for good measure, earning her the nickname Regicide.

Laurence continued to work as a hero in Procer, eventually transitioning into her name, the Saint of Swords. Likely as a result of a previous fight that killed her master, she challenged Hye Su, the Ranger, and was easily defeated. She was healed from her mortal wound by Tariq Isbili, and she gained her second aspect, Listen, as a result of the duel.

Following her duel with Ranger, she spent several years fighting the ratlings in northern Procer, slowly forging a domain that would become her third aspect, Decree. It was during this time that it's alleged she was romantically involved with the Prince of Hannoven, Klaus Papenheim.

Laurence joined the Tenth Crusade after it was declared by Cordelia Hasenbach, acting as one of the two seniormost heroes. She worked to constrain the ambition of the princes attached to the crusade, intimidating them in an effort to get them to act as Tariq Isbili wanted them to and not in their own self-interest. On the battlefield, she fought with both Catherine Foundling and the Archer, Indrani, getting the better of both of them, though she was unable to kill either of them. She was forced to stand down after planning to kill Catherine Foundling under truce flag by the commander of the crusade, Princess Rozala Malanza.

Laurence again attacked the Black Queen under truce flag during the Army of Callow's attempted rescue of the Legions in Exile in Procer. She was stopped by General Rumena, and her life was used as a bargaining chip for the body of Amadeus. She later joined the band of five assembled by Catherine Foundling against the Dead King during the Princes' Graveyard. While she maintained her rocky alliance with the Black Queen through the defeat of the Dead King and the liberation of the Hierophant, upon the creation of the Twilight Crown, she refused to allow it to fall into the hands of Evil, opting instead to destroy it against the wishes of her closest ally, Tariq Isbili. She was killed by a miracle that accelerated time, causing her to die of old age, wielded by Catherine Foundling.

The damage she inflicted upon the Twilight Crown caused Tariq Isbili's first death. Her first aspect, Sever, was extracted by Catherine Foundling and used in the creation of the Severance.

### Relationships

The Saint does not seem to hold many individuals close. She herself has committed herself fully to dispatching enemies of the heavens, no matter who they are. This has lead her to kill powerful evil forces as well as former comrades. Still she has no problem fighting alongside other heroes, and is humble enough to admit that given time they will also eclipse her own power.

Tariq- Her closes companion or at least the individual who has stood with her the longest. She respects his judgement only needing a word to stave of her brutal nature. This is most likely because she understands that he like her has made harsh sacrifices to ensure the greater good.

Hye- It is not known why the two women dueled but it is assumed that ranger wanted to test out yet another powerful foe and the Saint saw this as the perfect chance to swat down yet another prideful villain. The results was the Saint lying bloodied on the floor her stomach painting the ground. The Ranger spared her either seeing no point in dispatching her or seeing a future rival that could amuse her. Regardless this defeat was integral to the Saint providing her an aspect as Ranger walked away. It also seems to be the reason she trained in seclusion for a very long time.

Isodorios: A companion who held the name Drake Knight. Although a hero he eventually succumbed to the dragon blood coursing through his veins which caused him to go mad. The Saint mentions him once but he is considered one of her regrets that can never be healed.

### Special Abilities

The Saint is extremely powerful, able to trade full-strength blows with Catherine's Winter form without great effort. Her skill with the sword is unparalleled, second only to the Ranger. She is capable of hardening her willpower to the extent that she can cut with it. Despite her nature as a brawler she understands the mechanics of the universe, she feels the pull of creation and has become accustomed to its whims

Her three aspects are:

* **Sever**: With this aspect, she can cut through anything, material or immaterial. She can even "cut through the sky" and then use the cuts as platforms, or wield the cuts themselves as physical weapons. It was also able to cut through Catherine's domain when she was Sovereign of Moonless Nights, permanently weakening her and temporally rendering her mortal. The Saint has also used this ability to cut out the very soul of an individual. It has been used to remove the Black Knight's soul as well as cutting aspects beyond repair from the Spellblade. She does not need a physical sword to use this aspect. It is believed that this aspect is one of the few things that can permanently kill the Dead King.

* **Listen**: Listening to the music of Creation lets her track opponents around her, even if they would normally be invisible. It also lets her sense at least some magical phenomena around her, and verify whether an opponent has actually died.

* **Decree**: The Saint has a domain-like ability to impose a particular statement on Creation as though it were a physical law. Her chosen Decree is "Laurence de Montfort is a sword," and invoking it grants her all the powers and protections enjoyed by a steel blade, such as immunity to poison and ability to cut with a touch. In theory, she could develop a toolbox of different Decrees, but chose to stick with just one in order to maintain the power and purity of it.

### References

1. ↑ https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/05/02/interlude-crusaders/
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Book 5 - Interlude: Death They Cannot Steal