Catharine Lafontac

*"I will reach my goals, that is not the question. What you should be asking is whether or not you plan on helping me or being stepped on in the process"*

## Summary

Catharine Lafontac was never one who lived without. Life in the Hollow was difficult, sure. Cutthroat even. But from her gestation where she was promised the world, to the time at present— she never doubted that greatness was in her birthright. That means that any actions she took to reach that point were moral and within the bounds to take it. Each action she takes will bring her one step closer to it, enlarging her business and contacts until her family name is carved into the world itself.

## History

Catharine Lafontac was born a child of one Achi and Ssamarine Lafontac. Mantis blooded shanno, born of solid Mantis Shanno stock. Each parent was at the helm of a smaller company: One in logistics, arranging shipments and trades of various goods and textiles as a middleman and negotiator— the other as part of an ore processing and mining initiative. The two weren't ones to put all their eggs in one basket, thus Catherine was born amidst a clutch of several children- all who were raised as if they would someday take over their parents assets. No direct competition was fostered or encouraged amongst the siblings. But neither was it punished or discouraged. Such was the way of both the Hollow, and her upbringing.

It wasn't long before each child sought to prove themselves worthy of one business or the other. Each figuring that if they excelled in one facet- they could make themselves distinct from the rest. Some went so far as to try and sabotage each-other- never anything so dangerous as to threaten their future assets- but enough to make their target appear less valuable or worthy. Others formed small cliques with another brother or sister they best figured to take on other portions of the family empire they were ill suited to- networking their connections from cradle to co-workers. But they were all focused on the smaller picture, with their tiny focused minds.

Catherine was prouder than that. She was promised it all, and she planned to take control of it all.

Catherine was no fool either though. There were impossibly many complex facets between the two businesses. After all, it took a large portion of each parents dedication to maintain each in the highly competitive atmosphere in the Hollows under-surface commerce markets. And Catharine, though skilled somewhat some mental pursuits—knew she didn't now (or would likely ever) have the faculties to perform either duty on it's own. So she simply aimed higher than the rest.

Others focused on learning the different types of ore, and how they could be used- or else they studied hard and analyzed market comparative prices and weak-points among the competition. Catharine instead found others to do that for her. She moved out of home early- and the rest of the family assumed she'd dropped out of the race. Instead, Catharine began networking to find others with the exact skills she knew she lacked but needed. Shanno, ratfolk, kobold. She payed no heed to race or upbringing- merely their ability to perform certain tasks. She didn't need to know what ores one could smelt from stone mined in the tunnels, or the value of Profgaline mosses when purchased fresh and sold to other guilds. That was the job of a worker, a labourer. She was going to lead and inherit both businesses and expand them into an empire. She learned delegation, and compartmentalization of assets. She learned how to whisper into others ears, and the art of manipulating the contest itself. She slandered who she had to, blackmailed who needed to be, and framed the rest until she returned triumphant to the Lafontac estates with not only a plan, but the means to accomplish it. The rest of her brood never stood a chance.

Now, Catharine "Executor of Lafontac Logistics and Enterprises" emerged ready to make combat in the Core of the Hollow. One didn't need to be good at their craft to survive here. One needed to be able to survive the depredations of other businesses and companies. Everyone had their own agenda, and it usually involved subsuming and undermining anyone else in the market. No amount of base skill in the day-to-day operations could save you here. She still let many of her siblings run various parts of the businesses where they'd grown accomplished. It would be a fools errand to waste their talents and earn their ire. Instead, she defended her burgeoning empire as it clashed and rubbed against the political machinations of her foes.

Over the next 40 years, she had enough to show for it too. She'd acquired a few other smaller independent groups and incorporated them beneath her. But she was still only one among many who pushed their agendas in the swarming markets. Others with as much drive as she survived her assaults and riposted- expending resources on each side as parties attempted to undermine each-other and solidify their own power. But then something changed...

Adventurers. People from the 'surface'. Bringing with them news, and new opportunities. Catharine's interest was piqued. She could very well fight and die in bidding wars down here... but by the sounds of it there were vast territories of untapped potential lying just beyond the horizon. And Catharine had been promised the world. So she began to form plans, and vouched for increased surface contact- plying tactics and sabotaging efforts to maintain the status quo. She lost some market ground in the process- but that's the nature of resources. You can spend them in one place, or the other- but not both. And she was banking on the payoff being grander than a corner of the rare-earths market. Her only regret was that for better or for worse, many other savvy investors had similar plans. It made it easier to push for opening the Hollow up, but she had to dream big if she wanted to beat out the competition.

So she did what she did when she was in her 80s. She left control of her enterprise temporarily in the hands of her council, and left.

She needed connections, and like-minded (or lesser-minded) folks to network with and increase her chances of survival. She had to scout out the networks before anyone else, and unlike other empires- she was willing to make the trip herself. It was faster, and would give her an edge over the rest in every other regard. Her welcome however, was less warm than a mug of street-scum at a 2bit inn in the Tunnels. A Mantisfolk put people on edge- and peoples here weren't so easily pushed or cowed into complacency. It was inside an inn near Catania that she had to stop and reassess where she stood.

The pink legs crossed along the bed as she considered her options. Surrender was never one of them. She had to find some method of interacting with humanoids- easing them into following her. She fiddled with an odd artifact she'd found years ago in her hands a she mulled over the problems. The box-shape'd item had been uncovered years ago by one of her mothers crews back when Ssamarine ran the business. It was angular and asymmetrical in it's designed, but otherwise a perfect cube that glowed with faintly blue when the light struck it in a particular way. It served as a fancy decoration on her desk for years since, and she'd brought it along with her as a reminder of her goals. She felt the grooves in her hands, and rotated it in her grasp while she considered solutions. She'd didn't have mastery of illusions, nor enchantments so she couldn't charm people that-a-ways. She'd often disguised herself before when she was in the hollow; feinting as rank-and-file members of other organizations to gain or disseminate information as she'd needed. But their physique was all to different here, she'd not be able to make a believable ploy using those sorts of tactics...

As Catharine pondered such ploys- she failed to notice that the cube she was absently toying with was changing. As she traced the indents, and pressed into small arcane markings on sides and corners- it had begun to glow on it's own. Small clicks were heard inside, as if some internal mechanisms were operating unseen to to the outside. Catharine only finally began to realize something was off when the artifact spun in her hands- a thin seam cracking down the middle that caused one side to twist one way while the left rotated the other. She tried to drop the shape in panic and surprise, but found herself unable to. The clicking was getting louder now- like something inside was ticking away. It was both fascinating and terrifying. She nearly considered calling for help, when the sound of a small series of vials snapping rang out—and with it, a sting in her the palms grasping the object. She tried again to release it, but it held her hands like powerful magnets.

The problem began to then resolve itself. The cube seemed to fold in on itself until it revealed what appeared to be a dark set of floating particles- barely tinged by the blue glow the cube emitted before. They hovered in the air, a clearly magical sphere with concentric rings of selfsame blocky dust shapes. All that was left of the cube was either side that held her hands fastened in the air- unable to move up or down or off this strange engine. She summed up her courage again to try one last time, uncertain if she'd just activated some bomb, abyssal blight, or otherwise magical trap that was readying to disintegrate her. And how right she was. In a sense.

The sphere of dark dust began funneling in through small openings inside either face of what was left of the cube- draining into it. It's disappearance would be less concerning if the openings didn't lead directly to pierced palms on the Shanno. It filtered in- and her hands began to feel numb. That was at least, before they began to vanish before her eyes. They fell apart, bit by bit as if turned into a coarse blocky powder- crumbling away and spreading up her arms- causing them to vanish like a fast-moving disease. Her voice was in shock- she couldn't even scream as her body went numb- dissolving past her shoulders and erasing carapace and tissue alike. The last thing to pass from her mind was a lingering regret at failing her dreams, disintegrated completely away and leaving no trace of the Shanno that had sat on the bed.

She should have been dead. She was certain she was, she'd felt it. She opened her eyes, and found herself sitting exactly where she'd been. Hands outstretched as if holding something roughly 8 inches in width. But... they weren't her hands. They looked... metal. Humanoid. She knew them to be hers, in some strange bodily confirmation- as she raised them to open and close her palms in the ambient light from the window. They obeyed her command- as would any other healthy arm belonging to a person. It was then that she saw her reflection of the window. It hadn't only been her hands or arms replaced.

Catharine Lafontac approached what she knew to be her, feeling with a hand along metal-smooth carapace of her face and torso. She felt... strange, different, curious and terrifying. She had hair even- like the surface worlders did. And she somehow, intuitively knew something. Many things actually. Whatever the box was, whatever the dust had done- it was inside her now- a part of her. But only a part. She intuitively understood what it could do, even if she didn't completely understand what it was. That was almost the more eerie part, is that the strange familiarity wasn't alarming at all, but a welcome familiarity.

She knew she could change back into her normal self- conceal the constructed nature inside her body. She knew she could bring it out again, and take on this same appearance and identity. And so, be it blessing or curse, she knew that she could use this new... power—to continue as she was. No, that was thinking small. That's the sort of thought she looked down on. If she could master this new persona, she didn't have to merely dominate a market share or expand a business. She could dominate it. She could rule her own portion of the world. That was so much better than an office. After all, she'd been promised the World. Why should she settle for less now?

## Appearance

Catharine has two forms, though she rarely use her natural form outside of the confines of the Hollow and visa versa for her constructed form. On the one end, she's a Mantis-stain Shanno, with pink and white highlights to her carapace. In the other, a lithe and dexterous pseudo-construct, an anatomy of metals and fibers that replace chitin and organ. Not wholly construct either, she still eats and sleeps and bleeds as any other humanoid (or monstrous humanoid), but some basic biological functions are bypassed otherwise. Or perhaps, enhanced is the better word. Since this transformation, she has found herself capable of the acts that would be designated by surface-worlders as a "Chosen", though whether this came from the cube or merely hadn't manifested until afterwords may never have an answer.

## Personality

A juxtaposition of warm and cold- Catharine will say and do what she must to get what she wants. She prizes the order of law, as it is what binds the weak to the strong and builds a society that helps serve her needs. She might say or do things that could confuse others, but the question will always remain if it's a quirk of her upbringing, or an intentional action to endear, confuse or intimidate an opponent. Rarely does she act out of real emotion, or at least- so it would seem. How much emotion is an act or real is perhaps up to the observer to decide: after all, they're likely as reliable a meter as any on the topic.

## Friends and Foes

Catharine is building up a list of potential associates, likely the best word for friends. Using that word instead, she has many back in the Hollow: mostly part of either her businesses or else influential members in government locations. As for foes, well—there are perhaps too many to count here. At the present, no Chosen at least has designated her a foe- or visa versa.