Giovanna Koppel

**Giovanna Koppel** is a playable character in *Triangle Strategy*. She is a recruitable character available if the player has 1600 Liberty.

## Profile/Story

### Background

Giovanna was the quintessential scholar, ever eager to learn about the geography and history of Norzelia. When Gustadolph Aesfrost placed a ban on all books in the Archives relating to Norzelia's terrain, he also ordered Giovanna to halt all of her geological research. Giovanna left Aesfrost, unwilling to abandon her life's work. She is found passed out on the road by Hughette Bucklar, and later joins House Wolffort to continue her research.

### Geologist

*A former researcher of geology at the Aesfrosti Archives. She looks upon the land with unrivaled fascination and hopes to one day uncover all of its secrets.*- In-game description

As Giovanna studies the terrain of Norzelia, she begins to realize how much the land has changed over the years. While on an expedition with Hughette Bucklar, Giovanna explains that Norzelia may have once been entirely covered by a mass of water known as "the sea". At the bottom at the sea was salt, and what little of the sea remained became the Holy State of Hyzante's source. Giovanna further goes on to explain that salt from other parts of the sea may have sunken deep beneath Norzelia's ground, hidden in the earth. Astounded by Giovanna's meticulous research, Hughette gives Giovanna a ride on the back of her hawk, Flugie.

## Max Stats

### Movement

7

Giovanna's base class is a Geologist, a situational class with different abilities depending on the terrain. She wields a Pickaxe of Passion at Weapon Rank 1, an Pickaxe of Love Scepter II at Weapon Rank 2, and a Pickaxe of Eternity at Weapon Rank 3. She possesses the following classes and abilities:

## Character Stories

### An Expert in Terrain

*While out scouting, Hughette happens upon an eccentric researcher who has collapsed from exhaustion...*

* **Hughette**: Is that...!?
* **Collapsed Woman**: Ungh...
* **Hughette**: Still breathing. But I need to get her to a healer quick...
* **Collapsed Woman**: Sto... Stone...
* **Hughette**: What was that?
* **Collapsed Woman**: My...stone...
* **Hughette**: You mean this thing?
* **Collapsed Woman**: That's my...precious stone...
* **Collapsed Woman**: You have my thanks for saving me earlier.
* **Serenoa**: It looks like you made a full recovery.
* **Serenoa**: If you don't mind my asking, what were you doing there in the first place?
* **Giovanna**: ...My apologies. I am Giovanna, a scholar from Aesfrost.
* **Giovanna**: I was doing research on Norzelian geography at the Archives there.
* **Giovanna**: It's always been my dream to uncover the secrets of this land.
* **Serenoa**: Secrets? Secrets of what manner?
* **Giovanna**: All kinds! Our realm is full of them!
* **Giovanna**: Have you never wondered why only Hyzante is blessed with a lake of salt? Or why snow only falls in Aesfrost?
* **Giovanna**: Do you not muse upon where the rushing waters of the Norzelia River flow from, and to?
* **Serenoa**: Come to think of it... We do not know, do we?
* **Giovanna**: There's an explanation for everything, and I want to—no, I *must* know it all!
* **Giovanna**: That's why I read everything I could get my hands on in the Archives, and keep searching for answers to this day.
* **Hughette**: That still doesn't explain why you were out there.
* **Giovanna**: Well, you see...
* **Giovanna**: Gustadolph decreed that all books on the land itself were classified information, and ordered me to stop my research.
* **Giovanna**: So I left Aesfrost in search of a place I could continue my pursuit of knowledge.
* **Giovanna**: But, um, I'm not made for traveling, which is why you saw me in such an embarrassing state out there...
* **Serenoa**: I see. In that case, you are welcome to stay here until you decide your next destination.
* **Giovanna**: Truly!? Thank you ever so much, my lord!
* **Giovanna**: If there's anything I can do in the meantime, please let me know!
* **Giovanna**: I'm certain my knowledge will be of some use to you!
* **Hughette**: I fear a scholar like yourself wouldn't be much help in battle...
* **Giovanna**: Not so! Why, I know everything about Norzelia's terrain.
* **Serenoa**: Your knowledge may indeed serve to help us refine our strategies and gain advantages over our foes.
* **Giovanna**: Oh, and might I mention...this!
* **Hughette**: My word! That is quite a talent, indeed...
* **Giovanna**: See? I daresay I'd be useful in a fight, after all.
* **Serenoa**: In that case, I ask you to assist Hughette in scouting.
* **Giovanna**: You mean I can ride on her hawk and see the land from above!? Oh! It would be an honor, my lord!
* **Hughette**: We aren't flying up there for the scenery! Scouting is serious work!
* **Giovanna**: My apologies. I was just so excited...
* **Serenoa**: I'll count on you to get her up to speed, Hughette.
* **Giovanna**: I will be on my very best behavior!
* **Hughette**: ...Understood.

### More Beautiful than a Gem

*Giovanna accompanies Hughette on a mission, but gets distracted by a peculiar rock...*

* **Hughette**: If it came to a battle, this might be the best place for us to make our encampment...
* **Hughette**: What do you think, Giovanna?
* **Giovanna**: What is a stone like that doing in a place like this?
* **Hughette**: Are you listening, Giovanna!?
* **Giovanna**: I'm so sorry, Hughette! Did you say something?
* **Hughette**: I did, but you were too absorbed in the ground to hear it. Just what are you looking at?
* **Giovanna**: This little pebble right here!
* **Hughette**: And why is that?
* **Giovanna**: Well, you see...this one's not like the others. It isn't from this area.
* **Giovanna**: Which means it was carried here by the river!
* **Hughette**: But there's no river here.
* **Giovanna**: Not now there isn't. But a long time ago, there was.
* **Giovanna**: Just like any living thing, the mountains, rivers, and forests change over time.
* **Giovanna**: And this pebble here is a witness to those transformations.
* **Giovanna**: It's difficult to put into words, but...that's what this rock is telling me.
* **Giovanna**: That there was once a river here.
* **Giovanna**: It's so frustrating...
* **Giovanna**: What I wouldn't give to pore over those annals in the Archives. What wonders I could learn were they not forbidden!
* **Hughette**: So how does knowing the changing of the land help us?
* **Giovanna**: Help? Well, heh...
* **Giovanna**: I suppose my research might not be *that* helpful in battle after all...
* **Giovanna**: But it *is* helpful for anyone who wants to know more about this wonderful world we live in!
* **Giovanna**: That's why this pebble is more beautiful than the shiniest gem in all the realm! Or at least to me it is.
* **Hughette**: ......
* **Giovanna**: Would it be okay for me to take this rock with us, Hughette?
* **Giovanna**: I feel there's so much more it can tell us!
* **Hughette**: ...Certainly, if you are so attached to it.
* **Hughette**: But you must promise to concentrate on our mission from now on.
* **Giovanna**: I promise, Hughette!
* **Giovanna**: Could you hold on to this for me, Flugie?

### Every Corner of Norzelia

*Giovanna and Hughette scout the land on a rainy night...*

* **Giovanna**: Wow, it's really coming down today.
* **Giovanna**: And we've been trekking through these mountains for hours now. My legs are killing me.
* **Giovanna**: I don't know how you do it, Hughette...
* **Hughette**: Such complex terrain cannot be scouted from the sky alone.
* **Hughette**: Not to mention our view from above would be obscured by the rain, so going on foot is our best option.
* **Giovanna**: I understand. Being part of House Wolffort's army and out here with you...
* **Giovanna**: It's given me a renewed appreciation of the land.
* **Giovanna**: I cannot thank you enough, Hughette.
* **Hughette**: It is Lord Serenoa who you should thank. And you can show your gratitude by helping me complete our mission as quickly as possible.
* **Hughette**: The rain has washed away our foothold on these slopes, so we're behind schedule.
* **Giovanna**: Huff, huff... Please wait, Hughette.
* **Giovanna**: The clouds tell me the rain is unlikely to let up anytime soon. And there is a high chance of mudslides on the slopes ahead.
* **Giovanna**: So perhaps we should make our camp here for the day.
* **Hughette**: It sounds to me like you just want to take a break.
* **Giovanna**: Not so!
* **Giovanna**: Given the groundwater and these conditions, the terrain is prone to collapse!
* **Giovanna**: Hughette!
* **Giovanna**: This is my life's work! You must believe me!
* **Hughette**: ...Very well.
* **Hughette**: If you insist, we can wait out the rain here for the day.
* **Giovanna**: Thank you!
* **Hughette**: What a beautiful day...
* **Giovanna**: Now, back to scouting!
* **Itinerant Merchant**: You there! The road ahead's collapsed. You'll have to go around.
* **Itinerant Merchant**: It's awful up there. Some were even injured in the fall. They turned me away just now.
* **Hughette**: ...!
* **Hughette**: If we had continued yesterday...we could have died.
* **Hughette**: Thank you, Giovanna. Your research saved my life.
* **Giovanna**: Uh heh... I'm happy that analyzing all those stones wasn't for nothing!
* **Itinerant Merchant**: So you know a lot about stones, do you?
* **Itinerant Merchant**: Why don't you take this? I found this strange little one over by the landslide.
* **Hughette**: This looks just like the stone you had when you collapsed.
* **Giovanna**: It's the fossil of a snail, one that lives only in Hyzante, around the Source.
* **Hughette**: But this came from inside the mountain.
* **Giovanna**: It did indeed... It might sound preposterous, but I have a theory that a great sea of salt once covered all of Norzelia.
* **Hughette**: The entire realm?
* **Giovanna**: As I said before...
* **Giovanna**: The mountains, rivers, and forests change over time, just like any living thing.
* **Giovanna**: Long, long ago...a giant sea of salt could have easily covered this place.
* **Hughette**: Given the state of the land today, that's difficult to believe...
* **Hughette**: Do you think you could find records of it in the Archives?
* **Giovanna**: Perhaps. But this is something I wish to see with my own eyes.
* **Giovanna**: After all this scouting, I've realized that I need to explore the land myself if I'm to learn more about it.
* **Giovanna**: So I'm going to journey to every corner of Norzelia and uncover all its secrets!
* **Hughette**: Every corner of Norzelia... That's quite an undertaking.
* **Giovanna**: When the war is over...might you take me there atop Flugie?
* **Hughette**: I suppose I do owe you my life. When the war is over, let's do just that.
* **Giovanna**: Oh, thank you, Hughette!
* **Giovanna**: I could not be happier to call you friend!

## Mid-Battle Conversations

### Final Chapter: The Bell Tolls for No One

#### vs. Svarog

* **Giovanna**: All of those books are naught but heaps of ash now... This is unforgivable, Lord Svarog!
* **Svarog**: Aesfrost cannot leave anything behind...including your knowledge.

### Final Chapter: For Norzelia

#### vs. Idore

* **Giovanna**: I've finally found the answers I've been searching for. Answers about salt and the Source. All that remains is to strike you down and let the realm know its true history.
* **Idore**: Norzelia shall have but one history: that on this day, heretics tried and failed to seduce the people, and were slaughtered for their sins.