Hannah Candlebrook

Hannah Candlebrook is a first cousin of King Colin I. She is one of the major claimants vying for power in the Merionese Succession Crisis.

## Biography

Little is known about Hannah's early-life, other than the fact that she is the daughter of Prince Cal, the younger brother of King Lawrence XII. She was given a governorship of the Towerlands by her grandfather, King Lawrence XI, to be claimed following her training as a Knight of Water. Hannah assumed the governorship after Lawrence XI's death, despite Lawrence XII having little patience for such projects and who allowed it mainly out of respect for his brother, Prince Cal.

While there, she pursued her agricultural projects, and was brought into contact with an older Knight of Earth form House Wing. They fell in love, married, and had a daughter five years into her governorship. However, Lawrence XII's patience for Hannah's projects continued to wane as they begun to disrupt trade on The Long Road, though some rumors say that Lawrence XII feared that the marriage would give legitimacy to Hannah's projects through the prominence of House Wing.

Four years later, Hannah's husband died, and Hannah dove deeper into her work, an action which finally pushed Lawrence XII to his breaking point. To settle the rising tensions, Prince Cal suggested Hannah go to the Eastern Duchies. Since this was both a good diplomatic move and meant that Hannah was out of his hair, Lawrence XII readily agreed, and Hannah was sent on a goodwill mission to the League of Palisades where she remained for a decade. While there, she was able to pursue her theories more aggressively under the aegis of a intellectually simpatico Duke of the Palisades. She finally returned to Merion after hearing word of the Cataclysm at Brookhaven.

## Personality and Personal Life

Like many Knights of Water, Hannah is distinctly intelligent and is a known technocrat. During her time in the Towerlands, where she implemented new initiatives to improve the region, Hannah gained much favor from the people she governed, and many were sad to see her removed from her position. Unfortunately, her ambitions caused tension between her and Lawrence the XII which persisted until his death. Though he officially sanctioned her mission to the League of Palisades as an important diplomatic mission of goodwill, it was mainly to get her out of his hair.

Hannah met her husband through her work in the Towerlands, and their intellectual compatibility brought them together. Though she was left a widow very soon into her marriage, she has a now 14 year old daughter.

Given the decade she spent living in the League of Palisades, Hannah tends to have favorable views of government systems designed in a style similar to theirs. Some Merionese are nervous about just how close she seems to be with their eastern neighbors, but she is still well-respected by various groups in United Merion, most notably in the Towerlands.

## Noteworthy Relatives

King Lawrence XII (Uncle)

King Colin I (First cousin)

Alistair Candlebrook (First cousin)

Caleb Burns (Uncle, supposedly)

## Trivia

* Hannah is 6'0", making her considerably taller than the average Merionese man (5'6") and woman (5'4").
* Hannah has been described as looking slightly like Allison Janney during her time on the television show *The West Wing*.