Nephila Mori

Official image of Nephila, drawn by @grace.pptx on Instagram

Nephila "Phil" Mori is a player character for Arc 8 and played by Bri.

## Description

Nephila is a Human, and the adoptive daughter of Bombyx Mori. In Arc 8, she is 40 years old, and a level 6 College of Eloquence Bard.

They hold a seat on the Minor Council, and additionally are an activist, community leader and advocate.

She is the leader of the charitable organisation The Sisters of Silk. They organise community kitchens and gardens, job training services, basic defense classes, as well as schools and daycares all throughout the kingdom of Hyranor.

Not despite, but even through her position on the Minor Council, Nephila more or less secretly works on dismanteling the monarchy in Hyranor, a goal they have followed since they were a young teen. Especially in the wake of King Alaric Eirik's death, they hope to be able to use their power to change the kingdom for the better.

There are a lot of people in the kingdom who support them, even in the Major Council: many of the city barons know that their populations would not exist like that without the work Nephila and their organisation do. However, the people that oppose her belong to the most powerful people in the kingdom, and would prefer it if she didn't have her seat on the Minor Council.

She has inherited the Cloak of Elvenkind from Bombyx, and her Patreon submitted magic item is The Eye of Spies. They got it from a friend, and are since waiting for the right person and situation to use it.

## Backstory

Nephila is the adopted daughter of Bombyx Mori, and was heavily influenced by their visions of the monarchy. She spent a vast portion of Bombyx's silk empire to establish systems of mutual aid and community capacity building.

In the past, Nephila had a more "hands-on" approach to activism, which included throwing bricks through windows, and even got her arrested a few times. They are still not opposed to this sort of approach, but have settled on a more official route themselves by becoming a member of the Minor Council.

For a long time, they did not want to become a council member, but through her advocacy and work, as well as her relation to Bombyx, she rose to a certain position of power, especially since their work became more and more needed in the later years of King Alaric Eirik's reign.

## Character Arc

Arriving at the death ceremony of King Alaric Eirik, Nephila has a lot on their plate. The Sisters of Silk, as an organisation that is at least in the grey legal area through their charity work, have financial struggles. Many of the activists and helpers working together with them are in jail. And while they have tried to call a Major Council meeting multiple times over the months leading up to the ceremony, it never worked. She hopes to be able to start a revolution, and help the people of Hyranor, but fears that even should Sybilla not get her vote, the kingdom might dissolve into ten little kingdoms, which would not be better for the people, either.

While they officially aren't together, Nephila has some sexual tension with Laz Malidity, the city baron of Sorborough, and the two of them share common ideas about the monarchy, although Laz is less revolutionary than Nephila, and less willing to break laws to reach their goals. The two of them arrive together, and first try to get a grasp on the current political standpoints of everyone present. Laz wants Nephila to convince people to join their side, especially Helga, but at first, she is a bit cautious about that.

During a quiet moment, then, Nephila tells Laz that they plan to assassinate Crigley Jigglesphere, the city baron of Hasmo and most likely candidat to become monarch should Sybilla not get her vote. Laz is shocked, not only by the assassination plan itself, but also by the fact that she is supposed to play a major role in it, yet Nephila is not willing to share a lot about it, and hasn't prepared her at all. When Nephila, not only motivated by her politics but also by jealousy, accuses them of not putting in the necessary work and just "sleeping around", they leave.

As Sybilla hears that she is no longer eligible to be the successor, she picks not only Jim, but also Nephila to accompany her to the Prime Lord Wizard to ask him for help, because according to her, no one is as good at arguing as Nephila. Nephila, however, upon hearing what Sybilla is offered and willing to do, gets concerned about her want for power, and informs Jim about this concern, to which he does not respond well, and the two of them have an argument not only about Sybilla, but about a general view on power. When later, they try to approach Sybilla again, they try to do so through her personal assistant Kansas, but are rude enough to her to bring her to tears.

They meet Laz again, apologise, give her back the Eye of Spies, which she gave them, and start opening up to her about the things they know. Despite their earlier argument, Laz still trusts Nephila and still believes that she knows what is best for the kingdom. When Nephila wants to alarm the whole Major Council about Sybilla's ritual, though, Laz convinces them to only talk to Sir Up Ton. They do, and Sir Up Ton opens up about his plans of enacting a new system of government, and makes hints that Nephila and her ideas could be a part of that. Nephila spends the night completing her proposal of a new constitution for a democratic republic of Hyranor, copying it for every member of the Major Council, and making sure that every one of them can find a copy as they wake up the next morning.

They use their time in the morning to warn Jim about Sir Up Ton's possible coup, to make sure he and his daughters can get away from the palace and to safety. They also give him their testament, which states that in case of their death everything they own will go to the Sisters of Silk. Together with him, she finds Sybilla together with Helga and Isadora in Isadora's room, and witnesses Sybilla helping Isadora, and telling her family where to hide. Sybilla, who is aware that the kingdom needs a fundamental change, agrees to work on the system together with Nephila, and is even willing to implement at least parts of the proposed constitution. Because of this, in the following vote about Sybilla becoming the monarch, Nephila votes Yea, which is the decisive vote that elects Sybilla as the new Queen of Hyranor.

As the former Queen Lilliana and the Minor Council stand on the balcony to announce the coronation of Sybilla, Sir Up Ton starts his coup by pretending that Nephila cast some sort of spell on him to make him disappear as he actually teleports away to get to Sybilla. Nephila turns to the crowd of commoners and holds a speech in which she rallies them up to fight back against the guards and defend the new queen that has promised them a better future. During this speech, they also tell the commoners the location of the Hatebad weapons stock in Tyle so that they can arm themselves, and present unity with the crown by standing at the balcony together with Lilliana as everyone else runs back into the castle to be part of the action. Mechanically, with their speech Nephila makes a performance check and grants the crowd an exploding Inspiration dice with the sort of the die depending on the outcome of the check. As she continues speaking, the crowd starts becoming stronger and pushes back against the guards.

As Nephila and Lilliana decide to leave the balcony and go down to the commoners, five guards, additionally motivated by Penny Lovejoy to seize Nephila, run towards them. Nephila backs up to the bannister, asks Lilliana to tell Laz that they love them and that they are sorry, and the guards push her off the balcony. She decides against trying to grab the bannister and save herself, and instead performs an act of martyrdom to motivate the crowd one final time. As she hits the ground, the commoners manage to overwhelm the guards and storm the castle. Nephila, however, just barely does not die, and is stabilised by a commoner with experience from a first aid course. As the fight settles, Helga goes down Keep's Canyon to look after Nephila and heal them.

During the following coronation ceremony, Laz runs up to Nephila and hugs them tightly. They thought she was dead, and while they still have conflicted emotions about everything that happened over the last days, they are happy to see her. Nephila does not tell Laz about their feelings.

After the coronation itself, Nephila is called up to Sybilla by her and the Prime Lord Wizard. Loroy tries one last time to pressure Sybilla into leaving his power and the power of the monarch untouched by any new laws or constitutions, but the only thing Sybilla decides is to give it a week of time, and then step by step enact the full proposed constitution. Loroy, angry about her breaking her promise in his eyes, uses *Power Word Kill* on Sybilla on the spot and *Soul Cage* as a reaction. The only thing Nephila and Helga can do is slightly hurt Loroy as he disappears from the castle, and hold Sybilla's dead body.

## Trivia

* Nephila is very close with their nieces, the Princesses Constance (who they call "Coco") and Jane ("Jayjay"). She loves to fingerpaint with them.
* They travel via people's carriage.