Cleone Weld

A deva engineer and consultant from Danor, come to the Flint RHC on cultural exchange. Her past life, Alastor, was a member of the Obscurati.

## Background

Born on Winter 18, 479 AOV near Terenz, Crisillyir, Cleone spent her first five years there as a blacksmith - picking her first name out of a book and her last name offhand while signing up for the job. She developed an interest in technology despite traditional Crisillyiri attitudes, and never fully felt comfortable in Terenz for that reason. When Cleone first visited nearby Alais Primos, she experienced reincarnation deja vu and a sense of certainty that her predecessor had killed people in cold blood there. Eventually she began using makeup to cover up the trademark deva patterns on her skin in order to hide her connection to her past life.

Her boss/surrogate father figure Charles Smith encouraged her interest in technology and supported her in going abroad to study in Gagneux, Danor. Cleone would come to love Danor, and settled there for the next fifteen years. She grew especially close to Florette Joubert, who despite Cleone's protests insisted on teaching her combat skills.

Cleone finished university making Floyd, a modularly built simulacrum that she could reshape as needed, with input from colleagues including Floyd's namesake Lloyd Gauthier. After graduating university Cleone went on to work in railroad and alchemical companies, eventually adding consulting to her range of work. When Danor began to negotiate peace with Risur, one of Cleone's government contacts recommended her for an exchange position to the RHC as a technology expert.

## Campaign

Although she initially signed up to offer her technological expertise as support, Cleone soon found herself embroiled in the RHC's conflict with the Obscurati. She soon pieced together that her past life had been in the Obscurati, making the fight her responsibility in her eyes.

The weight of her RHC duties would come to bear heavily on her, between the sacrifices made in Adventure 4 and 7 and other morally questionable decisions from the party. The gradually mounting evidence that Danor was inextricably tied to the Obscurati also pressured her heavily, as Cleone was still foremost loyal to Danor. This came to a head in Adventure 5 when Aodhan gave her an ultimatum regarding going to war with Danor and again later in Adventures 7 and 8 when it was revealed that Danor was founded in support of the Obscurati - and Cleone's opposition to the Obscurati had effectively made her a Danoran exile. (She did end up bonding with Nathan Jierre over intellectual interests and exile as a result, at least, and they eventually started a relationship.)

Cleone now wants to free Danor from the Obscurati's influence and allow it to be its own country for once in its history. In Adventure 10 when Gatria stirred up the population of Cherage into a hivemind against Han Jierre during the Forward Symposium, Cleone exposed the depths of the Obscurati's ties with Danor and called for the people to resist the Obscurati (and the hivemind) and reclaim their country.

Cleone developed a strong fear of Nicodemus after remembering the circumstances of Alastor's death, but bonded with an amnesiac Kasavarina Varal over their desires to be better than their past selves - even making the two of them twin necklaces as a sign of their promises to each other. Learning more about Alastor through reliving his memories tempered her fears about becoming like him, and her outrage at Nicodemus' deception and self-righteousness has turned her fear of him to anger. In Adventure 12 this even extended to William Miller, Nicodemus' reflection in the Gyre. Nicodemus' example has reaffirmed her belief in the necessity of transparency to prevent corruption...while unfortunately, she's still stuck operating in secrecy amidst a bunch of governments also operating in secrecy.

Marcel appointed Cleone as Risur's Minister of Industry following his crowning as king in Adventure 9. Her primary duty was to begin the process of managing industry in Risur given the party's agreement to conditionally deindustrialize the country outside of Flint. Cleone took this work seriously when she could, consulting Beshela for fey input on her plans, although she struggled with discomfort over her increasingly permanent-seeming ties to Risur until the Forward Symposium hivemind incident occurred.

With a Danoran revolution in Adventure 10-11 and the prospect of rebuilding in the future, Cleone decided to return to Danor once the Obscurati is no longer a threat, as she is needed there more. Unfortunately for her, that need seems to be strongest in the area of trustworthy leadership...and although Cleone would prefer not to get involved in politics, her sense of responsibility and love for Danor are pushing her to do it anyway. This would come to a head after capturing Han Jierre at Axis Island: in the face of Eloise Duffet's rule, Cleone fully accepted that she would have to step up to guide Danor towards a better future. In an attempt to make a less corrupt and more transparent Danor, she requested that Marcel and Gatria not interfere in Danor's elections; whether they listened is unknown to her.

After Adventure 9, Cleone learned from Ashima Shimtu (via Alais) that she would have to make a major choice relating to the eladrin's future. This would turn out to be a decision on what to do with the remains of Srasama's power when she met Dala-as-Srasama on Ascetia in Adventure 12. Cleone chose to designate another person to challenge Srasama for her power: Kasavarina, loved by both Cleone and Dala. Dala entrusted her power to Cleone to pass on to Kasavarina.

## Notable Past Lives

* Lanza Campana: A Crisillyiri soldier who was present at Srasama's death.
* Paolo (first): Immigrated from Crisillyir to Ber and started a family. Died the patriarch of a large household.
* Paola: Found and taken in by Paolo's family, who continued to treat her as the household's grandfather. Died young of illness, never having left her hometown.
* Paolo (second): Also taken in by the original Paolo's family and given the same treatment as Paola. Eventually left to see the world as Paola never did, which eventually influenced Cleone's interest in working at Risur's RHC.
* Emrys Platt: A Slate jeweler who befriended Caroline Romana.
* Arden: Several consecutive lives manipulated and taken advantage of by a minor crime gang in the Malice Lands, generally used as a sacrificial scapegoat to be retrieved upon reincarnation.
* Ivona: An Arden who got away from her gang and changed her name. Went on the run with her predecessor's lover before stumbling on Ushanti's borders and was murdered by vengeful assassins.
* Alastor: Taken in by Kasavarina Varal after his birth. Joined the Obscurati to improve the world after remembering the truth of Srasama's fall.