Enchantress Evangeline Hellebore

Art by AishaSoup

### Family

Dr. Ignatius Hellebore (Husband), Lily Hellebore (Daughter), Dr. Piper Hellebore (Son)

## Campaign Appearances

### Main Campaign(s)

Deadbeats

**Enchantress Evangeline Hellebore** is the matriarch of the Hellebore family. As the mother of Piper Hellebore, she is constantly at her wit's end with her son's misadventures, but loves him unconditionally nonetheless.

## Description

### Appearance

Evangeline Hellebore is a tall curvaceous elvish woman with ashen grey skin and deep red eyes. Her long white hair travels down to her hips, with her very long bangs covering her right eye in a "peek-a-boo" style. She is usually seen dressed completely in black, wearing a simple black dress covered with floral patterns. A thigh-high slit travels along the left side of the dress, revealing a long set of grey stocking underneath. She also wears a large wide brimmed black hat resembling a halo hat. Her accessories to this ensemble consists of a simple gold necklace, a long white wand and the animated skeleton of a bird that perches on top of her head.

### Personality

Evangeline Hellebore is a gentle and patient woman who cares deeply for all members of her family. Though her son Piper may exasperate her with his escalating antics, she is still very supportive of him and tried to discreetly assist him without her husband's knowledge. Though she admits to hiding information from Piper, she does make it clear she has only his best interests at heart. She cares more about the members of family rather than their reputation or achievements, as she consistently tries to hold the family together and mediate between the squabbling parties. This puts her in a difficult position, forcing her to keep Piper at bay to placate her husband despite very much not wanting to.

An interesting facet of her character is her refusal to use necromancy on sapient beings. Though a very talented necromancer, she limits herself to performing on animals, showing a strong moral commitment by doing so. The only time she broke this code was to bring back her son after his accident. This infers that Mrs. Hellebore will cross any lines she needs to for the sake of her family.

## History

### Background

Evangeline Hellebore's early life is not yet known. What is known is that she studied necromancy for most of her life, becoming very accomplished at the craft. However, she refused to perform such magics on sapient beings, restricting herself to only raising animals. At some point, she met Dr. Ignatius Hellebore and married him along with later having two children; Lily and Piper. Evangeline Hellebore greatly loved her children and would devote her life to guiding and nurturing them in ways her strict husband could not seem to muster.

### Life in Alabhastar

The new family initially settled in the Ark of Alabhastar. During their time there, the family became acquainted with the Whiskers clan, a pious family devoted to Haio. Evangeline Hellebore was fond of their children, especially her son's new best friend, Dash Whiskers. At some point, she and her son used necromancy to raise Dash's pet cat Cheddar. However, the rest of the Whiskers family did not warm to her or her family so readily. Eventually, due to yet unknown circumstances, the Whiskers would forcibly run the Hellebore family out of town a few years after meeting, with Evangeline Hellebore's penchant for necromancy being a probable contributor. The Hellebores relocated the Qethos Ark and settled in a manor just outside of Llwendolyn.

### Piper's Accident

Evangeline Hellebore continued to raise her children in Llwendolyn, which lead to Lily joining the Church of Hollow and Piper pursuing a doctorate in alchemy not unlike his father. She would also pass on some of her necromantic knowledge to her son whenever she could. However, though Lily's pursuits were mostly respectable, her son started to cause her and the family no small amount of grief. Piper, upon completing his doctorate, started to engage in more dangerous and illicit behavior, leading to multiple arrests all over Io. He also became distant from the family, leaving Llwendolyn to live on his own and avoid his judgmental father. Evangeline Hellebore did her best to ease the tensions between the two and attempted to support Piper from a distance with funds and gentle advice.

However, her efforts did little to stop her son's downward spiral, which eventually came to a head. During an alchemical experiment, Piper accidentally caused an explosion that killed him. Upon hearing of her son's demise, Evangeline Hellebore rushed to his aid, enlisting the help of her daughter. For the sake of her beloved child, she committed herself to breaking her moral code and doing what she swore never to do: to perform necromancy on another person. Together with Lily, the two reconstructed Piper's body using a multitude of different body parts. Through a potent necromantic ritual, Evangeline Hellebore was able to resurrect Piper as an undead. Though she wished to spare her son the pain of remembering his death, her husband pressured her into making him remember, stating it was a lesson he sorely needed. However, the resurrection came with unforeseen consequences, as the reconstructed brain caused Piper to start suffering from a severe personality disorder, causing the creation of a second persona named "Dr. Hellebore". This mental imbalance only caused Piper to act more irrationally, leading to yet another arrest in the nearby city of Xiros.

## Phase 3 Story

### A Call from the Blue

Some months after Piper's latest arrest, Evangeline Hellebore received a call from an unknown number. The caller turned out to be none other than Piper. Taken aback, Mrs. Hellebore was even more surprised to hear Piper was out of jail and that Cooper Whiskers had apparently be contacted by someone to get him out. Piper then asked if he could come home, as he had just had a conversation with her husband that resulted in Ignatius effectively disowning him. Mrs. Hellebore explained that she did indeed want him to come home, but his father had forbade it, being particularly furious with Piper. She unwilling requested Piper stay out if his father's way for now and she would try and talk to Ignatius and calm him down. Not letting up, Piper then asked if he could come to Lily's wedding, having not been previously informed or invited. Again, Mrs. Hellebore reiterated that she did want him to be there, but there was a lot of things happening that Piper was not aware of and it would be potentially get Piper in a lot of trouble if he did attend. Piper started getting increasingly anxious, prompting Evangeline Hellebore to help him calm down and center himself.

Evangeline Hellebore then learned Piper was currently in Jotun in Southern Ishtar and he was with Dash. Evangeline Hellebore, pleasantly surprised, told Piper to say hello for her, only for Piper to put Dash on the phone. Evangeline Hellebore then inquired about if Cooper got in touch with Dash, explaining that Cooper contacted her yesterday asking after his brother and that he seemed very agitated. Dash was confused by that, prompting Piper to take back the phone. Evangeline Hellebore then offered to send Piper some money to keep him going, which Piper accepted. Piper also asked his mother to pass on his apologies to Lily, which she agreed to. Before hanging up, Evangeline Hellebore uneasily asked about Piper's alter ego, to which Piper assured her that the "other one" was currently under control and that he also listened to Dash. Thoroughly stressed out by the call, Evangeline Hellebore pleaded with Piper to at least come back to Llwendolyn so she could see him, which Piper promised to do. Before hanging up, she warned Piper not to call the manor phone again, but her personal shardphone was available for him at any time, provide he was discreet. She also tried once again to ask him not to come to the wedding, and promised to explain it all to him later. She then ended the call to her son and set about transferring 2,000 credits to Piper's account.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Master of Necromancy:** Enchantress Evangeline Hellebore is very experienced in the art of necromancy and often raises animals as sentient undead, including Dash's cat Cheddar and her pet bird. She was also able to reconstructed the dismembered remains of her son with other body parts and raise him as undead as well.

## Etymology

"Hellebore" is the common name for a flowering plant from the *Helleborus* genus, consisting of approximately 20 species of mostly poisonous winter-flowering Eurasian plants of the buttercup family. The scientific name, coined by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, possibly comes from the Ancient Greek word *helléboros,* constructed from the words *heleîn* ("to injure") and *borá* ("food").

## Trivia

* SummersSalt's conception of the Hellebore family was inspired by the fictional Addams Family, created by American cartoonist Charles Addams in 1938. As such, Enchantress Evangeline Hellebore is likely an analogy for Morticia Addams.