Lucille Montgomery

*“The mask of self-deception was no longer a mask for me, it was a part of me. Night lifted it, laying bare the stifled truth below; but there was no one to see except myself. I knew that the King in Yellow had opened his tattered mantle and there was only God to cry to now.”*

-Lucille Montgomery

## History

When Lucille Montgomery was twenty-six, she was an up and coming civil servant while her brother Anthony worked as a porter in the Hotel Bellerose. This was the year that Charlotte Bellerose died giving birth to Cassilda Lucretia Scaevola, an event that Anthony told her all about. Scaevola visited St. Franz's College before his return, and his familiar was gone. Lucille observed the changes that had overcome him; though his outward behavior was the same, he seemed to be going through the motions of his life, and became more of a passive observer of events than an active participant. He ceased to write encyclicals, and seemed unconcerned by disintegration and decay.

Shortly after she turned thirty-one, Lucille Montgomery was dispatched as the Special Envoy to the Funeral Games of Bolgar of Ragnarok. She served as a dignity alongside Kaiserin Reise Forrawyn, General Hermann Shriver of the Hexenjägers, and First Minister Havryil Vasylyshyn of Nadezhda. This was her first view of the outside world, and she was first Arendurian to enter an international forum since the War of the Philosopher-Kings. She was amazed to see that some of the dignitaries looked at her with fear, some with hate, and others with mockery. She took the opportunity to learn as much as she could, learning much about her homeland's history from individuals such as Bron Ironstout of Gandoral, Khamsa of Ragnarok, and Ramander of World's End. She returned with a radically different perspective of her identity as an Arendurian. She researched as much as she could about Arendur before the *damnatio memoriae*, and uncovered a great deal about Scaevola. She learned about his betrayal of their homeland, and his efforts to wipe our their memories and national identity. She grew to hate the Pontiff, deeming him an unworthy ruler. She kept her beliefs to herself and eventually rose to become Cardinal Secretary of State. An opportunity was presented to her when she learned of Shorden Hiem's mysterious illness following the Second Northern Expedition, of his ownership of the Pallid Mask (a fact she had originally learned from Khamsa), and put facts together in her head to conclude that Scaevola had masterminded his sacrifice so that the King in Yellow could be summoned in to the world. She wants the party to uncover proof in the north that she can present to the Kaiserin. She wants to see the Pontiff tried and executed, to become Pontiff of New Arendur, and to push Leo Calixte Desjardins as far from the levers of power as possible.

Montgomery wants to use the arrival of the Kaiserin to overthrow Scaevola and take his place as Pontiff. She despises him as a traitor to the nation. In this plan she is an ally of Colonel Albrecht Kurz, and is a patron of his warrior lodge, Maskerade. It was he who taught her the art of counterspelling. She also has the allegiance of Isaac Icarus and other wealthy industrialists, and is allied with Robert Patenaude and the New Arendurian Colonial Legion.

Sister of Anthony Montgomery, the owner of the Hotel Bellerose. They are on good terms, but rarely talk.

Her familiar is a dire wolf named Amarok.

## Personality

*“The historians will write of our suffering, and they will speak of it as the suffering of those who served the King in Yellow. As something … fitting. And for our seeming fanaticism they will dismiss all that we were, and think only of what we achieved. Or failed to achieve. And in so doing, they will miss the whole point.”*

-Lucille Montgomery

Cardinal Montgomery is considered to be a good mentor, and is well-liked by those who serve her. She is the most fervent advocate of the execution pageants, and finds them rapturous.

As one of the older members of the Church, Lucille Montgomery knows the truth behind the *damnatio memoriae.*Unlike Scaevola, who wishes to suppress the truth, Desjardins, who is indifferent to it, and Landry, who is too young to know it, Montgomery has not forgotten her heritage. If she had her way, she would lift the *damnatio memoriae*, for she is Arendurian to the bone, and not the slightest bit ashamed.