Dame Solveig

The beautiful, fair-haired dame knight of the White Rose leading the charge against the Infernal Pact in Bregate with the Inquisitor Banys Cindershield in the days before the Fifth Crusade, **Solveig** was a loyal paladin sworn to the White Rose until the revelation of the full extent of Tyffayne's evil, and the truth of the Wilted Rose. The paladin escaped the fallen Monastery and made way to join the Dawn's Herald and the Last Kingdom, eventually becoming the leader of the fallen order after Knight-Commander Lemuel's departure. Throughout her life, Solveig was devoted yet serene, a calming presence like soft light.

## History

In 5E.1521, Solveig was the Dame given charge of the Broken Sword, a dilapidated tavern and secret Solist sanctuary in the city of Bregate. Banys Cindershield served as her partner and a representive of the Inquisition. Hailing from Bregate, Solveig was raised by farmers from a far-northern bloodline until their deaths pressed her to join the Goldsworn. Frustration and disillusionment soon followed, and Solveig gave herself to the church. Solveig became a close apprentice to Tyffayne and a potential candidate for the six wraiths of the Blade in the Dark - in truth, her Lieutenant-Commander and the five Knight-Captains that rode at her side. Kept in the dark by her Dame-Commander, Solveig thus believed wholeheartedly in the mission of the White Rose.

The dame was sent to her homeland to pursue and destroy the diabolist corruption that had long taken root there. Solveig spent much of her time simply chasing shadows, never finding Caer Cythraul nor any of the smaller Infernal Pact strongholds throughout the city. Eventually, Father Anselm of Blackbridge uncovered an apparent Infernal Pact conspiracy involving the assassinations of Father Tihomir of Blackbridge and Bishop Niall of Bregate. Anselm sent his agents - the Heroes of Blackbridge - to Bregate, to join forces with Solveig and hunt down the Nine-Pointed Star. Although Solveig, Banys, and the adventurers were unsuccessful at finding Caer Cythraul, and were forced to deal with Lord-Inquisitor Judicaël always breathing down their necks, they did uncover vital information relating to the disappaerance of Dulcinea Gardner, and likewise rescued Aeron Cyrill from Farquhar Thorne of the Infernal Pact, slaying the dark Vicar in the successful rescue attempt. Peredur Gower's departure and the end of the Heroes of Blackbridge thereafter, along with the formation of the Fifth Crusade, lead to the end of the White Rose and the Inquisition's joint mission against the Infernal Pact. Solveig returned to the White Rose, where she was promoted to Dame-Lieutenant; she would serve the Dame-Commander and her six closest knights on numerous occasions, secretly being prepared to become a replacement for a wraith of the Blade in the Dark, one of the knights of the fiendish Praetorian Guard.

Solveig would later meet the Dawn's Herald, first while fighting as a participant in the Grand Tourney of the Summer Solstice of 5E.1522; later, they would meet again, in the tomb of Mère Fleur, beneath the ruins of Lagarde. Solveig had bent sent by Tyffayne to find Sir Yannick Florian, the former Knight-Commander of the White Rose, before Pelleas or Tyffayne, who had left the Order around Tyffayne's rise and had last been seen in Lagarde. Solveig was tasked with returning the wayward knight to the order. Solveig soon found Yannick, but also found the Child of Stars and Lady Quirelle Moridhel, demon cultists who had taken over the fallen Bregatian ruin. Solveig assisted Yannick and later, the Dawn's Herald, in capturing Lagarde; in the aftermath of the battle, however, Jae Florian's fall and the shaky yet honorable example of the Dawn's Herald lead Yannick to stay with the Order. Solveig accepted his decision and returned to the Monastery of the White Rose, herself sadly departing from old friends to return to monastic life. However, not long after her return, she was taken to the dungeons of the Monastery. Solveig managed to escape the brothers and sisters of the Wilted order and traveled south to Lagarde after the Sunscourge Heresy. Finding the Dawn's Herald broken, she joined with the Last Kingdom and took up their shield, becoming Lemuel's successor as Dame-Commander of the Dawn's Herald under the last of House Arvendon.