Character Facts
I recently did a "like the post and I'll give a random fact" run over on Bluesky, and I'm bringing all the ones from Liege Doomveil's cast over here for a compilation on update day!
Liege's ideal date would be something like a wine tasting or a coffee meetup, where he can focus on his date, track all the exits and maybe not get thrown off of something too high up.
Liege and Librina are both obsessed with Crimsonheart for completely different reasons, but neither of them know that he and Victor are the same person. In Liege's defense, he's PROBABLY never met Victor. I will not be defending Librina at this time.
The Princesses are all more or less within a few years/months of each other - Dawn is oldest, Hazel is youngest and Sandra was born the winter before Ruby's spring birthday.
Meanwhile, listing oldest to youngest on the Shadowmurk Empire's upper class, you have Ominous, Alkamilla, Liege and Grime.
Ominous IS younger than he appears to be ("on account of the incident/curse", etc) but he is also appropriately old enough to be the father figure in the cast.
Liege easily becomes one of those people who gets obsessively into spicy food as soon as he understands there is a perceived Strength in becoming tolerant of it.
The cast and characters we know would generally be fine with cats with several caveats; Hazel would not want them near her bees for the bees' safety, Liege can't have them around Harbinger for the CATS' safety, Grime makes most animals very uncomfortable, and Index is allergic.
Grime doesn't really "need to eat"; however… he likes to be included if there's food and he can consume matter, and fluids, after a fashion. It is not especially pleasant to see.
Grime ALSO doesn't sleep, but he does need to be run through a filter, sometimes…he doesn't really enjoy the process.
A lot of Theta's villain motivation is from a very "why do you keep throwing fun-looking parties and not inviting me" place, and it transitioning to "aren't you kind of old for these parties?" has made it worse.
I think some of you WILL find it consoling to know that Index's choices have tanked his reputation in his home, even if his neighbors all have to smile and make nice about him being around (his castle has all the magical relics, now...)
Alkamilla has figured "if Liege finds the right partner he will either defeat Crimsonheart, or maybe, finally, obsess over the new partner, instead" and while it IS a solution, she is putting a LOT of expectation on this person.
As of the story's opening, Ruby went from an involved social life being the designated negotiator of five mostly unified kingdoms, to only seeing her Castle Staff, City Council, and People Trying To Take Over Her Kingdom, for the past year or so.
Reeves thinks he is Victor's best friend. Victor probably thinks of Clouwn as his best friend. Clouwn does not believe that friendship should have a hierarchy.
Liege has an incredibly spotty grasp on etiquette despite trying to appear as regal as any surface king, with table manners being low on his priorities since he's definitely NEVER been to anything remotely like a dinner party.
Shadowmurk doesn't use coins or traditional money, but Alkamilla specifically will pawn off stolen goods to obtain foreign currency. Some of it funds schemes when needed, but mostly she just has a modest hoard.
Ominous is the last member of a generation that insisted that surface water is not "better" than the water supply they have underground just because it's "cleaner", but it's no longer a hill he's willing to die on.
Theta has not regretted avoiding having kids or raising young children, or throwing the people who told her "you might change your mind…!" into The Bog.
I don't think Liege knows who Reeves is or what function he serves in the castle. He might not even know his NAME...? Alkamilla probably knows, so, he's covered.
Ruby learned because she used to hang out with the princesses in The Evertides, but Reeves and Librina don't know how to swim. (neither does Victor - it just doesn't come up! if you put Crimsonheart in a chamber that slowly fills with water he just punches his way out, anyways…)
Hazel can ALSO swim, and is not put off by any bug or insectlike creatures, but used to have an irrational fear of fish; the idea of being in a large body of water you can't see deep into that could have a big fish in it still kind of gives her dread.
Alkamilla will tell you she doesn't have any "irrational" fears because she's "a genius with too many REAL problems", and while the phrasing is a bit arrogant, it's not like it's a lie.
Vilgorr smells better than you think he would for a lizard/cat-man, what with all the hot tubbing, but he DOES have a musky odor. Meanwhile, Liege doesn't smell BAD, but you can usually notice he has a metallic or chemical smell from being around tanks, weapons, the regeneration pod, or SOMETHING…
Ominous had made several attempts to teach Liege how to play a musical instrument but Liege kept losing interest, and only halfway knows a few things. As a bonus point: Ominous still knows HOW but struggles with his hands, physically; Alkamilla still knows piano/etc.
Librina started working at the castle a ways into the many-many years Vermillion was spent under attack and she has no idea how close to danger she came in terms of Victor and Reeves wondering if she was some elaborate disguise for a scheme from Alkamilla.
Hazel is the only person on this list who I think has a living biological parent. As mentioned before, Ominous is a parental FIGURE, but other than that, these are a lot of characters whose whole lives have been Situations.
Dawn is the only "Princess" in the setting who has had combat training, as a result of her fixation on Crimsonheart, which also qualified her to be a singular ruling figure despite being unwed, in Argent. Other princesses have a council or a higher authority running things.
Ruby used to sleepwalk a lot (usually wandering around the upper level of the castle singing and spooking the staff) following An Incident in her past, but as an adult she just has constant anxiety dreams and trouble falling asleep.
Victor sleeps VERY deeply and excessively, and it is absolutely tied to the constant magical transformations.
Vilgorr acquired ruling authority of Carnivora more recently after a period of conflict once the prior Archskull was deposed, so he is starting his Princess Kidnapping Quests somewhat late in the game.
Alkamilla is absolutely putting on a more distant and snarky display version of herself and pretending she doesn't care about people as much as she really does.
Don't call it irrational or fear unless you want to be intensely lectured or corrected; Liege simply finds birds DISTASTEFUL.
