Carmine Duvall – Vampire Courtesan

The daughter of a stablemaster and horse breeder in the village of Vestmeer. Carmine’s youth was like most others who lived in the idyllic countryside of Greypeak, spent huddling indoors in harsh winters and frolicking in the meadows during the summers. Her family were Freibeaurn, freeholding farmers whose land was earned through blood, sweat and generations of diligent labor, selling prized stallions to the nobles of Greypeak. Their debt as serfs had long since been paid, and they owed no allegiance to the ruling baron of the time, save for taxation and times of war. Yet, when the seated lord disappeared, and Baroness Noctra de Blanc emerged as his heir-apparent soon after, this freedom would come into question. The Baroness had visited the village soon after her ascension, a move to cement her authority, and found herself particularly enamoured by the rustic beauty of Carmine. To the Duvall family, instead of enforcing a renewed debt to the Baroness, she offered them absolvement for their owings, in exchange for the service of their eldest daughter in her home at Castle Beaufax. Whilst her parents protested the arrangement, Carmine found herself somehow drawn to the Baroness, and, excited at the prospect of working in a luxurious castle, agreed. Whilst she knew the claims of the Baroness were fictitious, she did not want her parents to be caught in a losing battle, and offering herself as a household servant seemed like a smaller price to pay than her family falling into a new generation of debt. The journey there left Carmine anxious; the Baroness’ initial warmth and charisma had been replaced by a cold and calculating malice. It was folklore in villages south of the Reinmarks that Castle Beaufax was a cursed and abandoned place of the Second Era, and any who travelled there did not return. Though this Baroness had made it her home, and to the locals, that in itself was intimidating enough, to conquer such a powerful superstition. Carmine’s fate thereafter became a mystery to her family, for soon after arrival, Noctra had her turned into her immortal companion, one bound to her word and rule, her enchanting beauty a powerful weapon against the minds of mere men. Carmine thus became the Baroness’ face for promoting her masquerades and parties, travelling across the Reinmarks and most of southern Greypeak, enchanting any would-be guests to attend in hopes they might be privy to a conversation with her there, or more. All were ignorant to the fact that Carmine was already taken by the Baroness, behind the veil of the masquerade, yet within they still tried their chance with her. Those who thought they had succeeded, simply found themselves becoming her latest meal, watching in horror as they were paralyzed and drained of all their blood. Carmine was Noctra’s trophy, a prized possession that most men dreamt of stealing. Though in all this time, Carmine’s own desires and loyalty to Noctra are not her own, but rather the same charming spell that she had been bound by since she first spoke with the Baroness nearly a decade ago.