Castle Falkenstein Characters

Morwena Mayfaire

Name: Morwene Mayfaire

Dramatic Character Type: Wizard

Grand Passion: To Improve the Lot of All Humanity Through Enlightened Thought and Reason

Nemesis: Lady Eliza Enchanteé, Malicious Mesmerist

Goals:

Avocational: To Found the True Society of Harmony

Professional: To Become the Grand Worthy Matron of the Theosophic Daughters of Lemuria

Social: To Be Accepted Into the Great Halls of Highest Society Where Her Message and Passion Can Be Realized

Attributes:

Charisma (Great)

Comeliness (Great)

Mesmerism (Great)

Social Graces (Great)

Connections (Good)

Exchequer (Good)

Education (Good)

Sorcery (Good)

Fencing (Poor)

Fisticuffs (Poor)

Marksmanship (Poor)

Tinkering (Poor)

Languages:

English

French

German

Latin

Description: Dark haired and dark eyed, compellingly charming and charmingly compelling, Morwena Mayfaire is a lady to be reckoned with. While she is a very cerebral, forward‑thinking, charitable and passionate woman, she is just a little too sheltered and unwordly and therefore convinced of the Inherent Goodness of Man. As a staunch advocate for Harmony, she is loathe to violence in any form, but it pressed, will nonviolently defend herself with her spells, her skills or her gadgets. She is also a true believer of Theosophy and in past lives and reincarnation.

Possessions: Exceptionally feminine casual and formal outfits, “mystic” mesmeric crystal broaches, pendants, earrings and rings for jewelry, broach pin (capable of envenoming the pin with a soporific drug), pocket watch (trick chloroform atomizer), signet ring (secret focus), elegant gloves (signal whistle).

Diary: Details of past lives experiences; maps and diagrams of mystic places associated with the Lemurians; social notes and contacts; notes on her attempts at spellcasting; list of people she mesmerized and details of the occasion;

History: (From the Russell’s Social Notes column in the London Times) “The London Scene welcomes an encouraging newcomer to its ranks. Miss Morwena Mayfaire was introduced at the salon of the Lady Worthington this past Tuesday evening during the monthly meeting of the London chapter of the Theosophic Daughters of Lemuria. The charmingly compelling Miss Mayfaire demonstrated a wondrous facility of the Mesmeric arts at the meeting and later spoke with great passion on the ancient harmonious society that the Daughters aspire to recreate. She is presently residing as a guest of the Lady Worthington and comes with excellent references from the Athena Club.”

Morwena Mayfaire lived a sheltered life for most of her existence, until her talent for Sorcery became apparent at the relatively late age of 22. By that time she was already a member of the Theosophic Daughters through her mother and a passionate student of the art of Mesmerism. She was secretly recruited into the Illuminated Brotherhood through the offices of the Grand Master, who saw something in her that passed beyond anything her parents or even she suspected. Morwena was thrilled to be a part of the mysterious Brotherhood, especially considering their stated aims at improving Society from behind the scenes, a philosophy she fully accepted. She now acts as a free agent under the direction of her secretive superiors within the Brotherhood, reporting to them the information she acquires and awaiting the opportunity to demonstrate her abilities and her character to the Brotherhood in full.

Magic: She is openly a member of the Theosophic Daughters of Lemuria, even down to bearing the sigil of the order, the tattoo of the third eye on the back of her neck. She is also secretly an initiate of the Journeyman rank of the Illuminated Brotherhood of Bayern. As such, she has access to all the sorcerous lore of the Daughters and the Manuscriptum Mentalis of the Brotherhood.

The Secret Mysteries of the Lemurian Masters
A (not‑so‑secret) compilation of Theosophic philosophy and purported occult history interspersed almost randomly with several spells devoted to psychic abilities. The words are inscribed in silver on plates of mother‑of‑pearl, bound between silvered mirrors inscribed with the sigil of the Third Eye. It contains the following spells:

• Grant the Astral Spirit Wings (4 ♠) allows the caster to release their etheric astral self and project it to any physical location in the world. While in this state, the caster’s body is immobile and defenseless.
• Sharing Confidences (8 ♥) establishes telepathic communication between two individuals. Neither individual can lie without the other immediately knowing it. If a second such spell is cast upon either individual, the existing spell is cancelled.
• Relive the Past Existence (10 ♥) places the subject into a deep trance in which they may be questioned regarding details of a past life or lives. These past lives may be roughly determined prior to casting, or left up to the inherent wisdom of the present or past life. (Whether any particular past life was their own, or whether they were actual lives and not just the imagination of the subject, is still debatable, despite the assurances of the Order.)
• Open the Window Upon the Past (12 ♦) causes a mirror to display scenes from the distant past. The focus of the scenes is determined during the casting and cannot be changed.

The Benefits of Harmonious Living
A slender, pocket‑sized volume of philosophy of the Society of Harmony, bound in leather. However, hidden within the text and encoded in the diagrams and illustrations is the following spell:

• Induce Trance (6 ♥) places the subject into a deep mesmeric trance. (According to the text, casting this spell requires sorcerer to perform a number of mystic mesmeric passes across the recumbant body of the subject: all of this is quite unnecessary.)

Note: Sometimes a character arrives full-blown into my head. Sometimes, however, they have to fight to be formed. This was one of them. When I was going through the bottom shelves of my roleplaying gaming library, I uncovered my Castle Falkenstein books. Taking a casual read through them turned into a process of character creation, as the character of Morwena struggled into being.