Character Seventeen: Uzelea Zandrov

There was a lot of back and forth on this one in my mind. When seeing a lot of other folks discuss what they wanted to do they went Inquisitor and I was going to try and steer away from the pack. However, there was an idea that sparked in my head and it absolutely required that I go inquisitor, specifically the witch hunter archetype.

Duke Vistani Zandrov began his life of nobility in Ustalav inheriting the noble title of Earl from his father. Content in his place and eager to lead his people fairly and justly even with the horrors that seemed to befall Ustalav ever since the fall of the Whispering Tyrant, Earl Zandrov married and very quickly started a family.

His first born was a son and heir to the throne. After giving birth his wife fell sick for quite some time. Upon the return of her health she very quickly bore him a daughter. And three years after that another. The family was growing and the lands the Earl rules prospered.

When his elder daughter was eight there was upheaval in the realm, the Grand duke was assassinated and his line, all but one brother, fell in the ensuing war. During the upheaval the Duke was found to be the murderer, his family stripped of power. Earl Zandrov, ever loyal, was give the title of Duke and the lands of the traitor were his to administer.

Uzelea the middle daughter was ever at her mother’s side and as she aged her mother began to school her at home. Not completely understanding all of the lessons, the eldest daughter was being trained to be her mother’s scion. And in so doing she also began to drag the younger daughter into her mother’s web.

When she hit puberty and the changes began to happen her father made a dread realization. His wife was no longer his wife. A night hag had killed his beloved and stolen her soul. She had bred two progeny of her own with the Duke. She had even orchestrated the fall of the Grand Duke to escalate her “Husband” and bring more power to her progeny.

Before the Duke could confront the witch posing as his wife she fled. The hag vanished with her youngest and more impressionable daughter before she could be put to the flame. Uzelea was distraught, heartbroken that she led her own sister to this fate.

The Duke still loved his daughter with all his heart. He made to give her everything he could, but her rage over the betrayal of her mother was the only thing that drove her. She needed to find the hag and her sister and bring them back. But with no idea how to go about it she was stuck, the noble in a bleak house.

Uzelea’s search for answers brought the attention of others who wanted to see hags destroyed. A mystery cult of the Empyreal Lord Tanagaar. The divine beings purview over the night was constantly attacked by Alazhra’s faithful, the night hags and their control of dreams and nightmares. A seer from the cult came to Uzelea and offered to train her in the ways of the sacred witch hunters.

Now the Duke’s eldest daughter has left the confines of the castle. She roams the countryside of Ustalav in search of her wayward mother. Her only hope is that she finds her and kills her, and brings back her sister before any irreversible damage is done. If on the way she roots out any other of the witch kin then so be it.