Frankish Heroes

Heroes and Agents of the Fourth Paradisium Republic

Emperor Napoleon XXXIX (45): Adventurer, Initiative, Lucky, Take Hits
The current scion of the millennial Bonaparte family, since Napoleon ascended the throne of his forebears what once appeared to be only the most recent of a hundred sleepy reigns of a dynasty thrown down and in exile on an isolated backwater has become an attempt to destroy the ancient Mind Flayer Imperium and rebuild one of the great, fallen Empires of Man. He is a proud (but not ungracious or arrogant) man, forced to go hat-in-hand around known space by the appearance of the Flayer armada at Montpelier in 1003 NE. But Napoleon is determined to continue the Flayer War. For him, the Second Crusade was only one campaign in the larger conflict, one he always speaks of in the present tense.

Though a competent general and admiral (now with experience of a war conducted on a scale not seen perhaps in a thousand years) and an able administrator, Napoleon does not display the epochal brilliance in command of his namesake. Nor can he match the talent, experience, and specialist training that made his wife such a valuable leader of the Frankish home front during the Crusade. Ultimately the events of recent years have shown that Napoleon possesses a far more archaic, for a ruler at least, skillset: as testified by his ancient mithril sword and suit of primium full plate, Napoleon XXXIX is a warrior.

Empress Danielle Bonaparte (39): Leader, Official, Minister of Armaments, Dynast, Mother of the Heir(s)
Danielle Bonaparte, née Aulac comes from a middling family from the Frankish capital of Montauban on Franco Domini. Like many of her predecessors, she attended a series of elite preparatory schools before beginning to climb the ranks of the imperial service nobility, initially developing specialties in monetary and housing policy. She became the mistress of Napoleon XXXIX shortly after his ascension to the throne in 989 NE. During the Second Crusade, Danielle played an even-increasing role in the administration of the Republic. This trend culminated in an official regency that lasted for most of 1005 NE, while Napoleon was conducting the crusade’s final campaign and, afterwards, attempting to stabilize the thrice-shattered world of Montpelier. This tenure saw Danielle mature fully into a shrewd planetary administrator, overseeing every aspect of the home front during the massive Frankish war effort. Besides developing diplomatic skills and connections (primarily with Frankish allies and investors in civilian infrastructure), Danielle devoted the lion’s share of her attention to industrial development and military procurement.

In 1006, upon the emperor’s return, the two were married, shortly after the birth of twins to Danielle. Though the regency has ended, Danielle has substantially maintained her role; as the emperor prepares to carry the war to the enemy, there is little doubt that Danielle will continue to administer—many would admit that “rule” is not an inappropriate term—the empire in much of its day-to-day functioning.

Edmond Dantes (40): Edmond Dantes, Leader, Admiral, Veteran of the Psychic Wars, Damn the Torpedoes, Fleet Actions
Born to a working-class family on Orleans, in 985 NE Edmond Dantes followed his brother into the Imperial Frankish Navy at the age of eighteen. Losing none of his vulgarity or love of fast living, by the time of the clearing of the ether storms and the discovery of Montpelier, he had, again like his brother, achieved a captain’s rank and command of a Frankish cruiser. He was present at the first Battle of Montpelier, when the Mind Flayer armada obliterated the core of the Frankish navy. Unlike his brother, he survived. Dantes became the leader of the famed Fleet in Exile, preserving the survivors of the battle largely through the discovery of a secret abandoned fleet base and super carrier in the out-system. Since the liberation of Montpelier and the cataclysmic battle at Jospin, he has been promoted to admiral and is now the foremost officer in the Fourth Republic’s fleet. Dantes is well-known as a hawk and an imperialist.

Montpelier

Raphael Baudelaire, Marshal of the Republic, Lord of the Black Frank Clans (33): Adventurer, Black Frank, Initiative, Move Faster, Hit Harder
Raphael Baudelaire comes from an old money family based in the great northern island chain of Orleans. Ether barons, his lineage is as close to aristocracy as can be found in Frankish society. An officer in the Young Guard stationed on Montpelier when the Flayer armada struck, Baudelaire was one of the very few survivors from the Frankish army destroyed on that world. Nevertheless, his homecoming is deferred indefinitely, and his family is faced with the strange and painful task of mourning one yet living.

For reasons known only to the vanished Flayer High Priest Namu-Aklith, if even to it, Baudelaire was the nucleus around which the Black Franks formed. He was the first of this new kind of slave super soldier, and their leader from their first days through all the time of their treachery and still today, when they have been brought back into Paradise – or at least set to ward its outer reaches. Baudelaire has been made Steward of Montpelier, and is supreme commander of all Black Franks as well as of the freed thralls and Kasarki from Illithid slave worlds who now fight for the Republic.

The Wretched Coven

Xa-Reth-Qe the Slave (???): Leader, Savant, Archmage, Witch’s Circle, Undead, Illithid

Thrayunsroch the Slave (???), Leader, Savant, Archmage, Astral Wanderer, Loremaster, Undead, Illithid

Nos-Asuran the Slave (???): Leader, Savant, Archmage, Archaeologist, Indiana Jones, Undead, Illithid