Complexity: 2

Summary & Strategy: 

TBD

Bio

Born in 1602 in Lupiac, France, Beatrice lived in near poverty for much of her youth; her mother was a seamstress, her father a smith, and though once such had brought some measure of stability, changes among the ancien regime thrust her family into the verge of destitution. Beatrice's mother grew infirm and later bedridden, driving her father to ever more strenuous efforts to support the family—and Beatrice to help him in tending to his craft.

When Beatrice was a girl of twelve, a cruel nobleman by the name of Maximilien Sauvage commissioned her father for a rapier with exacting specifications, under the promise of a windfall of francs in payment. The blade proved exceptional when forged, after great care and effort were made in its creation, yet upon delivery, Sauvage rendered payment by way of demonstrating its efficacy with her father.

Unable to contend with the grief of such a loss, Beatrice's mother passed soon after, leaving her orphaned and forced to fend for herself by whatever means she could on the streets. Beatrice had long taken after her father and was a scrappy girl of surprising strength for her size; she often began to intercede in defense of other children beset by cruel japery and torment from more well-to-do miscreants.

However, Beatrice was discovered and taken in by Matilda Moreau, a young noblewoman who found herself taken after witnessing the fierce determination of the tempestuous tomboy. With Matilda, Beatrice grew and had an opportunity to bloom, receiving tutelage, food, and shelter; moreover, Matilda provided an opportunity for Beatrice to share the company of fighting men of the house, who themselves were bemused by her penchant for bold athleticism and the handling of a blade.

In the years that followed, Beatrice trained at many such a blade and received an education, the benevolence of her benefactor giving her an opportunity few were so fortunate to receive. Never once did she falter in her compassion for the downtrodden or her conviction in doing justice to the villain Sauvage. A woman grown, Beatrice learned of the whereabouts of her father's killer, seeking him out for a duel to right his many wrongs.

Though Beatrice departed alone against formidable odds, when Sauvage beset his lackeys upon her rather than face Beatrice herself, she found herself joined by swordsmen of remarkable skill and panache, emboldened by her daring bravado. Beatrice found Sauvage and demanded he face her. When it became clear that the impassioned duelist may well be his undoing, Sauvage faltered, and Beatrice was able to disarm him and leave the man with a terrible scar carved into his chest.

Before Beatrice had an opportunity to strike Sauvage down, reinforcements had arrived. She and her fellows were forced to flee, though not without recompense: she had reclaimed the marvelous blade her father had forged all those years ago and deemed it Gallant's Gleam. Thereafter, Beatrice took up the mantle and regalia of a musketeer and proved herself a brilliant duelist with no shortage of derring-do or brash bravado; she pursued tyranny wherever she went, defending the defenseless as ever was her way.

All the while, Beatrice remained determined to put an end to Maximilien Sauvage; his prided wounded, Sauvage was similarly taken by a desire for revenge, however, and in an effort to draw Beatrice into a trap, he took up Matilda as a hostage. Once again, Beatrice would face formidable odds, but this time, Sauvage was better prepared. In the ensuing melee, Sauvage slew Matilda in an effort to make Beatrice lose her composure, and with another beloved taken from her by Sauvage, she became reckless in those moments.

Something neither could have anticipated then interceded: a schism in space and time torn through reality as a conflict unfolding in a far-removed era spilled over into Beatrice's world. Together, Sauvage's estate and all within it were cast into the great flux that ensued, and Beatrice found herself in the company of myriad men and women of strange garb and phenomenal abilities in the midst of a pitched but losing battle.

Faced, then, with a new threat—beings of unfathomable wickedness and wholly alien form—and seeing the heroic strangers steeped against nigh impossible odds, Beatrice scarcely hesitated: she joined the fray in their defense, despite a seemingly unassailable gulf of force, power, and technological prowess.

Fate, it seems, had imbued Beatrice with a powerful boon, and though she was merely a mortal displaced in time, with only her wits, blade, and extravagant hat, the Duelist soon demonstrated remarkable feats of athleticism, alacrity, and precision, with apparent strength that her form would not possibly provide. More still, Gallant's Gleam proved startlingly effective against armaments and arsenal that should well have been impervious to a mere rapier.

Beatrice's intervention gave the heroes sufficient time to regroup and withdraw, which she followed in a fighting retreat. Far from home and her own time, and now possessing amazingly heightened prowess, there was little doubt in her heart: tyrants, whatever their form, sought to sow misery and ruin, and Sauvage was still out there among them.