Lucretia Del'Amore
(Player Character)
Alignment	<TBD>
Race/Species	Half-Elf (Variant Lineage)
Class	Artificer (Armorer)
Gender	Female
Born	Vanam 10, 962 AF
Age	34
Homeland	Greensgate
Diety	<TBD>

Lucretia Del'Amore was born into the Del'Amore family to a young Valerie Del'Amore and (presumably) Caladin Tar-vaniell, her first husband. Valerie's secret, whirlwind romance with Caladin was a rollercoaster of events, shrouded in mystery and clouded by a veil of gossip and half-truths. But the hard facts are this: Valerie and Caladin eloped together after their brief courting. Fifteen months later, Valerie returned, Lucretia in arm. With Caladin nowhere to be seen, and Valerie either unwilling or unable to speak, the head of House Del'Amore, Griswold Del'Amore, declared Valerie's marriage annulled and her inheritance forfeit. Lucretia herself was spared the fate of a bastard, but only because it suited the shrewd political machinations of Esmerelda, the family's matriarch. With time and effort, assisted substantially by Valerie's retirement from the political scene, Esmerelda was able to smooth over the worst of the gossip mongering, and maintain the Del'Amore family's carefully cultivated air of dour respectability.

Meanwhile, Lucretia was growing. And while she and her mother were kept carefully out of the limelight, it was quickly becoming obvious, even to casual observers that Lucretia was not just a prodigy, but a rare, once-in-a-century genius. At 2 years of age, she set her nursery on fire. With magic. Deliberately. In a fit of rage after being denied a favorite pastry, she sent a bolt of fire across the room, igniting a wardrobe. The curtains followed next, before finally the nanny was threatened directly. Rather than coming to an all too commonly tragic ending, the situation was resolved when Lucretia doused the fires as quickly as she had set them – once her demands were fulfilled, of course – and then returned to playing as though nothing had happened at all. The nanny never returned after that day, but in her place came an endless stream of brilliant tutors, strict mentors, and even the occasional playmate or suitor. Each intended to cultivate Lucretia's intellect, appease her wild tempers, or simply to garner favor with her or her family. And although the latter never went especially well for anyone who made the attempt, there were always more fools willing to try.

Lucretia's aptitude for the mechanical sciences started similarly early. At age 3, after nearly a year of intense tutelage, she devised a trebuchet both powerful and accurate enough to deliver a small payload (approximately the size of a grapefruit) within several feet of her target, at a range of approximately a quarter mile. This was purpose built and used exclusively for one occasion, to deliver a pointed refusal to a prospective playmate's invitation by way of a short letter and a homemade “Stink Capsule.” The intended outcome was to interrupt the evening meal at third course, as the soup was being served, by landing the projectile in the bowl of her target, a young Jophin Cidrin. After bouncing twice and crashing through a window, the projectile had deviated enough to land two place settings down the table in the bowl of the boy's aunt. No one was injured by the projectile or the broken glass, but the meal was successfully ruined and the dining hall was considered unusable for weeks until the stench finally dissipated. All of Lucretia's tutors at the time were immediately dismissed.

While at first glance this feat sounds ridiculous, certain factors contributed to Lucretia's success, not least of which was the tutelage of a young Johan Kalashov, who later distinguished himself as an expert in the field of siege engineering. Johan and Lucretia worked together closely on the trebuchet, and while the overall design and function of the device is largely attributed to Lucretia herself, it is doubtless that the construction and quality control fell to Johan, who is known to be meticulous in his craftsmanship. Regardless, the trebuchet was ultimately a mere prototype. It's proportions and capabilities would have been unsuitable for actual combat, and it was only capable of firing a single payload before requiring extensive repairs. Nevertheless, for a child of 3, such a feat still invites incredulity.

Though these anecdotes are merely highlights of Lucretia's prodigious intellect, they also exhibit the petulance, arrogance, and callousness that Lucretia's upbringing was cultivating. Her education came at great expense. An expense that her grandmother Esmerelda considered an investment that would one day provide equally exorbitant dividends. When Esmerelda passed away suddenly in early 965 AF, followed shortly by her husband and then-family head Griswold late that year, Lucretia's uncle Rhodan became head of the family. Rhodan did not share his mother-in-law's perspective on Lucretia's education. While he acknowledged Lucretia's intellect and the necessity of cultivating it, Rhodan believed that the prior approach lacked discipline, and was encouraging Lucretia to become a spoiled monster rather than a disciplined academic. Although he still hired tutors for Lucretia, Rhodan preferred teachers who were strict and rigid in their approach and whose lessons did not have collateral political fallout. He devised clever ways of punishing Lucretia when her pet projects got out of hand and seemed to take grim satisfaction in her dismay. Lucretia clearly resented the man, which in time may have grown into bitterness and anger, but the two of them did not have long to hate each other. Tragedy was about to uproot the entire Del'Amore clan.

Main Article: War of Three Houses

Lumina 17, 967 AF Shortly after Lucretia's 5th birthday, The Forest suddenly bloomed in the Del'Amore Valley, sparking a chain of events that would ultimately lead to war. Rhodan was lost in the sudden and chaotic flight from Ravenwatch, after which his wife Lorith assumed her role as head of the family. This was Lucretia's first experience of real loss, and of tragic events that were truly out of her control. Though she was not especially close to her uncle, his loss, along with the sudden loss of their ancestral home, shook her to her core. She remained inconsolable for weeks, even after the Ravenwatch refugees reached the Greensgate plains. Even into the early months of the war, Lucretia was not willing to leave her tent, or to speak with anyone except her mother. While they worried about her mood, Lucretia's family and their retainers had larger issues to concern themselves with. The fact that a nominally willful and independent Lucretia was content with cloistering herself in a relatively safe place made it easy to keep her contained and out from under foot. There was, after all, never an intent to involve the Del'Amore children in the war.

Her bleak mood continued unabated until Aru 20th, 968, the day her cousin Dorian was born, and the day her aunt Lorith died to complications of childbirth. Valerie, Lorith's elder sister, might have become the head of House Del'Amore then, despite losing her inheritance previously, but she possessed neither the will nor constitution for leadership. She instead allowed the mantle to fall to Lorith's eldest daughter, Moria. Although present for the proceedings, Lucretia, by now growing accustomed to death and politics, was enraptured by her infant cousin. From that moment onward, a pronounced shift in thinking began to take hold of Lucretia, and her bleak mood gradually began to dissapate. Though still very much a child, she began to take a keen interest in the proceedings of war, the weapons and tactics involved, the movement of troops, and the defense of encampments. Moria was annoyed more than once at being interrupted by her young cousin during war councils, but Lucretia's insights into enemy movements quickly proved valuable enough that a tall stool was begrudgingly kept near the map table for Lucretia's use. She picked up the basics of medical magic, and assisted in the infirmary to care for the wounded.

Lucretia's inventions of this time were slanted sharply into two categories. The first being implements of war, particularly things which would be useful in the defense and organization of a war camp, or in the care of wounded soldiers. The second category, almost as broad, were devices intended to entertain baby Dorian, who she spent much of her time with. So much so, in fact, that she essentially turned his nursery into her own personal workshop, much to the chagrin of his nanny.

There were, however, some notable exceptions to those categories, as was demonstrated on Seren 14th, 968. A secret convoy moving Lucretia and Dorian to a new encampment ahead of the main force was suddenly ambushed by a small platoon of House Varis mercenaries, who intended to capture the Del'Amore children. Overwhelmingly outmatched and outgunned, the Del'Amore defenders seemingly had no chance of victory. That is, until a furious Lucretia began blasting the House Varis troops apart with spells and deadly contraptions alike from within the relative safety of a reinforced cart.¹⁾ Slaughtered almost to a man, only the platoon's captain and a few others managed to flee in terror from Lucretia's onslaught. Their reports earned her a nickname, the Demon of Del'Amore. As her involvement increasingly escalated throughout the war, enemy forces consistently showed a marked increase in force commitment when they expected Lucretia to be on the field. A fact that did not go unnoticed by Moria or Lucretia as they planned their battle strategies.

On Lumina 3rd, 969, Lucretia stood at Moria's right hand as her cousin's advisor and General²⁾ during the Greensgate Treaty negotiations. Her insight is credited as being instrumental in developing the technical elegance of the Treaty's terms, which even now leave little room for loose interpretation or loopholes. She is a signatory of the original document, her signature appearing directly under her cousin Moria's. She was also involved in drafting the Greensgate Constitution, although it is a significantly more complicated document which relies on a large amount of legal terminology and precedence. Lucretia's involvement with the Constitution is widely regarded by legal experts to be far more symbolic and advisory as opposed to the Treaty, parts of which are even written in her own terse hand.³⁾

Main article: House Del'Amore

• Valerie Del'Amore – Mother
• tim_del_amore – Half-Brother
• dorian_del_amore – Cousin
• Moria Del'Amore – Cousin

• Zarn Kuo
• xander_acciaio