The first in our series of weekly releases! Below are core NPCs who will be fixtures in Redemption. This will help you get a sense of the community’s flavor.
Armand St. Onge, Warden
Hometown: Blind River, Ontario
Occupation: Hunter
Played By: Scott L
Armand St. Onge, usually just called “Warden,” is the nominal authority of Redemption, though it’s not a title he has ever particularly desired. Five years ago, Armand and a small cohort were among the only survivors of the Siege of 1884: it was Armand’s first year in Redemption, but, during the Siege, he proved himself to be a competent leader despite the unusually deadly trials set before the populace. Partly out of self-interest, the other survivors pushed him to the front of town leadership. He has grimly accepted the fate, though seems weary from its heaviness. Nevertheless, the skilled Hunter tries his best to keep the town well-oiled.
Armand is quiet about his own history, though says he wound up in Redemption through a series of “predictable mistakes” involving his (late) father–it’s well-known that Armand sends his meager allowance back to his mother and aunt. Regardless of his personal history’s details, it’s assumed he has substantial military service: during the Siege of 1884, his resistance to the former town warden, Eli Pikeman, enabled the defeat of The Fiends’ trials and the sealing of The Scar. Armand speaks little of the altercation, but affirms that Pikeman–who died brutally in The Siege–won his fate through hubris and ignorance.
Armand is surprisingly kind for a denizen of Redemption. He welcomes newcomers warmly and makes sure to find a place for them within the town. Afterall, he maintains, survival depends on community. Despite his tired eyes and long-grayed temples, Armand seems to carry a spark of optimism. Nevertheless, it is said Armand is swift to dole punishment out to those deserving of it.
Revelation Ratliff
Hometown: London, England
Occupation: Occultist
Played By: Scott L.
Revelation Ratliff is the resident senior Occultist of Redemption: he is part of Armand’s original cohort, though certainly a less well regarded member of Redemption’s community. (Revelation and Armand are rarely seen in the same room, largely due to their mutual dislike of one another.) Revelation is quick to affirm that he is a less than savory individual and, as his station in Redemption would suggest, “rather unbothered by moral fortitude and so on.”
Nevertheless, Ratliff is a peerless Occultist and particularly gifted in what he terms “Interrogation.” Interrogation is a conversation wherein Ratliff commands a deck of cards in order to “commune with those beyond The Veil.” When he lived in London, many laughed his Interrogation off as a silly parlor trick of cards and charlatan seances. However, those who know their way around the Occult know that Ratliff is, indeed, able to harness the attention of spirits…and perhaps other things.
No one knows how Ratliff ended up in Redemptipn, and he’s only marginally forthcoming. He was involved in the Siege of 1884, though to what extent it is unclear. He is certainly unmarred by commendation of superlative leadership.
Abigail Preston
Hometown: New Haven, Connecticut
Occupation: Practitioner
Played By: Zoe E.
Dr. Preston is initially introduced as the chief Practitioner of Redemption: newcomers are often impressed by the confident, skilled, and polished face Dr. Preston presents. As a consummate medical professional, Dr. Preston has seen Redemption through many a Siege, including the Siege of 1884. Beyond that, she tirelessly tends to the myriad of colds, aches, and pains that affect the community. Certainly, many who come to Redemption find themselves healthier after a year of her care.
Dr. Preston’s bedside manner belies her cold, calculating, and apathetic cruelty. She will be the first to tell people that human suffering moves her not: “the treatment of the body is but one step in understanding the human puzzle.” For Dr. Preston, medicine is the reward, and patients are merely the tool.
Dr. Preston’s skill comes through her own determination: she was a student of Ignaz Semmelweiss, though admittedly late in the man’s career, and devotee of advancing the germ theory of disease. Dr. Preston was one of the few who was able to speak to Semmelweiss in his final years, which many assumed was a product of her “exotic” American nationality. Unlike her teacher, however, Dr. Preston was never driven by a love of care but instead by a desire to understand the nature of disease–and to research it no matter the cost. Dr. Preston fell out of grace following Semmelweiss’s death, though was able to find work in a Dublin hospital for women of ill repute. Her research record, apparently, resulted in her exile to Redemption.
Lizzie May Flannery
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Occupation: Ne’er-Do-Well
Played By: Zoe E.
Lizzie May is one of the friendlier faces in Redemption–at least for a time. She shipped up to Redemption from Boston and considers herself well-suited to life in the tiny community. As she is quick to point out, she doesn’t come from an easy life.
The daughter of Irish immigrants, Lizzie May spent her early years tending to the seedy tavern run by her uncle and aunt. Working for the family business, Lizzie May had little time for learning a trade other than “just scraping by.” Of course, in the troubled streets of Boston, this served her well: she fell in easily enough with the local Irish gangs and carved out a name for herself as a reliable, cunning scamp. Lizzie May assumed “honor among thieves” though quickly found she was “being sold out” on the cheap to turn whatever trick was needed. The best trick, Lizzie discovered, was robbing folks destitute by threatening to send their families news of their “extracurricular activities.” While this continued merrily for a time, Lizzie’s compatriots eventually rolled over on her–a friend’s favor landed her in Redemption rather than in an early grave.
Lizzie is charming, if abrupt and at times coarse. A survivor of the last two Sieges, she serves as the sometimes innkeep for Redemption. Rarely on the job, she tends to specialize more thoroughly in collecting information and getting what she wants. Currently, that’s a cushy job in terms of Redemption employment.
Please don’t forget to purchase tickets by August 30! Ticket information available here.
Scarlet Letters 