Nana Clarita Coutillie
Clarita Coutillie, more commonly known as Nana Clarita, is one of the Four Pillars of the East Side. Often considered the kindest of the four, many of those who have some troubled history with the other three flee to her and her protection. Local Divine Masochists who dislike the Machados also choose to live in her territory because of her more tolerant attitude to them, despite her adherence to the local form of paganism she espouses.
Her family was one of the wealthiest of those that were truly native to the island. She often cites how her maternal line have been on the island long before the first Estregans even laid eyes on it. As such, she is very familiar with many of the traditions and lore unique to the Island.
She was born on the 22nd day of the 5th month 1192 in their sugar plantation in Guarma--a small island in L'Illes Apgarie. Her mother died in childbirth for reasons unknown. Her brother, Bellamy Coutillie was from her father's second wife, who had treated Clarita coldly, up until she had succumb to Cholera immediately after her own son's death in 1204.
Family History 🔗
The Coutillie family's wealth is attributed to their successful leadership during the slave revolts during the Second Apgarian Revolution. Her forebears were able to negotiate a deal with the Estregan Royal House to quell tensions in exchange for the position of Viceroy of Raibon, which also bestows the title of marquis. History credits this move as what eventually allows the Estregans to focus on the revolutionaries in their realm, which in turn gives the other nearby kingdoms to slowly regain lost ground.
Clarita's father, Aloysius Coutillie, used their wealth to finance small market vendors in need of capital. This made him a beloved personality in Port Rainoso, but especially in the East Side where they reside. Louis, as he was called, accepted chattel as collateral for small-interest loans. A large number of those loans were often left unpaid due to a mix of wide-spread financial issues at the time, and Louis' soft-handed approach to collection. A large portion of their once enormous fortune disappeared in a couple of decades.
Clarita at age 24--3 years before her father died--started to reassess and restructure their collection methods. For the most part, she did not increase the interest rates for those who settled their debts in a reasonable time frame. She had even given her collectors to be more lenient to people who lapsed for up to 2 months, if they had a good payment history. The more delinquent of their borrowers on the other hand, were not so lucky. She hired large and intimidating men to escort her female collectors to threaten, torture or, in some extreme cases, amputate them, depending on the size of the loan and the difficulty of collection.
By the time she had gained complete control of the family estates, she had, through her acquisitions, owned a number of small businesses with various levels of legality, including eateries, bath houses, gambling houses, brothels and drug stores.
In her 50s, Clarita had, with the help of the Bouillards and the Port Rainoso Local Government started a housing redevelopment project to address the ever-growing population within the East Side. This saw many of the shanties in the area give way to more modern 3-storey apartments. The project began with purchasing large tracts of privately-held land within her sphere of control. Those that sold their lands at the rate Clarita had dictated promised that they, and their descendants would have the right to collect rent in these buildings in exchange for a 30% cut of profits.
Relationship with Yves Renault Bouillard 🔗
When Clarita's younger brother, Bellamy Coutillie turned 5 years old, old Estregan tradition dictated that as the eldest son, he would be bequeathed the title of heir apparent. Often, if there was an older daughter, a union was arranged to quell any potential inheritance issues. It was then arranged that Clarita, aged 12 at the time, was to be betrothed to Yves Renault, the Bouillards' second son. The betrothal was not the stuff of romance. Both Clarita and Yves treated the matter as a sterile business-like affair. They were civil, they went to public events together, but there was no love between them. In their teen years, they did cultivate a friendship between them. They made plans to take both families out from the criminal underworld, and away from the traditionalist values that was too close to royalty for the democratic nation of Apgar--if only they would be in positions of power.
Four years into their betrothal, Bellamy died of Cholera. Shortly after, so does Yves' elder brother Basillios. Now both as the heirs apparent of their respective houses, their betrothal was rescinded. Over the years, their close friendship had remained, with a close correspondence maintained between them, and Yves' wife Nicolette up until Yves' death during the Poasan-Apgarian Conflict in 1255
Feud with the Machados 🔗
The Machado family only been in Raibon Island since the late-1100s, barely 3 generations when Clarita had come to power. She had learned to distrust the family, along with some of the Mehicanian republicans that had taken refuge in the island from the people around her. In particular, Yves had always thought that the Machados' wont for pomp and pageantry had flagged them as secret royalists. Correspondence from Yves during the 5 year war had, more than once, accused the new head of the Machado house, Don Alejandro Machado, as a spy for the Mehicanian military.
Even though none of the accusations of espionage been proven, Clarita never did fully trust the Machado family--especially when they started selling Powder of the Poppy in the East Side. She had often cooperated with government crackdowns on the opiates, even allowing the various task forces to establish bases of operations at the border of their territory.
Oral Tradition 🔗
As was tradition, the Coutillie women were taught to memorize by heart many of the traditions and stories of the island. Stories of the formation of the Turbiere de Hubar, the creation of the Frogmen and their purpose, and most importantly, the protectors of the island, and its women, the Hags of Hama.
One such story, the birth of the Frogmen, was said to have been related to the treasure that the Hags protected above all else--the Deep Lore.
The Frogmen were said to have been once the dead of the island. In those days, the people of the island buried their dead in the inner pools of the bog. The Hags asked the people to allow them to raise these bodies so they may protect them from interlopers. When the people agreed, the Hags had chosen to hide their faces to spare the citizens of the pain that may be caused by seeing their loved ones have no recognition of who they were. They took inspiration from the many frogs in the bog, which could breathe both on land and in water. Thus the Frogmen were born.
She also speaks about Frogmen such as Godfrey who were turned before death. They were often evil people whose deeds were so terrible, they must remember what they have done to deserve their fate. She mentions that the "dead are turned into frogmen so the people remember them for who they were, the living are turned into frogmen so that people are remembered them as the monsters they have become."
Hexbloods were also in many of her tales. She speaks of how the Hags had the capacity to give or take away ones ability to create life. They were able to grant the barren the ability to conceive, but they can also take it away if you offend them in any way.
Nana Clarita and the other natives believe that they are the descendants of the Goddess of Nature Herself. This, to them, explains their access to the Deep Lore, and the other mysteries that are associated with them. In fact, in the East Side of Rainoso, there is a mystery cult that is dedicated to the true Hags of Hama. These people are offended by the existence of the Reformist Hags, and would actively work against anyone associated with them, such as, perhaps, Denise Dubois.
They tolerate the Orthodox due to their belief in the Angels. They find them foolish, however, for their denial of magic.
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