Aveline Ranlis

Aveline Ranlis is the Comtesse of the Ranlis household and the wife of Count Godwin Ranlis. She was left in charge of Faltir during Godwin’s absence, at a time when Castle Malthrek, the mines, and the surrounding poor streets were under severe strain.

Overview

Aveline is remembered by some locals as having been better before her affliction. By the time of the Castle Malthrek crisis, however, she was feared as an oppressive figure connected to doubled production, exhausted miners, and the hardening of local authority. She is likely connected to the Reformist faction, though the degree to which her actions reflected allegiance, magical influence, or another form of compromise remained unresolved.

Castle Malthrek

When Kelthyr and Luana entered Castle Malthrek through older waterworks and bath passages, their immediate objective was to find Aveline. She was discovered with a freezing prisoner, dressed in a long dark robe and fur coat with her hair in a bun. The scene placed her directly among the castle’s coercive operations rather than at a remove from them.

Luana subdued Aveline with Essence of Dream, and Kelthyr searched her afterward. Aveline carried Stilettos of Wounding, intimate magical weapons later taken from her. Killing her was rejected, both because her condition remained uncertain and because her capture created other options for infiltrating or disrupting the castle.

Public Reputation

Faltir’s poor remembered a gentler version of Aveline, which made her later conduct more troubling than a simple portrait of an openly cruel noblewoman. The contrast between her earlier reputation and her role during the crisis suggests a fall, compromise, or transformation that local witnesses could recognize even if they could not explain.