Renata Kaspar
Profile
Basic Information
Name:
Renata Kaspar
Nickname(s):
Age:
43
Birth Date:
25th Rains, 8252
Height:
5'7"
Gender:
Female
Race:
Human
Class:
Ranger
Occupation:
Empress of Koben
Guild(s):
Koben Imperial Court
Enhancement(s):
Likes
Hunting, horseraces and equestrian shows, cheesy novels, theatre, dogs, horoscopes, being sucked up to
Dislikes
Losing, bad endings, not getting enough attention, careless gifts, dried fruit, guns, giving up
Personality
Vivacious | Ambitious | Idealistic | Shrewd | Self-centred
Renata has always been driven by strong personal ambition. In youth she was known for being fiery, competitive and a terrible loser. In adulthood she has honed those traits into qualities - many would now call her courageous, exciting and someone who loves a good challenge but is sporting. Her admirers laud her for being unafraid to face difficulty and long odds. Her critics meanwhile would call her full of hot air and exhausting for turning every idle activity into some sort of 'challenge'.
In her heart, she hasn't changed much from the idealistic youth she was. She never really gave up on the hero stories that shaped her world view - she dreams big, believes in fate and signs has a flair for the dramatic and is in love with romanticised ideas of the past. It matters a lot to her self-image that her place in life be that of a 'hero' - someone who others admire and who has a big destiny to grasp - so that's what she strives to be. As enarmoured as she is with her grandiose ideals, her view of the reality can be stilted towards what she wants. She struggles to accept when things don't go her way, or to realise when she should give up. In some cases this has done her good - allowing her to turn failure into success - and in others it has lead to only wasted effort and heartache.
What age taught her instead, is to be brutally practical about how she achieves her dreams. In contrast to her glorious visions, her methods are shrewd - and she sees no conflict in that. After all, the place of visions is to be a high ideal, and the place of 'methods' is to change reality towards that by any means necessary. She is opportunistic, seeing favours as currency, openings as fateful and others' losses as fair. She's charming and good at befriending people, but isn't a considerate friend - she struggles to understand people different from her and tends to hog attention. That said, she isn't malicious at heart; she genuinely enjoys being a benefactor and is a solid ally. Idealism and concern for her image mean she has standards, even if she's willing to rationalise a lot more than people would otherwise expect.
History
As the history books go, the Kaspar family are descended from the 'old royals' - the rulers of Koben's predecessor, Droste. The Old Kingdom of Droste was based in what is now Bratkowice and was mighty in its day. However, a catastrophic resurgence of the Molvahain razed the territory and obliterated the leadership. It is said that Reluir was the cause of the catastrophe, although the exact happenings have been long lost to time. A member of a royal branch family survived and gathered the few survivors of the nation and led them to establish a new country in the north - i.e. what is now Koben. The old royals were thought to be entirely wiped out for decades, until a descendent appeared before the court. It emerged that one of the princesses had sent her newborn away with a servant, and that servant had miraculously managed to escape. An agreement was made that the descendent would not contest the throne in exchange for a place alongside the monarch. In a show of relinquishing their royal claim, they adopted the surname Kaspar - after the servant who saved their line.
This is the family history that Renata grew up with, and as a girl enarmoured with heroes and legends of old, one she absorbed into her identity. The romance of long-lost royal ancestry assured her of her own importance, so she grew up proud, ambitious and competitive. She would constantly pick fights with her 'rivals' - mostly the large Schiltenbrandt family because of the sheer number of targets - to the chagrin of her much more diplomatic parents. It was only when she was older and learned how much more effective words could be, that she started to develop her 'charmer' persona. Though she channeled her competitive edge into equestrian events, it never left her.
The defining moment of her career as a noble came in her early twenties. Her parents had arranged a marriage for her with one of the Schiltenbrandt boys, Rolf, against her wishes. When he approached to begin courtship at a party, she instead threw her glove at Rolf - challenging him to a sword duel with her hand at stake. He laughingly accepted - after all he was known to be an avid fencer while she had no experience - but offered her a handicap of her choice to not look like a jerk. She requested the duel be mounted, to his dismay. Word spread and a big crowd came to watch as Renata won by dramatically unhorsing Rolf and trapping him on the ground. He retracted his offer of marriage and Renata gained overnight infamy. Her parents were mortified, but the stunt earned Renata a flood of attention - her hand became a conquest and propositions came one after the other from suitors not affiliated with the 'old nobles'. Her parents bowed and scraped their way back into the Schiltenbrandts' good graces, but the relationship between their families was undeniably damaged. Renata herself chose the mild-mannered son of a Songluan noble the Kaspars did business with.
Around her mid-twenties, Renata's parents perished in a hunting accident. It wasn't dramatic or meaningful in any way, there was nobody to blame, and without those keystones she struggled to process it. Now that she was the Marchioness though, she could do as she pleased with the family legacy - so she set about working the Kaspars into the spotlight. She approached Empress Adele specifically because the Schiltenbrandts' faction had opposed her marriage to Artur, and was pleased to find they both shared a mutual interest in fiction. They started a book club and had many animated discussions over their opinions. Because she was actually nice to his wife, Artur came around to her too and heads began turning towards her. It all seemed to go uphill until her eldest Antonia developed an infatuation with Prince Fabian. Renata encouraged it without acknowledging Fabian's disinterest or realising how ill-equipped her daughter was to handle it until she shamed herself. It pained Renata to disinherit her, but it was necessary - although Antonia was far more abrasive than Renata had ever been, the complaints about her echoed complaints about Renata herself and brought them both too much scrutiny. When her second daughter Luciana became attached to Prince Sigmund, she latched onto the idea of a redo and again overlooked the problems - i.e. his existing engagement to Princess Marise - believing Luci could have him 'reserved' if and when it failed. She was disappointed when this again didn't eventuate - but this time there was a silver lining, i.e. Prince Sigmund's apparent willingness to do anything Luci asked of him. She began to channel political requests to the prince through her daughter, until she accrued the positions of Council Chair and, finally, Empress of Koben.
Current Story
As the newly crowned Empress of Koben, Renata has begun the mission of establishing herself as the new ruler. She is not in an easy position - her ascension was sudden enough to cause conspiracy rumours, and catastrophe continues to hit the Empire as much as anywhere else - but is determined to make it work.
Additional Info
Invented a more palateable story for her parents' deaths. She tells people they died hunting a great bear they had personal history with; in reality it was just carelessness with a gun and a string of accidents that killed them. It's a harmless lie that makes her feel better.
Achieved Ranger class because she wanted to show off during hunts. She is especially good at archery from horseback. She has some snobbish joking-but-not-joking feelings about the bow being better than the gun.
A humble-bragger. She likes modesty in her heroes but cannot live without attention.
Relations
Joji 'George' Kaspar
Her darling husband. He is a zen, doting 'yes dear' type.
Antonia Kaspar
Her former favourite daughter, the one who took after her the most in temperament - but she's exasperated by how little guile or emotional control the young woman has. She tends to dismiss Antonia's emotional problems as she never felt anything like that herself.
