Eleanore Raulieu

Species: Human. Class: Wizard (School of Inscription). Background: Meat Marketeer.

History
Very little of Nell's life has played out like she thought it would, which is surprising, since she had
no expectations to begin with.

A Story Told

It's quite hard to be expelled from a Bundheim boarding school community, even one that
happens to be noted for its focus on magical academia, but in the case of Eleanore Raulieu, the
exception was made. Despite having been raised there from an extremely young age, beginning her
transition there, and advancing year after year at the top of her class, The rumors about her were
intense enough that she was believed to be a danger to the other students. They were also completely
false, of course, as was proven quite quickly after her expulsion, but by that point she was gone. The
tragedy of the affair cast a pall over the school's otherwise excellent reputation to this day. Most of the
records of the incident, and of Eleanore Raulieu herself, were completely destroyed, with the school
ordered to pay damages to the young woman. She didn't even pick them up herself, instead a cat
showed up with a handwritten and signed letter to collect her money before turning into a bird and
flying away.

The school administration don't like to speak of it at all, but some of the teachers reminisce
about a remarkably intelligent and kindhearted but strange young woman, before directing them to her
former roommate Mol (they/them), probably the only real friend Nell had in the academy. Mol is
probably the only person who could give a reasonably full account of Nell's time in the academy, and will
speak at length about how the rumors were started their boyfriend at the time blew some stories of
private goings on between the two of them completely out of proportion. While initially they backed his
story out of fear of losing social standing, after Nell was expelled, they were horrified, disavowed him,
and had his story retracted.

They were devastated when Nell didn't return to the school, but two years later they received a
graduation gift from an anonymous address in Izbor, a beautifully tooled and engraved silver bracelet
with a note that simply said "thanks for clearing me." Mol wrote a letter to the address, assuming the
gift was from Nell, but the letter went unanswered for almost a year. On the day of Mol's birthday, they
received another package from the same address, this time with a ring. It was confirmation, albeit of a
strange variety; Nell loved making jewelry and Mol enjoyed wearing what she made, but Nell had always
been very verbose.

This began a strange pattern of communication. Mol would write a letter every month or so, and
occasionally Nell would send her some kind of beautiful handmade jewelry. Since Mol lived in the capital
of the Helyse pentarchy and Nell was on a completely different continent, the two never met face to
face, but eventually Mol found their sub, married him, and built a whole life for herself as an
administrator for magic in Helliark. Since Nell never wrote a letter, Mol rarely asked her questions, but
after a while, she finally got the courage up to ask her "What have you been doing anyway?"

The next package had a flyer attached. "The Magical Meat Marketeer of Spindlewood." Along
with a giant surprise; Nell had written back.

Market Day

People who come to see the magical meat marketeer of Spindlewood are often initially taken
aback by who they're talking too, largely because they're mostly talking to a wall. Members of that
profession are often gregarious, social individuals to begin with, and the title's flamboyance adds to that
image. The Marketeer is, on the other hand, a very clinical, strangely analytical person who seems to
prefer letting her business partners handle anything that would involve a likeable personality. These
partners, Braila Korsdot and Poppy Squiggletinker, are a dwarf and a gnome in a sapphic switchy
relationship who seemed to pluck her out of nowhere about four years ago.

As people who visit her often recount, after paying half of her (very reasonable) fee they're
ushered into her modest home just outside of town, which seems to most like a small but very dense
library someone just happens to live in, every wall a shelf full of books, from the bedroom to the den to
the workshop to the weird wall she hides behind. She often lets her clients talk while taking notes, then
has them answer a very bizarre list of questions, they wait for a few minutes, then Nell asks them to let
her write something just below their collarbone with a strange pen. The word is often written in a
strange language nobody understands, and when asked what it means, Nell politely informs them that it
is a private arcane language of hers, and if she were to tell them what it says, it wouldn't work. She then
sends them off and tells them to come back after Market Day. No matter what you're specifically looking
for... a specific scene, a play partner, romance, even one off hookups, the procedure is always the same.
Most are disappointed by the impersonal nature of the experience, but... they say she basically never
fails.

Then Market Day hits, and the magic begins.

Market Day has always been a thing in Spindlewood, and it's always had its fair amount of
strangeness. At one point, as an example, there was a fairly well known phenomenon of a cat that would
come up to a stand, dropping a pouch of coins and a grocery list, then taking the bag of groceries away. If
anyone attempted to follow it, as many tried, it would turn into an owl and fly away. People still see that
cat around but it doesn't seem to buy groceries anymore. It still has this very odd habit of dropping off
really nice, random pieces of jewelry off at people's houses on significant events, birthdays, collarings,
holidays, etc.

However, the Meat Marketeer has elevated the event to being one of the most financially
successful market days in bundheim, even without inexplicable cat funds. Everybody wants to be part of
it. People will just be out walking around and then suddenly their odd temporary tattoo will glow a little
bit and get warm. People will look around a little bit, almost confused, and often find someone else
experiencing the same thing. However, because nobody knows what the writing means, they have to talk
to each other, and they often find they're compatable in more ways than just mutual explicit desires. The
tattoos seem to have a knack for finding people who just... mesh well. Similar experiences, little quirks in
one person the other finds endearing, even little issues the other person can help with. They aren't
always connections forever, but forever isn't the promise... connection is. Not long afterwards, stunned it
worked so well, they will inevitably be contacted by Braila or Poppy, usually in person, but sometimes by
mail to collect the rest of the reasonable fee.

This is to say nothing of the stand Braila and Poppy set up by their own business, a travellers inn
and dungeon. Like many similar events in Bundheim, it takes on the style of roleplaying an objectifying
slave market, though this is no impersonal chained-to-the-wall style affair of dehumanization and
torture. Braila and Poppy set up a dazzling display much like one would set up a brothel during a town
market celebration and coach people through the confidence boosting and empowering act of selling
themselves, inevitably to people they match with for whatever they're looking for. There's no extra
charge if you wanna take part in this service on market day, either. While these relationships are usually
more for people looking for quicker and more specific things (they have this stand right outside the
dungeon and inn for a reason) it's still lead to a lot of friendships and even long-term relationships.
Inevitably Poppy, Braila and the Marketeer are always invited to the collaring. Poppy and Braila always
attend. The Marketeer never has, though the fact that the cat started dropping off custom charms or
even custom collars if the couple couldn't pay for a nice one helped people put two and two together
that the Marketeer was the owner of the cat, which didn't make a lot of sense... the Marketeer's entire
share would have to be going to making these things for people.

Then one day, Braila's son (poppy's stepson) Thorvik returned home from his travels with his
boyfriend, a lapine furfolk named Eldin, for their own ceremony. Braila and Poppy had insited to the
people of the community the Marketeer wasn't going to be present for the ceremony, and she wasn't.
However, at the afterparty, once the outside feasting tables were in full swing and the sun (though not
the party) was going down, a tall young woman with very long black hair and gentle blue eyes walked up
pensively to the tables, a familiar cat on her shoulders, before immediately being tackled and hugged
tightly by Eldin (which the cat did not appreciate). She was helped up by another woman, brown haired,
just as tall. When asked who she was, she said very pensively, "Eleanor. This is... my Sister, Amelia." She
didn't say much, but she got her own toast from the whole town, and didn't have to buy any of her own
drinks for the whole night.

It Takes Two

Amelia Raulieu