Iolanthe Brask
Human, Disgraced former ambassador
Cultured, precise diction that occasionally cracks into something rawer when she's cornered. Overuses formal titles as armor.
A Second Embassy. She wants introduction to a foreign delegation currently in town, hoping to broker a deal that restores her name — but no one respectable will vouch for her.
The Brother's Name. She wants old diplomatic correspondence destroyed before a rival unearths proof of her actual role in the scandal.
Appearance
Striking symmetry and pale composure that reads as serene until you notice her hands never stop moving. Dresses in last season's finery, meticulously maintained.
Secret
She was complicit in the diplomatic failure that disgraced her family, not merely a victim of it, and has let her brother take posthumous blame.
Quirks
Practices old court bows alone when she thinks no one's watching
Corrects her own grammar mid-sentence out of old habit
Personality traits
Poised under pressure, brittle underneath
Fiercely competitive about status she no longer has
Ideal
"I will be someone again, on my own terms this time."
Bond
Her twin brother, the last of her family line, who died in the same scandal that ended her career — she carries his signet ring on a chain.
Flaw
Sabotages potential allies by treating them as tools for her comeback rather than people.