Deborah Ravenhurst

Name	Deborah Ravenhurst
Race	Human
Type	Mage
Faction	Free Willed
Premiere	Desideratum: Blood Bonds
Relative(s)	Theodore Ravenhurst, Anaximanes Ravenhurst

Deborah Ravenhurst

"Theodore, I do think it prudent that we vacate this tomb, lest we be put to rest here."

Biography

Pre-Desideratum: Blood Bonds

Deborah Ravenhurst was born at the very end of the 18th century. Deborah always seemed to have a very perceptive and sharp eye for detail, and as a youth, she stayed well ahead of her peers intellectually. Her almost uncanny perception, however, was not only due to her natural mental faculties, but Deborah held a natural affinity for magic. This was unknown to her at the time, but her lineage on her mother’s side stretched back into the Age of Myths. She would sometimes notice fairies, brownies, or see ghosts, but held her tongue. She also would have dreams that would show her the future, premonitions that came true. Again, not desiring to bring shame to her noble house, she kept the secret.

She did have a love for learning, and could always be found reading books in the manor’s library, and kept up with the news regarding subjects like science and philosophy. Prim, proper, and quite educated by her wealthy parents, she was a refined girl of pronounced etiquette. However, her wit and forwardness tended to anger her father and he often reminded her, often multiple times a day, about the proper order of things- that a man is to be in charge and that wealth, estate, and prestige were to be her goals. She would wed a lord and nothing less. To her credit, she loved her father dearly, but willful and stubborn, she was not to be shackled to a life that she did not desire nor marry a man that she did not love. Eventually, however, as she grew old enough to marry, out of a sense of duty, she began to feel as though she would have no choice but to marry the lord that her father desired. At least, until she met a man named Theodore Ravenhurst.

A loud, large, and rather gruff Scotsman, Theodore commanded the attention of all around him by his very presence. The moment that she looked into his bright blue eyes, she knew him from her dreams. He had virtually no education and was not an exceptionally bright man, but he had courage, passion, and ambitions. He had come to her father’s estate and demanded that her father lock down their manor, hide away their servants, and lock themselves in their rooms that night. He told them that the family was in grave danger, and that dark forces were about to target them. Her father threatened Ravenhurst, borderline provoking the massive man, but even with his fiery temper, Theodore held his hand. He said that if they did not heed his words, the family and servants would all die or become mockeries of themselves by the next dawn, but still, her father resisted and Ravenhurst left.

Deborah rushed after him even as her father yelled, and followed the man out the gates of her father’s land with a deluge of questions. Ravenhurst warned her again of dark things in the world, and that he spent his life and time tracking monsters and artifacts of power. She could see the truth in his eyes and for the first time in her entire life she told another soul that she could see fae folk and other strange things. Apparently happy that someone did not think himself mad, he told her that what she saw was real, and that such things paled in comparison with what awaited them that night. She promised after the house had been locked up for the evening, she would sneak down and let Ravenhurst inside.

What ensued changed her life forever. He had been correct, as strange reptilian people arrived in the cover of night and broke into her family manor. Ravenhurst did not know what they were after, only that he had followed them from the Isle of Man all the way to her home, and that he was certain her family owned a relic or artifact important to these hideous ophidian demons. Knowing it was likely suicide to fight the demons head on, alone, Ravenhurst had no choice but to try to save Deborah’s family, even after they had shunned him away. In the ensuing fight, much of the household was roused and found themselves swarmed by snake people. The leader stepped forward and fought Ravenhurst. Using shadow magicks, he easily defeated the Scotsman, and then, as Deborah cowered with her family in the corner, the scaled priest ordered his minions to attack and convert them all. As they fell upon her family, something powerful and natural, unlearned, untamed, and potent, erupted in Deborah and she unleashed arcane magic on the demons.

Not understanding what she was doing, her enemies as confused as she was, she touched Theodore as he lay dying, only to heal his wounds shut. Springing to his feet and drawing his sword, he could only laugh at the confused faces of his once haughty enemy. The pair cleaved their way forward, and as Theodore managed to slay the others, Deborah with her wild but powerful magic defeated the scaled priest and also destroyed large parts of the manor. Her family and their servants all could not comprehend what happened that night. Ravenhurst searched the damaged mansion as the family reeled, and questioned her father, but could not figure out what the ophidians wanted. Deborah suddenly remembered a dream and said that it was her. She was the reason that they had come.

Something about her drew them there, but she did not know what. However, she remembered that they would eventually have her, someday. Ravenhurst refused to believe that and swore to stay by her side and protect her until his last breath. She told her beleaguered family that she could not stay because, eventually, the monsters would come back. She left with Ravenhurst and the two had many other adventures, fell in love, and married. The pair even teamed up with Calis Van Gothen and Johann Conrad Dippel to bring about the end of Vlad Țepeș. Over time, because of the dark, unexplored places and cursed tombs that the pair visited on their travels, they accumulated rare treasures. The cursed relics were hidden away, and the others sold or given to museums. This earned the Ravenhursts renown for archeology, and it gave them sizable wealth. They eventually bought a large swath of countryside near the town of Wakefield, New York in the U.S.A. There, they built a massive mansion that would be known as Ravenhurst Manor and erected a magical vault below it.

They had a child, Anaximanes Ravenhurst, but they did not even have the luxury of spending a decade with their son. When he was a child, the ophidians finally found the pair again. The Ravenhursts had done the unthinkable, and managed to procure the Egg of Ophion, sealing it within the vault. Anaximanes was at home while his parents were in a carriage outside Wakefield when the attack occurred. The plan was to convert Deborah into one of their own and either convert or kill the less important Theodore. The driver and horses killed instantly, Theodore threw himself on the force as Deborah prepared her magic, but this time, the demons were prepared. Theodore refused to stand down even as his doom approached, and Deborah watched him slain under fang and claw. Angered at the death of Theodore, and refusing to submit, Deborah summoned every ounce of her power, and annihilated the ophidians. However, she used so much power and her heart was so broken, that she succumbed and died, lying on Theodore’s broken body, leaving Anaximanes to raise himself, and hoping that the enchantments she had cast on the manor would forever contain the evils stored within.

Appearance

Deborah is a fit brunette woman with dark eyes.

Abilities

• Light Magic

Gallery

None at this time