Druvalia Thrune

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Druvalia Thrune

(Person)

Titles

Admiral

Alignment

Lawful evil

Ancestry/Species

Human (Chelaxian)

Class

Aristocrat 1 / Inquisitor of House Thrune 13

Gender

Female

Homeland

Egorian and Corentyn, Cheliax

Organization

House Thrune
Imperial Navy of Cheliax
Abrogail's Fury

Companion(s)

Paralictor Valeria Asperixus

Images of Druvalia Thrune

Source: From Hell's Heart, pg(s). 46–47

Admiral Druvalia Thrune of the Imperial Navy of Cheliax is an ambitious and effective naval tactician, as well as a cousin of Queen Abrogail Thrune II. A graduate of the Devoe Academy, Druvalia quickly achieved the rank of admiral by age 32.

Druvalia commands the flagship of her fleet, the Abrogail's Fury.

Background

Druvalia Thrune was born the second daughter of a cadet branch of House Thrune, granting her considerable wealth and connections. She was forced to abandon dreams of leisure and romance at an early age, as her older sister Asaoul would be the one married off to secure political advantages for the family. Druvalia's envy and curiosity about why people placed importance on Asaoul's beauty led to her developing a keen interest in the workings of the mind, which in turn led her to collect secrets from her household and its surrounding community. Druvalia quickly learned the value of information and what people would do to keep it hidden, and quickly became an expert blackmailer.

During her youth, Druvalia was also assigned a bodyguard from the peasantry, a girl named Valeria Asperixus. Druvalia grew to trust her simple and devoted guard, and eventually came to love her, even though such a relationship was below her station.

Druvalia was sent to the military Devoe Academy when she made the mistake of attempting to blackmail her own mother, where she was trained rigorously in the tenets of House Thrune and Cheliax and on the virtues of Hell. During this training, Druvalia came to believe that her gifts in information-gathering were best used to serve and protect her nation from hidden or covert threats, and trained as an inquisitor of House Thrune itself. After graduating, Druvalia pursued a career in the Chelaxian Navy due to her lifelong love of the sea and good head for maps, and the opportunity it gave her to scout for threats both foreign and domestic.

Druvalia quickly rose through the navy's ranks thanks to both her family connections and her numerous military successes, which saw the capture of over a dozen smuggling vessels and the destruction of three slave liberation networks. She became an admiral at only 32 years of age, and continued searching for ways to increase her own and her family's prestige in Cheliax's government. An opportunity to do this came to her with the capture of the Shackles pirate Barnabas Harrigan. The pirates of the Shackles had been a thorn in Cheliax's side for decades, due to their attacks on shipping along the western coast of Garund and their alliance with Cheliax's rebellious colony, Sargava. As such, anyone who could subjugate the islands to Cheliax's rule would earn great esteem within the nation and would have the ability to rise to considerable heights in its government.

Captain Harrigan offered his aid in betraying the Shackles in exchange for his life and became Druvalia's agent in the region, feeding her information on the activities of the pirates operating there and being himself supplied with ships, funds, and manpower through carefully orchestrated mock battles. Additionally, Druvalia had access to the backing of her great-uncle Ezaliah Thrune, who harbored a strong hatred for the Hurricane King Kerdak Bonefist, as the latter had stolen both of the doses of sun orchid elixir that the aging Chelaxian noble had been able to buy. When Druvalia approached him with her plan to take the Shackles, Ezaliah's desire for vengeance proved stronger than his wish to avoid death and, although he still possessed enough wealth to attempt to purchase one more dose of the elixir, he instead invested it in backing his great-niece's plan. Combined with his political power, this proved sufficient to provide an armada for Druvalia to sail south to the Shackles.

Additionally, Druvalia and Ezaliah brokered a deal with the archdevil Geryon in order to increase the chance of their success. Geryon would provide numerous devils to aid Druvalia's fleet and allow it to sail directly through the Eye of Abendego instead of taking the longer route around it, allowing Druvalia to attack from an unexpected direction and with the element of surprise. In exchange, Geryon would be paid with the soul of either Druvalia or Ezaliah, with the specific soul to be determined by whichever of the two perished first. Both Druvalia and her uncle felt safe in making this pact, as Druvalia was content to wait a few years at most for her elderly relative to die while Ezaliah believed that Druvalia's dangerous lifestyle would cost her her life.

Further bolstering Druvalia's chances of success was the fact that Kerdak Bonefist had grown complacent in his rule and believed that any invading fleet would be forced to skirt around the Eye of Abendego, giving the pirates of the Shackles plenty of time to prepare to meet it. He also refused to listen to warnings of Druvalia's arrival, thus negating to gather a fleet ahead of time, and leaving the Shackles exposed to the sudden emergence of a fleet from the Eye.

Despite these advantages, however, Druvalia's invasion ended in failure, and in 4712 AR, the pirates were able to successfully fend off the attempted takeover.

Relatives

Despite being a cousin of Queen Abrogail II, Druvalia is only a passing acquaintance of Her Majestrix. Druvalia's mother is Lady Felena, her great-uncle is Ezaliah Thrune, and she has an older sister named Asaoul.

Associates

Lady Felena assigned Valeria Asperixus as Druvalia's bodyguard in her youth, and Druvalia quickly fell in love with her. After earning the rank of admiral, Druvalia recalled Valeria, who had since become a Hellknight of the Order of the Scourge.