Etelka Herzen (1674-1699) was a Searlander cultist of Tzeentch and sorceress.

In addition to being the head of the Red Crown cult, Etelka was a talented magician whose exploits involved mining operations in the Black Peaks near Grissenwald, and selling magical items on the Black Market.  She practiced warlockry as well as blood magic, summoning the Twisted Maw goblin tribe to do her bidding and run her assets in her abscence.

Etelka died in late Fall, 1699 at the age of 25.

background

Early Life

Etelka was a magical prodigy from the formerly aristocratic but poverty stricken Herzen family of Issenheim. The last of her family's money went into a Seagarden education, in an effort to revitalize the glory of the lineage. She was a naturally gifted but undisciplined student. She never made it past petty thaumaturgy at the university, failing out during her first year as a phaelor, but she met Johannes Teugen, a slightly older student, with a similar attraction to the dark arts.

She and Tuegen traveled home to the Searland, without having graduated, the shame of their respective families. But in the City-on-the-Flat they came under the tutelage of "The Master" a powerful mage who shared their interests in dark magic. He converted them both to the worship of Tzeentch and after a few years of study released them on the world. Both were asked to join The Purple Hand.

Teugen was too selfish to dedicate himself to religion, and Etelka preferred her own path. Thus, the Red Crown was formed and Etelka began finding like-minded individuals. The things she learned at The Master's hands led her into the research of a potent, chaos-infused substance known as warpstone. She was tranfixed by it and hired the Kadar Sluimbol clan of dwarves to mine it out of the Black Peaks. She chose to build her tower-home just up the path from her mining operation and, as the dwarves' morale began to wane, she summoned the Twisted Maw goblin clan into existence to keep them under control. The efforts were fruitless however and even the keen mining sense of the dwarves of Kadar Sluimbol could find no warpstone. More research occurred and, armed with the knowledge of a warpstone meteor that had fallen four hundred years ago into the Devil's Bowl, she set off an expedition to recover it.

Act I: Shadows Over Bogenhafen

Etelka, still delighted by causing mayhem and destruction, had for many years run a successful black market for hard-to-find magical paraphenalia. When Johannes Teugen needed to summon and bind a demon, she was more than happy to provide him with a human skull, banded in thaumic iron, to complete the spell. When Teugen was defeated by the party, they first learned of her existence through their correspondance.

Act II: Death on the Sear

Etelka Herzen's cult was infiltrated by Étienne L'Peluda, a Sevillian operative in the Governa di Crypta. While she quickly realized he was a spy, she managed to tempt him with promise of sexual favors and philosophical debates over the nature of change into joining in earnest. When Etelka realized that she was being trailed,on her expedition by the party, Etienne offered to have his leg broken and to be beaten so that his fiancée, Sylviana de Nedici an operative with the party, would believe him to be one of theirs. Meanwhile, she kidnapped Gerhardt Brundt and brought him to the Devil's Bowl where she began mining warpstone out of the crater. Her cult members were caught and killed while they slept and Etelka was bound by the party. Monica Jasmine tortured her by ripping out her fingernails. This shed some blood, which Etelka magically manipulated into weaponry to attack. She was recaptured quickly and the torture recommenced. Heroe Adoria, disgusted by his partymate's behavior, decapitated Herzen before any more harm could come to her.

A letter from Etelka Herzen to Johannes Tugen:

"My dear friend,

Here are the things you require for the ritual you mentioned in your last letter. Do not forget that the temple for such an undertaking must be sanctified with fresh blood. Preferrably human or demi-human.

As ever, I am filled with awe at the heights (or should I say depths-haha!) to which your learning now reaches. It seems like only yesterday that we two dilettantes begged tutelage of the High Master and now you stand on the threshold of the abyss itself. If you manage to find the time, amidst your researches, do write to tell me the details of how the rituals progressed; perhaps one day I too might follow in your illustrious footsteps.

Your friend,

Etelka Herzen"

appearance

She was gorgeous with blonde curls and blue eyes, but vain, selfish and overly confident in her magical abilities.