Let me tell you about Brie Cesmé

[Caster13]

So, after my previous PC Odette died, I told myself I should take a break. Take it easy and relax. I just went through a huge emotional ordeal, after all. Then a thought crossed my mind: omg i should play a rogue again.


Unsurprisingly, Brie's portrait was a drawing by the amazing Charlie Bowater.

[hide=Lovely portrait by Karpie!][/hide]

Concept:

To change things up a bit, I decided to try going with a INT/CHA rogue build so the idea of Brie being a social spy quickly came about. I figured this would pair well with my attempts to interact heavily with the Great Houses.

Brie was an exercise in spycraft and mind games and I wanted her to be my best rogue yet. Not just the best in terms of knowing everything and being able to spy on people without their knowledge, but also in being an enigmatic figure that no one is able to pin down with a hundred percent certainty. I wanted Brie to walk the knife edge between trustworthy and untrustable. I wanted the players of every character who enters a conversation with Brie to ask themselves "is this a good idea?" followed up with "was that a bad idea?" once the conversation is over and the characters part ways.

Brie was also an exploration of trust on a personal level. She is keenly aware and accepting that, as a spy, people reasonably do not trust her. She doesn't expect to be trusted nor does she think deserves to be trusted. What sort of effect does that have on Brie? Her personality? Her emotional state? Her wants and goals? Can she ever be saved or redeemed for being a liar, traitor, turncloak, betrayer, double-crosser, snake? And are other people attempting to save or redeem her worth the risk?

Origin/Background:

I somehow ended up with a fairly lengthy origin/backstory for Brie that managed to tie in her rogue perks quickly and easily. When inspiration strikes, go with it!

[hide=Backstory]Brie Cesme's early life saw her working as a physician in Selgaunt of Sembia. Eventually, her practice grew successful enough that it garnered the attention of Selguant's criminal organizations. In a daring ploy to defend herself, she began dabbling in poisons and, after successfully poisoning some of her harassers, she was able to negotiate a deal with them to back off.

Brie's handling of her situation caught the attention of the authorities working for Overmaster Kendrick Selkirk and the Merchant Council of Sembia. They recruited Brie as a diplomatic agent and spy, and provided her with further training in diplomacy, subterfuge, and espionage to supplement her other talents.

In her new career, Brie was frequently assigned and pitted against agents of the Zhentarim who were making attempting to make inroads into Sembia. She eventually fell into an antagonistic yet friendly relationship with a Zhentarim agent, the two of them acting as double agents for their respective authorities and opposing forces.

As time passed, however, Brie slowly became disillusioned with the governing forces of Sembia as it was rife with corruption–the criminals who caused her trouble in her earlier medical career were just as influential in the Sembian government. The Zhentarim agent took advantage of this and plotted to have Brie become a complete turn coat and new faithful of Bane.

However, just before such could happen, Brie was whisked away to the City of Rings. She awoke a few weeks before the revelation of Tchammorar. The events that followed further embolden traces of the new influences instilled in Brie: chaos would always lead to destruction eventually, order was the only safeguard. For the Peerage Ward to maintain any semblance of peace, law would have to reign supreme.

For nearly a year, Brie studied the Peerage Ward, its people, and traditions. Working simple and menial jobs, she watched and learned and, now, she was finally ready to become a much more active participant. In her studies, Brie came to a simple fact: order needs to be imposed by power. And, so, she thought of a fairly simple plan in general: become House Orza's hidden spymaster before finally joining them to act as their outward face.[/hide]

Thanks:

As usual, there are many, wonderful players to thank for helping/hindering Brie along in her story. But, in particular, I would like to thank the players who accompanied Brie on her ring running during the tail end of her journey: SN, VP, efuincarnate, Diablo, Gwillicus, merrychase, and TheCisco.

Screenshots:

So many...

First of all, Brie's antics in spying! One of the best things about playing a rogue is just being places and hearing things that other people don't know about.
[hide=Spying!]





[/hide]

House Orza... The initial goal and plan was that Brie would become House Orza's public face: diplomat, liaison, negotiator, etc. and try to subtly shift House Orza away from what she saw as chaotic/evil tendencies. Things clearly didn't turn out according to plan because House Oldflowers, which Brie infiltrated on Luciana's behalf, managed to impress and influence Brie to a great degree. I like to say what while House Orza was the first House that Brie worked for, House Oldflowers is the first House she swore loyalty to. After House Oldflowers was butchered, Brie decided to continue on with the plan with Lady Luciana Orza being the crux: to influence and help her grow into a good House leader. It was a hard one. Brie was the only good cop in a house full of bad cops. Nearly every other Orzan questioned why Brie was even in the House. Some even blatantly threatened her.
[hide=A chat with Lady Luciana Orza][/hide]

Liv was one of Brie's first and earliest contacts though there was actually fairly little espionage work done between them. Instead, Brie just considered Liv a good friend who helped comfort her after the slaughter of the Oldflowers, though the comfort came in the lesson that not all monsters looked like monsters.
[hide=Liv][/hide]

Cybel and Lamia were two interesting characters that Brie decided to keep tabs on because of what Luciana did to Lamia. Her relationship with Cybel grew into a genuine friendship, her relationship with Lamia...? I don't know...
[hide=Cybel and Lamia]


[/hide]

Gaddiel was simply a fascinating character. Brie and Gaddiel didn't interact much but I'm glad I got to see his end.
[hide=Gaddiel Who Comes]
[/hide]

Brie's relationship with Kinsley was interesting and strained in a subtle way. Kinsley was who Brie wanted to be--lawful, dutiful, a protector of the Ward. But, over time, Brie realized there's a reason why she went into spycraft: flexibility.
[hide=Kinsley][/hide]

In comparison, Brie's relationship with Pavlina I thought was very heart warming. The two viewed their profession/talents in a similar manner and Brie felt a kinship with the wizard who was wary of her arcane talents. Pavlina got Brie into poetry which Brie took to rather well, I'd say because I'd take every opportunity I can to get make up EFU poetry.
[hide=Pavlina][/hide]

Some miscellaneous group shots!
[hide]




[/hide]

Sorcha was just meant to be another plant. Another contact that Brie could ply to get information on Glitt. Someone like Sorcha inside Glitt working for Brie would have been so valuable that Brie even reversed the bounty contract that Aaron Goodwill's mother put on Sorcha. What Brie didn't anticipate, however, was how strongly Sorcha still felt for Brie after it was revealed that Brie was working for Orza. Unlike most others, Sorcha responded with a gentle (but still very blunt) approached aimed more at redeeming and saving Brie. Sorcha even went through the trouble and headache of trying to come up with a plan where the two of them would ring run to escape the Ward (a plan which eventually came to fruition). Brie initially merely amused Sorcha at first but Sorcha was so insistent and consistent that Brie was eventually won over by Sorcha's affection and dedication. When Brie finally decided to escape House Orza and revealed Manfred's infernalism, she was thinking about Sorcha.
[hide]





[/hide]

Loads of scenic shots!
[hide]




[/hide]

Enristo The Shaded (NOT ERNESTO). As part of Manfred's infernalism, he sought to try and get as many Orzans involved with demons and devils as possible. Manfred introduced Brie to Enristo but she tried her best to keep to under wraps. What exactly happened between Brie and Enristo? Did Brie really trade her soul to Enristo for something? Anything? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
[hide]

[/hide]

Here's a pic of some colours that looked more honest on Brie
[hide][/hide]

And... Finally... A Sad End...(?)
[hide][/hide]

[Lalena Steele]

Brie was one of the earliest PCs I met on Lalena. I wish I had got to know here better. Makes me happy to see Lalena's in the screenshots. Hope it was an interesting conversation you were spying on.

[Amon-Si]

Brie jad a huge imact on Liv and very much embodied the hope and mistrust she had in equal measure for humans. Her only friend, now long lost to her. Thank you for the rp!

[Astra]

Oh no...

Brie was fantastic! I loved the dynamism and drama she brought to the server with her schemes and spying, and her friendship with Cybel was honestly something special. I'm going to miss her, but I'm very much looking forward to your next! ❤

[SeerofLight]

I wish we'd gotten to interact more, now Amirah will only ever be able to ask where she is without an answer to speak of

[Cat]

Ernesto....

[Runic]

Winne, Maxwell, and Gran had treasured thoughts about Brie.

Winnie saw her as another level head in a Ward full of violence.

Maxwell saw her as another skulker like him, who was often on the outskirts of everything and just looked over. Though he didn't trust her knowing where his own loyalties lay. Their conversations out in the shadowed places of the Ward were always exciting, and full of emotion.

Gran trusted Brie 100%. They didn't interact too much, but she knew Brie had a good heart, and had she been alive near the end would have done anything to protect her.

A treasured character, a dependable friend, and it's sad to see her go.

[Don Nadie]

Brie was excellent. Hers was a tale of intrigue, love and betrayals, and an amazing one at that. Having interacted only with the tail end of it, I still loved it endlessly, and loved the RP opportunities it also provided me! Just kudos on Brie and on the whole story!

And just so you know, someone will keep sending messages, meant for a certain farm :) 

[zerotje]

Super cool. I couldn't (get myself to) continue playing Trevor Dal, but the one or two interactions we had it was definitely like how you described very conflicting where trust was concerned.
Good job.

[Ramc]

When Mebril was in Moonspear and Brie in Orza them both being the house spies turned into this weird sort of co-worker relationship despite being in rival houses, filling each other in on the bits the other missed from their own spying. It's was a fun dynamic.

Brie's turn on Orza and the ride that followed was one hell of a thing to watch. Great work.

[Affinity]

It's cool to see the motivations and intent behind creating Brie  after the fact - playing a rather open spy is a challenging prospect, and I think you pulled it off great based on how many people would still talk to her!

Brie was one of those PCs I wish I took more time to RP with. Thanks for playing them and great job!

[-UnholyWon-]

I enjoyed each one of my brief contacts with Brie. Great character!

[Kinsley G.]

Enjoyed our disagreements and all the good tension. I love when PCs take stands and really liked the moment Brie stood up for what she believed in re: infernalism/Orza. Great PC

[SergeantWombat]

RIP Poetry Squad. <3

[BlaDed_Cloud]

Brie was a fantastic character. Playing as Iono and being able to see her story through both Sorcha -and- Brie was a blast. Can't wait to see your next one.