The Child of Five Suns

Character:

Pallegina Mes Rèi

You can add Pallegina to your party on your way through Ondra’s Gift in Act II. She is a godlike (ocean folk) Paladin. She feels she has been wasting time on trivial tasks in Defiance Bay. She believes there are more serious threats to the Vailian Republics and wants your help in pursuing them.

Pallegina mes Rèi was born to human parents in a small fishing village near Biageppe. During childbirth, her unusual body caused her mother enormous pain and internal bleeding. Upon seeing the baby’s body, the midwife realized that Pallegina must be a godlike, touched by one of the deities and “blessed” with unusual features. Though she was given the name of her mother’s grandmother, her surname, like all godlike among the Vailians, became mes Rèi, forever announcing her presumed divine lineage. Based on her avian features, many people believed (and continue to believe) that Pallegina was blessed by Hylea, the Sky-Mother.

The ducs bels of the Vailian Republics send word to the Vailian embassy in Defiance Bay that a revolution is brewing in the capital. The ducs’ concern is the stability of the city and the ability of the ports to remain open for trade. The ducs instruct her to accompany the ambassadors as they negotiate secure export of Vailian holdings from the city in the months leading up to a presumed revolt.

Pallegina believes that the ducs are thinking in ordinary financial terms only—that they are overly concerned with the traditional resources of maritime trade and not enough in the technology of animancy that both Dyrwoodan and Vailian patrons and researchers are unlocking. She believes that while the ducs’ plan would protect many of their investments, they would lose inestimable wealth in animancy research and technology.

Pallegina shirks some of her duties to the embassy and begins investigating the underlying causes of revolutionary talk, shadowing figures at the ducal palace and interrogating information brokers. When she discovers that animancy itself may be a key element of the political upset, she tries placing herself closer to the attendants and courtiers of the erls and (Dyrwoodan) duc. Due to her political allegiances and appearance, this gets her nowhere and ultimately earns her a reprimand from the leadership of the order. She returns to her duties accompanying the ambassadors, but looks for an opportunity to restart her investigation.

In encountering the Watcher, Pallegina recognizes a potential ally in her investigation. She urges the Watcher to assist her in finding the parties who are conspiring to outlaw animancy in the Dyrwood —and possibly the Vailian Republics. After her continued snooping results in an assassination attempt against her, Pallegina is convinced she needs to help you stop the threat. Unfortunately, her superiors do not agree, and instead send her to broker a trade deal between the Vailian Republics and Eir Glanfath. Though she has serious misgivings about her ducs’ plans, the trip does allow her to travel with the Watcher to Twin Elms.

Leading up to the end of the story, Pallegina’s conflict hinges on how she brokers the trade deal with Eir Glanfath. If she follows the ducs’ command to steal trade from the vulnerable Dyrwoodans, she believes it may lead to suffering and war. If she disobeys her orders and arranges more equitable terms for the Dyrwood, she knows she may pay for it, but is confident it will be better in the long run.

Endgame

If Pallegina lives, but her quest was never completed, she’s disgraced and cast out of the Brotherhood of Five Suns.

If Pallegina follows her orders, she’s honored by the ducs of the Republics.

If Pallegina disobeys her orders and the Dyrwood isn’t strengthened by the Watcher’s gift of souls, she’s banished from the Republics.

If Pallegina disobeys her orders and the Dyrwood is strengthened by the Watcher’s gift of souls, she’s banished from the Republics for a few years, but then pardoned.