Marilyn Haresdown

The Lady High Ambassador Duchess Marilyn Haresdown was the duchess of the Purple Marches in Tethyr and a former member of the adventuring band the Company of Eight.

Description
Duchess Haresdown had relatively short, blonde hair. Her eyes were green.

Personality
Marilyn Haresdown was a very zealous patriot for her homeland of Tethyr, as an adventuress and member of the Company of Eight, as a participant in the Reclamation Wars, and later as a duchess and ambassador of a new unified Tethyr. Her perseverance served her well in foreign politics, and her skill in diplomacy served her both in foreign courts and when she turned down the many suitors that had sought her out.

She had an energetic personality and was very fond of archery and horseback-riding as pastimes.

Abilities
Marilyn specialized in combat with the broadsword, and she was also proficient with bow, battleaxe, and dagger. She knew how to craft her own bows and arrows and was skilled at horseback-riding and natural healing measures.

Possessions
When in the Company of Eight, Marilyn was armored in scale male and fought with a +3 shield and a +3 dancing broadsword. She also possessed a ring of swimming.

Activities
As high ambassador of Tethyr, Lady Haresdown was the only court officer with the power to sign treaties with other nations in the name of Tethyr.

Marilyn enjoyed the sport of hawking. She would occasionally disguise herself as one "Lady Farefar" while engaging in this activity. While in this guise, she would sometimes stay at the home of the miller and heraldist Ilmurk Jongrath, because she was amused by him.

Relationships
Marilyn was briefly married to a fellow officer of Castle Tethyr named Dorian Haresdown.

During her time in the Company of Eight, she was closest friends with Lawantha Silendia. She often disagreed politically with the elf Sylvanus Moondrop.

Duchess Marilyn was a vehement opponent of Duke Inselm Hhune and could barely stand to be in the same room with him, as he actively strove to frustrate much of her diplomatic work.

Lady Haresdown also had strong disagreements with Kablex Trosbann, the Lord Investigator.

History
Marilyn was born with noble Tethyrian blood. She was supposed to be a lady-in-waiting of the royal family, but she much preferred swordplay, archery, and riding over matters of court. She went against her family's wishes and joined the army of Tethyr instead.

After a few years in the army, she was promoted to an officer and also fell in love with another officer there named Dorian Haresdown. The two were married.

Marilyn was present on Eleint 12, 1347 DR, when Castle Tethyr was razed at the beginning of the Ten Black Days of Eleint. She escaped the burning castle alive. Sadly, her husband did not and died defending the king.

For about three years, Marilyn wandered Faerûn as an adventuress, mostly in the regions of Cormyr and Sembia, but she also visited Shadowdale, where she met Elminster and his scribe Lhaeo. She discussed with them the state of her country, and the conversation convinced her to return and fight for good there.

So Marilyn returned and joined the adventuring group known as the Company of Eight circa 1351 DR, being introduced to the group by a former officer in the army with her, Jordy Gallum. As one of the Company's seven members, she was involved in removing corrupt Duke Nivedann Illehhune (a distant relative of Inselm Hhune) from power in the northeast in that same year. In 1353 DR, they likewise overturned Ernest Gallowglass from power in Ithmong.

Marilyn, along with the rest of the Company of Eight, met Zaranda Star and Star Protective Services in 1367 DR. The two groups immediately became tight allies. Marilyn, Zaranda, and Tardeth Llanistaph captured the son of Ernest Gallowglass, who had tried to set himself up as king of Ithmong.

Marilyn was named Duchess of the Purple Marches and Lady High Ambassador of Tethyr in 1369 DR. One of her first key involvements in foreign policy occurred in the month of Ches in 1370 DR when the Amnian towns of Riatavin and Trailstone defected. She was treated rudely by the Council of Six when trying to smooth the matter over with Amn.

Rumors
Because Duchess Haresdown favored the wine country of County Vintor over the other counties in her duchy, the herdsmen and merchants of Bardshyr and Myratma, respectively, felt shunned. Many thought this was because of the treachery of the Jhannivar Clan of Myratma during the Reclamation Wars. In truth, Marilyn was smitten with a brewer named Pollan who lived in the town of Vineshade. The man was a grieving widower who was mourning his lost wife among the halflings of that town.

She was rumored to be paranoid about doppelgangers owing to an event from her adventuring days. Because of this, the duchess had her keep, Krennasar, magically warded against their entry by Gamalon Idogyr.

While she was not aware of it, the count of Firedrake, Ondul Jarduth, was strongly infatuated with Marilyn, but he was too shy to ever let her know about this.