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headcanon power hour
Nov. 7th, 2019 10:34 pm𝙀𝙈𝙀𝙍𝙄𝘾
𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙄𝘿𝘼
𝙃𝙐𝘽𝙀𝙍𝙏
𝙀𝙇𝙄𝘼𝙎
𝙄𝙎𝙊𝙇𝘿𝙀
𝙂𝙀𝙉𝙀𝙑𝙄𝙀𝙑𝙀
- ✦ The former head of House Vestra, and Hubert's father. He was raised to be the Emperor's shadow from a very young age, just like all Vestras.
✦ His mother was the head of House Vestra before him; his father died during battle when he was young, so his mother was left to raise him and his siblings alone. While she instilled the values required of every Vestra, it was clearly taxing on her to handle that and watching the Emperor's back.
✦ So he became sort of disillusioned with being born into a role and having no personal freedom to decide what to do; he watched as his siblings went on to do whatever it was they wanted, although they struggled to fit in like normal people because of the way they were raised.
✦ By the time the Emperor started having kids of his own, Emeric still wasn't married so he agreed to an arranged marriage with the daughter of a lesser noble family, primarily because she had a crest.
✦ House Vestra's last head - his mother - had been the first one without a crest, and none of her children had crests either. It was in his best interests to try to breed a crest back into the family line, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
✦ Still pretty damn jaded with everything, Emeric tried to do the best he could for his kids. While Freida clearly didn't love him and had very little interest in him, he could at least do the best he could to instill good values into his children even if they did have to be raised as Vestras.
✦ When the time came, he backed Duke Aegir in the Insurrection of the Seven. The Emperor had been hoarding power and it was really not a good look, and this potentially offered freedoms for his family that had never been allowed for any of House Vestra. Even if it meant betraying the family lineage and duty, Emeric wanted to do what was best for his family.
✦ His decision was entirely due to House Vestra's militant insistence on service, not out of hatred for the Emperor himself. Prior to this, they'd gotten along just fine.
✦ Emeric and Duke Aegir don't exactly like one another, and definitely don't trust one another, but Duke Aegir was able to talk Emeric into supporting him during the Insurrection of the Seven.
✦ He was vaguely aware of Those Who Slither in the Dark, but had far less information on them than Hubert would eventually gather. Emeric had no idea about Arundel, and Edelgard's changed appearance when she returned was just as much a shock to him as it was to everyone else.
✦ Except oops, Hubert kind of took the lessons about being the Emperor's enforcer a little too hard and committed patricide, gj Hubert.
✦ He's a Dark Knight, and an exceptional one at that.
✦ ↑lances, ↑reason, ↑authority, ↑riding | ↓axes, ↓brawling, ↓faith
✦ Obviously he's also well-trained in all the assassination techniques of House Vestra; he passed these on to all three of his children.
✦ Despite his skills on the battlefield, he'd actually greatly prefer to deal with paperwork all day long. He prefers his role as Minister of the Interior over his role as His Majesty's shadow.
✦ 6'3", broad-shouldered, more built than Hubert. Even so, he's still not quite buff, and since he prefers to wear robes, it's very easy to mistake him for a mage without any skill with weapons. (He's really only skilled with lances, so close enough.)
✦ His hair is just as wavy and unruly as Hubert's, but he keeps it long and tied back in a ponytail. He doesn't wear his bangs over one eye because that hinders your ability to see?? His eyes are the same green-yellow shade.
✦ Perpetually looks like he's in need of a nap or five.
𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙄𝘿𝘼
- ✦ The daughter of a minor lord, Freida was never raised to fight and was raised solely to be a proper lady and eventually, the perfect wife. She never had any illusions of breaking free from this life, and accepted it.
✦ Well, sort of. It took a long time for her to get there, and she spent much of it at odds with her parents.
✦ This came to a head when she fell in love with one of her servants and desperately wanted to run away with her... Aaaand then her parents found out and the servant girl disappeared, never to be heard from again.
✦ She gave up entirely after that, deciding that there wasn't any point in fighting anymore because she'd never escape the path her parents had laid out for her.
✦ Freida was married into House Vestra, something she didn't complain about. She didn't complain even after her husband told her everything about their bloody history, and she didn't complain knowing what would be required of her.
✦ She doesn't really... care about House Vestra's role or how they've been raised (and raise their kids); part of this is because she doesn't care about much anymore anyway and part of it is because she is fully of the belief that sometimes you just need to kill people who are in the way.
✦ Emeric remained as honest with her as he could, and he never mistreated her, and for the first few years of their marriage, things weren't all that bad. It wasn't what she wanted, but he tried to be a decent husband and support her in the few things that did catch her interest (mostly gardening and sketching), but things got progressively worse over the years.
✦ She bore three children, none of which had her crest. Having kids only worsened her dark outlook on the world and she withdrew almost entirely after the birth of their daughter.
✦ Emeric took on the role of raising the children almost single-handedly after Freida kept shoving Hubert off on the maids.
✦ Freida became sickly after the birth of her second son, so it wasn't really a surprise when she passed only a few years after the birth of her daughter.
✦ She was never trained to fight, partially because of her status as a noble's daughter, and partially to ensure she wouldn't ever try to run away.
✦ ↑riding | ✩faith | ↓swords, ↓lances, ↓axes, ↓brawling, ↓authority, ↓heavy armor
✦ 5'9" and exceptionally frail-looking, even before she became sickly. A strong breeze could probably knock her over, but she is pretty tall.
✦ Her hair is dark brown and perfectly straight, kept long and either tied in a bun or held back in a braid. Her eyes are light blue.
𝙃𝙐𝘽𝙀𝙍𝙏
- ✦ a bastard
𝙀𝙇𝙄𝘼𝙎
- ✦ The middle child of the Vestra children. He's three years younger than Hubert.
✦ While Hubert took to dark magic and the lessons their father had to teach very easily, Elias was the opposite. He was a bright student, but had next to no talent with reason magic, and even less skill in dark magic. He startled easily and cried even easier, and in general didn't really have the disposition to be a proper Vestra.
✦ Still, his father tried to teach him everything he needed to know. It caused quite a lot of conflict between them, and eventually Elias begged to be allowed to stop dark magic lessons at least. His father reluctantly agreed, on the condition that Elias continued to learn to fight despite his distaste for it.
✦ While he did eventually become better with lances, Elias still wasn't fond of his father or big brother, and really only liked his little sister. He tried to run away from home a few times.
✦ Things got a little better after the Insurrection of the Seven; father's lessons eased up and he permitted Elias more freedom to choose what to study and what to do with himself. Hubert and Elias ended up clashing more as a result.
✦ Then things went sharply off the rails when Hubert returned from the Officers Academy and murdered dad, so Elias got the hell out of there and never looked back. He's changed his name and probably gets to live out the rest of his life in peace.
✦ He's a Bow Knight, and a really damn good shot.
✦ ↑lances, ↑bows, ↑riding | ↓reason, ↓faith, ↓authority
✦ Elias wants to protect people, not hurt them. He's more or less a town guard in his new life now that he's ditched House Vestra.
✦ It's not like he's forgotten any of his lessons, however. He's still acutely aware of his surroundings at all times, and knows all sorts of ways to kill people that are mildly terrifying.
✦ 6'0" and absolutely looks like he could punch someone and kill them. He's very buff and probably looks more like an armored class than a Bow Knight.
✦ He takes after his mother with dark brown hair and light blue eyes. His hair's ridiculously wavy and difficult like Emeric's, however. He keeps his hair cut short so he doesn't have to fuss with it.
𝙄𝙎𝙊𝙇𝘿𝙀
- ✦ The youngest of the Vestra children. She's two years younger than Elias and five years younger than Hubert.
✦ Like her brothers, she was raised with all of House Vestra's teachings in mind. Unlike her brothers, her father was less strict with her. There was a lot going on in his life by this point, and after constantly feuding with Elias over his studies, Emeric just didn't have the energy to fight with a third child.
✦ Thankfully, Isolde took to her lessons well. Like Hubert, she's gifted with dark magic and holds a lot of interest in it, but unlike Hubert, she couldn't care less about House Vestra's storied past or their duties. She chose to throw herself almost entirely into dark magic and the research and study of poisons. She's absolutely fascinated by plants and what she can do with them.
✦ Mostly she was left to her research growing up - Hubert was being trained to take his father's place and serve the Emperor, Elias was causing trouble by not wanting to be a terrible person, and Isolde didn't care as long as she had plants to work with and books to read.
✦ She was actually in the manor when Hubert killed dad, and actually saw his body and still gave zero shits. Elias took her with him and they fled, but she eventually grew bored of pretending to be a normal person and made her way back to the Vestra manor to get back to her studies and plants.
✦ Despite being completely uninterested in everything and everyone else, she is good at gathering information and sneaking around, so she's fully aware of most of what's gone on with Hubert and the Empire in her absence.
✦ Isolde is a Dark Bishop, just like Hubert. Unlike Hubert, she's way more interested in research than fighting.
✦ ↑reason, ↑faith, ↑riding | ✩swords | ↓axes, ↓bows, ↓gauntlets, ↓heavy armor
✦ Like her brothers, she's exceptionally skilled at the Vestra line of work. Poisons are her specialty, and she's way more knowledgeable about them (and plants) than Hubert will ever be.
✦ She'd rather not fight, but she's capable of it if necessary.
✦ 5'8" and slender. She doesn't look nearly as frail as mom, but aside from being fairly tall, she has almost nothing in common with her brothers in terms of build.
✦ Isolde's hair is black, but straight unlike Hubert's. She keeps it long and usually held up in a ponytail or braid, though she'll opt for a bun if she's been too involved in her work to take care of her appearance. Her eyes are light blue, like mom's.
𝙂𝙀𝙉𝙀𝙑𝙄𝙀𝙑𝙀
- ✦ Emeric's mother, Hubert's grandmother. She held the position of Minister of the Interior and head of House Vestra before Emeric.
✦ Genevieve was raised in the same way as all previous heads of House Vestra, however she wasn't actually supposed to be the heir. She had an elder brother and an elder sister, either of whom should have taken over, since both bore House Vestra's usual crest and were trained for it.
✦ Unfortunately, both of them died in service to the Emperor. At least, that's what House Vestra's records officially say.
✦ In truth, there was a lot of in-fighting between the Vestra children, at least partially due to conflicts of interest and differences in ideals.
✦ Genevieve is responsible for killing her brother and taking over as head of the house, and made sure to train her children well. She fostered a more friendly atmosphere for her kids instead of a competitive one in the hopes that there wouldn't be a repeat of the Vestra Hunger Games.
✦ She passed on the title and her duties to Emeric when she believed he was ready, but was always hanging out in House Vestra's manor to chide her son for doing things in a way she wouldn't. (Emeric is so tired. Please let him sleep.)
✦ Genevieve lived for a good long while, getting to see all of her grandchildren born and being at least mildly terrifying at all times. She passed while Edelgard was held captive in the Kingdom, so Hubert doesn't really remember much of her death.
✦ She was a Sniper! In this universe we can use magic in any class, okay.
✦ ↑bows, ↑ reason, ↑authority | ↓faith, ↓heavy armor
✦ Definitely the best at blending into the shadows and not being seen. She's where Hubert picked up most of his tricks from and she managed to terrify Emeric several times even after he became head of House Vestra.
✦ 5'6" and somewhat muscular, even in her old age she still looked like she could throw a punch.
✦ Her hair was black and just as unruly as Emeric's, with the same yellow-green eyes. She kept her hair short all her life, and it went gray fairly early.
