Important People: Sable

This section is designed to give new players an introduction to the main NPCs they’re likely to encounter within the Kingdom of Sable. Details of other major NPCs can be found in the “Key Players” pages of the various sub-categories of the site.

Key Members of the Sable Royal Family

Robert de Lacy, King of Sable

Robert has been the duly anointed King of Sable for as long as anyone can remember, which means that his origins are somewhat blurred. Most of the time, his Monarchy is a supervisory one: he leaves the government of his lands to his Ministers, giving Royal consent to the legislation they wish to pass, and mainly concentrates on State and Royal appearances and visits, his own pursuits – such as painting, at which he is good enough to exhibit; and music, where he is an accomplished pianist and plays clarinet – and his family, to whom he seems devoted. He favours his right leg slightly when he walks. The main occasions when he puts aside his hands-off approach to the Kingdom, and gets actively involved as ruler, are the thankfully-infrequent periods of trouble or unrest among the neighbouring Shadows, and at times of significant threat.

In addition, he regularly teaches forensic magic at the Sable Mage College…a duty he seems to enjoy, although when he first proposed it, the other tutors at the College were taken aback to say the least. Perhaps the fact that he is the foremost forensics mage in the Kingdom, as well as being one of the best mage-healers, especially in troubles of the mind, helped to persuade them that wishing to teach was more than a Royal affectation.

With respect to the Aurellian end of the Inside, Robert holds the Aspect of Enquiry.

Claire Celestine-de Lacy, Queen of Sable

Throughout his reign, King Robert has shared the throne with his wife, Claire, and even after all this time, and despite occasional disagreements, they still appear to be very much in love. She, too, is known to be Talented, and like Robert, her origins are blurred. It is known, however, that she is the sister of Sian Celestine-Helgram, the Mater Deorum of Aurellis.

She is a warm, quiet, and infinitely patient person who takes pleasure in helping others. She is a mage-surgeon of considerable skill, working at Sable Royal Hospital on a semi-regular basis, in and among her other duties. However, she also manages to assert her place within the Royal Palace, managing to keep her husband’s extensive family in order.
With respect to the Aurellian end of the Inside, Claire holds the Aspect of Healing.

Andrew de Lacy, Former Crown Prince of Sable

Andrew is the eldest son of King Robert of Sable, from His Majesty’s first marriage, long before the establishment of Sable. In the early days of the Kingdom, he was well-known around Sable City, and taught at both the SMC and SCMM, as well as serving as Sable’s Attorney General. All of that changed in SY069 with the death of his wife, Regan, and the outlawing of their eldest son, Chartris.

In the years that followed, very little was heard of Andrew. It was only after SY099 that it was confirmed that he had been out in Shadow, fighting Reich forces an allies on their own terms. Between then and the founding of the Technocracy in SY120, Andrew was occasionally seen in Sable City, at family gatherings or at Sable Staff Council meetings. Since SY120, these apperances have been even rarer. Moreover, he has become more and more estranged from his father as time has passed.

It is known that in the SY130s, he worked with William O’Connor and William de Lacy to help set up the Sable High-Tech forces, which were established to counter the threats from first the Machine and later the Weimar Republik, and he does still occasionally consult for the Sable Staff Council. Since SY154, however, he has lived Outside on a largely-permanent basis.

Prince Francis, Crown Prince of Sable

Francis has been Crown Prince since SY125, and about six years ago, he even had the dubious pleasure of being Regent, when Robert was unable to perform his duties for about three months.  Due to being Andrew’s eldest son in good standing in Sable, he is now first in line to the Throne. He is a graduate of SMC, although before he rose to his current position, he preferred the military life to a magical one.

He had a tough time as a child, in that his siblings fell into natural groups (twins, triplets), whereas he did not, which meant that he often had to stand up for himself against his kin. This led to him being somewhat introspective, until his skill at arms was noticed by Field Marshal O’Connor, who made sure that it was developed and later discovered his natural abilities as a tactician and strategist. He is a dedicated and skilled leader, and has the unswerving loyalty of his officer corps. Even now that he is unable to go into the field in Shadow as much as he would like, only O’Connor, the Lord Protector and his cousin James are capable of besting him within the Kingdom. As it was generally believed that he would be wasted in an entirely civilian role, given his military prowess, he is currently the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sable.

Lord Protector Prince William, Commander in Chief of the Sable Forces

William is acknowledged as the King’s son, although his mother is not known to the people of Sable. He is now based primarily in Sable, although his many responsibilities do take him away from time to time. He is a brilliant tactician, and the best front-line military commander currently active in the Sable forces, as well as being recognised as Talented. He doesn’t have the artistic streak of many of his family, either musically or in other areas, but he is a keen reader and student of military history, as well as a decent sportsman when he has the time.

William is one of the taller members of the de Lacy clan, standing about 6’2″. He is quite heavily built, with much darker colouring than the majority of his family. He became Commander-in-Chief of the Sable Forces on the retirement of Field Marshal William O’Connor, and was invested as a KG shortly afterwards. He has since been awarded the honorary title of Lord Protector by his father.

He is known as an honourable man on both sides of the war.

Prince James, acting Duke of Lowell

Prince James is Williams son and Robert’s eldest grandchild and is one of the few who was not brought up in Sable. As one of the three most important members of the Sable military, he is a familiar face in Kingdom. He maintains a warm relationship with his father, grandparents and the rest of the family. He takes after his father in both appearance and abilitiess. He enjoys academic work, and is also a born administrator, which has proven very handy in his duties. He is both Talented, and one of the senior generals in Sable’s wars. From about SY155-159 he was Sable’s field commander in the Weimar Republik theatre. Since the assassination of Travis, Duke of Lowell, in February SY159, he has been acting Duke of Lowell.

Prince John

John de Lyon is Robert’s son from prior to the founding of Sable. It is unclear whether he or William is the elder. John is a policeman through and through, and is the Sable Commissioner of Police. Nominally, he is based in Sable City, although over the last few years he has spent a fair amount of time travelling the Commonwealth and other allied Shadows, acting as an advisor to their local police forces. That said, he does sometimes take personal charge of high-profile cases within Sable City, with agreement with Met Commander Patrick Milton.

Prince Michael de Lacy

Michael is King Robert’s younger brother, and is the Director of the Sable Royal Hospital. Although he is not a fully Talented mage, he is a Sensitive with an empathic ability for instinctively knowing the health of his patients. He has the reputation of being the best non-magical healer in the Kingdom, with specialities in trauma surgery and the maladies of shapeshifters. He is also one of the most experienced teachers of shapeshifting in the Kingdom, both to individuals and groups.

He shares his brother’s love of art, and is a superb artist in his own right, although he doesn’t seem to have the musician gene. He has never lived in Sable Palace, instead preferring to live in digs while at college, and then in a house he purchased near to the Sable Royal Hospital.

With respect to the Aurellian end of the Inside, Michael holds the Aspect of Communications (aka God of Trumps!), as well as the secondary Aspect of Protector of Lesser Siblings of Immensely Powerful Godlike Beings (having spent the preceding century plus living in the Shadow of both Robert and Rupert Delatz).

Other Important Sable-Based NPCs

General Lord John Graham of Oakwood, Head of the Sable SIS

John Graham (“Gray”) is an old, old friend of King Robert’s. His particular forte is intelligence, although he is no fool in the counter-intelligence field either. His job is to coordinate the efforts of SIEXT and SIINT, making sure that they don’t tread on each other’s toes, and also that information gathered by both is forwarded to the relevant parties who need to know the information. He also also rumoured to handle a handful of agents and informers of his own, to keep his hand in, although he leaves the vast majority of such things to his subordinates. He is a ritual mage and occultist of some skill, but is not thought to be Talented in the usual sense of the term.

Anyone working for the Sable Security Services will know John Graham.

Francesco, Comte de Saint-Germain, Master of Sable Mage College

Like General Graham, Saint-Germain is a very old friend of King Robert, from long before Sable was founded. He is accredited as a nobleman, although he does not belong to any of the Sable noble families, and is a familiar face on the Sable court and social scene. He is an extremely experienced magician, with particular specialisms in investigation and healing, and competence in offensive, defensive and trans/comms magic. He is also a highly skilled ritual magician, and is one of the few registered blood mages in the Kingdom.

He looks to be in his early-forties, although his eyes seem to give an impression of extreme age which his body belies. Beyond his abilities as a magician, he is a linguist without par, and is fluent at least twenty languages, with a familiarity with many more. He is a man of letters and a patron of the arts, as well as being an accomplished musician and composer in his own right. He has also exhibited as an artist, and in times of crisis (of which there have been thankfully few), he offers his services as a physician to the Sable Royal Hospital.

Most mages will know Saint-German, if only in passing. Those who’ve studied to the higher levels might know him pretty well.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Patrick Milton

Whereas Prince John is the police commissioner for the Kingdom of Sable as a whole, Patrick Milton is responsible for law and order in Sable City. He has been head of the civil police force for about ten years, and is one of the most senior policeman in the Kingdom. He also deals with liaises with the Palace on those occasions when mutual jurisdiction is an issue. He has a reasonable working relationship with Sable Police Commissioner John de Lyon, although this can become strained on those rare occasions that the SPC wishes to take charge of a particularly thorny case.

Dr. Daejan Asscher, Chief Coroner of Sable City

Yes, the Coroner does get called in on a regular basis. Asscher demonstrates a certain charm and a keen intelligence. He studied Magic in the Commonwealth, where he specialised in investigative/forensics magic. Following a case when he was the investigator on a “black magic” case, he made a study of the subject from an intellectual point of view. He became Sable’s Chief Coroner in in April SY153. He got the job, being brought in above the existing staff as a new broom, and since then has ironed out the majority of issues that caused.

Jennifer Carruthers, Guildmistress of the Sable Pilots’ Guild

For those characters that are Pilots, they are regulated by the Sable Pilot’s Guild. Jennifer is a trained lawyer, and took over the Sable Pilots’ Guild about ten years ago. She is known to be friends with former Crown Prince Dominic, and rumours occasionally circulate that in the distant past, she may have had an affair with Andrew de Lacy, towards the end of his first marriage, although these usually die down again almost as soon as they start.