Character Profile - Lou Bavlenka
I promised another character profile, so let's talk about one of my favorites:
In some ways Lou is a model Bavlenka - she is stern, strong and forbidding, maintaining the family honour and punishing any insult or misdeed she doesn’t like. She respects hierarchy and strength, and obediently follows the will her her patriarch even when it isn’t easy. At the same time, Lou is a woman who has learned that a facade of strength is necessary and keeps her more sensitive emotions bottled up inside: she does care, and she does worry, but she’ll never admit it.
What we know about her
Lou is the eldest daughter of the Bavlenka Family, one of the Big Four and a particularly powerful one at that (especially at the beginning of Magda’s story). They certainly seem to be the wealthiest family in Finsel, profiting off loans to other nobles. As the eldest child Lou would be the heir, except that women don’t seem to naturally inherit in Finsel; we have the example of Tilla Jorcastle, who is said to have fought tooth and nail to keep the role of duchess in her own right. Lou is smart, ambitious and very loyal to her family, and yet she isn’t treated as a political player of significance by the Bavlenkas - and that grates.
Because she would likely never be Duchess Bavlenka even though she’d be really, really good at it, Lou pursues a different path to power and influence: the Spiral Spire. As a mage she has a degree of independence beyond what most Four Families women could hope for. As a Bavlenka, she of course devotes herself to being the best and defeating all rivals. She’s extremely powerful, and appropriately to the tradition of the Warrior’s family she seems to specialise in aggressive elemental spells. The Spire is her own personal court to master, and magic is the mastery she measures herself by.
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Like Tilla, Lou is a woman in the upper echelons of Finsel politics and as such does not have the luxury of being tender-hearted. Bavlenkas respect power, and Lou has learned this well. She will do things properly, respecting rank and hierarchy and working within the rules of noble life (most of the time). But, she’s out for herself... or rather her family, who will come before her self more often than not. If other peope are adversely affected by her actions, they’ll just need to deal with it.
Element: Fire
Quite literally, in this case, as the vengeful fireball is one of Lou’s trademark spells. She is strong-willed and easily angered, and will not tolerate insult or negligence. When she sets her mind to something she can be extremely devoted and determined, while favouring direct solutions (see: fireball). We can see this fiery nature occasionally come into conflict with her loyalty when the Grand Duke or another authority she recognises orders her to act against her beliefs.
Politics: Conservative
For all the ways in which Lou is independent and occasionally critical of her family and nobles in general, she has also internalised a lot of the Bavlenka view of the world. Nobles are better and deserve to be in charge, that’s just the way it is. Disrupting that is almost unthinkable to Lou.
Connections: the House of Bavlenka
Grand Duke Edward Bavlenka is Lou’s father and patriarch of the family. He is a notoriously stern man and you can tell he must have extremely high standards for his family. He is not affectionate towards Lou, but she very much wants his approval and works hard to be worthy of it.
Nyx Bavlenka is the Grand Duke’s other daughter, adopted into the family but doted on in a way that Lou seemingly never was. This might breed resentment, except that Lou adores Nyx and would protect her at any cost. Nyx is just that much of a ray of sunshine.
Harson is the Bavlenka butler, chiefest and most trusted of servants. He’s a formal, proper older man but both Lou and Nyx seem to have real fondness for him.
Leslie Bavlenka was adopted into the family, but more as an asset than a son... and I suspect Lou would view him as such, though it hasn’t come up much.
