Philippa Eilhart, sole heir to the ancestral estate Montecalvo, is orphaned at three years of age. The closest relatives are an aunt and uncle, parents of two daughters, four and six years older than Phil respectively. They assume custody of the child and are named temporary administrators of the estate – until Philippa comes of age and is able to claim her inheritance. However, her guardians, particularly her aunt, become fixated with the idea of claiming Montecalvo for themselves. Given that Philippa is the last of her line, they stand to inherit if Philippa should not be able to claim her birthright.
Her aunt frequently laments the fact that unwanted children can’t be dealt with in the same way as unwanted puppies – drowned in the river. She also instils a disdain for Philippa in her daughters, telling them that Phil doesn’t deserve to inherit the castle and lands, that they should be theirs etc etc
Phil is a difficult child. Extremely smart. Asks the kind of questions that adults don’t like to answer (aka the kind of questions that you get in a lot of trouble for asking). Reads anything and everything. Teaches herself the most random things, interests fluctuate wildly. Has a knack for seeing people’s flaws and can’t help herself but point them out. Restless, destructive (more like inquisitive – wants to see how things work so takes them apart and more often than not they are beyond being put back together - something she did this to her oldest cousin’s canary (NOT with the intent to be cruel, just because someone told her that birds can fly because they are hollow on the inside. Was very surprised to find organs. For reasons unexplained (aka magic starting to manifest), the bird’s heart continued to beat and she just sat there, holding this tiny beating heart in her hand wondering what it would feel like to be able to fly. Cousins walked in on her and were disgusted, shocked, and extremely displeased to no longer have a bird.
Cousins start victimising her from this point onwards, instigating other children around the estate to do the same – ends up being a group of seven.
They put her through hell. She just stoically puts up with it, which makes them hate her even more. One day, one of the cousin dares the others to drown her (as their mother frequently talks about, see above). Phil ends up losing consciousness, but survives by sheer luck (aka MAGIC). Next time she sees those kids they ask her ARE YOU SCARED BET YOU ARE SCARED and she replies: I don’t fear you, I HATE you. I wish that every time you close your eyes you’ll be haunted by nightmares. I wish that your hair will fall out in clumps. I wish that your insides will turn to liquid. I wish that your tongue will turn blue and swollen until you either suffocate or bite it off only to choke on your own blood.
These kids just stand there, TERRIFIED. She’s around 9, 10 years old (and very small for her age) at this point, they are in their early to mid teens yet they are paralysed with fear. They leave her alone from this point onwards. About a month later, things start happening – the exact things that she told them she’d wished for. One after another, they die slow, agonising deaths.
It doesn’t take long for the adults to catch on that there might be a curse at work. A mage is sent for. The mage asks, are all children affected? The adults reply, all except for Philippa, who is troubled but has been so since long before this started. So the mage goes to talk to her and things make perfect sense. She’s manifesting her power, she has cast a curse without knowing it. The mage tells her aunt and uncle that it is absolutely vital that she is sent for training immediately because she is a major accident waiting to happen (and has already claimed lives!)
The aunt and uncle can’t believe their luck – regardless of the fact that both their children are dead – Montecalvo passes into their possession immediately and permanently (mages are not allowed to inherit).
The night before she is sent away, Phil overhears a conversation between them in which they agree that nothing truly worth having (eg the estate) is ever gained without sacrifice (eg the two dead girls). This sentiment sticks with her and is inadvertently reinforced throughout her lives by the mages’ generally machiavellian approach to things.
For the longest time, reclaiming Montecalvo, her ancestral home, was Philippa’s main goal, what she worked towards ceaselessly. She wanted it back, they took it from her, it’s hers by right, it’s hers. Montecalvo was why she wanted to be a court mage rather than a scholar, why she wanted to go to Redania specifically. She pulled every string in the book to manufacture a situation where the king was so beholden to her that she was free to ask for anything she wanted.
She asked for Montecalvo.
