do you have any lore on Ruby Veritcrown? i'd love to know if you do have any
Oh, you have excellent timing, I was hoping for the perfect moment to kickstart my character ramble series! Okay, so I will be using this ask to just ramble as much as I can about Ruby...
So a quick description for this series is that you guys can make requests on which OC of mine you want to hear more about, and I will let myself have free reins!
CHARACTER RAMBLE SERIES #01: Ruby Veritcrown
1| BASIC INFORMATION AND SUMMARY
Full Name: Ruby Lucielle Kilcroi-Veritcrown
Title/s: Princess of Hedgerow, Vice Housewarden of Coeurmaise
Dawn Owl Epithet: "The Pacifist Executioner"
Age: 16
Homeland: Queendom of Roses
Birthday: May 1 (Spring)
Year and Dorm: Freshman — Coeurmaise Dormitory
Unique Magic: "Remember Your Place" [Redacted upon Request]
MBTI: ISFP
Clubs: Journalism Club, Technicals and Media
Princess Ruby is the fifth and last full heir of the Duke Ivon Veritcrown III and Duchess Elalla Kilcroi-Veritcrown, the youngest sibling of four older brothers and of Rouge Conmore, her older half-sister. She is one of the heirs of the Hedgerow Duchy, whose background involves the finest education in academic, arcane, and behavioral fields.
Despite being a freshman, she was appointed Vice Housewarden of the law-centric Coeurmaise dorm by her sister Rouge, replacing Elsie Smoke. She is described by her peers and schoolmates as friendly, soft-spoken, and often gentle even in her use of power. However, some say she is passive-aggressive when challenged and easily made offenders uncomfortable, as if she is giving you 'a head start to run from some ultimate, cruel punishment'.
2| BACKSTORY
Ruby was the last attempt to save the failing political marriage between the Duke and the Duchess of Hedgerow, a union solely to produce heirs with combinations of their Unique Magic. The last straw that tore the spouses apart was the Duke's infidelity and conceiving Rouge with his first and true love, the noblewoman Nadia Dar Conmore from Scalding Sands.
As expected, her birth did nothing to salvage the union. When she was around two years old, her mother decided to run off with her and abandon her along the way as a final act of unapologetic revenge toward the Duke. She was intended to die of starvation or some other accident, but she was fortunately found three days after she was left behind on a countryside trail and returned to the duchy.
With the Duchess gone, she grew up in the duchy with her family, including Lady Nadia as her stepmother— the woman was a kind and domestic soul just like the Duke, compared to the Duchess, who was power-hungry and narcissistic. With so many older siblings, she ended up gaining a lot of patience and tolerance for sibling-related squabbles and shenanigans, and she loves Rouge as if she were the best big sister in the world. She personally requested that she be able to follow Rouge in DOC for high school.
3| TWIST: THE KING OF HEARTS (ALICE IN WONDERLAND)
I never watched the original Disney animated film of Alice in Wonderland and only have a vague understanding through YouTube clips, but I did read the novel it's based on (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll) and drew inspiration from there.
(Ramble: I wanted to explore the concept of the King of Hearts as a gentler foil that still held equal power compared to the Queen, even having enough authority to counter her decisions with his own way. Regardless of his milder appearance and seemingly inferior stature, he is still the king, the monarch.)
So, how does this show in Ruby's character?
4| THE PACIFIST EXECUTIONER
"I understand your need to know, yet Ruby wouldn't appreciate others unnecessarily fearing her, so she personally requested that her Unique Magic be redacted from the school database. Hmm, I cannot quickly recall the words either, since she has outgrown the use of them... but let's see... ah. 'There is an end to pardon, a limit to grace. So swallow your pride. Remember your Place.' Those were the words... and it was strong enough to end a life, if she willed it. Thank goodness she doesn't." ~ Rouge, when asked by Riddle to reveal her sister's Unique Magic
As expected of any child with noble blood—those with direct blood relations to the royal family— she was expected to emerge with Unique Magic exactly like her parents' or a variation of it, but hers turned out like her mother's: the total ability to manipulate and halt the movement in one's muscles.
Ruby's was an amplified mutation; she can either control several targets at once in a general paralysis en masse, or fixate on a few and go deeper and stop internal organs entirely.
So, UM is a clean counter to Riddle's Off With Your Head.
(Ramble: I drew inspiration from the concept of 'Longsword of Light' and 'Light Reversal' from Mushoku Tensei (Jobless Reincarnation); wherein Longsword of Light is an inevitable and fatal sword attack reaching the speed of light, and the only means to counter it is Light Reversal; the opponent uses their own Longsword of Light to cut off the other's wrists.)
Riddle's UM is usually inevitable for those too slow to cast a counter or unable to use protective magic, but Ruby has a background similar to Leona's and thus also has a baseline of practiced protective magic, faster casting speed, and even wordless casting, but mainly her UM is a counter that figuratively 'cuts off the wrist' before Riddle could cast; he still needs to aim, to speak the words... she can deny him that in the first place.
This mutation of her mother's Unique Magic initially worried her family, given it would make her inevitably powerful if she desired domination or bloodshed. But this was not Ruby's character— she preferred her family's inclination to pacifism and believed total denial should only be a last resort once all gentler options were exhausted or when one is already beyond reason.
But this doesn't mean she is an enabler; she still harnesses a sense of authority that comes with knowing what she is capable of. She gives you a sense of 'I know exactly what I can do to you right now, so I will keep giving you a head start to settle things with your own capacity before I do it for you.'
In the current canon, she serves as both the mediator and the ultimate executioner in DOC; she usually tries to settle disputes punctually and fairly between all parties and declares the final verdict when you refuse to be reasonable or keep causing harm. Usually it's an enforced kneel and keeping offenders on the ground until she's gotten through to their heads.
5| DYNAMIC WITH RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS; FIRST CRUSH
(Ramble: I wanted to consider the fact that these two are not only still in their younger teens compared to the rest of the cast, but also have a shared context of growing up under intensive education, training, and responsibility. This won't make them suddenly immature or childish, but rather faced with a mix of matured processing and new social/personal experiences compared to the usual first-crush experience that often comes explosively.)
To Riddle: The first time Crowley mentioned that the DOC interns would include nobility from the Queendom of Roses, Riddle was initially alarmed and guarded enough. He was uptight and expected to maintain the utmost behavior and order everywhere to fit the incoming noblewomen's standards... but then there's Ruby, who literally just smiles and waves at him while Rouge is busy talking to Trey.
He is stammered and caught off guard, and definitely starts feeling a sense that later Ace clocks as 'Ohhh, I get what you're having. You're having a crush! >:D"
To Ruby: She caught wind of Riddle's competence, rise, and standards as the Housewarden and was at first intimidated enough to hope she would stay in his best graces during her time as an intern in Heartslabyul. She knew her responsibility as Vice Housewarden and the part of the first batch of interns sent by DOC, and each time she tried to interact and get along with him, he kept an uptight tone and was visibly tense (He is having a crush on her HAHAHAHA LET HIM BE). She thinks he doesn't like her and only tolerates her on a civil level TT Other interns tease her that he clearly likes her, and she gets flustered and shakes her head 'NO, HE CLEARLY DOESN'T TT'
In general, this is one of my lighter pairings where Riddle is more centered in learning to accept having romantic interests and affection along with his responsibility and values, and Ruby also allows herself to explore having crushes... she crushes on Yuu, though. Youch.
But when their closure develops and they get into a relationship (Riddle confesses?! GO GET HER BOI) its a dynamic where they respect and even each other out authority-wise while being a soft first-time relationship :)
6 | OTHER DETAILS ABOUT RUBY + RIDDLExRUBY RAMBLES
Ruby is capable of tolerating and calmly withstanding the boys and their chaos, since she and Rouge grew up with four older brothers. But this only means she's used to domestic/playful encounters with guys... but, romantic-wise (flirts, compliments, advances), she is TOTALLY UNUSED TO IT AND IS QUICK TO BLUESCREEN.
Dynamic with Rouge: She and Rouge work in a 'two sides of a coin' duo, with Rouge handling the external affairs— the diplomatic and interdorm concerns— while Ruby handles internal affairs— handling the girls within Coeurmaise and also the boys in Heartslabyul. She loves Rouge to the end of the world and is protective of her, but Rouge is doubtful that Ruby could ever be truly free of malice against her. She loves Ruby and is deeply protective of her, but worries that she is taking away attention and opportunity.
Dynamic with Elsie: She sees Elsie as the mom friend and always seeks her input as the former Vice Housewarden, and often asks Elsie in helping her choose her casual outfits. Elsie is very fond of her and just adores her, kinda like a practice child.
Dynamic with the Rabbit Twins (Maisie + Mollie): She is eager to know their life experiences as kids who grew up in the countryside of Queendom of Roses, and they can often be found talking in the lounge about daily meals, snacks, even childhood games. They taught her how to play Leapfrog, tag, hopscotch, and jump rope.
Her best friend is Phoebe.
She likes NRC's freshman lineup and is fond of complimenting/ encouraging Deuce. She lets Ace show magic tricks and is always eager to know what they're up to.
After joining DOC's Journalism Club, she realized she has a passion for writing articles and columns as well as being the newscaster. She initially joined upon Elsie's suggestion.
Ruby instantly gets along with the hedgehogs and flamingoes in Heartslabyul due to her specialty in Animal Linguistics as well as a natural love for animals (BTW, they don't have animals in Coeurmaise). She had already learned their names, chatted with them on free time, and they started to come closer when she was around. (This is one of her qualities that gets to Riddle even more)
Riddle and Ruby would go long-term, and she would excitedly introduce him to her parents and brothers (though Riddle won't have a great time with her brothers because it's like having the Tweels twice over).
Post-graduation, she and Rouge are interested in having normal civilian lives since their brothers are more than enough to keep the duchy running (and their parents are willing to let them do so if they ask). While Riddle would be in law/medicine, Ruby would be a veterinarian while also writing articles as a local journalist.
That's all for now! Do you have any of the girls you want to hear about? Feel free to send an ask so I can feature them in the next ramble!