Last Name: Fernanda
Appearance:
Natalia generally wears finely polished golden armor and a silk yellow cape as well as a gold plated crown in the latest Athkatlian high society styling. Her sparkling and gold hued amulet bears the symbol of Waukeen. She has short jet black hair, green eyes, and tan, aging, and wrinkling skin. Her face has the look of a below average attractiveness Amnian human female with carefully and generously applied expensive Amnian makeup that shades as flattering as possibly her black hued facial hair around her lips and on her chin. She possess an asymmetrical body and a frail bodytype, but wears her armor and clothing with a mind for making her physique appear more in unison and powerful, with only partial success. Her overall physical image projects awkwardness and lack of approachability, but still confidence at face value.
Race: Human
Age: 50s
Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 120
Eyes: Green
Hair: Jet Black
Facial Hair Style: N/A
Personality Profile: She is above all else defined by her Amnian patriotism and her perceived enemies to its core human and halfling culture and prosperity and her thirst and respect for material profit.
General Health: She is in fair health for an Amnian woman from Athkatla in her 50s.
Deity: Waukeen.
Initial Alignment: NE
Profession: Cleric of Waukeen, former Waukeenar chaplain in the Council Army of Amn, and Amnian businesswoman of merchant house Fernanda
Base Class & Proposed Development: Cleric (12), Warpriest (10), Hierophant (8)
Habits/Hobbies: She distrusts all non-Amnians and trusts all Amnians by instrinct -- often to her detriment. She has no moral compunction against lying to any non-Amnian or seeing one killed (or doing it herself) or not following the laws outside of Amn if doing so causes no business detriment to her or especially if doing so gains her profits. She has a special soft spot for any Amnian military or militia service veteran and especially veterans of the Amn-Gate War and she allows tries to follow the laws and traditions of Amn when in Amn (or at least the traditions when with Amnians abroad). She reserves a vitriol dislike for orcs and elves and half breeds of the same and preference for humans and halflings as what she views as the "core races of Amn" and neutrality towards races otherwise with some exceptions. She will have inclination to respect any being that has had success in business, though never greater than her bigotries or in opposition to her sense of Amnian patriotism. She overall lacks charisma in her personality and lacks social magnetism and traits common in a leader in most respects. Natalia never had much interest in romance for whatever the reason and if she was ever approached as such (which was rare given her odd and cold personality and awkward appearance) usually would just dismissively be rude about the encounter and try to end it promptly. She prefers the consumption habits of Amnian high society. She is indifferent towards Thayans, though respectful in a business sense of their commercial prowess and civilization and not wary of them due to their seeming lack of threat to Amn. She respects the business capability of Amnian illithids due to her past profitable dealings with them. She dismisses slavery as a trade as she sees it as lacking profitability and as "commerce of the past". She is skeptical of the Zhentarim and Zhents due to their potential threat to Amn, but has no moral problem with them.
Languages: Common, Chondathan, Thorass, and Alzhedo.
Weapon of Choice: Various gold plated arms that bear the symbol of Waukeen that she has had in her family for some time. They all have names deemed by Natalia with variations of business terminology such as "Profit Maker".
Background:
Athkatla - The City of Coin and Capitol of Glorious Amn
Natalia Fernanda was born in Athkatla in the final years of the Amnian monarchy that ended in 1306 DR. Her parents, Antonio Fernanda and Maria Fernanda, were the founders and operators of the Fernanda merchant house after the merging of their two respective merchant families into one. The Fernanda merchant house thus became at its height a golden reputation merchant house based in Athkatla that successfully navigated the Amnian political transition from Amnian monarchy to what became the Amn ruling Council of Six, before the Fernanda merchant house's eventual downfall in the years after the Amn-Gate War and after the passing of Antonio and Maria. Natalia's parents were Waukeenar clerics as well as business people by profession, providing a multitude of business advisory and Waukeenar services for their Amnian clients during their years of practice in business. Antonio always believed that business results were less important than aspirations and hard work for profit, whereas Maria cared little for either unless profits were the end result. Natalia naturally sided with her mother's biases as such and grew to despise what she saw as her father's "kobold soft spot for failure" and weakness. Natalia to the present day idealizes and immensely respects the image of her mother, but hates and cares little for her perception of her father. These sentiments persist even after both parents passed away due to old age, after which Natalia inherited control of the Fernanda merchant house to copper result.
Natalia's sister, Layla, made a different path for herself and became a career officer in the Council Army of Amn based in Eshpurta and was later killed in action during the Amn-Gate War. Natalia was extremely close to Layla out of a mutual love of Amn and fancy for its army and was devastated and livid at her death by what she projected to be Amn's enemies "of barbarian northerners and elves". Natalia's brother, Jose, became too involved with criminal elements of Amn and was eventually ostracized from the Fernanda merchant house by his parents, but may still live in Athkatla today in its criminal underworld. Natalia, while never close to Jose, never disliked him for his potential criminal ties either if they were profitable, and she has been open to reopening ties to him if she were ever able to track him down in Athkatla to add allies by blood to her dwindling family and merchant house.
Natalia's parents ran the Fernanda merchant house with a record of sustained profits for many years, with a luxury built out office and home estate based a few blocks from the famed Waukeen's Promenade in Athkatla. Natalia was one of their most capable employees and focused on business segments in logistics, accounting, financial advisory services, business transactions blessing services, and trade outreach between Athkatla and Eshpurta and other Amnian cities and towns. Natalia also worked with and organized the house's martial and mercenary cohort that guarded their caravans and contracted out on some caravan and mercenary work over time as well as participated in some arms and armor trade, which had fateful repercussions for Natalia upon her taking over the Merchant House from her parents. Natalia was trained in business and Waukeenar cleric practices formally in a Waukeenar clergy program at the famed Goldspires temple for Waukeenar in Athkatla as well as by her Waukeenar cleric parents, whom due to Natalia's business interests always favored her to be next in line to control the merchant house. Her parents were also trained the same by the church of Waukeen program. Natalia mostly associated orcs with former slaves in Amn and so viewed them with total disdain and even from a young age hated elves as condescending, annoying, and uncivilized, with her hatred of them growing even more when some elves were her enemies -- and possibly in her view her sister's killer -- in the Amn-Gate War. Natalia later also joined a reserve unit in the Council Army in Eshpurta for chaplains of the Waukeenar faith, in order to have more contact with her dear sister based by the Amnian Council Army in Eshpurta, out of great Amnian patriotism, and to gain potential business opportunities with the Council Army. Natalia during her pre-war service did drill sometimes in the Amnian citadels in the Cloud Peaks, but otherwise never went north of the peaks until the Amn-Gate War.
When Natalia's parents passed away about a year before the start of the Amn-Gate War, Natalia was saddened by the loss of her mother (though uncaring on her father's passing), but was beyond excited as her parent's will gave her ownership and control of the merchant house and its future direction for riches of danter. She had seen opportunity in the arms and armor trade and on the eve of the coming Amn-Gate War, having gained a platinum business relationship with a high up Council Army procurement officer via her sister. With the officer, she gained an informal understanding that the Fernanda house could become an exclusive supplier of an entire Amnian brigade sized force for a six month contract, but at the discretion of the Council Army to demand the orders -- which she had no doubt they would with looming conflict, and besides with no great risk, there was no great reward, she inferred. With a large loan from the immense Coprith banking merchant house, backed by the collateral of about half of the other Fernanda business assets, Natalia went all in on the deal. She contracted with the largest arms and armor manufacturers in Amn to supply the contract and at what seemed to be good rates for Fernanda's profits going forward. Natalia put immense trust in the procuring officer to come through on their agreement and all seemed well. Only Natalia's lender would know how profitable the opportunity was in full or whether she succeeded or failed, as her suppliers and the procuring officer only knew bits and pieces. The die of profit or loss was cast. Then, the Amn-Gate War started.
Natalia's reserve company was called up and ordered north to the Amnian border with Beregost via the Amnian citadels and Nashkel. Natalia, thinking her arms and armor deal was set to go and perfectly timed with the war needs of Amn, left it in the hands of a few hired assistants in Athkatla and with great enthusiasm marched with her unit to fight for her country. Natalia at first thought warfare for Amn would be glorious and short, but she was rudely surprised. The conditions of combat were severe and of great hardship for the common soldiers in her company, and even for officers and chaplains such as her to some extent. She took great pride to offer Waukeenar services for the wounded and killed in battle for Amn and saw their losses as sacred. She had thought the initial progress of the Amnian offensive would mean an epic final victory over the forces of the Lords' Alliance and their allies. After a period of pitched battle, Natalia's spirits, though sobering some, were still high, she believed a great Amnian victory was at hand, even reassuring soldiers in her unit that "perhaps Amn would siege Baldur's Gate or even Waterdeep or Elturel by the following year".
Soon though, a letter came bearing the seal of the Amnian Council Army. Natalia was ecstatic. She thought to herself: "Could it be even more orders of arms and armor? Even more profits" But that was not the news... "The Council Army of Amn regrets to inform you that your sister, Colonel Layla Fernanda, was killed in action while defending her company from the enemy. She fought bravely until the end at her post near Beregost on the Amnian front lines. For the Glory of Amn!" Natalia was immediately furious at those "northern barbarians and elves that killed my sister" with little grief in comparison to her rage. Her hatred of the enemy drove her through the rest of her war service until her reserve duty ended with the Treaty of Beregost and the beginning of the Tethyrian Civil War. Though to this day she pledges to one day kill the members of the Lords' Alliance that killed her sister, if she should ever find them.
Natalia then returned to Athkatla expecting to see that though she lost a sister, in her honor she would have gained immense riches for the legacy of the Merchant House Fernanda. And it indeed was so, the orders had come through and the arms and armor deliveries had occurred to the Council Army. Further, all loans from the Copriths were paid off in full and House Fernanda was projecting profits and treasury that would make it a great merchant house within a few years time, with only a deal or two more of the same success... Greed demanded just another deal or two and Natalia knew what it would be. The civil war in Tethyr, certainly Amn would intervene at scale and/or back major factions that would need her house as the arms and armor merchant house of choice. So, she took out another fateful loan with the Copriths, this time projected as a three year deal with the Amnian Council Army instead of six months again, with the discretion of the Council Army to demand the orders yet again, and the loan backed as collateral by 90% of all the business assets of the Fernanda house, a house built to just near greatness to that date over half a century. She got another informal reassurance from her procuring officer contact as well. Then, she waited, with great risk again, for what she believed would be great adamantine or even mithral riches and reward. The Council Army demanded the forecasted orders at first for a year and Natalia had no doubt she would indeed be of mithral wealth soon enough. But then another year came... And the Amnian interventions in Tethyr did not materialize and the order demand went soft... Natalia reasoned that she just needed another year, the orders were going to happen. She was sure of it. She even continued her high society Amnian consumption as normal and she floated her loans with liquidity saved from past profits and continued forth.
The third year came... No significant orders orders compared to pro forma business forecasts... The purchased inventory sat stale while the loans of the Copriths were coming due, Natalia had no liquidity left, she had to fire sale the arms and armor inventory to even somewhat pay back the Copriths, then wiped out 80% of the Fernanda fortune to pay the remainder. In the end, Fernanda's house was little richer than it had been when Natalia was a teenager, with decades of profits destroyed. Luckily, Natalia was able to keep the financial loss largely unknown to those in Amn due to the secrecy she kept around the transaction, except for her Coprith merchant house lenders who knew all and she probably would never be able to borrow from again, so her reputation as a silver to golden businesswoman before the catastrophic arms and armor deal (depending who was asked) was not destroyed nor benefited. Natalia subsequently went back to her family's business office and estate in Athkatla, one of the Fernanda house's only significant assets left, and dropped into a deep depression, ashamed of what her mother would think of her: her utter failure, her relying on the informal assurances of a procuring colonel that never materialized, and her horrid business forecasting. Eventually, after years out of the business scene, and after many prayers to the Golden Lady Waukeen for guidance, Natalia crawled out of her Athkatla estate and went north to visit the site of where she suspected her sister fell in battle on a significant anniversary and perhaps she reasoned in her typically in-eloquent phrasing "maybe I could remake a fortune that Waukeen did not see me worthy of in Amn, this time among among northern barbarians, and maybe I could civilize the northerners where war could not with the glory of Amnians in business and the grace of Waukeen". Time will tell. Liberty's Maiden gives no guarantee of profits and past performance does not necessarily infer future results.
Goals and Possible Plot-Hook Ideas and Misc Facts:
-To remake the fortune of House Fernanda
-To spread the glory of Amn
-To spread the faith of Waukeen in business and daily life
-To find and kill the members of the Lords' Alliance company that killed her sister in the Amn-Gate War
-To embarrass and ridicule orcs, elves, and northern barbarians at any opportunity
-To find her brother in the Amnian criminal underworld
-To rebuild her business reputation in Amn including in the arms and armor trade, especially in Eshpurta