Dale Holte

The poor creature can't even admit why she does what she does. She says she has to, she says it's because she's good at it, she says that it's for the benefit of humanity... Of course those all are true. But I can see it, she enjoys having power. All humans do.

-- Viscountess Folderyn

Dale Holte, known also as the "Lady of Sacrilege" to the nobility of her country, was the founder of Occult Magic. She had devoted a majority of her time and life to the research of Divine Magic and why humanity simply couldn't possess those powers without owing themselves to some god. Despite being one herself, she does not pay heed to the respect certain titles claim to require of those beneath them. More than once she had disrespected nobles and royalty alike in her pursuits of giving humanity independence from any otherworldly powers.

Her morals and ethics when it comes to her research and experiments cannot be called questionable, as there would barely be any lengths she would not go to to achieve what she wants. Her pursuits did not leave her or the people whose sakes she does this for did not go to waste as her efforts led to the blasphemous magic known as Occult Magic in her lands.

Backstory

Dale was born not a noble, but as the daughter of a painter who lived a nomadic life, due to the nature of her upbringing she held no permanent questions and kept to herself.

During her and her mother's travels, they came to a land where the people worshipped a powerful god, and those who served that god were granted special abilities known as Divine Magic. Dale became highly fascinated with this and read and asked about this magic as much as she could while she was still there. Even after her and her mother left she ruminated upon this magic until a life changing question appeared within her mind: "What if we could harness this magic without the gods?"

On her 16th birthday, Dale's mother died and the identity of her father was revealed; he was a knight-errant-turned-baron and once she discovered this she quickly made her way to the kingdom where her father's estate lie; the kingdom of Fomalhaut. There, she found the Baron Holte and marched to his manor with purpose, claiming to be his daughter. After a brief threat from guards and a background check on her origins, the Baron accepted her gladly into his home as he bore no other children all this time and legally named her the heir to his title, possessions, and power.

Dale could unfortunately not make very well adjustments to courtly life and cared little for the intrigue. Politics was the last thing on her mind and the more time she spent with the nobility of Fomalhaut, the more she grew to resent them. Of course, her father was an exception, as he had been doting upon her since her arrival and was one of the few who still spared some thought to those beneath his title. There was, however, one noble she was able to get along with; one Viscountess Folderyn, a vampire who despised the nobility just as much as she did and revealed the true monstrous nature of the royal court to Dale.

It was Folderyn who praised her efforts in researching Divine Magic and realized the potential Dale had to further her own goals. When Baron Holte fell in a battle to suppress a growing unrest along the borders of his territory it was Viscountess Folderyn who extended her hand to Dale in terms of comfort, legal matters, and Dale's research on Divine Magic. Even introducing Dale to someone who would be a highly valuable asset to Dale's research; a knight-errant whose name was Elhodan. With Dale's help, Folderyn was able to pull off one of the most horrific events in history; the Massacre of Heron's Hold, which put an end to all vampiric presence in Fomalhaut.

Due to frequent interactions with them both she grew to become fond of them as friends and allies. So much so that when Elhodan went missing during a mission to the holy city of Virtue, Dale ceased all her experiments and used her resources and power to find him. It did not matter how far he was, after all the hurt and horrors she had unleashed upon the world she would at least do some good. If not for anyone else, for her ally and friend who finally treated her as an equal in the pursuit of very ambitious goals.

Personality

Dale, for the most part, is reserved and yet has much to say when conversation is initiated. Her way of processing the world is through the lens of a creative and battle strategist, inherited from both her mother and father. She is also extremely loyal to those she considers friends and would go above and beyond to ensure their safety.

However, despite her outwardly calm appearance, she is quite sensitive when questioned about her motives. She believes that what she does is for the sake of the freedom of humanity and when accused of anything that resembles selfishness would lead to a rise in anger. When angered, she becomes more reckless in both her words and actions.

Deep down she wants to be like her father and those heroes spoken of in myths and legends. She yearns to achieve great feats and do heroic deeds, and yet at the same time thinks it is impossible to completely be like those praised heroes from the tales she heard. So instead, Dale relegated herself to be the hero unsung, the one who helps those like her ally, Elhodan, make those spectacular feats possible.

She also has a soft spot for creatures and people she feels like is under her care. When she created Grim-Puppy after a session of practicing necromancy she's grown fond of the beast and dotes on him as her father did with her, showing a somewhat more motherly side to her.