Lairdie Cordwell, or Miz Moonshine as she is known, is a Seelie Boggan Grump and a member of the High Castle Crafters in the Duchy of Appalachia.
Overview[]
Lairdie learned to make moonshine on her grandpappy's knee. She was married off to the Cordwell's second boy at 13 and having a skill like that meant the difference between starving and making a go of things. She took pride in her house even if it was an old junked trailer and kept it as well as she could while Del, her husband, worked in the mine. She had two kids, Clement and Trisha, and raised them in between starting a pottery business.
Del was killed in a mining accident when the kids were not yet teenagers and Lairdie found out what a common-law wife got according to the company: Nada.
She made do with what she had and pooled her resources with other "brewers" in the mountains until the law came and broke her still. Social services took her kids and placed them with "respectable" families and Lairdie lost her trailer to the legal fees when she tried to get the kids back. Left with nothing, unable to find her missing kids, she set up a squatter camp in the mountains far from town.
She built another still and brooded until one day an ugly young man named Harley found her and asked for something to eat. His Glamour triggered her Chrysalis and Lairdie discovered her kithain nature. Harley stayed with her (because the food was good and the moonshine great, as he said) and Lairdie came to see him as a son. Then Fletcher arrived on the scene, fleeing from hunters who thought he was really a white-tailed deer. She prevented Harley from eating him and took the pooka in as well.
Knowing the three of them couldn't survive her encampment for the winter, the three sought out High Castle and entered it along with Cianán and Arienh. They have lived together since with Lairdie ruling the roost as unofficial mother hen and housekeeper. While she sells her pots at craft fairs, her moonshine is acknowledged as some of the best in the state and is her real source of income. She is content to make her brew, watch over the wider young'uns, and live out her remaining years at the freehold.
Image[]
In her mortal seeming Lairdie looks like what most people think of as a "mountain woman." Her face is lined with cares of her early life and constant worry for the wellbeing of her stolen children. She is a short, stocky woman with a large nose and small eyes. She keeps her dark brown hair cut sensibly short and tends to dress in loose fitting clothes: a cotton print dress or coveralls and a man's shirt. In her fae mien her features are somewhat exaggerated, emphasizing her large, calloused hands. When to brewing or throwing a pot she has some kind of cleaning rag or cooking utensil in hand. While no one has ever seen her work, the evidence of it is all around.
Personal[]
The young'uns need a mama, and she's been elected. It's not hard enough keeping up with a bottomless stomach and a skitters, smooth-voiced liar; now she's got to have a pair of lovebirds moping around each other and always getting underfoot. Not a one of 'em has a lick of sense, and sometimes she feels that the only sensible person within spitting distance is herself. She's told them more than once that they're more trouble than they're worth, but deep down she knows that if she didn't have them to worry about, she'd sit and brood about her kids. She's a grouch with a heart of gold. Her companions are her life and she'd do just about anything to protect them. She complains constantly, but is always there when they need her. She saves her money. Someday she's gonna hire the fanciest lawyer there is and get her children back... never mind that they're probably grown by now.
Stats[]
Court: Seelie
Legacies: Bumpkin/Scrooge
Seeming: Grump
Kith: Boggan
Physical: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4
Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2
Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 3, Wits 3
Talents: Alertness 3, Brawl 2, Dodge 1, Empathy 2, Intimidation 1, Kenning 2, Streetwise 2
Skills: Animal Ken 1, Brewing (moonshine) 5, Crafts (pottery) 3, Drive 1, Melee 1, Security 2, Stealth 2
Knowledges: Enigmas 1, Investigation 1, Law 1, Mythlore 1, Politics 1
Arts: Soothsay 2, Wayfare 2
Realms: Actor 3, Fae 3, Props 2
Backgrounds: Contacts 3, Gremayre 1, Resources 1
Glamour: 5
Willpower: 8
Banality: 5
References[]
- CTD: Freeholds & Hidden Glens, p. 18-19