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Rosalyn D. Thorburn Senior[1] was the decades long head of the Thorburn line and grandmother to the protagonists Rose Thorburn Jr and Blake Thorburn. Her death in the first chapter sets into motion the story and her actions continue to drive the plot.

Appearance[]

At the time of her death, she was dressed in an old fashioned nightgown that extended to her broomstick-thin wrists and her blonde hair was tied back in a tight bun. Her eyes were still sharp and she didn't seem her age, possibly due to the fact that she extended her life.

Personality[]

As a child Rose was raised with restrictions due to the obligations she had as a member of the Thorburn family, such as never showing weakness. Her father was a harsh, but fair man while her mother never told her what she was thinking. After the incident where she lost a book that led to a classmate being assaulted by a goblin, things came to a head and in the heat of the moment she sealed her family's fate until after her death. These led to her becoming the cold person that she seemingly was to her children and grandchildren.

Despite the animosity between her family and others, she was fond of Aimon Behaim and trusted him a great deal, enough to extend her life so that she could see her grandchildren born in exchange for teaching Laird Behaim, Aimon's son, how to counter Demons and later on did the same for Alister, seeing them and even Sandra as being closer to her allies than the demons themselves even if it was effectively crippling her family's means of defending themselves. It is also suspected that she condemned her family line to extinction on purpose, as none of the females would likely survive long enough to have children capable of continuing the female line.

As for her relationship with her family, she sees them as greedy as they can only focus on the money involved with the household and referred to Blake as 'Master Blake', with further hinting that she sees him as someone similar to her father and that he would be the eligible heir if not for the fact that a female must inherit, which arguably was the reason she created Rose Thorburn Junior and tied her to Blake.

It is later revealed that she actually created Blake and Rose by using Barbatorem to carve one of her grandchildren's reflection to separate them into one being an ideal heir and the other a reflection, taking away anything she felt wasn't needed.

She hates being called a liar and believes that the ability to perform magic, as well as all Others, originally came from demons.

Chronology[]

Past[]

Rose, as a child in 1931, ended up in a conflict with Duchamp girls around her age that led to her Father having to negotiate with the head of their family to avoid a conflict, unaware of the supernatural world. After being whupped, she is informed that she could never show weakness and that the Duchamp Coven would never be her friends, along with others who were affiliated with certain families, and she would understand when she got older. She was haunted by bad dreams until later on, when her father let her sleep next to him, before he started teaching her to defend herself while her mother was missing.

A year later she defeated Arsepint in a game and bound him into a cage as her first Other. During this time her father urged her to read and stop asking questions, as she could only learn to look after herself.

In 1939, she attended a school in Montreal when a book was taken and turned in by her classmates, forcing her to spell the into forgetting it was hers as it was an occult book and the school was highly religious. Eventually, despite her beckoning ghosts to scare off people from trying to get the book after the faculty aroused their interest and she slipped into the body of a cat to spy on them after they claimed it, only to end up watching them have sex. The Lord of Montreal eventually reaches her in her dream and demands that the book found and would forgive her for her error as long as it was sorted out. Unfortunately she is unable to retrieve it before the classmates summon a goblin that attacks the girl, possibly stealing her soul, and left the boys as prime suspects, leaving her horrified at the fact.

Her mother returned after that to inquire about her health, the status with the Lord, and the books she gathered and collected. Leaving Rose with her father and her mother's familiar, a snake named Ampelos, she felt as though the snake was mocking her while her father was upset about the situation. In anger, at both herself and her father at how difficult it was to make friends as a practitioner she swore an oath to never put her children through that, accidentally leaving her unable to teach her children later on in life.

Realizing what she had done, she stabbed the familiar's tail into the couch with a letter opener and then fled, only to run into Aimon Behaim, a young man years older than her who was healing from an injury. He mocked her out of fear of her mother, and she called him out on it, leading to a conflict where they both ended up having sex and her musing that it was possible he could be an ally, albeit one she recognized as an enemy, but a known enemy.

When he woke up she proceeded to needle him, citing she preferred him more angry rather than being a weakling. She then convinced him to a pact of secrecy about what transpired, but admitted that she was more afraid her mother wouldn't care about her oath that hindered her from teaching her children the craft. Five days later she arrived to greet Aimon in private, revealing that she had to visit the Lord of Montreal after the previous incident, and convinces him to change the way their families work, with her shouldering the majority of the costs in exchange for companionship and release.

To this end she proposed a light possession that would act as a sponge if anything went wrong, something that could take the blame without controlling him. He asks her why him and she reveals she's desperate since, as a diabolist, she can't make friends without everyone after her or the things that want to harm the world and she needs someone at her side while she tries to be better. While he turns her down, he reasons that her mother is keeping her distance since once she dies the burden of several lifetimes worth of bad karma will come down on her and that he would lend her an ear if she needed it.

Thirty-five years later, Rose meets at Aimon's father, Malcolm Behaim's, funeral and agrees to teach Laird Behaim how to defend against demons in exchange for extending her life so they could have their grandchildren bring about change. During this time she mentioned Barbatorem's ability to cut out reflections to serve as a protector for her heir, forshadowing that this was the origin of Blake.

At some point she also had contact with the Sisters of the Torch and taught Alister protections against demons as well.

Bonds[]

During her last moments of life she was somewhat pleased to see Blake arrive dressed as he did, claiming that it was refreshing compared to the others who seemed to be awaiting her death. She took all of his insults and kept her calm, only showing animosity when he claimed her to be a liar, stating that he reminded her of her father. Once she had met with all the others, she declared Molly as her successor as she was disappointed with the rest of them. Rose then died at approximate midnight alongside her familiar.

Art[]

Rose was a practitioner, a prolific author, and a feared Diabolist of Jacob's Bell. She was noteworthy for her successful binding and naming of the Other known as Barbatorem and her gathered knowledge was described as being on a nuclear threat-level by Laird Behaim. Despite that, she embraced her art as a means of protecting people and was well-respected amongst her peers and the lawyers.

Her oldest servant was named Arsepint, a Goblin she kept bound in a clay doll, and before her death her Familiar took on the form of a large gray housecat.

Noted Works[]

Rose was the informal author of several handwritten journals.

  • The Worst of the Others
  • Devils and Details
  • Dark Contracts
  • Classifying Others: Fiends and Darker Beings
  • Hellfire: Bindings
  • Infernal Wrath
  • Pacts and Prices
  • Dramatis Personae

References[]

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