PamelaIsley Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 Hi, I have another random question about something in the Champions Universe that I feel like I read somewhere, but can't track down. Dark Seraph (Dennis Walthingham, Baronet of South Mallon) was introduced to the occult by a woman named Barbara Preston-Fredericks. He then joined a coven that he ultimately betrayed and sacrificed to gain the Iron Crown. Preston-Fredericks isn't mentioned again in his writeup. Did he kill her too? For some reason, I think he didn't and she went on to become another villain. But I can't find her mentioned anywhere else. So this might be something that I"m misremembering. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 I can't remember any other references to her, but I'm not a super geek about the CU. In any case, you can use her as you see fit. If she does turn up somewhere else in CU lore, you can always swap her out for one of the other members of the coven. (How did she survive? Did she survive? Why is she walking around when she was supposed to have died? Etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steriaca Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 3 hours ago, assault said: I can't remember any other references to her, but I'm not a super geek about the CU. In any case, you can use her as you see fit. If she does turn up somewhere else in CU lore, you can always swap her out for one of the other members of the coven. (How did she survive? Did she survive? Why is she walking around when she was supposed to have died? Etc.) Just because he killed her don't mean she is out of action. She might not reach litchood, but she could always become a 'solid' ghost or other odd undead. And there might be a chance that she wanted to be sacrificed, and Krin (however it is spelled) rewarded her with the ability to come back to the world of the living as...anything he wants her to be. assault 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 According to Dark Seraph's background info (most recently published in Champions Villains Vol. 2), Barbara Preston-Fredericks had only been "dabbling" with the occult, "just for thrills" (p. 57), and Dennis Walthingham accompanied her to a meeting of the "cult" she fancied out of boredom. That contact with an actual black-magic coven galvanized his interest in the occult. However, it sounds like Barbara wasn't a member of the coven, and probably never joined Dennis in his magic studies. It's possible you mentally conflated BP-F with Michaela Sorenson, who was inducted into the dark arts by Walthingham, but wasn't present the night he sacrificed the rest of his coven to become Dark Seraph. Sorenson has since become a prominent member of the Circle of the Scarlet Moon. She studies Dark Seraph with the hope of one day stealing his power for herself. (Michaela Sorenson is described along with other Scarlet Moon leaders on p. 159 of Champions Universe.) Come to think of it, even though it isn't specified, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume Dennis Walthingham's coven actually was part of the Circle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 8 hours ago, assault said: I can't remember any other references to her, but I'm not a super geek about the CU. For better or worse, it seems I am. Lawnmower Boy, Boll Weevil and assault 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 Oh, BTW, Dark Seraph tutored Witchcraft's evil twin, Talisman, in magic for a time. Both his write-up and hers mention that. Perhaps she's who you had in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 34 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said: According to Dark Seraph's background info (most recently published in Champions Villains Vol. 2), Barbara Preston-Fredericks had only been "dabbling" with the occult, "just for thrills" (p. 57), and Dennis Walthingham accompanied her to a meeting of the "cult" she fancied out of boredom. That contact with an actual black-magic coven galvanized his interest in the occult. However, it sounds like Barbara wasn't a member of the coven, and probably never joined Dennis in his magic studies. While Michaela Sorenson seems the most likely candidate for the character the original poster was thinking of, it would be genre appropriate for Barbara Preston-Fredericks to turn up in some role or another. Since she doesn't seem to have been officially mentioned anywhere else, that could be any role a GM desires, even a hero. Lord Liaden 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 That is an excellent thought, assault. Seeing the depths of evil her sometime-lover Dennis was plumbing might have pushed Barbara into the study of white magic. If Dark Seraph's coven really was part of the Circle of the Scarlet Moon, Barbara could have been contacted, even rescued from him, by the Circle's chief opponents, the Trismegistus Council. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 33 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said: That is an excellent thought, assault. Seeing the depths of evil her sometime-lover Dennis was plumbing might have pushed Barbara into the study of white magic. If Dark Seraph's coven really was part of the Circle of the Scarlet Moon, Barbara could have been contacted, even rescued from him, by the Circle's chief opponents, the Trismegistus Council. That's what I had in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamelaIsley Posted January 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 6 hours ago, Lord Liaden said: It's possible you mentally conflated BP-F with Michaela Sorenson, who was inducted into the dark arts by Walthingham, but wasn't present the night he sacrificed the rest of his coven to become Dark Seraph. Sorenson has since become a prominent member of the Circle of the Scarlet Moon. She studies Dark Seraph with the hope of one day stealing his power for herself. (Michaela Sorenson is described along with other Scarlet Moon leaders on p. 159 of Champions Universe.) This is it! This is exactly what I was remembering. Thank you so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamelaIsley Posted January 9, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 6 hours ago, Lord Liaden said: According to Dark Seraph's background info (most recently published in Champions Villains Vol. 2), Barbara Preston-Fredericks had only been "dabbling" with the occult, "just for thrills" (p. 57), and Dennis Walthingham accompanied her to a meeting of the "cult" she fancied out of boredom. You're also right that I got his name wrong, but I'm calling foul on this one. A Baronet doesn't have a geographic location (he's called the Baronet of South Mallon), as anyone who has read Jane Austen's Mansfield Park knows (Sir Thomas Bertram was a baronet -- as was Anne Elliott's father Sir Walter Elliott in Persuasion). A baronet is simply a hereditary knighthood. You get to be called "Sir First Name." That's why I remembered his last name as Mallon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 No chastisement intended, Pamela. Just transcribing what's written in the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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