Editing Quest:Heir of the Arends (section)

==Characters==

===Mansion staff===
* Carden, majordomo. Head of mansion staff. Awakened to shadow, has the power of Sight and longer life. Does not have Power.
* Lira Craft, head of household. Thaddeus’ homunculus. Imagination, creativity, and independent thought are beyond her, but she is loyal. She does not need sleep. May require eventual replacement, as she is a created being.
* Friedrich “Lawine ‘Freed Rock’” Strauss. Ancient troll from Europe who came with Wolfgang the First. Don't trust him too much.
* Yeena, groundskeeper, dryad. Ancient and strong. Local to the area that later became Virginia.
* Darcy Sloan, golvian. Cook and victualer. Talkative and fearless in obtaining any required ingredient. Described by Cain as "a hobbit with the personality of a dwarf in a fat human body." Capable of eating literally anything.
* Cain Raegan, vampire. Seventy-three years old on March, 2016, turned into a vampire at 22. Fabulous, talkative, and genre-savvy. Secondary bodyguard, scout, socializer, rumormonger, driver, agent, and messenger. Needs permission to enter a house, but the permission can be implied. Adverse to crossing large amounts of water. Very adverse to direct sunlight. Adverse to fire/burns, heartwood stakes, silver, and decapitation. Thaddeus put Cain on a diet of teenage girls (13-16 years) to raise power levels. Can shapechange into a wolf; inhumanly strong, fast, stealthy, and tough; does not age. Usually appears as his pre-transformation human form but has a base form that is said to be menacing. Prefers service to House Arend over his former vampire lord.
* Dale, Olen, and Mattieu Tarhill, brownies. Upkeep of the house, laundry, chores, handiwork, and other domestic tasks.

===Other Bound Entities===

* Valia, demon bound by Wolfgang I. Valia appears as a beautiful nude human with long black hair, a lithe tail, ebony horns sprouting from her head and curving back, and midnight-black with a white pupil. A creature from the Outside, and self-described as "not a succubus, incubus, fallen angel, fiend, or imp" who wishes to be useful and valuable to Richard so that Richard becomes more powerful and so does she by extension. Claims to be incapable of breaking a pact, but the pact must be agreed to by both parties. Has implied shapeshifting powers. She acts as the living indexing and retrieval system of the sealed infernalism vault. She cannot lie to Richard, but she does not have to respond, can answer with part of the truth (with restrictions), can't kill Richard, must attend him when summoned (if able), and must honor Richard's requests to access the items stored in the vault. In return, Richard must provide her the power she needs to maintain her existence on the Inside. Valia retains her autonomy of contract and deed, unless otherwise restricted by further negotiations, so long as her actions do not work against Richard -- except in the case of pacts with other magi, which she shall not make. She need not follow any command that would destroy her, or put her in a position where her destruction is inevitable. Thaddeus probably had a bad relationship with Valia, as he sought to replace her with a manual index.

===Ancestors===
* Wolfgang Arend I (1200’s - 1708, aged 500s). Head of house for entire life. First patriarch of the Arend family. One of the most powerful mages ever. Originally a wild mage boy of no means from the Archdiocese of Bremen in northwest Germany, he entered the service of the house of Von Heust as a hunter of wild mages and a warrior. He grew powerful as a warrior and amassed a collection of diabolist tomes from wild mages and of other knowledge from other slain mages. Wolfgang defected to the Chere family and led an assault on the Von Heust estate, killing their patriarch with a bound demon and summoning many other beings from the Outside to steal the Von Heust lore. Wolfgang was judged by the European patriarchs, but by then he was an accomplished and powerful demon-hunter and was to be allied by marriage and childbirth to the Von Heust family. He was given the name Arnþórr, which later became Arend. Single-handedly responsible for the hiding of demonology as an art. He desired immortality -- at least of his own bloodline -- and was described as demanding, hard, merciless, but possessive and protective of that which he created and saw as his.
* Catherine Arend, one of the later wives of Wolfgang I. She bore him Elias.
* Elias V. Arend (1706 - 1739, aged 33). Head of house from 1708 until 1739 (31 years). Valia described him as very powerful but too naive. Elias left no record. Killed and usurped by his son James. While Wolfgang I said he was turning to "other methods" to sire an heir, Elias was born to him from Catherine, possibly mundanely.
* James Arend (1726 - 1898, aged 172). Head of house from 1739 until 1898 (159 years). Murdered Elias at the age of 13 in order to become patriarch. In his own record he claims to have had a hand in every major political event in the Americas, all the way from the American revolution to the lead-up to World War One. Valia described him as precise, methodical, mechanical. He mastered of mysticism, and used it on himself as well as others, cutting away anything he found to be unnecessary. He was not exceptionally powerful. He was the first to begin turning relatives out of the mansion, reversing Wolfgang’s practices in part, but he also used the exodus to help solidify the family’s waning power after Wolfgang’s death. His only real enjoyment seemed to be making others dance on the strings that he was pulling.
* Thaddeus Cain Arend (1858 - Feb 22 2015, aged 157). Head of house from 1898 to 2015 (117 years). Outlived five wives. Bowed out of the political scene to focus on magic. He was extremely devoted to his wife Sara who was killed as a result of James' involvement with European mages. Valia may have been involved, thus earning Thaddeus' hatred. After the death of Sara and upon his inheritance, he shut himself away from the world and turned out all of the mansion staff not bound to him, even the few relatives who still lived in the mansion in those days and were loyal. Those who he thought knew too much were hunted down and killed. Valia herself described Thaddeus as a coward and a bully who saw things in black and white, and anything he couldn’t control completely either had to be destroyed or avoided. He was more powerful than James, but shied away from Demonology, considering it too risky.
* Sara Arend. First wife of Thaddeus. Thaddeus claims she was killed by European mages. Valia corroborated the claim.
* Jack Arend (father). Deceased. Only one of that generation that had Power.
* Mrs. Arend (mother). Deceased.
* Wolfgang Richard Arend (Oct. 27, 1990 - now, aged 25). Fifth patriarch of the Arend family and [[player character]].

===Family===
* Jennifer "Jenna" Arend (23). Lawyer. Very powerful mage. Very capable and intelligent. Marcus and Donald listen to her. Employed by Donald. Meddled with what was supposedly a wild mage's journal in March and now experiences episodes of amnesia and what could be considered episodes of possession. Sought protection from grandfather, but after unanswered letters and the death of Theo she conspired with Chad to get him to murder Tara and Paul with wraiths. Claims to not have wanted Chad or Richard dead. She wanted to solve the mystery herself instead of relying on Richard. Extremely jealous of Richard's male mage privilege. Considers herself "the best, period" and "number one" at everything she does. Doesn't do second. 
* Albright family. Has own house in Bridgehead.
* Patrick’s family. Has own house in Bridgehead.
* Bertrand “Bert” Arend (31). Weak mage. Brown-nosing weasel. Contesting will.
* Donald. Routinely makes poor multimillion dollar investments in real estate. Contesting will.
* Marcus Arend (28). Decent mage. Contesting will.
* Chadwick “Chad” Arend (22). Mage. Tutored by Jenna in wraith-summoning. Sent wraiths after Tara and Paul. Dead either from a 4x lethal heroin overdose, or internal bleeding from a struggle. Had a fiancé named Cate. Brother is contesting will. Jenna claims Chad sent wraiths after Richard to scare him.
* Timothy Lane (10). Weak and untrained mage. Very protective family.
* James Lane. Father of Timothy. Owner of Lane Mining. New money. Contesting will.
* Tara. (25). High untapped magic capacity. Likes social subterfuge. High-maintenance. Not contesting.
* Syliva. Not contesting.
* Julia. Mage. Mafia don’s daughter. Not contesting.
* Marion. Mage.
* Phyllis. Mage.
* John Reims. Branch family member.
* Teddy Reims, head of Reims family, branch from two generations ago.
* Lyle Arend, CEO of BAL Pharamaceuticals.
* Senator James Arend, Virginia senator incumbent -- provided election funds and political capital.
* Teddy Demens. Major player in global arms trade. Ex-soldier. Head of Demens family. Apparently a good enough guy.
* Paul Arend. Competent. Careful and cunning. Died alongside pregnant wife in plane crash at around November aged 25. This was due to wraiths sent by Chad under Jenna's direction.
* John Arend. Paul’s brother. A pretty OK guy.
* Theodore “Theo” Arend. Competent and a mage. Drowned at beach house in July aged 36 despite shallow waters and being a competitive swimmer.
 
===Other===
* Tom and Daisy Bennet, locals.
* Officer Hornwell, chief of police.
* Mayor Delkin of Bridgehead.
* Judge Eright of Bridgehead.
* Clive Phorer, bank president.
* John Pittman, mayor candidate who ran opposing House Arend. Burned to death with some kind of elemental fire on night before election.
* Greg, Chad’s PA.
* Omaein, fae lord. Not hostile, but not a bearer of good will.
* Arnold, the charlatan. First tutor of Wolfgang I.
* Restou, the wild mage. Second tutor of Wolfgang I.
* Delmar la Roche, CEO of the Arend Foundation. Reports directly to Richard and manages overall liquidity.
* Vice President Phillips -- Thaddeus called in favor with Senator Carlson to have withdraw from ticket, enabling vice presidency bid.
* Governor Keys, governor of Virginia. -- Thaddeus disposed of indiscreet gay lover. Provided campaign funds. Ended Richmond bus driver strike during close campaign.
* Representative Fieldstien, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. -- Thaddeus cured his daughter of cancer.