Raella Shurbenholt: (b. HSD 960 AH, Raelna) Queen of Raelna. Beloved of the wizard Mercury Boltblaster. Arcane master and member of the High Council of the League of Benevolent Magic. Tutored in magic by the master Mage Pencader. Raella is a gifted aurist, recognized as a leading expert in aura reading and interpretation.  Daughter and only surviving child of King Raegon of Raelna and his wife the queen, who was before her marriage a princess of the royal house of Ganth. Raella is considered semi-divine, being of the House of Shurbenholt and directly descended from Blaze Shurben, founder and first king of Raelna and demi-god son of the Goddess Rae.

Mercury

The great Mage Pencader arrived in Raegon's court. Among his other duties, he tutored Raella in magic. She was not, strictly speaking, apprenticed to the wizard, but was his student. She also fell almost immediately in love with Pencader's young apprentice Mercury, who was only a few years older than she. Though Mercury was at first oblivious to her infatuation, the pair eventually fell in love. It was, however, necessary to keep their romance secret. Mercury was a landless commoner and Raella was of not only royal, but divine birth. Also, at her birth, King Raegon had arranged to marry her to Prince Halogen of Orphalia when she reached her majority.

When their affair was inevitably discovered, King Raegon would have had Mercury put do death despite Raella's pleas for his life. Only the intervention of Pencader induced the king to spare Mercury's life. He was instead permanently exiled from Raelna on pain of death.

First Wedding

Three years later, with Pencader's secret aid, Mercury returned to Rae City to disrupt Raella's wedding to wed Prince Halogen and spirit Raella away. The pair fled to Caratha. Halogen, accompanied by King Raegon's elite Knights of the Sun, gave chase and caught up with the fugitive pair. Surrounded and outnumbered, Mercury was only saved when word arrived with the otherwise sad news that King Raegon was dead.

Queen of Raelna

Raegon's death made Raella the new Queen of Raelna and thus able to reverse her father's commands and end Mercury's banishment, which she did immediately. Tense days followed. Raelnan nobles pressured Raella to go forward with the marriage to Halogen to preserve the peace and unite the kingdoms. Formal objections were raised to her desire to wed Mercury, considered a commoner. The High Council of the League of Benevolent Magic meanwhile pressured Mercury to renounce Raella and leave her realm. Pencader argued Mercury's case but was soon expelled from the League on trumped up charges, then found mysteriously dead. By various machinations, Mercury and Raella were driven apart, each believing the other desired an end to the relationship.

As queen, Raella was determined to reform her kingdom and restore to her people the freedoms that had eroded over the centuries. She reduced taxes, reformed the courts of justice, outlawed slavery, granted land to peasants in freehold, banned all torture, and ended imprisonment for debt. These actions made her much loved by the common classes, though many Raelnan nobles resented her trimming of their ancient privileges. She also reorganized the Raelnan military, creating a professional standing army, the Army of Raelna, to reduce the crown's reliance on feudal levies for defense of the realm.

By 987, Mercury and Raella discovered how they had been manipulated into parting and began a difficult rapprochement. Raella created Mercury the first Count Boltblaster. Mercury, however, remained a rootless wanderer, now aggressively pursued by the Dark Magic Society.

At some point between 987 and 990, Raella formally joined the League of Benevolent Magic and took a seat on the League High Council. It was highly unusual for a reigning monarch to join the League, which is itself considered a quasi-sovereign entity.

In 990 AH, Mercury returned to Rae City, accompanied by Jason Cosmo. The queen astonished her court by kneeling before Cosmo, addressing him as "my lord" and pledging herself and her kingdom to his command. Raella, along with the League High Council, believed Cosmo to be the Mighty Champion reborn, despite his humble aspect and denial that he was anything of the sort. Raella decrypted Cosmo's peculiar aura, revealing a message from The Gods. Shortly thereafter, she led the defense of Rae City from an attack by hundreds of winged marauder demons and became the first Raelnan monarch in centuries to summon the Goddess Rae.

The timely intervention of Rae to save the city, and Raella's personal relationship with the goddess, greatly enhanced the queen's influence and prestige, overawing all but the most intransigent of her opponents among the nobility.

Royal Wedding

Raella received special dispensation from Rae to marry Mercury Boltblaster, all laws or customs to the contrary notwithstanding. The royal wedding was held on High Summer Day in the Temple of the Sun at Rae City. The bride wore a lovely gold gown with a lengthy train. Guests included King Stron of Orphalia, delegations from most of the Eleven Kingdoms, and most of the Raelnan nobility.

Sun Queen

Appearance

Raella is small-statured, with delicate and pale features. Her hair is reddish-blonde, typically worn shoulder length. She favors simple, though elegant, attire, such as a gown of pale washed golden silk. She wears a necklace of golden-red sunstones. She is noted for her regal bearing.

Her eyes are an intense blue. Her gaze is wise and misses nothing. Those in her presence often feel she sees deep beneath the surface of whatever or whomever she looks upon. Given her expertise at reading auras, this is probably the case.

Languages:

• Common
• High Speech of the Magi 

Spells:

• Firefly Sparks (Dismiss Demon??) (HW:11) 
• Protective Shield (Rose Light) (HW:11) 
• Read Aura  (HW:10,12)
• Rite of Summons (HW:14) (this may be less a spell than a priestly ritual)
• Telekinesis (HW:12)
• Transcribe (HW:12) 

Style

990: Her Most Enchanting Majesty, Raella of the Shurbenholts, Blessed Daughter of the Sun Goddess Rae and by Her Divine Grace the Queen of Raelna, Princess of the Silver Sands, and Supreme Raediatrix of the Holy Church of Rae.

Later:

Her Most Enchanting Majesty, Raella of the Shurbenholts, Blessed Daughter of the Sun Goddess Rae and by Her Divine Grace the Queen of Raelna, Ganth, and Orphalia, Princess of the Silver Sands, and Supreme Raediatrix of the Holy Church of Rae.

Appears in:

Hero Wanted

Noble Cause

Royal Crush