Bio

Still a teenager, Ellowen Von Kissel, Laura’s cousin, is now the Heir to the Throne of Elmsville.

Some time ago, Ellowen attempted a power play that would increase her public exposure and provide her additional authority in her cousin, Laura’s court. It didn’t work, at least not in the ways she’d hoped.

In the long run, though, it might have proved the singular most important reason Laura had the confidence to name her young niece Elmsville’s heir. While Ellowen might have been scolded for her failed efforts to use and manipulate Tallus Rennet, she also displayed an ambition and a political guile, albeit an underdeveloped one, that Laura had never seen before. No matter what Laura said or did to Ellowen in private, anyone with access to the court would report that about the same time Tallus began building his settlements, Ellowen began accompanying Laura to every meeting, to every affair of state, to every diplomatic conversation, even to the Small Council itself. So it was that when Laura finally named Ellowen her heir, no one was surprised. It had been clear for some time that Laura was grooming, teaching her young cousin to rule, in much the way Lars and Emily had done with her years earlier.

There is no doubt that Ellowen is intimately connected to Elmsville’s partnership with Waterdeep. Not only was she with Laura in Waterdeep as the latter prepared her fleet for departure, but Ellowen also joined Laura when she asked Tallus and Vittari for help. While the two Unlikely Darkotians weren’t presented all relevant information, they did learn that Ellowen is now engaged to Erik Whiteleaf, a 29-year-old Waterdeep merchant whom Laura said was both handsome and gentle. At the same time, Elmsville’s Sovereign, acknowledged that for Ellenway this marriage was one of political duty, in much the way Laura’s marriage to Slattern was.

Several things were clear. First, Ellowen was so unhappy about the marriage that she lost any semblance of political etiquette and flatly begged Tallus to stop the wedding. Secondly, while Laura has been teaching Ellenway to rule, she still doesn’t trust or hold her cousin’s intellect in high esteem. Tallus and Vittari offered council on both counts. But it is unclear if Ellowen’s marriage will go through.