rphea ex Tremere is arecently-arrived member of Vidua-Vasta, having arrived in the Loch Leglean Tribunal in anno domini 1244. She has proven herself to be a loyal soldier of House Tremere and one of its most talented necromancers. Orphea is absolute in her commitment to protect the northern tribunals of the Order of Hermes from any resurgence of the Order of Odin. To this end, she has been tasked by Faustina ex Tremere to discover the resting place of the IX Legio Hispania - the fabled Lost Legion.
Orphea wrested control of her voting sigil from her parens, Zoros ex Tremere in 1241. Even so, she has yet to cast a vote against the party line of her House.
Since a magical accident early in her life forced her into twilight, her hair, normally an unremarkable brown, glows a faint silver under moonlight.
Early Life
Orphea was born into the life of a camp follower during the wars between John of England and Philip of France. To this day, she is unclear whether or not she was ever christened. She was named Harriet by her mother, and spent over a decade following one mercenary company or another around northern France and southern England. To this day, she has a tendency to curse in Flemish when under stress.
Zoros ex Tremere found her scavenging the field after an opening skirmish in the first Baron's War. Hoping only to find the body of a powerful nobleman, from which an arcane connection could be prised, the Tremere patriarch was surprised to find a girl in animated conversation with a dead footman. Investigation during the first few months of her apprenticeship showed that she was capable of creating an arcane connection to a ghost simply by writing the deceased's name - an ability thought all but lost in Christendom - and she was rushed to Coeris for further training. Much of her 15-year apprenticeship was spent travelling between Coeris and Blackthorn, in the Stonehenge Tribunal.
Moving North
Orphea spent the next fourteen years raising ghosts for her House, whether for interrogation or to bind them into service as guards and warriors. She went where she was told and did as she was directed, and found that, with time and a record of successful service, the directions became suggestions, and then requests.
In 1244, with rumours spreading of renewed activity on the part of the long-feared and still poorly-understood Order of Odin, Orphea requested leave to travel to Scotland. Zoros was enthusiastic, and in late May she presented herself to Faustina, the Tribuna Legleanis, at Vidua Vasta. Faustina recommended that she establish a new sanctum close to the centre of Tremere power in Scotland, and by early July, Orphea was setting up her laboratory in a newly-cleared hall.
Orphea continues to search high and low for the resting place of the Lost Legion, and her habit of picking over old burial mounds and ancient battlefields has brought her no small amount of notoriety as a grave-robbing witch. So long as this does not interfere with her work, Orphea is content to let the peasants whisper and the clergy denounce her from the pulpit.
Magic
Unsurprisingly, most of Orphea's magical talent is bent towards necromancy - the summoning, commanding and, where necessary, destruction of ghosts. She has found her innate talent as a leadworker, able to create arcane connections by inscribing the names of the dead on the back of a mirror, or in a leaden tablet or figurine, invaluable in this.
Sigil
Orphea's magic produces a feeling of spiritual stretching. Orphea, or the target of her magic, feels as if their soul is being forcibly spread thin, like oil on water. Ghosts summoned by her spells occasionally take this to a more literal extreme, appearing stretched on a rack, or by the suggestion of spectral horses. This can be extremely disconcerting to those unused to it.