Well thanks for picking me!



I went back and added some details regarding the Hartdegens. Centuries ago, the matriarch and founder of the Hartdegen family was a powerful wizard who helped fight against Dracula and his forces of evil with a supernatural grace that combined powerful magic with movements that were as if she danced with her foes. Nobody since Astraya Hartdegen has ever fought like that and in the centuries since the Hartdegens have been these big burly types, fighting with pure strength, who always appear when things can't possibly get any worse and it's like a wave crashing against the forces of evil. As such the Order trusts them implicitly to the point where they are not part of the formal military structure... yet here is Cassandra, who looks tiny compared to the rest of her family and is meek and shy when they're boisterous and proud. Others may ask if this is the best the Hartdegens have got, if the family has lost its way, but the truly observant among them would note that Cassandra possesses a supernatural grace that nobody has seen in centuries and there are none alive who could have taught it to her.

Cassandra will have spent a considerable amount of time with Adrian Beltane, the historian of the Order, to uncover more about Astraya Hartdegen but I don't know if he'll have put two and two together or if he thinks she just has a fascination with history.

The only Hartdegen with Cassandra is her older brother, Rudgar. He was the shoe-in to lead the Hartdegen clan but it is a matriarchal one, so as long as Cassandra proves herself strong enough to lead their family there will be no complaints. Rudgar himself is probably Cassandra's strongest supporter, always pushing his little sister to be more personable and engaging, and he seems to know more about or simply believes in Cassandra's potential more than anyone else.