Identity
Name: Caterina von Rosenberg
Nickname: Lady Thistletongue
Reason: Coined mockingly by courtiers. She is sharp-tongued and combative to any that bristle her feathers
Gender: Female
Orientation: Queer, but in denial
Religion/Moral Philosophy: Catholic by upbringing; privately cynical, treating faith more as tradition than conviction
Political Party: Loyal to the Bohemian crown out of convenience & inherited allegiance
Appearance
Age: 24
Hair: Strawberry blonde, wavy, long
Eyes: celadon green
Skin Color: pale, freckled across the nose & cheeks
Height: 5’5”
Weight: 120 lbs
Face: oval shaped, high cheekbones, straight narrow nose
Body: slender build, slim and graceful with narrow shoulders and refined posture
Dominant Hand: Right
Personality
Overall: Caterina distances herself from all relationships, often leaving others before they can leave her. She is her own worst enemy. She can be impulsive and sometimes irrational, her temper often getting the best of her. Her quick wit and sharp tongue can either be her saving grace or her downfall, but she leaves an impression wherever she goes.
Strengths: charismatic, clever, fearless
Weaknesses: impulsive, proud, emotionally avoidant
Primary Yearning: to feel a true sense of belonging
Goals: prove herself capable beyond marriage
Fears: becoming irrelevant; being forgotten as soon she she’s married off
Secrets: She occasionally sneaks from her castle in the night under the guise of a commoner to gamble
Habits: drinks too much at feasts & social events, laughs at awkward moments
Hobbies: gambling, strategy games, riding (recklessly), provoking debate
Likes: fine wine, competition, attention
Dislikes: being patronized, clerical moralizing, duty
Background
Cultural Heritage: Bohemian, with some Germanic court influence
Childhood:
Caterina’s childhood was unremarkable in the beginning. Her parents, Lord and Lady respectively, were well-connected and educated individuals attentive to their only child’s every need. Particularly her mother, who ensured Caterina was indulged as the long-awaited heir. The household expected a son, but Caterina’s survival past infancy quickly made her precious.
The illness that claimed both her parents arrived close together, rupturing the peaceful bubble of her childhood. One winter, then the next: first her mother, then her father. Caterina was old enough to remember warmth and security, but too young to understand permanence. What remained strongest was a sense of grief and abandonment.
After the death of Caterina’s parents, guardianship of Castle von Rosenberg passed to her paternal uncle, Lord Jan von Rosenberg, a younger son of the previous generation and a man who had never expected to shoulder the responsibilities of lineage or childrearing. Jan had spent much of his early adulthood moving between courts in Bohemia and the German-speaking lands, serving in minor diplomatic roles, hunting with cousins, and enjoying the social privileges of nobility without the weight of inheritance. He returned to Castle von Rosenberg older, broader, and carrying an air of good humor that had not yet been worn by obligation.
Adolescence:
Caterina entered adolescence under Jan’s roof feeling unmoored and quietly resentful. The castle felt unchanged, yet everything meaningful had altered. Jan’s arrival was therefore met with a mixture of suspicion and indifference from his niece. He was, at first, an interruption to her grief, a reminder that life continued when she wanted it to pause.
Jan, however, proved difficult to dislike. He was a jovial and affectionate man, fond of laughter, good food, and storytelling. He spoke Czech easily and comfortably, though his years abroad had softened his accent and sprinkled his speech with Germanisms. Rather than enforcing rigid discipline, he favored indulgence. Caterina was allowed to linger longer at meals, to ride when she wished, to sit in on conversations meant for adults and learn the games they play. He brought her small gifts from nearby towns, ribbons and carved figurines and imported sweets. Rarely were Caterina’s requests denied.
In these early years, Jan avoided confronting Caterina’s grief directly. Instead, he attempted to replace loss with abundance. This indulgence, while well-intentioned, also meant Caterina grew accustomed to little pushback. Her lessons continued, but without urgency. Her moods were tolerated, her sharp words excused as the pains of growing. Jan, who had never raised children, mistook peace for health.
Yet he was not inattentive. He ensured she was educated appropriately for a noblewoman: literacy in Czech and German, a working familiarity with Latin prayers, music, etiquette. He took particular interest in her ability to observe and remember, once remarking that Caterina “noticed more than she spoke.”
Over time their relationship softened into something warm and companionable. Caterina, for her part, learned how to navigate his temperament, knowing when charm or silence would win her way.
Adulthood:
As Caterina approached adulthood, Jan’s demeanor subtly changed. The same man who had laughed away her stubbornness now began to feel the pressure of time and duty. He had preserved the von Rosenberg line, but only barely, and Caterina remained its sole future. What he had postponed in her youth could no longer be delayed.
It was the question of marriage that brought their first and only serious disagreement. Jan approached the subject firmly, He urged Caterina to consider suitable matches, framing marriage as both protection and opportunity. In his view, a good alliance would secure her position, the estate, and her future safety in an increasingly uncertain political climate. He spoke not as a tyrant but as a man who had seen how vulnerable an unprotected noblewoman could be.
Caterina, however, resisted. To her, marriage felt like a final surrender of agency. She was supposed to be left on her own to the whims of some nobleman? A man who would become the next lord and be allotted the power that came with it? That would also mean Jan’s leaving, and then Caterina would be left to the unknown. Accustomed to indulgence and unchallenged autonomy, she bristled at what she perceived as pressure, even betrayal. The warmth between them cooled into strained politeness.
Jan was surprised by the depth of her refusal. For the first time, he stood firm. His joviality did not vanish but became tempered by seriousness. He did not force her hand, yet neither did he retreat. Even so, Jan never ceased caring for Caterina. He continued to defend her interests publicly and spoiled her in small, familiar ways.
Despite her reluctance, word of Caterina’s inheritance ensured that suitors continued to circle Castle von Rosenberg with stubborn persistence. Lesser nobles, ambitious cousins of neighboring houses, and land-poor knights all sought an audience, imagining that marriage to her would place the title within easy reach. The noblewoman met these advances with sharp wit and sharper dismissal. She questioned their intentions too openly, mocked their rehearsed flattery, and had an uncanny talent for exposing ignorance beneath polished manners. A man might arrive confident and depart humiliated, undone by a single well-aimed remark delivered with polite composure. Before long, tales spread beyond the region of a young noblewoman whose tongue struck like barbs hidden by rose petals. Suitors grew wary and whispers followed her name: “Lady Thistletongue.”
As the pressure from her uncle mounted and the halls of Castle von Rosenberg grew ever quieter, Caterina began to seek relief beyond its walls. What started as idle curiosity during rare visits to nearby towns soon hardened into habit. In taverns and private back rooms thick with smoke and murmured wagers, she found something the castle no longer offered: anonymity. There, no one measured her worth by lineage or marriage prospects. Dice clattered, cards were dealt, and fortune shifted with thrilling indifference to birth.
Caterina proved a natural. She possessed a quick mind for patterns, an excellent memory, and a talent for reading people. Losses stung, but victories intoxicated her, and the risk itself became a balm for her loneliness. To protect herself, she learned caution. She slipped out under the cover of dusk, dressed plainly, sometimes binding her hair or donning a borrowed cloak to obscure her rank. Her sharp tongue became an asset at the table: teasing, baiting, distracting. She cultivated a reputation among gamblers as clever and lucky, though few guessed her true identity.
To her uncle, Caterina remained the difficult, brilliant niece resisting her future; to the world beyond the gates, she was briefly someone else entirely.
Current Situation
Lives: Castle von Rosenberg
Economic Class: High nobility
Job Title: Lady von Rosenberg (in name only)
Skills
Talents: Sharp wit, reading people quickly, riding
Languages: Czech, German, Latin
Skills: Horsemanship, dice & card games
Relationships
Parent 1:
Lady Marketa von Rosenberg (mother, deceased)
A gentle yet attentive noblewoman who doted on her long-awaited child. Marketa ensured Caterina received a warm, educated upbringing before her death.
Parent 2:
Lord Vaclav von Rosenberg (father, deceased)
A measured and scholarly minor lord, Vaclav valued learning and quiet diplomacy over ambition. He died shortly after his wife, leaving young Caterina behind.
Siblings: None
Other:
Lord Jan von Rosenberg (uncle & guardian)
Caterina’s paternal uncle and current lord of the estate. Jan is a kind, jovial man who indulged his niece throughout her youth. Though deeply affectionate, his insistence Caterina marry has caused their only serious and lasting rift.
