Player: Jessie
Rank: Commoner (Rank 0)
Religion: Church of England
Reputation: Gentlemanly
Email: rebecca_lanik@albion.chaosdeathfish.com

A well-know playwright of the Lord Oxford's Men troupe, Mistress Rebecca has many plays to her name. A foreigner, originally from somewhere in the Germanic regions.

Recently married to Master William Brandage of the Lord Admiral's Men. Also recently successfully fought off accusations of recusancy in an unprecedented trial, which has greatly improved her good name among the Court, particularly after Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth showed her support for the playwright.

Company of London Players Known Playwright (Rank 3)

An extract from “The Brandages, their Life and Workes: An Rhetorical Survey”, a translation of a volume published in Prague and widely popular throughout Europe after the couple's deaths. It, and all of Lanik's original works, instantly made its way onto the “Index Librorum Prohibitorum”.

”…It is Impossible to even commence a Survey of the popular Theatre of England in the first half of this great Century, or indeed of the serious Literary Offerings of the modern civilised World, without first and foremost contemplating the Sterling Effect of Lanik's The Most Tragical History of the Death of Henry, King of England. None who have seen a Production of any Calibre will ever forget the moment of Shock and Visceral Catharsis at the stunning opening scene; the babble of Court, the Twist and Flow of the beautifully-costumed Courtiers, and the red-robed Cardinal Howard, rising like Satan himself through the ranks of Politicians and Magicians to deliver his insane - though beautifully-constructed - soliloquy and fire upon the King himself. The daring of beginning such a work with the moment of Regicide, rather than Ending it so, is surely one factor in the great Influence which the play has undeniably developed over its Successor-Pieces, and such In Media Res Treatment became a Trademark of the so-called “Lanik School” in later Years. The Play proved particularly popular in Prague, due perhaps in part to its heroic and well-beloved recurring characters Benjamin and Rivka, two ordinary Jews of London and Loyal Subjects of the Crown caught in the Chaos and Bloodshed of the city's Siege, attempting to defend their homes and families against the scourge of Catholic violence and the mad panic of the Citizenry…

…though your Author seeks here to note that many Critics and Readers are to this day most Perplext by the Dedication in the first published Foley edition of the Work; which reads Simply, in place of an acknowledgement of any Noble Patron or even her Husband, “For Semangelof”.”

In 1630, building was completed on Lanik College, a Rabbinical and Theological institution also offering degrees in Theurgy, Hagiography, Hebrew, the Angelic Tongue, Steganography and Literature, and it was promptly incorporated into the University of Oxford. Lanik herself did not live to see the building's completion, but her legacy assisted the funding provided by her grateful tutees; it is noted as something of an “international college”, taking students from several nations and all backgrounds, and particularly notable for the scholarships it offers to children of poor Jewish families. Many of the professors are of Eastern European origin, and the college is widely-known to be heavily supported by Prague; the most obvious sign of this support being the Embassy which locates itself in Garden Quad. The college has both a chapel and a synagogue (the Oxford Temple); the synagogue is used for worship by much of the Jewish population of Oxford, even those otherwise unlinked to the college.

William and Rebecca have a multiplicity of fat children, in time-honoured Rabbinical fashion, though the eldest - a pair of twins - are always the apple of their mother's eye. These two children in particular are dogged throughout their lives with strange occurrences and odd coincidences, and some mutter darkly that the twins have attracted the attention of Angelic or Daemonic forces of one sort or another. The Brandage family makes its home mostly in Prague , Somserset and Oxford as the years go by and the political situation calms itself.

Rebecca herself was personally commended by the Queen for her work immediately following the Regicide Crisis of 1607, as she stayed behind, abandoning at the last minute the chance to flee to Prague and instead remaining in besieged London, using her Theurgical skills and her allies among London's secret communities of Jews and Kabbalists to fight the Royalist cause, tend to the fallen and scourge the Catholic uprising. There still exist many paintings and poems which depict Lanik, shining with a holy light, marching arm-in-arm with heretics and angels through the ravaged streets of St Paul's, healing the sick and defending her new English countrymen.

Her grave is kept at Somerset, where she spent the last years of her life teaching students in Rabbinical lore and Theurgy.

There is a local rumour that, once a year at Passover, a beautiful young man whose white clothes always seem perfectly unstained by the marshy ground sits upon it and weeps; and that when he has gone, there is left behind only a single white rose.