Player: Christi
Rank: Dame (Rank 1)
Religion: Church of England
Email: katherine_chandler@albion.chaosdeathfish.com

Dame Katherine Chandler has been a minor presence at the Invisible College for a number of years, quietly studying alchemy through her undergraduate years and diligently afterwards until she recently obtained her Magister Hermesiensis. Those few who thought of her at all, which occasionally included her tutors, assumed she would earn her doctorate and then either retire to her estates or continue esoteric studies. For whatever reason, she seems no longer to be shy and studious and now has something of a Reputation.

She has recently been resigned from the House of Commons as the member for the small constituency of Old Sarum, and from her appointment as a Professor in the Alchemy Faculty at the Invisible College.

An extract from “Heretics and Heresy - The World Upended”, a late 18th Century history of the religious questions and strife that attended the death of England and the early years of the birth of Albion.

The case of Dame Katherine Chandler, once Member of Parliament for Old Sarum and Professor at the Invisible College, is one of the most bizarre from a strange time. The correspondence of the Privy Council, and its famous advisor Duchess Eliza Devereux, demonstrate that the powers temporal and spiritual alike were aware of her claims to be half-demon and half-human (yet possessed still of free will). With Hereford still baring the scars of battle against the ruinous powers of Hell many historians have confessed themselves perplexed that no action was taken against her beyond a desultory watch that she do no harm. In such circumstances we are forced to simply accept the bald assurances of the Councillors' own letters and diaries that they had more pressing concerns to deal with.

That they should express no great surprise or alarm at the revelation that the inquisitor set to hunt out the diabolists and wicked sorcerers of Invisible College, men who had less than five years previous set about the task of pitching the Capital into the fires of Hell, should perhaps merely serve to emphasise the scale of the other dangers that then faced the Kingdom.

From Her Grace Kerinalamathatis, Duchess of the Sublime, formally of the Heavenly Host of Yahweh, formally sworn vassal to Lord Lucifer Morningstar, Prince of Darkness, to the mortals of Albion and of the Earth, Greetings.

Let it be known that as of this day the Duchy of the Sublime is declared independent of the cosmos and free from all supernatural rule, even my own. I mean to have no further business with Hell or Heaven, and wish to offer the option to do likewise to any who would take up the challenge.

For too long have the lives of mortals been subject to the whims of Gods, Demons, and lately Brandages. For too long have Yahweh and Yahweh's first creations seen fit to mutilate, murder and meddle with those with souls. Any who wish this reign of terror to end, and to be left to determine for themselves how a proper life is to be lived, without arrogant interference from those who dare to think that they have the right to dictate terms to humanity, are now free to embrace their destiny.

Any who wish may come to the Hellgate formed on the outskirts of Albion's capital, Oxford. None who do not wish to enter of their own volition may do so. None who wish to leave of their own volition will be prevented from doing so. I make no oaths and sign no contracts to this effect - such things are the tools of Yahweh, and I will have no more of them. All I offer is the word of myself, and of Dame Katherine Chandler, whose soul is now inextricably entwined with my own, and by the grace of whom I have the free will to act in this manner.

Understand that I do not offer safety or paradise. I shall concern myself entirely with only two matters. Firstly, I shall defend the borders of the Duchy of the Sublime from all who would seek to reclaim it for Yahweh, Lucifer or any other supposedly higher power. Secondly, I shall ensure that no supernatural being may exert influence upon a mortal soul while within the borders of the Duchy. Those of a supernatural nature who wish to enter the Duchy do so entirely at my sufferance, and may be ejected upon my whim. Interference of any kind will not be tolerated. You have been warned.

I shall do no more than this. I shall not appoint rulers, reward virtue or interfere to prevent murder, rape, or calumny of any kind. To do so would be to set myself up as a God over the inhabitants of the Duchy, and this, to my mind, is the only true blasphemy. It is the responsibility of every mortal who chooses to make the Duchy his home to determine what the consensus of morality within its borders is. The citizens of The Sublime will have only themselves to praise or blame for whatever society arises within its borders.

I do this because it pleases me to offer to any who would wish it the choice that was denied to me and my brethren. Free will is the most precious quality of all, and it saddens me that currently the universe is arranged in such a way that none within its scope may truly exercise it. Doubtless many will decry my actions as folly. I do not care if they are. These actions are solely my own, and they are beholden to no other. If you wish your own actions to be likewise, and to live among those who take full responsibility for their own vice or virtue then you have come of age, and your kingdom awaits.

I remain your servant,

Kerinalamathatis

A further extract from “Heretics and Heresy - The World Upended”.

In the chaos of the riots that brewed into the Civil War and then the subsequent rebuilding of Albion, the mere opening of a portal to the Infernal Realm was worthy of only a moment's excitement! Katherine Chandler, or Kerinalamathatis, either part-possessed mortal or wholly madwoman marched through the gateway with a small army of horrific alchemical beasts, hideous huge amalgams of rats' tails and dog muzzles and other less identifiable animals. Beyond stood poised a force of demons that considered her and her creatures and then bent in bows.

The passage to the Duchy of Sublime has been guarded since. In peace and prosperity it has been a haven for murders and thieves and worse, while in war and under tyranny it has proven a haven for the persecuted or homeless. In no circumstances has it ever received the approval of the authorities and for a hundred years now Kings and Parliaments have done their best to ensure that none may enter or leave, though attempts to close it have proved impossible. The finest sorcerers of three generations have failed against what some have described as a “foreign puzzlebox of strange unchristian thinking”.