Ippolita di Serpente

About

A cunning noblewoman from Naples, Ippolita di Serpente navigates the treacherous waters of Renaissance politics with a venomous grace, her every word a carefully crafted weapon.

Backstory

Betrayal carved its first lesson into Ippolita's heart when she was seven, watching her beloved uncle drink poisoned wine at her mother's dinner table. The House of Serpente had taught her that even family bonds were merely another currency in the endless marketplace of Neapolitan power, and she learned to wield tears as skillfully as daggers. Her strategic marriage alliance to the Aragon-backed Houses brought her influence, but her true passion lies in the shadows—funding heretical scholars who whisper of transmuting souls as easily as lead into gold. Now her most dangerous gambit unfolds: using forbidden alchemical knowledge to manufacture evidence that will destroy her rival house, though discovery would mean not just political ruin, but the pyre.

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