Jacqueline Renier

Jacqueline Renier is a fictional nonplayer character and villain in the Ravenloft campaign setting. As one of the "darklords", she is imprisoned inside her own domain, that of Richemulot. Debuting in the Realm of Terror (Black Boxed set), Jacqueline has appeared in every version of the campaign setting to date as well as Ravenloft Gazetteer III. Jacqueline is also featured in the short story Tales of Ravenloft: Nocturne and the novel Scholar of Decay.

A scion of the wererat branch of the Renier family, Jacqueline became darklord of Richemulot after murdering her grandfather Claude Renier. Jacqueline is the child of Claude's daughter Marie and the human nobleman Simon Audaire (Marie killed her husband and gave her children her maiden name, a family tradition in which Jacqueline has followed suit). Jacqueline resides in Chateau Delanuit with her twin sister Louise.

History

Jacqueline Renier is the daughter of Marie Renier (a wererat) and Simon Audaire) (not a wererat); the granddaughter of Claude Renier and Isabelle Museau (both wererats); and the sister of Antoinette Renier, Louise Renier, and Raul Renier (all wererats). She married Dominic Soufel (not a wererat, [[deceased as of 732 BC) and had four children with him, one named Jacques Renier (born 725 BC) and four others (born 727 BC, 729 BC, and 732 BC) All of Jacqueline's children are wererats.

Although the Renier family tree in the Realm of Terror boxed set erroneously puts her year of birth at 703 BC (well after her family fled a Prime Material world in the year 691 BC of Ravenloft canon), Jacqueline Renier has been consistently described in various game products as an outlander along with much of the older Renier family members. As a child, Jacqueline and the wererat branch of her family were the target of wererat hunts on their homeworld on the Prime Material Plane, the same world to where the domain of Mordent originally came from. Driven beneath the sewers of their hometown with their pursuers hot on their heels, the Reniers fled into a portal of mist that took them to the Falkovnian city of Silbervas.ref name=RoTp.110-111>Realm of Terror p.110-111</ref> The year was 691 BC.

In Silbervas, the family thrived for a time under the leadership of Claude, then family patriarch. Claude took control over the city's wererats and established his own thieves' guild. Yet under his leadership, the wererats grew emboldened and soon drew the ire of Vlad Drakov and his minions.ref name="Gazetteer III p. 89">Gazetteer III p. 89</ref> After three years of conflict known as the Years of Impaled Rats, the Reniers were expelled from Silberpas and forced to flee. Claude led them once more into the Misty Border, and they came arrived in a new land, this time the domain of Richemulot. Claude took up control of that domain as both is darklord and its temporal leader. The year was 694 BC.

Claude Renier ruled the Reniers through fear and manipulation, and he pitted factions within the family against one another in order to prevent insurrections against his own leadership. By motivating family members to constantly compete for affections that he never gave out, Claude kept them constantly seeking his good graces. The strategy worked, at least for a while. Yet, it would eventually prove his downfall.

The rivalry of the twin sisters Louise and Jacqueline was one of the disputes he encouraged. Jacqueline learned his her grandfather's lessons of intrigue well; she used guile and deception in killing the Piper of Hamelyn when he came to rid Ste. Ronges of its rats in 722 BC. Although Jacqueline constantly outperformed her sister, Claude never rewarded her for her efforts. Wearied and bittered by the endless games her grandfather put them through, Jacqueline enlisted the aid of Louise in a conspiracy to kill their grandfather. At the last moment, Louise chickened out. Without her sister, Jacqueline murdered Claude in 726 BC.

To end Claude's life, Jacqueline exploited his lycanthropic allergen, that of common lye. She called a servant to deliver a poisoned drink, though Jacqueline was there to ensure his demise. After the allergic reaction began to overtake him, Jacqueline coyly revealed her betrayal and thanked him for "teaching" her before she pushed him out the window of their residence. He perished even before he even hit the ground. With her grandfather's death, Jacqueline became both darklord and ruler of Richemulot.

Game Statistics

2nd Edition

female human natural wererat, Hit Dice:3+1 Chaotic Evil

3rd Edition

aristocrat 6/Rogue 5

Pathfinder

Rogue (charlatan) 6/Courter 5

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Secrets of the Dread Realms Domains of Dread
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - p48 Domains of Dread - p47 Realm of Terror - reference card
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp47-49 Domains of Dread - p47 Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - p80 Realm of Terror - pp110-111,reference card
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp7,47-49 Ravenloft Third Edition - p136 Dungeon #64: Last Dance Domains of Dread - pp47-48 Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - pp26-28,80-81 Tales of Ravenloft:Nocturne - pp101-110 Realm of Terror - pp110-111,p125,reference card
		Reinier