Blackberry Fudge (Person)

"So—just to be clear now—exactly how many pints of beer do you think you’d drunk before you accused the Lector of being in league with Chaos? I just need to get all the details."

- Blackberry Fudge

When Halflings get in trouble with Human authorities, they typically give their last name as Fudge, and Blackberry sounded like a much better first name than her own. Thus Pumpily Fatside became Blackberry Fudge when she began writing for the first edition of the Tail. Possessing a poetic soul, she had discovered Kloszowski’s work at one of her poetry reading groups, and was instantly enchanted. She was one of the few who knew of his secret return to the city, and she pressed some of her poems into his hands on their first meeting.

They were very good indeed, and Kloszowski gave her a job straight away. From hearing his words, she became so deeply passionate about exposing the hypocrisy and evil of the authorities that there was nobody more suited to opening the third edition of the Griffon’s Tail.

Fudge operates the Gods edition, named for its publication area, near the Temple of Sigmar. Also working there regularly are Falstaff Hausenmunch, a foppish drunkard with delusions of being the next Kloszowski, and “Doktor Siegel,” an etcher who left the Engineers’ Guild to pursue his talent for caricature. Gods is most famous for its cartoons, which it publishes almost every week thanks to Siegel. Running the printing press is Siegel’s old colleague from his Guild days, Padreich Duffel. Duffel is a crazed reject from the Golden Order who is constantly trying to make the press bigger and more efficient.

Currently, the editor is finding the life of a revolutionary rather less glamorous and exciting than she imagined. It is certainly dangerous but as yet they have found no really dark truths to expose. She is keen to find some adventurers who have sniffed out a great scandal, so she can write it up for all the world to see. She could also make said adventurers into great heroes, if they like, or use fake names if they prefer. Of course, if she were to discover that any adventurers were part of some noble coverup or involved in their own selfish criminal enterprises, she would be exposing them instead in the next issue.

Pumpily Fatside was born in Bogenhafen, but always dreamed of journeying to the capital to experience the art and learning of the cultural centre. As soon as she could ride, she took a job as a messenger for local burghers to ensure she could spend as much time in Altdorf as possible. She spent all the money she earned visiting its art galleries, museums, and Temples of Verena. She taught herself to read and paid some scholars at the university to give her access to their libraries and classes. There she discovered Kloszowski, and her passion for learning became a passion for revolution.

Personality
Blackberry is a true believer. She isn’t totally naïve: she is aware that change comes very slowly, and that most people prefer things to be just as they were yesterday. She understands that there will always be graft and wickedness and the strong above the weak. But she is also convinced that there are battles that can be won and truths to be exposed and that she personally can and must be a part of that. She has a great personal stake in the success of the Tail and should it falter, there might be little left of her cheery personality. For the moment, however, she is much like her name: sweet, but sticky—sticking to her cause, her stories, and her associates like glue. She will follow anyone anywhere if she thinks it will get her to the truth, or the Tail to greater success, and neither her targets nor her staff have found a way to escape her tenacity. It is because of the way she never lets up and always sees things through that her edition has consistently done so well. She would never dream of it, but if Kloszowski fell, she would make an excellent replacement.

To rise to such a position, though, she will need to learn to micromanage less, and to ameliorate her youthful passion with a good dash of cynicism.

Appearance
Short even for a Halfling, with a round face encircled with bobbing black curls, Blackberry is often mistaken for a human child. Her boundless enthusiasm and constant activity complete the image, but she certainly has an adult vocabulary, swearing a blue streak at writers who are tardy with their work. She typically wears a simple printer’s apron, stained with ink from her quills, over hardy travelling clothes. She carries a sling pack with her everywhere, so she is always ready to write or travel, as her job requires.

Source

 * : Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Shades of Empire
 * : pg. 51
 * : pg. 52

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