This is a sample character demonstrating the use of the Ruler template.
Princess Alba
Princess Alba came to her talent of beguilement just two years ago. While she is pledged to the retinue of the River Demensne, ruled by Queen Eleanor, she is most often found travelling about the countryside with her pawnish attendants, investigating matters of interest to the Queen as a kind of precocious royal troubleshooter. As something of a bleeding heart, Alba is deeply attached to the River Demensne and feels that everyone it in is her responsibility–she will work tirelessly for them. She wants to learn how to be a good ruler, not just a ruler.
Although she is a serious person (her word is her bond), the price she pays for her earnestness and responsibilities is that she has to let off steam every night–she’s a fixture in the fancier reserved rooms at every tavern along her routes, and if she can’t find a dinner party, she’ll create one. She’s a poor dancer, but likes to dance anyway. Perhaps her most oft-spoken phrase is:
“A glass of wine with you, sir!”
Luckily, her striking beauty and charming personal manner make it easy to overlook these raucous habits, even for prudes who would normally disapprove.
Alba is careful about things, and she should be: any ruler of the River Demensne is subject to many plots. She is never away from her servants, in fact she’ll do anything to avoid being alone. But Alba doesn’t like to rely entirely on bodyguards for protection–she instead trusts in her smallsword, her shield, and her wits. In addition she does have an unusual form of beguilement: a mesmerizing stare. This is a special ability she keeps under her crown.
A bad brush with a necromancer early in her childhood left her with a dislike of any mention of ill omens or curses, and she is generally superstitious about luck and the dead.
Character Creation Notes:
For my first choices, advantages, I opted for Rapier Wit, wealth and Good With (wizards). For disadvantages, I imagined a kind of “fun but good” ruler scenario, and took a Sense of Duty to my subjects and an unknown rival Enemy trying to kill me. Rulers have good reason to be cautious: I combined this stuff with Careful and Fearful (as I think my high IQ makes fearful not much of a disadvantage, and I want to work in some superstitiousness later as a quirk). I also picked up Code of Honor (oathbound) as it seems like I would take my word very seriously. I like the roleplaying idea of Autophobia and it fits the ruler concept pretty well. I took the “combatant” skills package, then added the lenses: Mesmerizing (seems like a neat power), Actually Competent, and Survivor. This left me short, so I added some quirks to bring this up to -4. I am still under the disadvantage limit (50% of character point total) so I will add Workaholic. Still missing a few points, so I’ll fiddle with the frequency of appearance and point value on the enemy to make things add up. All done.
Character Sheet
Image Coda: Queen Elizabeth I in coronation robes from the UK National Portrait Gallery, painted c. 1600 by an unknown artist, in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Requires Concentrate 
