Her Excellency Rosamund ap Fiona
the Countess of Rowan-Oak

Countess Rosamund rules all fae in the county from her freehold of Caer Ondomorna, in vassalage to Her Grace, Evelenau ap Eiluned, Duchess of Rhododendrons. While generally mellow, she does hold strongly to the Escheat, and expects her vassals to do the same. Many were surprised when she was chosen by lottery five years ago to fill the vacancy caused by the death of the hated Count Vathek, and not a few of the more traditional fae resent her rule.

Rosamund was a sidhe of the Resurgence, finding herself at UC Berkeley in 1969. Her refusal to fight in the Accordance War, and her organization of safe-houses for non-combatant commoner and noble fae, meant that she was overlooked when titles and freeholds were granted in the wake of the war at the Treaty of Concordia. She instead concentrated on her academic career, going from Ann Arbor (which had a noble court in place where she served as a lady-in waiting) to Adena College in Ohio, a small liberal arts school where she was able to establish a freehold finally earning herself a Barony. She came to Rowan-Oak, typically, for the opportunity the move offered her to advance her mortal career, heading the Theater Arts Department at Blackstone University. Her rank as baroness was confirmed by the cynical Count Vathek when she was able to create a small freehold on campus.

Jolly and good natured, Rosamund brushes the hostility aside with a laugh. By and large, her rule is untroubled by the intrigues of her vassals, although recent rumor has it that various nobles are jockeying behind the scenes to unseat her, outraged by her presumption in naming a commoner, her satyr son Almond, as heir to the county. In fact, somebody went so far as to poison her not so long ago, and although she was healed, the perpetator was never discovered.

Rosamund's thronehold is not large, and she prefers to hold court weekly at the various freeholds under her rule, so as to meet her subjects on their home ground. On the night of each full moon during warm weather, she holds a special revel in the glade adjacent to Caer Ondomorna in order to repay their hospitality each month. Favored guests may be granted an audience in the Blue Room, but most of Caer Ondomorna is strictly private.

Rosamund balances her time spent on fae matters with a full-time university professorship in the Mortal world. Since 1990, when she arrived at Blackstone, Rosie Mondie has earned her tenure, and heads the Theater Department. Although the machinations of academia can grow Banal, Rosamund shows no signs of fading. She is fortunate to have the assistance of a kinain secretary who sees that her departmental duties do not suffer when county affairs become absorbing. It was this secretary, Lady Jane Marlow, who helped revive the Countess from forgetting herself after an expecially grueling session of the Faculty Tenure Review Committee. Rosamund had her kinain factotum knighted for this service, and in recognition of her ongoing invaluable aid. With Lady Jane's help she has persisted in remaining aware of her fae identity and active in kithain affairs, in spite of being not many years from her fiftieth birthday. For the present, she hangs balanced between her worlds. How tenuous that balance is remains to be seen.

In mortal seeming, Rosie Mondie is an engaging, intense woman of middle height, with loosely curled auburn hair and warm brown eyes. She favors casual but professional attire, frequently including an outrageous ethnic scarf or unusual piece of jewelry to add a bit of interest. Although seemingly flighty, she has a knack for noticing important details, and for doing what needs to be done.

In fae mien, Her Excellency is a commanding presence. Statuesque rather than ethereal, and less aloof than most sidhe, Rosamund is a more comfortable presence for most commoners than others of her kith. Her hair is longer, and gathered up in a regal coil. She favors elaborate voile in rich jewel-tones, and heavy rings on her hands. Although she owns a noble blade, she never wears it. Instead, it hangs above the balefire in Caer Ondomorna.