Allegiance: Independent

Special Power: All troops lead by Madame Helveg receive a 20% bonus to ranged, flanking, melee, defense, and morale strengths.

Profile: A tiny, prim, dark-skinned woman who keeps her grey hair in a tight bun and is partial to Victorian dress, Madame Helveg was married to Baron Helveg of Helveg's Halberdeers for forty years until his death and the destruction of his command at the Battle of Kelon's Well. Permitted to depart from the scene of battle as a noncombatant, she found herself penniless and friendless. But not wholly unskilled -- for forty years, she had served tea in the tent of her husband, and had given him a piece of her mind -- in private -- whenever she thought he was making a mistake. She had, in fact, learned the habits of command and the nature of strategy; her first employers hired her reluctantly, unconvinced of her abilities, but she soon proved a commander superior, if anything, to her late husband. She has rarely been defeated in battle, and only when faced with overwhelming odds. She commands enormous loyalty from her troops, from whom she demands absolute and instant obedience. And gets it.