The story of Lady Sophia of Sternfeld
Sophia Von Metten was born to a tavern wench as the product of a lustful
night with a baudy pirate named Neptunalis Von Metten. Sophia lived
with her mother in a tavern in the Dutch shipping port of Rotterdam.
She sometimes made trips out to the small fishing villiage of Scheveningen
where her mother was raised. Sophia's maternal grandfather was orignially
Spanish, but was washed up on the shores of Holland after his ship went
down on a fishing voyage.
Sophia learned the trade secrets of being a tavern wench from her mother.
Being able to survive and not get pregnant at every turn were skills she
learned right along with dancing and playing music. Her mother died
when she was 13, so she left home vowing never to return to Holland.
She met up with a traveling band of entertainers and traveled with them
learning their trades. Many years later she met her father in a port
city tavern. Their meeting was not warm, but Neptune did tell her
of her paternal family back in Austria. He offered to take her there
and indtroduce her to her grandfather, Brudder Johann Von Metten.
Upon meeting Johann, Sophia knew she'd found a family. Neptune
left again to return to the seas, but it mattered little to Sophia.
Her new grandfather had provided her with a warm home and plenty of family
to keep her company. Brudder Johann taught her to read and write
and attempted to ready her for a life in a nunnery. He taught her
lessons as much as he dared, but she resisted taking vows she did not believe
she could keep. They struggled for years over this untill a man came
into town by the name of Doctor Henry Best. He was an Englishman
with an eye for business, and Brudder Johann bought an apprenticeship with
him for Sophia.
So, to this day, Sophia travels with Dr. Best as he directs his business
accounts throughout Europe. She is helpful and entertaining to him
and often can be found reliving her youth in a tavern somewhere attempting
to avoid the watchful eye of her master.
(In SCA terms, Sophia is proteged to Dr. Henry Best, Master of the
Pelican in the Service of Autocratting. She is the Dance Mistress
of Sternfeld, director of the musical ensemble Musica Subterranea, and
creator and three time autocrat of the event The Cloved Orange Ball.
She and Henry also encourage and organize fools and performers in the SCA.)
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