Addison Karadin
Addison Karadin, also known as Addison Hesha and Addison Hesha-Karadin, is the King of Pergrand and a Green Mage. He is the biological son of Raimarc Karadin and Damien Hesha, connecting the Karadin royal dynasty with the Hesha family.
A follower of Venus, Addison enjoys gardening and growing plants. He uses his magic to cultivate crops in sub-zero conditions, helping to feed people in environments where ordinary cultivation is difficult. His house symbol is a crystal winged serpent.
Appearance
Addison stands 6 ft 0 in tall and has purple hair, golden eyes, and a lean, muscular build. His royal attire combines deep green, white, and gold, with elaborate botanical ornamentation, gemstones, and a crown. He wears a pendant bearing the symbol of Venus.
Biography
Birth and Family Background
Addison was born in 1773, after Damien Hesha fled to Icefall. His conception resulted from Raimarc's sexual assault of Damien and the forced pregnancy that followed.
Raimarc was told that the child was a girl and had been killed. As a result, he remained unaware of Addison's existence throughout his reign, learning of his biological son only after his removal from the throne. Addison was known within the Karadin family records as Grand Duke Hesha's eldest son and an imperial royal heir.
Childhood in Icefall
Wolfgang Hesha adopted Addison at birth and raised him as his own son. Sergei Karadin helped arrange records that supported the concealment of his parentage. Although the deception protected Addison from Raimarc, it also required Damien and Wolfgang to guard the truth carefully.13
Addison grew up loved and protected in Icefall, but learned to keep his identity and Green Magic out of public view. Once he understood who his biological father was, he feared being compared with Raimarc. He deliberately avoided attention, concerned that discovery could endanger the family that had sheltered him.
Education and apprenticeship
Hestor Kedanza arranged for Addison to train with Rowan Drayke, a highly accomplished Green Mage associated with White Sea. Hestor and Wolfgang regarded the apprenticeship as a way for Addison to gain confidence and learn that formidable magic could be used responsibly. Damien supported the opportunity despite his anxiety about letting his son leave home.33
In the later events of Frozen Roses, Addison leaves Icefall at fifteen to study in Bosco. He initially struggles with the gap between his practical upbringing and the wider education he needs. Thomas Thomas helps with his preparation for leadership, while Rowan teaches magical control, cultivation, and combat. A period of training in Kingdom Plane gives Addison fourteen years of personal experience while much less time passes on the mortal plane.
The apprenticeship helps him develop an identity independent of Raimarc's crimes and the need to remain hidden. He also immerses in the divine crystal to demonstrate that he is not a dark mage. Upon returning, he helps his half-sister Delilah obtain safety, healing, and education, while respecting her right to decide her own future.
Kingship
Addison holds the title of King of Pergrand. His royal identity is associated with the crystal winged serpent, botanical imagery, and devotion to Venus.
In Frozen Roses, his accession follows Tylan Karadin's formal withdrawal from the succession. An earlier arrangement would have allowed the people to choose between them once Tylan reached twenty-five; Tylan's decision leaves Addison to take the throne. Addison prepares to rule in cooperation with the great dukes and the Estrellan Empire, while openly distinguishing his policies from Raimarc's.
Government and reform
Addison uses his early Senate sessions to resolve long-stalled business, support infrastructure repairs, and press for compliance with the Empire's decrees and international law. He supports stronger protections against sexual violence, inspections of brothels, clothing for enslaved people, and law enforcement in outlying baronies. These measures regulate abuses within Pergrand's existing institutions; his early reign does not immediately abolish slavery.
He challenges restrictions on women's safety and movement, appoints women as ambassadors, and rejects the claim that loving a woman is inherently wrong. He also works toward renewed trade and diplomatic relationships and uses his agricultural skills to demonstrate the practical benefits of reform.
Despite pressure to make a political marriage, Addison insists that his future partner must be someone he can love. He wears Venusian pearls and states that he will not marry someone whose natural eye color does not match them.
Personality and Interests
Addison enjoys gardening and cultivating plants. His interest in growing things has a practical purpose as well as an aesthetic one: he can cultivate crops in freezing conditions to help feed people.
Initially quiet, guarded, and intensely self-critical, Addison becomes more confident through training. He values restraint, family, and the right to choose one's own life. He is protective of vulnerable people, but can be forceful and politically calculating when confronting those who threaten them. His gentleness coexists with a willingness to defend himself and enforce his decisions.
His outlook is expressed in the phrase:
Plants feed people. Beauty gives them hope.
Magic and Abilities
Green Mage
Addison's magic is identified as Green Mage. He uses his abilities to grow plants and crops, including in sub-zero conditions. This allows him to support food cultivation despite severe cold.
Agricultural development
Addison begins developing cold-resistant plants in Icefall, including roses intended to give Damien beautiful flowers despite the climate. His later work extends to food security: he adapts wheat, corn, fruit, and berries to difficult growing conditions, including high elevations and colder regions. He brings cultivation and harvesting instructions home so that the benefits can continue without his constant presence.
Combat plants and swordsmanship
Rowan teaches Addison to combine swordsmanship with rapidly growing vines and other plants. His trained magic supports both direct combat and the protection of others.
Two prominent companions are Drama and Serenity. Drama originates as Rowan's intelligent combat plant and develops through Addison's care and magic into a rose, snapdragon, and dandelion hybrid. Serenity is a large Ice Venusian Rose. Both can respond independently to people and danger; Addison presents them to the Senate as extensions of his magic and expects their names to be respected.
Languages
Addison speaks Elvish. Early in his apprenticeship, his knowledge is practical and limited, including phrases learned from a visiting elf that plants respond to. Anja also teaches him Stellan. His wider education becomes part of his effort to grow beyond the restrictions of his concealed childhood.
Faith and Heraldry
Addison follows Venus. His personal presentation includes Venusian symbolism alongside flowers, foliage, and precious stones.
His house symbol is a crystal winged serpent, depicted as a coiling serpent with crystalline wings. In Frozen Roses, the new royal seal is identified as a Havati, a protective winged serpent. Addison replaces the old bear emblem to express a break with the dynasty's recent past.
Family
- Raimarc Karadin: Biological father and former king of Pergrand. Raimarc did not know Addison existed until after losing the throne.
- Damien Hesha: Parent who escaped to Icefall before Addison's birth.
- Wolfgang Hesha: Adoptive father, who raised Addison in Icefall and regards him as his own son.
- Iris Karadin and Jasmine Karadin: Sisters, sharing both Raimarc and Damien as parents. Both are Phoenix shifters raised by their uncle Ivan at The Dollhouse, without Raimarc knowing of their existence.
- Gustan Karadin: Paternal grandfather and former king of Pergrand.
- Sergei Karadin, Ivan Karadin, and Uram Karadin: Paternal uncles.
Mentors and close relationships
- Hestor Kedanza: Maternal uncle who helps arrange his education and apprenticeship with Rowan.
- Rowan Drayke: Green Magic teacher and mentor in cultivation, control, and combat.
- Thomas Thomas: Assists with his broader education and preparation for leadership.
- Yessa: Trusted companion who supports him during his training and early reign. Damien identifies their connection as a deep friendship rather than a romantic bond.
- Delilah: Half-sister through Damien whose recovery and independence Addison supports after his return from training.
- Tylan Karadin and Pyter Karadin: Cousins and maternal half-brothers. Addison shares with Pyter the experience of growing up outside the royal spotlight, and supports Tylan's right to choose a life beyond the Pergrandian succession.
See Also
Sources and publication status
- AO3 story, Chapter 13: Addison's birth, concealment, and adoption by Wolfgang.
- AO3 story, Chapter 33: Hestor's arrangements for Addison to train with Rowan and the family's concerns about his future.
Frozen Roses
The expanded material on Addison's apprenticeship, time in Kingdom Plane, accession, government, and developed magical abilities is drawn from Frozen Roses, a story concerning the second generation of characters. Frozen Roses is not yet published and will be published at a later date. No chapter citations to the published AO3 story are assigned to this material.
