Tiphanie Biledrop Background (Patreon)

Do not read if you don't want spoilers, as this gets into specifics regarding her backstory.

Basic Facts

Tiphanie Biledrop was born in Imperalis. She is twenty-three years old. At the time of the story, she has been an adventurer for two years. Turned Silver-rank after one year and four months. She comes from a wealthy family, but is now disowned.

It's important to state that when referring to Tiph's drug use, nothing she takes harms her body or mind. We're talking fantasy potions with exaggerated, sometimes magical effects that can't be compared to anything in the real world. Most everything she takes isn't illegal in this fantasy world, either. Just heavily regulated the same as Coye's paralysis agent nerverine is. Her only crime is brewing these heavily regulated potions and selling them without a license.

Family

Her father, Calluris Biledrop runs a lucrative apothecary and is considered one of Karnalle's most skilled alchemists. A very cold and callous man with little imagination. This holds him back from true greatness, as he has created very few original potions and is merely an expert at refining and mass-producing what others have already paved the way for. He is an alchemist who represents the fundamentalist school of thought. Drugs, mind-altering substances and silly joke potions are seen as a waste of time and an embarrassment to alchemy. This philosophy is countered by the experimentalists, who advocate for more creativity in the field of alchemy and are mainly seen as incompetent drug addicts.

Beneath his shop, Drop of Everything, he has a large, industrial-sized laboratory where alchemists work around the clock to produce enough potions to stock the shelves of other apothecaries in many of Karnalle's largest cities. Not small ones, like Dewhurst or Cransmere, but provincial capitals like Bourgeaux, Dawnstead, and Hunnihome. The Drop of Everything label represents the assured quality of any bottle of potion it's printed on.

Her mother, Mavenna Biledrop, is a mid-rate alchemist who worked in Drop of Everything's production lab for several years before she caught her employer's eye. There was very little courtship between the two, and in general there's always been a lack of passion between them. If Calluris has little imagination, his wife somehow has even less. She is simpleminded, but capable if given proper direction. Can't think easily for herself and relies on her husband to make most of the major decisions in her life. When it came to raising her daughter, she primarily did as she was told and had little authority. Even in cases where she didn't agree with her husband's judgment, such as disowning Tiph, Mavenna ultimately hung her head and allowed it to happen. Even if she didn't understand it, she trusted that Calluris knew best.

She has a younger brother, Elriss Biledrop, 14 years old. Was 9 when Tiph was disowned. He is small, cute, and soft- similar to Coye. Looks up to his older sister a lot and misses her. Tiph was very close to him and she worries greatly about the burden their father is placing on him now that she's out of the picture, given that Elriss never had the knack for alchemy like Tiph does. Is now attending the same school that Tiph went to, in spite of her controversy. Tiph has had no contact with him ever since.

Early Life

Tiph's early life was that of a child whose parents, or rather, her father, expected too much of her. Even as a toddler she was being prepared and groomed for a long life of intellectual study. Like a good little girl, she did everything she was told and kept the weight of these lofty expectations inside her. It was lucky Tiph was blessed with a massive brain and natural talent for alchemical pursuits, otherwise she might've been put through much worse.

She began brewing basic potions under her father's supervision at the age of five. When Tiph was age ten, a minor lab accident occurred which became a formative experience for the young girl. During a lesson from her father, Tiph misheard one of the instructions on account of how tired and stressed she was at the time. She boiled one ingredient for too long, creating the drug chillemind instead of focussere. When her father noticed the mistake, he told her that it was a common accident in a way that put her down for making it and explained that instead of the mind-enhancing effects of focussere, chillemind makes the drinker slow-witted, dull, and overly relaxed. He had her dispose of it and try again, but he didn't know Tiph secretly pocketed it when he wasn't looking.

Tiph thought that the effects described by her father sounded too good to be true, and she had to test them for herself. She told herself it was to become a better alchemist, the truth was she wanted an escape. Tiph found one. Chillemind soothed her immensely after imbibing it later that night, and for once in her life, she could merely lay back and stare at the ceiling without having to care about a thing in the world. This led her down the rabbit hole of other recreational potions, and her father was suddenly delighted to see his daughter pouring over his library every second of her free time.

The world became so much more tolerable when Tiph freed her troubled mind through her beloved potions. Gone was the stress, away went the pressure, and she felt she could handle anything. She even started experimenting on her own, creating personal variations on popular potions. Over the course of her life, Tiph may have gotten more test mice high than any alchemist before her. She's always kept them alive, though, and has never lost any from her experiments.

School Life

At the age of twelve, Tiph started attending the Royal Academy of Alchemical Arts. It's a prestigious school located within Imperalis, established by King Hohemius Lundreame of Karnalle's past, a king who dabbled in the arts himself. It is the second greatest school to learn alchemy from, surpassed only by Mithimere's all-encompassing Magicademy. The school is an eight-year program for children 12-20, with advanced programs after that available. Graduating gives the student an official alchemical license allowing them to legally brew and sell whatever they wish, which usually requires additional testing. The Academy has dorms, but if you already live in Imperalis you're not required to live on campus.

Tiph was instantly thrust into the limelight, becoming a Queen of sorts amongst her peers. Tiph was well-liked by the other girls and sought after by the boys, and she was kind to all in turn. This was before she became cynical and jaded- most of her schoolmates likely wouldn't recognize her if they saw who she became.

Still, even though she excelled in all manner of ways, all the adults in her life only ever compared her to her father. It was like no one saw her as anything other than an extension of him. Her professors would all bend over backwards for her to try and get in good graces and make connections, adding yet another layer of stress to her life.

Eventually, her hobby started mixing with her school life. Tiph befriended and hung out with the delinquent kids more than any of her other friends. These delinquents were experimentalists, and they shared her interest in drugs. Given that Tiph was still a model student despite hanging around them, none of the teachers said anything about it or tried to course correct her. Not until her fifth year, that is.

Expelled and Disowned

When she was 17, one of her professors grew an unhealthy obsession with Tiph. She didn't think anything special of him, treating him like any other teacher, but this man stalked her and learned of her drug usage. He waited for an opportunity before stealing her handbag, then called Tiph to his office. Blackmail was threatened, with his terms being fairly obvious. In return, the professor wouldn't inform her father.

He stressed how Tiph wouldn't want this hurting her father's image, but that didn't turn out well for him. The stress of her life until that point broke her. Her whole life was merely to please her father in many ways, but she wasn't about to let this happen to her for his sake. All the expectations and all the pressure drove her to commit violence. In a fit of sudden inspiration, she grabbed a couple of alchemical ingredients off of the professor's office shelf, created an alchemical bomb, lit it on fire, and then threw it at him. His flesh melted off his skin as she grabbed her bag and ran for it, but another teacher caught her in the act of running away.

The professor was saved and his colleagues took his side, and then they roped Tiph's father into the situation. He was informed of all that had transpired, including his daughter's drug use. He apologized profusely, and Tiph expected to be let off due to her father's influence. He surprised her and the school both by recommending her expulsion himself. Clearly, he had misjudged the worth of his daughter and believes her no longer fit to become an alchemist. The school tried to argue on her behalf and Tiph fought against him, but he wouldn't hear of it and her expulsion was set in stone.

After that public humiliation, Tiph was brought home for the last time. Her father marched up to her bedroom and tore it apart, finding all sorts of drugs and her research notes as he destroyed her possessions. Her mother was present, saying nothing but mindless agreements with her husband even as doubt coursed through her. Her little brother was taken away so he didn't have to see this happen, and in the end she didn't even get to say goodbye to him.

After finding out what a disgrace Tiph was, he came to the conclusion that there was nothing to salvage about her. He will not have her staining the legacy he's trying to build, and formally disinherit her. When Tiph asked where she was supposed to go and what she was supposed to do now, her father didn't care. The streets are where people like you belong, he says, so I'm sure you'll be comfortable there among the rats.

Tiph had nothing left and so she left Imperalis and headed down river to Perlshaw.

Life in Perlshaw

disillusioned and defeated, Tiph began life in Perlshaw with nothing to her name. She tried to find work as a lab assistant or even a clerk at any apothecary she could find, but no one would take her. It was fairly obvious that her father spread word and ensured she would never find a job in alchemy so long as he lived. Things were getting worse by the day and Tiph was sleeping on the streets just as her father wanted. For a while she thought that maybe continuing to struggle was pointless and that maybe she should just give up and die. She almost gave in to these thoughts, but remembering her father and professor filled Tiph with hatred and determination. She resolved to make her way in the world, making a silent oath to show her father just how well the street suited her.

Tiph started collecting herbs from around the city as well as other alchemical reagents she could find by looting people's trash, storing it in a tiny shack she found and made her own. She was able to build a rudimentary lab for herself suitable for a street alchemist, and Tiph began the process of synthesizing her products. From there, it was only a matter of using her highly personable talents to find buyers and make connections with the right people.

Tiph gained a reputation the more her potions started to spread and after a year of business, Tiph was doing fairly well for herself. She was off the streets, had a decent place to live, and had lots of supposed friends. Yet, she felt hollow inside. Like she was merely watching someone else in her body perform every action and that she was just a bystander. Nothing felt real.

She tried to drown this out by getting high and hosting parties at her place all the time, but nothing filled the void. This lifestyle would never make her happy, if she was even capable of happiness at all anymore.

There was one thing that gave Tiph the slightest bit of enjoyment from life, however.

Breaking Men

ever since she first started living on the streets, men had always tried to get at Tiph's body. Whether that be through force or coercion or monetary offerings, Tiph resisted them all. She didn't much like men after everything that had happened. Even when she needed the gold she never sunk that low. There came a moment during her empty life where Tiph realized men had a purpose, however.

A scumbag addict(likely a rapist so that her actions don't make her too villainous) wouldn't leave some of her friends alone during a party once, and similar to how Tiph reacted to the professor who tried to blackmail her, something snapped in her and she knew what she had to do.

She led this man on and isolated him, then sweet-talked her way into making him do more and more embarrassing things all while sadistically bullying him, making him drink different potions, and getting him to make a bigger and bigger ass out of himself. By the time she was through with him, this man was completely mind-broken and was made into a public laughingstock at one of her parties. Her friends loved it and Tiph felt the smallest hint of 'something' after feeling nothing for so long. It wasn't much, but was enough for her to make a habit of this.

She would use her parties as an excuse to lure in more men who deserved this, keeping an eye on any potential toys for her to make use of, but after a few years of this it became tiring, too. Everything went back to nothing.

Tiph is still a virgin at the start of the story. She made men do these things for her psychological enjoyment- it was never a sexual thing for her. It's going to be a very rude awakening when she tries the same with Coye and finds she is actually attracted to him and after a couple of sessions, actually wants to touch him during the act. Never touched a man during these incidents.

Meeting Britni

Tiph was growing desperate to fight against the emptiness she felt and she thought that maybe increasing her stock of ingredients might allow her to play around with her experiments more and find something that could make her feel better- truly better. She talked around with merchants but found few willing to do business and sell rare alchemical reagents to someone without a license. Her connections on the street could only procure so much and of dubious quality.

Tiph thought about alternative solutions and decided she would spend a large chunk of gold to hire adventurers to escort her to a series of dangerous locations, each of which were regarded as ingredient hotspots. She didn't trust anyone to gather what she wanted without her supervision, so accompanying them was a must. Tiph would bring her personal bag of holding, which is much greater capacity than the ones we've seen in the story so far. After screening and turning down several parties who initially expressed interest in the job, Tiph met up with Britni, Marlie, and Coco.

Britni and Marlie had actually been to some of Tiph's parties before, but they'd never spoken. Though Marlie was aloof, Tiph hit it off with Britni and the quest was finalized.

There were three locations she wished to visit. The first was Seasnare Grotto, a hard to get to cave system located on a small island off the coast of Perlshaw. The second was a mythical place called the Garden of the Ruined Kingdom, a subterranean ruin from the age before Karnalle was united into a single kingdom. The third was the peak of Mount Rotteridge, located in the undead barrow lands to Rhoivan's south.

I'm leaving those blank for now, but I imagine a lot of anecdotes will get brought up if Tiph reminisces about her early moments with Britni and everyone. There were all sorts of adventure-y moments, including taking down tough enemies and bosses, solving puzzles, all those fixtures.

This expedition took several months to undertake, and it proved a life-changing experience for Tiph. Far from a helpless girl that needed to be protected, Tiph proved capable of holding her own during the journey in and out of combat. She tended to everyone's wounds, contributed in battle, and more than anything else felt a sense of fulfillment from going out in the world and actually doing things. Furthermore, she established a deep friendship with Britni, an amused fondness for Coco, and a sarcastic, catty yet still friendly rivalry with Marlie.

It was more real than anything she experienced in the last three years of her life.

When they made it home, Tiph didn't particularly want to go back to her life of partying and getting high all the time just to feel something. It was Britni who proposed she become an adventurer and join the Baddest Bitches. Tiph was a little incredulous at first, downplaying her abilities, but Britni pointed out that her team doesn't have a healer and loads of alchemists are adventurers. She would get to come hang out with them every day and gain money to do her research or whatever else she wanted.

Tiph didn't take long to consider the offer before accepting. She sold her house and got a smaller place where she could better focus on her alchemical pursuits. She gave up drug dealing for the most part, now only selling occasionally to friends, and quit hosting parties entirely. She still went out with the girls whenever Britni was in the mood, however.

Adventuring Career

Tiph spent the next year of her life grinding quests with her new party and although it wasn't perfect, she had a life that she genuinely enjoyed again. Even so, she'd been through so much that she found it hard to change her ways. She wasn't a very good influence on her friends, encouraging Britni and Coco to do stupid things because it would amuse her, and at times she would say and do mean things without realizing she was doing it. Rather than trying to improve herself, Tiph shrugged these moments off and gave a halfhearted apology at best. She was so cynical and jaded that she didn't believe she was capable of changing herself for the better.

This earned her continual shit from Marlie, putting them at odds more often than not. Marlie does care for her, and all the shit she gives Tiph comes from a good place. Tiph considers her a nag, but some part of her appreciates that somebody cares enough to point out all of her shit.

On more than one occasion Tiph has joined in on Britni and Coco's sexual fun. Mainly when drunk or high. It was mostly just to watch, though, along with kissing, heavy petting and such. No strap on or fingering.

Like many female adventurers blessed with good looks, Tiph gained unwanted attention from the Guild Master of Perlshaw's Guild. Not much, though. Britni terrified him enough that he didn't try anything with anyone associated with her beyond flirting and inappropriate stares. Though Tiph had given up humiliating and breaking men after becoming an adventurer, the temptation to go back to her old ways was something she felt whenever she was in his presence.

On some level, Tiph still feels distant from her friends. The emptiness inside her hasn't fully been filled, and she worries what would happen if she were to lose her only real connections to other people. Part of her doesn't think this life will last forever, she believes she'll fuck it up somehow and make her friends hate her.

Cransmere

Tiph was all for moving to Cransmere, believing the Gnarled Woods to be a treasure trove of alchemical ingredients and thought that the pay raise from the transfer would be a nice bonus. She rents a small two room shack that serves as her lab. Even though it has a shitty bed, she doesn't usually sleep there ever since her promotion to Silver-rank, preferring the dorm room that she and the Bitches share.

Shortly after they moved, Britni met Coye and things became complicated. Tiph is compelled to fuck things up to the point where she can't help it. At the start of the story she absolutely does not see what Britni does and has no regard for Coye beyond the amusement he provides. Her bad advice giving habits have escalated, turning Tiph into a full on enabler of Britni's stupid bullshit and giving her bullying ideas.

The conflict during her arc is centered around the fact that Tiph is petty and when Coye starts to change and grow while she remains stagnant pisses her off. She becomes discontent with Britni’s plan to break Coye and resolves to do it herself and go behind Britni’s back to do so. She tries to ignore it because of how much it would ruin her friendship with Britni, but she gives in and starts planning out how she's going to humiliate and ruin him. She makes a full on conspiracy wall in her shack full of ideas and sketches, but things won't go according to plan.

Marlie will get wind of it and try to stop it, but by that point, Tiph will clearly have already started developing feelings for him even if she isn't aware of it. Marlie can tell, though, and it will make things extremely complicated. She doesn't want Tiph to feel bad when it's obvious Coye might actually help with her bullshit, but on the other hand Tiph is going behind Britni's back and essentially betraying her.

Tiph will be tormented, torn between her friends and the boy who is filling that lingering emptiness inside her one masochistic smile at a time. The fallout at the culmination of the arc will be devastating for Tiph, who now wants to voluntarily start working on herself and become a better person with Coye's help, but Britni will completely ostracize her from their group. Likely much worse, but we'll have to see about that. In any case, it won't be pretty.