Miss Nadine

Miss Nadine is the former teacher and caretaker of the Chee children transformed into were-castors. Altered into a giant Bearded Sage Caterpillar, she protects them for centuries, dies attacking a river boss, and returns only as a blood-and-ink facsimile that later gains a flesh-golem body. (Chapters 158–217, 320)

Biography

The Hunting Grounds and the Masquerade

Before transformation, Nadine is a Chee day-school teacher and former actress. After Scolopendra's attack turns her into a mostly nonverbal caterpillar, she saves the village from starvation and continues caring for her former pupils as they grow into were-castor warriors. She carries six of them on saddles and remains the maternal center of the group. (Chapters 158–160)

During the assault at Fort Freedom, Nadine becomes frantic when the river battle threatens her charges and rushes toward water despite being unable to swim. When Claude appears, she launches herself at the boss rather than retreat. Its lightning causes her body to explode; Holger mourns her as a mother, and Areson calls the stand a warrior's death. (Chapters 170–172)

Edgar uses her remains and Signet's memories to create a living blood-and-ink portrait. Signet explicitly states that the tattoo is not Nadine herself but a facsimile. After Signet's later death, the tattoo becomes a young Chee flesh golem who carries Clint and relays Signet's last instructions, preserving Nadine's caregiving pattern without restoring the original consciousness. (Chapters 172–173, 217)

Faction Wars at Larracos

The flesh-golem Nadine continues supervising Clint and the other children, forbidding dangerous play with Tina until they learn restraint. Holger directs the children back to her because he knows she will worry. Her current role is therefore the same protective one reconstructed from Signet's memory, even though the narrative maintains that she is not the original person. (Chapter 320)

Appearance and personality

As a caterpillar, Nadine is an enormous yellow, fuzzy, tree-dwelling insect resembling a long toilet brush, large enough to carry six riders. She communicates through hisses and chittering and smells of wet moss. The later facsimile appears as a young, hairy, dwarf-like Chee woman in an apron. Across remembered and reconstructed forms she is anxious for the children, nurturing, and willing to enter lethal danger for them. (Chapters 158–173, 217, 320)

Skills, class, and abilities

Caterpillar body and guardianship

Nadine's Level 50 Bearded Sage body moves quickly through jungle terrain and carries multiple riders on saddles. The species is described as normally harmless, and she demonstrates no named spell. She cannot safely swim and is killed instantly by Claude's lightning, so her large body is transport and protection rather than invulnerability. (Chapters 158, 170–172)

Tattoo and flesh-golem states

Edgar creates the tattoo from Nadine's remains and Signet's memories. It behaves like a living portrait and can later manifest as a flesh golem when Signet dies. The golem can speak, carry Clint, and act independently, but Signet explicitly denies identity continuity; its memories and behavior are reconstructed, not proof of resurrection. (Chapters 172–173, 217, 320)

Relationships

• Holger, Clint, and the were-castors: Nadine raises and protects them after the village disaster. They mourn and revere her, while the later facsimile resumes care of the children. (Chapters 158–173, 217, 320)
• Signet: Signet carries Nadine's memorial tattoo, whose substance combines Nadine's remains with Signet's memories. (Chapters 172–173, 217)
• Edgar: Edgar creates the blood-and-ink facsimile after her death. (Chapter 173)

Items

No personal item link is assigned to Miss Nadine in the current manifest. Her rider saddles are attached equipment for carrying the were-castors, while the tattoo belongs on Signet's body and is not Nadine's possession. (Chapters 158, 171–173)