Bernard Madden

Appearance
Bernard is a tall, slender black man with very little hair anywhere on his body. A hood of light brown scales covers the top and back of his head, then appears to continue down the center of his neck and back. Instead of human lips he has another row of scales, and inside his mouth is a forked tongue. When his court is in power, he wears the Crown of Spring: a wreath of intertwining serpents around his head.

Personality
Bernard enjoys attention, and he is usually charming enough to get it; his greatest weakness is a susceptibility to flattery. He also has a reputation for being a bit of a ladies' man, but what else do you expect from the Vernal Sovereign, the other courts ask. Yet despite all those quirks, his demeanor has a somber undertone that most are surprised to discover.

Roles
As befits the leader of the Spring Court, Bernard is deeply in tune with the desires of others; this gives him the power to either grant or deny those desires. While his grasp of the occult comes close to rivaling that of the Autumn Court, he is also keenly interested in the human world. His pet project at the moment is a study of the internet and its role in the world of human desires.

Relationships
Bernard's ill-fated romance with the Snowskin Mila Draganova is legendary within the Freehold. Bernard and Mila were deeply in love, and it was widely considered a foregone conclusion that Mila would succeed the ailing but beloved Winter Queen Vanda. Mila must have become impatient, because Queen Vanda was found murdered after a visit from Mila. However, Mila's plan backfired because the Winter Court refused to follow her after such an outrageous attack. Mila fled the Freehold, and Bernard has never formed a new motley. He regularly consults with his Sylvan Emissary Norman Alvarez but those meetings, his moments in the social spotlight, and his sexual conquests make up a vast majority of his social interactions.