Origin

Fastrada was a 16th century German witch who used her powers to heal the local townsfolk. Set up by her Hexerei sisters' witch coven who want to sacrifice her child as they did with their own to ascend to the status of true witches, she took the place of the previous Keeper of Secrets known as The Weaver, in exchange for her and her newborn's safety. Although being a Keeper of Secrets comes with the price of knowing all-that- was-and-is-to-be in the universe except your deepest desire. Fastrada lost the memory of what happened with her child and took on the pseudonym - the Harlot, the insult she had been called in her mortal life, ascending to an eternal immortal being in a corner of the Dreamlands. Later on, she exposed her sisters' location to a witch-hunting abbot who burned them although their souls managed to ascend.

The Harlot rules a specific region of the Dreamlands where she stores all her wicker boxes, keeping the souls of all who gave up everything in a exchange of their most wanted secret. She calls this state to grant a paradise by paying the ultimate price - usually by entering one of her wicker boxes or by entering a portal opened by her splitting her vest. Her realm in the Dreamlands is somewhat contested by the elder god Nodens and although he is more powerful than her, the Harlot being the Keeper of Secrets has a leverage even on immortal beings. She also runs a burlesque type of harem inside a big tent in her domain, for services used in exchange of secrets.

Major Story Arcs

Fall of Cthulhu

Cy Morgan entered the Dreamlands led by the ghost of his deceased uncle. Uncle Walt had recently killed himself in front of Cy and his fiancé Jordan. Before dying, Walt had previously exchanged his soul to the Harlot for learning about a cultist scheme led by Nyarlahotep (disguised as Mr. Arkham) and entered paradise. His price or favour as the Harlot calls it, came from him murdering Cy's sister which made Walt stricken with grief and wanting to erase the feeling. The Harlot, being all-knowing had realized Nyarlahotep might be to great of a threat, released uncle Walt's soul after his suicide to go call Cy and lead him to the Dreamlands as Cy would be key in the upcoming battle against the Outer God.

Entering the Dreamlands, Nodens gets a hunting claim on Cy and sends a few nightgaunts to capture him which the Harlot manages to evaporate in seconds, claiming Cy is in her domain. Although her powers are not to pair with Nodens himself, she manages to repel him away for time being.

As time goes by, she gets a liking of Cy as he unravels the cult's actions but she cannot answer him all of the questions without him paying a price for all the information. Some of the favours she obtained include Cy's wisdom tooth and a kiss.

Later on, as Cy's fiancé Jordan gets murdered by the cult and having lost all hope, Cy starts blaming himself and agrees voluntarily to enter one of the Harlot's boxes. She takes a pity on his decision but ultimately agrees to claim his soul, while his mortal body in the real world became catatonic and taken to an asylum.

Apocalypse and Godwar

The Harlot appeared again when Raymond Dirk sent by Lucifer (who returned to Arkham to investigate the death of her mentor (uncle Walt)), meets her in the Dreamlands. It seemed the Harlot keeps a grudge against Lucifer and swears if the thief enters the Dreamlands, she would punish her accordingly.

Apparently, Lucifer stole one of the Harlot's boxes which she uses to trap the supernatural being known as The Gray Man who was chasing Lucifer all this time from Brazil to Massachusetts.

Lucifer is very wary of not entering the Dreamlands because of the Harlot but after an encounter with Nyarlahotep and his horsemen, she reluctantly enters the Dreamlands. The Harlot manages immediately to catch her, throw her into a water well with a hungry monstrous aquatic creature inside and put bars on the well. This goes on for a while until the Harlot releases her stating that for stealing from her, Lucifer now is in her dept but also knowing that the girl would be needed in order to defeat Nyarlahotep. As another punishment, the Harlot bestows all the knowledge of the universe in Lucifer's head. She sends the girl to break into Cy's asylum and rescue him while releasing his soul. Cy gains back consciousness. The Harlot takes Dirk's memory of his wife in exchange of the cult's location.

Following Nodens entering the living world as Nyarlahotep manages to summon R'lyeh and wake up Cthulhu, the Harlot enters the real world as well preparing for battle herself. She has instructed Cy of what to do when the time comes but for the time being she summons all her boxes and releases all the gathered souls of every creature throughout the years to fight the Outer God's army. She then personally faces off Nyarlahotep knowing that he is the better of her but at least she could buy Cy, Dirk and Lucifer time.

She takes several hits and direct punches from Nyarlahotep who had revealed his true form by that time. Although weakened, her plan succeeds and her instruction of Cy who had been spawned to the court of Azatoth and writes Nyarlahotep's real name in the book preventing from Cy becoming an eldritch vessel. The Harlot explains this in a short speech before Nyarlahotep who sudden;y is taken from the living world and back to the outer dimension, banishing him for the time being.

After the fight, the Harlot retreats back to her tent. Lucifer comes to check on her and to ask if her debt is paid. The Harlot stands behind a curtain, forbidding Lucifer to see her. She explains that her fight with Nyarlahotep and the release of all the souls from her boxes, exhausted some of her powers. As for Lucifer's debt for stealing one of her boxes, the Harlot would consider it paid after bestowing the title of heir to the girl. She removes the all-knowledge she gave her earlier and burns the letter "h" on Lucifer's back to mark the task. Upset, Lucifer begrudgingly accepts.

After that a strange entity in the form of a little girl approaches. It seems the Harlot made a deal with that entity - for helping preventing Cthulhu's rise, the Harlot now has the power to free herself from the position of Keeper of Secrets by marking Lucifer. It is hinted that this entity who taught her how to do that might be Hastur.

Hexed

Later on, it seems the Harlot no longer resides in her previous domain in the Dreamlands but in a separate dimension of her-own, called the Aether.

After the events of the God-war in Arkham, currently Lucifer runs errands for her boss - Val Brisendine and occasionally meets the Harlot who seems herself in the role of a "mother" to Lucifer. The Harlot is now looking even more frail with dark gray hair, yellow eyes and gray skin - seemingly drained from her battle against Nyarlahotep. Instead of a bow tie, her hair is decorated with flowers and she spars a long dark green gown.

Although Lucifer stills resents the Harlot for naming her heir and hexing her, the Harlot shares with the group that her end as the Keeper of Secrets is coming soon. Lucifer can also enter the Aether via a magic mirror in Val's gallery.

Later on, the Harlot helps Lucifer enter the Shade - a realm of wandering souls. When Lucifer is captured by the witch sisters (Fastrada's old coven), Raina (Val's assistant) has to meet the Harlot and safe Lucifer.

The Harlot's hex on Lucifer's soul protects her from other entities claiming it as upon death she would take the Harlot's place.

Madame Cymbaline wanting to ascend as a Graeae needs to kill the Harlot by using the Yellow Crown an artefact which can hide the user from the Harlot and allow them to kill her. But Cymbaline needs Lucifer to steal it for her. Val gets invited to talk with the Harlot about Lucifer's position after Val's gallery of eldritch artifacts had been burned by Cymbaline chasing her brother inside. Lucifer gets angry at Val for speaking behind her back and making a deal with the Harlot but later on decides to apologise although too late, as Madame Cymbaline has killed Val.

This angers Lucifer greatly, she releases a great demon and burns down all of Cymbaline's buildings and goes on to become the new Keeper of Secrets by killing the Harlot before Cymbaline. Lucifer becomes the new Keeper of Secrets under the name The Thief while the Harlot is transformed back to her mortal form - a 16th century German woman of the name Fastrada.

Fastrada is taken by Bob (a museum guard that Lucifer saved who used to work for Val) and Raina, although catatonic for a few days as she was remembering her wife before becoming the Harlot. Although no longer a Keeper of Secrets, Fastrada still cannot remember the secret the title took from her - what happened with her child after ascending. After a couple of days, Fastrada regains consciousness. The group visits Lucifer, now known as the Thief who is caught writing down anxiously every secret she knows in a book from the Aether's library while desperately looking for her deepest secret that the title forbid from her.

Madame Cymbaline attacks the Thief in a final encounter. While they fight, Fastrada runs to read in one of the books the secret of her child's location that has been kept away from her all this years.

In order to defeat Cymbaline, the group needs to travel to the Denazian desserts to find the Yellow Crown (a mystical artifact that lets the user mind-control anybody but with the risk of having the user's head exploded in a few days by summoning a demon inside) again which Lucifer tossed in earlier, in order to avoid Cymbaline getting it. The danger is that touching the sands of the desert makes a person forget everything. Bob sacrifices himself in order to give the crown to Fastrada and Reina, and go get Lucifer back from being the Thief.

Now that Reina and Fastrada have the crown, the Thief transfers all her powers deliberately to Cymbaline as this is the only way to defeat her. Lucifer gets back to normal. Fastrada is glad and explains that like Val, she saw always herself as Lucifer's "mother", guiding her, even as the Harlot. Lucifer is touched and tells her that she learned about the secret of her child. Lucifer says a couple adopted the baby after she ascended as the Harlot, and the child grew healthy. This although was a lie to comfort Fastrada as the reality was that the baby had been abandoned in an orphanage and died of the plague shortly. Fastrada knew this from the book she read but decided to cherish Lucifer's kindness.

Not being protected by the title anymore and her hex lifted, Lucifer's soul was exposed and soon the witch coven (Fastrada's old sisters) appeared in the Aether seeking revenge. Fastrada knew what to do, as the witches and Cymbaline were closing in, she donned the Yellow Crown, got Lucifer and Reina back to the real world safely and summoned the demon of the crown. Filling fulfilled, Fastrada used the demon energy to collapse the whole of the Aether into itself, destroying Cymbaline and the witch coven altogether and sacrificing herself, thus putting an end to the role of Keeper of Secrets.

Powers and Abilities

As a mortal

Even as mortal, Fastrada was a powerful witch, capable of healing injuries and diseases. This took the ire of the witch-hunting abbot who her sisters manipulated into persecuting her. While her sisters also demanded her to sacrifice her newborn in order to ascend, she managed to enter the realm of by then the Keeper of Secrets - The Weaver and exchange places, thus becoming the Harlot. Although the title comes with knowing all secrets of the universe except the one the keeper most desires.

As the Harlot

The Harlot is a powerful immortal entity residing originally in the Dreamlands. She uses her wicker boxes to keep the souls of people who paid the highest price in an exchange of a valuable secret. She is able to release and command them at any time. She is also able to shift between dimensions and enter the living world, as well as controlling her own domains. She seems to command a menageries of burlesque-looking creatures and women in her tent. Uses a cane but purely for decorative reasons. Has a fondness for tea.

Physically, she is strong enough to survive blows from Nyarlahotep, although this drains her powers and exhausts physically her body.

She is all-knowing which she uses as a leverage against stronger opponents. She can create force blasts, change size, heal injuries, summon creatures and use her body as a portal. She can alter parts of her body like sharpening her teeth and enlarging her mouth and turning her nails into claws. It seems she also has super strength as she can pull Lucifer with one arm despite her slim frame.

As the Keeper of Secrets she can put a hex spell on an heir that makes them obliged to become the next Keeper. Until then the soul of that person is protected by the Harlot. Killing the Harlot or transferring the title herself, seems to change her back to her mortal form.

The Harlot can be contacted via a dream through the Dreamlands or in the Aether by a magic mirror or a blood ritual.

Characteristics

As the Harlot

Height: Twice taller than an average human (Variable)

Weight: (variable)

Eyes: Black, later yellow

Hair: Black, later dark grey

As Fastrada

Height: Average

Weight: Average

Eyes: Blue-Green

Hair: Dark grey