Lucretia Merces

Lucretia Merces (ルクレティア・メルセス, Rukuretia Merusesu) is a major character in Suikoden V. Lucretia Merces is the exceptionally gifted strategist whose tactics often lay two steps ahead of everyone, both allies and enemies alike.

History
Lucretia Merces was a Grasslander by birth, from the Karaya Clan, and was orphaned when the True Fire Rune went out of control in SY 422. Lucretia's natural talent with strategy as well as her intelligence allowed her to overcome the boundaries placed on her by her place of origin and she would study military strategy in the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia. Personality wise, while she always spoke softly and carried a small smile, her mind was always filled with ideas, calculations and plots.

As a young child growing up in the Grassland, Lucretia witnessed the True Fire Rune going out of control. Even as a child, she realized the impact the rune had on people's lives, remembering the charred bodies. It was this incident that gave Lucretia a stand-offish attitude towards True Runes, regarding them as unnecessary for the workings of a nation. In the past, she was also involved with Harmonia in some fashion, having forged a relationship with Cathari as well as holding a number of contacts within the superpower.

She would became a prominent strategist for Marscal Godwin in the Queendom of Falena, being recruited on a visit he paid to the northern continent. Initially dismissed as Marscal's mistress, Lucretia's strategems during the Armes Invasion led to an abrupt end to criticisms of her talents. However, as she operates with the ideal of minimizing suffering and bringing an end to conflict as swiftly as possible, Lucretia could not follow Marscal's plans, eventually betraying him to work directly under the Royal Family. As such, she advised Queen Arshtat to bear the Sun Rune in SY 447 in order to prevent a Godwin plot to capture the rune from taking place, and thus earning Sialeeds' everlasting hatred and contempt. Shortly after this, the Lordlake Uprising occurred and Lucretia was imprisoned, supposedly for questioning Queen Arshtat's retribution on the region but actually in order to prevent the Godwin Faction from assassinating her.

Held in Agate Prison and under the watchful eyes of prison guards Cius and Lelei, Lucretia, over time, managed to convince the two that her ideals and goals were correct, especially in comparison to those held by the expansionistic Godwin faction. Also during this time, Lucretia adopted Lelei as an apprentice of sorts, training in military strategy, a relationship that would continue after her release at the hands of the the Prince of Falena, who needed a tactician. Upon her arrival in Rainwall, Lucretia quickly made steps towards unravelling the Barows family's role in the Lordlake incident in order to curtail the faction's influence over the Prince.

Following this, she successfully managed to have the army defend itself against both Godwin and Armes forces as well as leading the Raftfleet navy to an unprecedented rout of the Falenan Royal Navy under Bahram Luger before revealing the sordid details of the Barows plot to take the Dawn Rune from the East Palace two years prior. Following their annulment of the pact with Barows, Lucretia used her knowledge of the region in order to not only destroy Hatred Fortress, securing Lordlake's salvation, but also to secure the fledgling force a new headquarters at Ceras Lake.

From there, Lucretia served as Chief Strategist of the Imperial City Recapture Army, devising battle strategies and political machinations in order to extend the power and influence of the army. However, she was surprised by the defection of Sialeeds which brought the New Queen's Campaign battle to an unsatisfactory conclusion, something that would unsettle her for a brief period. However, it was her strategies, and her ability to see past short-term territorial advantage that allowed the army to eventually win the war even after the entry of the Armes Southern Mountain Corps into the war.

Following the conclusion of the Sun Rune War, Lucretia was expected to be offered the post of Prime Minister in the Queendom's restructured government system but left Falena without a trace along with Lelei before she could be approached about the position.

Music
Lucretia's theme is considered the song "Tactician", which plays during her introduction at Agate Prison in Suikoden V and is reprised during several key moments focusing on Lucretia later in the game. The song is track 28 on disc 2 of the official Suikoden V Original Soundtrack.

Trivia

 * Posts on the now-defunct Due Fiumi forums from members of the Suikoden V localisation team would indicate that Lucretia was indeed intended to be a gay Karayan, as the game hints quite heavily.