Rose "It's the beautiful ones who tend to disappear." [character sheet]
Concept: dual-kith Dancer/Flowering Fairest with ties to multiple Courts
I think I'm down to a Winter-leaning Courtless Dancer/Flowering Fairest potentially working as a private investigator in the mortal world. Probably makes fake IDs for the freehold, and definitely would be a fetch assassin for the right price. I am feeling more of a connection with a local freehold once she got established than with any seasonal court, mostly because she's a mix of Summer, Autumn, and Winter, but enough of the others to irritate or outright frighten each.
Cap pointed out the Dual Kith merit, so I think that might suit me rather than trying to pick apart the motivations behind either Dancer or Flowering. I am thinking Smoke and Mirror Contracts, Socialize and Subterfuge both as strong skills. Beyond that, my CtL mechanics are shaky, so I'll have to dig up a character sheet somewhere and go through the creation mechanics for more than that.
Durance story: Tabloid fifteen minutes of fame when a rising young singer was kidnapped [by Fae], missing for eighteen months [or eight years], then spotted and rekidnapped almost immediately after, only for her to kill him [privateer]. Lots of fuss, lots of broken, plenty of time and ties to a still mortal family to get plenty of help, to get "fixed". I'd aim for her being "back" more than a few months, enough for her to work through everything from victimization to PTSD and end up as functional as any changeling has any right to be.
Open to reworking anything here to work better with the pitch or to tie in other characters. I feel like she'd have a strong thing about victim support groups, maybe runs one herself, and self-defense for women. If the rest of you are guys, the self-defense stuff may not be as relevant, but the freehold fetch assassin is probably well known even if she isn't officially in any of the courts.
Might as well note that while my picture of her is a heterosexual attractive female, I can also fudge that to suit other character tie-ins and relationships if it helps. Heterosexual probably doesn't mean **** to the Fae, anyway, so it may mean less to her now than it did once. O
Last edited by Aethera; Sep 28th, 2019 at 08:23 PM.
Fausta (F.) Iulia Prisca, Vestal Virgin until convicted of unchastity
Teenaged Iulia was promised a marriage by her slightly older lover, but when Iulia became pregnant, his family stepped in and refused to accept Iulia as his wife. They married him off to a woman who turned out to be barren, almost as though the gods themselves disapproved of broken promises. As such, Iulia's son, Aelius Julius, ultimately ended up with his father as the man was unlikely to have other heirs without taking other mistresses, something his wife was strongly against. Aelius Julius (now Manius Aquillius) Florus became his sole heir, and eighteen-year-old Iulia was left without her then-three-year-old child. To cope with the emptiness she increased how much of her time she spent as the assistant of a Greek physician, nearly to the exclusion of all else.
It was aiding that physician that brought her to the Vestal Virgins, her gender a necessary barrier between the physician and his virginal patient. Unfortunately that did not end so well, the physician brought in too late to really do more than ease the priestess' passing. Since it he had warned of it, none of the stigma that might have been afforded Iulia for failing to heal a priestess was present when the priestess died, and when the nearby priestesses began talk of calling on candidates, Iulia offered herself in the woman's place, citing her desire to please Vesta after being involved with the earlier priestess' last days. She was one of three candidates, and whether her reasons for volunteering were part of her acceptance or not, ultimately she joined the Virgins. She had to learn quickly to gain the dead priestess' knowledge and retake the empty spot in the ceremonial duties of the order, but she excelled at her studies and was only a year or so behind the priestess whose position she had filled when she met Quintus.
Quintus was some ten years older than the young priestess Iulia, and the lictor assigned to her first ceremonial appearance outside Vesta's temple. It was something she was excited about and yet terrified, afraid she would have some kind of lapse, anything that might suggest the goddess' displeasure. When the lictor escorted her through the city, however, he would remain close enough that he could offer her a few kind words, and something about the way he looked at her made it seem he was immediately taken with her in as much as he could be without offering insult to a woman bound by chastity vows. He seemed far wiser than his thirty-some years, and it helped to have his confident assurances that she would be fine.
Even shortly after their introduction it was hard for Iulia to put a name on what she had with Quintus. He was supporting her, even guiding her when she raised conversation points pertaining to her choices, options, or near future. Something changed, however, when she told him that she had a son. He drew the story out of her over a few conversations, starting with the fact that her son was being raised by his father's wife, a role Iulia had thought she was bound for. Despite the intervening tale of healer's assistant and priestess, there was definitely something that had changed in his eyes when he looked at her, now that he knew she was not a virgin. He never spoke of the emotions she could see, and she couldn't have accepted such advances if he did, but within the first year of their meeting both had already decided there was a relationship there which, while not permissible until she was no longer bound by her vows, drew them closer together. He even introduced her to his training master, a retired military commander who seemed to hold more riches and power than his age would normally suggest, though Quintus never referred to it.
By the time Iulia was 27, she and Quintus had lived a romantic journey that among most people would have resulted in marriage and several children already. Unfortunately, a few months before her thirtieth birthday she was accused of unchastity by the Vestalium Maxima on the word of a man who had witnessed her kiss Quintus goodbye. Iulia had not expected to be close friends with the woman who was sister and sometimes mother to her among the priestesses, but this she didn't know how to deal with. She was restricted from leaving the temple itself, while Quintus was forbidden to see her, and only his teacher came to visit her the night before her trial, bearing special permission just to see her, but seemingly his position of influence aided him in achieving it. He brought to her a flask of wine and told her that he had had it blessed by not only Vesta, but also Juno and Jupiter, and only she and Quintus would drink of it as they faced this trial together. Whether due to the blessings of the gods or some virtue of the man bearing it, Iulia found herself buoyed throughout her night of vigil and even through the trial. There was a point at which she saw the eyes of the Vestalium Maxima and could almost read the woman's mind; Iulia was taking the blame for an act she had not committed, but there was a reason for it to happen beyond just malice or some unpleasantness. As such she may have disagreed with the verdict but she accepted her punishment, to be buried alive, and suffered through the preparations and administration of it without comment, keeping herself as pristine as her vows required.
Though this may have been her death, she awoke in an opulent room that befit her former status, and only after meeting her host and being allowed to see Quintus and his training master at a distance did she understand she was not yet dead. Not in the normal way of it, certainly. Her host was an older Greek physician called Ampelius she thought she had met through Quintus' centurion, and he slowly explained what had happened to her, starting with her burial. Apparently the holy wine she had drunk the night before her trial had carried a few drops of the centurion's blood, which allowed her to survive until Ampelius could rescue her and bring her to his home. The healer offered her a choice between a mortal life free outside Rome (since F. Iulia Prisca was dead) or a new life as one such as he, who required blood to survive, but who had a much more extensive ability to heal. It was hard to rationalize blood for one who seemed to have the gods' own gift with healing (especially since only demons drank blood in her religion), but in the few months she stayed with Ampelius she saw such miracles that she chose Embrace as his childe. Iulia Valeriana, as she chose to be called, moved with Ampelius to another city just outside Rome where she took part in the valetudinarium he ran there for the same legion Quintus had been part of.
Iulia had a crisis of conscience when she saw Ampelius' third eye for the first time. It didn't fit within her mythology, and that tended to mean it was demonic or evil, something insidious that the gods did not favor. In conjunction with the blood-drinking associated with demons, the third eye made a very distinct impression upon the woman. There were a number of long and involved discussions between herself and her sire which, while they did reassure her she was not doing something evil, ultimately led to the full explanation of Caine, Saulot childe of Enoch, and the clan that were now as kin to her, the Salubri. For a Roman priestess to hear stories from the Hebrew scripture presented as fact it became no longer just about her conscience, she had reached a crisis of faith. This started a very studious time for the fledgling, learning all she could about the Jewish faith, scholars' attempts at reconciling the Roman pantheon with the one god Yahweh, and a new occupation meditating and praying for guidance. This was also her cover story at the field hospital, that she spent her days in prayer and meditation, and that was why she only was seen at night.
Not long after, Quintus found her there, making himself useful as a hauler for the healers. Iulia still loved him, but they had a disagreement about her chastity vows. While she hadn't vowed quite the same thirty years as most Virgins, taking the place of a woman already more than ten years into her service, Quintus felt that their punishment ended any obligations she had. Iulia considered a vow to the goddess binding, no matter what had happened. It wasn't easy to combine her new status as a Salubri fledgling with that of the Vestal Virgin she had been, but she did her best. Ultimately Quintus left her, a heartbreaking parting for both of them. (Later she learned he had returned to Rome and maneuvered himself into a position as training master for her son, becoming a mentor to the now fifteen-year-old boy.)
Last edited by Aethera; Feb 20th, 2020 at 04:38 PM.
**Aliases Not IC Knowledge!**(Not even positive other PCs will meet Taika first.)
Planar Origin: Taika is from Eberron, and has arrived in Sigil by way of the Ethereal, the Feywild, Arborea, and Ysgard.
Concept: A changeling rogue/assassin with a penchant for magical secrets and knowledge, almost more than 'shinies'. Usually takes human form out of habit.
What does it mean?
Privately? A talented sorceress had a magical accident. Me. So, uh, if life has meaning, I haven’t found it yet. I’m still stuck on both why and how. So far nothing, and I’ve been searching for... I stopped counting awhile back, but I’d say two and a half centuries, at least? Something like that.
Publicly? Who says it has to mean anything, clueless? It’d be nice, sure, but I don’t expect life to offer up puppies and rainbows just because it might be nice. I’d expect pure chaos to rain puppies before reality would.
Description: Good grief. Which one? It's worth noting that these are almost moods and situations more than just new faces. These are all aspects of Taika, she simply can put new faces to each to go with the sides of her personality.
Dushana - early 20s blonde human woman, pleasant enough NG traveler, lots of questions, very little about herself
Euthymia/Thea - middle-aged (mid 60s?) curly-haired brunette half-elf NG scholar, gentle, polite, gets fixated on a magical quandary easily
Jin - early 20s human geisha-inspired TN Sigil native, more/less morality depending, sweet but can be vicious
Manoja - cute mid 20s NG human Prime trying to “document Sigil”, bubbly, eager, wide-eyed/childlike enjoyment
Ruq'yyah/Ruke - late 20s/early 30s dark-skinned frizzy-haired human TN arcane trickster, pranks have their place, wants to make a name for herself, prefers stealing from the rich
Charlotte Rennell WWII nurse, "casualty" of the Battle of Britain
Twenty-six-year-old Charlotte Rennell was a married mother of two (three?) when World War II broke out, bereft of both her husband (drafted then killed in action) and her children (Operation Pied Piper). She was a nurse until her hospital was hit by a bomb in 1940. The nickname "St. Lottie" was given her by her patients, as she was happy to be both mother figure to younger wounded soldiers and pretty woman who flirted lightly with the men. She focused on their psyche as much as their bodies, and took it upon herself to bring what cheer she could, including baking cookies to distribute when things were looking grim. Records have her death date on [DATE], 1940.
- guilt embrace after bomb exploded? how close could a vampire get to a burning building? (Nos?)
- Salubri night doctor at her hospital liked her, perhaps she caught him playing angel of death?
- Malk analyst, precursor to psychologist blundering about with caring for her patients?
Apr 5th, 2020, 11:59 AM
