![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jul. 14th, 2016 01:17 amPlayer Information
Name: Chicklet
Age: over 18
Contact: ChickletLARP on Plurk
Characters already in Medietas: Gabriel Agreste/Papillion.
Reserve Link:http://medietas-mods.dreamwidth.org/1679.html?thread=592015#cmt592015
Character Basics
Character name: Cassidy Greyhaven
Character Journal: Lady_Cassidy
Canon: The Black Jewels
Canon Point: End of Shalador's Lady.
Age: 32
Icon: http://v.dreamwidth.org/10424969/2530069
Canon Character Information
Appearance: Cassidy isn't terribly pretty. A bit on the heavy side, with freckles all over her face (and not just on her face), hazel eyes, reddish hair, and a long plain face. She tends towards clothing that is a mix of formal and practical, except when working in the garden when her clothes and hat could have her mistaken for a servant. The rest of the time, she is in practical skirts that she can move in, light jackets over simple blouses.
History:
http://blackjewels.wikia.com/wiki/Cassidy
Cassidy was born in Dharo, Kaeleer to Devra and Burle. In a family that rarely produces anyone of magical strength, she was born to the ruling Caste, she was born a Queen. But she'll be among the first to tell you that she was born a daughter on the same day she was born a Queen, and she was raised as both.
When she was a young adult, she spent four months in the Dark Court with her distant cousin Aaron to add some polish to her understanding of protocol, with a focus on the interactions between the living and the dead. She made friends with multiple witches in the coven, including Jaenelle and Karla. She learned to respect Yaslana and the High Lord.
When her training was done, she was granted two villages in Dharo - Bhak and Woolskin - to rule. While ruling she lived frugally, as her family taught her, and as she was expected to do, trained other Queens by having them serve in her Court, as she served in other Courts during her training. She was a good and solid Queen, but she wore a light colored Jewel (meaning that she isn't strong magically compared to others in her world), and she wasn't pretty. One of the young Queens she was training concerned her, and she wrote - as was her responsibility - to the district Queen who ruled over her, about her concerns. When Cassidy's five year contract with the males in her Court ended, all twelve of them chose to walk away and form a court around Kermilla, the Queen she had reservations about. Kermilla was granted Bhak and Woolskin for a probationary year, and Cassidy, broken hearted, went back to her parent's home.
Heartsore and weary, she helped with her mother's garden and moped a lot, and upset her father by talking about finding a place of her own.
And then Jaenelle and Aaron came to pay her a visit. Where she expected sympathy and a pat on the back over losing her court, what she was offered was a chance to help a people who needed her help in a way that Bhak and Woolskin never did. A chance to be Queen of a whole territory... but in Terreille. "People didn't go to Terreille. They ran from Terreille." This land, she was told, needed a Queen who knew the old ways, who could follow and teach protocol and rule fairly. She asked how many others were being given this opportunity. It wasn't Jaenelle who answered her, with the sapphire eyes of the abyss, Witch told her that she was the one chosen after the weaving of a tangled web.
Cassidy agreed to go.
From the moment they met, things went wrong between Cassidy and the man who was to be her first Escort, Theran Greyhaven. He was looking for a Queen that could dazzle and charm weary men into serving. He found her plain and ugly and not at all a Queen. Sadi almost killed him on the spot, while Jaenelle hustled her away for a pre-dinner chat. Jaenelle explained to her that Theran would never be hers, that she had to do her best anyway, explained to her in a whiplash of bluntness why her court broke, and why Theran was just like her old court, then helped her to learn how to chose the rest of her court.
She went to Dana Nehele, Terreille, to meet with the males there, and with Theran JUST had the minimum twelve needed to form a Court. Taking some time for herself that first day, she met Grey... Theran's cousin, broken emotionally by two years of torture as an adolescent, he stayed a little boy because it was safer, but he was physically a grown man, and something in each of them recognized something in the other. She didn't see him as broken, and she understood the Land, as he did, and something in him started to mend.
A bit at a time, she got to watch Grey mend and grow. Sometimes she was part of the healing, sometimes she could only watch, but in her year there, she saw him go from someone who couldn't be more than a scared kid, to a man who accepted that he had scars, embraced his scars, and became whole.
That first day, however, when she met him, led directly to one of the worst fights between her and Theran. Theran thought she was pulled to Grey because she wanted to play with an emotionally damaged male who couldn't put up a fight, so he tried to keep her too busy to have time to go into the garden, where Grey was waiting for her every day. When that wasn't working, he decided to distract her another way, but she overheard his opinion of her to the other males before he could proposition her, and the pain cut deep, reminded her of what her consort said when he broke his contract with her. Here, where no one was required to serve her in that way, Theran had rubbed it in her face that she wasn't pretty enough for a man to actually want to be with her.
As soon as the dawn came, she went out into the garden, snarling at anyone who tried to talk to her, and nearly taking off Theran's head as she worked herself into a frenzy, trying to escape the pain that was tearing her to pieces. She had to keep moving. Had to. Then someone was pulling on her hoe. Then someone broke it. Then she was wet....
And then she realized who the someone was. Lucivar Yaslana. Witch's adopted brother. Warlord Prince of Ebon Rih. Yasi who had a rough sort of affection with the women in his life, and who would not let anyone get away with anything. He was the one to snap her out of her anger, and to see the damage she had done to her hands as she worked herself into a bloody mess.
Shira, her healer, was able to keep her from permanent damage, while Yaslana nearly destroyed the males in her court over what happened to her.
Things did settle, after a while, more or less. She and Theran still could not stand each other in the least, and he constantly got in the way of her doing anything effective, and did all he could to stall introducing her to the people. She became closer to Grey and to Shira, and started to find a friend in Ranon. But it was still hard.
There was a legend in Theran and Grey's family, that there was a treasure locked away with spells that could save Dana Nehele when it needed it, but that the spells had to be unlocked just so. And little things began unlocking them. It started with her blood in the garden. Then she and Grey found the honey pears with the failing preservation spells. Looking for a final pot to put the last one in, she found a pot that had remained hidden for generations. In it was a note "for the Queen". The note had a key, which opened a storage area under her bed, which had journals and a trinket box. Trinket box had a false bottom with a map and another key. All of this would have been lost, if Theran hadn't stepped up to the line to stand with her when she defended a Landen family from the bullying of a Warlord, his son, and his son's friend that almost cost a small girl her eye. He stood with her for Grey's sake, because Grey was "stupid in love with her", but he stood with her, and that allowed her to find the map and the key.
The map led to a room filled with hidden treasures. Money and jewelry yes, but history also, paintings of Theran's ancestors, writings of a time when the Grey Ladies ruled, before Dana Nahele fell. When the Greyhavens had still lived in the mansion, had still watched over the territory. And a letter from Lia, the last Grey Lady who told her heir that the treasure stood before him, not the money and the jewels, though those would help, but the woman, the Queen he stood alongside. She was the treasure of Grayhaven, the treasure that could save Dana Nehele.
After that, Theran did TRY to serve as if he felt the same connection to Cassidy that the rest of the Court did, but he didn't, and serving her scraped at him. That she paid attention to the Shalador Reserves scraped at him. He was beyond unhappy when she accepted the invitation to visit the reserves, to see what the Shalador people were subsiding on within Dana Nehele.
Cassidy could tell he was irritable, but she didn't know what more she could do. She simply could do her best, work as hard as she could to be a good Queen and help these people. She had finally come to terms with the fact that since Theran was the only one unhappy with her, that maybe she actually was doing a good job after all...
... and then they returned to Greyhaven after their visit to Eyota - one of the reserves - and found that Kermilla had invited herself over, to demand money from Cassidy. Cassie ordered Kermilla to leave, Theran overruled her.
Things quickly went from bad to worse, as Cassidy saw her court being charmed by Kermilla, saw herself losing them all over again. She couldn't see that other than Theran the only males who spent time with the pretty young Queen were the ones her Master of the Guard had assigned to see if Kermilla really had the kind of power to destroy them all that she hinted at. They were with her to learn what the danger she offered was, but Cassie just saw them dancing around her. She was afraid that Grey, whom she was falling in love with, would fall for Kermilla, and couldn't see that he hated the woman. She was so lost in her pain, she couldn't see any of that, and she packed her things to run.
Ranon found her as she was about to leave. He stole her trunks and secreted her away, not to the Keep where she could be taken home, but back to Eyota. Just away from Kermilla. Somewhere safe. He left her with his grandfather who sat with her, drank with her, got her way too drunk, offered to teach her to drum, and kept her there until Ranon returned. Ranon... and Vae and Grey and Shira and nearly all of the Court.
The Court moved to Eyota, and Theran was told that Kermilla was permitted to remain alive in Dana Nehele so long as she remained in the town of Greyhaven. That she was an enemy of the Queen, and that she would be killed if she came near her again. Theran was made to chose between the Queen he had vowed to serve, and the one he was falling in love with, and he chose Kermilla.
The rest of the Court rallied around Cassie, and free of Theran's nagging, she was able to do the job she was brought in to do. Without his interference, she began to rule, and because the people she met first and most were the Shaladorians, she worked most with and for them. Hope spread from around her like ripples in a pond.
With a single proclamation, Cassidy returned to the Shaladorian people their heart, and when she stayed true to her words, she became known as Shalador's Lady. Things went well for Cassie, and she had no idea that Theran was planning to replace her with Kermilla as soon as her contract ended. She had forgotten that her contract was for one year. A testing time, to see if she fit with them, if they could handle a Queen who ruled by the old ways, who would make them follow the old ways. They had said they had wanted exactly that, but some - like Theran - couldn't handle it.
Kemilla left Terreille before Winsol (Christmas, more or less) and things looked good. Cassie settled into working and living in Eyota, she sent a Winsol gift to Theran; Grey and Ranon got a sizeable loan from the SaDiablo family to rebuild Dana Nehele, and some of the more influential Warlord Princes had come and had been impressed by what they had accomplished, and were working with her to see this prosperity in their own districts and villages.
And then Kermilla returned. "Some people need a hard lesson. Some people ARE the hard lesson." Words Cassidy didn't hear, but that Witch had shared with Sabrina to explain why they weren't stepping in. Cassidy needed to learn to fight this battle.
Kermilla sent Cassidy a letter informing her that come Spring, she would be the new Queen of Dana Nehele, but that Casidy could rule the reserves as a providence, because she was generous. Cassie almost broke again, but Vae helped her to see that she had to fight, to protect her people... but she didn't know how, and she was still afraid her Court would choose Kermilla over her come Spring.
When she went to meet with them, she saw that they had given her the seat furthest from the door. The message was clear, the only way she was walking out on them, was through them. They were prepared to fight, to meet whatever Court Kermilla could form on a Killing field. Cassidy could never accept such slaughter, not in her name... but she realized that it wasn't about her or Kermilla anymore. It was about the life that they were building now. It was about how they wanted to live. So she accepted the cost. Everything has a price. But she was still desperate for an answer that wouldn't leave people dead and broken.
And an answer came. Secession. A new Territory would be formed, by those who wish to follow the old ways, with Cassidy as Queen. Shalador Nehele. The people of Shalador, and those of Dana Nehele. At first it was only the provinces south of the river, but more and more districts wanted to be a part of Shalador Nehele. In the end, Dana Nehele was only four districts large, and the Warlord Princes there gave Theran an ultimatum. Kermilla had to go. If not for her, the Territory would not have broken, if not for her, they'd all have access to the loan. They fought and bled for Dana Nehele for too many years to leave it, but they would not let Kermilla ruin what was left.
There was no war. Cassidy was beyond relieved that no one would die. The Black Widows foresaw the dawning of a new and happy age. And she took a chance. She asked Grey to marry her. He said yes.
Because weddings were about family, not politics, she insisted that Theran be invited, for Grey's sake, and after the ceremony he came. Him. And a new Queen. Jaenelle had offered him one last chance. He had wanted a Queen who could dazzle. He got her. Lady Rhia was a Sceltie Queen who outranked him in Jewels as well as Caste, and she was the unofficial Queen of Dana Nehele. Cassidy was quite amused by Jaenelle's sense of humor.
Personality:
"As my father is fond of saying, I was born a daughter on the same day I was born a Queen, and if I can get dirty weeding a garden, I can get dirty washing a floor."
“My family is not aristo, Prince Ranon. We never had servants. And even though by caste I am a Queen, I am also a daughter. So when my mother pulled out the rags and mops on cleaning day, I dusted and polished furniture, and mopped the floors right along with her. And when it was my turn to clean the bathroom, I had very bad thoughts about my brother.”
Cassidy has never been afraid of hard work. That is one of the first things most people learn about her once they get past the plain face, lack of curves, light Jewel, and freckles. She is a hard worker. Doesn't matter if it's weeding a garden, paperwork, or scrubbing floors, she works. She is a good friend and works at being a good friend. She tries to look at problems as projects and tries to see what she needs to do to fix them. She isn't one to shy away from any task that needs doing or see any job as beneath her dignity.
Cassidy has tenacity, and back bone. Jaenelle points out that she always had spine, but until Dana Nehele, she never had anything to fight for before. And now she does. And honestly? Sometimes that scares her. A lot.
Losing her first court left a scar on her soul, and while Grey, and Ranon, and the rest of her Court in Shalador Nehele have done much to heal her, sometimes the scars still bleed. "The whip that drives Cassie was shaped before she arrived in Dana Nehele. It left scars." Before Woolskin and Bhak, Cassidy never had cause to wonder if she was a bad Queen, never had to look at the people she loved and wonder if they were lying to her face while planning to betray her. Because she inherited her looks from her mother, and because her father meant it when he said how pretty Derva is, Cassidy had believed her consort when he called her pretty. When he broke his contract, he told her what he really thought of her. It made it very hard for her to believe that Grey actually was attracted to her, and even once she knew he was, she was unsure, wondering if just because she was his first love, that he'd want her to be his only love. Until she asked him to marry her, she was constantly afraid that one day he'd see her the way all the other men saw her, and would walk away. But her love for him, and her trust in him is enough that with his marriage vows, she was able to bury that fear. Jared Blaed Grayhaven (Grey) was not a man who would break a vow. He gave himself to her, as First Escort, and as husband. Her will is his life. That did much to sooth the hurt and the rough edges in her. Having someone who she loves, who loves her, who she can trust.
Ranon and Shira, by being such good friends also helped with that a great deal, and she values their friendship very highly. Cassie had never felt much loved, other than her parents and her brother, before all of this. She considered Aaron a distant cousin who hardly remembered she existed. She had underestimated Warlord Princes and their connection to the females in their lives. Especially the Queen. While building her life and working in Shalador Nehele, she learned just how many people back home cared about her. Jaenelle, Yasi, The High Lord, Aaron, Karla... It touched her to be part of such a web, to be the strands connecting these people to the people in Shaldor Nehele, and to see what joy that had brought to her people. Even if she still isn't sure that they could handle 13 scelties in one village.
Like most Queens from her world, given her druthers, Cassidy would spend pretty much all day working in the garden. She has a strong connection to the land and sometimes "I need some time to be Cassidy, before I am the Queen". Grey, also having a strong connection to the land, understands this. But he will still point out to her that she needs to wear a hat (Or Vae will worry about your skin molting") or that she has done enough and should take a break. He learned protocol to keep her from ripping her hands to shreds again, and they've developed their own little cues for their relationship. "Are you going to swear at me?" "I'm thinking about it."
Cassidy is, at her core, a sweet girl with a good heart and the tenacity to dig in against a problem. She understands small courtesies both when they are offered to her - having pens and paper on hand, a spell warmed lap blanket nearby in case she gets chilled - and when she can offer them to someone else - when Theran tried to keep Ranon from having enough food because he was feeling ticked, and Cassidy not only made sure to hold enough back for Ranon, but also to put a warming spell on it, so it wouldn't be cold when he got to it.
Like all witches in her world, she can have some tartness and sass in her personality, though not as much as a Black Widow. She can snark, though she does so infrequently, and as part of her training, she knows how to redirect male temper into service... so long as she feels safe enough to do so.
Also, like all of the Blood, Cassidy's temper comes in temperatures. Hot temper can actually warm the air, and is the temper of the moment, it can come and go. It is like getting suddenly angry. Cold temper however is the deeper rage. This is the anger that can linger and fester, the air around the Blood chills, and the eyes can glaze (though the glazed eyes tends to be a male trait more often than a female one). While Cassidy isn't known to go cold, and rarely even spikes into a hot flash of temper, she has the capability, just by being who and what she is.
A quirk of her time in the Dark Court means that she is generally willing to chuck formality out the window whenever she can, but can pull it back at need, without hesitation. She will use protocol when it is needed, and "like the rest of us" more or less ignore it when she can get away with it.
“But you just got here,” Cassidy protested.
“And I’ll be here for the next few days,” Burle replied. “But when I’m paid for a full day’s work, I give a full day’s work. So you get on with your work, and I’ll get on with mine, and I’ll see you at dinner. Go on, now. Git.”
“Are you allowed to talk to a Queen like that?” Gray asked.
“Hell’s fire, no,” Burle said, laughing. “But I’m not talking to a Queen now, am I? I’m talking to my daughter.” He gave Cassidy a comically fierce look. “You still here?”
“Fine,” Cassidy grumbled as a smile tugged her lips. “I’m going.”
Cassidy understands the difference between her role as a daughter, as a friend, as a Queen, as a sister, as a student. She understands, as does everyone who trained in the Dark Court that sometimes the relationship shifts in an instant based on protocol and phrasing. The High Lord is the Steward of the Court who serves the Queen, who serves Witch, and is responsible for her and to her. But the High Lord is also Saetan who is the father to Jaenelle who just happens to be the Queen. He is also the High Priest, a Black Widow who technically out ranks her. She has seen the shift in a conversation from family to Court and back again. In the family, Saetan is the dominant power and Jaenelle is free to whine at times, to pout, to negotiate, to sulk, to argue, to discuss, to persuade... but as Queen, hers is the power to command.
Knowing the difference, being able to follow those changes was important for Cassidy, because it showed her that it wasn't just her family. That this was how it was supposed to be, a game of give and take. "A dance where the lead is always changing" to quote the High Lord.
Cassidy is still insecure about her appearance, but less so now that the only one she wants to be attractive for is Grey, and she knows he thinks she already is. He was so upset when Jaenelle crafted an illusion spell to help her hide her freckles and look a little better. So Saetan set down some rules. She is allowed makeup, is not allowed to remove the freckles, she is allowed to cut her hair, but is not allowed to dye it. The males in that family seem to take way too much enjoyment in setting down rules for her, but the rules helped Grey have the framework he needed to grow into the man he became, so she can forgive them that, and even appreciate it. Though she still wishes she could be rid of the freckles.
Powers/Abilities/Talents:
http://the-blood.dreamwidth.org/315.html
I wrote the above as a guide to the Blood for another game, but it works well as a guide. I will summarize here, but if you want to read the full version, jump to the section marked "powers". Cassidy wears birthright Tiger's eye and her Jewel of Rank is the Rose.
Mental communication - she can send and receive mental communications with dexterity.
Travel - Not applicable in this game, though she will lament the lack.
Telekinesis/flight/air walking - she can do more of the first than the second. The third she theoretically can do, but has not done in series, so probably won't unless she has cause.
Shields - protective, visual, auditory, mental.
basic healing craft - closing small wounds well enough to get to a healer.
Vanishing/calling things in - all of the Jeweled Blood have a personal storage space where they can store things and summon them at need, the darker the Jewel the more they can hold without being distracted/over taxed.
Pyrokinesis
Passing an object - the ability to move a solid object through another solid object, even when one of those objects is a person.
Raw power – raw power can be shoved at some problems. It doesn’t count as a use of craft. An important distinction in one of the books.
Phantom hands – The Blood can use telekinesis that feels like hands (or ropes) that they move with their minds. Invisible but tactile. It takes a lot of skill and focus.
Storing spells – spells can be stored into things, usually Jewels, Tangled Webs, or jewelry, to be triggered either by anyone, or by specific people.
Probing – The Blood can learn how to probe food and drink for poisons and drugs, or even just for anything unfamiliar or that shouldn’t be there.
Queen's Gift - A Queen can enhance the land by offering it her blood or her power, or both. This helps plants grow strong and healthy. Cassidy has done this several times, and once it nearly killed her, because the land was too needy, and she couldn't stop. When Grey pulled her away from the dirt, he broke her connection to the land, saving her life. There are of course, safer ways to do this. As Karla explained, she was an idiot.
A Queen's connection to males that are HERS - this will only happen with player consent and will be discussed in detail with the other player(s) if it comes up. This cannot happen unless the other player is okay with it, and changes nothing beyond the relationship of the two characters. I can elaborate if needed.
There are also other various things that just seem to…happen… and are accepted. Like sharpening one’s nails to dagger points. Small miscellaneous cantrips.
AU/CR AU Addendum: N/A. She is taken from the morning after the last page. That is as close to AU as she gets.
What 4 items would you like your character to have with them on the island during their stay?
Her Jewels and Jewelry
A fighting club
a set of gardening clothes including her old hat
A box of seeds from Kaleer, magically preserved.
Samples - Can be linked
First Person:
[Cassidy had no clue what to do with this... whatever it was they handed her. She had wrapped it in a rose shield and vanished it to show to Shira, but she had to accept that Shira... wasn't here at the moment. So she had to figure this out herself. She floated the phone in front of her and poked at it, experimentally, a rose shield invisibly around her hand. She yelped when it lit up, and the first thing anyone would see is a redheaded woman with freckles across her long face yelping and jumping back in surprise.]
"Mother Night!"
[What was this thing? She poked at it again, a finger coming disturbingly close to the camera, then POKE. She frowned.]
"What... is this thing...?"
[It was clear that she didn't expect an answer. Want to give her one anyway?]
Third Person:
http://medietas-ooc.dreamwidth.org/38974.html?thread=2905406#cmt2905406
http://medietas-ooc.dreamwidth.org/38974.html?thread=2918974#cmt2918974
Finally, out of the 4 words, pick one: Chimes, lake, gravel, or sun? Sun. A million times sun.
Name: Chicklet
Age: over 18
Contact: ChickletLARP on Plurk
Characters already in Medietas: Gabriel Agreste/Papillion.
Reserve Link:http://medietas-mods.dreamwidth.org/1679.html?thread=592015#cmt592015
Character Basics
Character name: Cassidy Greyhaven
Character Journal: Lady_Cassidy
Canon: The Black Jewels
Canon Point: End of Shalador's Lady.
Age: 32
Icon: http://v.dreamwidth.org/10424969/2530069
Canon Character Information
Appearance: Cassidy isn't terribly pretty. A bit on the heavy side, with freckles all over her face (and not just on her face), hazel eyes, reddish hair, and a long plain face. She tends towards clothing that is a mix of formal and practical, except when working in the garden when her clothes and hat could have her mistaken for a servant. The rest of the time, she is in practical skirts that she can move in, light jackets over simple blouses.
History:
http://blackjewels.wikia.com/wiki/Cassidy
Cassidy was born in Dharo, Kaeleer to Devra and Burle. In a family that rarely produces anyone of magical strength, she was born to the ruling Caste, she was born a Queen. But she'll be among the first to tell you that she was born a daughter on the same day she was born a Queen, and she was raised as both.
When she was a young adult, she spent four months in the Dark Court with her distant cousin Aaron to add some polish to her understanding of protocol, with a focus on the interactions between the living and the dead. She made friends with multiple witches in the coven, including Jaenelle and Karla. She learned to respect Yaslana and the High Lord.
When her training was done, she was granted two villages in Dharo - Bhak and Woolskin - to rule. While ruling she lived frugally, as her family taught her, and as she was expected to do, trained other Queens by having them serve in her Court, as she served in other Courts during her training. She was a good and solid Queen, but she wore a light colored Jewel (meaning that she isn't strong magically compared to others in her world), and she wasn't pretty. One of the young Queens she was training concerned her, and she wrote - as was her responsibility - to the district Queen who ruled over her, about her concerns. When Cassidy's five year contract with the males in her Court ended, all twelve of them chose to walk away and form a court around Kermilla, the Queen she had reservations about. Kermilla was granted Bhak and Woolskin for a probationary year, and Cassidy, broken hearted, went back to her parent's home.
Heartsore and weary, she helped with her mother's garden and moped a lot, and upset her father by talking about finding a place of her own.
And then Jaenelle and Aaron came to pay her a visit. Where she expected sympathy and a pat on the back over losing her court, what she was offered was a chance to help a people who needed her help in a way that Bhak and Woolskin never did. A chance to be Queen of a whole territory... but in Terreille. "People didn't go to Terreille. They ran from Terreille." This land, she was told, needed a Queen who knew the old ways, who could follow and teach protocol and rule fairly. She asked how many others were being given this opportunity. It wasn't Jaenelle who answered her, with the sapphire eyes of the abyss, Witch told her that she was the one chosen after the weaving of a tangled web.
Cassidy agreed to go.
From the moment they met, things went wrong between Cassidy and the man who was to be her first Escort, Theran Greyhaven. He was looking for a Queen that could dazzle and charm weary men into serving. He found her plain and ugly and not at all a Queen. Sadi almost killed him on the spot, while Jaenelle hustled her away for a pre-dinner chat. Jaenelle explained to her that Theran would never be hers, that she had to do her best anyway, explained to her in a whiplash of bluntness why her court broke, and why Theran was just like her old court, then helped her to learn how to chose the rest of her court.
She went to Dana Nehele, Terreille, to meet with the males there, and with Theran JUST had the minimum twelve needed to form a Court. Taking some time for herself that first day, she met Grey... Theran's cousin, broken emotionally by two years of torture as an adolescent, he stayed a little boy because it was safer, but he was physically a grown man, and something in each of them recognized something in the other. She didn't see him as broken, and she understood the Land, as he did, and something in him started to mend.
A bit at a time, she got to watch Grey mend and grow. Sometimes she was part of the healing, sometimes she could only watch, but in her year there, she saw him go from someone who couldn't be more than a scared kid, to a man who accepted that he had scars, embraced his scars, and became whole.
That first day, however, when she met him, led directly to one of the worst fights between her and Theran. Theran thought she was pulled to Grey because she wanted to play with an emotionally damaged male who couldn't put up a fight, so he tried to keep her too busy to have time to go into the garden, where Grey was waiting for her every day. When that wasn't working, he decided to distract her another way, but she overheard his opinion of her to the other males before he could proposition her, and the pain cut deep, reminded her of what her consort said when he broke his contract with her. Here, where no one was required to serve her in that way, Theran had rubbed it in her face that she wasn't pretty enough for a man to actually want to be with her.
As soon as the dawn came, she went out into the garden, snarling at anyone who tried to talk to her, and nearly taking off Theran's head as she worked herself into a frenzy, trying to escape the pain that was tearing her to pieces. She had to keep moving. Had to. Then someone was pulling on her hoe. Then someone broke it. Then she was wet....
And then she realized who the someone was. Lucivar Yaslana. Witch's adopted brother. Warlord Prince of Ebon Rih. Yasi who had a rough sort of affection with the women in his life, and who would not let anyone get away with anything. He was the one to snap her out of her anger, and to see the damage she had done to her hands as she worked herself into a bloody mess.
Shira, her healer, was able to keep her from permanent damage, while Yaslana nearly destroyed the males in her court over what happened to her.
Things did settle, after a while, more or less. She and Theran still could not stand each other in the least, and he constantly got in the way of her doing anything effective, and did all he could to stall introducing her to the people. She became closer to Grey and to Shira, and started to find a friend in Ranon. But it was still hard.
There was a legend in Theran and Grey's family, that there was a treasure locked away with spells that could save Dana Nehele when it needed it, but that the spells had to be unlocked just so. And little things began unlocking them. It started with her blood in the garden. Then she and Grey found the honey pears with the failing preservation spells. Looking for a final pot to put the last one in, she found a pot that had remained hidden for generations. In it was a note "for the Queen". The note had a key, which opened a storage area under her bed, which had journals and a trinket box. Trinket box had a false bottom with a map and another key. All of this would have been lost, if Theran hadn't stepped up to the line to stand with her when she defended a Landen family from the bullying of a Warlord, his son, and his son's friend that almost cost a small girl her eye. He stood with her for Grey's sake, because Grey was "stupid in love with her", but he stood with her, and that allowed her to find the map and the key.
The map led to a room filled with hidden treasures. Money and jewelry yes, but history also, paintings of Theran's ancestors, writings of a time when the Grey Ladies ruled, before Dana Nahele fell. When the Greyhavens had still lived in the mansion, had still watched over the territory. And a letter from Lia, the last Grey Lady who told her heir that the treasure stood before him, not the money and the jewels, though those would help, but the woman, the Queen he stood alongside. She was the treasure of Grayhaven, the treasure that could save Dana Nehele.
After that, Theran did TRY to serve as if he felt the same connection to Cassidy that the rest of the Court did, but he didn't, and serving her scraped at him. That she paid attention to the Shalador Reserves scraped at him. He was beyond unhappy when she accepted the invitation to visit the reserves, to see what the Shalador people were subsiding on within Dana Nehele.
Cassidy could tell he was irritable, but she didn't know what more she could do. She simply could do her best, work as hard as she could to be a good Queen and help these people. She had finally come to terms with the fact that since Theran was the only one unhappy with her, that maybe she actually was doing a good job after all...
... and then they returned to Greyhaven after their visit to Eyota - one of the reserves - and found that Kermilla had invited herself over, to demand money from Cassidy. Cassie ordered Kermilla to leave, Theran overruled her.
Things quickly went from bad to worse, as Cassidy saw her court being charmed by Kermilla, saw herself losing them all over again. She couldn't see that other than Theran the only males who spent time with the pretty young Queen were the ones her Master of the Guard had assigned to see if Kermilla really had the kind of power to destroy them all that she hinted at. They were with her to learn what the danger she offered was, but Cassie just saw them dancing around her. She was afraid that Grey, whom she was falling in love with, would fall for Kermilla, and couldn't see that he hated the woman. She was so lost in her pain, she couldn't see any of that, and she packed her things to run.
Ranon found her as she was about to leave. He stole her trunks and secreted her away, not to the Keep where she could be taken home, but back to Eyota. Just away from Kermilla. Somewhere safe. He left her with his grandfather who sat with her, drank with her, got her way too drunk, offered to teach her to drum, and kept her there until Ranon returned. Ranon... and Vae and Grey and Shira and nearly all of the Court.
The Court moved to Eyota, and Theran was told that Kermilla was permitted to remain alive in Dana Nehele so long as she remained in the town of Greyhaven. That she was an enemy of the Queen, and that she would be killed if she came near her again. Theran was made to chose between the Queen he had vowed to serve, and the one he was falling in love with, and he chose Kermilla.
The rest of the Court rallied around Cassie, and free of Theran's nagging, she was able to do the job she was brought in to do. Without his interference, she began to rule, and because the people she met first and most were the Shaladorians, she worked most with and for them. Hope spread from around her like ripples in a pond.
With a single proclamation, Cassidy returned to the Shaladorian people their heart, and when she stayed true to her words, she became known as Shalador's Lady. Things went well for Cassie, and she had no idea that Theran was planning to replace her with Kermilla as soon as her contract ended. She had forgotten that her contract was for one year. A testing time, to see if she fit with them, if they could handle a Queen who ruled by the old ways, who would make them follow the old ways. They had said they had wanted exactly that, but some - like Theran - couldn't handle it.
Kemilla left Terreille before Winsol (Christmas, more or less) and things looked good. Cassie settled into working and living in Eyota, she sent a Winsol gift to Theran; Grey and Ranon got a sizeable loan from the SaDiablo family to rebuild Dana Nehele, and some of the more influential Warlord Princes had come and had been impressed by what they had accomplished, and were working with her to see this prosperity in their own districts and villages.
And then Kermilla returned. "Some people need a hard lesson. Some people ARE the hard lesson." Words Cassidy didn't hear, but that Witch had shared with Sabrina to explain why they weren't stepping in. Cassidy needed to learn to fight this battle.
Kermilla sent Cassidy a letter informing her that come Spring, she would be the new Queen of Dana Nehele, but that Casidy could rule the reserves as a providence, because she was generous. Cassie almost broke again, but Vae helped her to see that she had to fight, to protect her people... but she didn't know how, and she was still afraid her Court would choose Kermilla over her come Spring.
When she went to meet with them, she saw that they had given her the seat furthest from the door. The message was clear, the only way she was walking out on them, was through them. They were prepared to fight, to meet whatever Court Kermilla could form on a Killing field. Cassidy could never accept such slaughter, not in her name... but she realized that it wasn't about her or Kermilla anymore. It was about the life that they were building now. It was about how they wanted to live. So she accepted the cost. Everything has a price. But she was still desperate for an answer that wouldn't leave people dead and broken.
And an answer came. Secession. A new Territory would be formed, by those who wish to follow the old ways, with Cassidy as Queen. Shalador Nehele. The people of Shalador, and those of Dana Nehele. At first it was only the provinces south of the river, but more and more districts wanted to be a part of Shalador Nehele. In the end, Dana Nehele was only four districts large, and the Warlord Princes there gave Theran an ultimatum. Kermilla had to go. If not for her, the Territory would not have broken, if not for her, they'd all have access to the loan. They fought and bled for Dana Nehele for too many years to leave it, but they would not let Kermilla ruin what was left.
There was no war. Cassidy was beyond relieved that no one would die. The Black Widows foresaw the dawning of a new and happy age. And she took a chance. She asked Grey to marry her. He said yes.
Because weddings were about family, not politics, she insisted that Theran be invited, for Grey's sake, and after the ceremony he came. Him. And a new Queen. Jaenelle had offered him one last chance. He had wanted a Queen who could dazzle. He got her. Lady Rhia was a Sceltie Queen who outranked him in Jewels as well as Caste, and she was the unofficial Queen of Dana Nehele. Cassidy was quite amused by Jaenelle's sense of humor.
Personality:
"As my father is fond of saying, I was born a daughter on the same day I was born a Queen, and if I can get dirty weeding a garden, I can get dirty washing a floor."
“My family is not aristo, Prince Ranon. We never had servants. And even though by caste I am a Queen, I am also a daughter. So when my mother pulled out the rags and mops on cleaning day, I dusted and polished furniture, and mopped the floors right along with her. And when it was my turn to clean the bathroom, I had very bad thoughts about my brother.”
Cassidy has never been afraid of hard work. That is one of the first things most people learn about her once they get past the plain face, lack of curves, light Jewel, and freckles. She is a hard worker. Doesn't matter if it's weeding a garden, paperwork, or scrubbing floors, she works. She is a good friend and works at being a good friend. She tries to look at problems as projects and tries to see what she needs to do to fix them. She isn't one to shy away from any task that needs doing or see any job as beneath her dignity.
Cassidy has tenacity, and back bone. Jaenelle points out that she always had spine, but until Dana Nehele, she never had anything to fight for before. And now she does. And honestly? Sometimes that scares her. A lot.
Losing her first court left a scar on her soul, and while Grey, and Ranon, and the rest of her Court in Shalador Nehele have done much to heal her, sometimes the scars still bleed. "The whip that drives Cassie was shaped before she arrived in Dana Nehele. It left scars." Before Woolskin and Bhak, Cassidy never had cause to wonder if she was a bad Queen, never had to look at the people she loved and wonder if they were lying to her face while planning to betray her. Because she inherited her looks from her mother, and because her father meant it when he said how pretty Derva is, Cassidy had believed her consort when he called her pretty. When he broke his contract, he told her what he really thought of her. It made it very hard for her to believe that Grey actually was attracted to her, and even once she knew he was, she was unsure, wondering if just because she was his first love, that he'd want her to be his only love. Until she asked him to marry her, she was constantly afraid that one day he'd see her the way all the other men saw her, and would walk away. But her love for him, and her trust in him is enough that with his marriage vows, she was able to bury that fear. Jared Blaed Grayhaven (Grey) was not a man who would break a vow. He gave himself to her, as First Escort, and as husband. Her will is his life. That did much to sooth the hurt and the rough edges in her. Having someone who she loves, who loves her, who she can trust.
Ranon and Shira, by being such good friends also helped with that a great deal, and she values their friendship very highly. Cassie had never felt much loved, other than her parents and her brother, before all of this. She considered Aaron a distant cousin who hardly remembered she existed. She had underestimated Warlord Princes and their connection to the females in their lives. Especially the Queen. While building her life and working in Shalador Nehele, she learned just how many people back home cared about her. Jaenelle, Yasi, The High Lord, Aaron, Karla... It touched her to be part of such a web, to be the strands connecting these people to the people in Shaldor Nehele, and to see what joy that had brought to her people. Even if she still isn't sure that they could handle 13 scelties in one village.
Like most Queens from her world, given her druthers, Cassidy would spend pretty much all day working in the garden. She has a strong connection to the land and sometimes "I need some time to be Cassidy, before I am the Queen". Grey, also having a strong connection to the land, understands this. But he will still point out to her that she needs to wear a hat (Or Vae will worry about your skin molting") or that she has done enough and should take a break. He learned protocol to keep her from ripping her hands to shreds again, and they've developed their own little cues for their relationship. "Are you going to swear at me?" "I'm thinking about it."
Cassidy is, at her core, a sweet girl with a good heart and the tenacity to dig in against a problem. She understands small courtesies both when they are offered to her - having pens and paper on hand, a spell warmed lap blanket nearby in case she gets chilled - and when she can offer them to someone else - when Theran tried to keep Ranon from having enough food because he was feeling ticked, and Cassidy not only made sure to hold enough back for Ranon, but also to put a warming spell on it, so it wouldn't be cold when he got to it.
Like all witches in her world, she can have some tartness and sass in her personality, though not as much as a Black Widow. She can snark, though she does so infrequently, and as part of her training, she knows how to redirect male temper into service... so long as she feels safe enough to do so.
Also, like all of the Blood, Cassidy's temper comes in temperatures. Hot temper can actually warm the air, and is the temper of the moment, it can come and go. It is like getting suddenly angry. Cold temper however is the deeper rage. This is the anger that can linger and fester, the air around the Blood chills, and the eyes can glaze (though the glazed eyes tends to be a male trait more often than a female one). While Cassidy isn't known to go cold, and rarely even spikes into a hot flash of temper, she has the capability, just by being who and what she is.
A quirk of her time in the Dark Court means that she is generally willing to chuck formality out the window whenever she can, but can pull it back at need, without hesitation. She will use protocol when it is needed, and "like the rest of us" more or less ignore it when she can get away with it.
“But you just got here,” Cassidy protested.
“And I’ll be here for the next few days,” Burle replied. “But when I’m paid for a full day’s work, I give a full day’s work. So you get on with your work, and I’ll get on with mine, and I’ll see you at dinner. Go on, now. Git.”
“Are you allowed to talk to a Queen like that?” Gray asked.
“Hell’s fire, no,” Burle said, laughing. “But I’m not talking to a Queen now, am I? I’m talking to my daughter.” He gave Cassidy a comically fierce look. “You still here?”
“Fine,” Cassidy grumbled as a smile tugged her lips. “I’m going.”
Cassidy understands the difference between her role as a daughter, as a friend, as a Queen, as a sister, as a student. She understands, as does everyone who trained in the Dark Court that sometimes the relationship shifts in an instant based on protocol and phrasing. The High Lord is the Steward of the Court who serves the Queen, who serves Witch, and is responsible for her and to her. But the High Lord is also Saetan who is the father to Jaenelle who just happens to be the Queen. He is also the High Priest, a Black Widow who technically out ranks her. She has seen the shift in a conversation from family to Court and back again. In the family, Saetan is the dominant power and Jaenelle is free to whine at times, to pout, to negotiate, to sulk, to argue, to discuss, to persuade... but as Queen, hers is the power to command.
Knowing the difference, being able to follow those changes was important for Cassidy, because it showed her that it wasn't just her family. That this was how it was supposed to be, a game of give and take. "A dance where the lead is always changing" to quote the High Lord.
Cassidy is still insecure about her appearance, but less so now that the only one she wants to be attractive for is Grey, and she knows he thinks she already is. He was so upset when Jaenelle crafted an illusion spell to help her hide her freckles and look a little better. So Saetan set down some rules. She is allowed makeup, is not allowed to remove the freckles, she is allowed to cut her hair, but is not allowed to dye it. The males in that family seem to take way too much enjoyment in setting down rules for her, but the rules helped Grey have the framework he needed to grow into the man he became, so she can forgive them that, and even appreciate it. Though she still wishes she could be rid of the freckles.
Powers/Abilities/Talents:
http://the-blood.dreamwidth.org/315.html
I wrote the above as a guide to the Blood for another game, but it works well as a guide. I will summarize here, but if you want to read the full version, jump to the section marked "powers". Cassidy wears birthright Tiger's eye and her Jewel of Rank is the Rose.
Mental communication - she can send and receive mental communications with dexterity.
Travel - Not applicable in this game, though she will lament the lack.
Telekinesis/flight/air walking - she can do more of the first than the second. The third she theoretically can do, but has not done in series, so probably won't unless she has cause.
Shields - protective, visual, auditory, mental.
basic healing craft - closing small wounds well enough to get to a healer.
Vanishing/calling things in - all of the Jeweled Blood have a personal storage space where they can store things and summon them at need, the darker the Jewel the more they can hold without being distracted/over taxed.
Pyrokinesis
Passing an object - the ability to move a solid object through another solid object, even when one of those objects is a person.
Raw power – raw power can be shoved at some problems. It doesn’t count as a use of craft. An important distinction in one of the books.
Phantom hands – The Blood can use telekinesis that feels like hands (or ropes) that they move with their minds. Invisible but tactile. It takes a lot of skill and focus.
Storing spells – spells can be stored into things, usually Jewels, Tangled Webs, or jewelry, to be triggered either by anyone, or by specific people.
Probing – The Blood can learn how to probe food and drink for poisons and drugs, or even just for anything unfamiliar or that shouldn’t be there.
Queen's Gift - A Queen can enhance the land by offering it her blood or her power, or both. This helps plants grow strong and healthy. Cassidy has done this several times, and once it nearly killed her, because the land was too needy, and she couldn't stop. When Grey pulled her away from the dirt, he broke her connection to the land, saving her life. There are of course, safer ways to do this. As Karla explained, she was an idiot.
A Queen's connection to males that are HERS - this will only happen with player consent and will be discussed in detail with the other player(s) if it comes up. This cannot happen unless the other player is okay with it, and changes nothing beyond the relationship of the two characters. I can elaborate if needed.
There are also other various things that just seem to…happen… and are accepted. Like sharpening one’s nails to dagger points. Small miscellaneous cantrips.
AU/CR AU Addendum: N/A. She is taken from the morning after the last page. That is as close to AU as she gets.
What 4 items would you like your character to have with them on the island during their stay?
Her Jewels and Jewelry
A fighting club
a set of gardening clothes including her old hat
A box of seeds from Kaleer, magically preserved.
Samples - Can be linked
First Person:
[Cassidy had no clue what to do with this... whatever it was they handed her. She had wrapped it in a rose shield and vanished it to show to Shira, but she had to accept that Shira... wasn't here at the moment. So she had to figure this out herself. She floated the phone in front of her and poked at it, experimentally, a rose shield invisibly around her hand. She yelped when it lit up, and the first thing anyone would see is a redheaded woman with freckles across her long face yelping and jumping back in surprise.]
"Mother Night!"
[What was this thing? She poked at it again, a finger coming disturbingly close to the camera, then POKE. She frowned.]
"What... is this thing...?"
[It was clear that she didn't expect an answer. Want to give her one anyway?]
Third Person:
http://medietas-ooc.dreamwidth.org/38974.html?thread=2905406#cmt2905406
http://medietas-ooc.dreamwidth.org/38974.html?thread=2918974#cmt2918974
Finally, out of the 4 words, pick one: Chimes, lake, gravel, or sun? Sun. A million times sun.
