[Hider=Pearl] [color=HotPink][b]Name:[/b][/color] Pearl [i][color=HotPink][b]True Name:[/b][/color] Reverentia Bieheth[/i] [color=HotPink][b]Race:[/b][/color] [i]Awenyddion[/i] Spirits of knowledge and things yet to come. It is believed that the Awenyddion are linked to a mystical reservoir of knowledge, of everything that is, was, or ever could be. They call this well the Awen, an ancient word meaning "inspiration". The Awenyddion have no power to access the Awen consciously but when consulted on matters they consider important they can place themselves in state in which the Awen speaks through them. The Awen never delivers an answer to any inquiry clearly, instead speaks with many preambles, and talks in a nugatory and incoherent manner. Their speech is ornamented and confusing but buried within is the desired explanation conveyed in some turn of a word for those skilled enough to hear it. After having answered the questions, they do not recover till violently shaken by anothe; nor can they remember the replies they have given. If consulted a second or third time upon the same point, the Awenyddion will make use of expressions totally different from the ones used before. In an age past the Awenyddion were feared by fae for the power they possessed. For creatures of deceit nothing could be more dangerous than those with access to pure unadulterated truth. Therefore the Awenyddion were hunted and enslaved. Fae rulers kept a handful alive to make use of their secrets but most were massacred. Only a small number of Awenyddion still exist and those that do hide their true abilities from the rest of the fae, instead they take on the guise of seasonborn or other species most fae disregard. [color=HotPink][b]Court:[/b][/color] Spring [color=HotPink][b]Position/Occupation:[/b][/color] [i]Fool of the Spring Court[/i] Entertainers of high noble houses and lords, the fools use a variety of methods in which to entertain. These include songs, music, storytelling, satire, physical comedy and, to a lesser extent, juggling and acrobatics. The fools are the only member of a Court allowed by law to mock the ruler of any given Court without fear of retribution. They do this in order to provide the King or Queen (who has no other that opposes any of their decisions) a sense of perspective on their actions. [color=HotPink][b]Age:[/b][/color] 8274 [color=HotPink][b]Personality:[/b][/color] Pearl’s encounter with the spirit of the Awen fractured her mind. She cannot consciously retain any of the knowledge she saw but many nights she experiences terrible nightmares that fade from her mind the moment she awakens leaving only a gripping fear with her. Because of this she often behaves rather simple, as a small child would, disregarding personal space, speaking at inappropriate times and speaking true things people usually don’t want to hear. This is not a façade though there is more to Pearl than that simple exterior. She is devastatingly intelligent and often good at providing insight even without using her gifts. She is brutally honest though never mean spirited about it. Because of the night terrors she experiences her concept of fear is greatly skewed to the point of not fearing most anything even when she should. Picking up subtext is not her strong suit which often leads to her embarrassing important people when they really wish she would stay silent. In some ways though she is painfully naive and often needs Leaf to rescue her from situations she created for herself. [color=HotPink][b]Appearance:[/b][/color] Pearl is predominately human in appearance as most Awenyddion are. She stands at around 5’8” and though she is not small either in build or in stature most people regard her as less because of her appearance and the manner in which she behaves. Pearl’s hair is a dark brown that had just a hint of red to it like freshly turned soil. It is long and braided down her back with white lilies woven through it. Her skin as an ethereal glow and around her eyes seems to emanate a soft pink ever so subtly. Her features are small and nimble, her lips subtle. Her eyes are an intriguing shade of olive green while her skin is flawless and cream colored. She most commonly wears a dress that extends to just above her knee. It is a floral pink with images of swans embroidered onto it. It is tied off at the waist with a length of fine vine that looks very much like rope. She nearly always goes barefoot. [color=HotPink][b]Family:[/b][/color] Pearl has no living relatives. [color=HotPink][b]Ambition:[/b][/color] Pearl lives her life unbound by the complexities of the fae world or expectations of any kind. She calls things as she sees them and lives her life very much in the moment. To this end she had no real ambition as she doesn’t plan for what will happen in the next second let alone the coming years. She enjoys making people laugh and smile and her sunny disposition and slightly absurd manners lend to that greatly. [color=HotPink][b]Background:[/b][/color] The Awenyddion are a rare breed of fae, because of their skills they were not only highly sought after but also feared. When Pearl was only two hundred, still a child by fae standards her whole world was ripped from her. After suffering heavily at the hands of the Summer Kingdom, the Winter King of the time, a man by the name of Fenodera sought an answer from the Awen, a secret guarded close. What he asked was the one question the Awen was forbidden ever to reveal in any form. The Winter King's own Awenyddion when forced to answer was thrown into a terrible fit that caused his eyes to burn from his skull as he died screaming. Not deterred by this for Fenodera was young and new to his throne, sought out other Awenyddion. He commissioned the few arcane fae under his command to come up with a process to allow the Awenyddion to see this answer without dying. Meanwhile he offered a reward for any Awenyddion to come forward. A few did at first but they suffered fates like his first and word began to spread that none survived the King's favors. Fenodera began to offer great rewards for any that brought him one of the Awenyddion alive. His sorcerers made progress in shielding the Awenyddion from the destruction of that answer but they were fighting old magicks. Magicks forged before time started ticking. They only made slight improvements to the Awenyddion's natural abilities. Pearl and her family were among those taken by bounty hunters to the Fenodera's Court. Pearl’s family died as a result of forceful exposure to the Awen however Pearl suffered a far crueler fate: She lived. The spells Fenodera’s sorcerers contrived allowed Pearl a single glimpse into the heart of the Awen, at the source of all knowledge and power. She should have died, her mind should have melted but for some reason the Awen chose to spare her. Maybe she was stronger than her kin, maybe there was something special about her or perhaps the ancient well had grown tired of its guardians being slaughtered. Whatever the reason the Awen reached out and touched Pearl’s mind. Her eyes flew open glowing with a pure golden light that seemed harsh and cruel as it looked on Fenodera and his spellcasters. Pearl opened her mouth and it seemed a thousand voices spoke through her mouth. [color=gold][i]”FOOL!”[/i][/color] It shouted in disgust. [color=gold][i]”You have desecrated the Awen. Meddled with forces you cannot conceive. Broken ancient laws set down before the realms were forged. Judgement falls justly. You sought all truth, now let it scald your minds.”[/i][/color] The Awen stretched forth Pearl’s hand and the golden light shot forth. It touched Fenodera and his sorcerers and as it did they screamed with such agony that some say it could be heard throughout all four kingdoms. Their eyes burst into golden flames and they died in the most painful of manners. Then the Awen placed Pearl’s hand on the stones in front of her. [color=gold][i]”Be free my child.”[/i][/color] Pearl’s vision glowed gold for a single moment before she lost consciousness. When she awoke she was lying in the middle of a clearing halfway across the world in the Court of Spring. [/hider] I have no idea if somewhere the leader of the Winter Court eight thousand years ago was thought up. If this was actually planned out and I am stepping on someone's toes here my apologies and I would be happy to make revisions as necessary. I cannot however use Cernunnos for this as there would be no logical reason that after having her family killed on his orders Pearl would become a Fool in his Court. The other court that makes the most logical sense would be Fall however I hesitate to write something in about a character who is currently in play when he is not my own. If of course I am allowed to use Falk the part about the ruler being killed by the Awen would of course be rewritten. [Hider=Leaf] [color=ForestGreen][b]Name:[/b][/color] Leaf [i][color=ForestGreen][b]True Name:[/b][/color] Yggiadher[/i] [color=ForestGreen][b]Race:[/b][/color] [i]Hamadryad[/i] Hamadryads are born bonded to a certain tree. The Hamadryads are the actual, physical embodiment of their tree, while normal dryads are simply the spirits that inhabit certain aspects of nature. If the tree were to die, the Hamadryad associated with it would die as well. However this grants the Hamadryads near invulnerability, the bodies they inhabit outside of their trees are virtually indestructible as the Hamadryads can only be harmed by bringing harm to their tree. No matter where a Hamadryad is they can teleport themselves back to their tree if it is in danger. Being connected to the earth as thoroughly as a tree in bonded to the ground grants the Hamadryads very powerful nature magic even beyond that of Nymphs and normal Dryads. This power increases proportionally to the age of their tree. Leaf is specifically a Meliai, the spirit of an Ash Tree. Though this is not widely known or indeed cared about. [color=ForestGreen][b]Court:[/b][/color] Spring [color=ForestGreen][b]Position/Occupation:[/b][/color] [i]Fool of the Spring Court[/i] Entertainers of high noble houses and lords, the fools use a variety of methods in which to entertain. These include songs, music, storytelling, satire, physical comedy and, to a lesser extent, juggling and acrobatics. Interestingly enough though by law the fools are the only member of a Court allowed by law to mock the ruler of any given Court without fear of retribution. They do this in order to provide the King or Queen (who has no other that opposes any of their decisions) a sense of perspective one their actions. [color=ForestGreen][b]Age:[/b][/color] Nobody knows. Leaf has been the Fool of the Spring Court as long as any can remember. Because she is a simple entertainer those of power and importance don't pay much mind to her or how long she had been around. Most assume she is a couple thousand years old, an adult for a fae but no one of real importance if they give any thought to her age at all. [color=ForestGreen][b]Personality:[/b][/color] Leaf is patient and slow to action. She takes stock of every variable and every occurrence and never speaks a word without careful consideration. Rarely though does she do anything more than watch. The fall of kings, the rise of new rulers, the loss of lives and the birth of new souls is but a blink of the eye for her. Her rage is almost never seen if ever someone committed a grievous enough offence to bring it out in her they would instantly regret it. She is witted and sly tongued and clever and most any fae that has ever lived. She does her job as court fool well though she is not afraid to mock the Archon’s decisions or make him look the fool if ever he deserves it. [color=ForestGreen][b]Appearance:[/b][/color] Leaf is a petite 5’4” and mostly stays in a humanoid shape. Most commonly she wears a glamour that is something between that of a normal human and her true form. Her skin is the color of milk and her hair as gold as the sun her tree feeds from. Her face is delicate with porcelain features. Her eyes are the pale green of newly sprouted grass, her eye lids the darker color of tree leaves in midsummer. Her lashes seem to glisten with dewdrops and an image of vines seems to be painted from her left eyebrow down to the base of her lips. Her nimble hands have fingernails the color of fresh topsoil. Her feet and legs are bare. She wears a dress that leaves her shoulders free, held up by thin straps woven from vines. Her dress ends just short of her knee with a vine tied under her breasts. The dress itself is the deep green of jungle trees and seems to be woven out of vines though it is solid. Her right knee is decorated with branches and leaves meshed together so thoroughly that you cannot see the skin underneath hinting at some long ago suffered injury or reminder. However everything about her image seems to shimmer just slightly as though you could almost see through to her true form but never quite manage it. Sometimes just for a moment her skin appears the green of chlorophyll. Her dress like bark but only for a second out of the corner of your eye and you can never see through the entire glamour no matter how hard you try. [color=ForestGreen][b]Family:[/b][/color] Leaf regards all the trees and nature spirits of Spring her children and those of the other three realms her nieces and nephew. She watches out for them as best she can though only steps in when something horrible is happening to a large number of her family, like the razing of a forest. [color=ForestGreen][b]Ambition:[/b][/color] Even for a fae Leaf is patient, as a Hamadryad of considerable age Leaf sees the world much much slower than that of other fae. She sees things in terms of ages past, not years and consequently she is content simply to watch it move past her and enjoy it as it does. She takes significant action only when her kindred, the forest is threatened. She acts as a protector to Pearl her apprentice. [color=ForestGreen][b]Background:[/b][/color] Pearl has been a part of the Spring Court for as long as any can remember. No one pays it that much mind as she is not a figure of particular power or influence. Most assume she’s a little older than they are and give it no more thought. Her tree some reason must be on the grounds of the palace as she is rarely seen far from Court. After the Awen sent Pearl to the Spring Court to protect her Leaf found her and adopted the young Awenyddion as her apprentice. Leaf is very protective of the young one and is one of the few aware of Pearl’s true nature. Most all fae think she is simply a Springborn. Leaf after piecing together Pearl’s story from the girl’s ramblings theorized that if the Awen were to possess Pearl’s body again as it had in the Winter Court it would kill the young fae. No one was meant to be that close to ultimate knowledge, the fact that Pearl didn’t retain any of it was likely what saved her life, though arguably not her sanity. Leaf always seems to be underfoot at the Spring Palace, in the perfect place at the exact right time no matter the circumstance. Those that have taken any notice of her say that she knows the secrets of the palace better than the Archon himself as she is often disappearing into the roots or ascending to the highest branches that none would dare follow. [/hider]