Aaand, here's the character concept! [hider=Aurelia] [h3]Basic Information[/h3] [b]Common Name(s)[/b]: Empress Aurelia, First Enchantrix, Lady of Shalott, Painter of the Leaves [i]True Name:[/i] Chrysanthea Ceres [b]Age[/b]: Unknown [b]Race[/b]: Gentry Fae [b] Fae Court[/b]: Autumn [b]Summary Role[/b]: Empress of the Autumn Court [h3]Appearance[/h3] [b]Hair Color[/b]: Bright Auburn [b]Eye Color[/b]: Peridot [b]Complexion[/b]: Pale white [b]Height[/b]: 5'6'' [b]Weight[/b]: 110lbs [b]Physical Features[/b]: As one of the oldest among gentry fae, Aurelia maintains a delicate, youthful body and formidable presence, her limbs thin and pale but her peridot eyes bright and alert. Her willowy gait supports a proud, perfectly symmetrical face with high cheekbones, her womanly features slight but still present in the shape of her silhouette. She keeps silky red hair in a series of ringlets tumbling down her back. There are legends about her hands alone, long and dextrous digits said to have imbued the very essence of Autumn into the land her kingdom rests on. Her clothing and shoes, largely inspired by leafy themes, are said to be made of such fine material that she makes no sound when she walks. [b]Glamour[/b]: There is a golden glow over Aurelia's skin, sometimes bright enough to hide her features. While she can manipulate the glamour into visually disappearing, she cannot hide the taint that seeps through her. [b]Attire[/b]: Most typical of her gowns is a loose-fitting dress tying in a halter around her neck. It appears to have a smattering of layers, bright orange and golden leaves of silk flowing over a longer, translucent satin that bleeds into reds and purples over her ankles. Her shoes are tight-fitting slippers that seem to have been sewn from red leaves. [h3]Personality[/h3] [b]Personality[/b]: Aurelia strives to maintain perfect balance within herself. Gentle but firm, stern but not cruel, logical but creative, she is an icon of what her people strive to become. This, however, is street talk. In reality, she has a cool temperament rather than any semblance of a warm one, struggling to find joy or beauty in her own craft for centuries. She is cynical, demanding, and patronizing of artists seeking her recognition, finding the smallest of faults in their creative works and crushing dreams without remorse. Time and conflict has left her jaded and controlled, her ability to micromanage and multitask almost frightening in its precise execution. She is never late, rarely smiles, and is famous for a stone face whenever entering negotiations outside of her court. That being said, she is also a largely nonviolent and solitary entity, leaving the execution of court business and law to her children and court nobility. [b]Skills and Talents[/b]: Aurelia made a great sacrifice long ago to learn the craft of enchantment. She can weave both physical and arcane elements of the faerie realm into other objects, be they living or not. This can range from anything as harmless as imbuing a leaf with the still-glowing colors of a sunset to removing a soul from a creature to trap it within an object to grant that object intelligence. Besides this, she is a creature of exceptional talent; she is a philosopher, a musician, a painter, a singer, a dancer, a writer, a craftswoman, and a politician, using her thousands of years of experience to create wonders marveled over from across the realms. Where others might seek to unearth relics and relive old glory tales, her sheer ability and the talent she fosters within her court encourages her people to look to the future and use their hands to build great wonders of their era. [b]Goals/Motivation[/b]: Aureila seeks nothing less than perfection of form, both of body and mind. At the same time, a forbidden desire rests deeply suppressed within her—the knowledge that she is limited within her court and must travel beyond its borders to gain a perfect, working understanding of the fae realm and its possibilities. This desire, however, cannot come about without great cost. [b]History[/b]: Aurelia lived to see the division of the Unseelie Court from the Seelie Court, born in a time of chaos and war within the new fae realm. At the time, the Autumn and Winter courts were unified, both tenacity and creativity winning them many solid victories over the opposing courts. Aurelia was promised to a winter prince, and together they crafted weapons of war that soaked the young land with fae blood. Despite the war, both dreamed of peace, a land where their deeds and crafts would replace the industry of battle. But it was not to be. Knowing that the Unseelie were impossible to stop while they remained united, a plan was secretly made to separate the two for good. The King of Winter's son was found with an enchanted dagger embedded in his back while he had slept. This son had long been a rival to Aurelia's sister, both powerful combatants who disagreed in the treatment of prisoners. Naturally, the dagger was one of her sister's, and in retaliation, her sister was executed by the King himself without consent of Autumn's royal line. Trust fractured, espionage and sabotage beginning in earnest between the two courts. This turned into open warfare, by which time Aurelia lost all faith in her husband, who remained loyal to his father's decision to execute her sister. Unfortunately, the Autumn Court had no army that could match Winter's, and after only a few battles, they were forced to the very edge of The Far Lands. Desperate, Aurelia gathered a choice few guards and sought out Yggdrasil. In that bizarre center of the fae lands, she met a spirit who offered a single apple, promising salvation—at a price. “Gather your people in the place where you would stand and partake of the fruit, but beware: it is a curse and a boon. You will gain a portion of the great tree's power, but it will in turn bind you to the land its power spreads to and no further. Leave the tainted land and all its magic—and the magic inside you now—will also leave forever.” As promised, when Aurelia partook of the fruit, she gained magic formerly unknown to her people. Her will seeped into the earth itself, becoming part of the forests, the lakes, the air. Suddenly, she could bind these essences to create new weapons and could even pass down this power to others, quickly forming an army of reinforced soldiers who could fend off the fierce Winter armies. Not only that, however—this influence affected the magic of the area itself, dampening the power of fae outside her court. In honor of her deeds, she was named the monarch of the Autumn Court.[/hider] [hider=Gentry Fae] [b]Race:[/b] Gentry Fae [b]Common Physical Traits:[/b] Thin-boned and often slightly smaller in stature to the humans they resemble, Gentry Fae have little need for Glamour. Their ears, however, are long and sharply pointed, their muscle smaller and more dense than that of humans. Their eye, skin, and hair color is also similar to that of humans, with a few important exceptions. Gentry Fae have strong magic in their blood and are capable of changing the color of just about every part of themselves permanently. Thus, wild hair colors, styles, skin, clothing, and eye colors are not unheard of. Some fashions are kept strictly among nobles as a sort of code, namely glowing auras around the skin. [b]Court:[/b] Gentry Fae have a natural talent for magic, but this magic is connected closely with the Autumn Empress and thus it is exceptionally rare to see enchantment-gifted (see Enchantment under Abilities) gentry fae living outside of the Autumn Court. That being said, Gentry Fae without this gift have existed outside the Autumn Court for some time, their reputation as skilled crafters and scholars earning them a decent place in other fae societies. [b]Abilities:[/b] [i]Enchantment:[/i] There are many different disciplines of enchantment, some of which are forbidden. Because this kind of magic requires some degree of crafting skill and time, it is not suitable for direct use in combat. The basics of each school is listed below: [i]Elemental:[/i] The manipulation of light/darkness, heat/cold, earth/air, water, lightning, and other such parts of nature by capturing their essence into inanimate objects. Such enchantments are typically used to instill elemental power into weapons or alter the weight and appearance of clothing and armor. [i]Arcane:[/i] Runes carved into objects can project arcane force. This is usually applied in protective runes and explosive traps. Arcane energy can also be instilled into an object to animate it, make the object invisible or visible at will, and even teleport other objects and creatures short distances. [i]Celestial:[/i] Objects can be imbued with a connection to the moon, sun, and stars and is most often use for regenerative and recharging purposes. Some fae covens make use of this magic in fortune telling and primal curses. [i]Alchemical:[/i] Substances can be broken down into core elements and re-arranged in a magical fashion. This is the most complex fashion of enchantment, requiring formulas and minutely delicate processes, but results in potent elixirs and metals otherwise impossible to create. [i]Soulcraft:[/i] Through a long and arduous ritual, a soul can be removed from a living person and drawn into an object to dwell there. Depending on the enchantment used, the soul can retain all its memories or be stripped of such identity to utilize only certain parts of its intelligence. This practice is seen as a privilege among Gentry Fae, and thus only the highest magisters are allowed to practice it (usually on prisoners and criminals and sometimes willing subjects). [b]Limits: [/b] No single fae, with the exception of the Empress of Autumn, controls command over every discipline of enchantment. While skilled enchanters can utilize the magic within their blood to learn two or three different practices, they tend to have a natural skill for one type which they study for centuries to master. [b]Weaknesses/Drawbacks: [/b] As with all fae magic, enchanted objects are subject to destruction by iron. Enchanted objects touched by iron lose their magic and instilled qualities, reverting back to normal materials. Additionally, the focus required for this type of magic makes it impossible to use in combat, often requiring inks and crafting materials with which to channel spell and intent. [b]Social Standing: [/b] Gentry Fae are the cream of high society among the Autumn Court, usually skilled magisters, artisans, and crafters of impossible feats. [b]Historical Impact: [/b] Gentry Fae did not acquire their enchantment gifts until the wars of the fae realm, and thus their impact is mostly related to the rise of the Autumn Empress, Aurelia. Before that time, they were skilled artisans and soldiers who recorded ancient events that may still remain as ruins in the human world. Their cerebral place in society has rendered them long lines of scholarly nobility within the Autumn Court.[/hider] [hider=The Court of Autumn] Time flows differently in the realm of Autumn. Twilight lingers for most of the day with much shorter cycles of noontime and nighttime. Its forests are eternally locked in Autumn colors, leaves of every hue coloring the woods with brilliant colors. In addition to this, farmlands are forever rich, producing no shortage of food: a seed planted within may fully mature by the end of a 'day.' Very few denizens of the realm, thus, starve, although it also makes farmers relatively poor due to the eternal surplus. Autumn Court society celebrates beauty, craftsmanship, and magical arts, with its nobility largely earning their place through famed artistic accomplishments and productions. Ultimately, time is not important to the largely long-lived denizens of the Autumn Court. Hard deadlines don't exist for deliveries and products, with perfection and quality always being the most important. Autumn denizens take great pride in their schools and creations, deeming themselves the most civilized among the fae and tending towards neutrality that borders on utter disinterest with the rest of the world. They fear very little with their empress to guide them, whose magic enshrouds the lands of the court in a magical aura which serves to dampen the strength of magic from those not born of the Autumn Court. Even so, there are a few who speak out against this lethargic complacency, mainly guards of the boundaries' gates who have seen the unrest of the outside worlds.[/hider]