Appearance:

As a Goa’uld symbiote, Ariadne is not seen in physical form. Her appearance to everyone else is that of her host, Idalia. Ariadne, however, uses both the Eye Flash and Symbiote Voice when she is directly in control of Idalia’s body, partly out of habit, and partly to make sure there is no question of control for those not watching carefully for the usual signs of a Tok’ra taking or relinquishing control.
Name: Ariadne of Sheyet
Title: None
Role: Tok’ra Civilian Consultant
Unit:
Age: 1103
Gender: Asexual, Female personality.
Reason chosen for Tempest:
She has been sent to the Tempest for a multitude of reasons. The reason known by the Tau’ri is that a Tok’ra was requested for the mission and she is the one the High Council chose. The Tok’ra High Council chose her both as a final test of her loyalty and control, and also to distance her from the majority of the Tok’ra. Their desire to distance her stems from a particular philosophy where she claims the Goa’uld (and Tok’ra) should allow themselves to become extinct as their race has largely brought only disorder, pain and suffering to the Galaxy.
Personality:
Ariadne has a personality atypical for most Goa’uld, and does not even fit the normal Tok’ra personality. She is incredibly old by human standards, though not Goa’uld standards, by which she is middle aged. This only affects her personality in that she has lived for over a thousand years being in complete control of both her host body and almost all the people around her, and it has been difficult for her to get used to. As such, she resents being kept out of decision making processes and dislikes having information held from her. She nonetheless admires the Tau’ri as a species, largely for their ability to work together, something the Goa’uld are notorious for being incapable of. She also deeply respects and admires her Host, Idalia, for her fiery passion and her willingness to take on a Goa’uld symbiote, meaning she will almost never exert control without permission. Though hardly selfless, she still despises overly selfish behaviour, due to the belief that it is the reason the Goa’uld are not themselves the fifth race.
Short Biography:
After taking her first host, Ariadne began as a lesser Lord, ruling a trio of planets in the name of System Lord Ra. For a brief time she reigned supreme over her subjects, second only to Ra himself, bringing no change to them but also no hardships beyond their normal service. Her reign would not last long however. The System Lords battle each other for territory and status constantly, and Ariadne was quickly identified as a weak link in Ra’s territory. Two years into her reign, her Ha’tak was attacked and nearly destroyed by a rival System Lord. Rather than simply blasting it out of the Sky, he boarded it and captured Ariadne. She knew she would be executed, and to escape an early death she pledged loyalty to her captor. To her surprise, he accepted and gave her a position as an Underlord aboard his own Ha’tak.
It was as an Underlord that she truly learned the ways of the Goa’uld, both those of leading as a god, and what it meant to be under the thumb of the System Lords. She learned more effective military command and became a diplomat of moderate skill while with her first System Lord, serving as his hand on the battlefield and in court with other System Lords. It was during the many many years as an Underlord that she was taught the weaknesses of the Goa’uld, usually the hard way - learning from mistakes, both her own and those of others. She saw their arrogance, and that every Goa’uld, at the core of their being, valued only themselves. She saw these weaknesses in herself as well, and was careful not to allow others to manipulate this, even as she used this one piece of knowledge to win battles where otherwise her skill would prove insufficient.
She was largely satisfied with her life as an Underlord, and was content to be traded between the warring System Lords as property, for even as she was, she retained all the privileges of a Goa’uld. Sarcophagus use when necessary to keep her alive and young, a selection of hosts when she tired of her appearance, as well as relative safety. Her life, however, differed from that of the System Lords in a few key ways. She was considered by those servants that saw her as a minor god at best, all their reverence and awe often being directed at whomever was her Lord at the time rather than her. As well, she knew that the Goa’uld wielded no magic, for all the knowledge of their technology resided in her genetic memory, as it does for all Goa’uld. She was not tasked with the tiresome business of maintaining an empire or worrying about who was next likely to betray her as the System Lords kept such things close to themselves, closer than her. This absence of reinforcement of her Godhood meant that she suffered no delusions as some System Lords did, and developed some philosophies at odds with the usual Goa’uld ideas of exploitation.
With such aberrant ideas, the Tok’ra tried to convert her to their cause, but, remaining ever selfish, Ariadne refused them, even as she let them escape. Hers was a life of luxury and excitement, all the pros of being Goa’uld with few of the cons.
It was only when the Tau’ri stormed head-first onto the Galactic stage. The death of System Lord Ra by the hand of mere primitives threw the careful balance between the System Lords into chaos, and for the first time Ariadne was forced to consider that her life as an Underlord might not be as everlasting as she’d believed. When her own System Lord eventually fell, Ariadne was far away from him. She’d predicted that he would not survive the onslaught, and she had ensured that she wasn’t brought down with him. At this point, she had only a Tel’tak and her weapons to her name. In a move both practical and figurative, she discarded her Kara’kesh. This was to ensure she wasn’t easily noticeable as a Goa’uld, as well as to signify the end of her association with the Goa’uld ways. This drastic change had been inspired by the Tau’ri - Ariadne admired how they worked together to achieve the impossible. How they united the many peoples of the universe where the Goa’uld had instead wasted away their lives fighting amongst each other for personal power.
What she could not bring herself to discard, however, was the complete control she still exerted over her host.
It was not until an encounter with the forces of one of the remaining System Lords that she made the final steps toward becoming Tok’ra. She had recently landed on the planet Sheyet to acquire supplies when the Goa’uld attacked. Ariadne was heading to her Tel’tak to leave the humans to their fate when, SG7 arrived to defend the population. Ariadne could not resist the temptation to watch the infamous god-killers of the Tau’ri in action, and so stayed. In the course of the battle, she saved the life of one of the women of the planet, showing her how to wield a Goa’uld weapon against the Jaffa and, inspired by the woman's courage, decided to stay with her and fight the Jaffa.
It wasn’t long before SG7 found their way to the System Lord himself and eliminated him, and, with their god slain, the Jaffa retreated and fled. SG7 also departed not long after, and though Ariadne had been careful to avoid direct contact with them, she had been impressed by their ability to organise a militia from the natives of the planet as well as their co-ordination within their own team. She decided to stay on the planet herself and try her hand at co-ordinated rebuilding, remaining slightly protective of the woman she had saved, whom she’d learned the name of - Idalia.
She wasn’t the only one to stay, however. A group of fanatical Jaffa bent on avenging their God remained on planet and set out raiding the settlements of the Native populace in heavy handed attempts to show power. Ariadne was presented with two options. Present herself as a Goa’uld to these Jaffa and assume control of them as their god, or organise the natives to cast down the few Jaffa warriors. Partially as an experiment in the effectiveness of her ability to bring the humans together and partly out of fondness for Idalia, Ariadne chose to side with the Natives, training those that were willing to wield left over Jaffa staff weapons. With her deep knowledge of Jaffa tactics and strategies, she was able lead the natives in several victorious skirmishes against the left over Jaffa fanatics.
Before the battle with the final group of Jaffa, however, Idalia confronted Ariadne to find out how she knew so much. She was forced to reveal her nature as a Goa’uld, as Idalia would not accept anything but the truth. Ariadne expected to be cast out for sharing the knowledge, but instead Idalia thanked her for choosing to save the people of Sheyet.
During the battle, even as they fought side by side, Ariadne was struck by a Staff weapon blast from one of the last of the Jaffa. Her host body was damaged too much for her to repair on her own, and without a sarcophagus nearby she believed she had finally met her end. Instead, the completely unexpected occurred. Idalia, seeing the saviour of her people dieing, offered herself as a Host for the creature that was truly Ariadne. Ever wishing to live, Ariadne accepted, allowing the previous host body to die. Initially, she suppressed Idalia as she was used to doing with hosts, but it was not long before she realised her error, for that was no way to treat a willing host, or one who’d saved her life.
Ariadne and Idalia officially joined the Tok’ra not long before the death of Ba’al. The System Lords were cast down, and Ariadne did not know what to do, turning to the Tok’ra partially for lack of anywhere else to turn. To the people of Sheyet, it looked as though their hero had been slain while freeing them, and her companion had left through the stargate in despair. A deception Ariadne was happy with, despite how far from the truth it was.
The Tok’ra were slow to accept her, as they are with any Goa’uld turncoat, and they have kept her from leaving the Tok’ra homeworld until now while they ensure her loyalty. Years are largely inconsequential for the Tok’ra, and thus such a long time of mistrust was not seen as strange. The Tok’ra still only partially trust her, but among the Tau’ri, who know well the dangers of a Goa’uld, they believe she can do some good while she properly adjusts to her new existence.