Helena Albanach

[Helena Albanach]

. What's the  w o r s t  you take?. 
.: From  e v e r y  heart you break? :.

Face Claim: Rachel SKARSTEN
Player: Pyxis

CHARACTER NAME: Helena Albanach
BIRTHDATE: 31st December
AGE: 25
HOMETOWN: Teronna
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Teronna

. . : To the vows you t a k e : . .  

.. (And say goodbye) To the life you made..  

...: (And say goodbye) To the heart you break :...

APPEARANCE: Red hair and green eyes, Helena is a striking woman. A woman not easily forgotten, she takes great pride in her appearance and is rarely glimpsed without her face carefully painted and dressed in her finery. At home, the servants would often joke that if someone should chance upon the young lady of the house sleeping, they would find her sleeping in her finest gowns. This of course, was untrue, but no-one was brave (or stupid) enough to disturb Helena’s rest. Ever since she was a teen she has carried herself with grace, poise, and a command which comes oh so easily to women who have never heard the word ‘no’. 

MARITAL STATUS: Unwed and emotionally unattached, formally engaged

FAMILY TIES: Father | Albanach || Mother | Albanach || Eldest Brother | Albanach || Older Brother | Albanach || Older sister | Albanach || Younger sister | Albanach || Younger brother | Albanach || Aunt | Albanach || Aunt | nee Albanach || Fiancé | Name TBD || 

OCCUPATION: Viperidae Duenna

MILITARY: A Viperidae like her aunt before her, she was trained from a young age that both her mind and body were better than any smith-forged weapon.  A sweet smile can disarm, a clever word can cut deeper than a blade, and that men are most vulnerable with their trousers down. She joined the Viperidae when she joined society and fifteen.  Her skills in weapons are lacking, she is next to useless with a bow unless she's shooting at a stationary target, but she is somewhat capable unarmed or with small daggers in close combat.  Her strengths instead lie in subterfuge and incapacitating her opponents whilst unaware.  She is currently engaged with rooting out the mystics hiding amongst the nobility. 

SOCIETAL TITLE:

Title: Lady

Source of wealth: Family money and successful trade with the ‘civilized lands’ of Tresteria and Aralore.

Estate Name if applicable: (I’ll get back to you, I am bad at this)

GRAMARYE GIFT: none

PERSONALITY: Sharp as a knife and quick as a whip, Helena is a delight to have on your side.  Trained from a young age to be a perfect wife by her mother, and a perfect weapon by her aunts.  She's used to getting her way.  Highly competitive, Helena often seems incapable of ignoring a challenge- though in actuality, she picks her battles very carefully.  Like her mother, she has mastered the art of saying one thing and meaning another.  It's a delicate game to play, being one of the Warden's Vipers, but Helena plays it so well she's already eying a higher position with the goal of splitting the Viperidae from the Warden Order.  Too many rules and regulations, too many hoops to jump through- they'd fare better alone.

HISTORY: The middle child and the middle daughter, Helena managed to avoid some of the pressures that faced her older siblings, particularly her older sister.  She grew up in a loving home.  Her parents want what's best for the family, yes, but they also want what's best for their children and they wanted them to be happy.  As long as Helena and her siblings behaved, excelled in their studies, and devoted time to pursuits appropriate to children of their position: they were granted some liberties with their free time.  Helena spent a great deal of time in the company of her paternal aunts.  She found them, and the lives they led, fascinating.  They seemed to be everything a noble lady should be, they were dignified, poised, always dressed exceptionally and yet they seemed to be so much more... they spoke their minds, one never married, and their painted lips were always curled in a smile that suggested they knew a secret.  Helena wanted nothing more than to be like them.

She copied them, with their help and encouragement and much to her father's dismay.  Mirroring their dress, their mannerisms, and they taught her their ways.  Beneath their guidance and tutelage, Helena learned languages, botany, how to sing sweetly, to paint, to plan, games of chess.  She even joined them sometimes on their ventures to Aralore and Tresteria, they passed the time on the long voyages teaching her how to defend herself using the tools a lady could carry without question: her body, the pins in her hair, poison oh so easily contained within a ring or jewel.  As a young girl, Helena never questioned it, she adored her aunts and enjoyed having a secret from her sisters and her mother.

At fifteen, her mother introduced her to society, and at fifteen, her aunts sponsored her entry into the Viperidae.  Suddenly her world got a whole lot bigger.  The two lives blended seamlessly, the position in court granted by her birth making it almost too easy to fulfil her duties as a recruit.  Helena rose up the ranks quickly, taking more pleasure in the pride of her aunts and the Viperidae as a whole than the task itself.  

At 23 a match was made on her behalf, two years have passed and she's yet to meet the man.  Though they have exchanged letters at her father's encouragement.

. . :If you want I'll keep on c r y i n g: . .  

.. Did  y o u  get what you deserve? ..  

...: Is this what you a l w a y s want me for? :...