Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2012 8:26:14 GMT -5
Elaine of Astolat
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Name: Elaine of Astolat
Nickname: Lanie
Gender: Female
Age: Sixteen
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Fairytale: Arthurian Legend
Year: Six
Face Claim: Bridgit Mendler
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Personality: Elaine is the epitome of medieval lady in training. Quiet, demure, and utterly devoted to obeying the men in her life, Elaine has spent her whole life wanting nothing more than to marry the man her father chooses for her, and raise the many children she would be expected to bear. Elaine is willing to do anything required of her to keep her superiors and her family happy - she would gladly drown herself or throw herself off a cliff if her father asked her to. She is most at home ordering a banquet for the men on their return from a hunt or a battle, and retiring to the shadows when the food is served, or picking flowers and daydreaming of her future husband out in the meadows surrounding her home. Elaine is kind and generous, and her passive nature is born more from wanting so desperately to please others than from any lack of character.
Being such a passive and retiring person, Elaine is often known to fade into the background - she is much more likely to fold and give in to what someone else wants, even if it means she loses out, as she often does. Elaine has no concept of female assertiveness or equality, and even her links to Avalon and the feminine power exerted there has done nothing to encourage any kind of assertiveness or self-empowerment in Elaine. There is a hope that her exposure to the world of Trenale and Tintagel will draw out a little more feminism and assertiveness in Elaine, but Elaine is really only set on finding a husband...
Appearance: Small and delicately built, Elaine looks like a light breeze could knock her over. She stands at about 5 foot 6, willowy and thin, with long dirty blonde hair which falls to about halfway down her back. Her hair is always worn loose down her back, with small plaits pulled across the side of her head, one long plait down her back, or a plait on each side. It's very rare to see Elaine without flowers adorning her in some way, whether in her hair, or a daisy chain looped around her neck.
Elaine wears long, flowing skirts or dresses, she would never dream of wearing trousers and adorning herself like a man. Her style is very feminine and girly, designed for floating around a house and organising meals and servants, and very little else.
History: Elaine is the youngest child of Bernard of Astolat, and younger sister to Levaine. Born a girl, rather than another coveted son to bring glory to the lesser known house of Astolat, Elaine's upbringing was left mostly to the maids and servants, her mother making the occasional appearance to instruct her in the correct way to stand, sit, serve the wine to her father and brothers, or some other womanly quality essential to winning a respectable husband. Much of Elaine's childhood was spent sitting in the meadows and fields, out of the way of the training of her brothers and her mother's organisation of the household, and daydreaming of marrying a handsome knight, and being a Lady as great as her mother.
Elaine's father's allegiance to King Uther meant that Elaine had had some level of exposure to the royal court and to the knights and ladies there, all of which added to Elaine's daydreams and wishes of a husband, a home, and sons. With the culling of the magical, Elaine's mother sided with the Avalonian's and the magic users, while her father sided with Uther, and the rifts caused within the household led Elaine to retreating further into her dreamworld, waiting for her husband to arrive and whisk her away.
Elaine spent her childhood adoring and idolising her eldest brother, Levaine, who to her was the perfect knight, and exactly what she hoped the man her father would choose as her husband would be. There came the time when he left for the strange school, and his absence was hard on Elaine, who had no one else other than servants to pay her any attention. Her father, mother and brothers were all caught up and involved in Uther and the royal court, and Elaine began to slip further and further into the background, her longed for marriage seeming to be the last thing on anyone else's mind, yet constantly at the forefront of her own. Unaware of the enchantment on her beloved brother, Elaine longed for him to return, never even considering the idea that she could go to him. She wrote him many long letters, but never received a reply, breaking her spirit and her heart, and sending her retreating further and further into the dreams of her life with her currently faceless husband.
Levain's sudden return to his home brought Elaine out of her reverie, and her spirit soaring. Racing to her brother, she was scared and confused by the change brought about him, and she knew there was something wrong. She felt he needed her protection, as the rest of the community seemed wary of his return, and eager for him to leave once more. Elaine had been aware of his plans to leave once more, and she feared for him; he was not himself, he barely remembered any of their past life together and seemed to think he was someone else. Elaine prepared to leave with him, but she took too long deliberating, the fear of leaving her home and possibly missing her chance to marry her faceless knight, and Levain was gone before the fifteen year old Elaine had made the decision to help him.
Elaine spent a year fearing for her dear brother, fearing that something had happened to him, that he would never return. As things in the kingdom got worse, and the chance of her being married soon seemed to be fading further and further, Elaine took the step of speaking to her father and asking for him to consider a match for her. Having too much else on his plate to deal with, and not wanting to deal with the dreamy requests of an ignorant girl, Bernard decided to have Elaine sent away. Fearing a nunnery, where she would never marry and bear sons, Elaine frantically suggested the school Levaine had gone to, and Bernard quickly accepted, relieved to have the girl gone and out of his responsibility for a while.
Other: Dreams do come true - but happy endings are no guarantee...
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Sample Post:
Elaine stood at the portal that had appeared on the edge of the town, her home. She looked back towards the castle, the castle where she'd grown up, the meadows she'd played in. She looked back towards the portal, fear gripping her chest. She wasn't afraid of the magic in front her; her time spent in Avalon had erased all fear of magic, it was just another way of life. Her fear was of leaving the world she knew. What she might find in the world through the dark swirling magic. If she walked through this gateway, what was she forgoing? What if this new world didn't have a place for a girl like her? What if she missed the knight she was supposed to marry?
She shook her head. As her father had so bluntly told her, it was time to let go of childish daydreams and grow up. It was time to improve herself, expand her mind and learn more of the world around her. And, although she hadn't mentioned this to her father, perhaps her knight was waiting for her in this new land...
She took a breath and stepped forward, her bag in her hand. She had no one there to say goodbye to, her father and mother had too much to do to accompany her, and besides, as her mother said, she was sixteen years of age now, she was a grown woman, she didn't need her parents babying her anymore.
Sixteen. Most girls of her age were married with babies on their hips by now. She stepped forward into the portal.
