User Profile

-Some Basic History-

Meanne DeIredescence was born Anissa Ilistaire on the 39th day of the 10th month of Nissa the Maiden in the year of the Silver Unicorn, 322 years after the victory of Lanival the Redeemer. She first came into this world on the island of M'riss, and she was the pride and joy of her parents. Her father was a talented human Wizard by the name of Roland Firestein and her mother was the significantly less powerful Aravella Ilistaire. Though not nearly as "impressive" as her spouse, this unguilded Elothean woman was far more distinguished in many respects.

Roland had been a commoner from simple means who had worked his way up through the eschelons of the Warrior Mage Guild. He had met Aravella at a young age, the two had fallen in love at first sight, and married. A common tale.

Aravella was more than just the handsome wife of a wizard. She heralded from a minor noble Elothean House, scattered throughout the province of Qi. Aravella's mother Artamia, specifically, had been the daughter of a Rathan-born noblewoman -- the Marquess Lorien Valanorhae-Ilistaire. Her pregnancy had shown at an ill time, and Lorien's husband, the Marquise Altris Ilistaire, banished her to the streets for suspected infidelity. The direct descendants of that direct line, to this day, lack much of the peerage and recognition that their cousins and other relatives enjoy. In fact, Lorien, Artamia, AND Aravella were even actively shunned by the family. Deposed.

Aravella, though greatly untutored save for the court mannerisms taught to her by her mother, had a coarse grip on several Lunar spells, and an inherent gift for some evasive forms of prophecy. She also had in her possession a small collection of magically imbued looking glasses, which were family heirlooms [passed down from that oh-so-scandalous grandmother of hers -- their exact origin is a mystery].

*In the winter of 326 A.L., the Olensari Mihmanan that populate the island's deserts grew restless for whatever reason, and some of them began to wander into the more populated areas. A few managed to stumble upon the estate of Anissa's family. [One must wonder at the timeliness of that event.] Roland was caught with his guard down. Armed in nothing but his nightcloths, a gold-handled cane and his magic, he fought valiantly to the death defending his wife and child. Many of the Mihmanan had been slain by his efforts, but some still remained out in the courtyard.

Aravella had been unable to foresee the coming of the Mihmanan, and would hate herself for the incompetence until her dieing day (which was not far off). The woman was just too weak of a mage to try and kill even one of the Mihmanans herself. She could have tried waiting the siege out, but it might have been weeks before one of their Rissan neighbors discovered their plight -- and by then it might have been too late. Making what may have been a rash decision in retrospect [in her defense she was, after all, most distraught at the loss of her Jaunezcama], Aravella used all of her limited magical knowledge to conjure up a sort of spirit.

This spirit -- Daderil -- was shrouded in shadows and carried an impressive staff. Aravella bargained with him using her soul as well as her precious ensorcerelled mirrors. It was arranged that her daughter would be transported by the spirit far away from M'riss, to safety. But she had never bothered to specify where. She had simply assumed that "safety" meant some relatives on the nearby islands, or perhaps a loving peasant family. And so the spirit took her daughter, and her life. Instead of bringing Anissa to "safety" as her mother had envisioned it... the Elothean child was deposited on the shores of the Faldesu River. The only memory she has of her birth parents is a few strands of her mothers hair; which the demon, -- the spirit, -- saw fit to weave into a ring for her. A binding contract to carry throughout the ages. Anissa has seen the spirit several times again throughout the progression her life -- he is a strange and enigmatic creature.

Anissa was eventually found and adopted by the Warrior Mages Lilathe and Easttuth, a wealthy Riverhaven couple whose racial imcompatibility made it impossible to bear their own children. Vocalizing herself as "Me-Ann" "Me-Ann" (trying valiantly to say what she knew of her own name), Anissa soon became known as Meann, or Meanne, as we know now her. The household she found herself in was not a very proper one to facilitate children. Easttuth locked himself away with his runes for hours at a time, and Lilathe would often "entertain" a staggering number of male guests in the parlor.

As she grew older, Meanne would amuse herself by often walking along the Faldesu, and playing with the other Therengian children. Many of these, she discovered, were orphans. Of those she met, she took quite a few of them back to the household to live with her... a new family to dote on and look after (perhaps an inherant Elothean need, hmm..). Some of these 'children' were almost as old as she at the time! But Easttuth and his wife had plenty of money, and no offspring of their own. They welcomed these new additions to their household with relative indifference -- after all, they were too busy to be affected by them very much anyways. And at least they now had children to boast of -- kids were all the rage at the time. The first of these "adoptions" began with the twins Hermes and Talac, who were both to rise to noteable fame in the guild Anissa would later join herself. Cynthea and Gharrek were the other two individuals to be taken in by her rather capricious generosity.

*To Summarize, Meanne's youth was turbulant. She joined the Warrior Mage guild as soon as she was able too; and was a vocal, immature, brash and troublesome teenager. But she had her mother's looks, and her father's thick head of shocking black hair (albeit with a high forehead). Starting at an extremely young age, she began to marry and divorce at a whirlwind pace, and the birth of many children happened to be the result. Arcaddessabboth, Powerhaus, Itosu, Mykas, and Dritzfury were her first five husbands -- it seemed that every few years there was a new man in her life. She was hardly bound by the usual Elothean societal dictims of morality.

And though she had raised plenty of offspring so far in her life (most of whom opted to move out and begin adventuring on their own at very tender ages -- hmm, I wonder why...), it was a new baby boy, Deshian, who helped turn her life around. The progeny of Itosu and herself, this newest son somehow brought a long-stunted maternal instinct to light, and the woman's behavior began to modify accordingly.

She stopped being *quite* such a reckless floozy. She wanted to ensure that Deshian had the best of everything, and that meant that she needed her own money, and lots of it. Eventually she concluded that Itosu certainly wasn't going to provide it. She quickly married Mykas Velcameron after Deshian's father passed away under mysterious circumstances. It was a wise move. Mykas was an Elven Ranger with supposed duchal lands situated near Leth Deriel, and money happened to be his middle name. But Meanne was an opportunist, and she realized that the lives of men happened to be all-too-frail. She had to make her own money, her own security, if she was going to provide the best things in life for her son. At least now she had access to Mykas' purse -- a jumping off point, if you will. She began to take an interest in profit margins and business. She started to carry and sell merchandise, racking up plenty of money in short amounts of time. When Mykas died suddenly, unexpectedly, unexplainably, in the prime of his life, she inherited his lands and his money too. Recently widowed, she felt it was now time to bring her favored, cherished child out into the world. [Note: Whatever hell Mykas had been banished too, he returned, with a vengeance. Meanne was forced to abandon her always tenacious grip upon the lands they had once lived on together. It is a situation she recalls to this day with bitterness. It's a pity that some men just do not stay dead.]

Meanne arranged for Deshian to attend a small early-start type schooling program hosted by a gentle Gor'Tog matron in Tiger Clan. It was during his first year there that the child would die to goblin swords, as they were led to attack by the witch Kaiyetkia. The loss of her baby son changed the mage forever.

She remained in isolation for quite some time, which eventually began to wear upon her health. Over time though, her despair turned to rage, and rage to ambition towards vengeance, and finally -- motivation. She had other family members, after all. Other children. And there would be more. And she resolved that none of them would ever again walk the Starry Road before she. Shifting her focus from the typical elemental magics that had failed to save her son, she began researching the darker, more powerful forbidden spells that can be found by those who look in the shadowy recesses of the world.

Religion she turned her back on forever, finding sanctity instead in the beliefs of a "heretical" coven of witches that briefly formed in the Zoluren area. She still believes the things that they taught her, even today. She still practices some of the weird magics she learned under their tutelage.

Meanne began a new endeavor to amass as much money and knowledge (as well as luxury and power, when available) as she could, the path for future was set. And still is. She has one ambition. To see that she and hers prosper. And that sort of security requires an incredible amount of power...

*It is important to note that she had a child quite some time ago with one of her guildmates, Magmus Bloodston. The two mages married soon after the birth, and remained so for over a decade. Their progeny, a girl (born an Elothean Savant) by the name of Morsithia, was anything either of her parents could have ever wanted.

Meanne has since divorced the one named Magmus, having decided that long-term marriages are nice but not really something she is suited for. Magmus presently serves as Royal Steward of Ratha's House Redthorne.

In recent days she has been tied to the assassin Enef Scafft, most noted for his slaying of Princess Arilana of Zoluren. They have a son together, Luc Francois.

Presently though, Meanne is a woman of action, not docility. There are several new marriage proposals on the table, but she contents herself with less meaningful relationships for the time being....

*Meanne is deathly allergic to figs.
*She also is terrified of, and congruently despises... gnomes.

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This is her journal. A handsome, leather-bound black volume that rests upon a polished cherrywood lady's desk. It has gold trim along the edges and corners, and is inlaid with a spherical insignia of two intertwining serpents devouring the other's tails. The pages of are fine vellum, the ink that scrolls across their surface in spidery script is of a deep black or blood red color.

A sinister-looking carved bone bloodlock holds the journal shut and ensures its security.

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Read it at your own risk.

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[DISCLAIMER]
While every post is written in an IC fashion, it's written in Meanne's PRIVATE Journal. Sitting on her desk. In her townhouse. On Captain's Circle. Now, unless you wish to roleplay stealthily breaking into her house, which is maintained by servants and thus guarded at fairly all times, and know some mystical way to broach the powers of the bloodlock keeping said journal shut -- there's no way in hell that you're going to know the journal's contents ICly.

Some of the stuff is just average lore and something everyday joes would know. Other stuff is highly sensitive, "classified" information. "What sort of stuff is classified?", you might be asking yourself.

A good rule of thumb to follow in regards to recognizing whether something is 'classified' information or stuff your character most likely wouldn't know ICly is:

*Anything that Meanne is plotting. Secret motivations, and the pre-meditations of murder or assassination that will no doubt find their way into this journal.

*Anything that involves heretical rituals (we'll be seeing more of this in the future). Meanne is a witch. She is NOT a nice person. But this is a little known, little seen side of her, and your level 20 Empath isn't going to know that last night she, in cold-blood, sacrificed some poor innocent to the dark powers of the elements.

*Anything concerning her associations with "Master Strawn". That is TOP SECRET information and if anyone brings it IG, I will stop updating this journal for an elongated period of time. Why? Because it's TOP SECRET information pertaining to an ongoing event which is paramountly important for my character. It's not stuff your character would know ICly and bringing it IC would... irritate me immensely.

That's about it. I intend to write about every merchant GMNPC or every regular GMNPC I stumble across and as far as I'm concerned that information is fair game to anyone who reads this journal.

Spear-heading some anticipated F.A.Q.'s right from the beginning:

"Why do you keep an IC Journal if so many things need to be kept in an OOC Medium?"

Because. Because Meanne is a complex character. Because my memory isn't so good in the real world :) Because I want to keep track of her daily activities, and this is the best way how.

"WHY IS MEANNE SO EVIL WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE A SNUGGLE BUNNY LIKE MY CHARACTER??!"

Because I have noticed the lack of consistant evil characters in Dragonrealms. Meanne's alignment is evil, with or without the presence of GMNPC's to augment it. Not every character in DR *should* be a grump, or a snuggle bunny, or a senile old lady. We need some real evil folks. Real evil!

"Ritualistic sacrifices?! I'm a reborn again Christian, and that's against my religion! You're a sick, twisted individual and that sort of conduct does not belong in the game! I quit!"

Relax. Anything mildly wicked or evil that Meanne does is either off-camera (meaning it might not even actually be acted out, but its an understood IC progression), or by those who have a fairly good idea of what to expect and may as well have signed a disclaimer. I'm sorry if my character's conduct distresses you, but relax. It's just a game, and furthermore, it's just roleplay. The mind behind the character is a harmless college student. I promise.

"According to this journal, Meanne has a lot of sex and affairs and stuff. She's a slut! I'm telling!"

Go ahead :) Meanne's flamboyant, selfish, indulgant, consumptive nature is something I try very hard to roleplay effectively. It's her public persona. Her ahh -- sexual appetite is only one facet of it. Meanne does have a rather scandalous amount of partners, but please keep in mind it's JUST roleplay and the 'scenes' that 'happen' between them occur off-camera, always! :)

"You keep an online, in-character journal for your character? Are you some sort of crazy obsessive nutjob?!"

No. Just a very dedicated player who happens to love writing. It's what I do.

And that concludes our regularly scheduled disclaimer.

I hope that if you read this journal you will respect its contents. Thank you.

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Addendum:

Here is a bit more information on the line of House Ilistaire, some of their history, etcetera, taken from my private notes. It is in post format, as I just had to address the issue on the boards:

Meanne is directly descended from a minor noble family referred to as "House Ilistaire". Meanne's particular line that stems from this house was seperated over a large schism, scandal, internal conflict, and madness. She herself isn't really a noble since the conflict wound up sort of deposing them from the inheritance -- but there is enough information out there where she could probably take a stand if she wanted to, given who the current head of the house is. [Note: I as a player, while RPing this as a desire for Meanne -- will likely NEVER attempt to replace the current head of the house, Verona. The reason for this? To roleplay a 'noble' requires a lot of effort and restraint which are simply not some of Meanne's character traits. Her youngest daughter would be a more likely candidate, and she is more often than naught sickly and softspoken -- she also dislikes the world of the court and is bashful about it. Neither of them are really noble material at this point, so -- this is largely just character history, not me declaring any of my characters nobles or anything.]

That said -- they are Elotheans. None of the Rathan Ruling Houses are Elothean. It should have arisen to someone's attention now that they could not be a ruling family on Ratha -- a good observation. I never claimed that they were. Without getting into the nitty gritty, the family simply has a sizeable estate and some property in Reshalia's countryside. They maintain their title, but it is not a title given to them by Reshalia's government -- several generations have just lived there and co-existed with the natives and their appointed governments.

As for further information on the history of their line, where the "Marquise" title came from, it is a lengthy story tied in with events stemming from both Ilithi and Aesry Surlaenis'a. Some of the founding family members came to Aesry during the Resistance Wars and helped cultivate it with many other Elotheans (and eventually Elves, and S'kra Murs, etcetera.)The easiest translation of their hereditary title from Gerenshuge into Common -- is Marquise. They are titled by and landed in Aesry Surlaenis'a.

At the moment, they have significant (but private) reason to settle on Reshalia for the time being. Being no strangers to wealth, they have had no real problem just settling in. While they keep up in social circles, they, out of personal preference, do not seek to govern or hold much authority (especially now that Vero. is at the helm of the family.) Not since Degronne Ilistaire was Marquess and led the family to settle on Reshalia in the first place have the Ilistaires even bothered with politics. It would be safe to assume they dabble only enough to ensure that they are allowed to remain on the island, generally unmolested. They still have their title from Aesry and their lands there, and it is a matter of great gossip as to why they so abruptly moved their living quarters to Reshalia in the first place.

To clarify, "She was married to the Marquise Altris Ilistaire of Reshalia" -- he lives on Reshalia, rather, lived. Not, was a major ruling noble figure in Reshalia. I appologize for the confusion and will seek to be clearer in my posts.

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