Hayleigh (J. P. Brannan's "Shadows and Substance")

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This character was made for a short-lived play by email game run by J. P. Brannan. Somewhere along the line, interest was lost and posts slowed to a crawl and then disappeared altogether. Eventually, J. P. decided to cancel the game, though I've heard that the character lives on as an NPC in a face-to-face version of the same game in Ithaca, NY.

Created: April 1999

Description

Age: Appearance 21, Personal 369, Home 228
Physical Description: 5'6", 120 lbs, slender build, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, fair complexion
Personal Colours: Purple, silver, and black
Personal Symbol: Per pale argent and purpure, a chevron sable, in fess two Fleur-de-Lys; on a chief sable, a fox passant argent

Background

Titles: Lady of Amber
Aliases: Helena de Santiago y Cortes, Marquesa de Santa Ambra (Shadow Tierra D'Oro); Hail (Shadow Carbondale); Leigh (Shadow Britannia)

No longer considered a complete child in Amberite terms, Hayleigh ("hero") has grown quite a bit since she was born out in Shadow. She has developed martial skills fit to beat many a shadow dweller over the years, but certainly does not meet the challenges that the Amber Court can offer. Instead, she is more well known for her mental abilities. Particularly, she is known to be a conjuror, and many suspect that her skill in that regard likely extends further.

By way of personality and disposition, she tends to be mildly reserved with wont to inject a well-thought out comment from time to time. Her bearing is regal and generally worthy of a Lady. It is only in the occasional moment of weakness that a bit of her rougher livelier edge might show through, for under her controlled exterior lies a temper that can set suns afire. In general, she will open up only in private moments where she feels intimately comfortable with her company. Long of memory and less than sincere in forgiveness, she is capable of bearing grudges for a long time, though few have had the misfortune to test those capabilities in some time.

Her childhood and early adult life was spent in Shadow, raised to believe that she was the daughter, Helena ("torchlight"), of Marques Antonio de Santiago y Flores and Marquesa Anna Maria de Cortes y Mariscal of Shadow Tierra d'Oro. The shadow was 18th to 19th century Spanish colonial in flavour, holding steady without much in the way of technical progress. Since the average lifetime was close to 100 years, Helena grew up in an environment that didn't think twice about her apparent speed of aging, or lack thereof. Even when she still appeared to be a young and incredibly eligible woman -- the Marques de Santa Ambra was reknowned for integrity and nobility -- well after her contemporaries had married off and began to show signs of aging, nobles and commoners alike spoke of her beauty and her generosity mixed with speculation of her involvement in the arcane arts.

Indeed, she had studied the magic of the shadow, though never as much as the whispers in the dim taverns would imply. Her primary focus had been the manipulation of material energies and that of the mind. Over the years, she had also developed a reputation of master interrogator. Unknown to her subjects, she had developed, on her own, a strong ability to read and manipulate the minds of others, leaving her charges with a feeling of euphoria when they leave her, even though they may have betrayed their closest compatriots. The obvious result in the lands of Santa Ambra was that there was very little that occurred that might be considered contrary to the spirit and desires of the noble household that overlooked them.

Throughout her childhood, and surreptitiously after she had gained status as a Lady of the Court, Helena studied under the tutelage of Don Diego de Vega, a man who's skill with the sword was more than capable to defend the honour of the Reina. His sense of honour and duty bound him to the Marquesa de Santa Ambra, though, and he remained with the family, more than happy to serve as their champion and general. He taught Helena all that she could take of the arts of fencing and horsemanship. She continued to practice with him, even after she had come of age, much to the chagrin of her parents. Still, she was strong-willed enough to plough forward with her desires, in spite of those who would choose to restrain her.

It must have been 76 years before tragedy befell the family. Caught in border wars with the neighbouring Francescans, the Marques and Marquesa were killed in a dishonourable attack on a moonless night. Enraged by the sheer audacity and cowardice of the Francescans, the Rei declared war upon them, with Helena leading the charge against the foes bearing the marks and devices of her newly-raised status as the Marquesa de Santa Ambra. In decisive first, second, and third strikes, much of the martial capability of the Francescans were obliterated, leaving bad blood between the kingdoms that continue to the present day in repeated border skirmishes and minor wars.

Not long after firmly establishing her right to take the leadership of her household, Helena began to withdraw from public view. There would be days at a time where no one would see her at all, though her chamberlains could more than adequately handle the quotidian tasks and entertainment of suitors. In truth, it was at this time that she discovered her true heritage and spent time with her mother, Gabrielle, in Amber or Shadow. It had been some decades of sneaking between of her home in Tierra d'Oro and Amber before she was prepared to walk the Pattern and ascend to her given name, Hayleigh ("hero").

Though she would continually return to Tierra d'Oro -- it's a place she will always consider home -- she began to branch out into other realms, sampling but a bit of the infinite diversity in infinite combinations found in Shadow. Though she passed through many a place, only two have drawn her interest enough to keep her for any particular length of time. One such shadow was Carbondale, and the other was Brittania.

The first, Carbondale, was a modern shadow, perhaps a darker future of Shadow Earth, where the corporations had become megacorporations and obscured national boundaries to forge a cutthroat and material existance of corporate enclave against corporate enclave with the poor resourceless masses caught in between. Hayleigh took the name Hail ("painful precipitation") there, and proceded to charge forward into the boardrooms to gain the upper hand in one of the major corporations with nothing but figureheads above her and her ambitions. In part due to her meddling, Carbondale descended into Shadow-wide Corp War for a number of years before things settled down, leaving most of the megacorps standing, if batlle-wearied. This only drove Hail's resolve to strengthen, though she recognized a need to take a break. This lead to more travels and the eventual discovery of Britannia.

The other shadow in which she spent considerable amounts of time was a throw back to the days fantasy and mysticism. It was a shadow of considerable magical activity, none of which really concerned Hayleigh, who took the name Leigh ("field meadow") in this venue. Really, she had wanted to just take things easy in this quickly moving shadow. The land had been quiet until events began to overtake the relative calm. Dark prophecies flittered about and men and women alike took arms. Strange creatures took to the air and still more thundered on the ground. Wrapped up in the activity, she was reluctantly drawn into the battle on the side of the a band of altruistic farmers with designs on grandeur, whether their own or those of their companions. She fought at their sides and even made some headway in driving back the beasts back towards the tainted black earth from whence they came, a band of blight that resembled a road of black carnage. Shortly before the climaxing final battle, though, she was once again drawn away, this time by more pressing concerns.

Her mother had come to retrieve her once again, this time with dire news of that state of Amber herself. It would seem that forces from Chaos had reached the foothills of Kolvir and Prince Brand had exposed as a traitor by Prince Corwin. Drawn by the rallying call of King Oberon for the aid of his progeny, Hayleigh was enlisted with many other Amberites to drive deep into Chaos in pursuit of Prince Brand at the Abyss. Though she did not fight in the melee like Princess Deirdre or her uncles, she did her part from afar with bow and ballista until the traitor was finally cornered against the Rim...

Except for a long period of time being a reluctant hero that continually got drawn into helping out the forces of Light in Britannia, Hayleigh has primarily been a woman of nobility with the usual aristocratic views of those without her social standing. Although she is not cruel to her subjects, she nevertheless does not consider them to be her peers. Slavery is not uncommon in the venues where she has felt comfortable and the concept of abolition is mildly disconcerting and quickly pushed out of sight and out of mind. On a personal level, she is generally amiable, though she does maintain a sense of self-superiority when she can. That's something that is hard to do when surrounded by Elder Amberites, however. Her time in Britannia has changed her somewhat of late and when the war with Chaos is over, she may have to sit down and re-evaluate the direction in which write the next chapter of her

Lineage

Hayleigh is the daughter of Gabrielle (daughter of Florimel) and Marques Antonio de Santiago y Flores of Shadow Tierra d'Oro.

Tierra d'Oro

18th/19th century Spanish-flavoured shadow, deep in a colonial era; time almost 1:1 with Amber.

Carbondale

Earth as it might be if the corporations were allowed to take over completely; time roughly 1.25:1 with Amber.

Britannia

A fantasy world resembling Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" setting; time roughly 3:1 with Amber.

The Page of Cups

A razor-edged, metal card that can be used as a throwing weapon with boomerang effects. The card has an image of the Page of Cups card from a tarot deck inscribed on it.

Black Gloves

A pair of thin, black leather gloves that are particularly protective and well-suited for use with The Page of Cups.