Saoirse (Bridgette Ruggles' "Age of Retribution")

Created for Bridgette Ruggles' play by email game, "Age of Retribution," Saoirse -- pronounced SEER-sha, if you're curious -- is the daughter of Benedict and is the velvet glove to his iron fist. She's been moving along slowly, certainly her play has not been as fast and furious as some of the other players, but that's largely my fault for having a sporadic play turnaround and not always being able to check email or respond at work.

I like the character. She's smart and competent, yet is also probably the most traditionally feminine of the entire roster. It's been fun and I look forward to continuing her play.

Description

At first glance, the figure standing at the peak of a rocky mountain appears almost demonic, covered in spikes and spines that flare out menancingly from a distinctly feminine body. Although its design seems impractical and the coverage a little less then would be fully protective, the rich gold and silver looks nigh impenetrable. The one unique departure from the metallic weave is a solitary, greatly faceted gem. The colour of the gem was a very dark smoky grey that approaches black and pulses with a seeming life of its own. A short black cape flutters behind the woman's back, reminiscent of wings, while a long pike, decorated with ribbons of white, yellow, and black.

A closer look would reveal that the basis of the gold and silver creature is, in fact, a rather statuesque woman. Beneath the fluid metal that lacks any obvious clasps or breaks, she stands with authority and confidence. Tall for a woman, it is obvious that she is likely taller than many men, though she is not bulky or muscular by any stretch of the imagination. She is strikingly slender and wouldn't appear to be much of a threat if she had been wearing a gown instead of armour. Darker than chestnut, long straight brown hair is tied up in a topknot that arcs high in the air and dangles down to her shoulders. From behind the mask that snakes forward over her cheeks and forehead, large attentive eyes peer out with a measuring steel grey gaze.

Physical Description: 6', 160 lbs. Dark brown hair, near black, usually worn straight and shoulder length. Eyes vary between dark grey & icy blue. Slender build.
Personal Colours: White, Black and Yellow
Personal Symbol: Caltrops
Heraldry: Shield: Argent, a griffin sable rampant dexter; on a chief sable, three caltrops or
Significator: Page of Wands

Saoirse's Trump

Saoirse does not have any known Trumps.

Background

Lucerne was a small kingdom in the mountainous spine of the a continent in Shadow, Karlsruhe, by name. It is a land steeped in hardy men and women, for the climate was harsh, yet filled with beauty and the arts from its rich culture. The Sword was highly respected and regarded, as much the equal of admiration and love given to the Pen. Into this land, came the wanderings of the Real.

Decades after absenting himself from the family politics following the defence of Amber against the Moonriders of Ghenesh, Benedict came to Lucerne, once again in search of new challenges after his sojourn in an Avalon of his own discovery. What he found was war and beauty.

For years, Lucerne had been warring against neighbouring Hausbrucke. Hopelessly outnumbered, Lucerne had been fighting a losing battle into the mountains that had not resulted in utter defeat because of the terrain and their tenacity. When Benedict traveled to the shadow, he had intended to continue through, but upon hearing of the Lucernians' plight during his layover at the Laumann stronghold in the pass between the jagged peaks of Eidos and Zeigast, he stayed instead.

It was while he built up the troops of Laumann and taught them of tactics to take even better advantage of their mountainous land that he became enamored of one of the daughters of the Lord of the Keep, Lady Silken. Years of courtship ensued, while he and the newly trained troops repulsed the Hausbruken invasion, and when the conflict had finally come to an end, the heavily lauded war hero wed Silken. In short order, they were blessed with a lovely daughter.

The little girl was named Saoirse, meaning "freedom." It seemed wholly apt, for her life was made possible by the freedom that the kingdom had just gained. While growing up, she was schooled in the ways of her parents, with focus in literature and the arts as well as the martial requisites that her father would have insisted upon. Initially too young to participate in her father's exercises as the family traveled the realm, improving defences and skill, the hero's daughter began her training with the Swordmaster of Schloss Schoen, the capital of Lucerne.

Though she enjoyed the physical activity of the practice yard and could hold her own against much older boys, it was clear from the beginning that she loved it all. The books and the arts were just as much a part of her as the sabre and the shield. It was always an exercise to pull her from one activity to practice the other, though once she had refocused, she would be completely immerse in the new task.

When she was considered old enough, she was allowed to join Benedict and his troops on manoeuvres in the mountains. The camaraderie and skills that she developed in these exercises bonded her to her fellow warriors in ways that rivaled what any family could offer and more in some respects.

Her upbringing was very conservative, with a strong emphasis on the value of order and justice. Loyalty was taught, but not at the expense of vigilance against those who may choose to take advantage of the virtue. People had their place in the system. Lords were lords, knights were knights, and peasants were peasants, and people stayed where they belonged and acted according to their station.

The years since their failed invasion did not see the Kingdom of Hausbrucke idle, though, and before long their thirst for conquest was rekindled. Learning from the mistakes of the past, they amassed an even larger force to take Lucerne by storm as well as the nations that lay beyond the Spine. The campaign mounted by Hausbrucke would consume the Kingdom of Lucerne for twenty years.

More than the conflict that brought him to the Shadow, the war was truly a test of wills and skill, for the Hausbrucken outnumbered the Lucerne by vast numbers. It was this war that gave Saoirse a true taste of what fanned the flames of desire in her father. Though she found it exhilarating, her passion for it was not as strong as he might have liked. She fared well in the battles and the planning, though.

Nothing surprises Benedict much and certainly not his daughter. He was pleased to find that her other schooling hadn't been for naught as she rose to serve as a diplomat above and beyond her duties as a field general. Between soothing the enemy in talks even while her father routed their forces systematically in the rocky crags of Lucerne, and taking her troops to hold against the attackers with the tactical genius of warlords three times her senior, exploits abounded to lift in song the name of a woman that was barely into her twenties.

The campaign went well beyond mere defence of the realm; it led Lucerne deep into Hausbrucken lands. The fight was long and hard, but the Lucerne were able to claim victory at last when their invaders surrendered unconditionally to the much smaller kingdom. In the end, Saoirse drafted the treaty that would cede the former lands of Hausbrucke to the control of Schloss Schoen.

The end of the war was a mixed blessing; though the jubilation of victory could be heard on the grounds of the keeps across the kingdom, in Schloss Schoen and Laumann Keep, it was tempered by the sad news of Lady Silken¹s illness. The suffering was long and arduous with the Lady fighting against the disease as valiantly as her brethren had fought the Hausbrucken. Even the best doctors were able to do little more than numb the pain for the Lady as her health deteriorated. Before she had reached fifty years of age, Saoirse¹s mother passed away.

Both father and daughter were greatly affected by her death, mourning her death for the two seasons traditional to the customs of the Lucerne. Though he stayed with her while she negotiated and administered the new occupying government of the ceded Hausbrucke lands, it was clear to the daughter that Benedict was growing restless. Saoirse, though, no matter her other responsibilities, was always her father's daughter. When he came to her to tell her of his intention to leave Lucerne, there was no question that she would leave with him. With little preparation as to what would lay ahead, Benedict's daughter found herself traveling through Shadows for the first time in her life.

The ports of call were many and varied, very much a shock to a woman who had never traveled beyond the borders of her small realm, except in the process of war. The experiences were educational and by the time the second year of traveling had come around, she was beginning to adjust to the adaptation to new Shadows with some aplomb. She wasn't quite so adept as her father, but he had millennia to practice.

That journey led inevitably to the One True City, twenty years before Eric would seize the throne. Saoirse learned of her heritage as a daughter of Amber, though Amber¹s role in the universe did not become apparent until she began lessons to prepare her for the Pattern, administered primarily by Brand. Consequently, under excellent albeit brooding tutelage, Saoirse¹s education in the Pattern was cautious and in-depth. Given her more advanced age compared to her peers, Brand took his time.

He probably would have spent more time still, were it not for Benedict's interference. Sensing the advancement of discussions about succession, he chose to absent himself from the proceedings, but would not do so until he saw his daughter claim her birthright. Not long after Justin was born, Benedict placed Saoirse on the Pattern. When she reached the middle, he Trumped away, leaving only the instruction, "Come find me."

Old enough to handle herself, with enough knowledge to get herself into trouble, Saoirse traveled through shadows for years while her father led her on a merry chase. Occasionally, she followed the flights of fancy that any young woman with all of the cosmos available to her would desire. She caught up with him eventually, back in the Avalon he had discovered over a century before and stayed with him for a time before striking out on her own adventures.

Heeding her father¹s advice before she left, and sensing the tides of politics a they were, Saoirse stayed away from Amber for quite some time, hopping from one political hotspot to another. Though the scenery, people, and cultures changed, the themes seemed awfully similar. Like her father, who had sought shadow upon shadow of military challenges, Saoirse sought out varying political situations, many of them hotbeds of conflict. It would seem that her first major challenge had whetted her appetite for the negotiations surrounding conflict.

Eventually, her path would lead her back to her father in Avalon just as Gerard was bringing him home from his encounter with Corwin on the road. The reunion was a joyful one, if tearful for the mourning of the slain servants, and father and daughter shared a segment of their lives once more. Eventually, they relocated back to Amber to deal with the encroachment of the Black Road. As she would anywhere, she built up her information networks to keep tabs on the local goings-on, though it would serve her little use when the family embarked on the Patternfall War in a march right up to the Abyss.

Lineage

Saoirse is the daughter of Benedict (Royal House Barimen of Amber) and Silken (House Laumann of Lucerne), a woman from the mountainous shadow of Karlsruhe.

Nachtauge ("Nighteye")

Perhaps its most notable incarnation is as a suit of armour with varying coverage. With a black gem centered over Saoirse's heart, the armour spreads out all over her body, covering her head to toe in a nigh impenetrable gold armour with silver highlights. Unlike the simplistic armours found in European Earth or even the fancier armours found in feudal Japan, the Nachtauge is extremely intricate with spikes and spines liberally trailing off her body, giving the overall image a very demonic cast. Its ability to change shape also makes it capable of taking advantage of any weapons in hand and enhance their function.

In its more subdued form, the armour appears to be nothing more than a very elaborate necklace focused around a black gem. The setting of the gem is predominantly gold with just the right amount of silver trim to highlight the most delicate features of the exquisite jewelry. Intricately faceted, the gem pulses subtly, giving the impression of life.

That impression is not far from the truth, the Nachtauge does have a life of its own, it seems. Though it doesn't need to take in sustenance like most creatures, it does have sentience, although to a limited degree. It hadn't always been a woman's bauble or the bauble's alter ego; the originating shadow of the armour was inhabited by scores of similar metallic creatures. They are extremely long lived and appear to have been born from deep within the ground, rather than by some mating process. Their natural disposition is fairly calm, but they can be extremely vicious if threatened. Though they aren't psychic, there is some level of empathy, at the very least.

Fairly early in her adult life, while she was still in the earlier phases of her training, Saoirse made a few mistakes in a shadow far beyond the other side of Ygg. Though she was well trained, she was nevertheless unable to overcome the overwhelming numbers mounted by the enemy and was forced to flee with her life. Her retreat took her across shadow until she collapsed in a mountainous region of Shadow Denonn. She didn't have any prior knowledge of the shadow until she chose it as a resting place to heal her wounds. Alas, her wounds were great enough to leave her unconscious for quite some time while her tissues stitched themselves back together.

Unknown to her, the shadow was inhabited by two distinctly different kinds of being. There were the Metalloids and the Minerals, for lack of better names. Saoirse never could quite understand their language well enough to pronounce the names that they called each other and, no doubt, the names given to the Minerals were racial epithets of some sort. There was no love between the two, that was for certain. Into this ongoing conflict, Saoirse dropped herself into a pocket where the Metalloids were losing ground to the Minerals and quickly.

In its many travels, one of the Metalloids happened upon the prone figure of Saoirse. Unlike its younger cohorts, this Metalloid had seen flesh and blood before, familiar with the creatures as those who would appear and adopt Metalloids for unknown purposes. The selection process by the Fleshers was an act viewed upon with almost religious fervor by the Metalloids. Consequently, this elder Metalloid could not let the opportunity pass to join with the unconscious Flesher.

When Saoirse awoke, she found herself protectively encompassed by the Metalloid. It wasn't too long before she discovered that the rather elaborate suit of armour that she wore was itself sentient and empathic to some degree, allowing her to mold its shape and appearance, almost unconsciously. The Metalloid bonded to her in a symbiotic relationship where both would benefit from the merger. Though the Metalloid had never expressed itself coherently in thought, its influence on Saoirse's emotions can certainly be felt and she suspects that as part of their joining, the Metalloid was somehow becoming stronger, learning from her own strengths.

Its other abilities were more readily determined. It had an incredible ability to protect against almost all kinds of attack, though it had a tendency to destroy perfectly good outfits with its zeal to shield its host from harm. Its shapeshifting abilities were easily determined and used extensively to keep it well camouflaged. The Metalloid wasn't dubbed the Nachtauge until much later, when Saoirse returned to the civilization that is Avalon and it took its now usual form of an elaborate necklace.

Room Description

Let's start with a basic three chamber layout, with a sitting room, bathroom, and a bedroom. If you want to call it a fourth room, the walk-in closet is expansive.

The sitting room would be well appointed. Though not as opulent as what might be found in the proper rooms for meeting visiting dignitaries, it's clear that she puts much thought into making this place appealing, yet cozy, for the more informal discussions. Comfortable chairs, a fireplace, fine art depicting great milestones in Amber's history (even if she wasn't alive for it), and ornately carved wood furniture that looks like it might even predate her in age. Quite a few items here are finely crafted works of art in their own right, from the candlesticks to the clocks imported from shadow to the candy dishes. This is her court and it reflects on her love of antiquities and history.

The bathroom is pretty, but functional. Pristine marble floors and walls line the stone of the castle, taking away some of the harshness of the stonework and replacing it with gleaming cleanliness. The tub is always well polished and well-tended, for she is one that enjoys her baths. The other appointments, from wash basins to the gilding around the large oval mirror are all gold.

The bedroom continues the motif, though here there is more allowance for the softer side of her personality. A four poster bed is draped in diaphanous silks to shroud the occupant(s) in obscurity, while other silks, smooth and cool to the touch, are used for her sheets and pillows for the most luxurious sleeping environment possible. There is a dressing table here, as well as a few well placed end tables and chairs, but the bed is the most dominant feature.

Indicative of her love for the finer things in life, despite her ability to rough it in the field, the large closet could very well fit another bedroom, with many choices in clothing available to her. For the most part, they are dresses of all sorts, frequently replenished and kept current to fashion for Amber and any number of the most prominent shadows, Golden Circle or otherwise.