Prince Arayen
God be with you this fair morning. Welcome to what we are now calling the Patchwork Court. I hope that you will find yourself at home here, and if you have any needs or desires, do not hesitate to ask one of my servants. I? I am Prince Arayen. One fair bit of warning: make no trouble during your stay and nothing will trouble you. Cause me to regret my trust in you and you will soon rue the day you met my eyes.
Name: Arayen
Titles: Prince of Arcadia, Prince of Chaos (former), Lord of Amber (former), Prince of the Patchwork Court, Knight of Mirrors, Arayen Thricecursed.
Rules: The Patchwork Court.
Height: 6'6". Weight: 198 lbs.
Hair color: Dark brown. Eye color: Pale blue.
Distinguishing marks: None.
Appearance: A tall, good looking man with a serious mien and a regal air, Arayen's most striking features are his pale piercing eyes. He dresses richly and well, usually in white, gray or red, or in his mirrored armor. He has large, powerful hands, and he smiles often but not with his eyes.
Colors: White and gray or silver (with red accents).
Symbol: A man's hand (white) holding a mirror (silver or gray) on a red field.
Personality: Arayen is a good man, not a nice one. He is cold, authoritarian, and almost humorless. He will do things because they are the right things to do, not because he feels sympathy or empathy for anyone. He could save your life or condemn you to torture and death with equal efficiency and equal lack of passion.
Parentage: Coral and Merlin.
Age: Unknown. At least four thousand.
Known siblings: Leonard Alemane (believed half-brother by Arayen's mother).
Known children: Sylvia (deceased), Absalom, Melaine and (Wake)robin.
Known agents: Numerous and varied.
Arayen as Parent: Arayen is distant, strict and sometimes high-handed. His children have the best of everything, including tutors in whatever interests them, rooms that are like houses, riches, the best food, drink, and recreation. In other words, whatever they desire and whatever Arayen thinks they need. On the other hand, he has the highest expectations of any of the Council, and if he is disappointed he damn well shows it. It is well known that he doted on his daughter Sylvia, who killed herself twenty years ago, and that despite her best efforts, his living daughter Melaine cannot live up to her father's expectations. In fact, Arayen has recently not only espoused Magdalene's son Florian as the best candidate for Summer King, but has also named him nominal heir to the Rulership of the Castle. He has formal but exceedingly complex relationships with his sons Absalom and Robin.
Arayen as Employer: Arayen is, in many ways, a better boss than he is a father. He has high expectations, yes, but in this case, reasonable ones. He hires people based on their qualifications and expects them to live up to them, and he does not tolerate failures or backtalk, but he has patience with unavoidable mistakes and does not ask his men to undertake missions for which they are not qualified. He has many servants, from soldiers, guards and secret police, to ambassadors and spies, to maids, waiters, footmen, cooks, etc. In other words, all that is needed to try to form a huge kingdom out of the wreckage of three others.
Arayen as Friend: He doesn't have many friends, because he is by nature a solitary and cold man. Those who can count him among their friends are blessed to find that he does have a softer side, one which is fiercely loyal, introspective and generous. But these happy few are those that he considers worthy of this trust, and all rank among those very, very rare people he would call his equals. At this point in time, the only ones known are Florian the Gentle and Gerard.
Arayen Romantically: To call Arayen unlucky in love is a miraculous understatement. For much of the history of Arcadia he believed that he could not love romantically, and for that time he settled for occasional companionship simply for the small pleasure to be gained in another's touch. These women were all close friends whom he deeply respected, and all knew exactly where they stood. Then came Prima Darkmoore, Tamora's oldest daughter, who had fled Darkmoore for the Castle and ended up as the Captain of his elite guard, the Mirrorshields. Over time, they came to adore each other with the kind of pure and perfect love which comes only once in a lifetime. They lived together quite happily for about two hundred years, and then, sixty years ago, she was murdered, supposedly by agents of Eris Echidna. This led to the cold war between Draconis and the Castle, and to Eris and Arayen's great and mutual hatred, for Arayen retaliated, since he could not reach Eris, by hanging all of Eris' agents in the Castle and whatever other parts of Arcadia he could reach. Recently, perhaps due to her physical resemblance to her daughter and perhaps as a final knife-twist of his curse, Arayen has fallen in love with Tamora Darkmoore, despite the fact that the two can scarcely hold a civil conversation.
Name: Arayen
Titles: Prince of Arcadia, Prince of Chaos (former), Lord of Amber (former), Prince of the Patchwork Court, Knight of Mirrors, Arayen Thricecursed.
Rules: The Patchwork Court.
Height: 6'6". Weight: 198 lbs.
Hair color: Dark brown. Eye color: Pale blue.
Distinguishing marks: None.
Appearance: A tall, good looking man with a serious mien and a regal air, Arayen's most striking features are his pale piercing eyes. He dresses richly and well, usually in white, gray or red, or in his mirrored armor. He has large, powerful hands, and he smiles often but not with his eyes.
Colors: White and gray or silver (with red accents).
Symbol: A man's hand (white) holding a mirror (silver or gray) on a red field.
Personality: Arayen is a good man, not a nice one. He is cold, authoritarian, and almost humorless. He will do things because they are the right things to do, not because he feels sympathy or empathy for anyone. He could save your life or condemn you to torture and death with equal efficiency and equal lack of passion.
Parentage: Coral and Merlin.
Age: Unknown. At least four thousand.
Known siblings: Leonard Alemane (believed half-brother by Arayen's mother).
Known children: Sylvia (deceased), Absalom, Melaine and (Wake)robin.
Known agents: Numerous and varied.
Arayen as Parent: Arayen is distant, strict and sometimes high-handed. His children have the best of everything, including tutors in whatever interests them, rooms that are like houses, riches, the best food, drink, and recreation. In other words, whatever they desire and whatever Arayen thinks they need. On the other hand, he has the highest expectations of any of the Council, and if he is disappointed he damn well shows it. It is well known that he doted on his daughter Sylvia, who killed herself twenty years ago, and that despite her best efforts, his living daughter Melaine cannot live up to her father's expectations. In fact, Arayen has recently not only espoused Magdalene's son Florian as the best candidate for Summer King, but has also named him nominal heir to the Rulership of the Castle. He has formal but exceedingly complex relationships with his sons Absalom and Robin.
Arayen as Employer: Arayen is, in many ways, a better boss than he is a father. He has high expectations, yes, but in this case, reasonable ones. He hires people based on their qualifications and expects them to live up to them, and he does not tolerate failures or backtalk, but he has patience with unavoidable mistakes and does not ask his men to undertake missions for which they are not qualified. He has many servants, from soldiers, guards and secret police, to ambassadors and spies, to maids, waiters, footmen, cooks, etc. In other words, all that is needed to try to form a huge kingdom out of the wreckage of three others.
Arayen as Friend: He doesn't have many friends, because he is by nature a solitary and cold man. Those who can count him among their friends are blessed to find that he does have a softer side, one which is fiercely loyal, introspective and generous. But these happy few are those that he considers worthy of this trust, and all rank among those very, very rare people he would call his equals. At this point in time, the only ones known are Florian the Gentle and Gerard.
Arayen Romantically: To call Arayen unlucky in love is a miraculous understatement. For much of the history of Arcadia he believed that he could not love romantically, and for that time he settled for occasional companionship simply for the small pleasure to be gained in another's touch. These women were all close friends whom he deeply respected, and all knew exactly where they stood. Then came Prima Darkmoore, Tamora's oldest daughter, who had fled Darkmoore for the Castle and ended up as the Captain of his elite guard, the Mirrorshields. Over time, they came to adore each other with the kind of pure and perfect love which comes only once in a lifetime. They lived together quite happily for about two hundred years, and then, sixty years ago, she was murdered, supposedly by agents of Eris Echidna. This led to the cold war between Draconis and the Castle, and to Eris and Arayen's great and mutual hatred, for Arayen retaliated, since he could not reach Eris, by hanging all of Eris' agents in the Castle and whatever other parts of Arcadia he could reach. Recently, perhaps due to her physical resemblance to her daughter and perhaps as a final knife-twist of his curse, Arayen has fallen in love with Tamora Darkmoore, despite the fact that the two can scarcely hold a civil conversation.