Elaine Roxana Arcanis

As the daughter of a Baron, her technical title is The Honorable Elaine Roxana Arcanis of Almerry - or Lady Almerry, to shorten the name.

Usually she just prefers "Miss Elaine" rather than "Lady Almerry" or "Miss/Lady Arcanis", as a way to distance herself from her family name, since she doesn't intend to use it for long.

21

She/Her

London Socalite/Hopeful Physician

Mage

April 6th

Oksana Butovskaya

5 FT 5 IN

She has high cheekbones and a willowy frame, and her build leans towards lithe and graceful.

Green

Burnished Red

Her hair has natural curls, which are kept as smooth and clean as possible, kept to about the length of her center back when it's all brushed out. She usually keeps it pinned back in some way however, buns or brains or hairpins.

None

Single piercing in both ears.

For being from a textile-based family, her taste in clothing is more demure and less eclectic than the majority of her family. She prefers solid colors and practical clothing; she doesn't like any kind of crazy patterns or clothes that look good but don't function well in a day-to-day life. She absolutely does not prefer to follow any of the fashion trends that consume ladies of the time and, thanks to her family's current source of occupation, often designs her own clothes to her own comfort.

Her dress tends to be conservative as a result; long sleeves, long dresses, and the like; although she isn't one to scorn pants should the situation call for it. As long as she is not expected to dress up in whatever ridiculousness currently consumes the upper class, all is well.

She tries to dress practically, comfortably, and respectably for whatever she's doing for the day. The air of professionalism and propriety is important to her, particularly anything that will make her look older and more business-like, as people tend to take her more seriously that way.

Elaine is pale in the way most redheads are, so any markings are plainly visible to see. That being said, the only real prominent markings are freckles, scattered all across her body and primarily across the bridge of her nose and the tops of her cheeks.

Elaine is born from a long line of Mages who have carefully cultivated the magic blood in their line in an attempt to keep their lineage 'pure'. As a result, Elaine is considered somewhat of a natural beauty due to the higher-than-average magic blood in her veins.

Thanks to her pale skin, she tends to sunburn easily and any changes in color (such as blushes) tend to telegraph themselves across her cheeks, neck, and ears.

Elaine has been a bookworm from the time she could read. She was forced from childhood illness to spend most of her time indoors as a child. Because she couldn't go out and play and be a "normal" child, she turned to books instead, taking on adventures in the stories and studying the world from the safety of her bedroom. As a result, Elaine ended up as a walking encyclopedia and was labelled by others her age as 'strange'. She drew back from others and became shy, socially awkward, and introverted around others her age.

Instead, she turns towards people who are more her intellectual equals, those who don't see her as awkward or funny. She gravitates towards people whose mental age and maturity level match her own, most of which end up being old enough to be her parents or grandparents. She is more 'adult' than your average young adult typically is, although still completely naive and innocent to the real world.

She was often praised for her "maturity" as a child thanks to this, and soon became enamoured with the idea of praise from her mentors. She throws herself into her studies (when devoted to them) and lives with fear at being seen as a disappointment, to others and especially to herself.

Due to her mysterious childhood illness, Elaine is fascinated by medicine, both of the magical and scientific varieties. She wants to help others and heal their sicknesses, especially in other children, to prevent others from going through what she went through. It is her dream to someday become a doctor and a healer in her own right, and combine her knowledge of ancient magic and modern medicine into something to revolutionize the medical field, in a way that doesn't expose the magic underground.

Greenhouse gardening, literature, nonfiction books, the occasional adventure novel, gourmet coffee, most teas, foreign languages, the medical sciences, combining magic and science together, playing the piano

Familial violence, immaturity, enslavement, ignorance, rude or obnoxious people, the fashion world, sewing, high heels, heavy makeup, uncomfortable clothing, crazy fabric patterns, fashion snobs, bright lights (especially stage lighting)

Intelligent: Elaine is incredibly bright. She spent most of her childhood stuck in her bedroom, which meant a lot of free time for reading and studying. She is also an avid learner, so if she doesn't know, she is eager to learn.

Moral: Elaine follows the hippocratic oath: do no harm. She has a strong set of morals ingrained from years of reading and studying and coming up with her own opinions and views of the world. They have not, however, been strongly tested at any point in her life.

Determined: Elaine does not back down from a challenge, particularly one that she feels is within her reach or her set of skills and something she should be able to do. If obstacles are placed in her path, she will attempt to think things over, come up with the best solution, and throw herself into a course of action.

Naive: Elaine knows very little of the reality of the outside world. Her family kept her sheltered for most of her life, and it's only into her early adulthood years that she's really managed to get free of their presence. Her understanding of the outside world comes from her studies, not from experience.

Dazzled: Elaine is easily swayed or persuaded by the opinions of others, especially those she looks up to and admires. She is often dazzled by other people's accomplishments, achievements, or workmanship, often falling into idolizing those she looks up to and striving to change herself to be more like that person.

Stubborn: The flip side of the coin to determination, Elaine can be seen as stubborn. She fears failure and therefore cannot give up on a goal she's set for herself, even if it comes as a detriment to herself and others. At most she may admit that she needs time to come back to the problem, but she cannot accept failure as an end result.

Heterosexual

Elaine is awkward and introverted, but she's not shy; she speaks out in a crowd and sticks to her ideals. Her intelligence and maturity are far, far above most others her own age, so she mostly rejects connections with them. She doesn't even trust her own cousins much thanks to their family; although she is close to her own brothers, she doesn't feel she can trust them as confidants.

Elaine tends to make rivals of her own peers, since she tends to reject them. She isn't interested in dating or parties or anything else most young women are into. She has been bullied and snubbed from society simply for being a bit too different, and Elaine has learned to lash back out in her own way. It helps that she's good with magic.

Elaine is young and has never had more than innocent crushes on people. She's experienced affections and attachments sporadically, only boys her own age (her admiration for those much older than herself hasn't equaled attraction, so far), and always in secret. Her family would not allow her to 'sully' herself with some nobody, even if the attachment was innocent and there was no risk of a possible engagement. She is still a virgin and isn't much interested in lovers.

Elaine is an avid and voracious reader; although she primarily reads non-fiction as a rule (because academia is everything), she is a lover of good fiction as well. Primarily anything that can be considered adventurous; pirates and treasure on the high seas, knights rescuing fair maidens and slaying dragons, the wild west sheriffs saving the town from outlaws.

Elaine is also a talented pianist, having been playing piano since she was a child (as there is only so many books a young child can take in a day). She loves it and tries to play at least once a day, often as a form of stress relief or when she needs to think. She has her favorite composers memorized, but can sight-read sheet music as well as play freehand. She has never composed anything of her own, though.

The Arcanis family is a matriarchal Mage family from the old country, that can trace their lineage back hundreds of years. However, the family didn't come into any particular sort of prominence until Elaine's great-grandmother - the First Matriarch, as the family calls her - managed to snag herself an ancient Mage line as the father of her children. This sparked the family's obsession with a "pureblood" Mage bloodline and a lust for power, establishing her great-grandmother and her children as the main branch of the Arcanis family line.

The union between her grandmother and grandfather, and her mother and father, were all planned arranged marriages to other prominent Mage families, where the husbands took the Arcanis family name. It is rumored - though never proven by anyone - that Elaine's grandfather sold his soul to a demon at her grandmother's request, in order to further boost their family's power, influence, and wealth.

This could not come at a moment too soon, as magic has begun to fade in the world in an alarming way, and disaster seem to befall most of the families and bloodlines who can lay claim to the same pure blood as the Arcanis family. Many were wiped out by wars or revolutions, and some experienced so much disaster that the bloodline simply ceased to be as no more children came.

The Arcanis family was forced to flee, momentarily losing all the titles, status, and wealth they had formerly been used to, and used the aforementioned demonic pact (it is claimed) to reinvent themselves as a 'new money' family of Pyre Textiles, a chain of factories producing the various fabrics used by the upper class for their clothing. They were able to claw themselves back into some semblance of prominence, even earning a Barony Title for the Almerry lands (a tiny barony towards the northeast near Scotland) through her father, although they are nowhere near where they once were, and desperately seek to return to their former status and glory.

Elaine's mother Diana was the oldest of three girls, and was married in her early twenties through arranged marriage to her father Arthur. The two were not and are still not in love, but found friendship and companionship together and had three children of their own: Lyle, the oldest boy, three years Elaine's senior, herself, and then Connor, the youngest son, who is six years younger than Elaine.

Between her two aunts and her three great-aunts with their own children and grandchildren, Elaine was the only girl born in her generation to live through her childhood. As the only daughter born in a matriarchal family line in her generation, Elaine is expected to take on the title of Family Matriarch and continue on the Arcanis name through the next generation. It is also hopeful that her match will carry the family another step higher in esteem as her mother had done before her.

.

Although Elaine is not aware of this, the fact that she was the only female to survive childhood in her generation is not an accident. Jealous cadet branches and other relatives have cursed, killed, or otherwise removed any other daughters from being born in the Arcanis line. There was only one other daughter, a second cousin, who survived to birth, but passed away at five years old before Elaine was even born.

The debilitating illness of her childhood was likely caused by a relative's attempting to poison her, although this has never been proven by anyone and Elaine herself is not aware that this is a possibility.

April 6th

Almerry Fort, Durham, England

London, England

Elaine completed both finishing school and secondary school through various tutors and a brief stint in boarding school, so she essentially completed what was deemed as the highest education she would ever need, even as the heir apparent.

She attempted to sneak off to a university to begin studies towards medicine, but her family caught wind of the scheme and had her locked away. So she has yet to begin any formal education while she's been in confinement beyond what she could glean from books.

Elaine considers herself somewhat of a language fanatic - she is fluent in Latin thanks to her magic studies, but can also read/write/speak French, Spanish, Italian, and German.

Elaine is a young Mage gifted in healing magic who wants to be a doctor, but is dealing with a lot of interference from her family. She is the last female heir in the matriarchal Arcanis family to survive childhood, and as a result the family matriarchs had her life planned down to the day from the moment she was born.

She had a fraught and isolated childhood; she fell ill as a toddler with a mysterious, debilitating illness that almost killed her, and the effects of the illness followed her through her early childhood. She was often sick and bedridden, and despite the best medical doctors and magic healers she never got much better. The entire Arcanis family was terrified they would lose the heir to their line and thus kept Elaine isolated from the entire outside world beyond her family and their home.

She spent most of her childhood confined to her room, watching the world from outside her window, and was introduced to reading and literature as soon as she was old enough to read. Elaine had the best education her parents could provide. She was not allowed to attend a private boarding school for girls nor attend finishing school due to her illness, so instead the teachers and tutors came to her. Learning, reading, and magic consumed her early days.

The mysterious illness that plagued her entire childhood finally seemed to pass when she was entering puberty. Elaine was finally healthy enough to regularly leave the home and interact with others outside a controlled environment, so she was allowed to attend a private boarding school in order to get her some socialization with others her own age.

These years were extremely rough on her. She was awkward and introverted and had a rough time fitting in among others her age, after years of isolation; she also had a problem of being far ahead of the curriculum in most of her classes, or learned things other girls in her year had no use for. She stuck it out for a few years, but afterwards quickly chose to return to homeschooling.

Despite the path and the future the Arcanis matriarchs had planned for Elaine since her birth, Elaine decided to forge her own path. White healing magic and potions had always been her forte growing up, and as she got older she wanted to attend medical school and become a doctor. Specifically wanting to outreach into poorer burroughs, to help sick kids and keep them from the same kind of childhood she had.

When she tried to rebel against the plans laid before her, she was torn from her family and her childhood home and dumped with a distant relative deep within London, far away from anyone and anything, until they could decide what to do with her.

It's only been within the last year that Elaine has been given more freedom to leave the mansion her relatives call home... and she has finally broken the wards binding her to the home to allow her to sneak out at night without being caught. Elaine is now desperate for a way to get out and escape the destiny her family has planned out for her.

Elaine is a Mage.

Mages can perform their magic in a variety of ways. Most spells can be done through the use of an object like a wand, hand movements, or the spoken word. Some magic requires items or ingredients to complete them, and others only require concentration and the tool of choice.

Mages learn their magic through the teachings of other Mages, and their spell books. These spell books - called tomes - are passed from generation to generation within a family, with contributions made by other Mages throughout the years.

A Mage can learn all their magic from these tomes, with or without the help of another Mage. Most Mages are taught by their elders, but in the event the Mage is orphaned or otherwise alone, they can teach themselves with some practice.

Mages don't follow a strict magic structure. Players are free to use any type of magic system they wish as long as they adhere to the established lore. So potions, spells, charms, enchanted items, dark arts, black magic, tomes, and anything else associated with magic are all open and possible by design of each individual character.

Elaine is fully aware of the magical world she and her family inhabits, and has studied books on the subject quite a bit, but in practice has met very few others outsiders thanks to her sheltered upbringing.

Due to a sickly childhood and lots and lots of time for practice and study, Elaine is an expert in the art of healing magic: spells, herbs, salves, potions, charms, wards, etc., any white magic that relates back to healing others in some way, Elaine can do or quickly teach herself.

She also considers herself an herbalist and a gardener, to help with the herbs and ingredients required for some of the spells.

However, due to the hyper-focus on white healing magic, she is deficient in other areas, specifically offensive magic and most elemental magic. She has some weak control of fire magic (for bubbling cauldrons) and plant-based magic, and the basics in most other things, but her true affinity as a Mage comes from restorative magic.

She has some small level of skill in shielding and wards, but otherwise is unpracticed and amateurish in defensive magicks.

She feels these weaknesses are a detriment, and that not being well-versed and well-rounded in all magic is going to hinder her personal development as a doctor. However, as her family basically forbids the way she's currently using her magic as it is, she hasn't been able to develop any of her other powers further.

Familiars

Mages have the ability to create a mental connection with another person known as a 'Familiar'. This allows the Mage to form a mental and physical 'bond' to that person, in addition to allowing the Mage some level of control over the person.

Bonding a Familiar has a distinct benefit for both parties. The Familiar gains greater stamina and physical strength, and greater resistance to injury. The Mage gains a bodyguard, confidant, and ally who is linked to them and can be compelled through the bond. Both the Familiar and the mage are able to sense the other's general location, physical well-being and, to some extent, emotional state. They are able to draw on each other for strength and support in times of need.

Familiars can be created from connections with any species, including Humans. Mages can bond more than one Familiar at a time, although most only have the strength to bond one. It is also possible for a Familiar to be bonded to more than one Mage. The older the Mage, the easier it is to create and maintain Familiar connections.