Princess Anactoria Sapphis IV

[Anactoria IV]

Princess Anactoria Sapphis IV

FROM HERE TO THERE

FULL NAME: Princess Anactoria Sapphis IV
AGE: 19
BIRTH DATE:August 10
RACE: Human
SOCIAL STATUS/OCCUPATION: Imperial Crown Princess of Terre de Conte

DOWN TO THE FINER POINTS

HEIGHT: 5'3”
WEIGHT:130 lbs
GENERAL APPEARANCE: It has been said that Anactoria's eyes are her finest feature. A deep ocean blue they are, and possessing the tiniest of gold flecks. Both colors serve to contrast and enhance one another, making her eyes easy to meet but hard to turn from. These eyes possess a quality of delight, hint at a veracious, childlike laughter, a whisper of enduring innocence. But they are still the eyes of a princess, and one well-taught at that. The sereneness they express can be very disconcerting when she pierces you with them, her full attention on you, as though she can see through your words to the truth. This may be true, and it may be fancy, but the very possibility has loosened tongues in the past.

Her mouth, in its own way, matches, with lips healthy, modest, and pink, that--when without influence--always seem to brush the edge of a smile. Her nose is small, her eyebrows fine as pencil lines, her face a shape just a little too rounded and innocent for a nineteen-year-old.

Thin arms, thin legs, narrow torso, delicate little polished fingers. She would be frail if not for a certain playful energy in her manner, an unconscious spring in her step not quite perceptible, and all but smothered in her years of perfecting movement and manner. She would be frail, indeed, if not for a perplexing quality of enchanting radiance, one that would sustain even if there were not gold-hemmed robes to enhance it, nor bejeweled golden crowns and flowing beaded accessories to sparkle in the sunlight.

Yet she is fond of such things. Most often she wears a crown made of patterned ovular gold plates cut with the finest precision, and adorned with shimmering diamonds and freshly-plucked flowers from the imperial gardens. Lustrous, similarly-composed bracelets from which gleaming jewels hang are commonly draped over her wrists and forearms. She wears large earrings, and from her hair hang great strands of gold and diamond; they swing as freely as her inky dark tendrils of hair.

Yes she found fond of such refinements, but she is not a slave to them. Should the situation warrant it, she is not opposed to the idea of dressing down. Though, her perception of 'dressing down' might seem a bit much still. Large earrings give way to short trains of diamonds, her ornate crown becomes a silver tiara adorned with her birth stone at sits top, her robes and gowns of gold replaced with ones more functional and less extravagant. Pants and leggings, however, are out of the question...save for one exception...

PICTURE:

PERSONALITY: Anactoria Sapphis IV is first and foremost, the crown princess. As such she will take the throne one day. The bulk of her life has been spent in preparing for that day, a fact which is obvious. Thorough drilled by masters of etiquette, her temperament is even and considerate; she is an excellent listener and considers all alternative before speaking or taking action. Her words are each carefully chosen, and sweetly spoken. She has been well-schooled by the very best tutors and instructors imperial gold can buy, and privy to all the latest text and burgeoning theories about ruling well. A degree of humility has been passed on on as well, and she is free from the conceit that so often plagues young women of her station. That said, all the schooling in the world cannot grant wisdom, only knowledge. She is still ignorant about how the world works aside from items like commerce and politics. That touch of naivete remains a personalty flaw. She has difficulty lying, and even more difficulty telling when she has been lied to.

While its easy to mistake her even temperament with laziness, that would be a mistake of the highest order. Anactoria is a very passionate young woman, ever eager to rise to a challenge. She merely expresses this through deeds rather than needless outbursts or long winded declarations of purpose. The arts are her primary passion, and she herself posses a golden singing voice. Second to this – and a very near second at that – is horseback riding. A skill her father in particular was not terribly fond of her learning, but one she pursued and achieved without his consent on the matter.

Finally, Anactoria is an incurable romantic. The classics of literature she had been forced to read as part of her schooling had left a lasting impression on her. She is not so naive as to expect anything like the stories to happened in real life, she does make it a point to try to get as close as reality will allow. She had known, or at least suspected, where her preference in a partner lied for sometime now. She has a Perfect Woman in mind, and deep down fears that this might all be fancy... that the woman she pictures may not exist, and she will have to settle.

She has never wanted to be wrong about something more in her life.

[/b]
[li] Horseback ridding
[/li][li] Singing
[/li][li] Writing
[/li][li] Theater
[/li][li] Attending/Holding Court
[/li][li] Dancing
[/li][li] Listening
[/li][li] Summer Rains

DISLIKES:
[/li][li] Pompous/Entitled Nobles
[/li][li] Winter. Just the whole season
[/li][li] Feeling ineffective/Failure
[/li][/ul]

HOBBIES:Though her lessons keep her busy, Anactoria is particularly fond of horseback ridding, though she is rare allowed to do so beyond the castle grounds. And when she is allowed, its is always with armed guards, which tends to kill the moment.

A student of theater, and possessing a creative imagination, Anactoria enjoys writing stories and plays, and has massed quite the collection of both. They all sit hidden, in her room though, as she doesn't not think they are 'ready' for publication.

Has been sneaking to the castle kitchens for some time to watch the cooks...well cook. She's tried her hand at it a few times... with disastrous results. Still, she hasn't given up on it yet...

BELOW THE SURFACE

SPECIAL SKILLS: As is customary with members of the royal family, she has been trained in basic hand to hand. Mostly hold-breaking maneuvers and quick knife movement.
Excellent dancer. By 17, she could give her instructors lessons.
Phenomenal singing voice.

WEAPONS:-Brahma & Naga - A pair of short knives, one with a white hilt and the other blue, both imprinted with her family's signet in dark gold. The pommels are set with pieces of lapis that appear as if they were chipped then pieced back together. Ancestral weapons, passed from Empresses to Princess dating back to Anactoria I.

MAGICAL ABILITIES:In times of high stress, she has displaced a minor, wild talent of wind manipulation. Attempts at training to use this magic effectively have been unsuccessful. So far.
Minor Talent in precognition. As the images she sees come to her only in dreams, training has proved to be impossible.

FAMILY:Emperor Galeron and Empress Alexis of Terre de Conte.
BACKGROUND:

For those not yet here,

It is a queer thing I do now. Writing to a child that does not yet exist save for a nighttime flight of fancy, perhaps generated by my latest culinary... misstep. Yet I fee compelled to do so. Perhaps in ten, fifteen years time you, your mother, and myself will all read to this together, and laugh at the hopeful naivete of a girl of nineteen. You mother, whom I by then will love as much as life itself, will do well to keep her merriment in check, however, less I dig up one of the embarrassing stories about her I am sure to have by then.

At this point, my son (or daughter!) I suspect you are old enough to have noticed something of an... oddity in your family and the ones you see from others, nobles and commoners alike. You may have questions on that, which is why I write this now, while I am still young enough and near enough to the moment of my fateful decision to explain it to your satisfaction. Age, I am told, has a way of muddying the waters.

I was born to your grandparents some ten and nine years ago on August 10. My coming was something of a minor celebration, seen as a good omen for the new, positive track the empire was now embarked on. Those times I am sure was/will be covered in your history classes, so I will not repeat them here. The thing I want to stress is that I did not want for love. That is important. My parents loved me, and our people loved me.

As I grew, as I got to know the good people of Venus and the empire beyond, their love for me grew. As my did for them. Sometimes, when I think on it hard, I believe I am the way I am, made the choices I did because I love too much. I was perhaps eleven the first time my lips touched those of another girl. She was the daughter of on of our cooks, and perhaps we were playing when we both should have been working. Hide and seek, if you can picture that. Now I had found and caught her well within the boundaries of the game, but she insisted on running back to the safety of 'home' as well called it. I was quite put out and tackled her. We went down in a heap, it only hurt a little, and before much time had passed, we where laughing about the whole thing.

I wish I could remember who made the first movement. Me up to her, her down to me. Ah! Time is the thief of memory, did I not warn you? But in the end it little mattered. We kissed, we pulled away surprised and confused. Then we kissed again.

Gods, I wish I could remember her name.

It was infatuation of course. Puppy love some name it. But I was elven and two months of stolen kisses in secret places is a long time when you are eleven. It feels like forever.

Forever ended when my father caught us one chilly February morning. We had gotten careless, I confess. The next day, my friend and her mother were gone. Transferred to one of the colonies to be a cook for a local lord. I suspect her termination bonus was quite sizable as well.

Father never brought it up, and I never asked. Perhaps I was scared of his answer. Moreover, I was scared what this would mean for me. I kept in bottled up inside for years. I listened to my tutors, I practiced may dancing, I even took up horseback riding. But rather than subside, the feelings I had only grew as I did. But I knew my place. I had to marry well, rule, and continue the line.

I was sixteen when my mind was made up for me. It was a state dinner, with a neighboring kingdom that my parents were attempting to negotiate with after some unpleasant border skirmishes. Their King was loud and uncouth, but I held back what I really thought of him and was the very picture of the perfect princess, until he has the audacity to bring up my marrying his child to cement the peace between our nations us. What gall! What year did he believe this to be? Then, with a laugh, he dismissed the idea, saying he only had daughters to offer and no and that wouldn't solve anything. No... dyke.. could ever rule effectively. My mothers was diplomatically silent. My father joined him in laughter.

I admit I had to look up the word. When I did there was an explosion of wind in the castle library, and I had the king thrown out before my father could override me.

I'm going to show him, and my father and people who thin like them. I'm not going to deny what I feel anymore. I will marry a woman and I will be the greatest Empress since my namesake. Mother is already on my side. Father needs... convincing.

I have made up my mind. My course is set. Thank the gods for Anactoria I showing me the way so many years ago.

One day we will laugh about this. But we will do so from a happy and prosperous Terre de Conte, and one that will have two women on the throne.

Love,
Princess Anactoria Sapphis IV
(Your other mother. )

THE MASTERMIND

ALIAS: YuriChampion
ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS: Toph Bei Fong
HOW YOU GOT HERE: Old Sapphis
NOTES: n/a