Characters:Vivienne/backstory: Difference between revisions
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Vivienne was born in a great world-city composed of spires of stone and bone. The rain there fell upwards from ground to sky; even as an adult, it is a secret source of entertainment to her that there are so many worlds where it does the reverse. | Vivienne was born in a great world-city composed of spires of stone and bone. The rain there fell upwards from ground to sky; even as an adult, it is a secret source of entertainment to her that there are so many worlds where it does the reverse. | ||
Her childhood was tightly regimented: breakfast at dawn, then lessons. Lunch at noon, then exercise and more lessons. Dinner at dusk, and then to bed. Free time only became available if one excelled at one's studies. It was a 'sound body, sound mind' sort of society, where those who didn't keep up the high-level exercises (mental and physical) were slowly pushed to the edges of society. Vivienne was bright, and if not the most interested in physical pursuits, she was at least good enough to hold her own. One of her dearest friends, Katriona, was badly scarred as a pre-teen, and could no longer keep up the physical side of things, though she retained her clever mind; it was through her that Vivienne became interested in the poor and the desperate - and in thievery. | |||
She's never become one of the great thieves - particularly once she mastered the ability to summon - but she'll turn her hand to the work now and then. She did more of it when she was a teenager, but she found she was much better at organizing groups for larger work than carrying out smaller jobs - and she enjoyed it, too. She began picking out the intelligent, nimble youths that just hadn't made the grade in greater society and directing them to other thieves for training. By the time she was brought out of her home and into Amber, she had quite a pack of thieves looking to her for direction: teenagers, young adults near to her age and Katriona's, and even older and wiser adults who recognised a talent for organization when they saw it. | |||
In Amber, she quickly grew bored and impatient with Court. While there were certainly socerously-minded individuals, there just wasn't the general level of thought she was accustomed to - particularly among the upper eschelon, who had always been the most intelligent at home. She furthered her studies of art and magic, particularly once she had taken the Pattern, but when she was in Amber and at loose ends, she gravitated towards the lower city, observing the lay of the land. It didn't take her long to find herself a few thieves disgruntled with the local guild. | |||
Even better, she quickly discovered that there were some very clever children in the local orphanage - and that she could set up a boarding school for those children under the guise of 'charity,' hiring the thieves she'd found as teachers (or training them up as teachers if she had to), and she had her own little guild. This didn't do anything good to her relations with the reigning guild, who hadn't been thrilled with her when she befriended her newly-minted teachers and started sending them out on jobs. There have been terse arguments, occasional threats, and at least one instance of a building mysteriously burning down while leaving its neighbors mostly untouched - which Vivienne ''might'' know something about, although she hasn't bothered sharing what she knows with anyone but her cat - but thus far, the two guilds have managed not to bring down too much attention to themselves. | |||
The school is called "Vivienne's Academy for Higher Learning" - or just "the Academy". Vivienne rarely teaches classes any more, though she's been known to tutor a student or two if she happens to spot one that she thinks might be beyond the regular teachers. The cirriculum looks innocuous enough: craftsmanship, reading and writing, mathematics, physical pursuits like sword-work and riding. It's just that the ''real'' classes happen after the students have been there for a year or two, and usually after dark - or on market day, or during a parade... | |||
The school is supported by donations, which Vivienne keeps strictly anonymous. After all, it would hardly do to let the general public know that a lot of those "donations" were made when the donatee wasn't present. | |||
Revision as of 21:54, 20 May 2009
High Points
- Born in a city of spires where the rain falls up
- Summoner-mage
- Leader of a guild of thieves under the guise of operating a charity
- Firestarter...
Full Story
Vivienne was born in a great world-city composed of spires of stone and bone. The rain there fell upwards from ground to sky; even as an adult, it is a secret source of entertainment to her that there are so many worlds where it does the reverse.
Her childhood was tightly regimented: breakfast at dawn, then lessons. Lunch at noon, then exercise and more lessons. Dinner at dusk, and then to bed. Free time only became available if one excelled at one's studies. It was a 'sound body, sound mind' sort of society, where those who didn't keep up the high-level exercises (mental and physical) were slowly pushed to the edges of society. Vivienne was bright, and if not the most interested in physical pursuits, she was at least good enough to hold her own. One of her dearest friends, Katriona, was badly scarred as a pre-teen, and could no longer keep up the physical side of things, though she retained her clever mind; it was through her that Vivienne became interested in the poor and the desperate - and in thievery.
She's never become one of the great thieves - particularly once she mastered the ability to summon - but she'll turn her hand to the work now and then. She did more of it when she was a teenager, but she found she was much better at organizing groups for larger work than carrying out smaller jobs - and she enjoyed it, too. She began picking out the intelligent, nimble youths that just hadn't made the grade in greater society and directing them to other thieves for training. By the time she was brought out of her home and into Amber, she had quite a pack of thieves looking to her for direction: teenagers, young adults near to her age and Katriona's, and even older and wiser adults who recognised a talent for organization when they saw it.
In Amber, she quickly grew bored and impatient with Court. While there were certainly socerously-minded individuals, there just wasn't the general level of thought she was accustomed to - particularly among the upper eschelon, who had always been the most intelligent at home. She furthered her studies of art and magic, particularly once she had taken the Pattern, but when she was in Amber and at loose ends, she gravitated towards the lower city, observing the lay of the land. It didn't take her long to find herself a few thieves disgruntled with the local guild.
Even better, she quickly discovered that there were some very clever children in the local orphanage - and that she could set up a boarding school for those children under the guise of 'charity,' hiring the thieves she'd found as teachers (or training them up as teachers if she had to), and she had her own little guild. This didn't do anything good to her relations with the reigning guild, who hadn't been thrilled with her when she befriended her newly-minted teachers and started sending them out on jobs. There have been terse arguments, occasional threats, and at least one instance of a building mysteriously burning down while leaving its neighbors mostly untouched - which Vivienne might know something about, although she hasn't bothered sharing what she knows with anyone but her cat - but thus far, the two guilds have managed not to bring down too much attention to themselves.
The school is called "Vivienne's Academy for Higher Learning" - or just "the Academy". Vivienne rarely teaches classes any more, though she's been known to tutor a student or two if she happens to spot one that she thinks might be beyond the regular teachers. The cirriculum looks innocuous enough: craftsmanship, reading and writing, mathematics, physical pursuits like sword-work and riding. It's just that the real classes happen after the students have been there for a year or two, and usually after dark - or on market day, or during a parade...
The school is supported by donations, which Vivienne keeps strictly anonymous. After all, it would hardly do to let the general public know that a lot of those "donations" were made when the donatee wasn't present.
