Phedre no Delaunay
From Gotham: Year One Wiki
| Phèdre nó Delaunay de Montrève | |
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| Arrival date: | |
| Canon: | Kushiel's Legacy |
| Identity | |
| Real Name: | Phèdre nó Delaunay de Montrève |
| AKA: | |
| Powers: | slightly improved anguissette healing |
| Description | |
| Age: | 23 |
| Eyes: | dark, with red mote in left |
| Hair: | dark brown |
| Height/Weight: | 5'9", 130 lbs. ish |
| OOC Information | |
| Portrayed by: | Krista Allen |
| Journal: | yo_anguissette |
| Tag: | |
| Player: | Violet |
Note: This page contains spoilers for Kushiel's Dart (and the very beginning of Kushiel's Chosen).
Contents |
History
Phedre comes from a medieval world that is similar to Earth with respect to geography and languages, but diverges sharply in terms of history, culture, and religion. Her country, Terre d'Ange, was founded by fallen angels. Their leader, Elua, left one precept for his people: love as thou wilt. And one of the angels, Naamah, is at the center of an institution of courtesans who pay homage to her, organized largely into the Houses of the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers. Phedre was born to a former Servant of Naamah, who sold her to Cereus House. However, due to a red mote in her eye, she was considered flawed and unsuitable to enter Naamah's service.
As a child, Phedre was recognized by the spymaster/poet Anafiel Delaunay as an anguissette, one who feels pleasure and pain as one. They are exceedingly rare, and Delaunay purchased her marque from Cereus. In his household, she was trained to be both spy and scholar, learning a number of languages as well as the arts of covertcy and gaining a keen eye for observation. At the age of 14, she was dedicated to Naamah and began training in the arts of the bedroom as well, and at sixteen, began as a Servant of Naamah. She used her position to gain information from patrons. Even as she was caught in a web of complicated politics, Phedre made her marque (concluded her debt to Delaunay and became a fully qualified Servant of Naamah) due to a patron gift from the beautiful and sadistic Melisande Shahrizai, the same woman who not long after would betray them and help put the wheels in motion for Delaunay's death, as well as that of Phedre's foster brother, Alcuin. Melisande and the others involved sold both Phedre and her bodyguard, Joscelin, into slavery in Skaldia (Germany). They eventually escaped, at which time Phedre and Joscelin became lovers (breaking Joscelin's vow to the Casseline brotherhood, a celibate order).
When they returned to Terre d'Ange, the political intrigue continued, culminating both in Phedre helping to place a new queen on the throne, and her losing her dearest friend, Hyacinthe, to the curse of the Master of the Straits. Additionally, Phedre came to find out that she had inherited Delaunay's title, becoming the Comtesse de Montrève, and the first peer of the realm who was also a Servant of Naamah. However, Melisande, who had escaped, sent a cryptic message to Phedre, who then felt compelled to unravel the mystery of her whereabouts. Despite the fact that it caused a rift between her and Joscelin, she returned to Naamah's service in order to once again use the position to gain information. It is during this point in her life that she arrives in Gotham.
Appearance & Abilities
slightly above average height for a woman, and of average build with curves.
It is probably not an ability as such, but Phedre is an anguissette, which means that she feels pleasure in pain (in the literal sense). The accompanying advantage of this is that she heals quicker than most, and she heals cleanly.
Note: Phedre, for the purposes of language/accent, is French. She has an accent, though she speaks English fluently. She also speaks Italian and German fluently, and some Arabic and Latin.
Personality
"That which yields is not always weak." Phedre is a complicated woman in many ways, her life sometimes seems an exercise in contradictions. She once said that the Night Court taught her to serve, Anafiel Delaunay to think, and Melisande Shahrizai to hate; as well, the precepts of her faith taught her to love, and some combination of the four of these have made her what she is now. She grew up too quickly, and has had everything she knows taken from her more than once. She has the ability to see the big picture, and patience is not something that she cares for but that she has acquired at some hardship. Honor is important to her - her word, her oath to Naamah, the precepts of Elua - but she is practical as well, and she is skilled at this point in doing what she has to do to survive. She would die for the greater good if it was something she truly believed it (for example, the fate of her country), and she would kill for it as well if she had to, particularly to protect the people she loves.
Phedre considers Kushiel's mark upon her to have been both a blessing and a curse. It was said that anguissettes exist to balance those who take pleasure from finding pain in others - and Phedre has come to understand Kushiel's place (as one of the angels who once delivered torment to sinners), in that he alone understood that punishment is an act of love. Sometimes Phedre hates what she is - particularly in those times that her body finds pleasure in things her mind abhors - but she has come to accept it and to take all the advantage she can from it.
In general manner, she is respectful and dignified, though she has a spirited streak that can spark to temper when provoked. She was trained as a spy and it has been ingrained in her not to show the cards in her hand, so it is often not apparent to those not close to her just how much she knows and what she can do.
Reference
Wikipedia has a HUGE amount of information about the Kushiel's Legacy world. Bookmarking the best articles here for my reference, as well as anyone else who might be interested:
