Character Avatar: Dioni Tabbers
Voice Avatar: Elina Garanca
Character Name: Philomela de Medici
Age: 30
Height: 5'9
Rank/Title: Noblewoman/Opera Singer
Race: D'Angeline/Caerdicci
Country/Province: Caerdicca Unitas/Firezia
Townhome Request:
Country Home Request:
Player: Merle
Appearance/Personality: Philomela is tall and fair, her skin creamy and smooth, locks a middling shade of blonde that can grow quite pale with a little time in the sun. Relatively slender, she is too buxom to be considered thin or willowy, that voluptuous form just one of many ways in which she cuts a beguiling figure. Her features - arched brows above hooded grey eyes that sometimes hold a hint of green or blue depending on attire or mood, high cheekbones, full, lush lips, and a slightly uptilted nose - are sensuous, elegant, haughty.
As beautiful as she certainly is, far more startling is the rich, exquisite voice she has been bestowed with. While speaking it is nothing to remark upon, but when she sings... Philomela has brought tears to every eye in many an auditorium, and even more frequently entire audiences to their feet. Aside from her obvious gifts, she has a talent for evoking complex imagery and emotion in her musical interpretations.
Off the stage, the lady can be melodramatic, in turns aloof and volatile. Mercurial and demanding. She can be petty, mischievous, even cruel, but also charming, winsome, with a puckish sense of humor and taste for adventure. Something Philomela feels she rarely gets to indulge in, whether that is true or not. The young woman is also a consummate heartbreaker, in and out of short-term relationships frequently, leaving a bevy of fawning suitors and ex-lovers in her wake.
History: On a trip to neighboring Terre d'Ange, Andrea de Medici, a cousin of the Duke of Firezia, took himself to Mont Nuit, as he had on many occasions before. This fateful night, however, he met and fell enamored with the young adept Eulalie of Cereus House. He lingered in the City of Elua far longer than he had planned, returning to visit her time and again. So smitten was he that Andrea paid off the remainder of her bond debt and took the woman back to Caerdicca Unitas with him.
In his homeland the two were soon wed, though it quickly became apparent that they were not so well suited as he might have hoped. Andrea was a possessive, controlling man, and Eulalie grew bitter, bored and resentful. Still, despite their frequent bickering and the cold distance that stretched between them, they had their moments of passion. From these, several children were conceived.
One of which, a middle daughter, they called Philomela. Unknowingly named for a tragic figure of Hellene past that was turned into a nightingale by the gods to spare her from her tormentor. An unfortunate... but also, as it turned out, fortuitous name, for the girl did turn out to be quite the songbird. Which itself eventually turned into somewhat of a personal and professional nom de guerre.
As she got older it became clear that her penchant for singing was not just a hobby, and the sweetness of her child's voice blossomed into something extraordinary. But while she was flourishing in society, steadily gaining notoriety, Philomela's parents' marriage was getting ever rockier. Eventually Andrea and Eulalie divorced, the lady returning to the City of Elua, where Cereus welcomed her home graciously. Most of the children were old enough to make their own decisions, to live where and how they wished, but the younger, including Philomela, split their time between the two households.
The young woman thrived in both cultures, making a name for herself amongst her mother's people as well as her father's. Awareness of her talents spread, and her travels took Philomela further and further afield, fame and praise -along with a fair amount of gossip and rumor- following wherever she went. This trend has continued for her as an adult, the songstress' renown growing in certain circles throughout Terre d'Ange, Caerdicca Unitas and beyond.
