Character Avatar: Ksenia Shelkovskaya
Player: Delenn
Character Name: Celeste nó Gentian
Age: 25
Birthday: Longest night
Height: 5'6
Rank/Title: Priestess of Kushiel
Race: D'Angeline
Appearance: Classic D'Angeline features with long straight black hair highlighted by rich brown tones. Her colouring in general has a darker than expected hue to it, probably owed to her maternal grandmother's Jasmine heritage. Her eyes are dark with shades of hazel in their depths. Everything about her implies warmth and secrets.
Personality: All her life, Celeste had been seen as moody and aloof, despite that on the inside she was as warm as the richness of her colouring. While she was young she never felt she fit in and inside she felt confused as to why when she was so perfectly made for Gentian House, she still felt so unsatisfied there. She always craved more and was easily distracted. She could never find a place where she felt settled. The only exception was when she was in the great Temples of Elua, open to the sky. Like her parents, she felt pulled toward devotional practices and learned to still her growing desires, and more importantly her ego, through prayer. But only for a time. Even now, despite being a Priestess and having learned all that entails, she still likes to feel special~ though she is not as easily flattered as she once was.
Marital Status: unmarried
Known Languages: D'Angeline
Strengths and Weaknesses: As a mix of mystic and sadist Celeste can be prone to bouts of depression and melancholy. Though now that she has finally taken vows as a Priestess of Kushiel they have lessened considerably. As an adept at Gentian house she had been given extra training by Mandrake House once the true natures of her desires became apparent. She also sometimes sees visions in moments of passion. These seem linked to when she has tasted a patron's blood. These visions leave her weak and in some cases, disturb her.
She is haunted by this strange twist on her parents' attempts to please the Angels. She is drawn to the Temples and often will find her only comfort there.
Celeste has an affinity for animals and birds and often uses her skills learned in Mandrake to heal those wild creatures brought to her. She sees this as part of her service to Blessed Elua and all the Angels, in memory of how the animals had cared for them in the wilds.
Family Members/Important NPCs: Celeste's mother and father were adepts at Gentian House. Her mother specialized in reading cards and interpreting signs for patrons. Her father read dreams and was much younger than Celeste's mother. Her mother had made her mark 2 years before Celeste's birth and choose a pairing with a close friend she had mentored at one time of the same house. Both were considered gifted in their fields. Both were the kind that would nearly lose themselves in devotional practices and what they believed were visions of Elua and His companions would threaten to overwhelm the readings they did. However, their interpretations were almost always true and if sometimes they both seemed to speak riddles into their readings, what they said never failed to come to pass. Together they felt this was a sign and after seeking guidance in regards to their own dreams and visions felt it was right to have a child together in hopes that the child would be inclined toward the priesthood one day. Each seeing it as an offering back to Elua for their gifts. They sought out the Dowayne's permission and said the prayers and lit the candle with their usual intense devotion. In return they were gifted with Celeste.
History: Celeste was everything that her parents and the Dowayne of Gentian had hoped for when they bred her. As a young girl she excelled at her studies. Quickly convincing the older adepts to teach her in secret and she started trying to persuade the tutors to let her begin her studies into the esoteric almost as soon as she could talk. The reading of cards came to her as easily as breathing and she had a quick mind for memorizing all the signs and meanings from dreams and visions. She even took an interest in augury after saving a blackbird with an injured wing one day.
It had been the sound of pain that had first drawn her and on seeing the helpless, injured creature a strange warmth had come over her. She tenderly cared for it until it had healed and was rewarded with it's constant company outside her window until finally early one warm summer morning she found it curled up at the foot of her window, apparently asleep. Her father said it must have been old and died happy, near it's chosen mistress. He helped her bury it and say prayers for it's little soul.
Afterward, she became prone to melancholy, missing her little friend deeply. It did not help that she blossomed just at the time of her loss, and that her natural Gentian gifts, though backed by what seemed to her young mind, by long years of study, suddenly lost their appeal. Strange dreams of a masked face started coming to her then. They woke her with a restlessness she didn't understand. Sleepless nights and moody days combined with a sharp mind began to exhibit themselves as a tongue like a lash that regularly would cut her fellow fosterlings to the bone. Seeing tears well in their eyes in response brought a rush of warmth and desire to comfort them but it would vanish soon after them as they ran away. Disgusted with herself she turned to her studies again and spent more and more time alone in the small temple areas of the garden around Gentian House.
This was especially true when dreams drove her from bed in the late hours of the night. One night while walking the garden the Head of House Gentian found her wandering and asked what she was doing awake. She confessed her dreams of the masked face to him and after a long night of questions it was soon arranged with Mandrake House that she was sent there twice a week for additional training.
At Mandrake House Celeste began to understand the strange moods and feelings she had. Everything from the delight of having her wine glass filled by a beautiful adept with eyes down cast to the cries of those who chose to yield to her brought the same feelings of contentment that being in the Temples did. But still the moods would come and at those times some patrons and adepts wished Celeste would spend a little more time in the temples again and a bit less at her studies.
It was during one of these times that in her exuberance, she tasted a patron's blood and fell into a vision trance. In this way she learned how the gifts of her House, blessed by Kushiel she was sure, could be used.
She still read her cards too, she loved the beautiful set gifted to her by her mother when she began her service. Her mother, planning for the day her daughter became an adept had painted the cards with her own hand. Mostly, Celeste enjoyed reading them for her fellow adepts but also would read for patrons. She was to be found honing her esoteric skills in one form or another and took a bit longer to finish her marque than the others because of her devotion to her studies.
It is the classic Gentian marque except that on taking vows as a Priestess of Kusiel, Celeste had the stars redrawn in a deep blood red.
After finally making her mark at 22, Celeste was accepted into training at the Temple of Kushiel, a year later. There she found a new peace and balance during her training. She began her studies at the Temple with a renewed spirit from being in the Temple grounds continuously and being able to really delve into her studies and devotions. Now, with her training complete she is ready to begin her service to Kushiel with her 25th birthday celebration.
Updates:
Approved by Janet - 29th January 2022
