Criseida Luana (née Baldwin)
Appearance
Criseida Luana is slender and tall, with deep, dark soulful brown eyes set under expressive dark brown eyebrows. Her skin is pale, a cross between alabaster and marble, with a smattering of faint freckles across her cheeks. From a distance, she looks somber or even cold. She keeps firm control of her emotions and her expressions, except perhaps for her occasionally unruly eyebrows and uncooperative eyes, which are quick to flash with anger or annoyance, harden with glacial judgment, or shine with tears.
A woman of composure and dignity, she dresses modestly, wears limited jewelry, and shuns the use of excessive cosmetics. Usually, she settles for a touch of color on her lips, a smudge of something across her eyelids, and a good pinch to her cheeks to give them that youthful flush. As a lady in a great house, she is very image-conscious, and takes great pains to look the part: bathing fastidiously, dressing well, and exhibiting good posture at all times.
She has long, wavy brown hair, which she typically wears in some form of braided updo, often accentuated with combs, brooches, or other accouterments - never gaudy, but obviously well-made and expensive. When undone, her hair reaches down her back, very nearly to her waist. Her figure is trim and slender, with a long, graceful neck that she occasionally adorns with jewelry.
A woman of composure and dignity, she dresses modestly, wears limited jewelry, and shuns the use of excessive cosmetics. Usually, she settles for a touch of color on her lips, a smudge of something across her eyelids, and a good pinch to her cheeks to give them that youthful flush. As a lady in a great house, she is very image-conscious, and takes great pains to look the part: bathing fastidiously, dressing well, and exhibiting good posture at all times.
She has long, wavy brown hair, which she typically wears in some form of braided updo, often accentuated with combs, brooches, or other accouterments - never gaudy, but obviously well-made and expensive. When undone, her hair reaches down her back, very nearly to her waist. Her figure is trim and slender, with a long, graceful neck that she occasionally adorns with jewelry.
Skills and Abilities
Some would say that Criseida was born for the game of power. Gifted with both beauty and intelligence, she knew from a young age that she was being groomed to marry into a position of power and influence. She was taught to read and write, to do sums and balance accounts, to play music and to sing and dance. She learned to be a perfect hostess and how to run a household and took advice from her mother on how to arrange things to unburden the lord of the manor: all the unobtrusive things a wife or daughter could do to make things go more smoothly, more pleasantly, to soften the blow of changes and blunt the impact of sorrows.
A politician at heart, Criseida learned how to make connections and how to break them with tact, how to massage the truth and manipulate people. She learned what gave people power and what took power away. She learned cards and etiquette and how to observe and absorb the details of her surroundings and the people in them. In short: she learned to learn and to do so as quietly and unobtrusively as possible.
A politician at heart, Criseida learned how to make connections and how to break them with tact, how to massage the truth and manipulate people. She learned what gave people power and what took power away. She learned cards and etiquette and how to observe and absorb the details of her surroundings and the people in them. In short: she learned to learn and to do so as quietly and unobtrusively as possible.
Personality
Criseida was once described by a suitor as a geode: "There is beauty within her, and if you ever manage to get her open, you'll never see anything quite so stunning." Another, less successful suitor, once described her quite differently: "Stubborn as a show-horse and just as easily broken." But it was her mother, Sereina Baldwin, who captured her daughter perhaps most accurately: "She an actress and expects the world to be her stage." It was meant to be cutting, but Criseida took it to heart and
There are two Criseidas - at least. The first is the Criseida known to her family, the people who shaped her to be what she is and therefore know what she is capable of: deceit, manipulation, ruthless pragmatism and sometimes just plain ruthlessness. They are also assured of her loyalty, to a point. Since she has been married, her loyalties must be balanced between the family that raised her, the Baldwins, and the family that she married into, the family that could raise her still higher, the Luanas. Though the former is a cadet house of the latter, this is not always a guarantee that their interests will align, especially not in a complex and tangled vipers' nest like Vel Anir.
This first Criseida is a player. She sees things and she knows things, she trades knowledge and influence for power, and she shares her opinion where she feels she can get away with it. In a world where noble femininity is a commodity to be bartered away, Criseida has managed to seize some agency, to avoid becoming a pawn in the political game by proving herself to be a more valuable piece, with rules and limits to being played. The first Criseida is often cold, always calculating, and careful. She is ambitious, scheming, sometimes cruel when it is necessary or expedient.
But the public Criseida is another thing altogether. The picture of piety and prudence, she is seen to attend the right functions and donate generously to the right causes. Her virtue is above reproach, and her well-crafted persona as a supportive wife in a great family and a dutiful daughter of Vel Anir has purchased her a soft spot in the hearts of the common rabble the Luanas court for support. When she is in the city, she can be relied upon to hear petitions on behalf of her husband, to distribute alms, to offer advice, and to be seen. She is beautiful, but not too beautiful; well-dressed, but not ostentatiously so; seen to enjoy culture and amusement without being frivolous.
Those looking carefully at this second Criseida may see, through the smiles and outstretched hands, traces of the first within, but most of the downtrodden in Vel Anir who support the family see what they want to see: someone who brings a little beauty and care to a harsh world.
There are two Criseidas - at least. The first is the Criseida known to her family, the people who shaped her to be what she is and therefore know what she is capable of: deceit, manipulation, ruthless pragmatism and sometimes just plain ruthlessness. They are also assured of her loyalty, to a point. Since she has been married, her loyalties must be balanced between the family that raised her, the Baldwins, and the family that she married into, the family that could raise her still higher, the Luanas. Though the former is a cadet house of the latter, this is not always a guarantee that their interests will align, especially not in a complex and tangled vipers' nest like Vel Anir.
This first Criseida is a player. She sees things and she knows things, she trades knowledge and influence for power, and she shares her opinion where she feels she can get away with it. In a world where noble femininity is a commodity to be bartered away, Criseida has managed to seize some agency, to avoid becoming a pawn in the political game by proving herself to be a more valuable piece, with rules and limits to being played. The first Criseida is often cold, always calculating, and careful. She is ambitious, scheming, sometimes cruel when it is necessary or expedient.
But the public Criseida is another thing altogether. The picture of piety and prudence, she is seen to attend the right functions and donate generously to the right causes. Her virtue is above reproach, and her well-crafted persona as a supportive wife in a great family and a dutiful daughter of Vel Anir has purchased her a soft spot in the hearts of the common rabble the Luanas court for support. When she is in the city, she can be relied upon to hear petitions on behalf of her husband, to distribute alms, to offer advice, and to be seen. She is beautiful, but not too beautiful; well-dressed, but not ostentatiously so; seen to enjoy culture and amusement without being frivolous.
Those looking carefully at this second Criseida may see, through the smiles and outstretched hands, traces of the first within, but most of the downtrodden in Vel Anir who support the family see what they want to see: someone who brings a little beauty and care to a harsh world.
