Having settled myself in the Andor area, I now decided to throw myself into the other area of Tales, Tar Valon. Originally, I really wanted nothing to do with Tar Valon, since I largely saw it as an extension of the White Tower. I did note that Tar Valon's +bboards were always full, and it always had a fairly high turn-out of players, so I decided to make myself a character there as well. The area leaders in Tar Valon, Alderic, Maggae, Carinae and Igraesor, did a very good job of fashioning an area distinct from that of the Tower - Tar Valon was portrayed as a highly dynamic urban setting, with wealthy merchant houses and a bloc of foreign nobles vying for status and influence, mixed in with intrigue and espionage, with an active social scene. Oh, and the Tower sometimes got involved.

I first created Dareane because I wanted to try my hand at playing a wily, seductive Domani femme fatale, and initially, I played her as a Domani woman of an undetermined background. However, Sherry and I decided that what Tar Valon needed was a dash of Domani-style decadence. They already had Cairhienin nobles, the Ildevwyns and Vanderodes, Saldaean nobles, the Zadneres, Tairen ones, the Divoras, and even a household of Tarabonners, the Sulamaaads, traditional foes of all Domani-folk!

Sherry and I decided to open the NPC house of Dhamsid, and set up house in Tar Valon. As way of explanation for our presence in Tar Valon, Dareane became Lady Dareane Amira Dhamsid, Royal Ambassadress from Ebou Dar, the King's voice to the Amyrlin Seat. Dareane was given a scandalous past, and not much less scandalous present, and soon, the Dhamsid family was living in luxury in the shadow of the White Tower. Sherry created the role of Lady Eshira, my especially wanton daughter, and from there, the House bloomed - Cerille, Victar, Buran, Asan, Amisa all joined, among others.

• House Dhamsid's Official Webpage

• Dareane's Background
• Dareane's Description
• Dareane's Property
• Dareane's Logs and +bbposts
• Artwork of Lady Dareane

Dareane's Description

Tall and graceful, with a narrow waist and slim hips, Dareane of House Dhamsid moves with the calculated grace of a courtesan, somehow mingled with the stately poise of a dowager queen. Appearing near five and forty years of age, Dareane's face is a study of angles and curves, with a long narrow nose, high cheekbones and a well turned mouth, dyed a deep red with mulberry paste. Not beautiful, Dareane's most remarkable features are her eyes, wide and splendid, the color of liquid bronze. Her complexion is the creamy copper of her countrywomen, well tended with balms and perfumes with the barest hint of lines at the corners of her eyes and bracketing her mouth. Her long straight hair, gleaming auburn, with one white streak over one temple, is worn up in a respectable chignon, held in place by pins tipped in jade, with a few tendrils allowed to fall artfully down her neck. Dareane wears a dress of sheer voile, the fabric twinkling from gossamer threads of silver woven into the silk, loose and flowing, and just a shade away from transparent. From collarbone to ankle, the dress seems a flowing fall of cool blue silk, only gathered at hip and waist by a chained belt of silver roses. A fine cape of gray velvet, trimmed with white fox, is worn against the winter's chill, clasped by a broach worked in the silver rose and thorns of Dhamsid. Around her wrist is a bracelet with the sigils of her house, almost lost amid the cluster of silver bangles she wears, some studded with blue opals and pale sapphires. A collar of silver with three large sapphires pending, one larger than the ones beside it, snugs her throat and matching gems shine at her ears. Dainty slippers of satin peek from below her hems.

Dareane's Property
Dareane's Servants:

Behira Teffar: Maid to Lady Dareane

Girlish and sweet-faced, with a pleasing smile and even more pleasing swell of bosom, Behira Teffar has the noted coloring and height of a Domani woman, lustrous copper skin and dark, glossy hair, and she is skilled in the use of flirtation and artifice. An attendant of the Lady Dareane, she wears a dress in her native style of pale rose silk, with a high neck and long sleeves, free falling and just a whisk shy of indecent, suggesting all, but revealing naught. The fall of silk is interrupted at her hips, where a sash of braided silk is tied loosely, and hanging off-side, with a small pouch and poniard swing on one side. Around her throat is a wide torque of carved rosettes of coral, and matching bobs adorn her ears. A cape of soft grey velvet, lined with vair, tops it all.

A slim, self-possessed woman, with a straight-backed posture and a clear-eyed gaze, Cerille Ituralde looks to be on the upper end of her forties, yet her famous Domani skin-tone is supple and clear, with just a hint of creasing near her eyes and mouth. Attired in the elegant colors of House Dhamsid, Cerille wears a blue dress of gauzy linen, flowing, yet suggestively clingy, cinched by a belt of suede, hung with a small velvet pouch, and a large ring of keys. A brocade shawl of white satin, with blue curling arabesques, is draped artfully across her lithe frame, pinned with a small silver brooch worked in the rose and vines of Dhamsid. Her graying hair is looped into a dignified coil, beneath a transparent veil of sheer voile. A wide cuff of silver shines brightly upon her narrow wrist.

Taller than most men, with a wide set of shoulders, and strong-looking arms, Vajel Teffar has the typical features of a Domani, with bronze skin and a set of long narrow mustaches, as well as tilted eyes of sienna, perpetually in a squint of wary appraisal. His dark brown hair is sprayed liberally with white, and creases mark his eyes and mouth. Vajel wears the livery of House Dhamsid, high collared coat, dark blue and white, four bands of silver braid on the cuffs, snug grey breeches tucked into knee-boots, and a wicked serpentine sword hanging on his back, the hilt poking up through his stout woolen cloak, the sigil of Dhamsid, the Silver Rose and Thorns, worked largely upon the back. A silver badge, trailing a braided coil, displaying the house sigil is worn on his left shoulder, indicating his command of the Ambassadorial Guard. An additional two daggers hang on his belt, and another pokes up from a boot.

Coming Soon...

Artwork of Dareane

Unfinished 'Lady Dareane' © 1999 Richard Boyé.