This is going to sound a bit wierd, but I created the character of Lady Belisune because of a dress.

Yes, it's true. I was greatly impressed with the costuming and wardrobes that they created for Queen Amidala in Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and saw this one dress, all rich lavenders and grays, flowing and with silvery accents and it melded so perfectly in my head of what a wealthy Borderlander woman would wear (because I see them, I think, not implausibly) based upon the rich costuming othe Asiatic Steppe (Mongolian, Tartar, Russian), so I saw *this* *dress* in my head and went about the business of creating a woman to wear it.

I didn't want to be a Saldaean, for there seemed to hordes of them flitting about the game, and I already had a Sheinaran character, Alisia (plus, I see Sheinar as a different esthete altogether, all graceful flowing silks, minimalist design, elegant, Japanese-style simplicity), so that left me with a choice of Arafel or Kandor. At this point in the novels, less had been developed about Kandor than Arafel, so I made my character Arafellin. To play an Arafellin noblewoman, though, I needed to petition Callandor, the Noble Wizard to join one of the NPC houses. I picked House Vorneyo because the name sounded better to me than some of the other choices.

In order to fill Lady Vorneyo's dress, I created an intricate backstory about her being the widow of a foreign lord, and decided to settle her in the Caemlyn Area, since I had two alts in Tar Valon. Thus, Lady Belisune was established as the widow of Lord Elliser of House Awelynde, a lower-ranking Andoran lord. Belisune and Elliser met during the Aiel War, as a young Belisune was accompanying her father on his campaigns in lieu of her deceased brother, fell in love and settled in his family's townhouse in Caemlyn.

Eventually, her husband died, and she took on a status as a visiting noble dignitary, welcome at the Royal Palace as one of the ladies-in-waiting to the Queen, Aislynn of House Versyr. As the Tales Admin whisked up a bit of a royal imbroglio back in Shol Arbella (the king, King Bromm, was thinking of setting aside his Queen, Solanna, a figure much beloved by her subjects, in favor of his new mistress, Lady Dienna of House Jachenni. The aggreived Queen Solanna, acting through her brother, Lord Vaitr, was quietly seeking to rally the Arafellin nobility towards her position, and had even dispatched emmissaries to other foreign rulers for support). Thus, Lady Belisune acquired a new role as a messenger from Queen Solanna to Queen Aislynn, giving me a bit of fun with high stakes diplomacy and court intrigue!

Eventually, my time on Tales was cut short for the happiest of reasons, back to back pregnancies that gifted me with the lights of my life, Elisabeth Cailet and Thomas Kieron.

• Belisune's Background
• Belisune's Description
• Belisune's Puppets & Property
• Belisune's Logs and +bbposts

(Coming.....)

Belisune's Description:

Tall and fulsome, and looking ten years younger than her true age, Lady Belisune of House Vorneyo is a figure of grace and refinement, and her frame seems animated with a lively grace. Her skin is rather dark for her people, perhaps indicating outlander blood, and her hair is long and loose, a rather unusual sandy colored blonde, giving her an unusual appearance. Her eyes are large and lucid, a pale green, bright in her dark face. All strung through her hair on fine chains is a collection of silver bells each worked in fine filigree. Her dress is cut from grey velvet, with a high waist, and tall neck. A wide sash of pearly plum satin is wound about her midriff, the long ends trailing down her back in a train. The velvet skirts are split to reveal a chemise of lustrous ivory satin, edged in silvered embroidery. Slippers of grey sewn with pearls in rayonnes peak from beath her hems. The long, open sleeves, cut in the dagged style are lined with more ivory satin, and bands of soft white ermine line the edges as well as her neck. A collection of ivory bangles clatters on one wrist, and two pending pearl gleam at her ears. A fine cape of white sable is worn over her attire.

Belisune's Puppets and Property

• Belisune's Attendants

• Ladime Aschari: Maidservant
  Sweet-faced and genial, with a wide toothy smile and brown eyes, Ladime Aschari wears the simple livery of her lady's household. A high-waisted dress of dove grey wool, belted off with a strip of plum colored satin, tied off in a large bow in the small of her back. The neck is high, and the sleeves are long and full, each cuff ringed in plum stripes, three on each. Ladime's hair is dark and well tended, with a string of pewter bells threaded through it, descending backwards from a velvet band, also used to keep their hair from her eyes. She wears a large pouch and a small belt-knife at her hip.

• Ryne Cochaman: Guardsman
  Tall, with a wide set of shoulders, and strong-looking arms, Ryne Cochaman has the typical features of an Arafellin, and he wears his fair hair in twin plaits down the sides of his head, the ends strung with bells. He wears perpetually in a squint of wary appraisal. Ryne wears the livery of House Vorneyo, high collared coat, dark grey and cream, two bands of silver braid on the cuffs, baggy grey breeches tucked into knee-boots, and two slim swords poking over his shoulders, up through his purple cloak the sigil of Vorneyo, the battling rams, worked largely upon the back. Two more daggers hang on his belt, and another pokes up from a boot.
  
  
• Belisune's Possessions

• Awelynde Manor: Caemlyn, Andor:
• Exterior View:
  A tall, well designed townhouse, tucked away behind a small, manicured garden. The edifice is done in tawny brick, with a wide balcony arching over the main entrance. The roof is done in bright glazed tile, and even a small tower with a lacy spire marks the westermost corner. The doors are carved in the rearing leopard standard of House Awelynde, and the golden and gray banner snaps in the breeze

• Morning Chamber: Awelynde Manor, Caemlyn:
  A small, elegantly designed room, with a full wall of glassed windows, some beveled, others filled with stained glass, this room serves as Lady Belisune's office and study. The parquet floors are covered by a costly bit of carpet from Tarabon, and the furnishings are good solid Andoran style, pale woods with silvered edges and inlaid designs in darker woods. Many tall bookshelves ring the chamber, and many lovely and fresh tapestries of flowers and woodland creatures hang on the walls of pale lavender. A small mantle in cool white marble is flanked by two doors, one leading back to the Sitting Parlour, the other elsewhere into the manor. The dominant furnishing is a vast desk, partially concealed beneath neat piles of papers and books. A tall pair of doors in dark, glossy woods leads to the foyer and the street. Another set of doors leads to the Sitting Parlour and elsewhere in the residence.

  The tapers have been lit, providing a pleasant glow reflected by the brass discs placed behind them as the sky deepens to a lovely evening shade of blue. Heavy draperies frame the windows, but a great roaring blaze in the hearth blunts the assault of winter. Decorative arrays of winter ivy and snow-roses fill urns on the mantle.

• Sitting Parlour: Awelynde Manor, Caemlyn: Sumptuously appointed, with walls of pearly gray and violet accents, banded by a molded plaster frieze at the top, this wide pleasant room serves as the sitting parlour in the Awlynde Manor. The floors are covered by a costly bit of carpet from Tarabon, and the furnishings are good solid Andoran style, pale woods with silvered edges and inlaid designs in darker woods. A wide, splendid tapestry of Arafellin crafting, depicting well dressed ladies riding the hunt, hair and capes flowing. The mantle is cool white marble, carved in garlands and rosettes, and two plush armchairs set at angles before it. A tall portrait of a young couple in wedding clothes, she in a high-waisted gown, with golden bells in her hair, he in a fine Andoran coat of dark green, hangs over the mantle. A few touches of Arafel stand out in this obviously Andoran house. A tall pair of doors in dark, glossy woods leads to the foyer and the street. Another set of doors leads to the Morning Chamber and elsewhere in the residence.

  The tapers have been lit, providing a pleasant glow reflected by the brass discs placed behind them as the sky deepens to a lovely evening shade of blue. Heavy draperies frame the windows, but a great roaring blaze in the hearth blunts the assault of winter. Decorative arrays of winter ivy and snow-roses fill urns on the mantle.

  • Wedding Portrait of Belisune and Elliser:
    This tall portrait, contained within a frame set with moonstones and chased with gilt, was commissioned by Lord General Orman t'Dusvani ni Vorneyo, father of Lady Belisune to commemorate her wedding to Lord Elliser Awelynde of Andor. The limner has depicted the nuptial pair in their wedding clothes, and at the peak of their joy. The groom, Lord Elliser, is rendered in a coat of forest green, lustrous and embroidered with rampant leopards in thread-of-gold, with a thick mantle of black sable and his massive war-hammer at his thick belt. His handsome face is bright beneath his trimmed red-gold locks, and his hand his clasped affectionately about the hand of his bride, both laced with shimmering white ribbon. The bride, Lady Belisune, is luminous in a high-waisted gown of pearly gray silk, with seed pearls trimming the high bodice and decolletage and more down the split overskirt. Accents of plum-colored brocade are arrayed across the gleaming skirts and in a band across her bodice, and her hair is loose and lovely, a spill of honey, strewn with fine golden chains and a set of tiny tintinabulae, all beneath a sheer veil of snowy watered silk. Her green eyes are merry in her darkly beautiful countenance. The ivory plaque at the base of the painting gives the names of the newly-made couple in cursive script chased with platinum.

  • Tapestry of Ladies Riding the Hunt:
    A large tapestry in bright threads, laced with actual thread-of-silver where required, this costly hanging depicts a traipse of noble-bred women bounding through a meadow, each of the ladies attired in sumptuous riding habits of velvet and brocatelle, bedecked with jewels, each clutching slim lances, lightweight yet fiercely barbed, as the flowing pennants of their respective houses unfurl alongside, sigils and colors from the first rank of Arafellin houses. The ladies, with loosed hair strewn with fine chains and tiny bells, seem happy and gay, even as the woman nearest the quarry pierces the side of the large bear with her lance, and all seem oblivious to the lurking, dark figures, some horned others crested, seen dimly within a copse of trees, with the sinister glint of dark steel, perhaps included by the crafter to remind the viewer that eternal vigilance is required at the Blightborder, and that even the most idle pleasures require watchfulness.

Belisune's Logs and bbposts:

The Maids in the Andoran Royal Palace Discuss Belisune's Return to Caemlyn

"Did you hear," inquired Deine, a maid in the Royal palace of Andor, as she busily wiped off a bit of carved marble in a seldom-used chamber in the palace. "That Arafellin lady-in-waiting, Belisune, she's returned to the Queen's service."

"Really?" put it Casil, herself placing fresh cut boughs of fragrant greens over the hearth. "I thought she left the Queen's service months ago. I heard from one Her majesty's tirewomen that Lady Belisune was sent off after having a row with the Queen! I remember the night she left, all in great haste, rattling off in hired coach, and by the looks of her, she barely had time to dress herself!"

Astrid, a third maid in the room, somewhat matronly, and not given to idle gossip, put down her duster and corrected them both. "No, you silly pigeons, Lady Belisune Vorneyo was sent by Her Majesty to Shol Arbella to deliver a message to their Queen." She dropped her voice to a low whisper. "It seems their King, Bromm, is trying to put her aside and take his mistress, some noble hussy, to wife." She sniffed loudly, and not for the dust. "That's what comes of having a man on a throne, and not a proper queen."

Casil looked confused, but she was a simple sort, a dairymaid from Market Sheran, really. "I don't understand. What does Good Queen Aislynn have to do with that?"

Astrid patted her neat bun as she glanced around for eavesdroppers. "I heard that Lady Belisune is no mere lady-in-waiting. I heard that Queen Solanna has been sending emissaries to other rulers, gauging their support for her plight. I think that Lady Belisune returned to Arafel bearing Queen Aislynn's response. She's some sort of courier between the two, or so my Daveth thinks."

Deine nodded at that. Daveth was Astrid's son, and in service at the palace as a porter. He was also Deine's sweetling. "Aye. Daveth told me as he was setting the lady's baggage in her suite that there was a leather pouch that was locked, but it was filled with papers. Letters, he thinks." She tucked her cloth behind her belt. "He said the bag was sealed with the royal sigil of Arafel!" She gasped. "I wonder what was in there?"

The other two nodded, each curious as to the correspondence between Caemlyn and Shol Arbella. What was Lady Belisune's true nature, and why had she returned to Caemlyn?