Eilande Fioneiven

• Full Name - Eilande Maire Fioneiven Aes Sedai
• Position - Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah.
• Character Summary - Born the daughter of hard-scrabble farmers in the foothills of the Dragonwall, not far from the town of Ibaswael, site of the seat of the Ibaswen Ildevwyns, Eilande is a stalwartly proud Cairhienin woman, and avid proponent of governmental change in her beloved homeland. So much so that many of her Red sisters gripe she would, perhaps, have been a much more fitting member of the Blue Ajah. Eilande's early years were that of poverty and degradation, as her parents had great hardship in keeping their family fed and housed, and much of their annual harvest was claimed by their liege-lords in rents. When Eilande's older brothers were killed after being impressed into service into the Ildevwyn hosts during one campaign or another, Eilande swore that she would work towards revenge on her feudal lords. Her mother grew sickly after a late, unsuccessful pregnancy and died when Eilande was fourteen. Her father, Alren, remarried, and her new stepmother was demanding and hostile to Eilande. The situation in the house quickly became untenable and it was decided between the two women that Eilande should set out on her own, perhaps to the capitol to take service as a lady's maid or in an inn. Eilande agreed and took the meagre purse of silver pennies given, and headed not to Cairhien, but to Tar Valon.

  Her seething resentment of the callow Cairhienin lords would not allow her to work in their great maisons. Instead, she sought the White Tower and a dream of becoming Aes Sedai, for she thought as a woman of the White Tower she would be able to grasp the levers of power. She enrolled in the White Tower and did well in her studies, and seemed in the suasion of Aloris Cadrille, a Blue sister of great renown. As an Accepted, she even accompanied Aloris as a secretary and travelling companion during a Tower-led expedition to quell a False Dragon, Ivain Tendes, led by Diseyne ti Tsenmallen, that fearsome, high-ranking Red sister, as sisters of all Ajahs were attached to her mission to bolster its strength.

  Eilande, though, became sickened by the carnage and destruction in Tear and the Plains of Maredo, and there, she was stricken by her first Foretelling. Eilande had manifested that rare Talent, albeit weakly, and the Foretelling revealed to her portents of grave catastrophe and ruin at the hands of a channeling man yet to come, and that somehow, the scarlet shawl was to play a role. Utterly convinced that she must now set aside her Blue leanings and join the Red Ajah, she severed, painfully, her good relations with Aloris and petitioned the Reds when her Raising occurred.

  The Reds were eager to snatch such a promising candidate from the Blues, and the Blues suspected deep-seated subterfuge in the whole affair and to this day treat Eilande with utter contempt. Eilande has worn the shawl now for fifty-seven years, and has a respectable career, and even though she is a Red, she still works to affect change in Cairhien, and to undermine the power and wealth of the great lords, particularly House Ildevwyn, for all that such old feuds and affiliations were supposedly washed away. Eilande is known to have the Foretelling, although her spates are quite rare and terse. She is a capable Healer and is known to often gripe that a warder would do nicely. She and Guensin Aniches are rivals within the Red Ajah.

• Affiliation - Red Ajah, White Tower
• Nationality - Cairhienin
• Character Description - Slim and dainty in the mold of her countrywomen, Eilande Fioneiven is a pale, lovely Cairhienin, with rare green eyes and long tresses of shining black hair. Eilande wears a dress in a simplified Cairheinin style, with narrow sleeves and divided skirts, cut from wine-dark satin, so dark as to seem black, except in the sheen. Her hair is worn ruthlessly pulled back by clips of silver and garnet, revealing a sharp widow's peak, and falls midway down her back. A bright scarlet kesiera gleams like a drop of fresh blood in the center of her brow, suspended from a platinum chain of airy delicacy, and a sumptuous carcant, all pearls and garnets clasps about her white throat. Crisp silver lace in the style of Cosille edges her high collar and her cuffs, and minute embroidery in argent thread picks out a pattern of flowers and brambles all around her hems and two diagonal lines down her bodice, meeting just below her navel. Bright red gloves, tailored to Eilande's delicate hand from kid leather, are tucked behind a glossy back belt fastened with a buckle in the shape of rose. Two poniards are hung from the belt, each in sheaths of cherry-wood, and each with hilts wrapped in silver wire. Eilande wears a thick cloak of deep crimson velvet, trimmed with black vair, atop her dress, with the snowy Flame of Tar Valon amid a disc of red on the left breast.
• Associates:
• Laney a'Doerne: A young woman from Murandy, she idolizes Eilande for her panache and stylish ways, and Eilande, in turn has taken her under her wing, although she does seem to be directing her towards the Blue Ajah.
• Daicey Maland: An intelligent Ghealdin woman, Daicey is an amibtious, tightly driven Accepted with a vast potential, yet she is also completely closed to differing ways of thought. Eilande has taken her on as a protégé as means of broadening her mind, even if she is obsessed with being Red. she serves as Eilande's secretary and travelling companion, and tends her nets of informants in her absence.
• Laiselle Orangari: An excitable Altaran sister, Laiselle Orangari is a member of the Gray Ajah, although she is remarked to have red petticoats, if you take the meaning. Laiselle is one of Eilande's closest friends in the White Tower, and often uses her as a way of feeding information to the Grays and into the Tower beyond, as the Reds are strictly secretive.
• Sarena Dagoyin: A senior Red sister, Sarena is Kandori, and was born a close cousin to the Royal line. Sarena is a sort of gaoler for Eilande, acting on clandestine Red Ajah directions to keep the free-ranging and opinionated Eilande under thumb. Sarena Sedai is a decorated military heroine, and quite capable in the Power.