Born through IVF as a late attempt by her parents, Ronan and Fionnuala Finnegren, to secure genetic perfection, Maeva grew up at Glenshae House in County Down, surrounded by wealth, Catholic tradition, and expectations of obedience. The Finnegrens presented themselves as philanthropists and guardians of human welfare, but secretly served the Di Inferi, an organisation devoted to overcoming death. Their research into longevity, cellular regeneration, and the preservation of life was a family inheritance, and each generation was expected to contribute.
Maeva was a dutiful child, courteous and reluctant to challenge authority, but possessed an irrepressible curiosity. She wanted to understand how things worked and why people behaved as they did, often investigating matters she had been explicitly told to leave alone. She rarely intended to disobey; instead, she convinced herself that her intentions justified her indiscretions, sometimes discovering something useful and sometimes finding herself in trouble.
Of her brothers, she was closest to Leon, who made her feel loved for herself rather than for what she might one day contribute to the family. Leon suffered from ALS, and the later discovery of his channeling ability intensified the family’s interest in his condition. He was sent to the Von Metternich family in Austria for experimental life-prolonging treatments, a decision presented as his best chance of survival. Maeva tried to trust her parents and obey their instructions, but withheld information and inconsistencies in their explanations fuelled her growing unease. Leon eventually died in Austria under officially inconclusive circumstances. Maeva was left wondering whether the family’s research had helped him, harmed him, or simply turned his suffering into another opportunity for discovery. His death also forced her to confront how obedience could make her complicit in decisions she would never knowingly have chosen.
Following Leon’s death and her growing estrangement from his twin Theron, Maeva discovered her own channeling ability. Though weak in raw power, she demonstrated exceptional precision and control with Spirit, far beyond what her limited strength should allow. Her talent for creating temporary bonds between herself and others became both a fascination and a source of guilt. She wondered whether she might have understood Leon’s suffering, or reached him in his loneliness and fear, had she possessed the ability earlier. She knows such a bond cannot undo death, but the possibility that she might have reached him and did not remains difficult to escape.
As Maeva grew older, her family’s expectations turned towards marriage and lineage. Her own wishes were secondary to the preservation of the bloodline and the strengthening of alliances. Remembering what had happened to Leon, she began to fear that accepting one imposed decision would surrender her right to make any others. Leaving Glenshae House was a frightening, reluctant choice rather than a triumphant rebellion. She did not stop loving her family, but chose a future in which she could make her own mistakes. Life outside their protection taught her to be more cautious, question strangers’ motives, and recognise that good intentions do not guarantee good outcomes.
Powers
Maeva possesses very little raw channeling strength, barely enough to light a candle, but is an unusual savant of Spirit. Her weaves are intricate, complex, and difficult for other channelers to follow, while her aptitude for other flows is negligible. She can create temporary bonds with other living beings, most often allowing her to sense their emotional state and general wellbeing, or share her own. These connections can deepen understanding, but cannot reveal the cause of distress or guarantee that she truly understands another person. Unknown to Maeva, the bonds can also exert a degree of compulsion.
A bond can last only while she actively weaves it or be tied off to weaken naturally with time and distance. Her ability can extend to certain animals, though doing so requires exceptional delicacy. Her unusual weaves may be dangerous for others to replicate, and she does not yet understand how a small error could cause serious harm to herself or the recipient. As she develops, she is likely to excel at weaves involving only or predominantly Spirit.
Personality and Appearance
Maeva is compassionate, conscientious, and inclined towards routine and obedience rather than confrontation. She feels guilty when she disappoints others and can mistake affection for good intentions, or concern for a right to interfere. Her greatest weakness is an uncontrollable curiosity: she asks forbidden questions, opens locked doors, and follows unanswered questions even when she knows the consequences may be dangerous. She dislikes social media and online interactions, which feel less real to her. She is still learning that understanding someone does not entitle her to every secret, and loving someone does not oblige her to obey them.
She has large, expressive hazel eyes, and gold-brown hair with a natural curl she usually keeps just above her shoulders. Her manner of dress tends towards old fashioned, girlish, and conservative. She has never really questioned what she wears or considered expression through fashion. Her one rebellious act is the small tattoo of a butterfly underneath her collarbone, usually hidden by her clothing. She retains the mellifluous accent of her roots.
Current Situation — 2047
By 2047, Maeva has established a life away from Glenshae House, but Leon’s death remains unresolved, and she still suspects that her family concealed the truth. Her attention has turned towards Theron, whose exceptional potential made him the focus of their parents’ ambitions. He now leads the Brotherhood of Ascension in Moscow, operating in the shadow of the Ascendancy. Maeva does not know whether he genuinely believes in the Brotherhood’s promises of divinity and transcendence, has found his own purpose within it, or is continuing ambitions first set in motion by their family.
After Leon’s death, Theron adopted Seraphis, a young orphaned channeler whom he took under his protection and eventually brought to Moscow. Seraphis has since become devoted to Theron and involved in the Brotherhood’s inner workings. Maeva does not know the full nature of their relationship or whether Theron’s intentions, however well meant, risk becoming another form of obligation.
Unable to stop questioning what Theron knows about Leon’s death or whether he recognises the dangers of the world he has entered, Maeva has travelled to Moscow to find him. She does not intend to rescue him or demand that he abandon his life; she wants to hear his account, understand his choices, and judge the situation for herself. Their relationship has never been close enough for her to assume a warm welcome, and she knows her arrival may be seen as an intrusion. Nevertheless, she cannot bear the possibility that something is happening to her brother, or that answers about Leon remain within reach while she once again chooses not to look.
Previous Lives
6th Age: Psyche
0 Comments