Character Name: Viviane Accylon
Age: 41
Place of Birth/Raising: Caemlyn, Andor
Affiliation: The White Tower, The Blue Ajah
Rank: Aes Sedai
Power Level: 38
First 1st Age Incarnations: Rowan Finnegan
Reborn God: Brigid
Warder: Letto Ska’dine
Elemental Strengths
Air: Average
Earth: Mastery
Fire: Average
Water: Mastery
Spirit: Exceptional
Physical Description:
5’9″, 125 lbs. Deep auburn hair with a light wave, worn to the waist. Wide and Grey-blue eyes, lightly shaded skin with a healthy glow. A melodious falsetto, her voice lowers an octave or two when angered or annoyed. Curvy figure with a nipped waist, hair is often worn free. Prefers to wear dresses in shades of green, blue, and violet, made of satins and silks when possible.
General Personality:
Quiet and calculating, Viviane tends to bottle things up. She is used to having to scrounge up a few coppers to get by, so anything given to her and everything she has earned is precious; that includes relationships. It takes time to gain Viviane’s trust, but once it’s there, it’s all but permanent. Viviane is determined to earn the Shawl so that she may provide a better life for her mother, and perhaps seek to better the living conditions of the destitute around the globe. This dream drives her ambition and all interactions she has with the rest of the world.
Character History:
Viviane Accylon is the daughter of a Seamstress. In fact, she has come from a long line of seamstresses, and every one of her ancestors operated out of the same shop in Camelyn. Her mother often mused that they owned the oldest dressmakers shop in all of Andor. Viviane knew that wasn’t true, but her mother wasn’t far off.
The Accylon name was once one to be reckoned with in the streets of Camelyn. The women of this family had clothed the Queen of Andor and her court for generations upon generations, but some misfortune had struck the family when Viviane’s Grandmother was running the shop.
Sewing was not the only tradition that the Accylon women held to. Every daughter born to the Accylon family was tested for her potential to wield the One Power. Almost every one of them had the spark or were able to learn. If one were to go back far enough in the Accylon line, they would find that many of those women were quite skilled in the One Power. As all things change with the turning of the Wheel, the Accylon women grew weaker in the One Power over time.
The women of the family grew so weak that it was only expected that they go to the Tower to learn how to handle the Power appropriately, for they were all inevitably kicked out for their weakness. No Accylon woman had been raised to Accepted in recent memory.
Viviane’s Grandmother was a cunning woman. She too went to the White Tower, and like her mother before here, was sent away within a few years. During her time at the Tower, Grandmother Accylon was able to discover a few tricks of the Power that would help her family business.
Upon returning home, she utilized these tricks to the fullest. Weak, thin threads of air with just enough force to scour the fabric, making it quicker and easier to cut. Feeble strings of earth to slightly improve the fibers on cheaper fabrics. She had a few others. None were terribly useful to any but her and the business. An influx of customers steadily flowed in after her time at the Tower.
It was only a matter of time before Grandmother Accylon’s rivals discovered just what secrets she employed in dressmaking. The bitter women sent word to Tar Valon that an ex-Novice was misusing the power and for her own gain. Some even said that the Accylon women had long claimed to be Aes Sedai, a grave crime indeed. The White Tower came down hard on Grandmother Accylon, and disgrace descended upon the family, their shop quickly emptying of customers and coin. The family business would lie destitute long after Grandmother Accylon’s eventual death.
Viviane’s mother had never been permitted to go to the Tower, she was so weak. For years, Viviane resigned herself to the same fate. She had recently seen her 18th name-day and knew there was only one more year for the talent to show its self in her. She almost didn’t go to get tested. Thankfully, she heeded her mother’s wishes when the Sisters showed up.
Up until that day, Viviane was busy making plans to leave Caemlyn. There was nothing for her there. The shop was bound to shut down within a few years. They hadn’t seen a proper customer since she was 11. The only reason the shop remained open was because of her family’s savings, which were now dwindling down to the last few coins. Grandmother had passed long ago, and Father had died during the Aiel War. She did not want to leave her mother as it was only the two of them left, but she knew her mother wouldn’t abandon the shop without a fight.
Viviane wouldn’t lay rotting in Caemlyn, waiting for a man to come save her. Or worse, end up on the streets, driven to a life of sin and filth. She had to choose between her mother and freedom. After mulling it over for most of her seventeenth year, she had finally made her choice. It wasn’t an easy one, but in time, her mother would understand.
Viviane was going to get out. She had made plans to leave with a merchant train bound for Tear. The leader of the caravan had given her a week to ready for the departure. Viviane wasn’t sure what she was going to do once she got to Tear, but it was the only way out of Camelyn she could find. If Tear didn’t work out, then she would just find somewhere new to live. There was a place out there for Viviane Accylon, she just had to figure out where it was.
Viviane had all of her bags packed and ready to go when her mother came to her and urged her to visit the Sisters that had come to Caemlyn. They were testing girls that day and were bound to leave very soon. They argued about it for a good hour, but her mother won in the end.
With reluctance, Viviane went to the Sisters. They were using a jewel to do the testing. Viviane wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to do with the gem, but whatever it was, Viviane did it and satisfied the Aes Sedai. Viviane did not have the spark, but she could learn. The Sisters told her of her potential, and even that sounded like a foreign tongue to Viviane. She understood none of it. The only thing apparent to her was that she was the first Accylon woman in generations to have enough strength in the Power to even think of becoming Aes Sedai.
And so it was that Viviane was to be a Novice. Now she just had to last long enough to test for Accepted. And then maybe. One day. She might test for the Shawl.
[[WIP. UPDATED 8/29/18]]
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