Name: I was born one Xavier Keldaris of Calandae.
Sex: Male
Age: I am currently 23 years of age, though I often feel like I'm 40.
Occupation: My occupation? I am a Marquess, being the eldest son of Duke, and my job is to be lordly, with all that it entails. However, I am also my father's nursemaid, a job which I cannot afford to settle on someone else.
Status & Rank: I am a Marquess of Calandae, and when Valleran comes to take my father, I will inherit his title of Duke and pass on my title to my eldest son.
Roots & Origin: I hail from Haven, the capital of Calandae, the great city of lords and ladies. I can trace my blood all the way back to the first elves that orginally settled in Calandae, and I am proud to say that I am 100% noble. However, that has come with a price. I will tell you that my ancestors were quite possibly the most arrogant, paranoid line there ever was when it came to keeping their blood pure.
Do you know how difficult is it to keep a line pure-blooded?
My ancestors managed it, but only through one of the most frowned upon traditions: intermarrying - or I suppose you could say, incest. The closer in relation your spouse was, the better, meaning that they aimed for siblings, but would settle for first cousins. I realize that there may be some noble families who do this today, and I mean no offense, but the thought of one day marrying my sister sends shivers down my spine. Thankfully, my line no longer does that, but it does not mean I don't live with the consequences.
The reason intermarrying is so frowned upon is not merely because it is so disturbing, but also because blood needs to be mixed. New blood is a good thing. If you keep combining old blood together, you increases the risk of diseases and mutations. No, I'm not a man of science, but I do believe in these things.
In my line, our particular "disease" happens to be insanity. It doesn't strike every generation, nor does it strike as often as it used to, but instead hits at random, though when all is said and done, it appears about every two generations. Once it hits, the victim is destined to a life of insanity. Sometimes, it gradually works it way to insanity, other times it hits immediately, often following a catalyst of some sort. It happens to be more common in males than in males, but I'm deviating from the point.
As I mentioned, I come from a long line of Calandae nobles. I can claim some connection to House Calandae, as one of my great-great-grandfathers was brother to the High Seat then, but the link is so distant that the chance is unlikely that I would be chosen for High Seat should the current High Seat Silva Lothair die without leaving behind heirs. My father never cared though, so I don't worry about it either.
My mother was a little more concerned with that possibility, at least, at first. While she wasn't a power-hungry woman, she wasn't averse to acquiring more power. And she was already the daughter of a Marquess, so she was no lowly commoner. Power was the first reason she was attracted to my father, though that quickly became the last reason. My father also happened to be young, healthy, rather good looking, and also brilliant. Well-versed in literature and the arts, a skilled horseman and competant swordsman, polite and chilvarous to ladies, my father was a true gentleman. No wonder my mother was attracted to him.
There was nothing particularly special about their romance. The two met at a social gathering, and were interested enough in each other to meet again after their. Their affection grew, and after a year of knowing each other, my father proposed to my mother, and the two were married. Simple as that.
Appearance: My appearance has been called a good number of things, from handsome and attractive to feminine and delicate, a description that still puzzles me today. I prefer to think of myself as merely ‘good-looking’ and believe me, I need to put in a lot of effort to even manage that.
My hair is black and kept on the shorter side, though it is hardly neat and even. It looks more like someone grabbed handfuls of it and lopped it off, giving it a rather uneven appearance, but it doesn’t wander into the realm of wild. My nose and chin are both rather pointed, but unfortunately, my ears are not. Any elvish blood I had in me was thinned out long ago.
Pale gray is the color of my eyes and they’re a bit more on the narrow side. Personally, I think my eyes, inherited from my mother, are my best features. Actually, I inherited most of my looks from my mother, as well as did my sister Yvette. Both Asher and Yvonne look more like our father.
I am quite tall, standing at an inch over six feet, and well muscled, though not bulky. I’m neither stocky nor slender, but rather somewhere in the middle; average, you could say. My limbs are in proportion to the rest of me and I never suffered from clumsiness in my youth, thank the gods.
I dress according to my station as a lord, though I prefer going around in a simple shirt and breeches if I can. Dress-up is reserved solely for social functions and important meetings. I am not one of those people who enjoy strutting around in a waistcoat and shirt and cravat and all that ridiculous frippery. It’s downright uncomfortable having a poof of white lace sitting at your throat that prevents you from turning your head so much as an inch.
Personality: Before I say anything else, I must tell you that I am as stubborn as a mule. Perhaps more so. Some might call it “dedication” but I know that it is nothing more than simple stubbornness. Once I get into my head that an idea is right, I will not back down. It’s an inherited trait, one each member of my family shares. I don’t really have much in the way of temper, since it generally takes a lot to make me furious, but my family is the one exception. My family is the exception to a most things.
I tend to be polite and courteous to strangers, though not very open. It’s more difficult for me to make friends, as I never had the charismatic quality that Asher had. I tend to be a little suspicious of anyone I don’t know very well, and when people start taking an unhealthy interest in me, I really put my guard up. I am very loyal to the friends I do have, however, and I never break a promise.
As head of the family, I am the responsible one. My life has forced me to become organized, punctuous, and aware of all that is going on around me. I don’t really approve of frivolities, so things like music and theatre play a small part in my life. Some say I am unappreciative of the arts. I could care less. I have no time for the arts. I have very little time in my life for anything that brings me joy now, including laughter. There is very little in the world that I find humor in. My smiles and laughter are mostly fake, especially when I’m in public. I don’t think I’ve really laughed in a long time. I haven’t cried in a long time either. I can’t afford to cry. Someone has to stay strong in our family, and that person is me.
Strengths:
--I am a lord, one of the nobility, and as such, have power and wealth at my disposal.
--I am good with numbers and letter, and am an excellent reader and writer.
--I’m not naïve. I know what the world is like, despite what you may think, and I know what the nobility is capable of doing.
--My speech skills are rather good. Possibly the only useful thing I inherited from my father. People will listen when I have something to say, and it’s not difficult for me to prove a point.
Weaknesses:
--I cannot hurt women at all. It goes against my moral code. So if you want to kill me, send a female assassin.
--My fighting skills are virtually nonexistent. I had an instructor in swordfighting, but he was a fop, and I never really had to use those skills. My “dirty fighting” is better, and actually passable.
--My survival skills are also nonexistent. I have always lived a life of luxury, and if I were suddenly thrust into poverty, I doubt I’d be able to manage. Or even thrust into the woods. I’d probably die.
--My family. Isn’t that everyone’s weakness? I would do anything for my family, and if anyone ever insults my family, I will be on them in a heartbeat.
--I don’t really like relationships, and by that, I mean the type of relationships found between men and women. I don’t have very much experience in that department, and I’ve always felt rather uncomfortable whenver a young woman lavishes attention on me.
--I’m always afraid that I will never live up to my standards, that I will fail my family or friends, or even myself.
Magic: I actually do have a tiny amount of magic, but compared to a moderately-strong Slayer, or even a weak one, I have nothing. I’ll put it this way: My magic ability is equivalent to one drop of water, while the magic of most Slayers is more like a very large lake. The only reasonable thing I could do with my magic is light a candle – and then I wouldn’t be able to do anything else for weeks afterward. So it’s really no surprise that no Slayer has come for me and my trickle of magic. What do I have that they could possibly want?
History: I was born to Lady Alianne Lyeshi and Lord Sheridan Keldaris two years after their marriage. My birth was, of course, greeted with the customary joy and celebration that comes with the birth of an heir. My family has never suffered from having children die during in fancy, so there was no particular concern that I would die within the next year or so. They need have worried.
Two years after me, my mother had my brother, Asher Zacharias. He was a cherubic baby, always giggling and crawling up to people melting their hearts with his wide smile. A year later came the twins Yvette Lyeshi and Yvonne Sharielle, and finally, Christian Xavier, six years younger than I. However, he was born prematurely, and died only a few days after his birth. My mother had no more children after him.
Asher and I, being closest in age, were closest in affection, despite the fact that we were like opposites. He was fair where I was dark, outgoing I was more reserved. But I think we had a good effect on each other. He always managed to bring out my fun-loving side, and I think my seriousness helped him become a little less naïve. Nicknamed “Asher the Angel,” he always looked so innocent that you could never quite believe that he had just dumped a pail of water on someone, or some joke like that. Even our own father preferred Asher to any of us. It didn’t mean he ignored the rest of us; indeed, he was still a wonderful father, but he just made his preference obvious. Yvonne and Yvette were like Asher and I, one dark and one light, though they had a closer relationship than Asher and I ever had, being twins.
Our childhood was nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, we had tutors in every subject imaginable, from history to music to language, as we were of noble blood. And my father, being the genius he was, refused to allow his children to become anything less. These lessons, began when I was age six, weren’t really as much for me as they were for my siblings. To be sure, these would be skills that I would need, but I was my father’s heir, and as such, I had more important things to learn.
My father would often call me out of class, so he could begin teaching me all the duties that would be passed onto me once he died. I think Asher was always a little jealous that I missed class so often, though in truth, I would rather have been in a class with my siblings than cloistered up with my father. Asher was a bit more prone to mood swings than the rest of us. It propelled him to be a little more cruel towards the instructor than his wont, playing tricks on the poor man that were pushing the boundaries of being ‘merely harmless.’ He ended up making the man so miserable that he refused to teach anymore unless Asher was somewhere far away – which had been Asher’s plan all along. I always laughed whenever I heard about his escapades, and admired him for being so gutsy. Asher didn’t really need the knowledge anyway. His charisma far outweighed any meaningless knowledge he had to know.
My sisters were better than Ahsher in the classroom, though Yvonne, the younger of the two, had a tendency to daydream a lot, and thus never managed to hear a word our teacher said. It wasn’t cruelty or purposeful on her part. She was still a young girl, prone to a young girl’s flights of fancy. My other sister Yvette was the best student out of all of us. I think she must have inherited my father’s intellect, as she managed to retain so much information without giving any appearance of having studied. She would have made an excellent scholar.
So there we were, four children growing up and learning together. Those were quite possibly some of the happiest times of my life, a blissful ten years of nothing but happiness and joy. Then, my life started falling apart.
Yvonne was fifteen then, nearly a young woman. She was possessed of a woman’s figure, though she still had a girl’s mind. Men were starting to notice her, and she reveled in the attention, showing herself off to the best of her ability, and acting like a brainless twit, at least in my opinion. She’d always been rather dreamy, but it was almost like she’d become a completely different person. Her ditziness did attract the attention of one man, named Simon Malkander. He was a noble of much lower status than us, a third son without much money or prospects in life. We didn’t shun him because of this, and actually liked the man quite a bit. It was clear that he was fond of my sister, and my sister of him, and we were all awaiting a proposal from him.
It shocked us all when we woke up one morning to find Yvonne’s bed empty, devoid of all but a single note, neatly folded. The message was simple. Yvonne and Simon had run away – eloped you could say – to Ivria, in Ghayth, and were going to set up their lives there. My father was upset, understandably, but more so, he was upset because his daughter had run away. He would have given his consent had she just asked, but somehow, she had gotten the impression that she wouldn’t have been allowed to marry a man of virtually no rank. We were all upset following that, but I think Yvette was the most devastated out of all of us because it had been her twin sister that had run away without so much as a word to her. Yvonne and Simon did come back to visit, several times a year, but there was a distance between us that we could never seem to cross.
It was bad enough losing Yvonne so quickly, but less than a year later, we almost lost Asher as well. My charming, adored, mischievous brother, whose wild ways nearly brought about his downfall. He was eighteen then, and as wild and reckless as ever. He’d been out riding with a few friends the day it happened. What I know has been told to me by several of Asher’s friends, since he has refused to tell anyone anything, but apparently, they’d been riding in the woods when they suddenly encountered a large fallen tree. My brother wanted to jump it. He was young, confident to the point of arrogance, and never once believed he would fail. He was wrong. His horse didn’t make it over trunk, and ending up breaking it’s neck, he went sailing over, and broke his spine. He didn’t die of it, for which I still thank Valleran everyday, but he lost all movement of his legs. In essence, he was paralyzed from the waist down.
That accident changed all our lives. It turned Asher from an optimistic youth full of hopes and dreams to a bitter young man who chose to cut himself off from the world. And it pushed my father off the brink into insanity. My mother could barely cope with losing her husband and son in one blow, and went into a deep depression, from which she has not recovered. For the longest time, Yvette and I were completely on our own. We were half-grown youths were had suddenly been thrust into the roles of parents. Not only did we have to take care of ourselves, but we had to watch over the rest of our family as well.
Yvette became my father’s nursemaid and I became my brother’s keeper. It hurt to see my beloved brother become bitter and harsh, refusing to go back out into society. He thought that people would no longer respect him now that he couldn’t walk, and had to move around in a wheelchair. I tried to argue with him, tried to tell him that people wouldn’t ignore him, but nothing I said could change his mind. I think we both knew my words were merely a protest for his sake, and not because I truly believed them.
What hurt more, however, was seeing my sister throw away her future to take care of my father. She was a beautiful, intelligent young woman with the ability to become whatever she wanted, and she threw it all away because of our father. I kept telling her that I would take care of him, and that she should go do what she wanted to do, but she argued with me, telling me she didn’t’ want me to handle all this alone, and that she was fine taking care of our father, which I didn’t believe. It led to several heated arguments between the two of us, since we were both too stubborn to listen to what the other was saying. In the end, I gave in, and let her remain at home. To tell the truth, a small part of me was glad she’d chosen to stay. I hadn’t really wanted to be all alone, without anyone to turn to for comfort.
Meanwhile, the nobility had been speculating about our sudden withdrawal from society. They’d heard about Asher’s accident and were eager to hear all the details. I felt uncomfortable relating something so person, so I kept it to the bare minimum: Asher had been hurt but he was fine now, he couldn’t walk, and he wouldn’t be seeing anyone from now on. There were frequent calls to our house from overcurious nobles wanting a peek of Asher, but I never allowed anyone inside, unless they’d been a close friend of the family.
For some reason, I never told anyone about my father’s descent into madness, choosing instead to keep that matter private. I didn’t want to give people any more gossip to spread around.
My life settled into a relatively normal pattern. I took over my father’s responsibilities, both in the household and out. Any correspondence sent to my father was answered to by me. Social functions were attended only by Yvette and I, and soon the nobility forgot all about us. It isn’t my life from before – I can never get that back – but it isn’t a horribly life either. I still have my family, broken though it is, and I have my sister Yvette, which, for now, is enough.