JULIANNA
Birthplace: Unknown. Presumed to be Lyonesse, a shadow
of the Golden
Circle.
Actual Age: Unknown. However, she first entered Amber just
over 350 odd
years ago. It has been speculated that she was fairly young
at the time, and it is generally believed that she is about
400 Amber years old.
Apparent Age: Her features are possessed of an ageless quality,
so even
in her physical appearance, her age is difficult to
determine. She looks neither young nor old, youthful nor
mature.
Physical Description:
Julianna is a striking woman, even by
Amberite standards. Standing
at 6'2", she is reasonably tall, a fair bit taller than most
Amberite
women. She is exceptionally slender, and, in general, looks
rather
fragile. However, appearances are slightly deceiving, and
her stamina
is on par with many of those in the Royal family. While
she is by no
means strong, at least by the standards of Amber, she is quick
and
dexteritous, and her movements are always elegant and graceful.
Her complexion is rather pale, but not
in an unhealthy manner. Her
skin is like ivory or while marble, which greatly compliments
her
carved, aristocratic, flawless features. Her cheekbones
are high, her
face slender, and it is all of these aspects of her appearance
which
give the casual observer the impression that she is a statue
come to life.
Her hair, blacker than the darkest night,
runs in thick, curly
locks down her back to just below her waist. Generally,
she prefers to
wear her hair loose, but she will tie it back into an intricate
ponytail
when necessary.
Like her hair, her eyes are also black,
the irises so dark that
they are indistinguishable from her pupils. Staring into
her eyes is
like staring into infinite pools of darkness...they seem to have
no depth.
Her colours of choice are dark ones,
and it is these colours she
wears. Primarily, she wears black, accented with deep purples,
crimsons, and sometimes blues. She also wears dark greys
from time to
time.
Parents: Unknown
Adoptive Parents: Lord Kieran of Lyonesse (father, deceased)
Lady Eithne of Lyonesse (mother, deceased)
Siblings: None known
Background:
Very little is known about the enigmatic
Amberite named Julianna.
Whay is known has been pieced together from vague, apocryphal
stories
and tales told over the years.
As a child, she was apparently adopted
by Lord Kieran and Lady
Eithne of Lyonesse, who were, themselves, unable to have children.
The
nature of how Julianna came to be in their charge, or her life
previous
to this, is unknown.
Lord Kieran was the head of a powerful
merchant family in Lyonesse,
a shadow of the Golden Corcle, and, as such, had significant
dealings
with Amber.
Some 350 odd years ago (Amber Time),
long before Corwin's, and
sunsequently Oberon's, disappearance, Kieran was selected as
the head of
a trade delegation from Lyonesse that was to go to Amber and
negotiate
certain trade rights with King Oberon. It was anticpated
that this
journey to Amber would be extended, so he brought his wife and
adoptive
daughter with him, along with his extensive retinue. As
Amber and
Lyonesse have always had amicable relations, they were welcomed
to
Kolvir with open arms.
Thus was Julianna's first trip to Amber.
Some weeks into the negotiations, the
Lady Eithne requested a full
tour of the castle grounds, and Julianna joined her. Florimel
was
appointed by Oberon for this task, and when the Lady Eithne made
a
request that they see the pattern of Amber, Flora was gracious
enough
(and wise enough, as she knew that her father wished these negotiations
to be successful) to comply.
Not surprisingly, everyone in the small
group, including Flora,
were quite taken aback when Julianna detached herself from the
retinue,
proceeded to the pattern, and walked it. When she had reached
the
centre, she teleported back to the gathering, stating only 'I
had
suspected as much.' (Note: Flora believed, having watched
the relative
ease with which Julianna traversed the pattern, that she must
have
walked it previously. Given the heavy guard under which
the patterns of
both Amber and Rebma are kept, it is generally suspected that
she walked
the pattern of Tir-na Nog'th, which had appeared in the sky several
times during her stay. Claims by several palace guards
of seeing a
shady figure ascend the ethereal staircase to the ghost city
seem to
substantiate this.)
Immediately, it was suspected that Julianna
was an errant,
illegitimate child of Oberon, one of the many the great king
had sired
while filandering in shadow. Julianna herself, however,
never attempted
to substantiate this, or argue to the contrary. For his
part, neither
did Oberon, knowing full well that even if this child was not
known to
him, the possibility of him being her father was quite strong.
Now,
however, it is believed that she is not a child of Oberon, but
rather a
child of one of Oberon's children, a belief reinforced by the
vague
allusions given by her over the years that she is indeed aware
of the
identity of her royal parent, and by the fact that she addresses
the
younger Amberites with the term 'cousin' as opposed to niece
or nephew.
However, to date, none of the Royal Family of Amber has stepped
forth to
claim Julianna as his or her daughter.
Julianna remained in Amber after her
adoptive parents departed for
Lyonesse, and she proceeded to gather as much knowledge as she
could
about her Royal heritage and the Pattern. It is said that
she studied
under a great many of her 'aunts' and 'uncles', including Fiona
and
Brand, during that time. It has also been rumoured that
she even
recieved tutelage from Dworkin for a breif period of time, during
one of
the latter's more lucid phases. Frequently, she could be
found in the
library of Castle Amber, devouring the multitude of tomes that
can be
found there. It has been said that there is not a single
book in that
ancient room that she left unread.
Although her motivations are unknown,
it is presumed, after several
years of study, that she tired of Amber and the constant familial
infighting of the Royal family, and she departed to explore the
nether
realms of shadow. Since that time, she spends the vast
majority of her
time in shadow, visiting Amber only on brief and infrequent occasions,
and then promptly disappearing again. She was not present
in Amber
during the Patternfall War, nor was she present during the troubles
between the Logrus and the Pattern. However, given the
widespread
effects of both these events, she was undoubtably aware of them
at the
time.
It was sometime during these travels
in shadow that she somehow
managed to save the life of a Chaosian named Jehzbyn. Since
that time,
he has remained a stalwart and ever-present companion to her,
always at
her side, save during her breif soujourns to Amber.
It was also in shadow where she first
encountered Zachary, son of
Random and Vialle. He is one of the few Amberites she tends
to remain
in contact with (albeit on an infrequent basis), perhaps due
to the
similar interests they share.
Personality:
Graceful. Calm. Elegant.
Quiet. Secretive. Subdued. Cool.
These all describe Julianna. She retains the civility of
Fiona mixed
with the detached aloofness of Llewella. She is one who
always remains
a constant observer, ever in the background, always watching,
and rarely
taking action.
This is not to say she is shy.
Rather, she's reserved. She has a
tendancy to speak only when spoken to, and when she does speak,
she does
so without really saying anything at all. She tends to
be vague, giving
her opinions in the form of hypotheticals which always leave
room for
questioning and interpretation. Further, she has a tendancy
to answer a
question with a question, all the while conveying the impression
that
she is being forthright and honest. It's not until later
that many
realize that she was talking in circles, and saying nothing at
all.
Above all else, she is always polite
and respectful, especially to
the elder Amberites. She will always defer to those with
the greater
amount of experience, and listen to their opinions. She
does not use
the term 'aunt' or 'uncle', instead referring to them by their
Royal
titles and full names. However, her cousins she addresses
as 'cousin'
and nothing more, the excpetions being when she needs to isolate
her
relatives from one another, and Zachary, whom she always addresses
by
name. She also does not use diminutives.
She is cool, calm and collected at all
times. She never seems to
become unnerved, nor does she ever raise her voice (which, incidentally,
is quiet and willowy).
On the other hand, she does tend to
be a tad arrogant and superior
at times. While she will always remain polite, she is not
above the
occasional comment or sarcastic remark when the timing is appropriate;
usually this is delevered in such a civil tone that the recipient
is
unaware that they have even been insulted. She is always
subtle,
however, and will not outright insult anyone, unless she feels
that they
truly deserve it.
Also, simply because she is quiet and
demure does not mean that she
is one to be underestimated. She is quite knowledgable
about a great
many things, more so than many of the younger Amberites.
One should
always keep in mind that, in Amber terms, she is older than even
Martin,
Merlin, or Rinaldo, and was around when Oberon was still king
and
Dworkin was still reasonably sane. While she will bow to
the opinions
of others, depending upon the circumstances, her will is of iron;
indeed, it has been said that her willpower is on par with many
of the
elder Amberites, perhaps even rivaling that of Corwin, Eric,
Brand or
Fiona. The truth of this, however, remains untested and
unknown.
All of this combines to make Julianna
quite an enigma. Her actions
and reactions are almost impossible to gage. While she
is quiet and
polite, she frequently has a bemused look upon her face, or a
half-smile
playing upon her lips, that gives the distinct impression that
she knows
more of what is going on than the onlooker does. More than
one Amberite
finds her infuriatingly polite attitude annoying, and her true
motivations remain totally and completely unknown. This,
coupled with
her secretiveness, lead many to believe that she is much more
involved
in the machinations of Amber than she wants anyone to know.
Interests:
Knowledge. Primarily that of the
Pattern, shadow and philosophy,
but all knowledge. She has studied a great many subjects
under an
innumerable amount of teachers during her travels, including
magic, the
sciences, history and many others. Yet, her thirst for
knowledge
remains unquenched, even after so many years.
Her desire for knowledge seems to be
for the sake of knowledge
rather than power. She rarely, if ever, applies the knowledge
she has
gained. She is quite intimate with the ways of magic, and
yet she
prefers not to use it, relying instead on the power of the Pattern,
and
her will. The exception to this seems to be magic in the
form of Power
Words, but this is because they rely upon the will of the user
alone
rather than the magical energies of a given shadow (thus making
them far
more reliable if less powerful than conventional magic).
She is
likewise knowledgable about the ways of the Trumps, but she engages
in
no Trump Artistry, instead prefering to leave that to the Trump
Artists,
such as Merlin or Zachary.
With her focus so much on academic pursuits,
she has little time
for physical hobbies. While she has rudimentary training
in handling
weapons, she is hardly what one could call adept, preferring
to handle
situations in a less violent manner. The one exception
to this would be
horseback riding, which she truly loves.
Allies:
Her one constant ally is Jehzbyn, a
demon from the Courts of Chaos
whose human form is a tall, lanky man who wears dark glasses,
and whose
Chaos form is that of a humanoid dragon. However, she has
numerous
allies throughout shadow, whose alligience she has gained over
the years
and her travels.
In Amber, however, generally speaking,
she is an acquaintance to
all, and a friend to none. She has no true allies there,
but nor does
she have any true enemies. Most remain neutral about her.
Magical Items/Constructs:
Julianna is not known to utilize or
possess any magical items.
However, she does have a pendant which she constantly wears.
It is
steele grey, and is similar in shape to an Egyptian Anhk of Shadow
Earth, but with an extra horizontal bar which intersects the
vertical
bar just below the mid point. The ends of these two horizontal
bars and
vertical bar fan out at the ends, and in the center of the ring
at the
top is an inscription of the Pattern. The center of the
ring is split
down the middle, each side being a different colour; one the
left side
is a grey background with the Pattern being etched in black,
and on the
right side the colours are inverted; a black background with
the Pattern
being etched in grey. It has been said that she wore this
pendant while
traversing the pattern for the first time, and it was at that
time that
the pattern became etched upon it. Whether or not it became
inbued with
any special powers is unknown.
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