Ceridwen Shadowstar
 Ceridwen Shadowstar
| |
 Why was I given this gift, if not to use it? | |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Elezen |
| Clan | Wildwood |
| Citizenship | Ishgardian |
| Full Name | Ceridwen Idenne Elainne |
| Date of Birth | 25th Sun of the 4th Astral Moon (July 25th) |
| Chocobo | Memoriae - Male, Defensive Trained |
| Sexuality | bi/demi/poly |
| Relationship Status | Courting - Complicated |
| Occupation | Scholar and Chirurgeon |
Ceridwen Shadowstar is the elder of the twin children, of House Shadowstar. Her father is Lord Integris Shadowstar, who manages a library of noncanonical resources for the Aetheneum Astrologicum. Ceridwen is Dwen for short. Never Ceri, please and thank you. She's recently finished training as a chirurgeon and scholar at Camp Bronze Lake. Having now returned to Ishgard, she's obtained an apartment, from within which she runs a small clinic. She's currently being courted by an old childhood friend, with whom she has a rocky relationship. And she's looking for a company for which she can serve as a tactician as well as battlefield medic.
Birth to 5 Years
Twenty five years prior to the Calamity, Lady Lilyenne Shadowstar gave birth to a pair of twins, naming them Ceridwen and Sirus. Their father, Lord Integris, was very proud and happily announced the healthy birth of his children. His nineteen year old son from his first marriage, Cheswick, appeared happy to all witnesses.
The first five years went as normally and happily, as any small family could ask for. The twins grew as expected, charming their family and neighbors, as toddlers usually do. A few moons after their fifth nameday, the family attended a fall celebration picnic in the Coerthas Western Highlands, out near Gorgagne Mills. There was quite a small crowd of people in attendance. A Dravanian and heretic cell, attacked and killed several people. Among the death toll, was Lilyenne Shadowstar, whose death at the jaws of a dragon, was witnessed by her husband and twin children. Cheswick was briefly missing in the chaos.
5 Years to 15 Years
The small family went into mourning, memorializing Lilyenne alongside the others that died in the attack. After a couple years, things smoothed out and life moved on. Cheswick started traveling for business, acting as a merchant importer, of exotic goods. His returns from travel were often accompanied by varied gifts, of unexplained origins. The family lived each day, unaware of what was coming.
Heresy Incident
Around the early spring, following the twins’ fifteenth nameday, Cheswick was caught with heretical artifacts among his wares. Questioning by the Inquisition, as well as investigation into his belongings, it is discovered that he was a hidden agent for a heretic cell, acting as their contact inside the city. He had been using his business dealings, to hide his efforts.
He was taken to Witchdrop, judged, and pushed off. He then revealed that with Dravanian magic, he was capable of becoming a dragon. Cheswick used his transformation to bid for escape, but was shot down by the attending knights and their archers. Integris was witness to all of this. Integris then submitted to arrest and subsequent questioning.
Integris was judged as safe to put under house arrest, with his children and household staff. The next three months, Integris remained in his home with the twins, while the Special Office questioned them, searched their home, and chased the remains of the heretical cell.
After three months, and the extermination of the cell’s major camp, it was determined that House Shadowstar was unaware of Cheswick’s duplicity, and they had not willingly harbored a heretic. Given the twins age, no official charges were brought against them. Integris was exonerated.
The following months became a time of keeping out of the gossip circles, and lime light, as House Shadowstar learned who would and would not continue to associate with them. Rumors of this whole affair can still be found, in the right gossip circles.
16 Years to Calamity
Ceridwen and Sirus focus on their studies, now learning through tutors provided by the church, rather than private ones. Shortly after their seventeenth nameday, Sirus was taken as a squire, by a knight of House Haillenarte. He is knighted and sworn to Haillenarte, by the age of twenty two.
At this point, Ceridwen, having done what personal study she can, starts asking to travel to Vylbrand, to join the arcanists guild. She refuses offers to apply to Saint Endalim’s Scholasticate, making it clear she did not wish to join the clergy. Integris refuses her pleas, insisting he cannot allow his daughter to travel so far on her own.
Three years after this point, Dalamud comes down, the Calamity strikes, and all of Coerthas and Ishgard is blanketed under unending winter.
Post Calamity to Present
The Shadowstars, like much of the rest of Ishgard, starts adapting and changing to handle the unceasing freeze. Given that their business is mostly that of the Aetheneum Astrologicum, there was little danger of that being taken from them. Though, they do have to make adjustments to the management of their library archive, of star charts, to preserve the documents within.
Lord Integris was never one to suffer winter with any relative health. And so, with the deepening of the permanent winter, Integris, like so many other Ishgardians, grows frequently sick. His lungs weaken, due to being unable to heal between frequent colds and flus.
Sirus is eventually assigned to work at the city gates, inspecting imports. This puts him in an unfortunate position of working with a severely racist superior officer. They come to blows, over a matter of closed minds and a poor merchant’s invitation from the church. Sirus is thereafter transferred to Camp Cloudtop, where it’s mistakenly expected he will stay out of trouble.
About six years after the Calamity, Ceridwen finally gains her father’s permission to study abroad. She sets out for Limsa Lominsa, scant months before the Grand Company Alliance operation on the Garlean Castrum’s in Eorzea. Once there, she joins the Arcanists Guild, and soon summons her first carbuncle, whom she dubs Lily. She takes up a ‘part-time’ post in the library there, to cover her expenses, during her studies.
During the next year or so, she also travels to Gridania for a moon, and Ul’dah, for another moon, briefly studying conjury and thaumaturgy, respectively. While she has a grasp of the basics, she has spent little to no time gaining any mastery over these skills.
After nearly a year in Limsa, Ceridwen is trained in the arts of the Nymian Scholars, summoning her faery, Fea. Upon her first successful summons, Dwen is transferred to Camp Bronze Lake, to study under the healers at Warmwine Sanitorium, as well as with the scholars near the Wandering Palace. During the six moons she’s there, she goes out with teams of marauders, to learn tactical skills, as well as healing.
Nearly a year and a half after leaving Ishgard, Ceridwen is finally deemed capable of continuing her studies without a teacher, and is granted leave to return home. She returns to Ishgard in the wake of Nidhogg’s attack on the Steps of Faith, where he is reputedly killed.
Family
- Lord Integris Shadowstar - father
- Lady Lilyenne Shadowstar - mother (deceased)
- Lady Brisette Shadowstar - Cheswick's mother (deceased, prior to twins' birth)
- Cheswick Shadowstar - half brother (disowned and deceased)
- Sirus Shadowstar - twin brother
- Rhydia Selionne - house seneschal ("adopted" family)
Friends & Acquaintances
- Rosaire Ledigne - Family Friend
- Bryce Starshield - Friend, Fellow nobility, Suitor
- Chastity Starshield - Friend, Fellow nobility, Unofficially adopted little sister
- Cassandre Voleaux - Friend, Fellow nobility, Romantic Interest
- Gwenneth Gilrouis - Friend
- Perrine Pepin - Friend, Fellow nobility
- Wu'rexa Norh - Friend
- Amra Baker - Acquaintance/Friend
- Anette Deschamps - Friend, Fellow nobility, Mentor, Neighbor
- Openings Available
Associates and Coworkers
- Unnamed Mentor at Camp Bronze Lake
- Unnamed Marauder Squad at Camp Bronze Lake
- Openings Available
Enemies and Rivals
- Creedo Starshield - Bryce & Chastity's father
- Cheswick Shadowstar - deceased, former half-brother
- Associates of Cheswick's circle of heretics
- Openings Available
Miscellaneous
- I don't even know. Openings Available?
| Likes | Dislikes |
|---|---|
| *Blue and Purple | *Black and Blood Red |
| *Tea, Quiet Places, and Magic | *Dragons |
| *Libraries | *Battle fields |
Summons
Lily
Lily is an emerald carbuncle, and Ceridwen's first summon. She's overweight and a food thief, much to Dwen's dismay. Her regular attempts to exercise the creature are often undermined. Friends who think Lily's adorable behavior often reward antics with treats, when Dwen's not looking. Lily is quite attached to her mistress, however, and is quick to leap to her defense, when present for violent situations.
Fea
Fea is Ceridwen's faery, and her most recent summon. Fea has a mischievous streak a mile wide, and a penchant for swiping small shiny objects, which she gifts to her mistress. They are still working on their bond, and so Fea sometimes disobeys Dwen. But when it comes time to heal someone gravely injured, the faery responds quite naturally to her calls.
Coming Soon
Common
- “They say she’s the daughter of a minor noble!” - Passerby in Jeweled Crozier
- “Did you know her brother is a knight? Serves at the Rose House in the Sea of Clouds.” - Random Peer at Confession
- "She's not from Gridania! She's Ishgardian! Don't see why she can't just learn healing there." - Maelstrom Soldier in Limsa Lominsa
- "I overheard her telling her teacher that she learned hand to hand combat alongside her brother." - Convalescing Adventurer at Camp Bronze Lake
Uncommon
- “I once heard her mother was killed in a dragon attack.” - Older Knight
- "I once observed a hushed argument between her and her father, a couple years ago. I swore I overheard Vylbrand." - Neighbor's Maid
- "Someone once told me that she can find her twin brother in any crowd, or any location." - Scholasticate Student
Rare
- “A friend of a friend was at the trial, where her half brother was witch-dropped.” - Another Noble
- "I saw papers showing confession that her half brother killed her mother." - Inquisitor Apprentice
PC Rumors
No rumors from other players yet? Sad.
Ishgardian Nobility
As a minor noble, her house doesn’t merit attention very often. And that’s how they prefer it right now. Most houses view them with an air of distrust, due to a brush with accusations of heresy around twelve years ago. There are a few houses that treat them neutrally or kindly, after all this time. But not many. Other nobles close to her age may have been friends with her and her brother, prior to the heresy incident. Most would have turned away when it happened though. There also would’ve been tutors of varying kinds.
Heresy Incident
Dwen would’ve been introduced to a number of priests, inquisitors, and knights, during the three months that her House was under investigation. There also would’ve been plenty of people present at the Tribunal in which her family was exonerated. As well as business associates that turned away from their house, during this time.
Cheswick Shadowstar
Her disowned half-brother who became a heretic and all that mess. He was 19 when she and Sirus were born. He was a avid businessman. And he despised the twin’s mother, his stepmother, though no one in their family knew until the heresy incident. He was 34 when he was witchdropped. He had heretic associations, as well as Isghardian business partners who didn’t know about his heresy. These people may or may not be familiar with Dwen and Sirus.
Marriage Prospects
Having returned to Ishgard, and with certain political changes making way for House Shadowstar's peace of mind, Ceridwen has found herself courted by an old childhood friend. Her father has not publicly stated that Ceridwen is 'off the market', as it were. If someone were to come to pay respects for her hand, he'd at least hear them out.
Arcanist Guild
Dwen has spent a little over a year, studying in Limsa Lominsa as an arcanist. She has recently summoned her first faerie and is working to master that art. As such, she will have made friends, competition, and mentors in both those studies.
Camp Bronze Lake
Once transitioned fully into her studies as a scholar, Ceridwen was transferred to Camp Bronze Lake, to continue her studies. Under the experienced healers and medics of the Warmwine Sanitorium, she expanded her own skills, both in magical healing, and practical. While there, she studied alongside other fledgling healers, worked on healing soldiers and adventurers, primarily Maelstrom associated, and became familiar with those who work full time at the Sanitorium. She left Camp Bronze Lake with her mentor's blessing to continue her studies in Ishgard.
Gridania and Conjurer’s Guild
The arcanist guild sent Dwen to Gridania for a month, to learn the basics of conjury, to better expand her skills as an arcanist.
Ul’Dah and Thaumaturge’s Guild
Same as Gridania and Conjurer’s Guild. One month to expand skills.
Knights
With her brother now being a knight, Dwen has a passing familiarity with those who trained and served alongside her brother, prior to her going abroad to study. Sirus is a Rose Knight, and so most of Dwen's acquaintances in this front, would be in association with House Haillenarte.
OOC & Notes
Hi! I'm a mid 30s stay at home sort. I'm in the Pacific Time Zone (west coast US). As a result, I'm three hours behind the usual east coast times listed for events and such. I'm often on during the day, before my family gets home from school and work. And then I'm on in late evenings (10 pm to midnight ish). If you want to hang out, rp, chat, or whatever, feel free to whisper me in game, or contact me on Tumblr!
Infobox adapted from Amethysts_Template
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