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[jewelofborune]

[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Ce'Nedra
SERIES: David Eddings' The Belgariad and The Mallorean
CHRONOLOGY: She'll be drawn from in-between the two series, soon after her marriage.
CLASS: Hero, though not proactive in most cases.

BACKGROUND:
Once upon a time, some dude apparently decided he was going to write a fantasy series using every trope in the book to see if he could still make it entertaining.

He could, and so we have The Belgariad.

In the beginning, the gods created the world and each took up a people. Only the god Aldur abstained in this, and he instead took up select few disciples and taught them sorcery, the Will and the Word. He also crafted the Orb of Aldur, a small but powerful artifact.

Another of the gods, Torak, coveted the Orb and stole it from Aldur. When he attempted to harness its power, he cracked the world. The Orb itself revolted against him, and the left side of Torak's body was maimed. The world was thrown into war and chaos. To stop this, one of Aldur's disciples set out to retrieve the Orb with the help of four men, Cherek Bear-Shoulders and his three sons. They succeeded. The chaos calmed and Torak was banished to a deep sleep, only to awaken to fulfill his final purpose.

Fast-forward a few hundred years, and we're introduced to of tale's hero, Garion. The whole story is a fairly standard coming-of-age quest revolving around this boy and the cast of characters that help him to realize and accomplish his necessary purpose in mending the universe. When the Orb of Aldur is once against stolen by a servant Torak, Garion is dragged into the mission to get it back. His guides in this quest, his Aunt and Grandfather, both sorcerers under Aldur, call upon various allies to aide them. Along the way, they meet even more helpers for their cause, each required and compelled by destiny to play their part. Ce'Nedra is one of the players in this game of Necessity.

Ce'Nedra herself is the Imperial Princess of Tolnedra, part of the Borune family. Her lineage, thanks to a pact between her father's house and the nearby woodlands, makes her part-Dryad. She's regarded as the flower of her Empire, jewel of her house, and other such lavish titles. She becomes a part of the questing party when she runs away from her father in the midst of throwing a hissy-fit. Rather than return her, the wise magic-types recognize her for her purpose and so decide to keep her with them. When it is later revealed that Garion is a from a long-lost royal line, meant to guard the Orb and defeat the evil god Torak after his awakening, Ce'Nedra is in turn revealed to be his promised bride. While this causes her initial grief, she must realize that she does care for him and, in that care, must do all that she can to support him.

So, when the hero goes off to fight his battles, Ce'Nedra raises an army consisting of soldiers from all the Western lands to support his cause. She becomes a beloved figurehead for her army, learns more about the common people and about war, and is present (inadvertently) for the culmination of events in which Garion claims victory over Torak.

Everybody then returns home and, no longer reluctant or infuriated, Ce'Nedra weds Garion and they live happily for a brief time before the sequel series points out that they soon got into the most massive fight ever.

In short, she plays a fairly basic role as the story's princess. She is part of an ensemble cast of supporting characters, and is the difficult love interest of the protagonist. Naturally, over the course of the story, she has her lessons to learn in humility and the like, but she does learn them. She finds things worth fighting for and, in that, she does her best. In the end, she fits well into the fate designed for her. She can't complain too much about becoming a fairly well-loved queen.

PERSONALITY:
Ce'Nedra is royalty, and she will never let anybody forget that. She is spoiled, prideful, argumentative, and quick-tempered. At least initially, she approaches the outside world with a loftiness that allows little more than these less-than-tolerable traits to be shown. The first time she's introduced, she quickly raises herself into a screaming tantrum directed at her father for his refusal to let her leave the palace grounds. It takes exposure to people outside of her kingdom to allow her more favorable traits to emerge.

The questing party is made up largely of those high-ranking or altogether beyond the need for royal titles. They quickly make it known that they are unwilling to support Ce'Nedra's habits. She cannot throw tantrums to get away with her desires. Although she does not and will never set aside her royal title, can never rid herself of her spoiled nature and stubbornness, she does have to learn how to tone it down. When her more abrasive traits are not up so defensibly, she's capable of a good deal of feeling that is far more typical for a teenage girl. We learn that she has fears, desires, and the like, and she learns these same things about herself.

Important to note is that she gains a fast affection for Garion, who is a boy about her own age, although his attitude and supposed background are terribly different. She attempts to not acknowledge this affection through the first part of the series, knowing that she must return home to enter into a political marriage. Even when she's made to accept her feelings, even when it's discovered the Garion is the lost king she's promised to, she's temporarily horrified at the prospect of having to marry above her station. Even in her love, she maintains her level of royal pride.

This is settled when it's decreed that she will rule as a queen alongside Garion, rather than be subservient to him. Once appeased, she can more fully accept her place in life and even learn to find pride in her position as Garion's betrothed, putting a great deal of stock into another person as she hadn't yet before. It's this pride and passion that allow her to raise an army for their cause, and she feels a genuine love and appreciation for the troops under her banner.

Ce'Nedra, simply, is a fantasy-world's rich girl. She could put "My Super Sweet Sixteen" to shame. Minding that she's not a normal young girl and will never be, she is still a young person with feeling ranging beyond her immediate desires, even if it takes even her a while to dig for them. She feels affection and admiration, and she's not overly-reserved about expressing this when it's called for. She wants everything to turn out all right and, for all that she may act in protest, she's willing to do her part in that.

POWER:
Tree Telepathy: Being a technical Dryad give Ce'Nedra the canon ability to communicate with trees. I hesitate to actually call it tree telepathy, as she doesn't seem to hold casual conversations with them, but she... Yeah. Basically can talk to trees. It doesn't come up often.

Persuation through speech: A non-canon ability! At least, it's not a supernatural power in canon, although she does have a talent for public speaking. Her impassioned speeches are what convinced a large number of her soldiers to follow her cause. The power would just allow her to be super-convincing when she puts up a decent argument or pleads properly or whatnot.

This would be opt-in, permissions post and everything. Aside, its use would naturally require communication with any characters on whom it might have an affect.

[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST SAMPLE:
Video;
[ A very small redhead sits in a plain room on a plain sofa, the camera presumably on the low table before her. She sits up very straight, chin high. It's pretty obvious that she's not sure what she's supposed to be looking at in making this address, but she refuses to look a bit like she doesn't know what she's doing. ]

I am Ce'Nedra, Queen of Riva, Imperial Princess of Tolnedra, and Jewel of the House of Borune. [ There's a pause. She sniffs disdainfully and isn't sure how to continue for a moment. ]

There is no Riva, here. There is no Tolnedra. In fact, none of the kingdoms that I am familiar with are present here. The masses of land are not even shaped the same way. They were not kidding when they said this was another world, although... I find this idea hard to accept. I am not sure how so many can find it such an easy thing to grasp.

This world... [ And that holds the tiniest twinge of fear. She shoves it back down. She refuses to bow to this in any way. ] This world is very strange.

I was told it would be prudent to introduce myself. What am I meant to say, however? This is absolute foolishness, and I cannot be made to suddenly understand or have to accept it. I do not even understand how speaking to this thing can even count as any introduction at all.

[ Now, having pointed out to herself that this is obvious nonsense, she exhales and she her shoulders sag a little. She reaches forward and, after some fiddling, cuts her transmission off. ]

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:
It was remarkable how so much could change in such a short length of time. It could have been last week, the way that it felt, that Ce'Nedra had found herself barred from leaving her father's house. It seemed so silly now that the infraction had offended her so that she'd run away, but... It had been meant to be, hadn't it?

That thought was uncomfortable, nearly infuriating, in itself! If she was meant to leave the protective boundaries of Tol Honeth, compelled by whatever force it was that moved them all, then what did that say about her ability to choose anything? If she picked bread and blackberry jam for breakfast, was she simply fated to have picked that?!

But that seemed so bizarre. The little queen even laughed a little bit to herself as she tucked another pin into her hair. Now... What had she just been thinking about? Oh, yes.

So recently she had fled her empire's capital, only to come into contact with a strangely diverse group of Alorn travelers. Garion's aunt, the Lady Pol, had scrubbed the disguise of dye from her hair and had somehow firmly insisted that she was to travel with them. Then it had been countrysides aplenty, the Vale of Aldur, the miracle in the cave, Ulgoland... The months were a blur of events, things that had happened so quickly and close together that is was a wonder there had been enough room for all of them! She'd seen a peasant become a king. She'd raised an army for that boy. She'd watched him kill a god.

The thought took her breath away. Her eyes cast down into her lap for a moment, and then into the mirror before her. She could see him, now her husband, still asleep, unclothed and on his belly, head buried under a plush pillow and weight sinking into the mattress. Vulnerable. Still a boy, but a god-slayer and a king.

How quickly they'd come to be here. For her, perhaps, the transition was not something so great. She could hardly imagine his own evolution, though, from a powerless farm-boy to the most powerful man in the world. She wondered if it was surprising, even, for him to wake up every day and find himself where he was. She would have to ask, but now..?

She did have a lifetime to wake him early whenever she pleased. She would be kind today and allow him to sleep until it pleased him to wake up. Tucking two last pins in her hair, her rose from her vanity and began the day's journey, the start of a new life.

Where such a short time ago she'd been the childish princess of the Tolnedran Empire, she now walked as a queen, and she was determined to forever make a good impression.