Claris
Name: Claris of Reidona
Aliases: Sister Saint Clair, Clara Roydon, Clara Roydon Rochester (after her "remarriage" to Leland)
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: English
Age: Apparently a "mature" 17; at the end of the story, she's well over 800.
Occupation: Vampire, scribe, abbess, patron of the arts; in her mortal life, a serf and castle servant
Clan: Brujah
Height: 5"2 (this isn't unusually short for the time)
Build: Thin but strong (not "athletic"; more like a laborer)
Hair: Long (mid-back length), pale blonde, with a very tight wave to it when loose; very voluminous.
Eyes: Green. In extreme darkness, they can take on a feline or wolflike iridescence.
Other features: Fangs are visible when she wants them to be. When fighting, she can grow talon-like claws, but this is something she prefers to use only if her fangs aren't enough to do the job. She is very much a non-combatant by nature and only fights when necessary.
Skin: Pallid, bloodless, dark (bruise-colored) circles around her eyes
Tattoos/Piercings: None
*Things to note about her design:* Her face is very rounded, feminine, small-mouthed, big-eyed and doll-like, similar to Renaissance angels, Victorian fashion plate illustrations, or the women in Kinuko Y. Craft's artwork. A good facial structure to use for reference is Leighton's painting "La Biondina".
Clothing: As she's had a very long life, her clothing styles often befit what's most "normal" for an upper-class woman. The exceptions are her mortal life as a servant, where she wore rough-spun and sacklike clothing; her time at the nunnery, when she wore a long gray nun's habit with her hair totally covered; and pretty much any time after the 1950s, when clothing standards became much more loose. Even given the style of the time, she often opts for modesty as much for practical concerns in addition to her own dislike of feeling naked; her skin is unnaturally white and tends to be the same temperature as her environment, so a person inadvertently touching her exposed skin could provoke concern at best, suspicion or mistrust at worst. A good cross-section of many of her outfits over time, to get a feel for her taste, is here: Outfit Cross-section
Weapons: Fangs, very rarely claws. Again, not a combative character.
Personality/Backstory: Claris is very much a product of her time and social standing. This is something that will change and adapt as she copes with her newfound immortality, but she was raised not to question her status as a second-class citizen or as a woman. As the daughter of a serf farmer in the village of Reidona (modern-day Roydon), she was passed to the ownership of Lord Rocelin de Courseilles after the death of her father, and lived in his family's castle manor as a servant. She saw this as a kind and unmandated act of charity on the part of the lord's family, and was grateful to have been taken in. Obedience is one of her cardinal virtues even after she was turned, and for her entire mortal life she lacked the spare time and luxury to develop her own mind and opinions. After her Embrace into undeath, her sire insisted on educating her in language, history and culture so she could better understand the disadvantaged position she had occupied in life, and the necessity of changing it for others trapped in such a situation. In her mortal life she was often both alone and lonely, although she longed to connect with someone who could make her feel needed, useful and loved. She's an eager learner and notices a lot, although neither of these facts were common knowledge during her time at the castle because of how rarely she talked and how unlikely she was to be listened to even when she did. In her early unlife, she showed a surprising talent for extrasensory perception and aura reading, not normally associated with the Brujah bloodline.
Her first century of unlife was spent living in London with her sire as his pupil and eventual bride. She took a ghoul, Rose, and the three of them traveled extensively, first through England, Scotland and Wales; eventually, they would visit France, Spain, Germany, Rome, Palestine, Constantinople, Byzantium and Damascus as well. After her sire's departure in the early 14th century, Claris left their home in London for an abandoned monastery in the village of Abingdon, where she intended to live in seclusion with Rose. In 1332 she would open the abbey to wayward female vampires who sought rest and refuge from the mortal world but didn't wish to fall into torpor, and as Sister Saint Clair, she became the prioress of the "order", dubbed the Sisters of the Holy Chalice. As abbess she acquired two more girls, Blancheflor and Saffron, and eventually lost Rose (see below). The dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII led to the closing of the abbey in 1537, and at that time the Sisters relocated to Normandy, France. Claris, grown restless after two centuries at the nunnery and having gained favor with the vampire Princess of France for providing a service in the abbey, relocated to a coveted underground vault in Paris with her girls, which she uses as a "home base" for excursions around Europe just after the height of the Renaissance.
Relationships:
-Sire / Consort: Leland of Bremenium
Claris's long and complicated relationship with Leland, the man who made her a vampire, is far and away the most important one in her whole life, mortal or otherwise. As the first person to show an interest in her and her well-being outside of what was mandated by societal obligation, Leland instantly became the most cherished person to her, even without the benefit of her having gotten to know him. He took it upon himself to teach her as much as possible, including the concepts of self, individuality, and questioning the value of what she thinks she "knows". Whatever personality she would develop later in her undead life, he facilitated it, and although for their first few years together it was uncertain how Leland felt toward his childe, she was head over heels for him and would do anything for him even if he didn't ask it of her. She is jealously possessive and defensive of her sire, even when she was unsure whether he would ever reciprocate her feelings for him. There are extremely few things that make her speak up in anger, and none more so than another Cainite speaking ill of Leland.
-Former Ghoul: Rose
Rose was Claris's first ghoul, or mortal servant. Claris was able to feed Rose on her vampiric blood to give her supernatural powers, and in exchange Rose acted as a liaison between Claris and the daytime world and allowed Claris to feed from her. Claris, though uncomfortable granting herself any luxuries, was extremely indulgent of Rose during their first hundred years, and enjoyed dressing the girl in fine clothing and doing her hair much as a child would with a doll. Most of all, Claris valued Rose as a constant companion and friend. Her feelings toward her were simultaneously familial as a mother to a child or a sister to a sister, but their relationship also operated on a more intimate level. Though the act of feeding is often extremely pleasurable for both the vampire and the mortal involved, Claris only enjoys the overwhelming sensation of passion with a select few individuals, and so she initially preferred feeding on Rose above any other mortal. Rose remained with Claris for almost two and a half centuries, staying with her even after Leland left.
After Claris founded her convent, the Order of the Holy Chalice, and took on two more ghouls, Rose began to feel neglected and taken for granted. The attention Claris used to lavish on her alone became directed to Blancheflor and Saffron, Rose's sister ghouls. Bemused as to why Claris had never broached the subject of Embracing her, and discouraged by Claris's motherly treatment of Blancheflor and her apparent rapport with Saffron, Rose left with Gregory during one of his visits to the abbey, and now lives with him, as his ghoul, in London.
-Ghoul / Adopted "Daughter": Blancheflor
Claris's second ghoul, Blancheflor, was acquired in 1341, after Claris had spent several years establishing her order. Unlike with Rose and Saffron, Claris does not feed from Blancheflor, as she is barely an adolescent. Even more so than Rose, Blancheflor is Claris's "child": an eternal virgin, devout, quiet and studious, much like Claris herself. The close "mother"/"daughter" relationship between Blanche and Claris drove something of a wedge between Claris and Rose. Although grateful for the protection and indulgence she enjoys as Claris's "daughter", over the years Blanche comes to resent the state of physical dependence the older woman keeps her in. There is a great deal of bitterness between Blanche and Claris after the young girl's Embrace by Simon, and it takes the two of them many centuries to reconcile.
-Ghoul: Saffron
Claris's third ghoul, a girl from a working background who has a great deal of trouble showing emotion and attachment to anyone. Of all her girls, Claris treats Saffron the most like a servant; her acquisition of Saffron was out of necessity rather than longing for a true relationship. Saffron is highly submissive and easy to direct, and has a far easier time relating to Cainites than regular mortals. Though Saffron initially had very little to say to Claris and vice versa, Saffron has grown very fond of the vampire over their many years together, and shows her more genuine affection than she shows anyone else. It takes Claris a long time to feel particularly close to Saffron emotionally, but eventually she comes to consider Saffron her most loyal girl and tries to do her best by her. In their best years together, they share a physically intimate relationship not unlike the one between Claris and Rose.
Reference Images by me:
Guest Art:
