Profile
Sariel Auclair
Design Notes
Sariel's left arm, shoulder, and part of her neck are covered in burn scars. She often wears long sleeves to cover them.
She has short, pointed ears. Sariel's ears are pierced, but she doesn't own many sets of earrings. She likes the dangly ones, though.
Her unkempt, curly blonde hair is meant to look like a lion's mane. She often keeps it down, because she's not good at doing her own hair.
Likes
Chivlary, being a knight, and all things noble and honorable.
Writing, reading, and anything related.
Anything with meat! Sariel particularly enjoys steak and chicken.
Her brother! Sariel didn't know she could be a little sister. :)
Dislikes
Being lied to. Sariel has realized her life was built on lies and silence.
Not having control makes her incredibly scared. What good is she if not perfect?
Dragons, even the very thought of them, terrify the poor lass.
Being constricted. Sariel likes being able to move and fight on a dime.
Greatest Strength
Though she's a big cat, Sariel is loyal like a dog. Once she vows her alleigance to you, it will take earthshattering things to break it.
Greatest Weakness
Despite being the Daughter of the Epic of Knowledge, her wisdom is not all that great. She can be decieved, and is gullible.
Daring, Nerve, and Chivalry [Common]
Children of Belle, like their mother, are naturally brave. In times of peril, children of Belle are able to channel their mother’s courage and bravery. When this ability is activated, a child of Belle will feel their fear effectively vanish. They are unable to feel fear while in this state. Others around them will feel boosted courage from being in the child of Belle’s presence.
Provincial Life [Uncommon]
Belle refuses to let her children ever feel the same boredom and helplessness. Children of Belle with this ability are able to teleport via rose petals in order to escape feeling stuck in one place. The further the distance travelled, the more tiring the ability is. They cannot teleport more than one other person with them at a time and are incapable of travelling substantially large distances at once.
Friends In Low Places [Passive]
As children of the epic of beasts, all children of Belle are able to speak to animals; both magical and nonmagical alike. While animals are usually kind to children of Snow White, creatures hold no such love for the children of Belle. They are able to talk to animals but will find it more difficult to befriend these beasts.
Positive Traits
Bravery is often a sureside sign of the Lion, and Sariel is no exception. In most situations, Sariel's willingness to lay down her life before others can often result in reckless abandon in the name of good.
Neutral Traits
She may be a bit ditzy, but that doesnt mean shes incompetent. effectively, high int low wis kind of ditzy. Sariel is a dreamer, with aspirations and goals that she doesnt always think through, but can lead to creative, in the moment ideas.
Negative Traits
Broken. Sariel was not raised as a daughter, but instead as a soldier. As a result, Sariel relies heavily on the chain of command. Free thought is still something she's trying to re-learn, and though its slow at times, shes still working.
Others' Perception
Friends
Those closest to Sariel know that she is much stronger than she seems- emotionally. She perseveres, even in the face of breakdown. They agree that she is kind and brave, despite her challeneges.
Strangers
The loud, boisterous, and shimmering knight of a girl... with severe anxiety and less brains than she does brawn.
Enemies
A pathetic, stupid little girl running around with twigs and cardboard, calling herself a "knight" and oblivious to her own downfall. A weak little worm who will soon see the storm coming for her.
You are a lioness, girl. You will kill someone if you do not keep yourself in check.
It's unclear how a Princess of Vertis ended up in the hands of a Schneeite offical, especially one as close to the Queen of the Realm and Seighild Amakiir. No matter how it happened though, it's undeniable that Sariel's early developmental years were nothing short of traumatic. That girl had been born with a fire inside her; insatiable and gutteral, as bright as the day it'd been lit. She craved the world around her, clawing at the nurses and walls just to be apart of it. This borning, tedious life of a dull noble child would and could not suffice for her! Though, that curious life was not in the cards for the young lioness, it seemed. Her stern and abrasive mother quickly took to eradicating that spark from her... by whatever means necessary.
This would go on to entail a rigrous process of a mother- no, a general- snuffing the spark of a child. Through a rigrous regiment of lessons, beatings, and isolation, the feral and curious child was reduced to an obedient, unconcerning drone of the Schneeite Machine. A soldier, who would point her sword whatever direction she was told to without question. She became the stalwart eldest daughter of the Amakiir family, a pridogy in knighthood, and the first ever would-be cadet to take the knight's exam at only age 16. She was well learned in law and Schneeite history, and it's governmental functions. She knew the black and white of right and wrong by the very back of her hands, as though it had been left there by the taming cattle-prods of her mother and tortrous instructors.
Her fire smouldered.
Despite all this, she had company. This company came in the form of five younger sisters and two annoying half-angels. One was her cousin, Leon Halphen. His father was the brother and littermate of her mother. It would later be discovered that his biological father was the Epic Gaston, and her biological father was his adoptive father. She had been the unwanted affair-child, passed to his sister in vain effort to give his, at the time childess sister, an Heir to the Amakiir's reign on the Rotguard. The other aasimar was the rival of hers, the Heir to the Weislock. Aleksandr Aminoff, who in a play of power would later become her fiance. Her five sisters became her sternest supporters, and even when her cousin vanished or Aleksandr drove her insane, these younger sisters remained steadfast in their adoration for her, even through the abuse. Sariel carried the flame, she protected them from their Mother's ire, and never did she break or complain.
You are weak if you believe a little fever will keep you from being great. Pathetic and weak. And you are not my daughter.
Sariel had not been raised as a daughter. Instead, she was raised as a soldier. From a very young age, she learned to fight with both her blood born claws and the knives and blades placed into her hands. She trained with the Rotguard soldiers and was fully expected to join their ranks at age sixteen, earlier than any other cadet-intake before her. She engaged in plenty of mock battles, and blood and broken bones were not uncommon around her. Sariel was known for her impressive strength and endurance, and her ability to make grown men's bones break like twigs. Sariel even had incredibly minor duties despite not being an offical knight, most often being the Royal Princess Olivier's personal gaurd... though that was more of 'girl time' than 'guard time'. Olivier was likely one of the only people in her past to not treat her like a soldier or a protector, but just as a normal girl.
The Princess of Schneewittchen had clearly seen that she was no more than a child yet. Her keen advice and kindness led to Olivier becoming someone she admired greatly. The Heiress had become one of few people Sariel believed she could speak to semi-candidly, and without her, it is quite likely that what little was left of her fire would've been smeared into ash by the boot of her upbringing. Her life with the rotgaurd was not all glory, though. Her mother refused to allow Sariel a moment of weakness. Illness was met with more agressive training rather than rest, disagreement with her mother was met with a captian's reprimand. Failure to comply or temper tantrums led to isolation or aggressive training. Willfulness was beaten into mewling submission, and what was left was a broken soldier.
At age sixteen, Sariel was finally assigned to take the Cadet Exam. As being such a strong girl and showing immense prowess, she had a good prognosis. Every one of the nobles eagerly awaited the return of the 'General's Princess' with her trophy, denoting her ascenion to the Rotguard's ranks. It would have been history-making. Would have been. Due to her impressive nature, she was assigned an abnormally difficult exam by Queen Snow White herself, the orders passed on along to the Captian of the Gaurd personally. Sariel was to slay a black dragon living in the Sea of Corruption, and return alive with it's heart as proof. On her way there, her youngest sister begged to come along. Eventually, Sariel gave in, and let the girl tag along.
This would prove a fatal error. During her battle, Sariel retreated back from the dragon and gave away her sister's hiding place, causing the dragon to find them both. Seeing the small, defenseless girl implored the Dragon to take easier prey. Though she tried to save her, Sariel's sister was nothing more than a melted hand and she was severely wounded in the process, and Sariel retreated, failing the exam. She limped back home, half alive with nothing to bury but an ashen limb. Silently disgraced by her community and guilt-ridden from her sister's death, Sariel retreated further into herself, accepting the more intolerable abuse that came her way as punishment she was due and required. Sariel's mother blamed her for the nine year old's death, and Sariel believed every bit of punishment she got, she was owed. Her broken spirit was further pulverized, resulting in a completely complacent soldier with no concept of self worth and a perfect subservience to the rank and file. A broken sixteen year old who appeared completely perfect to the untrained eye.
.
Coming on campus was... traumatic. She had been at a picnic with Aleksandr and their parents, when they had been informed they were now in an arranged marriage. Sariel had believed herself to be infatuated with Aleksandr, but only secretly. The idea of marrying him had sounded so wonderful, and yet so daunting. Was that all she was now good for? She'd failed the exam, but was still a bargaining chip for the Amakiir Family, and the union of the Rotguard and the Weislock could bring so much more to the Kingdom... But that was not a thought to be entertained further. A strange beast, called a Nightmare, attacked their little picnic. It chased her and Aleksandr down, before a portal opened up beneath them and swallowed them, sending them to Ashridge.
It was here that she began to learn about herself. She reunited with her cousin Leon, worried about this marraige, made friends, and attempted to navigate a the typical school life that she'd been deprived of growing up. Freedom and exploration sounded dangerous and unfun to her... But slowly she learned what it meant. She began to read, taking a particular interest in adventure books, and create. She learned she enjoyed writing, trying new weapons or foods, and talking to strangers from the Mortal Realm! She even learned she liked teaching and talking, especially with Florence, who became her first student and eventual best friend... Or maybe something more?
Best of all, she was finally claimed. No longer would Sariel have to call herself the Rotguard Princess- in fact, she wasn't even properly Rotguard to begin with. She wasn't even properly Schneeite. Instead, the girl found out she was born of Queen Belle of Vertis, Epic of Knowledge. And though Belle was absent in her life, it was better than having a "mother" who beat you into submission with each passing day. Belle's lack of influence allowed her to explore whatever she wanted to, it gave her true freedom and opened up a world of possibilites to her... Including magic, which she had previously believed herself incapable of. She even discovered she had an older brother, Boy, who she adored. For Sariel, it was heaven on earth to be free to discover and free of the duties and pressures of being the Eldest Child.
What if... I'm not good enough?
That is, until they were attacked. After a while, her cousin Leon began making a name for himself. Sariel joined in, mostly out of loyalty to him but also sheer boredom. She would never have imagined it would've made them into spies for a rebellion, against the Queen she'd been forced to serve her whole life. Despite the doctrine still in her body, she joined them- she believed the things they were saying, as snippets from her past came back to haunt her. Months later, while Florence had been staying over, nine assassins attacked Belle cottage and attempted to lay waste to Leon, Boy, Sariel, and Florence. In the altercation, Sariel had managed to kill one with her bare hands, but shortly after she was severely poisoned. It caused her to bleed severely, but also to rage blindly. She lashed out, attacking everyone and anyone in her sight... Including her friends and family. During the panic, her pelt had been stolen. Boy managed to subdue her using a closet and vines, and eventually Olivier and King Florian arrived to help, aiding the children in their recovery.
Following this, Sariel found herself entirely broken once more. As a Lion Selkie, her pelt was the single most important part of her. With it stolen, she felt as though she'd lost something visceral. Something that had always been there had been ripped from her- and she was, for the first time ever, truly alone. This loss took an exceedingly heavy toll on her, and she decided she needed time to recover from the agony before she could return to the fight... something she expressed to Boy, but was only denied. This caused a rift between them both. She had finally been completely vulnerable to him, asked for help, and he had shut her down and denied her. Deciding she could not be around him, she left him to his own devices. Though his intentions had been good- protecting them, working to prevent something like the assassination from happening again, he truly had been too busy setting up for the party to remember who it had been for.
.
Sariel isn't the most socialized. Having been raised as a soldier rather than a daughter, her friend-making-skills are at a hard 0. She's a sweet heart, goofy and excitable, but despite this she doesn't know the first thing it means when it comes to making or maintaining friends. Its a miracle she's been able to keep what she's got. Along with this, she knows she's well known in Schneewittchen's upper courts as an actual failure, and doesn't have many connections left there.
