background
She was born on 8th of Cancellaro, 1678 to a Orlando and Mariana de Nedici, well-off landed gentry from the Amur Passagio area of Impaxtos, in Sevilla. She was the third-born and first daughter, and as a result, grew up more under the influence of her brothers than anything else, learning basic sword fighting and earning herself a healthy network of scars across her forearms. As years passed, she acquired another brother and another sister, and the middle three demonstrated a propensity to phael, which resulted in them being sent to Seagarden.
Sylviana was accepted at age eleven, and it proved to be one of her defining experiences. Not only did she embrace her school - Phaelxo (Shade), in contrast with her father's Xophael (Light) and her brothers' Orphael (Civilization) and Phaellur (Rationality) - but was elected prefect and took a leadership role in the House. She met her eventual fiancé, Etienne L'Peluda, and they were engaged the final year of her classes. This final year also included an invitation from the Societé des Ombres branch of the Governa di Crypta, which L'Peluda was a part of already, inviting her to join their ranks.
After a year of training in the Societé, it was determined that Sylviana would serve better abroad, to discover more about the rising tide of Chaos in Harkania. On a supposedly routine mission to R'hundalla in 1698 she went missing, and her family was quickly informed of her death in the line of duty. L'Peluda went into mourning as well, though his status as a lesser noble and agent of espionage meant he was not questioned particularly thoroughly.
Sylviana was then sent west to Harkania, and successfully infiltrated a branch of the Tzeentch-worshipping cult, the Purple Hand, located in the City-on-the-Flat. From there, she changed identities and headed to the Searland, where she met up with the party in Bogenhafen, claiming to be a recruiter from Seagarden named Théona Lightoller.
As for the rest of her family, her parents still reside at Amur Crag with their youngest daughter. Her eldest brother, Orlando, is rapidly climbing the rankes of the Sevillan government, while the next eldest, Santiago, is teaching at Seagarden. Her younger brother currently attends Seagarden.
appearance
Sylviana looks, for the most part, like a stereotypical Sevillan, with the olive skin and dark hair common in Impaxtos. Standing 5'3", she is of medium build, but muscular - though not obviously so. Her grey eyes are the only break with Sevillan looks, and her face has not yet shed all the softness of youth that she wishes it would. Currently, her hair is dyed to a sandy-blond, and her skin lightened.
As for identifying marks, she has unfortunately garnered quite a few. Most prominently is a scar, left from a Slaanesh cultist's blade, that runs up her face, deepest across her left cheek, travelling upwards between her eyes, and ending in her hairline above her right eye. There is also a bandage wrapped around her left shoulder to cover up a tattoo of a purple hand -- she claims it covers a gunshot wound, but is planning to take measures to remove it. Her fingers and forearms are very lightly scarred, the results of dueling with her bladed fan, but those are only noticeable in bright sunlight. Her hair is tied back in intricate braids as to keep it out of the way.
personality
Sylviana is first and foremost, inexperienced. She covers it up with bluster and confidence, but just beneath the service lies a nervous, newly-minted member of the Societé des Ombres, on her first mission abroad. This -- at least subconsciously -- guides everything she does, and while she may blame a missed encounter on someone unwilling to provide information, it may well be because she bungled the situation. Because of this, she tends to lash out, particularly against physical manifestations of things she believes to be in the wrong or smacking of evil. Recently, this has included cultists, like Sebastian Fuchs, who she took a strange pleasure in torturing into providing information... or at least she thought she was in command of the situation.
She is also naturally mistrustful of people, and that characteristic has only been exacerbated by her time in the Societé. However, with her killing of Étienne, it has confirmed that her trust might be somewhat misplaced with the Societé and that makes her uneasy. Being the fierce patriot that she is -- almost jingoistic -- she is wary of a world where she could not trust her government, but is finding that the situation at hand does not match her preconceived notions of duty, loyalty, and country.
She has grown to trust certain members of the party, but only because her life has been in their hands an inordinate amount of times, and she is not necessarily sure how she would fare completely on her own.
Sylviana is otherwise extremely organized, and irritation with others' disorganization can seem cold-hearted, but is merely frustration (or sarcasm). Right now she is channelling her focus to save the world (or is it just Sevilla?) from Chaos (or so she hopes), and her brusqueness is due to a desire to not reveal her fear and indecision running rampant.
equipment
Her main weapon is a bladed fan. She also has two pistols, a clockwork Parrying Dagger, throwing knives, a garotte, and a store of poisons, antidotes, and acids, some within container rings and hair pins, but a larger amount in her trunk. For communicative purposes, she also has thaumic candles and a clockwork lighter.
religion
Being a member of the Phael Church, she does not see herself as necessarily religious, and considers her faith to be more rational than those who worship the gods. She cherishes Order above all, though in a tight spot, she has been known to pray to the saints of the Phael.
relationships
Due to the the death of her fiancé, there is no one who knew her from when she was living. This has put a damper on any future relationships or friendships, though they are not out of the question. Her emotions are running out of check, and as a result, she found herself quite unexpectedly in a something of a tryst with Judge Alexander Roarke. Once it was revealed that he was the Grand Magus of the Purple Hand, it brought their relationship to an abrupt end, one that she is still seeking closure about.
interludes & backstories
Scholarship on de Nedici
Past: Into the Shadow
Past: You Can Go Home Again
Act II: For Love of Country
Act II Intermezzo: Slipping Through the White Gate
Act III: Blended with the Shadows
Act III, the pause: Mourning Etienne
Sylviana's Notebook
aliases (assorted)
- Théona Lightoller
- Myrah Gray
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