Alala/The Faerie

Mythic Age

xxxxxIn the time before memories, when Dream and Earth were one and the same, Flame had a daughter, and her name was Ionae. Crafted from the essence of fire, she was a creature of chaos and greed. Incapable of understanding the perspectives of others or considering that they even have feelings or desires of their own. She left villages burnt and broken, lives forever changed taking items or people as she wished without ever considering the cost to the lives she impacted. It was ignorance alone that saved her from being truly evil. xxxxxShe came upon a small village led by a wise woman. The particular details of the dispute are lost in most retellings, but the aftermath, that is still spoken of in the ancient myths of Greece. The woman, revealed to be a will worker transformed Ionae into the body of a cow while she and her coven gathered to determine the best way to heal the critical imbalance they sensed withing their captive. Thinking that they could fix the fiery creature, they attempted to bring to the surface other, stabilizing elements to balance the fire. Unknowing what it was they were dealing with, their attempt to fix her, shattered her soul. Instead of bringing a balance, they merely forced her into a cycle of constant extremes. With each Equinox or Solstice, her form would die and be reborn crafted in the element dominant to the new Season.

Modern Era

xxxxxWord of Ionae's exploits before coming to Prospect read less like a sidhe and more like one of the commoner kith. Not that she went untitled. She underwent her Fior Ridh and passed easily, however, she showed a singular lack of drive or ambition in political circles. More often than not she was Knight Errant, without a liege, driftless and solitary. She performed a number of reacquisitions, returning stolen objects to their rightful owners in service to House Fiona. Her changeable nature and the inevitable explosion of Summer's fury left her unable to form lasting bonds -- until her service with Baroness Belamy the Strange ni Fiona in Caer du Coeur in the hills of Mundane Kentucky. The Baroness was able to handle the variegating personalities of Ionae and kept her in service for more than a year. Only when the grump was lost to banality, did Ionae move on. Shortly afterward, she found herself in Prospect. xxxxxOnce in Prospect, her rise to power was meteoric. While there was talk, briefly, of a possible alliance to a now absent Eiluned, it soon became apparent that she made a political pact with fellow Fiona Leras. What started as a political relationship soon burst into a romantic one as well. After negotiating trade agreements with a pair of caravan runners, she was elevated from Knight to Baroness. The two began a truly whirlwind romance while she was in the guise of Spring and on the day of their marriage, after vows were spoken, Summer made her bold appearance a week before the Solstice. After the transition, the couple continued their rise when their mortal venture The Sideshow erupted into the staggeringly powerful freehold Lions Reach. Soon after, through their continued service to the County, and their dedication to the prosperity of all, they were elevated to Count and Countess during a struggle against the previous Countess Kelira.

The Seasons

xxxxxSpring xxxxxSpring, the season of air. Ionae's fae mein takes on a very ethereal quality. Typically silvery blonde, her eyes are most often gray and silver, though there have been the rare occurrence of green. Her glamour manefests as a gentle wind that surrounds her and flares when she gets emotional. Her personality, in a word, is 'distracted'. Her mind is always working, thinking, perceiving. She rapidly gets overwhelmed with data and so overloads and wanders off. Forgetful in the extreme, Spring is flighty, and somewhat fragile. She generally has good intentions and almost no temper to speak of. Spring despises Summer, hating her as the cause for the curse. She is strongly allied with Autumn, and is mildly bothered by Winter, seeing Winter as a source of annoying lovers that she (Spring) gets in trouble for when she forgets about them. xxxxxSummer xxxxxSummer is the troublemaker. Angry, furious with her perception of her life having been stolen from her, she manifests with red hair and eyes of molten gold fringed with blue flame. Often her glamour is a wreath of flame that dims and flares with her mood. She hates all the other seasons as she sees them as enjoying "her" life without her permission. She rampages and destroys more often than not. She did love Bellamy as a parental figure and that summer was tempered by it. Her time in Prospect however, saw none of Summer's usual bite. She was more hair triggered, for sure, but her husband's presence was an effective buffer between her temper and the rest of the world. xxxxxAutumn xxxxxAutumn, the rule maker, the promise keeper. She manifests in earthen tones. Her body usually formed from precious stones or metals. Her glamour is a heavy thing, a sense of cool weight and pressure. Her appearance in Prospect has been remarkable only in the change from Summer's intensity. xxxxxWinter xxxxxWinter typically manifests with dark hair highlighted with the colors of the deep waters around the world. Her eyes are almost always a myriad of shades of blue and her glamour manifests in beads of water or chips of ice. She has not yet made an appearance in Prospect and not much is known about her from those who have interacted with her before, other than saying that Winter, supposedly cold, is rather surprisingly loving.