Azalaïs Mereliot nó Alyssum de L'Envers

Fullname: Azalaïs Mereliot nó Alyssum de L'Envers Played by: Florence Welch Gender: Female Age: 32 Birthdate: August 22 Class: Noble House: L'Envers Occupation: Dowager Marquise Province: Namarre (or Eisande?) Country: Terre d'Ange Parents: The baron and baronne de Carcassonne Siblings: Several, older and younger Marital Status: Widow of the late marquis d'Auxerre Children: One daughter; many stepchildren

Known Information

In the spring of 1298 Elua society agreed that the romance of the season was the marriage of Absalon L'Envers, the widowed marquis d'Auxerre, and Azalaïs de Mereliot, a fresh-marqued young Alyssum courtesan whom he carried away from the heights of Mont Nuit and installed as his second marquise. Despite the difference in their ages the couple were very much in love and thoroughly charmed by one another, and a year later they were blessed with their only child, a daughter they named Grace.

It was observed amongst the nobility of Namarre, who knew them the best, that over time their passion waned as passion is so wont to do, and their union turned companionate. As Absalon aged and became subject to ill health, Azalaïs acted more and more as his helpmeet and his ambassador to his people, the angel in his household who saw his every wish fulfilled.

During their marriage they wintered three times in Eisande; now, widowed early in 1312, the dowager marquise d'Auxerre travels again to the province of her birth to visit family and to enjoy a little sunshine in this dark hour of her life.

Background

Inspiration

Cover

Description

Lustrous thick red hair falls in waves almost to Azalaïs's waist and is encouraged sometimes to tumble forwards too, to screen her face, to reveal only what she chooses of her expression and her eyes. Her fringe is habitually left long, almost covering those fine Eisandine eyes which alter with her mood and with the light, from blue to green to grey, as changeable as the sea and yet gentler.

Her cheekbones are dramatic and her jaw nigh masculine in its power; she's tall for a woman, long-limbed and sleek, her curves proportional but unlikely to cause anybody to swoon dead away on sight. She's trim but none too athletic; perhaps her middle has softened to a degree since she bore a child. Her complexion is fair, verging upon ivory, and suggests the indoors and the shade. Even widowed she wears colourful, flowing, rather girlish garments, and her hair down.

Personality

Quirks:

• Barefoot Marquise: Eighteen years old, wooed and wed by her lover, Azalaïs had no conception of what such a marriage would entail for her, what it would be like to become the marquise d'Auxerre and to have so many duties, responsibilities, stepchildren looking to her for care even before she became a mother herself. Her new rôle was a poor fit for her at first. Over time she grew into it and learnt to make her pretense of it real, but she has always inclined toward as much simplicity as she could get away with. She doesn't wear heavy jewels or elaborate gowns, save for the most formal court occasions — her personal household is modest — the manners of her private chambers, and of her quaint little chaumière in the grounds of the chief Auxerre estate, are easy and forgiving. And the Barefoot Marquise really does kick off her shoes most of the time when she's indoors.

• People Pleaser: Raised and trained in the Alyssum canon and the art of fulfilling far-fetched fantasies — and then for fourteen years the wife of a powerful man who had definite ideas of who and what he wanted her to be — Azalaïs tends to go along with other people's wishes most of the time, and to reshape herself in subtle ways according to the company and the occasion. It's a kind of protective colouration beneath which she knows how to conceal her real thoughts and feelings, sometimes to smooth a social situation but at other moments simply for the pleasure of reserving a secret to herself.

• Easily Entertained: She's curious about new people and experiences, and sometimes even what is intimately familiar to her becomes a novelty again when she experiences it in fresh company, through fresh eyes. It's an Alyssum thing.

• Afraid of the Dark: She can't sleep without a candle burning.

Plot Hooks

• Mereliot: Azalaïs is Eisandine by birth, a scion of Eisheth keen to reconnect with her roots.

• L'Envers: For over a decade she was the marquise d'Auxerre and ranked thus third amongst the ladies of Namarre. She's well-known amongst the nobility of her husband's province and at the ducal court in Troyes-le-Mont.

• Alyssum: She was an adept of Alyssum House between 1296 and the spring of 1298, though as a rule the shy veiled creatures of her canon take but a small part in the social life of Mont Nuit and the city that lies at its feet.

• Hunting: Like any parent, Azalaïs hopes to apply lessons learned in her own life in charting a better and happier future for her daughter. Uncertain yet of what marriage the new marquis may wish to arrange for his young half-sister, she's quietly looking over the Eisandine boys of Grace's age, to see if she might help matters along in a direction she would consider suitable.

• Music: She has a lovely singing voice, and has begun tentatively to compose her own songs, but her harp-playing is a bit rusty — she's always glad of an obliging accompanist.

Pictures

Contacts

Nobility

Soleil L'Envers nó Coquelicot : One of Azalaïs's most beautiful relations by marriage, and a better lutenist than she gives herself credit for. Though her confidence in herself and her own opinions can be a little abrasive sometimes. She has made a match lately with a Trevalion vicomte; Azalaïs is delighted that they seem to have a real chance of happiness together, and delighted too that it's distracting Soleil's attention away from her.

Aurelie Basilisque nó L'Envers : Is it just something that happens to L'Envers lords? They avail themselves in Namarrese fashion of every other nocturnal pleasure; then, at a certain age, they fall hard for the unsimple sweetness of an Alyssum flower… During the course of a long winter under the same roof in Marsilikos, Azalaïs did what she could to support this little sister of her own canon through the late stages of pregnancy whilst obeying her husband the marquis's commandment: never discuss politics with — better yet, never be alone in a room with — the vicomte de Tonnerre's pawn.

Jean L'Envers : ?

Court de Nuit

Others

Estelle Lacroix : The mother of Azalaïs's youngest stepchild. Meeting Estelle unexpectedly in Marsilikos, Azalaïs realised in a flash that her husband's edict against the two meeting again expired with his last breath — she has done what she can, since then, to bring them together and foster the relationship they were denied for so long.

Andrei Anghelescu : A foreign gentleman Azalaïs has encountered several times in the city's public places, for whose improved health she has undertaken to pray.

Logs

RP logs

(1312-06-08) Strawberry Cakes
Summary: Soleil and her grandmother call upon Azalaïs for an afternoon of tea and song, bearing as a...

---

(1312-05-24) A Forgiving Heart
Summary: A chance meeting between two women who, without knowing one another in the least, share an...

---

(1312-05-21) I Used To Sing
Summary: Taking coffee at La Perle Noire, Azalaïs L’Envers unwittingly draws attention to herself ...

---

(1312-03-13) The Philosophical Pond
Summary: Which Andrei ends up splashing about in, having anticipated only a solitary stroll in the...

---

(1312-03-11) Scholars and Coffee
Summary: It is a truth universally acknowledged that caffeine conduces to scholarship, whether one’s...

---

Memoirs

References

(1312-03-14) Smackdown d'Aiglemort Style
Summary: It's a shouting match that has been waiting to happen. RL Date: 2020-03-14 Related:...

---