another suitcase, another hall
CLÉMENCE D'ASTERRA
| Age | Early 20s |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Height | 170 cm | 5/7" |
| Weight | 52 kg | 114 lbs |
| Force Sensitive | No |
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Clémence has a composed and understated beauty -- fine-boned, clear-eyed, and quietly expressive -- although her eyes are a little widely-set, giving her a faint quality of the ingenue. Her face reads as thoughtful rather than severe, and bears an openness that invites confidence without encouraging familiarity. She has pale flesh that is quick to color in the sun -- a relic of her father's genetics -- and dark brown hair that trends to waviness if not brought to heel. She is slender, gently toned though you wouldn't know it to look at her thanks to her modest style of dress. Clémence carries herself with a stillness that appears natural, but that is only because fidgeting was battered out of her in her childhood by aggressive nannies and governesses at her mother's instruction.
As the daughter of the Lord Primary and his Consort, Clémence dresses in the finest of fabrics, favoring fine natural fibers with subtle textures that read as quality without ostentation. Where she wears embellishments, she prefers subtle and favors an art deco motif, something that reads as both straightforward and elegant, modern and classic. The silhouettes of her wardrobe are typically ruled by clean lines and modest structure, allowing for fluid movement with limited restriction. She prefers soft neutrals, dark or muted blues or greens and greys, as an acknowledgment of the maritime nature of her people. She avoids overt status markers and opulent jewelry unless protocol demands it.
INVENTORY
PERSONALITY AND BELIEFS
Clémence D'Asterra is gentle, which can be mistaken for pliable, and she is not ambitious, which can be mistaken for passivity. Her defining trait is attentiveness: the habit and art of observing how power lands on people who don't wield it, and using what influence she has to soften the burden as and when she can. She has never sought to rule; she knew as long as she can remember that the institutional power of the Primacy was not for her, but for her elder brother Evran. While intra-family rivalry and even treachery is not uncommon on Virel, it would be out of her character to undermine her brother; however, her deeply-held belief that institutions should exist to serve people and elevate human dignity and not the other way around, which in a society like Virel could be seen as somewhat subversive.
STRENGTHS
- Empathetic: she listens without condescension.
- Popular: Clémence's philanthropic efforts, often unglamorous, have made her quietly beloved on Virel, and even where she is not universally beloved (like among the ruling class, who have been pressured into generosity by her own efforts) she is all but politically untouchable.
- Dancer's Poise: thanks to her father's indulgence, Clémence was allowed to train with the royal ballet, which gave her an extraordinary gracefulness, acrobatic ability, inner core strength, and sense of balance.
WEAKNESSES
- Insecure: after a life of being either overlooked or criticized by her mother, Clémence often questions herself where
Tessa D'Asterra
is concerned. - Overly Idealistic: in moments of crisis, she tends to cling to values when adaptation is required to resolve the situation.
- Brittle: her life has been sheltered, and so she does not always face situations where she must make difficult decisions and be prepared to face the consequences.
HISTORY
The second child of Lord Primary and First Seat of the Canal Synod Marius D'Asterra and his wife Lady Tessa D'Asterra, Lady Clémence D'Asterra occupied a peculiar position within the House of D'Asterra. She was not the heir, and thus not required to embody the family's future, but never truly free of its expectations either. Her father indulged her openly, regarding her as a necessary softness in a life otherwise governed by obligation. That was how her life different, fundamentally, from that of her brother Lord Evran D'Asterra: where Evran were prepared, Clémence was allowed.
Marius permitted her to pursue interests that had no obvious political return, most notably in her training with the Virellis Conservatory, the city's most prestigious discipline of formal movement, performance, and ceremonial dance, the graduates of which traditionally supplied pageantry for civic rites, regattas, and other ceremonies. Clémence trained diligently and seriously, not as a dilletante. She learned precision, endurance, and the discipline of inhabiting the public gaze without being consumed by it. It was never intended to be a formal career -- and it was not -- but the Conservatory left her with an instinctive understanding of posture and presence and restraint that served her well in her early political life.
In addition to the Conservatory -- and in contrast to it -- was the education insisted upon by her mother. Tessa regarded Clémence with a mixture of concern and underestimation, reading her gentleness and the way her father treasured her as fragility and weakness, her lack of appetite for strategy and finance as a liability. She received a formal education that was, perhaps, not as rigorous as her brother's. Numeracy did not come naturally to her, and she struggled with reading between the lines of ledgers and clauses that came so naturally to Tessa. She learned early that her mother loved her best when she caused no disruption, made no noise, and did what she could to bolster the family position, even if that meant standing quietly and smiling fondly at her father, her mother, and her brother.
Her relationship with Evran was affectionate but cautious. She admired him, envied his steadiness, and was unflappably loyal to him, even as she sensed the weight placed on his shoulders was different from anything her parents would ever ask her to carry. She learned early that she must never compete with him, on anything, however trivial, however unrelated she thought it was to government or the family fortunes. Instead, she learned to occupy a complimentary space, at his side and supportive without ever looking like she could carry the spotlight on her own.
Clémence's early forays into public life were informal. As a teenager, she accompanied her parents on tours occasionally. Over time, she began to take a portfolio of her own -- things deemed inessential by her mother and harmless by her father, using the her trust funds to fund small, practical, interventions: apprenticeship stipends, emergency housing bonds, transport voucher. These were not simple charity; rather they were seen as means by which people could elevate themselves with just a little help. By her early twenties, Clémence had become a familiar and welcome figure in waterfront districts, guild schools, and the petition office. She built a reputation for listening, following up, and using her family name sparingly but effectively, and for never making promises without being sure she could deliver. Over time, the nobility came to regard her as harmless and admirable, while the lower orders saw her as sincere. The combination of sincerity without ambition built a quiet power base for Clémence in Port Virellis -- without her even noticing until her mother, the Principal Consort, pointed it out to her.
It was not meant as a compliment. It wasn't delivered as one, either.
Around that same time, Tessa began to maneuver Marius into seeking a marriage match for her off of Virel. She worried that her daughter could, through a lack of caution or a lack of care, come to be a focal point of polite obstruction to Evran's leadership, if swayed by the wrong people.
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