Briseis
~ Lady of El Matamir ~
~ Lady of El Matamir ~
❖ The Lady's Vitals ❖
- Hair : Golden Harvest
- Eyes : Azure
- Height : 165.1 cm (5'6’)
- Weight : 54.4 kg (120 lbs)
- Profession : Midwife, Former Slave
- Birthplace : Isle of Mis’rau
❖ Likes ❖
- Swimming,
- Laying on the grass,
- watching the stars,
- snowflakes,
- jewelry,
- sound and smell of the rain,
- babies babbling;
❖ Dislikes ❖
- Fighting,
- weapons,
- meat,
- deceit,
- dancing, (can't dance);
❖ The Lady's Family ❖
- Mother : Ceres (Deceased) - Slave of the Cassidun Home,
- Father : Amad Cassidun , Lord of Malli ‘ayad,
- Former Master : Octav Romidun
❖ The Lady's History ❖
In Sha'Lazar, the Malli’ayad Empire, known for its desert-bound opulence and power, provides a fitting backdrop for the origins of Briseis. Here, Briseis was born as the daughter of a Mis’aruan slave woman, named Ceres and a high-ranking Malli’ayadi lord, named Amad Cassidun.
In the Mis’aruan world, women are superior to men, and often serving as politicians, scholars, artisans, or even the military… but in Amad’s homeland, Malli ‘ayadi law forbade women such power… and men of stature were forbidden to acknowledge children born of slaves, so he could not acknowledged Briseis as his child and so, she was forced to live the life the same as her mother, a slave. Together, they lived happily… or at least the best they could, despite the vindictive wife of Amad...
When Briseis was five, her mother caught a deadly fever and died but not before begging Amad to protect Briseis as the little girl… one who was quickly beginning to look more like her fair-haired father than her dark-haired mother and Cere’s dying fear was the wrath of Amad's wife.
Adonis did the only thing he could think of in fulfilling the dying wishes of his daughter's mother. He took her to his best friend's, Octav Romidun, estate and swore his friend to secrecy of Briseis parentage and her well-being. For ten years, Briseis lived as a simple house slave of the Romidun home. She could not say that life was bad nor hard, the hardest punishment of slave was death and that was for trying to run away, in a slave's eyes, a fair punishment. As far as Briseis was concerned, life was good to her though she was never aware that her load of work was always much lighter than the others.
Briseis grows up in Octav Romidun’s house, unaware of the protections arranged in secret, and, while her work is milder than that of her peers, she endures the social stigma of being a Mis’aruan slave. Romidun’s eventual oath to repay her bravery after she saves his life from an accidental fire shows a subtle honor code of indebtedness in Malli’ayadi society, which places high value on repaying life debts.
At sixteen, Briseis is tricked into participating in the A'khani Rites, an annual fertility ceremony overseen by Malli’ayad’s clergy to increase warriors for the empire. Intended only for Malli’ayadi women, Briseis’ involvement is kept secret due to her secret, and she conceives. Briseis did indeed become with child. Yet the Gods did not see favor in that child should live and within Briseis’ third month, she lost the child, quite violently. The blood loss alone made them all think Briseis would never conceive again. Miscarrying the child in a ritual context, seen as a divine intervention by Malli’ayadi seers, seals her status as “barren,” but in Romidun’s eyes, it provides a path to honor his promise by offering her a safer life… especially with the midwife who had tended her.
Briseis began training under Aynaleth, an elderly Mis’aruan midwife living near the edge of the Malli’ayad’s capital. Here, she learned the practices of Mis’aruan midwifery and healing, known for their rich traditions and close ties to the goddess Asheret*, who is revered for protecting childbirth. Briseis grows into her role, finding purpose and resilience.
After Aynaleth’s passing, Briseis takes up the mantle of midwife of the Malli’ayadi at twenty-three, gaining a reputation for her gentle skill, her devotion to the spirits of new lives, and her resilience, attributes tied to the Malli’ayadi way of life. Though technically free, she is still considered an outsider by Malli’ayad nobles due to her status.
Leaving Malli’ayad, the only and largest city of the Empire, Briseis feels called toward a freer life, traveling across Sha'Lazar’s deserts to bring her skills to those in need. It is during this journey that she encounters Kamenwati, a nomadic warrior of the Rash’ani, who sees in her a spirit capable of enduring the flames of the desert. Their love is one that defies Malli’ayadi expectations, forming a bond of loyalty, fierce strength, and defiance of the hierarchical, caste-driven world around them.
She is Briseis of Malli ‘ayad...
but moreso, the love of Kamenwati...
Together, the Flames of the Desert cannot singe them
❖ Visuals of the Lady Briseis ❖
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