Ava Isolde Sterling
More machine than woman these days, Ava is one half of the leaders of The Gilded, an organization steeped in mystery though their power and influence is very real and considerable. Ava herself is one of the founding members of the Company and is credited with numerous inventions, including the Clockwork Heart and the Steam Engine. It should be noted Ava is never without Clara Maxie Sterling. The two are inseparable and it is this that is most unnerving for those not used to it, for you see when speaking to one the conversation may start with them beginning a sentence and the other ending it in perfect cadence. There are rumors that at some point the lovers truly ceased being separate people and instead are single unified entity. If true no one in the city would be a match for their combined brilliance.
"I wish only to continue to move Arbor forever forward with greater and greater speed." -Ava and Clara Sterling
Appearance
Ava was once a beautiful red haired woman, average height and build with quite the mischievous smile. However, those days are long gone. Ava is encased in machinery now, with pipes that produce gouts of great steam and gears that whine constantly all around her. The sound must be maddening for the one inside the gilded cage, but Ava seems to pay it no mind. Her face is completely covered with a beautiful mask with the most intricate scroll work across the entire face. And, of course, like all members of the gilded, her clockwork heart is visible through a glass door built into her chest.
Personality
Ava is a calculating individual, constantly running the numbers on possibilities and chances of events occurring. As such, you can sometimes hear her muttering string of nonsensical numbers that mean something only to her. She is also extremely risk averse and prefers to have every possibility mapped out before engaging in any new venture or idea. All this calculation can lead some to believe Ava is a cold individual with little emotion, but this couldn't be farther from the truth - she always takes time to make sure that whatever she says is the right thing and she says nothing that will hurt or offend.Background
Ava's life is one born of constant hardship loss and perseverance over the life she was destined to have and the one she ended up in.Early life
Ava grew up In the Third Ring like many children in the Third Ring her parents could barely afford to feed themselves and thus as soon as she was able was sent out to earn her keep. Her early childhood was one of hard work, climbing through small ducts and crevices for The Iron Hands. By the time she was a teenager, large portions of her body had been scared by fire, slag and white hot steel, though much of her face was left unmarred. Eventually, after Ava had managed to repair one of the great bellows after correctly identifying that there was a piece of iron stuck in it's workings, she found that she had attracted the attention of an artisan of the Artifex Clara.Two become a pair
Clara worked as an artificer and was immediately besotted by Ava. Clara quickly petitioned for permission for Ava to be made an apprentice artificer so she could be closer to her and in all honestly Clara realized that climbing around dangerous machinery was quite likely to destroy an exceptional talent. it's here that Ava began to flourish, being someone who had an intuitive grasp of how things should move and could calculate proper alignment of the various gears and springs in the Artifex. Together they quickly rose through the ranks of the company becoming probably the best artificers that anyone had ever seen, creating beautiful works of art and function that none could match. It was during this time that the two fell in love completely and were marriedA Broken Heart
Eventually the two conceived their first child Isul Sterling. When they were told that the young boy would not make it to his 10th birthday they were crushed. Ava locked herself away for a week, not coming out of her lab even to eat the sounds of banging, violence and mad science being easily heard from the other side, leaving Clara to take care of the young boy on her own. Eventually when Clara had had enough she broke the door down to find Ava muttering to herself, strings of numbers in a sequence she didn't understand. Surrounding her though were designs, hundreds of them, almost finished but not quite there, a missing puzzle piece eluding her. Ava looked up at her lover, broken by the problem of fixing her son's broken hear that she could not solve and wept openly. Clara wrapped her arms around her wife and let her cry into her the wails reaching their neighbors. When the crying stopped Clara picked up one of the discarded designs and in that way that only a fresh pair of eyes can solve a problem and placed in the last piece of the puzzle. In that little lab they created the first clockwork heart powered by the first steam engine. A small thing for their tiny son that would grow with them. It would take the better part of 2 months before anyone saw any of the little family but eventually all three would emerge each with a clockwork heart in full working order though now Ava and Clara would forever more be inseparable.The Birth of the Gilded
With the immediate problem resolved they realized that they needed to separate from The Iron Hands before going any further. Using their contacts, guile, and wit they managed to secure the funds to start their own company separating from the Iron Hands for good and establishing The Gilded with themselves as the heads. Eventually, once Steam power became the new darling of the city they petitioned for a seat on The Silver Council winning it easily.Relationships
- Clara Maxie Sterling: Clara is Ava's partner and has been through so much with her it's likely they will be together until the end of days and the The Great Tree falls.
- Isul Sterling: He is Ava's one and only son. She created his clockwork heart when he was just a baby and she will do near anything to keep him safe - even rewrite the rules of death itself if she has to. For those who think Ava does not care about people need only look at her son to know what lengths Ava would go to to safeguard those she truly loves.
Allegience
- The Pipemen: Due to their close working relationship and providing several early versions of Star Light during the production of the original Clockwork Heart, Ava feels a great dept of gratitude to the members and specifically the owner of the Pipemen
- The Iron Hands: This relationship is slightly strained given that her and Clara left them without their two best craftsmen, however dialogue is still free flowing and much processed steel is purchased from the Iron Hands and occasionally new technologies make their way back across.
Abilities
- Genius analysis: Ava has an incredible eye for how things should fit together and how small changes can be made to create great effects, the clearest example known of this is an incident with a mugger on the streets, Ava simply stopped and tapped a cobblestone on the street which came loose bounced off a barrel which rolled down the street slamming into a building which knocked several tiles loose which fell on the mugger 200 feet away.
- Gilded : Ava has ceased being a normal human and has taken on a large number of clockwork parts, as such she has as far as anyone can tell ceased aging and no longer requires food or drink.
Equipment
A myriad of devices and experiments are on Ava's person at all times to name them all would take weeks so instead generic terms will be used.- A set of tools for crafting and maintaining her own systems
- Weapons and defensive items numbering in the dozens
Relationships
Alignment
Lawful Neutral
Current Status
Currently researching more advanced versions of steam power and steam weaponry
Current Location
Year of Birth
1821 GT
105 Years old
Spouses
Clara Maxie Sterling
(spouse)
Siblings
Children
Current Residence
The Steam Works
Pronouns
She, Her
Sex
Female
Gender
Woman
Presentation
Feminine
Eyes
Dark Brown
Hair
It was Red
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Covered in machinery and gears, her original tone was a deep ebony
Height
5'5"
Weight
155 lbs
Belief/Deity
None
Aligned Organization
Comments