Sylwynn Shai'ahni Yggdrasa
The cursed eldest princess of the Forest Elves, doomed to live a live of apathy and misery
Princess Sylwynn Shai'ahni Yggdrasa (a.k.a. Sylwynn the Soulless)
Do we hate her? Hng... No, sorry, I heard you. It's just - no, that's not it... ...I'll put it like this: The question you ask is, itself, unanswerable. Why? Well, simple. There's nothing left in her to hate. I don't know if there ever was.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Much like one of her many titles, Princess Sylwynn is truly comparable to her namesake, 'Porcelain'....at least, so she is spoken of, and so she seems to appear. She is tall but lithe and on the thin side of physicality...and though she possesses beautiful womanly curves she seems incomparably fragile, almost as if she were touched, she would shatter or crack. Her skin has nary a single blemish, scar, or stain, and indeed she almost seems waifish and excessively thin - a delicate doll whose perpetually soulless gaze evokes in many feelings of sympathy or sorrow.
Additionally, being a High Elf, she does not age, and she has no physical ailments or maladies, though she is physically believed to be weak and frail from her centuries of apathetic inactivity with relatively little muscle mass or physical power.
Body Features
Thanks largely to her High Elven biology, she is decently tall and unexpectedly lithe and nimble to a degree many find almost unsettling - her skin is notoriously pale, and her body fairly well-proportioned...almost on a level many would wholeheartedly use the word 'perfect' to describe, though more in a "doll" way than a "sexual icon" kind of way. She is undoubtedly an incomparably beautiful woman by her people's standards, blessed with such great beauty along with her immense talent - like an unblemished piece of Porcelain, her body has not a scratch, blemish, crack, or imperfection to be found on it...and while she is notably taller than most other elves, she is lacking any muscle definition or any signs of physical fitness due to her centuries of languid apathy.
Facial Features
Her face, pale and pristine like a piece of beautiful marble, is full of fine and well-proportioned lines, a regal jawline, firm and full lips, and unblemished skin supported by beautiful full green eyes. As a High Elf, her eyes are unnaturally full and almost entirely one-shaded - her pupils small and almost unnoticable.
Her face, described by many, seems almost carved - like it is unable to make any other expression but sad, expressionless misery.
Identifying Characteristics
Her incredibly long and vibrant golden hair is one of her more striking features, and it is the one thing she seems to continue to do every day despite her apathy - though many claim only because she finds caring for her hair a great deal less annoying than simply cutting it off. The braids which she forms it into and the wavy, curly locks she carefully curls it into complement and mark her quite well, as do her earrings, rings, and other jewelry.
Physical quirks
As one may expect from a languid woman cursed with emptiness who has spent centuries being nearly immobile in her bedroom, she is quite physically frail - able to stand and walk but otherwise quite physically weak.
Special abilities
Her supernatural beauty many consider to be a talent, but no talent of hers is more special than her peerless potential and freakish talent in almost everything she sets her mind to. Though it is absolutely frustrating to those who witness it and even enraging to some, she can master skills and reach levels others take decades to reach in but mere days, perfecting a craft in such a short time, discarding it once she's bored and moving on to the next passing topic of fancy.
As to her combat abilities, they are essentially non-existant - though many speculate that were she only to be challenged in such a field she could likely become a truly fearsome warrior once her odd hyper-fixations motivated her to study the art of combat. However, just as many say that even if she were motivated to train, her physically frail constitution means she would be limited in the combat disciplines she could take.
Regardless, her current battle abilities are nearly zero - though she has recently proven herself an excellent military leader and tactician upon the battlefield.
Apparel & Accessories
She often wears tight, form-fitting silks and leathers with metal decorations around her neck and shoulders - regal clothing that marks her as Crown Princess and Empress of The Elvenwood. She seems to prefer covering herself as much as possible, wearing as soft and silken garments as she possibly can(Almost to the level of loungewear or sleepwear), and adorns herself with a beautiful pair of earrings that once belonged to her mother, the deceased Elven Queen, and many rings and jewelry items given to her and taken from suitors and other challengers over the centuries.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Born as the eldest child to the Erlking of The Elvenwood Nerdu'shae Yggdrasa, Princess Sylwynn was born as a sickly child, weak and to many, one that many thought would not survive childhood. However, as she grew she proved her strength and managed to endure into her early childhood years - a testament to her tenacious will to survive and beautiful shining soul. However, upon reaching her 10th birthday the frail, fiery little Sylwynn was suddenly blessed by the very gods themselves(Or so it is believed), and from that day forth she grew up with health, vigor, and beauty...and talent unsurpassed. Heralded as a wonder child and a prodigy, Sylwynn was the rising star of her people and indeed much of the lands of Corexus as a whole, heralded as the next great and beautiful queen of The Elvenwood, their perfect and beautiful star that would lead them into the next age with greatness and wisdom...however, this was not to be.
On the day of her maturation, Sylwynn's blessing became nothing but a curse...and as if some demonic entity had come to collect for all the decades of happiness her childhood had brought to so many, bestowed unto the newly grown Sylwynn a most terrible curse: Stealing away her passion and her emotion and her drive, she was cursed to never feel happiness, never feel satisfaction, and for all her talent and beauty, she was doomed and forbidden from "Stepping foot on land outside The Elvenwood"...and to hammer the nail into the proverbial coffin, she was cursed to never experience The Earthslumber, giving her a truly immortal life of suffering. Condemned to an eternal life due to this curse of unknown origin, Sylwynn's vibrancy and beauty faded as the centuries passed onwards, becoming more and more apathetic with each passing century...and despite dozens of attempts by her father, mother, and citizens to find a cure for her curse from all means both mortal and divine, all these attempts failed and she was doomed and condemned to her current existence: That of a languid, apathetic princess whose beauty and perfection and talent now wither away on the vine, unable to be seen or used in any meaningful capacity.
Having never seen the outside world beyond her homeland except on the rare boat tour along the rivers of The Elvenwood which she travels, allowed by the wording of her curse so long as she takes nary a single step onto the shore, she languished away in the capital of Shae'Lenn, leading her people as princess and voice of her father's rule in their time of mourning for the of their queen, and her mother...while her siblings and father all waited on her hand and foot, determined to not let their cursed elder sister or daughter "injure herself" or come to harm by moving without protection, or alone.
This happiness, however, was not to last - in the waning days of the Age of Penitance and into the chaotic Age of Troubles, as she ascended to the throne of her homeland after the death of her father Nerdu'shae Yggdrasa as is the custom for the Eldest Child, Sylwynn rapidly faced uprisings and schisms from her own people - especially the highborn Elven Nobility of The Elvenwood, many of whom rankled at the idea of not only an Empress without a King, but at the idea of a Ruler who was a cursed creature unable to feel at all. These nobles, convincing her siblings to try and convince her to abdicate the throne, backed Sylwynn's Eldest Brother as their candidate for king - though in the end, Sylwynn's inner nature had the opposite effect as intended as she dug in her heels stubbornly and refused to abdicate, oddly intent on honoring her father and mother's wishes to care for the people of the Elvenwood. Because of this, her siblings were forced(Largely at the insistent of the Nobles who backed them) to lead armies against her in revolt - not to kill her, but to forcibly remove her from the throne and place her brother on the throne in her place. While these revolts were largely planned to be quick and bloodless, not even the nobles nor Sylwynn's own siblings could have predicted Sylwynn's sudden and abrupt moment of lucidity when faced with the prospect of commanding armies and studying military tactics - taking to the revolts and the incredibly outmatched armies under her command, Sylwynn, true to her nature as a prodigy child, rapidly mastered the art of military tactics - and after only a few short initial losses not only proved the equal of her siblings and the nobles who backed them, but ruthlessly drove them back at every turn and in only the span of a few short months utterly destroyed their forces; eventually allowing her siblings and the nobles who backed them to flee The Elvenwood and into the deserts to the south, hoping to find allies with the Desert Elves and their God-King Nour, The Weeping God.
Her woes did not stop there, unfortunately - after a few short distractions keeping her hyperlucid state going leading her armies north to aid the then-beleagured Empire of Draconia with its many woes, Sylwynn's siblings and Nobles returned to attack her southern flank while her armies were north in the lands of Draconia - this time at the side of Nour, The Weeping God and his Desert Armies who had pledged their support to their cause in the hopes of deposing Sylwynn and restoring "Order" to The Elvenwood. Yet, as they advanced, Sylwynn's tactical brilliance was on full display as she lured her siblings into a trap - this time executing her own siblings and the nobles that had supported them while deploying her Royal Guard to match Nour and his armies on the field of battle. The method of this execution is unclear - though rumors circulate even now of the profane rituals she used to do so - though in the end, it seldom mattered.
Interrupting the wars that raged in her homeland, the Gods were cast down to the Material Plane and began the Age of Godsfall as Atlas, The Ineffable, reawoken, cast down the gods for their sins against Mortalkind and cursed them to live on the material plane as mortals - leading to the arrival of various Elven Deities such as Yltarach, The Laughing God, Allana and Nifora, The Wild Sisters, and others that came to wage war in the Elvenwood. Sylwynn, having grown bored of military command, watched with apathy as her homeland descended into chaos without her leadership to unite them - the various gods claiming sections of the Elvenwood as their Fiefdoms as she remained in the capital of Shae'lenn alongside Allana and Nifora, The Wild Sisters towards ends unknown...
Sexuality
Unknown. As with many other things in her life, she has become apathetic towards sexuality, and rejects all suitors with the same harsh cruelty.
Education
As the crown princess of The Elvenwood, Sylwynn was afforded the best education possible by the very best tutors from across the planet of Ea.
Mental Trauma
Centuries of inability to feel happiness, satisfaction, or leave the capital or The Elvenwood at large have scarred her and made her apathetic, uncaring, and lazy.
Morality & Philosophy
Having been cursed with an utter lack of emotions, feelings, or interest of any kind, Sylwynn's once shining moral compass has given way to the only morality that now interests her - the promise of eventually finding something, ANYTHING, that could let her feel once more.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
As an unfortunate result of the curse of emptiness placed upon her from a young age, Sylwynn has little to no motivations to speak of whatsoever - unable to feel emotion, unable to feel in the general sense of the word, and unable to experience joy at all. While she was initially a fiery, fiercely independent and highly driven scholar during her childhood and youth, the only motivation left to her is filling the void that gnaws at her soul - seeking any form of stimulation, activity, hobby, or item that could possibly make her feel even the slightest iota of anything.
As such(Especially consider her curse prevents her from leaving the confines of her homeland), and she rarely even can find the motivation to get out of bed for days at a time. While before the death of her father Nerdu'shae Yggdrasa this may have been perfectly acceptable behavior for a spoiled, cursed princess, it has become increasingly problematic following her father's death and her ascension to the throne as not only the Crown Princess, but the Empress as well - guiding the country with the same languid, apathetic disinterest with which she approaches most all of her life. This apathetic rule, broken up by periods of hyperlucidity when she finds a new task or hobby that interests her(Such as with most recently, when a series of rebellions brought her out of her shell to study the art of warfare and military tactics to quell the revolts) where she can function at ludicrous efficacy for days or even weeks at a time before returning to her usual slovenly, apathetic self most have grown to know.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Even irrespective from her horrible curse of emptiness, Sylwynn has always been blessed with utterly superhuman talent and understanding such that, when she fully dedicates herself to something, she can master even the most complex of disciplines that usually take even the most talented creatures decades or centuries in a matter of mere hours or days. This talent shines through even from the depths of her curse, brought out irregularly when she encounters a new 'challenge', 'task', or other 'thing' that piques her interest enough to trigger one of her famous moments of 'hyperlucidity' - whereupon she will quickly master the topic at hand, swiftly humiliate the creature that brought it to her attention, then return to languidly lounging about her palace. As such, in short, the savvies of Princess Sylwynn are essentially everything, so long as she is probably motivated to do so.
On a similar vein, while she has the ability to become a master in nearly everything she does, she is almost universally inept at keeping herself motivated - though this is largely due to the nature of her curse, which has left her utterly unable to feel at all for centuries without end. As such, her greatest ineptitudes are finding motivation, staying on task, feeling emotion, or anything of a similar vein.
Likes & Dislikes
Likes: Anything she has not seen or heard of before, New Things and Experiences, Things she has not tried, Learning a new skill, Sleeping, Not Doing Anything, Hearing Stories and Tales, Fiction and Fantastical Adventures, Being Alone, Not exerting effort, Her Father and Mother, Having others do everything for her, Boats, A quiet trip down a long river, ???
Dislikes: Ultimatums, Being told what to do, Being better than others, Beating others in contests/competitions/games, Sycophants, Being Protected, Her Curse, Not Being able to Leave her Homeland, Anything or anyone that wakes her up from a nap, Being touched, Being scolded, Baths, Long Hair, Cutting her hair, ???
Virtues & Personality perks
Though her virtues shine dimmer in the centuries since her curse has taken full effect, Sylwynn nonetheless is a very virtuous woman at her core - supremely talented and a once in an age unmatched wonder child, she is talented in nearly anything she could put be motivated to put her mind to, and when properly motivated is a persuasive, charming, intelligent, and sagacious woman whose talent for rule and guiding others was, in her youth, fairly unmatched. She has always been wise beyond her years, and possessed of an uncanny ability to "feel" the emotions of others that allows her to be very in tune with the general 'vibes' a person or large crowds gives off - a very valuable trait in a ruler that allows her an uncanny level of insight into the needs of a people without asking them.
Empathetic, Kind, Imaginative, Curious, Artistic, and willing to take risks if it means doing good by herself or other people, Sylwynn's virtues are as numerous as the stars in the sky - she loves learning and trying new things(A virtue which shines even now), and loves encountering others who prove themselves better than her, or otherwise competing in battles of wits or skill on equal footing.
Vices & Personality flaws
For all her virtues, Sylwynn's curse has dulled many of them to the point of near nonfunctionality - her kindness and empathy has long faded and lost its luster as the crushing weight of her curse has driven her into the ultimate flaw: a self-destructive desire to finally "feel" something. This singular vice is her all-consuming desire - and with each passing day her once proud moral compass that made her such a shining beacon to her people cracks and gives way to her inner desires, which whisper to her to disregard her morality and indulge her vast skillset towards any end no matter how vile if it means stimulation. As such, while her curse may be considered to be her greatest flaw, it is beyond her control and thus not entirely listed here - instead, her own slow descent into corruption fills that same role, as the centuries have wore on and gradually dulled her moral luster more and more with each passing year, driving her to indulge in acts her younger self would have found utterly deplorable in the hopes of finally experiencing some kind of stimulation or feeling at all. She also is notorious for her greed, and for constantly importing all manner of exotic foods, spices, pets, animals, and items from all across Ea and beyond...searching for anything to try to give her the spark of happiness or enjoyment she hasn't felt in centuries. She will try any exotic food, any item, any technique, or anything no matter how dark, evil, vile, heretical or forbidden if she thinks it might bring her a spark of enjoyment...and while it isn't common for her to try such debased things, she has been known to try anything from ordering the limbs of her suitors broken on a whim, to tormenting her servants or, once, using magic to shrink and bind one of her suitors within a glass jar, and keep him on her shelf until the end of his natural life like living trophy.
Additionally, and perhaps most famously, is her overwhelming apathy - an utterly slovenly woman whose youthful days of eager, fiery spirit have long faded and been replaced with smoldering coals, Sylwynn is lazy to the extreme; rarely deigning to leave her royal bedroom for days at a time and whiling away her truly infinite life in abject misery and depression. Scarce are the days when she can muster the energy to even lift herself out and bed - and with the death of her father and siblings who once helped force her out of her shell, she has only descended further into apathy - growing filthier and filthier until her many handmaidens finally drag her into the baths kicking and screaming like a wailing cat to be cleaned.
Finally, while many are loathe to admit it(Especially her subjects who remember her fiery childhood so fondly), Sylwynn has developed something of a vicious streak - after centuries of entertaining suitors and visitors of all kinds whose trinkets and gifts hailed from all over the planet of Ea, and centuries more of entertaining those same people's ideas to finally stimulate her, she has grown into a cold-hearted, callous woman who uses her tremendous skillset to utterly humiliate and degrade any attempt to provide her with stimulation - an unfortunate side-effect of her hyperfixation and giddy desire to finally "feel" something only driving her quicker to mastery over the topic at hand, and the visitor's abject humiliation as she outperforms them at their challenge then dismisses them. So, while the exact extent of the enjoyment she derives from her languid humiliation of others isn't entirely clear, it is a flaw driven moreso by her own overwhelming talent rapidly burning through her desire to finally be challenged - a cruelty born of centuries of disappointment.
Hygiene
Uncaring to do so herself, Sylwynn is an utterly slovenly woman - a far cry from her prim and proper princess persona that she once had in her youth. Now, without her siblings or her father to guide her, she has only descended further into apathetic filth - unwilling to leave her bed for days at a time until finally, her bravest servants drag her out of her room and into the baths where they force her to clean herself for the sake of her own health.
Social
Reign
Having ascended to the throne of The Elvenwood in 2042 AF after the death of her father Nerdu'shae Yggdrasa to The Earthslumber, Sylwynn rapidly proved an unpopular leader - though she weathered all manner of rebellion and internal factional politics and strife into the current day, where she by all technicality remains the sovereign ruler of the now-fractured and utterly divided Elvenwood...even though she herself has long since grown bored with the title and let her land devolve into isolated fiefs and traitorous kingdoms.
Contacts & Relations
As the former Crown Princess of The Elvenwood and Eldest Child of Nerdu'shae Yggdrasa, Sylwynn is expectedly famous throughout her homeland and beyond - however, even beyond her station she has become a household name in the eyes and mouths of her own people thanks to the well-known and tragic tale of her youth; where her vibrancy and drive was stolen from her by a curse most insidious - a curse of emptiness that has stolen away her emotions, her feeling, and all semblance of enjoyment from her life and left her a barren, unfeeling husk for centuries since.
Now, having ascended to the throne in the wake of her father's death, she has become even more famous - commanding the respect and obedience of nearly every creature in The Elvenwood, and some creatures beyond it - though she herself, largely apathetic and indifferent to her station, has left this authority to rot on the vine since her ascension barring a few spurts of activity during a handful of uprisings, where the novel experience of large-scale unit tactics and warfare caught her interest long enough to motivate her to command armies to victory in the quelling of such things.
Family Ties
As the eldest daughter of Nerdu'shae Yggdrasa, she once had a family so large it defied imagination - yet, a horrible curse seems to have descended upon her family since the death of her father; losing her siblings to Political Schisms and Nobility-Backed Uprisings in the years following her ascension to the throne(As is custom in The Elvenwood, for the Eldest Child to inherit rule) where her siblings challenged her for the throne and met their ends as traitors to the state, while also losing her mother at a very young age to the blades of assassins and, finally, losing her father to The Earthslumber.
With all of the death that has descended upon her, she has been left an Orphan - bereft of Father, Mother, and Siblings of any kind...a fact which has only exacerbated rumors of her nature as a "Cursed Child" in the whispers of her citizens.
Religious Views
Princess Sylwynn is not known to have any religious views of any notable kind - whether out of apathy or disdain for the beings that allowed her to lead such a cursed existence, or out of true Atheism, is unknown.
Social Aptitude
In her youth in the days before her curse(And even the days when her curse was still fresh), Sylwynn was referred to with a vast outpouring of love as the "Crown Jewel" of the entire Elvenwood...she was fair, beautiful, and talented, and her social aptitude was similarly legendary in a gorgeous echo of her mother, who was much the same fiery and charismatic woman as she.
She was persuasive and charismatic, and knew how to manipulate her rivals, coerce her enemies, and persuade her allies all in the same beautiful breath...she was a multitalented social and political wunderkind the likes of which is seldom seen, her talent so vast and enormous that it dwarfed even that of her Mother and Father, each talented Diplomats in their own right.
Now, however, she is as apathetic as a sloth and just as lazy - preferring to exert as little effort as possible outside of the rare moments where her unnatural talents shine through during her moments of lucidity and hyperfixation, where glimmers of her old self can be seen in the ludicrous talented performances she puts on in any field she puts her mind to.
Mannerisms
Despite being a Crown Princess, she is utterly slovenly in her mannerisms and attitude in general - apathetic to the extreme, she rarely makes eye contact and speaks in a perpetually bored, disinterested tone that cuts straight to the heart of the matter at hand, as she always seeks to return a state of inactivity as quickly as possible. She rarely even deigns to stand up or rise above a sitting position, though on the rare occasion when her interest is piqued by new experiences or gifts small glimmers of her old self can be seen resurfacing - glimmers of a hyper-attentive, hyper-intelligent savant who seeks to understand everything before her in its totality before eventually slowly returning to her dull, apathetic state once she has mastered or understood a given task or gift.
Hobbies & Pets
Though her accumulation of them has dwindled in recent years with the chaos of the world at large, Princess Sylwynn has accrued all manner of exotic animals and pets from all over the world during her time as Crown Princess of the Elvenwood - most of which were accumulated for her by her father, family, and even her citizens as a part of what was once an ongoing national quest to find something, anything, to bring the spark of feeling back into her life and break her out of her endless apathy.
However, nothing that was found or gifted to her ever lifted that curse of hers - not exotic foxes from The Eastern Imperium, Dire Wolves from Frozen Spire Island, Warlock Bugs, the finest slaves from far-off exotic lands, nor even purple worms from The Golden Sands or even Dragons raised within The Empire of Draconia. All these gifts and pets, left to languish at her side or in her vaults(Or in some occasions, used as her dinner), were eventually forgotten and discarded.
Speech
Though she once spoke with serenity and joy, she now speeks with distant apathy, never quite looking at the subject of her speech or giving them her full attention...she constantly seems to talk down to others, never quite dedicating her full interest to them, and speaks mostly in boring, uninterested monotone. She often sighs while speaking, and never makes it seem like speaking is anything but a burden to her.
Wealth & Financial state
As the eldest child of Nerdu'shae Yggdrasa and the eldest princess of The Elvenwood, Princess Sylwynn has long wanted for absolutely nothing - an utterly spoiled girl from the moment of her birth, she has amassed a ludicrously enormous personal treasury over centuries of gifts and presents bestowed unto her by her parents, suitors, and in her adulthood from all manner of her citizenry in a bid to deliver her from her curse of emptiness.
As such, her wealth, especially now that she has taken the title of Ruler with the death of her father, has become truly and fully hers in every sense - most of which she was wise enough to consolidate in her capital city of Shae'lenn before the current era of strife where the Gods have been cast down to the Material Plane to walk the earth as mortal once again. She is even said to have looted powerful, important artefacts from the vaults of The Empire of Draconia before its collapse during the Age of Troubles - plundering the nation's biggest and most important artefacts and spiriting them away to her own vaults for little more than her own attempts to amuse herself before her nation truly broke down and descended into chaos.
The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.
Alignment
Chaotic Neutral
Current Status
Secluded away in her palace in Shae'lenn, in the company of Allana and Nifora
Species
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Sylwynn the Soulless, The Bedside Commander, The Porcelain Princess, Princess Perfect, The One above All, Little Sunlight, The Great Betrayer
Year of Birth
1336 AF
784 Years old
Circumstances of Birth
Born to her father as the first child he had with her mother, a living symbol of their love for one another.
Birthplace
Shae-Lenn, Capital of the Elvenwood
Children
Current Residence
Shae-Lenn, Fief of the Wild Sisters
Pronouns
She/Her
Gender
Female
Eyes
Deep, Emotionless, Forest Green
Hair
Extremely Long, Braided, Golden
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale-White and Flawless - like a beautiful Porcelain Doll
Height
7.5ft (2.3m)
Weight
143lbs (65kg)
Belief/Deity
She has always been indifferent to religion - though not quite into the realm of Atheism.
Aligned Organization
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