Achena
Welcome to Solaris, traveller! This is a slower-than-light science fantasy set in our own solar system.
About Solaris | Guide to Solaris | Prologue
About Solaris | Guide to Solaris | Prologue
Achena was a venusian pop starlet. Before her career could even really begin, she was strongarmed into not just to give up her dreams, but her identity. Achena became a Handmaiden to the Godqueen, and would've faded from public conciousness if it hadn't been for her fans.
Career
Achena started out in the music industry as a dancer. She was a great talent at metamorphis, and was capable of altering her body mid dance. She was sought out for this ability, and was often asked to appear in live preformances and music videos. Her most famous preformance was for Vespertina's Bloom, where she grew roses in her skin that bloomed and withered during the song. Her debut album Myopia explored her yearning for success and desire to be loved for who she was, in a sweet dulcet voice dancing around a hypnotic beat. Her second single made #28 the Venus top 100, she was invited to preform at the Palace of Delights and the buzz was building to a peak when she suddenly disappeared from the scene. A new song blew up, and the hype for Achena blew over. She never released a second album, but a collection of songs called the Swan Songs was leaked on Yggdrasil. Sleuths uncovered that she had been invited to, and accepted, a job as Handmaiden to the Godqueen. As the job involved becoming a body double to Titania, which meant giving up her own identity, many of her fans began to speculate how much of a choice Achena was really given. Would a burgeoning pop star really want to give up all that she had worked towards?Speculation
A small community built up on one of Achena's fantrees, hosting her music, media and a forum for discussion. One fan, on a thread for discussing the leaked Swan Songs, noted a couple of references to the Swan Songs in Titania's speeches. Taking a cue after this fan, speculation reached a fever pitch. Was Achena more than just a handmaiden? Was she trying to tell them something? One fan, a journalist at Beaux magazine, took it even further, and began to gather evidence. He went to as many public appearances as he could. At every occasion where he could speak to Titania, he asked her for an eyelash. After collecting a whole albumful, he brought them to Mars to have them genetically tested. A majority were a match for Achena, and most notably, the ones where she had preformed impossible feats. The truth became clear. Achena had become more than just a body double for the Godqueen. She had emerged as the new Keystone of Venus, and the Venusian Consilium had forced her to become Titania. Little has changed planetside, the Monarchy of Venus continues to maintain that Titania is the same woman who ascended centuries ago.| ♀ Venus | ||||||
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Poor woman. I don't know why anyone would want to become a Handmaiden willingly (money, I guess?), but having your identity taken is wrong on so many levels. The Metamorphis article says that "To transform, the Fei must assert the changes as part of their self image, and maintain this image..." That doesn't imply ANYTHING good about this... ...Did the Concilium do something to Achena that made Titania part of her self-image...? *That's* terrifying.
Yeah, the implications here are grim. How do you force someone to become someone else? What kind of damage would that do to someone. Achena being a preformer might've helped her take on another identity without totally losing her own, and I can imagine someone like her having little rebellions, shaping her nails a bit longer, adding another secret heart, finding ways to maintain herself as not quite what the Concilium wants her to be. As for why people might become a handmaiden, I do think they're probably well paid and that helps. I also think prestige motivates some, and others might want to become a handmaiden precisely because they don't want to be themselves anymore.