Post by Lady Vivienne on Jun 5, 2013 21:14:11 GMT -7
Vivienne le Fay | 26 | Lady | Nobility | Camelot | Gemma Arterton
Vivienne was born into the noble house of le Fay, a family made powerful by their affiliation with the Old Religion. Through the years, many le Fay women have become Priestesses of the Triple Goddess, and the family always considered it a great honor to have their daughters chosen. Although Vivienne showed early signs of magical aptitude, the Priestesses ultimately chose one of her sisters instead, and Vivienne was raised to be a Lady instead, although magic was always a part of her life. Her parents arranged for her to marry Sir Gorlois, but it seemed that the Old Religion was not finished with Vivienne yet.
A seer had foretold that Vivienne's children would be powerful practitioners of the Old Religion, and the Priestesses sought to ensure this came to pass. Before her marriage, they summoned her on the eve of Beltane to participate in a powerful ritual. That night, on the Isle of the Blessed, Vivienne conceived a child, and then returned to Camelot to marry Sir Gorlois. He believed she carried his child. When the child was born, the High Priestess demanded that she be turned over to them, to be raised as a priestess, and Vivienne complied. She enlisted the help of Gaius, the court physician, to convince her husband that the child had passed away, and he helped her to smuggle the infant out of the city, to the priestesses.
After that, Vivienne devoted her life to her husband and the court, but it didn't seem like enough. She could not get with child again, and she feared that she would never have another child, that her husband would not love her anymore, and that he would set her aside for another, younger woman who could give him the children he so desired. Her fears ate at her, and she sought solace with someone who could relate to her fears, King Uther, her husband's dearest friends. It started innocently enough, sharing their fears over a flagon of wine, but soon grew into a passionate affair. Vivienne never loved Uther, but there was a certain understanding between them. And then she discovered she was pregnant.
It seemed certain the child was Uther's, but they both knew that while it would solve the problem of an heir to Camelot's throne, it would break the hearts of the people they loved the most. So Vivienne and Uther resolved never to speak of it, to never tell anyone. Morgana was born and Gorlois couldn't be happier, and Vivienne with him. She kept her word; she never told a soul the true identity of her daughter's father, and Gorlois never once suspected, believing that their prayers to the Goddess had finally been heard. They were happy... until the purge.
Vivienne, having abandoned all contact with Uther save what was necessary at formal occasions, had no idea just how desperate he had become to have a true born heir to his throne. She could never have predicted the ends he would go to in order to achieve his end, nor his wrath at realizing the price of such a bargain. She was home with the baby when Gorlois returned, bloodied and panicked, and told her to burn all the relics of the Old Religion, to abandon her lifelong faith, to renounce all those who refused to do the same. Uther had declared war on the Old Religion, he told her, and they would march on the Isle of the Blessed to destroy it at its heart in the morning.
Unable to accept the possibility of her daughter's demise, Vivienne told Gorlois the truth... or at least, some of it. That Morgause hadn't died all those years ago, but that she was alive and well, living on that Isle. She did not tell him that she was not his daughter, but the secret was enough to drive him into a rage. While he could not bring himself to harm the woman he loved, he told her he could not bear to see her, and banished her from his home. She was forced to flee her home, abandoning yet another daughter; but at least Gorlois had promised to save Morgause. And he did, making sure that the child escaped the carnage unscathed.
Vivienne possesses some magical ability, but a lack of training has caused her to have little power or control. While she can perform simple spells if she practices enough, she cannot do anything difficult or particularly powerful. She does occasionally have visions in her dreams, that she takes as guidance from the Goddess, but those tend to be few and far between.