Archived-Batavia
| Batavia | |
| Clan: | Nosferatu (Requiem) •• |
|---|---|
| Covenant: | Invictus ••• |
| City: | Canberra • |
| Title: | Alder Countess (Earl) |
| Sire: | Archived-Godric Volmark |
| Bloodline: | Bloodline |
| Group: | Archived-House Volmark |
| Embraced: | early 1600s |
| Player: | P. Saunders |
| Storyteller: | Canberra VST |
General Information
Sire: Archived-Godric Volmark.
Bloodline: Unknown.
Titles: Alder Senator Batavia von Volmark von der Aachen, Lady Volmark, Alpha Childe of Archived-Godric Volmark, "Countess" (Earl) of the Undercity, Summus Marescalcus of the Order of the Black Cross, former Godricsritter, former Knight Commander of the Right and Noble Order of the Iron Wall. Within the Court of Canberra, she holds the position Duchess of the Sublands.
Nickname: The Queen of Spiders (sometimes abbreviated to 'The Spider Queen' by particularly lazy Neonates).
Coteries/Societies: Archived-House Volmark, Deutscher Ritterorden Schwarz Kreuz, Archived-The Trivium.
Concept: "Retired" Teutonic Knightmare, now full-time Mother Monster.
Notable Traits: Everyone who saw her at the police court said she was at once the most beautiful woman and the most repulsive they had ever set eyes on. I have spoken to a man who saw her, and I assure you he positively shuddered as he tried to describe the woman, but he couldn't tell why. - Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan. Batavia flows like oil, and slithers like a snake. Where she walks, unseen, people shiver, and look away - "It feels like someone just stepped over my grave," they'll say, in the breeze of her passing, and, troubled, pull their children closer. Her voice is the rustle of bat wings coated in honey, and her touch is cold and insistent. She is appalling. Her beauty is a blasphemy; the elegance of that countenance, the grace of that form juxtaposed with the eerie mask that covers the left half of her face is chilling in contrast - far more disturbing than any obvious deformity is the creeping paranoia of what horrors the mask conceals. She always wears tall gloves over hands that seem entirely too long-fingered for comfort, and she moves slowly. She reacts slowly. And in her eyes is a suffocating abyss, of the passage of centuries, or the crushing depths of an ocean trench.
Would Be Played In A Movie By: Charlize Theron
Defining Quote:"Mother knows best."
Information Known by Kindred Society
Senator Batavia, Lady Volmark, Heir Apparent of Archived-House Volmark, first and ostensibly most beautiful creation of Archived-Godric Volmark, known to the Gangrel who call themselves Archived-Valdyr as Stellanslayer, arrived in Canberra before Canberra was Canberra, and made her haven in the vast network of caves beneath the country plain that would eventually become the capital. When Archived-Kaida of the Ordo Dracul arrived in the fledgeling City, Batavia had already been there for some decades. Knowing of the Elder horror incumbent in the territory she wished to develop, the young Dragon approached Batavia with deference, acknowledged her tenure and asked her blessing to establish a Court. Batavia, appeased by the Ancilla's manners, granted her permission, under the condition that the City was founded upon laws and principles that ran parallel to Invictus convention, and cautioning the Dragon, "Keep the noise down, don't overtax the herd, and I'm not one for ambiguous portents - you'll know you've displeased me if the rats start to panic." In payment for this accommodation, Archived-Kaida declared the Duchy of the Sublands, and publicly acknowledged Batavia's ultimate authority within this region. Popular rumour runs that some sort of blood tithe was also paid, from the Prince of the City above to the mistress of the darkness below.
Her catacombs are implicitly open to all Nosferatu, and to other Invictus by invitation. In the City's history and prehistory, her grip on domain within the chambers beneath the earth has been unshaken.
Not much is known of Batavia's mortal life, only that she is highborn, and of Dutch extraction, though she dwelled for much of her unlife in Castle Volmark in Germany, with her Sire, and his eventual other childer, and their own broods. She was sent alone to Australia in the early 1800s, being already a Kindred of not inconsiderable vintage, with the express mission of establishing an Invictus foothold in the fledgeling nation, and she traveled the country, over the years, advising Princes and would-be Princes on how best to be Princes - regardless of Covenant, those who had not been Invictus would rule much like they were, and in a manner that benefited the Unconquered, when she was done. She was particularly instrumental in the foundation and consolidation of the Court of Victoria, based in the capital, Melbourne. The current Praxis of Canberra is held by a known student of hers, as is that of Brisbane. Where she could not be, and where no student is yet present, she has sent her many childer to continue her work, like limbs reaching out from her point on the map; lines of latitude marked, "Here be monsters." Her protégés are known by a mask motif, visible somewhere on their person, her vassals wear an emerald detail, and her childer - called the Bataviae - are marked by a silver guilder, displayed on the chest.
Before most Elders were born, Batavia's vitae was already old in her dead veins. The centuries passed, and the many torpors she has endured, tell chillingly on her night-to-night demeanour - tell of a creature so aged and unanchored from mortality that it no longer even remembers what Humanity looked like, to affect it. She is distant, and alien, and slowed by her years; inclined to looking, unseeing, right through Kindred who are too young for her cold, ponderous mind to have caught up with the fact of their existence yet - but her attention, when it focuses, is seldom anything other than carnivorous and predatory.
She briefly kept company - unsettlingly close company - with the two enterprising Neonates who, in 1960, awoke her from the torpor into which injuries taken in the first World War had caused her to fall. They might have never been seen again, but for some reason that remains a mystery unknown to all but the three of them, not only did the two upstarts survive the success of their attempt to revive the terrible Alder, but have profited from it greatly - the young Lord, Archived-Tiberius Harkonus Augustus Marcellarius, and Shadow, Archived-Raymond Vauxhall, must have done some very fast talking, for they gained themselves a powerful patron in the horror they awakened, and for fifty years, the peculiar trinity was inseparable, until the disappearance of both in 2014.
She is an unsettling meld of uncanny grace, regal bearing, and a following aura of wrongness so profound she might have served as muse to Lovecraft himself. There is a sense, when one looks upon Batavia, that what one sees is not human, but rather a humanoid abomination. Even her rare interest is expressed with the cold sensuality of a reptile. Though, as with every horror in this world, there are those perverse souls to whom this proves compelling, rather than repellent. Perhaps it is this phenomenon that explains the singular...attentiveness of certain younger Kindred to the queenly, nightmarish Alder.
She is a devoted adherent to the Longinian faith, and, veiled to show her piety, attends every service within easy travel.
Timeline
- Mortal life: "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another; if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" - The Joker, The Killing Joke
- 1635: Embraced by Archived-Godric Volmark, and taken to Germany. Made his Seneschal in all functions.
- 1645: Abducted by Archived-Vilrec Langlifr, head of the enemy House, Archived-Valdyr. Ransomed back to her Sire after an extended captivity.
- 1646: Volmark/Valdyr tensions escalate, in a number of border skirmishes and simple grudge conflicts.
- 1655: Leads the Volmark armies in a reckoning against the Valdyr, with Archived-Pietro Navishenko as her Lieutenant, but Vilrec is inexplicably absent from the field. Batavia takes offense to his cowardice, and basically decimates the Valdyr army in her ire.
- 1685: First brother, Archived-Ulrich, is Embraced. He will join her and Pietro as her second Lieutenant in the war against the Valdyr.
- 1700: Battle of Holstein. After a lengthy and bitter conflict, the Valdyr look set to take the field. Vilrec and Batavia clash in personal combat. Vilrec nearly destroys Batavia, but is prevented by the timely intervention of Godric. Flees the field, taking his forces with him. Both sides withdraw temporarily from open hostilities, to lick their wounds. Batavia sinks gratefully into voluntary Torpor, to escape the pain of her injuries.
- 1705: Wakes from Torpor; adopts the vertical half of a volta mask she will come to be known for.
- 1710: Becomes convinced the Valdyr will move against them soon. Travels the outlying territories for reconnaissance, and has a fateful meeting with a correspondent, Battuo Aurialanus in Venice. Embraces Archived-Algol, in Sicily.
- 1720: Second brother, Archived-Lothar, is Embraced. He will assume battlefield command of the Volmark forces, while Batavia retires to a tactical role as General.
- 1720 - 1759: Batavia continues to serve as her Sire's second in all things, and to direct the war against the Valdyr with cool, focused interest, in sharp contrast to Lothar's fire-and-brimstone fervour in his captaincy.
- 1760: Surprised by some young Valdyr on patrol, while she is out riding. Allows herself to be taken captive and brought before Vilrec, to mess with him; Vilrec, wise to the trick, refuses to hold her, and demands that she be removed from his hall. Once outside, she thanks the youngsters for their assistance, and then slaughters all bar one of them, sparing him to carry the story.
- 1770: Reports arrive from England of one James Cook having charted the Eastern coast of Australia, and having made recommendation of colonisation at Botany Bay. Godric takes an interest.
- 1772: An expedition led by Louis Aleno de St Alouarn claims the Western coast of Australia for the French crown. Batavia takes an interest. There is no follow-through from the French, however.
- 1776: King Gustav III of Sweden announces plans to establish a colony along the Swan River, to which Batavia pays keen attention, however the Swedes, like the French, fail to act on their boasts.
- 1785: In vengeance for Vilrec's murder of his childe, Archived-Lothar wages a brutal campaign of attrition across Finland, depleting the Valdyr vassals and family.
- 1788: A penal fleet sails from England for Sydney Cove, in New South Wales. Godric and Batavia wait, and watch closely, as the great Southern continent slowly acquires civilisation.
- 1800: Lothar's fury is finally spent, and he returns with their forces to Castle Volmark in the Rhineland. Legions of Valdyr family members and associates lie murdered behind him, and their territories burn in his wake.
- 1801 - 1810: Torpor.
- 1826: Stages a battle to distract Vilrec so that Archived-Lothar can abduct his beloved childe, Stellan. Watches from a hilltop as Vilrec cuts his way through vast swathes of the Volmark forces, in clear confusion about why she doesn't come down to fight him herself.
- 1831: The Volmark lure Vilrec into a trap, where they hold his two childer; Batavia guards Stellan, and Lothar is set over Archived-Berengaria Lange, the fledgeling. He is seized, restrained and made to choose between them - he chooses Stellan to live, and Berengaria to die; Batavia tears out Stellan's heart. Berengaria is freed, and Vilrec himself put into torpor.
- She returns, and bargains for his release with the life of her first childe, when she will eventually Embrace.
- 1832: Godric dispatches his eldest childe to the fledgeling Australian nation, with instructions to take it "for the Invictus, and for Volmark!" Upon arriving, she finds there is already a Kindred powerbase founded in New South Wales, but substantial lack of an Invictus presence, there. She settles and reconnects with Battuo Aurialanus - now known by the moniker, Archived-Baron Bautone, for the bauta mask he has adopted as his trademark - who is already in residence, and recruits him into the Invictus.
- 1840: With New South Wales now addressed, she moves her interests to the new-formed territory of Victoria and settles there.
- 1841 - 1850: She fosters the development of a local Kindred Court, and mentors closely to its first Prince.
- 1851: Gold deposits discovered in Ballarat, leading to the Victorian Gold Rush. This draws Batavia's attention, and she follows the hordes of mortals pouring onto the goldfields.
- 1854: Embraces Archived-Christopher Merrick.
- 1855 - 1913: Content pending.
- 1914: Batavia is recalled from Australia by Godric to join the war effort; camouflaged among German and Allied troops, the Volmark and Valdyr respectively continue - now secretly - to wage a war of their own.
- 1915 - 1917: The Volmark dominate the conflict.
- 1918: The Hundred Days Offensive. Following the Volmark and German victory at The Second Battle Of The Marne, the Valdyr and Allied forces' counterattack strikes a decisive blow that will ultimately turn the tide of the war. The Volmarks' defeat is crushing; Godric is beaten into Torpor, and taken captive by the enemy, Batavia goes MIA entirely, and the Volmark forces are driven back over the Marne. Though Godric will be revived and released in relatively short order, Batavia will remain lost for a couple of years, and the Volmark will never regain the initiative.
- 1920: Formation of The Pax Of Fear And Fang. Batavia resurfaces and spearheads the treaty on the Volmark side; a puzzle to all who know her, for it is she that has been driving the conflict most aggressively as General on the Volmark end for almost four centuries. After the signing of the treaty, she more or less disappears again for thirty-odd years.
- 1950: Archived-Kaida and Archived-Melieke arrive in Canberra with the intent of founding a Kindred Court, only to find Batavia already there, based in the Undercity. Archived-Melieke acts as go-between in brokering a deal wherein Batavia consents to the Court's foundation and Kaida's claim of Praxis, in return for...certain conditions.
- 1955: Archived-Tiberius Harkonus Augustus Marcellarius and his offsider, Archived-Raymond Vauxhall, arrive in Canberra with ambitions of their own. Archived-Melieke sends them down to the Undercity, and they reemerge with Batavia as their patron.
- 1956 - 1980: She undertakes the tutelage of the young Pendragon on his path to Praxis.
- 1980s: Batavia travels to Sydney to join the Brood War effort, at the request of her old ally, Archived-Marquis Aurialanus. She fights beside the Marquis, and heroic newcomer Sir Archived-Bernard Estera and even, in one notable skirmish, beside her old enemy, Archived-Vilrec Langlifr; the two manage to keep from murdering each other long enough to dispatch their nest of common enemies, and then go their separate ways.
- 2003: Batavia rides to war again for the Archived-Livian Crusade. When her brother, Archived-Lothar, falls in the battle, she has a tense standoff with Archived-Rasmus Armfelt over his body that very nearly threatens to shatter the Pax - before he surrenders the body back to her.
Under construction.
Lineage
Great Grand-sire: Unknown.
Grandsire: Archived-Zarkov Justinius.
Sire: Archived-Godric Volmark.
Known Childer: Archived-Algol, Archived-Christopher Merrick, Archived-Charles Volmark, and countless others; she spawns monsters with profane fecundity. Batavia's childer and grandchilder are no mere family, but a tribe - a nation.
Known Grand-childer: Too many to number.
Quotes
Quotes By
- "We have done what we have done and what we have had to do. We are conquerors and Kings; the blood of Teutonic nobility flows in our veins. It is our nature to yearn toward greatness, for greatness we deserve, but greatness is a beast that must be mounted atop a carpet of the slain, broken underfoot.
- Blood and fire, that is the way of it. Brutality and vindication. That is what we are. But we must never look back, can never look back, for the past is full of screams, and they bear us forward from behind."
- Batavia, to her brother Archived-Ulrich, c. 1790.
- "Violence is not frightening - not truly. Violence is a release...and a relief. A climax after the tension. The art of terror lies in spinning out that tension, without ever allowing it to over-build into resignation, for as long as possible. See this childe; she knew the risk she was taking by stepping into my territory only after she had already done so, and, like the fly in the web, she prayed to escape unnoticed. I watched her for a week and a half as her paranoia built, as her fear ate her alive, and then allowed her to return home - relieved - only to discover after she arrived back in "safety" that she hadn't, after all, escaped me, but that I had let her go. And now she knows, she knows that I could have reached out and touched her - plucked her like a tender, low-hanging fruit - any time I wanted. And she knows, now, also, that when I come for her, I could be anyone; the old lady on the street who stares a little too long, the petrol station service attendant who gives her a strange look with her change, the pretty patron in the nightclub whom her hunger drives her to invite home...
- That knowledge will follow her to the end of her days - haunt her sleep, dog her step when she walks alone, make her pull the curtains tighter in the dark, cold watches of the night. She will never forget me, but will carry me to her grave.
- This, childe; this is the essence of terror."
- Instructing Archived-Tiberius Harkonus Augustus Marcellarius on the utility of fear.
- "Keep the Traditions, keep the Faith, keep us Unconquered - and don't touch what's mine."
- To Prince Reiger, naming the conditions of her support upon his initial claim of Praxis.
- "My Lady."
- "My Lord. My King-"
- "-and my Sword."
- With Archived-Marquis Aurialanus; the highly-ritualised exchange, uttered whenever the two Elders meet, that has launched a thousand rumours.
- "Nonsense! Friendship is an invaluable asset in helping a Kindred weather the ravages of a long Requiem; it keeps us sane, through the centuries. For this reason, a true friend is a blessing indeed. Kill them last."
- To her childe, Charles, 'refuting' his naive assumption that vampires don't have friends.
Quotes About
- "Let it be known, hence and forever more, that Elder Batavia is the Duchess of the Sublands. Any who enter, do so at your own risk."
- Dragon Prince Kaida Pendragon informs her subjects, when she forms the first Court in Canberra, in 1955.
- “Think of her as a glacier - cold, hard, inexorable. She moves in increments of decades, grinding mountains to gravel.”
- Archived-Tybalt, Prince of Cats (and Brisbane).
- “The Alder Senator Batavia holds my most enduring favour."
- Prince Tiberius Harkonus Augustus Macellarius, shortly after taking Praxis, when asked about the Viscountess.
- "I do not discuss my 'sister' with outsiders. This is more for their safety than mine. Do not ask me again."
- Archived-Raymond Vauxhall, on more than one occasion.
- "And that, my brothers and sisters, is the beauty of predestination. Just as God has predestined us as the sinners we are, to serve his almighty purpose, so too does he ordain the judgement of those that would falter from his path that the Dark Prophet has laid out for us. While sometimes it may seem like the unfaithful flaunt their successes and escape, the judgement of God awaits us all. The delay merely adds to the immense satisfaction that can be enjoyed when the sinner is punished..."
- Bishop Lupo, delivering a sermon in the Archived-Canberra Parish on the ultimate fate of the Apostate.
- "I've always wanted to know what makes that one tick, however she takes unapproachable to an art-form....which just makes me more curious."
- The Liulfr, while fingering a recent scar.
- "If you ask me about her again...
- I swear to you, I will tell you everything she's done, everything she represents, and confirm every story you've ever heard - it will leave you begging every Lord you know to help you forget. And that's only what I remember of the past 400 years.
- You want the truth about Batavia, go ask her yourself!"
- Archived-Vilrec Langlifr, when pressed by younger Valdyr.
- "Her advice is born from experience, age and the wisdom they bring. Pay the price she asks. It is a sound investment."
- Archived-Algol, to an (understandably nervous) petitioner.
- "You are my salvation, Batavia. I can still remember it; it brings me confidence when I am tired, when I am weak, when I am beaten down. The blood of a legend is a heady taste."
- "Trust her? I can think of few things she would find more offensive.
- To trust another Kindred, they must be wholly in your control or equally, so far below you as to pose no threat.'"
- "You are more sister to me than my own Blood."
- "Viscountess von Volmark is someone I hold in high esteem, as should all of you. Watching her in battle is like reading well-written poetry. Her exploits in the Brood War will give me tales to tell for many years."
- Archived-Bernard Estera, to a group of soldiers towards the end of the Brood War.
- "My sister has successfully led the armies of the Volmark for longer than you have been Damned, and she will most likely continue to do so for a lot longer than you will live, especially if you ask stupid questions like that."
- Ulrich Volmark, to a younger Kindred who asked why he allowed a female Kindred to lead him.
- "She is beautiful, and horrifying - for all the same reasons."
- Archived-Sebastian Volmark, dreamily reflecting on his aunt.
- "I was intrigued by this shy kindred who had secluded herself in a dark corner during much of the Conclave, the so called Stellenslayer was not at all what I expected. It is a shame I did not meet her during her glory days, I am sure she was magnificent. The kindred before me seemed much diminished, it’s like the peace she professed to admire had robbed her cold heart of purpose and what remains is like the smoking embers of a once great bonfire, still dangerous, still pregnant with the potential to erupt into a glorious blaze should the right fuel be added. Yet the conversation we had was amusing, it seems the irony of one who lives under the yoke of vassalage asking a Carthian if they were ‘unconquered’ was lost on her much as the reason whyy any would swear archaic oaths of servitude to another are lost on me ."
- Archived-Sergei Ravanov- musings on his encounter with Batavia at the National Conclave.
- " What the hell is THAT?! I think I just kacked me pants! Stop bloody laughing and give me your trousers. "
- Archived-Jonas Boswell- Coming upon Batavia unexpectedly for the first time.
- "The acolytes speak of their Dark Mother in hushed and reverent tones. A distant figure, almost felt in the heart, and the dark places, but never seen or touched. I know better. MY dark mother exists. She is a real and constant presence in my unlife, and were I to grow tired of it, I could reach out to touch her and feel her perfection beneath my finger tips."
- Archived-Jules- discussing theology.
- "I have seen her about the Danse, brushing against those I value, leaving them trembling, and smiling with a terrified rictus. Long have I prayed, "Ya Allah, keep this monster's gaze from falling on me. Keep me from her sight, insha'Allah." Now He has withdrawn that protection. Now it is too late for me."
Conversations
- "What about...? Did you see... her?"
- "Who? You mean the Prince?"
- "No. 'Her. You know."
- "Bata-"
- "Don't say her name."
- "Stop being stupid - we can say her name. Those are just stories the older ones tell us to freak us out."
- "No, they're not. If you say her name, she knows. She can hear it. She's old, ancient, and has... witchcraft up her sleeve."
- "I heard she shows up in your daydreams if you get her attention. Does it when she's bored. Likes to turn them into nightmares"
- "I had that happen to me once. Just the once. I'll never say it again."
- "What about the other story? That if we say it three times, she'll -"
- "That's what got Stellan. He was talking about her with someone."
- "Bullshit."
- "Then do it, you idiot. Say it. Say it three times."
- *a beat*
- "... I could, y'know. I just don't wanna."
- A conversation among a group of Archived-Valdyr neonates.
- "What is it like to be a legend?"
- "Lonely. Now go away, before I decide to notice you."
- With an awe-struck Invictus Neonate, in Brisbane, 2013.
- Batavia: "Don't try to deceive me that you do not love war."
- Archived-Vilrec Langlifr, with a triumphant grin: "I don't."
- Batavia: "Oh, come, now. You know that's not true. I can see it in your eyes."
- In Sydney, January 2014.
- Batavia: "My hotblooded brother-"
- Archived-Lothar: "-My romantic sister."
- In Brisbane, January 2015.
Soundtrack
Others.
- Birds Of A Feather by The Civil Wars - Archived-Godric Volmark
- Cat And Mouse by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - his side.
- Personal by Fergie - Archived-Ulrich
- Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own by U2 - his side.
- Pushit by Tool - Archived-Lothar
- Degausser by Brand New - his side.
- Pet by A Perfect Circle - Archived-Charles Volmark
- Second Sebring by Of Mice And Men - his side.
- Mordred's Lullaby by Heather Dale - Archived-Christopher Merrick
- Mama by My Chemical Romance - his side.
- Make Me Scream by I Rival - Archived-Algol
- Perfect by Alanis Morrisette - Archived-Esteban Cortes
- Love Me When I'm Gone by Three Doors Down - Archived-House Volmark
---
- You Fight Me by Breaking Benjamin - Archived-Vilrec Langlifr
- Time Is Running Out by Muse - his side.
- Haven Stay by Takida - Archived-Berengaria Lange
- Watching You by White Tie Affair - her side.
- The Tain by The Decemberists - Archived-Aksel Vinter
- Follow You Home by Nickelback - his side.
- Overburdened by Disturbed - the Valdyr
---
- D.O.W.N. by Dead Prez - Archived-Pietro Navishenko
- Soldiers by Otherwise - his side.
---
- Seein' Red by Unwritten Law - Battuo Aurialanus
- The Marvellous Toy by Peter Denver - his side.
- Kingsword by Heather Dale - both of them.
- The Marvellous Toy by Peter Denver - his side.
---
- True Love by ThouShaltNot - Archived-Lorenzo Penthièvre
---
- Stay by Shakespeare's Sister - Archived-The Trivium
- Avalanche by Leonard Cohen - Archived-Tiberius Harkonus Augustus Marcellarius
- My Beloved Monster by Eels - his side.
- A Million Ways by OK Go - Archived-Raymond Vauxhall
- Love Me Dead by Ludo - his side.
---
- Hell Above The Water by Curve - Archived-Lupo
- You're Going Down by Sick Puppies - his side.
- Jack And Black Queen by The Homestuck Fan Musicians - both of them.
- You're Going Down by Sick Puppies - his side.
---
- Buy Now, Pay Later by The Whitlams - Archived-Tybalt
- Wrapped Around Your Finger by The Police - his side.
---
- Play With Fire by The Rolling Stones - Archived-Isaac Winter
---
---
- Still In Saigon by Charlie Daniels Band - Volmark vs. Valdyr
- Overburdened by Disturbed - the Pax of Fear and Fang
---
- Bodies by Drowning Pool - the Brood War
---
- Flyswatter by The Eels - Archived-House Justinius
Self.
- Raining Blood by Tori Amos: The sky is turning red; return to power draws near
- Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd: I caught a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of my eye; I turned to look but it was gone. I cannot put my finger on it, now. The child is grown, the dream is gone - I have become comfortably numb
- Dust In The Wind by Kansas: Dust in the wind - all they are is dust in the wind
- Come Little Children by Katethegreat19: Hush now, dear children, it must be this way; too weary of life and deceptions. Rest now, my children, for soon we’ll away into the calm and the quiet
- All The Pretty Little Horses by Grant Campbell: Way down yonder, down in the meadow lies a poor little lamb - bees and flies are plucking out its eyes. Poor little lamb, crying for its mother
- Still It Has Only Just Begun by Mortal Love: The reality presented to me by shadows appears no different than the one displayed by light. I am the difference, I am the anomaly, I am the abyss, and the void. It is the false truth, and the truth is always false
- Today I Woke To The Rain Of Blood by Combichrist: Last night my shadow went to Heaven - my body is here, my soul in Hell. Last night I killed; I can't remember who I killed, and why I loved
- Lost by Sunlounger feat. Zara: Forget the peace inside; you’ve given way to the Gods of destruction. Full of desire, you feel afraid that there’s nothing left. The ocean is dry - do you feel hollow? Nowhere to hide, and nothing to swallow
- Nights In White Satin by Declan Galbraith: Letters I've written, never meaning to send; beauty I've always missed with these eyes, before - just what the truth is, I can't say anymore...some try to tell me thoughts they cannot defend; "Just what you want to be, you will be, in the end."
Rumours
- Refers to her first and second Sibling Minors as, respectively, "the Saint" and "the Devil".
- Her savagery during the Brood War is the reason the Order of the Iron Wall adopted a red sash in their regalia.
- Some Knights of the Order still refuse to go into battle without the sash in case Batavia shows up.
- Is the impassive subject of a certain perverse fascination by the lascivious Bishop Lupo.
- Is a figure of legend among the local Aboriginal people.
- Collected a regular blood tithe from the Dragon Prince Archived-Kaida for her support of the new Court.
- Has some strange connection with Archived-Melieke.
- Has a thing about human children.
- Archived-Rasmus Armfelt is the only Valdyr who seems to genuinely be able to get under her skin. No-one's sure why.
- Has a long-running affiliation with Archived-House Pendragon that goes far beyond her relationship to Prince Tiberius Macellarius.
- She and Archived-Marquis Aurialanus had a thing; no-one's been able to work out exactly what sort of a thing it is, but it was definitely a thing.
- Hates the Pax of Fear and Fang with an unholy passion, but her honour won't let her be the one to break it.
- Has an unsettlingly close relationship with her former Field-Captain and middle brother, the ravening scourge Archived-Lothar.
- It has been whispered that Batavia is not the Consanguine, but rather the Sire of Archived-Ulrich, which might help explain why he does not begrudge her for her more hands-on role in the family.
- Seemed a lot closer to Archived-Sebastian Volmark than his own Sire.
Inspirations
- Life-In-Death from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime Of The Ancient Mariner.
- Western Australia's "Shipwreck Coast".
- Helen Vaughan from Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan.
- Grendel's Mother from Beowulf.
- Ekhidna, from Greek Mythology.
- Lilith, from Hebrew Mythology.
- Ereshkigal, from Mesopotamian Mythology.
- Shub Niggurath, from H.P. Lovecraft's C'thulu Mythos.
- The titular Mama.
- Faora-Ul, as portrayed by Antje Traue in Man Of Steel.
- History's Catherine de Medici, specifically as portrayed in Alexandre Dumas' La Reine Margot (and in the movie of the same, by Virna Lisi).
- History's Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great, specifically as portrayed by Angelina Jolie in Alexander.
- Mal, in Inception
- "John Harrison", in Star Trek: Into Darkness
- The titular ship, in Event Horizon. Look at her, Miller. Isn't she beautiful?
- History's Niccolo Macchiavelli.
- The Bene Gesserit, from Frank Herbert's Dune series.
- Every "witch in the tower" advisor ever kept and perversely loved by a monarch of men.
OOC Information
| Member Information | |
| Player: | P. Saunders |
|---|---|
| Number: | 2003100615 |
| Domain: | Canberra |