Tristine

_{January 05, 2021: Finally updated the art! Also Updated the History to the events of E4}

_{Note: All dates are As Of 1891}
 Name: Tristine (Andreva) Serral
 Nicknames: Tris, Madame Serral
 Born: January 9th, 1329
 Age: 562
 Physical Age: 27
 Height: 5’ 6’’
 Hair: Sunflower Blonde
 Eyes: Green (human), Violet (Sybal)
[Full View- Human Form (OLD) | Full View (NEW)]

 Associated NPCs: Bastian (Personal Assistant), Leopoldo (friend, former beau)
 

 Faction/Occupation: Ambrotos Minister

    Tristine has been at the post of Minister for 312 years, wholeheartedly in love with the city and eager to protect its interests and those of its master. Her predecessor, Solomon Sanbourn, was quietly removed from power after a series of investigations, but the truth came out in November of 1892 (in The Solomon Cipher). Tristine took up the mantle of Minister abruptly and in the wake of suspicion and unease, but as a former scribe/researcher in the Kardia Archive, she maintains an orderly office with a thorough series of records, notes, and followthrough checkups for each of Ambrotos’ new citizens.

 Sybal Form: The Astral Moth, The Falling Star

    Tristine’s sybal form developed around her love of exploration and her longing for freedom from her disability. It is very similar in build to her human figure, with the obvious addition of her missing leg. The second most notable difference is her hair, which is constantly free-flowing behind her with a casual disregard for the laws of physics. It gives off a fairly consistent golden glow and has only the slightest hint of a feather-soft texture to confirm that it isn’t just a gaseous cloud. It will move around solid objects it touches, but rarely displaces anything with its meager density. 

    In place of ears, Tristine’s Sybal has three feathery antennae on each side of her face. She can hear just as well, if not better, than her human counterpart, and her senses of smell and balance are multiplied manifold. She can articulate her antennae in any direction, which often happens subconsciously when she emotes. They tend to be a reliable indication of her moods or reactions, and make it quite difficult for her to maintain a “straight face” at night. Given the slightest bit of anger or anxiety, they quiver in place; even a little surprise will send them into a quick flutter; before the smile reaches her eyes, her antennae lift up in amusement, and at the first hint of disappointment or sorrow, they droop down against her shoulders.

    Sybal Tristine is quite a bit lighter than she looks (a little under 60 lbs), though she is no more fragile than she is during the day. Her bones are stronger and more shock-absorbent, allowing her to land a long fall with relatively little injury. Her hands and feet are equipped with narrow climbing claws, and the semi-opposable dewclaw on her foot  can either lock to support her heel, or release to lay her foot flat and grip surfaces better. These traits are ideal for climbing and swift movement, but leave her easily outmatched in a test of pure brawn.

    As the Falling Star, Tris is in a constant state of high energy. It's nearly impossible for her to fall asleep, and holding still for more than twenty minutes induces severe restlessness that manifests itself most commonly as an itch behind her right knee. Additionally, her Sybal's violet-colored blood runs at a high temperature, making her skin seem fever-hot at all times, and also providing compensation for the chill of rushing wind.

 Sybal Power: Telekinetic Projection

    Tristine’s telekinesis is little more than a psychic projection of her own physical strength, perhaps a smidgen stronger; she can quite literally throw a punch. That projection takes the form of a cloud of golden light, or dust, that appears in the air around her and emits gentle warmth like a ray of sun. If she tries to grab or push something stationary or something heavier than she is, she will be pushed back with an equal amount of force. Her maximum range isn't very far, maybe a 50-foot radius around her, and any force she projects is typically blunt and nebulous in shape. With practice and concentration, she’s managed to project a piercing surface that mimics her clawed fingers, but she’s never been able to produce needle-thin or cutting-edge force.

    She’s found lots of ways to have fun with her abilities. Due to the physical push-back, she’s learned to use her telekinesis to launch herself into the air and gently land from long descents. She will often encase herself in power as she hurtles through the air, particularly upon descent, which earned her the moniker of Falling Star. Her second favorite way to get around is using telekinesis concentrated around her feet to “skate” very quickly across the ground (even across water if she’s moving fast enough and has enough surface area projected under her feet—it took her several decades to perfect that trick). It’s fairly dangerous, just like roller blades, but she likes the thrill of speed. The maximum ground speed she’s managed to attain is 50mph, which very nearly got her killed. She hasn’t attempted to beat her record since, content with an average speed of 35mph.

 Docile or Feral: Docile

    At first glance, Tristine seems to become a very different person when night falls. The patient bureaucrat is replaced by an energetic and often reckless creature with a love of good sport and a flair for the dramatic. She can hardly stand to stay in one place for more than ten minutes, zipping off through the city to personally attend to business, check in with her citizens, kick off an impromptu race or simply skate a few laps along the Uferlos. There are few things she loves more than feeling wind whipping through her hair.

    Despite her exuberance, Sybal Tristine retains full control of her mental faculties, ever mindful of the duties and reputation of her office. While she avoids paperwork like the plague, she is more than happy to help any citizen that may require her services.

 Personality:  

       _{+ Empathetic, Level-headed, Friendly, Confident
        - Manipulative, Snobbish, Presumptuous, Proud
    +/- Intellectual, Curious, Perfectionist}

    Tristine is an exceedingly amiable person. She greets everyone with a smile and she’s quick to inquire if she senses something bothering someone. She deeply loves the city and wants each of her citizens to feel similarly at ease in Sybal Heim.

    Despite her friendly attitude, the simple fact that she is crippled keeps her fairly secluded during the day. Her office is almost always open for citizens to stop in with questions or concerns, but she knows that she doesn’t make a very striking impression hobbling around with her crutch and despite herself she tends to feel self-conscious. Keeping to the high walls of the Ambrotos Cathedral and adjoining Minister’s Estate is also a matter of safety, since she is far more vulnerable to Insurgent attack during the day.

    Five and a half centuries of life have left Tristine with incredible patience. She rarely loses her temper, though she can throw a scowl that would make an angry librarian flinch. The more familiar she is with someone, the more she permits herself to indulge in wry humor and snappy quips, though she always delivers them with the hint of a smile. Unfortunately when she does legitimately lose her temper, she’s prone to expressing it physically, striking with or throwing nearby objects. It’s a reflex she’s tried to curb, but she’s always been a very touchy-feely person, for good or ill. 

    To those that know her well, the recklessness and childlike exuberance that Tristine demonstrates as a Sybal are equally present in her during the day—she simply lacks the ability to act upon them. In fact, were it not for her missing leg, she would have likely gotten herself into a lot of trouble by now. Her handicap forces her to pause and give her spur-of-the-moment ideas a hard look before acting.

    Tristine has always had an eye for details and various intricate, moving parts, be they mechanical or theoretical. She’s got an obsessive-compulsive streak that gives her a nervous twitch if she walks into a messy room or scans through a hastily-assembled report. This quality fit in well with her job, and soon enough she had the Ambrotos Minister’s Office running like clockwork.

 History:  

_{(I illustrated a bit of Tristine's backstory—specifically her entrance to the city—in the above flash comic)}

    Tristine was the second daughter of five, born in 1329 to a middle-class locksmith in Narbona (modern-day Narbonne) during the city’s final years as a flourishing port. She was extremely curious as a child and had a penchant for being able to get into anything or anyplace she set her mind to. No lock, no door, no walls could keep her out—or in. Her recklessness caught up to her when she was twelve, and she suffered an accident while exploring the construction site of the Narbonne Cathedral that resulted in the loss of her right leg just above the knee.

    Not one to wallow in misfortune, Tris devoted herself to reading and studying a wide range of subjects, exploring with her mind now that her body had been handicapped. As time passed and her sisters—both older and younger—found husbands and started lives of their own, she began to feel the true weight of her wound. It seemed that in these times of economic decline and devastating plague, no one wanted to marry a cripple. She tried not to harbor bitterness or sorrow, but it was difficult to think of a future that didn’t lead to becoming an old maid.

    On the eve of her twenty-seventh birthday, on a brisk January night, Tristine felt a familiar curiosity and morbid nostalgia keeping her awake. She carefully hobbled her way through the sleeping city, stopping at the doors to the Narbonne Cathedral. By then, the city had decided to abandon the project of finishing the building, and she felt an odd kinship with the place: forever unfinished, because times were hard. She found the door unlocked, to her surprise, and pushed it open. Inside, the moonlight revealed an unexpected sight: towering trees soared up out of the stone floor tiles, obscuring the colonnade with their leaves. She entered without fear, half-convinced she was dreaming, until she came to the spot where she had fallen and shattered her leg. When she looked up from her musings, the cathedral was gone, replaced by the Traveler’s Forest, where Theo was waiting to welcome her home.

    Tristine quickly fell in love with the city, marveling at the new sights, meeting so many interesting people who actually seemed to care about her well-being rather than overlooking her, and of course becoming a creature free from infirmity at night. She immediately tested her limits, relishing her newfound freedom, and during those first few decades she became well-acquainted with the Ambrotos hospital staff. She would often hobble in at night with a broken wrist or dislocated shoulder, grinning like an idiot and boasting that she’d managed to jump through one of the little round windows on the top of the Metavoliseum.

    In time, Tristine fell into the relaxed pace of life in Sybal Heim, accepting her immortality for what it was. She earned herself a position in the Kardia Archives and devoted most of her time during the day to copying, filing, and perusing everything she could get her hands on. She was well on her way to becoming a senior archivist when she was invited to meet with Basileus and offered the position of Minister. The proposal shocked her, but she immediately accepted, eager to help make the city an even better place.

    Tristine has a lofty notion of love and romance, but she is not beyond succumbing to passions, particularly in her Sybal state. In her early years in Sybal Heim, before she was a Minister, Tristine went through several lovers. None of them progressed to a true, serious relationship, usually due to the fact that she always refused to stay with anyone until dawn. As a Sybal, she is confident and reckless, but as a human she still crippled, and she hates the idea of letting anyone see her so vulnerable—particularly someone she’s attracted to. Most of these men broke things off cleanly and cordially, but the last one attempted to trap her until the morning so they could spend the day together as well. While she isn’t completely averse to the idea of going out for a romantic picnic or brunch during the day, this trap terrified her. She managed to fight past him and escape, but it took her a very long time to let her emotional guard down after that.

    After becoming Minister, she was consumed by patriotic duty and rarely did more than flirt at night if the mood came over her. She began to lean on people like Theo and Bastian for emotional support, and their calm, level-headed influences helped her control her wilder Sybal nature even more. Many years later (about 150 years into her Ministerial career), she began courting an Ambrotos doctor named Leopoldo Amadori, a man she had met many times due to her frequent nighttime accidents and hospitalizations and had maintained a friendly relationship with. He was a very nice person, and seemed understanding about her tendency to bail before the morning reversion.

    And then one afternoon she calmly broke things off. She made sure to do so during the day so Leo knew she was fully serious, and when he asked for an explanation the only one she offered was along the lines of, “You deserve better.” He accepted it when she insisted that it was what she wanted, but still didn’t understand. The previous night had been straight out of a romantic novel: a long, thoughtful walk along the Uferlos, exquisite dinner at the Chiaro de Luna, fancy wine and a private gondola, and ultimately making love in her personal quarters at the Ambrotos Cathedral. She had even consented to let him stay with her until morning.

    That night haunts her to this day. No matter how hard she tries to think back, she can’t remember if it was “Leo” or “Theo” she said in the heat of the moment. Tristine knows better than most how fruitless it would be to try courting Theo, given both his personality and his notable absence at night, and she was content to be his friend and colleague. Even so, it was impossible not to be charmed by him, particularly because they could only interact during the day, when she knew she had full control of her mental faculties and wasn’t just being the willful creature she was as a Sybal.

    Needless to say, she has continued to guard her heart at night—as much as she can—both for the sake of her reputation and the fact that she would never be able to give another man 100% of her devotion (and her inner romantic would never settle for less). In recent years, she maintains that she is simply too busy for romance, allowing herself nothing more than the occasional flirt and devoting the rest of her energy to bettering her district.

    The events of the Solomon Cipher left Tristine a bit shaken, but she emerged wiser and more assured in the support of her close friends. The two most readily apparent changes are a nasty scar on her chin and a state of the art prosthetic limb.

    After the Sybal Gala and the following summer, Tristine found herself in a crisis of personal principle. After centuries of yearning, Theo rejected her advances, and she lost herself in fury and denial. By the time she came to her senses, the damage was done, and she nearly lost two dear friends. One friendship, with Santiago deCampos, remained irreparably damaged, but she managed to piece back a platonic bond with Theo. The depth of her misjudgment shook her to the core, and she spent the following winter in a state of Low Light.

    The rise of the Civil Affairs Commission and the ensuing Riots of 1894 tested her confidence as a leader, but the support of good friends like Darshil, Aldís and Marron have kept her head up and determination strong. Romance was the last thing on her mind, for once in a long while, so when Darshil Sethi made a surprise declaration of his feelings, she was caught entirely off-guard. After a night of soul-searching, and a renewed determination to learn how to love right, she tracked him down the very next day accepted his unspoken invitation. Simple steps.

«New» 
    A new trial beset her in June of 1894. A failed assassination attempt sent Tristine spiraling into fear and paranoia, nearly dragging her over the point of no return. With the help of friends (and enemies), she emerged from a haze of hostility with redoubled resolve to find peace.

    The coordinated strike on the Ministry Archives in November was another devastating blow to her confidence. As a former Archivist, her grief at the loss of so many Citizen records—including her own—cannot be overstated. As tensions continued to mount, and lines began forming in the sand, she continues to desperately sue for peace.

    All of that was challenged at the gates of Kardia manor on November 25th, 1895. Faced with a case she couldn't solve and a crisis she was powerless to stop, the only path left to her was to take action and defend the man she loves. In the aftermath, she quietly fears that the lessons learned from the conflict were the wrong ones—on all sides.

 Additional Info:

-Relationship Chart

-Asset Sheet 1

-Expression Sheet

-Sybal Hairstyles

-Character Exploration Meme

-Voice Reference: Georgia Train (though if you get her really startled as a Sybal... more like this ;D)

-[N/A: Her signature crutch was destroyed in Solomon Cipher] Tristine’s crutch is a sturdy tool, custom-made and so much a part of who she is that it acts as a focus for her telekinesis at night. When holding the crutch/staff, her power range expands to 200 feet and twice her strength. She can even focus her power into a concentrated, golfball-sized projectile that fires from the end of the crutch, counterbalanced on the padded side by a simultaneous discharge of energy. The projectile leaves a nasty welt and could knock the wind out of you at close range, but it is far from deadly. She affectionately calls this maneuver “the Crifle.”

-[N/A]Understandably, Tristine’s crutch is never far from her reach. In addition to its more obvious function, it has a number of hidden compartments that she uses to store things like money, keys, folded notes and other valuables. She refuses to let anyone touch or examine it for long, and if someone—even a close friend—tried to take it from her, she has a specialized arsenal of underhanded fighting maneuvers that she will employ liberally to get it back and use it to reduce the aggressor into a pile of hurt.

-At night, Tris loves getting up some friendly competition, usually in the form of a race. She’s been in the city long enough to have a detailed map in her head and an uncanny sense of how to get from point A to point B in the quickest way possible.

-Tris is very good at Chess. You have been warned. 

-Tristine is a lover of literature and poetry, given that reading is one of the most accessible activities when she is desk-bound during the day. Before becoming Minister, Tristine was employed as a Scholar and Scribe in the Kardia Archives. One of her most treasured possessions is a small copy of William Wordsworth’s Miscellaneous Sonnets.

-In addition to Literature, Tris adores music and dance, and while she cannot partake in the latter during the day, she's developed skills on a number of different instruments. Her favorite one to play during the day is the Celtic harp, and she will often sit on the upper balconies of the Ambrotos Cathedral and play to de-stress. At night, she usually gravitates towards more active endeavors, and greatly enjoys a variety of dance styles, from ballroom to bhangra.

-Tristine was raised as a Roman Catholic, and she maintains a fairly strong faith in God—though she is understandably open to incorporating more pagan notions after living in Sybal Heim for so long. She regards Basileus almost like a Saint, some kind of transcended individual or angel with the power to reveal the truth of human hearts. She often refers to him as “Sainte/San Basileus,” and dedicated the Ambrotos Cathedral to him 

-While Tris is saddened if someone turns their back on God, she gets downright confrontational if someone slanders Basileus in her presence. If you disrespect the Organizer inside the Ambrotos Cathedral, expect to be curtly asked to leave the premises.

-Due to her time as both Archivist and Minister, Tristine is familiar with nearly all European languages, and can speak a great many of them conversationally—if not fluently. She favors the sound of French due to its wider use and similarity to her once-native Occitan dialect. When speaking Sybalian, her accent is usually difficult to pinpoint, but if she gets flustered enough she will lapse into a bit of a stronger Mediterranean lilt.

-The Minister’s Estates of Tristine’s predecessors resembled an open, Roman-style villa. When Tris accepted the mantle of Minister, she dedicated her free time in that first half-century to the creation of the Ambrotos Cathedral. It was not the first of its kind, but Tristine had a great love of decorative architecture and wanted a cathedral of grand scale in Basileus’ honor.  She received permission to build it on the Minister’s grounds, completely re-envisioning the space with the aid of several architects and designers she had met during her years working in the archives. It took them a remarkably short amount of time, thanks to several handy Sybal powers and the combined patience and expertise of all involved, and the Cathédrale Saint-Basileus-Immortel de Ambrotos opened its doors officially in 1619 after 34 years of construction.

-Tristine spends most of her time in her office in the upper story of the villa, but her personal apartments are located on the third floor of the cathedral itself, since she feels a personal and historical connection to the building. Her life had been changed dramatically twice in such a cathedral, and she intends to look after this one.

-Being the daughter of a locksmith left its mark on Tristine during her impressionable, early years. She maintains formidable lockpicking prowess, and during her first few centuries in Sybal Heim that prowess gave rise to the rumor that she had a second ability: the power to move through walls. Tristine has never confirmed or denied the ability, and no one has ever caught her in the act, but the fact remains that few things can keep her out when she sets her mind on getting in, or vice versa.

_{Art and Character © H. Lazo (Art-Zealot)
Sybal-Heim © Anna Earley}