Melania Basium
Name: Melania Basium (Roughly, 'Dark Kiss')Titles: The Twilight General of the Lux; The Army of Dusk; The Shadowcharmer
Gender: Female
Age: 23
Race: Branded (Half-Raven Laguz)
Sexual Preference: Single, Open-Minded, Not Actively Seeking
Beorc Information
Class: Pupil -> Shaman -> Summoner
Weapon(s): Staves, Dark Magic, Summoned Beings
Dark Magic Known: Flux, Mist Sword, Fenrir
Staff Arts Known: Mend, Unlock, Sleep, Teleport, Charm
Unique Abilities: Summoning
Summoning Techniques: Dusk Claw (Mercenary), Dusk Spine (Soldier), Dusk Hammer (Fighter), Dimming Splinter (Archer)
Talents: Multilingual, Logistics, Gathering Intelligence
Armor Appearance: Melania distinguishes herself from her peers with her choice of clothing, standing out only by how faded she appears compared to the rest of the attention-grabbing generals. The only thing particularly overt about her is the size of her staff, which she's been known to leave behind at times for a greater means of subtly.
Appearance
Often underestimated among the more noble and powerful-looking Lux Generals, and even some of her own subordinates, Melania is lithe and slender,with toothpick-fragile, hollow-boned limbs and a slimming black and grey choice of dress. Her companions disapprove of her particular fashion sensibilities, but she cares little for their opinions. Her skin is a pale hue, and her grey eyes and off-white hair have been called drab by some who see shining glory as the greatest example of Lux pride. Beneath whatever clothing she might be wearing, a light layer of soft, downy black feathers exists, brushed along her shoulder blades and feathered lightly down her front and upper legs. Because of her incredibly slight frame, and her hollow bones, Melania scarcely weighs 75 pounds.
Personality
Intelligent and crafty, Melania is the driving force behind many of the Lux's less public schemes. She is a woman of forethought and preparation, believing that success comes with understanding the climate before one does something too recklessly. Even while her compatriots clamor against the Luna Opus and their new Chosen Child, Melania can see that rash action, and most certainly the child's death, would only throw Caeli into civil war. This clear-minded stance is somewhat unexpected among the Generals, whom are all older than her, and it can occasionally lead to her having something of a superior attitude with those who are more reckless and prone to hasty action.
She is fiercely loyal, however, to the Caelian Crown, and when given orders, she sees to them at the best of her ability, even if she has disagreements. Her tendency to offer advice against such orders she feels as poor have earned her somewhat of a reputation as one who complains about her orders, though her insights are usually valid and rational, and occasionally, even heeded.
As a woman of good humor, Melania doesn't concern herself with the opinions of others, maintaining her cool composure most of the time. She is willing to cross many boundaries some would object to in service to her lordship. But there are times when the kingdom might best be served by understanding of its enemies.
Despite all this, she isn't an inherently bad person, and in fact, she is perhaps the closest of the Generals of Lux to understanding the Ways of the Shadow.
Backstory
Melania Basium was born in the Am-dro capital. Her father, Tutela, worked for the Royal family of the Bird Laguz. He spoke directly into the ear of whomever was sitting on the Peacock throne, the throne of whatever bird laguz was ruling the nation at the time. For a short time he worked with the king who had ruled during the civil war. But when that king died Melania's father spent the rest of his life working for the old king's nephew and predecessor.Her father had an unusual position in the court of the Peacock Throne. He was the Raven in charge of recovering the Fire Emblem. But there were no leads, no clues and no hope. Finding a needle in a haystack would have been easy. It would just mean going through the pile one straw at a time. But this was more like looking for one particular grain of sand at the bottom of the ocean. Tutela took his daughter everywhere. And that's not being general, Tutela scoured the continent looking for the Fire Emblem. For the most part it was false clues, red herrings, and bad tips. Occasionally there would be a con man trying to pass off a fake as the real thing, and there were and endless number of thieves who claimed it had been their handy work. But it all amounted to nothing.
Tutela had one contact in particular that lived in Caeli's capital of Fortis. They apparently had similar goals, but the man from Fortis had long since given up. Together they had ruled out many possibilities, but were still left with millions more. Melania have inherited her father's interest in the emblem but saw how it had changed and aged the two men. As a result she treated the search as more of a passing interest. She had traveled the world with her father and had gotten to see the underworld of that place. She knew how to get to those back rooms and she could talk those doors and people open she could get the information she wanted without so much as a threat. She had her finger on the pulse of the underworld, and she knew it. Tutela's friend with the similar obsession was not unlike Tutela or his daughter Melania. He was also well conected, but when he retired from the search he took a job to utilize those contacts. He had be come a General of the Lux. He was the Zenith General Pesoga, in charge of Education, Entertainment, and Justice in Fortis. He offered her a position not unlike his own, she would be a General too. She would be Twilight General Melania.