Dorchadas/TheGameDreamsoftheFirstAgeDancingRubyPhoenix
Dancing Ruby Phoenix, Chosen of the Sun =
Dancing Ruby Phoenix was born into a life of luxury. She was the daughter of Lugh of the Long Hand, hero of the Primordial War, and a portion of his powerful Essence passed down into her blood. While other children were playing with toys, Ruby was learning how to manipulate the power that her father had given her, and when he finally died, his Essence Shard passed to her and his treasured Golden Child became one of the Chosen.
Ruby was born in Rathess, and most of her childhood was spent there. She had few humans to interact with, but she was fluent in the High Holy Speech of the Dragon Kings before she picked up her first sword, and her first task from the Deliberative was to be the envoy from Meru to Rathess. They knew that the Dragon Kings would be most comfortable with a warrior, and that one who knew their rituals intimately and who could speak their language would only improve relations between the Deliberative and their allies. It was a task she gladly took up, and one that would occupy her for most of the rest of her life. Though she often traveled to visit her Circlemates or to fight in the wars against the Fair Folk, she always came back to Rathess in the end.
She was the pillar around which her Circle turned. She was born at the tail end of the old era, when the last heroes of the Primordial War were dying and passing their Essence Shards on to other candidates, and as such, some of her Circlemates passed through multiple incarnations--but for them, Dancing Ruby Phoenix was always there, with her smile and her red eyes and her great sword, Answerer, that she had forged herself. Even the Twilights commented on the skill with which it had been made--a fact that Ruby was extremely proud of.
She married the Waning Moon Lunar Sun's Setting within a few centuries of her Exaltation, and the two of them remained mated until their deaths. While Ruby did return Alaethis' love for her, she realized that she had already made her choice, and her sense of duty prevented her from doing anything about it. Sun's Setting never confirmed her feelings, though he did have his suspicions.
The Great Curse
Dancing Ruby Phoenix became increasingly inflexible as the First Age drew towards the Usurpation. She had always been a brave woman with a highly developed sense of honor, and the Curse heightened both of these characteristics to extreme levels. She came to view the normal moral compromises people make to function as failings worthy of contempt, and--eventually--of death. She moved out of Rathess and took up lands in the Northern part of Creation, since she believed that the Dragon Kings did not need any of the correction that she could provide. She ruled her lands like a military camp, suffering no excuse for a decrease in efficiency and executing people for failure to live up to her strict moral standards.
She participated in the wars that some of the Solars waged against each other at this time, but mostly in a defensive capability. Ruby only attacked when she perceived that another Exalt was massing for a strike against her. It was around this time that Sun's Setting began spending more and more time with the Lunar mates of her Circle members and less time with her--she was suspicious, but she knew that he had sworn brother oaths with them and did not begrudge him his time. Only later, when he abandoned her completely, did she grow angry, and by then, it was too late.
Death
Ruby was at Meru on New Year's Day, where she was killed by Hayako, the Chosen of Endings who had been her friend and a companion to her Circle for most of her life. She would have never considered absenting herself from the ceremony. Alaethis had warned her not to attend--Hayako had told him what was going to happen--but her honor would not allow her to shirk her duty even in the face of his stern warning. Her shard was placed in the Jade Prison and forgotten.
Theme Song
Apoptygma Berzerk - Unicorn
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