Astarte
Sobriquet: The Autumn Queen, Your Highness
Appearance: Of old she was known as Astarte the Beautiful, and named in her youth Autumn Queen and the Maid of Petals. The golden rays of the sun played down her hair like a waterfall... The bards of the sidhe composed twenty and seven songs honoring her beauty; twenty and seven hands she refused in union...
Astarte's beauty is typical fae-ethereal with an air of other-worldliness. A rare beauty by even sidhe standards, she has sculpted features, with tapered eyes and ears, even in her mortal seeming. Her auburn hair glows like late-afternoon sunlight, and her clear eyes are a pale glassy green. Her fae seeming has a beautiful and terrible majesty to it. Her eyes and robes ripple with a lambent green flame of balefire, punctuated by sparks of gold. When angered, her eyes flash black with the Void.
Behavior: Thou art Astarte, mistress of gates and keeper of the void. Thou ridest the Apophis Worm, and entropy is strong within thee, but thou are pure, holy one. For thine is not the way of power, or desire, or corruption. All these things are but tools, for thou art the Winter that precedes from Autumn. Let those who wish to see another Spring proceed only through thee.
History: Although no one knows Astarte's true age, her history with the pageant dates back to it bloody encounter with the knights of Emperor Charlemagne during the late eighth century. During this period, the pageant's infamy was widespread, and the Church ordered its destruction. Holy knights, led by Sir Roland and aided by holy magics, descended upon the pageant. Astarte was a princess of the Fair Folk in those lands and knowledgeable of the doings in the emperor's court. The emperor was no friend to the fae, and so Astarte rescued the pageant by leading it through a secret trod. As a reward the pageant made her its guide through the many myriad of other-worlds it traveled, luring her with promises of knowledge and adventure. The young princess did not realize the pageant's true nature until it was far too late.
Over the last two centuries, Astarte has served the pageant as a incomparable navigator through the numerous other-realms as it has journeyed the known world and beyond. However, Astarte has never been satisfied with just being the gatekeeper of the pageant, for she knows that true power lies within a close-knit trio of pageanteers. She has spent the last century uncovering the identities of this trio and gaining the necessary backing of two of them in order to ascend to her rightful place of authority. To accomplish this, she needs three specific treasures, of which she currently has one, the Dragon Glass. Beyond the dragon-glass, she seeks the Spriggan's Jar, and the Shardstone Ring. When she has all three treasures, she will have the necessary power to defeat her chose target among the all-powerful trio; she knows that the other two members know of her ambitions, but will do nothing to aid or interfere in her quest.
Relationship with Rambert: Since Astarte's first meeting with the young and amorous wizard almost a century ago, her bemused affection for Rambert has only grown. In spite of her own feelings, however, at the moment Rambert is only one of many tools she needs to reach her goal. However, Astarte can see a time when Rambert might grow into his own power and join her in the First Circle. While she can and will provide aid to Rambert, she knows that this must be done carefully for fear of alerting to her target of succession. And no matter what happens to Rambert, Astarte will rise to to her destiny appointed position as one of the infernal trio.
Relationship with Aegon: Other than a few conversations, none yet.
Recent Events: Due to machinations beyond Astarte's keen, Rambert has come to her in need of transport to an other-world sufficiently distant from Earth to shield him from the blood-borne curses of the middle-eastern vampires he has angered. While it accelerates her plans, Astarte is only too happy to comply with Rambert's request for two reasons, one it binds him that much closer to the pageant and two, because the realm to which she has sent him holds the Spriggan's Jar. Arianrhod serves as Astarte's handmaiden in all things and she leads the mortal magus to recover the jar from its current owner.
