red towers in silver hours. {ngcs}

fleetingfanfan

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ « ⧱ » ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ᴛʜᴇ 𝐊𝐄𝐘 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐑 ᴏꜰ 𝐀𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐍

❝ 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓹𝓼 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓭𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸 𝓯𝓪𝓵𝓵. 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝔀𝓸𝓷’𝓽 𝓫𝓮 𝓬𝓵𝓲𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓭. 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓬𝓪𝓷’𝓽 𝓫𝓮 𝓬𝓵𝓲𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓽 𝓪𝓵𝓵. ❞

⸠ 𝙱 𝙰 𝙲 𝙺 𝙶 𝚁 𝙾 𝚄 𝙽 𝙳 ⸡

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄 » Tiaa Maria-Amunet Pietraperzia
𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 » "Seti", "Little Seti"
𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒 » "The Key Keeper"/"Custodian August", & Princess of France (potential, following marriage to Prince Jean-Fleury)
𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 » Patrilineally, outside of her grandparents' home in Sicily (which was later seized anyway), Seti's father (formerly a "prince regent" of the Prussian Empire until his execution) managed to leave her nothing more than a sullied reputation and a feeble connection with the remnants of the Pietraperzias. Matrilineally, Seti was left with a small fortune, attained via the ancestral trade of horses (i.e. breeding and raising), as well as mining gold. Though born title-less, thanks to her mother's family, Seti has always been able to live well while mingling with important British and Maghreb-Egyptian imperial figures. Without the Fatehis' wealth and influence, she certainly wouldn't have been able to become a Mage let alone meet the prince.

𝐀𝐆𝐄 » Twenty-Seven
𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑 » N/A [Currently Victoria Academy Alumna and Faculty]
𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 » 11 July
𝐙𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐂 » Cancer

𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 » Maghreb-Egyptian Empire | British Empire | ~~Sicilian Royalty~~ | French Royalty | Victoria Academy | The Equestrian Society
𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 » Victoria Academy's Custodian August (position bestowed by the Emperor) [i.e. "The Keeper of His Imperial Highness' Gate"]

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 + 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐒 » She/Her
𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 » Bisexual

𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄 » Aswan, Egypt [Maghreb-Egyptian Empire]
𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 » Lécuyer Residence, Victoria Academy [France]
𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 » Villa Fatehi [Aswan, Egypt]

𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐋 » Sherouk Farid

⸠ 𝚃 𝙴 𝙼 𝙿 𝙴 𝚁 𝙼 𝙴 𝙽 𝚃 ⸡

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐄𝐒 » organised, competitive and goal-oriented, highly protective, creative, hard-working/dedicated, actually quite tender and soft-hearted, dignified (tries to be), loyal (well. can't let go.)
𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐒 » holds grudges (bull-headed), often secretive, possessive, prideful, moody/emotional, impatient (irritated with delay especially), highly focused on work/the task at hand (which strains at least one of her relationships), the type to sleep at work for a few days and not return home, prone to unilateral decision-making (not the best at being a ~teammate), a bit scatter-brained of late

𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂 » Determined

𝐆𝐎𝐀𝐋𝐒 » Seti wants to serve her time as The Key Keeper well- and she wouldn't mind being able to come out of it unscathed. Beyond her duties, though, Seti would like to marry Jean-Fleury one day and become his Princess. She would like to live peaceably, and perhaps reunite with her Grandfather in Aswan since so much time has passed since their parting- and surely the enmity between them has passed as well. More than anything, her life's goal is to simply be where and when she is needed. All else comes second.
𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 » More and more, it appears to be completely possible that someone, or a bunch of someones, could take her life in order to get their hands on a relic or even the Headmistress. Seti's duties are critical, and also very dangerous. She fears losing ground to someone who means the world harm- if anything bad happens, won't it be because she wasn't able to stop infiltration or escape through the Portal? Death due to her ineptitude as the Key Keeper would be her worst nightmare. More personally, she fears never being able to make amends with her Grandfather. She regrets how they parted, but all these years, has been too proud to apologise or return to ask for forgiveness. As well, Seti fears letting Jean-Fleury down. He's already waited for her for so long- and he will have to keep waiting until her stint as custodian is over. She just prays that, in the end, she'll be able to stay by his side as his wife and Mage companion- that he won't eventually tire of waiting and abandon their plans for the future.

𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐒 » In the two years that Seti was part of the Ancient Studies Department of the academy, just before taking the position of Key Keeper, there was some talk of her close relationship with one of the professors she worked under- Professor Dâmaso Borges (Ancient Art). At the time, she was able to ignore the talk. After becoming the Key Keeper, however, the rumour persists and has taken on grave implications. Not only is Seti alleged to be his lover, she is also supposedly helping him to visit London as he pleases (earning Borges the nickname "The Shadow Keeper"), which constitutes treason. This, too- according to the mill- is the reason she has put off her wedding for so long. While Seti attempts to feign ignorance of the rumours, her attendants have become dedicated to keeping her well abreast of its many off-shoots and spread. They say, too, that Professor Borges may not be as embarrassed by the talk as Seti is . . .
𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐒 » Seti would never act upon her remorse, ever- but lately, she's been very secretly regretting her decision to become Key Keeper. The position is a heavy one, and so often she doubts her ability to do the right thing- to withstand, to fight. It's dangerous- she could lose her life. It's delayed her future with Jean-Fleury, who often appears before her looking heartbroken. "We could've been married three times by now." It's her own fault. This regret, she has never mentioned to anyone else- and never will. Anyway, what's the sense in whining about what's already done?

⸠ 𝙱 𝙸 𝙾 𝙶 𝚁 𝙰 𝙿 𝙷 𝚈 ⸡

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[ O R I G I N S ] »

Seti was born to Marco Pietraperzia, the Prince Regent of Sicily, and Iah Fatehi, a Maghreb-Egyptian socialite.
Her parents separated just after she was born, and when she was two years old, her father and his entire family were wiped out by the Prussian Imperial family for alleged "acts of treason". Everything belonging to the name Pietraperzia was seized by the Prussian Empire, and overnight, it seemed that all evidence that the family had ever existed on earth had been decimated.
Seti was too young to recall anything about this, but she knows her mother struggled with the sudden death of her once-great love- which, according to Seti's grandfather, exacerbated her mother's already critical illness.
Iah Fatehi passed away a year later, leaving Seti in the care of her only remaining relative- her grandfather, Asim "Seti" Fatehi.
{ Aside: Asim Fatehi was nicknamed "Seti" during his days of breaking and racing horses in the Western Desert as a younger man. He was highly regarded by his fellows, and in those days, enjoyed living a completely unfettered life. The tale goes that it was clear when he was arriving anywhere because, with many horses in tow, it sounded like an oncoming thunderstorm. (Seti, lit. meaning "of Set". As the deity, Set, was the god of deserts, storms, disorder, and violence in the ancient Egyptian religion.) }
Seti grew up in the Aswan family estate with her Grandfather Fatehi, and never wanted for anything. She earned the nickname "Little Seti" for sharing her grandfather's immovable and stubborn temperment, as well as their general "peas-in-a-pod" mannerisms and mentalities. They enjoy the same kinds of food, literature and music. And, as a result, there's hardly any room for another person in the old man's heart- since the beginning, all of it has been taken up by Little Seti.
When she grew old enough to enter the Mage Academy in France, her grandfather was obstinately against her attendance. For one thing, he just didn't want her to leave, and for another, he couldn't understand her motivation at all. Wasn't that place . . . for political kooks? Wouldn't it lead down a dangerous path- ? A path not dissimilar from her decased father's? The rumours circulating about Victoria Academy, especially outside of the British Empire were, to say the least, unsavoury. Discpicable, even. Students died there- never to be seen again. And it was all very hush-hush, wasn't it? Too strange, too unpredictable.
However, Seti was drawn to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to branch out on her own. To her it was simple: she dared not stay put. And besides, Grandfather Fatehi, in his old age, was becoming a terrible worrywart. There wouldn't be a grand academy like Victoria if there was any sort of danger as he imagined.
Seti and her grandfather argued over her attendance for weeks, yet they were never able to see eye-to-eye (gargantuanly stubborn as they both were). Eventually, he accused her of being "ungrateful" to him for his years of care and told her that if she wanted to leave, he wasn't going to stop her. And so, on that sour note, when the time came, Seti did leave. Taking the terrible bitterness in her heart along with her.

[ E D U C A T I O N ] »

In fact, Seti's years as a student of Victoria Academy seemed to pass quickly. One day she was blithely settling into her little dorm and meeting all sorts of new people- and the next she was graduating top of her class just before undergoing the Mage-making ritual- nauseous and trembling the whole time.
Seti knows well that she would've never survived without moral support from friends- in paricular, from her first-ever boyfriend (and the #3 rank in the bi-annual "Heartthrobs of Victoria Academy" pamphlet), Jean-Fleury of France. At first she was quite unaware that he was a prince. His lure was in his scamp-like attitude- his silly, boyish haughtiness and pretty grin. Seti was charmed from the off even if she pretended not to be.
In her five grueling years as a student, Seti was able to thoroughly study and eventually unlock a grand total of two relics. Her first relic was a tiny gold insignia ring that one of her professors suggested she work with due to its Egyptian (New Kingdom era) origin. After realizing its power was in unleashing a catlike shadow to act as a covert forward scout and be the wielder's extra pair of eyes and ears, she decided it should be called "Zala Alqati", or "Shadowcat".
The second relic came much later, in her fourth year. The relic was already named "Solis Verbera", though it was not in any condition to be used- at least, not lightly. Solis Verbera is a belt made of yellow silk and gilded metal plates inlaid with citrine pieces- but when it first came to Seti, it was in two pieces having been broken at some point in time. Seti was able to hold the belt links together in two places with sturdy metal wiring (which doesn't tamper with the original materials and therefore is a far less perilous solution than, say, melding the belt back together), making it whole again. In spite of delicate caution, it still cost her a fair bit of finger flesh to handle such an unforgiving item- to say nothing of the crushing, nightmare-inducing headaches and loss of consciousness. Eventually, Solis Verbera was able to trust Seti's sincerity, and in her hands, she discovered its power. When worn about the waist, the belt will send out an luminous ring of intense white light which knocks back any foe within four meters of the wearer. The pulse emitted by the belt is not deadly though it passes through enemies, but it can cause terribly painful burns where contact is made.
With the two relics under her belt and high marks to boot (in subjects such as Precious Metalwork, Cultures of Ancient Europe and Northern Africa, Alchemical Theory, Sumerian Literature, Occult and Mysticism in the Arts, and so on), Seti was able to successfully graduate and become a Mage. Moreover, her academic merits granted her an audience with the British Emperor and Empress. It was over this brief meeting that the opportunity to become the Key Keeper of the Victoria-London Portal arose. Being offered such a high position by the Emperor himself, there was no room for Seti to even momentarily consider turning it down. Naturally, she agreed to become "Custodian August" once her predecessor's time was up.
Seti was offered a contingent position in the Ancient Studies department of Victoria Academy in order to give her faculty experience before taking over the position of "Key Keeper". She was purely a "Professor" in name, and her work was more or less, in menial tasks for the heads of the department, i.e. reviewing test material for typos and collecting coursework from students.
She didn't mind- after all, she wasn't there to teach anyone; her ultimate purpose was to eventually protect the Academy and its students.

[ P R E S E N T L Y ] »

Seti quickly realised the bloom was off the rose, however, once she underwent the implantation of the Keeper's Key relic. What she imagined to be a prestigious position is actually a bit muck-covered- to say nothing of the fact that it's swallowing much of her life.
She's a workaholic, certainly, but these days she finds it difficult to balance anything with her custodian duties. If it's not groups of students causing chaos around the Portal, it's officials seeking special travelling privileges with bribes and/or threats. So often she's made to organize errand-runs to London for the Headmistress or other faculty. It's strange work dealing with both the life-threatening as well as the interminably tedious.
The wedding Seti promised Jean-Fleury has been at a standstill for some four years now solely due to her work. (Through he often takes the initiative to visit Victoria and beg her to focus on other things- namely, him.)
It's not simple, her duties. Now that she's actually the Key Keeper, she's come to realise the Academy is always facing some sort of threat- either from the London side or from within. And, while there are guards everywhere, somehow the largest task falls to her and she is all that stands between the safety of all, and, well, a relic-induced apocalypse.
Call her a conspiracy theorist, but Seti even believes she's being closely monitored at all times by some unseen villain or villains.
It's hard for her to imagine leaving her post before her time as Custodian August is up. Seti does feel a supreme sense of duty to Victoria Academy, the Headmistress and its students (who will one day possess the ability to either destroy or protect earth).
This stint of time is her small contribution. Even if it isn't a perfect thing, it remains her duty.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
« ⧱ »