Rebekah Alaina Sylvaine Eldridge▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
Nickname ● Rebekah by those who don't know her very well, Laina by those who do
Age ● 44
Gender ● Female
Height ● 5'7"
Race/species ● Human
Romantic preferences ● Does it even matter?
Role ● Queen of Estherel
Kingdom ● Muriel
Allegiance ● Estherel
Occupation
● Queen of Estherel: Rebekah spends much of her time acting as the perfect queen. She is in charge of social events, acting as a beautiful figure to stand beside her husband, and otherwise attending to their people as needed. The people are loyal to her because of her genorosity and kindness and she does what she can to return their devotion.
Hobbies
● Needlework: Having been the one who taught her daughter, Rebekah is very skilled at embroidery and sewing. She spends much of her free time with a needle in her hand and many of her favorite pieces of clothing are covered with embroidery of her own design. The work brings her peace of mind and allows her time to be by herself without any expectations waiting on her. She enjoys sewing with her daughter, grateful to have something to share with her.
● Music: Rebekah was taught how to play several instruments, including but not limited to: the lute, the viol, and the harpsichord, and learned how to sing and dance before the Royal Muriel Court at a very early age. She took to performance well and carried her love of music into her marriage. Her children did not take to it as well as she did, but she does still occasionally sing for her husband's court when he orders her.
● Horseback Riding: She was very proficient in this as a young woman and greatly enjoyed it until she was broken down and rebuilt as a perfect queen. She still goes out when she can, but her entourage makes it difficult for her to ride with abandon and she has taken to doing so less and less. However, she does still try to go out and ride once a week.
Some things never change.
The Personal Things
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Personality ● Rebekah is a queen, plain and simple. She is kind to her people, loving towards her children, and loyal to her husband. Her elegance and loyalty are viewed as the ideal that the lesser nobility strives for and her beauty has remained as great as it was in her youth. Her image is clean and perfect and even her family sees her as a perfect portrayal of a regal queen. However, her true unhappiness remains hidden from the rest of the world, even her family. Rebekah feels trapped in a loveless marriage, despite her husband's doting attempts, and believes that she's never accomplished anything for herself other than giving birth to children and acting a part that she never wanted. Entioch knows that she's unhappy, but they don't speak of it and he does try to fix things between them. However, Rebekah believes that it's far too late for them by now and she just has to smile and bear it until she finally dies.
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Strengths
● Strength From Within: Despite everything that's happened to her, Rebekah has always remained capable of holding her head up high. She never allows herself to break and is more than able to handle herself in an argument. There have been several noblewomen who have tried to beat her, but Rebekah always remained calm under pressure and did not falter.
● A Compassionate Heart is a Wealthy One: If there's one thing that she's proud of teaching to her daughter, it's compassion. Rebekah is never blind to the suffering of her people and resolves to fix it when she can. In fact, it's one of the only moments where her regal facade fades away and her passion to help others makes her come back to life.
● Bullseye: She's out of practice, yes, but her arms have never forgotten how to hold a bow or how to shoot. On the rare occasion that she accompanies her sons and her husband on a hunt, she never returns home without a kill. This is nothing compared to her skill as a teen, but it does make one wonder how she would compare if she returned to the sport more actively.
Weaknesses
● Some Wounds Never Heal: Literally. The graze on her side never really healed right and there's a rather ugly scar that causes her pain when her skin is dry and tight or after intense exercise. It's not fun.
● Time is a Mother's Enemy: Rebekah dedicates a lot of her energy towards her children. Without them, she has only her husband whose feelings for her are less than requited. Because of this, she is very dismissive of any person they try to present to her and has even turned some suitors away because she didn't believe they were good enough for her sons or her daughter. She is willing to give up anything and everything for her children, even her own life.
● You Wouldn't Listen Anyway: Time has educated Rebekah. Other than to resolve problems for the people, she does not confront or otherwise oppose her husband, publically or privately. Much of her early attempts to do so fell on deaf ears so she has learned to keep her personal convictions to herself.
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Biography
● Born and raised as a lesser princess of the kingdom of Muriel, Rebekah's father had insisted on a traditional upbringing. She was instructed in embroidery, child-rearing, ceremony, singing, dancing, and even had to learn how to play a few instruments. Her mother and brothers, however, fought for her and her sisters to be permitted to learn what the princes were taught: horseback, archery, combat, languages, history, diplomacy, the like. She was skilled in archery and horseback, just like her daughter, and even rode into battle with her brothers once, albeit in secret. Unfortunately, a well-aimed arrow grazed her side and she was whisked away to safety by her youngest brother. Her father was furious and commanded that she return home to be punished, regardless of whether or not she was strong enough to travel. Upon her return home, Rebekah awaited her punishment and healed. The victory came to the kingdom and her father returned home to hold a great ball. It was there that the Crown Prince Entioch of Estherel met them. Six years older and well on his way to becoming king, he was taken with the young princess and proposed an arrangement to her father. He agreed and soon after, the two were married. She was sixteen years old and the last of her sisters to get married.
Their marriage was wonderful at first. She was happy to be with someone who wanted her and saw her as more than just another princess to be married off. They quickly conceived their first child, a boy, and heir to the throne. She wanted to be given time to bond with the child and raise him herself. However, the boy was taken from her arms and handed off to a wetnurse to care for. She tried to protest, but the Queen Mother stifled her and instructed her in the ways of an Estherelian queen. She was to be a beautiful image and little else. Her horseback riding days were over, as was her combat training. She was to accompany her husband and obey him at every move, even when she disagreed. Her loyalty was to Estherel and her King. It would take time to retrain her, said her mother-in-law, and retrain her they did. Her husband, busy with ruling and a never-ending feud with Ishgar, did not see this, causing her love to fade into resentment. She fought it for as long as she could, but the difficult birth of her only daughter and final child broke her. After a long period of healing, she arose from the ashes of her former self and emerged the perfect queen. She doted on her children and performed her duties as a queen, but her happiness never returned.
