Eleanor Holland

Eleanor Holland

OOC
Member name: Bee
How you found us: Made the site
Other characters: Adrian Lawley [HADES], Hazel Rhodes [IRIS], Artemis.
Roleplay experience: Seven or eight years.
Activity level: Practically on every day, might be a little less come late September.
Code word: You know I know it. ;D

Basics
Full name: (Lady) Eleanor Elizabeth Holland
Gender: Female
Age: Physically 19, though technically 581-ish
Divine Parent: Athena
Powers: Enhanced intelligence, combat and strategic skills.
Playby: Freya Mavor

Personality
General personality:
Loyal
Having worked as lady-in-waiting to a queen, to call Eleanor loyal is a simple understatement. The daughter of Athena would always bend over backwards to help a friend, especially a close one. Though she won’t be loyal to just anyone, except in the case of the first few months of working in the service of the queen, Eleanor needs to know she can trust someone and in all honesty, her trust is difficult to come by. This is mostly due to having grown up in medieval court, which is filled with untrustworthy nobles who would manipulate people where they could and would only ever do what benefited them. Thus she needs to know she can trust someone before she is truly loyal to them and ti certainly helps if she feels the person she is talking to is genuine about their words.

Gentle
Though possessing increased combat skills, Eleanor hasn’t yet explored that part of her and prior to her arrival at camp, she really wouldn’t hurt a fly unless ordered to by her queen. Eleanor is a gentle soul and kind-hearted, she wouldn’t purposely go out to hurt someone unless they hurt someone she loved, either as a friend or romantically. Though if this is the case, rather than hurting them directly Eleanor would usually manipulate things in her favor to get her point across. This can be through knowledge or talking to other people. Eleanor is excellent at strategies and so this usually gives her an advantage.

Curious
Being new to the modern world, it’s easy to say that Eleanor is curious about new things and thus she is easily interested in modern ideas and technologies. It is still unusual to her that women nowadays are doing more, including fighting in battles. Though she knew of women who were strong willed, it was usually just in knowing how to manipulate their husbands and be the true power behind the throne. Though now Eleanor is just confused about how the world works and just is desperate for a few explanations on what she’s missed.

Careful
Eleanor grew up in a world where the wrong word could easily get you either in trouble or killed. Thus the girl is extremely careful about what she decides to say, and tends to be submissive when around men so that she does not end up offending them and getting in trouble. Furthermore, Eleanor grew up used to concepts of the correct ways which women were supposed to act, including being “pure” until marriage. Thus she is continuously unsure about what the correct way to act is, since society seems to have changed since she was last out in the world. As a result of this, however, Eleanor is a little apprehensive, tending to be anxious or fearful that bad things would happen as a result of a minor mistake that she may not have even noticed.

Docile
Though Eleanor likes to think of herself as strong willed, she can, at times, be docile. She is always ready to accept control or instruction from higher authority to her, and similar to her being loyal, it is to higher authority that she is also willing to bend over backwards (though not literally) to do what they want. She is just a little submissive to authority, though the flaw in this is that she will usually believe that if anyone claims to be of higher authority and acts like it, then she will usually do their bidding. For all except going to the next step in relationships, another thing she is a little apprehensive about since she is usually used to the world in which relationships and therefore marriage are arranged.

Likes: Genuine people; reading; learning new things; strategy; friendships; loyalty;
Dislikes: Manipulative people; people who mislead her; pointless flattery; her feeling impotent;
Goals: Making up for lost time, making up for what she missed the chance to do with her friends and being there for her new ones. Though she hopes it won't be necessary, she'd also like to be able to help someone/save someone's life. Be a hero of a sort.
Fears: Missing out on the chance to help a friend in need, again. Knowing that she can’t do anything to help a serious situation.

History
Claimed?: Yes
Camp experience: Just got here
Mortal parent: John Holland
Other relatives: Henry [Half-brother], Anne [half-sister], a few other half-brothers/sisters.
History: John Holland, the second Duke of Exeter, was an English nobleman. He had been granted the title lost by his father after having distinguished himself at the battle of Agincourt in 1415, fighting in the service of King Henry V. He was made a Knight of the Garter and his father’s earldom of Huntingdon was restored. Political position aside, John greatly appreciated literature and strategy. He was a soldier, having fought at both Agincourt and Bauge, and though he wasn’t at a high enough position to strategize himself, he still thought intently about such manoeuvres when he could. By 1430 he had married and had had two children, Henry and Anne. Though by 1432 he had lost his wife and so for a great part of the year, he had succumbed to literature as a distraction. Admittedly, he was a clever man and though he wasn’t noticeably important compared to families such as the Nevilles of the north or the Percys either, the intelligence and appreciation of literary and military work was certainly noticed by a certain woman. She became a guest at his household and John courted her whilst she was there, though their conversations were mostly about military strategy, despite his feeling it odd for a woman to speak of such matters. Nevertheless, he soon fell back to the books again when she left him suddenly and decided that he had to remarry. Thus, in January 1433 he married again.

Some way into 1433, however, one of John’s household staff approached him with a golden cradle. The Duke was confused as he knew he had not slept with the woman he had courted before having married. The letter that came with the cradle explained the situation and was meant for John’s eyes only. The woman he had courted was in fact the goddess Athena, she stated that the child was the offspring of wisdom and so no intercourse was needed for her conception. After having explained everything, Athena also requested that their child, named Eleanor (after Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, a figure Athena apparently admired), be acknowledged, as Athena had already claimed the child to be hers. So John followed her wishes, he found a suitable way to explain the appearance of his new child to his wife. Eleanor, though technically a bastard child, was referred to as a Lady and was a legitimate child in the eyes of the other nobles.

Eleanor grew up with an excellent education, she became fluent in French and often had her head stuck in various books, reading up on history or, sometimes, on military strategy or battles. Due to Eleanor’s enhanced intelligence, she excelled in her education and came to surpass her siblings in their knowledge of things. By 1446, her father, John Holland, had her sent to work in service of Queen Margaret of Anjou as a lady-in-waiting. It was a prestigious role and the Duke had worked very hard to get his child into such a position, believing that one day it would gain her a suitable marriage partner (despite the nobles collectively disliking the marriage of the King, believing it to be a poorly strategized match that favored only the French king).

The daughter of Athena worked closely with the Queen and managed to gain her trust. The two often spoke in French and Eleanor was taught how court truly worked, though Margaret herself was still new to it. There was only a three year difference between the two and along with a few other ladies-in-waiting, they all became a little tight-knit family, with Margaret as the head of it, as she was adjusting to life in England. Eleanor enjoyed Margaret’s spirit, as seeing such a strong-willed and powerful woman as Queen was purely exhilarating. Admittedly, Margaret did possess a forceful personality, but Eleanor was just sure to do what the Queen asked of her and remained a good friend throughout.

In 1453, the Queen was pregnant and the King had lapsed into insanity. Margaret had, at this point, attempted to claim regency of England, much to the anger of other nobles who consequently turned to support a man Margaret loathed. Though when this had happened, Eleanor was visiting her father and her family. She rushed back on the news so that she could support her Queen through the events, though upon arriving in London, things got a little messy. Eleanor had been drawn into a part of London that she didn’t know her way around. She was alone and fortunately, on horseback. She was still in the outskirts and nowhere near the palaces where her Queen resided. Fortunately, it still wasn’t the worst part of London to be in. The peasants were kind to her and attempted to help her find her way, to which she rewarded them with a little coin. By the end of the day, Eleanor admitted defeat and set course to find an inn. Before long, she had found herself at the Lotus Inn. Inside, games were being played, people were gambling and having fun. At first, Eleanor felt a little unsafe. She was tempted to leave, to find somewhere else, perhaps with guards standing out the front. She was a lady, she could easily be robbed in a place like this. Before she managed to leave, Eleanor was approached by a young tavern wench. She was beautiful and possessed a charming smile. She invited Eleanor to have a drink and some food, ensuring it was a safe place to be as she herself was more exposed than the Lady Eleanor and she had not been touched by any man in the inn. She even promised a private room for the lady, to which Eleanor reluctantly accepted. She asked the woman for directions to court, to which the woman answered by promising directions in the morning. Eleanor soon received delicious food to eat and gradually discovered that there was more to this place than she had first thought, there was so much fun and enjoyment contained within these walls, even more so in the hidden rooms below the inn, which contained more games and gamblers who were enjoying the inn as much as she.

It felt like barely any time passed until Eleanor was approached by a boy insisting that she needed to leave. He said he had been sent by her mother but Eleanor was still reluctant to leave, insisting she enjoyed it all too much. Though the boy knew exactly what to say, he insisted that Margaret needed her support, that she was in trouble and from this, it didn’t actually take long for Eleanor to snap out of it. She hurried out of the inn and found herself in a big city full of flashing lights. By then, the boy gave her a proper explanation of what had happened. He claimed that Eleanor had been so drawn into the illusion of the Lotus Inn that she had not left for 580 years, time had passed so quickly outside of the walls, and Eleanor hadn’t even noticed the progression of technology in the Inn. Though it had all hit her now. It was all too overwhelming. Eleanor begged the boy about the location of her Queen, but the boy just wouldn’t answer that question. Instead he said there was somewhere she needed to go, for her own safety, since she didn’t have a home. Eleanor, thoroughly confused, decided to follow the boy on this, as part of her believed it was only a dream. All these lights and illusions could surely not be real. Nevertheless, she had not long been at camp, only just arriving and still trying to adjust to the modern world.