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Description

Name: Felice della Albizzi

Nicknames: N/A

Age: 480

Physical Age: 26

Height: 5’ 1”

Hair: Black

Eyes: Grey

Faction: Insurgent / Irizima Agent

Her faction alliance is a guarded secret, but Felice is an extreme insurgent and has been from the beginning. She views Sybal-Heim as purgatory, and desperately wants to return to her husband and children. Every day away from them is heart-wrenching for her. Felice and Erina became friends before Erina came to power. When Erina became the head of the Insurgents, she enlisted Felice into the Irizima ranks. Felice is an elite informant and has made herself invaluable to the insurgents by protecting active agents and providing her shop as a safe-house. Felice keeps very close tabs on the upper echelons of Society within the city (particularly the Disciples) and she reports her findings back to the Irizima. Many within the Insurgent Faction, consider her indispensable: she is unflinchingly loyal to the movement and the information she feeds is extremely useful. Additionally, the agents who have come to her safe house know the level of gentle care and fierce protection she provides to those who are her friends. Felice is a member of Erina’s inner circle, and one of the very few who know Erina is the leader. Felice would suffer physical torture and even death before revealing Erina’s identity.

Occupation: Seamstress

    To provide for herself, Felice is a seamstress. In her life before Sybal-Heim it was expected (and necessary) for women to sew, weave, and embroider. With time at her disposal in Sybal-Heim, Felice honed her skills and after nearly five hundred years became nothing short of a master craftsman. She owns a shop in Ambrotos where she sells hand-made dresses, mends clothing items, offers tailoring services, and accepts custom orders. She has a shrewd business sense, and manages her shop professionally. Many in Sybal-Heim consider her to be a leading authority on fashion, although she is modest about this.

Sybal Form: The Haunting Mother

            Felice’s sybal form is a beast with basic humanoid proportions but a much larger size. She stands eleven feet tall, and is twenty-two feet long from nose to tail. She is bipedal. She has very short gray fur that covers her body, and a deer-like head and face. Her hands have four fingers and a thumb, each digit is tipped with a sharp, retractable claw. She has three toes on each foot. Her muscular tail is prehensile. Felice’s eyes are black in sybal form, and remain closed the vast majority of the time, the only time they are open is when she is actively hunting or protecting one of her victims. Felice’s most notable physical feature is what appears to be a gaping fissure that starts between her legs and runs all the way up to her chest. The cavity is black, and it looks as though her body is hollow—lacking internal organs. This hole can open and shut, and Felice is capable of trapping other sybals within her body! Because of her large size—if Felice wants to capture someone, she usually can. When she has trapped someone, the fissure knits closed and she looks like she is pregnant. Though generally not dangerous to older citizens, if provoked Felice is a force to be reckoned with, however she can be can be overcome by others with stronger sybal powers. When she first arrived, Felice's sybal form looked somewhat different: her fur was tan, and her body was not so emaciated.

Sybal Power: Insight

            Felice’s sybal power is the ability to sense the ages of other citizens. Obviously, since at night all citizens are sybals, Felice can’t see their human forms but she can feel those who are children. Her power doesn’t give her any special control over others, just an awareness of how physically old they were when they entered the city. Citizens physically under about fifteen years old or so should be wary of lurking shadows! Because Felice’s power is a perception-based power, her ability is not readily apparent to others—especially if they are physically older in human form. Citizens who spend their time in the coliseum would likely consider her power to be useless, if they were to figure out what it was.

Feral or Docile: Feral

    Felice is feral in her sybal form. There were times in the past when Felice was much more in control of her sybal form--she has very little control over herself now. She is aware of her lack of control and tries to keep herself locked inside at night.

    Overall, her behavior is benign, for the most part, but it is jarring and frightening for her victims. The trigger for her behavior is the age of other citizens. Felice longs so desperately for her children that when triggered, she hunts Sybal-Heim, seeking citizens who are young. If she finds a citizen who is physically young she will trap them within her body and take them back to her home, where she keeps them until morning. While in sybal form, Felice is convinced her victims are literally her children. Felice NEVER harms her victims; instead she only keeps them and cares for them. When morning comes, her victims find themselves standing or laying beside her. Felice is ashamed of her lack of control over herself, and is always extremely self-conscious and apologetic in the morning if she realizes she’s trapped someone. She tries her best to make it up to them, by offering breakfast, gifts, or any requests they have, but most of the time her victims just want to get away from her.

    Most citizens are safe from Felice’s feral behavior because it is uncommon for children under fifteen years old to be brought to Sybal-Heim—but she can pose a threat to older citizens. There have been occasions when another citizen witnessed Felice trapping someone, and the citizen stepped in, attempting to help the victim. This is a mistake. While in sybal form, Felice sees any interference as a real attempt to take her “child” away and her instinct to protect her offspring drives her to viciously attack the interferer. There is no reasoning with her at this point; she can be compared with a mother bear. Her claws and tail are her main weapons. When attacking, she uses her size to her advantage.

Personality:

    Felice is a kind person with a very polite demeanor. She likes making others happy and has a soft spot for those in need. Felice has a lot of patience, and rarely loses control of her temper. She’s generally an optimist, but she is introverted. After a busy day’s work she prefers relaxing at home with a book and a glass of wine, or strolling the streets of Ambrotos alone—that being said, she does have a few friends who can coax her into more rambunctious activities from time-to-time. Felice enjoys a good game of cards, and has a small weakness for gambling. Two traits that people find most surprising about Felice, if they get to know her well, is her tenacity and her stubbornness. Nothing shakes Felice’s dedication to her goals.

    To those who don’t know her well, Felice appears somewhat aloof, but this veneer is a result of her up-bringing, and it is not Felice’s intention to intimidate others. As a member of the Italian noble class, Felice grew up with defined rules regarding her behavior and conduct and, while she has relaxed in many ways, she still carries herself with an air of refinement and poise. Ironically, before coming to Sybal-Heim, Felice was considered by some to be rather liberal: Felice is intelligent and has actively pursued education all of her life. Learning is something Felice deeply enjoys. In her life before Sybal-Heim, it wasn’t considered necessary for a woman to be highly educated, but the intellectual fire of the Renaissance caught light in her mind and couldn’t be snuffed out. One of the few things Felice genuinely enjoys about Sybal-Heim is her ability to read, study, and learn unhindered by social expectations.

History:

    Felice was born in Florence in the year 1408. As a girl she was sent to a convent to be taught sewing, reading, and writing. At the age of 16 (in 1424) her father arranged a marriage for her into the powerful Albizzi family: her new husband Giordano being a distant cousin to the family’s head Rinaldo degli Albizzi. Felice was supremely happy with her role as wife and, eventually, mother. She enjoyed the comforts of her life. Felice and Giordano formed an affectionate, gentle relationship as time passed, and Felice’s devoted love for her children was boundless. Nothing gave her greater joy and fulfillment than her family.

    Felice educated her children in the humanist teachings of the day. The achievements of Ancient Rome were being rediscovered, and spread throughout Florence. Bankers and the merchant class had grown powerful enough to take political offices and amass great wealth. Artists, architects, and craftsmen competed for patrons and commissions. Florence was a hive of trade, commerce, and learning. It was a picturesque time for Felice. Her favorite thing to do in the city was to take her family to view the nearly-finished dome of Florence’s cathedral. The architect Brunelleschi was managing to complete a project that had stood undone for hundreds of years—and Felice was enraptured by it. Felice also took her children to see other works of art that were becoming common around the city.

    But, amid her golden days a dark shadow loomed…The Albizzi family, while an old and wealthy Florentine family, was floundering. Rinaldo degli Albizzi was an aggressive political force in Florence, and had earned himself resentment from the people—even from Albizzi supporters. The Albizzi family had a militant political policy and had cost taxpayers in Florence with their desire to wage war on neighboring cities. After a failed attempt to conquer the city of Lucca, Rinaldo decided to lash out against a hated rival of the Albizzi family: The Medici Family. Though impulsive, Rinaldo believed striking down the Medici had to be done. In addition to being rivals of the Albizzi family, Cosimo de’Medici was easily the most popular potential leader for political opposition, and even had the support of Rinaldo’s younger brother Luca to back him. Rinaldo put Cosimo on trial for treason and exiled him. Rinaldo’s actions spurred more anger from the people. A year after the trial, in 1434, a newly selected signoria reversed the sentence against Cosimo. Enraged, Rinaldo attempted an armed coup, but his efforts failed. Sympathizers of Cosimo created a special court to reform the government and the Albizzi family was banished from Florence.

    For safety, Giordano planned to take his family to a small country villa a week’s journey outside of the city. Leaving was hard on Felice, both because she had to say goodbye to the home she knew, and because she was seven months pregnant with their fifth child and traveling was difficult. However, escape from the violent danger of Florence was necessary, and the villa’s halls, orchards, and livestock would sustain the family comfortably for as long as was needed. It was the best solution. Giordano did his best to ease her journey, and Felice put on a brave face to encourage and comfort the children.

    A day’s ride from the villa, the family was attacked on the road. Giorgio shouted for Felice to flee with the children while he, and their small group of servants and guards, defended the wagons. Felice took the children but to her alarm, soon realized she was being pursued. Not knowing what else to do, she sent her four children to hide in a vineyard and she ran into a stand of trees, hoping to divert her followers and protect her dear young ones. Being advanced in her pregnancy, Felice didn’t make it far before the bandits caught up with her. With nowhere else to hide, Felice stayed where she was huddled against a tree. She shut her eyes, knowing the men would see her at any moment…but nothing happened.

    She opened her eyes to the men were gone. She got to her feet quickly, not wanting to waste the chance, and she back-tracked to find her children. As she walked, she found the trees became thicker, and of a variety she has never seen before. The ground beneath her feet was different. It didn’t make much sense, but she concluded that perhaps she had fainted and the men had somehow overlooked her. She wandered deeper into the strange shadowy forest, arriving at the edge of a grand city she’d never laid eyes on. Theo was waiting for her, and introduced her to the city. He brought her to Ambrotos and there she was registered as a citizen and given a room. Felice was awestruck but frantic. She wanted to know where her children were, where was Giordano—what had happened?! Was her family brought to the city? When she was informed that she alone had come, she demanded to return. Theo, though sympathetic and kind, told her Sybal-Heim was now her home and she could not return.

    Felice refused to believe his words. She spent the rest of her first day attempting to penetrate the forest and find her way back to the Florentine countryside. By dusk she was exhausted but still determined to reach her loved ones. She changed into her sybal form as night fell, and unbeknownst to her, felt her unborn child move within her for the last time. Felice’s first sybal transformation was not especially traumatic for her. She was simultaneously fascinated by the city and fixated on finding her way out of the forest. Basileus came to her while she was in the city, because Theo had reported concerns over Felice’s distressed state. Felice largely ignored Basileus, and when she returned again to the forest after eating, he left her to attend to other matters.

    It wasn’t until morning that true horror struck her. As the sun rose, and she reverted to her human form, she was immediately aware of her flat stomach—her fifth child, whom she had carried in her belly for seven months, was gone... just gone.

    In a frenzy, Felice sought out Theo and demanded to know what the “black devil” had done with her baby. Theo said Basileus had done nothing with her child, and explained that human pregnancies cannot be maintained in Sybal-Heim.

    All Felice felt was wretched, hollow despair. She tried to bargain with Theo, begged him to do something—anything—to help her. But there was nothing for him to do. Felice broke down—overwhelmed by everything that had happened. Theo took her to the Ambrotos Minister’s estates. Felice confined herself to her room for a week—sending away staff and refusing food; overcome with grief. Her family was separated from her…her most adored ones… and she allowed her sorrow to consume her. After that week Felice was cared for and monitored carefully. Solomon, the minister of Ambrotos at the time felt great sympathy for her and wished to provide the best that could be offered given the situation. In addition to concerns for her health and mental well-being, the staff considered Felice at-risk for feral behavior. They watched her closely at night but Felice did very little and fears of feral behavior diminished. Felice lived at the minister estates for an unusual two full months.

    Many were concerned she would not overcome her depression, but Felice surprised them one morning by appearing from her room with a polite smile on her face and asked where she could find work in the city. Skeptical at first, due to her abrupt and miraculous recovery, they were hesitant to allow her to leave the minister estates. Felice was undeterred. She openly admitted to missing her family, but asserted that she had nevertheless come to terms with her new life and could see no sense in waiting for it to change—she would rather do something with herself than be idle.

    With no evidence of feral behavior, and no reason to keep her in the estates against her will, Felice was allowed to move into the city. She stayed in Ambrotos and worked for several years, first as a washer-woman at a laundry facility, then as a seamstress repairing clothing. Felice became an apprentice to Khandro Sakya (fav.me/d9428hu ) and worked until she had enough clients specifically requesting her work to open a shop of her own. Her clientele continued to expand, and within twenty years Felice found herself living comfortably in an elegant home she purchased, with money enough to sustain herself nicely. On the surface Felice appeared to have fully integrated into life in Sybal-Heim and was at peace.

    But the assertion she made at the Ambrotos ministry estates years before was not the complete truth. While she did crave work and could see no sense in doing nothing—she had not accepted her place in the magical city. Felice’s conclusion was that she had somehow become trapped in purgatory. The other citizens were either prisoners (like herself) or servants of the devil. This was a literal test of her soul; Basileus was a demon who had stolen her baby from her very body, and Felice had to save her child and escape the city for the sake of her eternal salvation.

    Felice kept her rebellious feelings to herself, along with her painful loneliness and longing for her children. Her behavior while in sybal form became more and more feral. She quietly sought comfort in the companionship of others who were also unhappy in the city. It didn’t take her long associate herself with the insurgent movement.

Additional Info:

-Her name is pronounced fell-EEEE-chay.

-She is Catholic. Over time her thoughts and philosophies on the topic of religion have broadened and changed, but she attends mass weekly at the Ambrotos Cathedral and has a deep faith in God. She has studied different religions, and adopted some of their views into her own personal worship.

-Felice enjoys foods that are sweet. She also enjoys heavily seasoned foods, particularly when seasoned with fresh herbs.

-When she first arrived in Sybal-Heim Felice wore her hair up and covered, like a proper Italian noble woman. As time passed she began to relax, and now is most frequently seen with her hair loose.

-Felice has had a number of men try to woo her over the years, but she has always turns suitors down.

-Felice has been friends with Erina for nearly two hundred years. She feels kinship her, understanding the loss of family, and wants to help Erina be reunited with hers.

-Felice and Khandro (fav.me/d9428hu ) have a sassy business rivalry but this covers an abiding friendship they share.

-Felice has a deep appreciation for architecture and sculpture. While she feels she has no talent for such things herself, she values and admires the work of others. Her home is decorated with lovely sculptures.

-Felice’s most treasured possession is a necklace she was wearing when she first arrived in Sybal-Heim. The necklace was a gift from her husband, Giordano. She takes exceedingly tender care of it, and wears it on special occasions.

-Felice’s four children are named Fillipo, Lorenzo, Eleonora and Caterina. Her fifth child is unnamed.

Description

Name: Felice della Albizzi

Nicknames: N/A

Age: 480

Physical Age: 26

Height: 5’ 1”

Hair: Black

Eyes: Grey

Faction: Insurgent / Irizima Agent

Her faction alliance is a guarded secret, but Felice is an extreme insurgent and has been from the beginning. She views Sybal-Heim as purgatory, and desperately wants to return to her husband and children. Every day away from them is heart-wrenching for her. Felice and Erina became friends before Erina came to power. When Erina became the head of the Insurgents, she enlisted Felice into the Irizima ranks. Felice is an elite informant and has made herself invaluable to the insurgents by protecting active agents and providing her shop as a safe-house. Felice keeps very close tabs on the upper echelons of Society within the city (particularly the Disciples) and she reports her findings back to the Irizima. Many within the Insurgent Faction, consider her indispensable: she is unflinchingly loyal to the movement and the information she feeds is extremely useful. Additionally, the agents who have come to her safe house know the level of gentle care and fierce protection she provides to those who are her friends. Felice is a member of Erina’s inner circle, and one of the very few who know Erina is the leader. Felice would suffer physical torture and even death before revealing Erina’s identity.

Occupation: Seamstress

    To provide for herself, Felice is a seamstress. In her life before Sybal-Heim it was expected (and necessary) for women to sew, weave, and embroider. With time at her disposal in Sybal-Heim, Felice honed her skills and after nearly five hundred years became nothing short of a master craftsman. She owns a shop in Ambrotos where she sells hand-made dresses, mends clothing items, offers tailoring services, and accepts custom orders. She has a shrewd business sense, and manages her shop professionally. Many in Sybal-Heim consider her to be a leading authority on fashion, although she is modest about this.

Sybal Form: The Haunting Mother

            Felice’s sybal form is a beast with basic humanoid proportions but a much larger size. She stands eleven feet tall, and is twenty-two feet long from nose to tail. She is bipedal. She has very short gray fur that covers her body, and a deer-like head and face. Her hands have four fingers and a thumb, each digit is tipped with a sharp, retractable claw. She has three toes on each foot. Her muscular tail is prehensile. Felice’s eyes are black in sybal form, and remain closed the vast majority of the time, the only time they are open is when she is actively hunting or protecting one of her victims. Felice’s most notable physical feature is what appears to be a gaping fissure that starts between her legs and runs all the way up to her chest. The cavity is black, and it looks as though her body is hollow—lacking internal organs. This hole can open and shut, and Felice is capable of trapping other sybals within her body! Because of her large size—if Felice wants to capture someone, she usually can. When she has trapped someone, the fissure knits closed and she looks like she is pregnant. Though generally not dangerous to older citizens, if provoked Felice is a force to be reckoned with, however she can be can be overcome by others with stronger sybal powers. When she first arrived, Felice's sybal form looked somewhat different: her fur was tan, and her body was not so emaciated.

Sybal Power: Insight

            Felice’s sybal power is the ability to sense the ages of other citizens. Obviously, since at night all citizens are sybals, Felice can’t see their human forms but she can feel those who are children. Her power doesn’t give her any special control over others, just an awareness of how physically old they were when they entered the city. Citizens physically under about fifteen years old or so should be wary of lurking shadows! Because Felice’s power is a perception-based power, her ability is not readily apparent to others—especially if they are physically older in human form. Citizens who spend their time in the coliseum would likely consider her power to be useless, if they were to figure out what it was.

Feral or Docile: Feral

    Felice is feral in her sybal form. There were times in the past when Felice was much more in control of her sybal form--she has very little control over herself now. She is aware of her lack of control and tries to keep herself locked inside at night.

    Overall, her behavior is benign, for the most part, but it is jarring and frightening for her victims. The trigger for her behavior is the age of other citizens. Felice longs so desperately for her children that when triggered, she hunts Sybal-Heim, seeking citizens who are young. If she finds a citizen who is physically young she will trap them within her body and take them back to her home, where she keeps them until morning. While in sybal form, Felice is convinced her victims are literally her children. Felice NEVER harms her victims; instead she only keeps them and cares for them. When morning comes, her victims find themselves standing or laying beside her. Felice is ashamed of her lack of control over herself, and is always extremely self-conscious and apologetic in the morning if she realizes she’s trapped someone. She tries her best to make it up to them, by offering breakfast, gifts, or any requests they have, but most of the time her victims just want to get away from her.

    Most citizens are safe from Felice’s feral behavior because it is uncommon for children under fifteen years old to be brought to Sybal-Heim—but she can pose a threat to older citizens. There have been occasions when another citizen witnessed Felice trapping someone, and the citizen stepped in, attempting to help the victim. This is a mistake. While in sybal form, Felice sees any interference as a real attempt to take her “child” away and her instinct to protect her offspring drives her to viciously attack the interferer. There is no reasoning with her at this point; she can be compared with a mother bear. Her claws and tail are her main weapons. When attacking, she uses her size to her advantage.

Personality:

    Felice is a kind person with a very polite demeanor. She likes making others happy and has a soft spot for those in need. Felice has a lot of patience, and rarely loses control of her temper. She’s generally an optimist, but she is introverted. After a busy day’s work she prefers relaxing at home with a book and a glass of wine, or strolling the streets of Ambrotos alone—that being said, she does have a few friends who can coax her into more rambunctious activities from time-to-time. Felice enjoys a good game of cards, and has a small weakness for gambling. Two traits that people find most surprising about Felice, if they get to know her well, is her tenacity and her stubbornness. Nothing shakes Felice’s dedication to her goals.

    To those who don’t know her well, Felice appears somewhat aloof, but this veneer is a result of her up-bringing, and it is not Felice’s intention to intimidate others. As a member of the Italian noble class, Felice grew up with defined rules regarding her behavior and conduct and, while she has relaxed in many ways, she still carries herself with an air of refinement and poise. Ironically, before coming to Sybal-Heim, Felice was considered by some to be rather liberal: Felice is intelligent and has actively pursued education all of her life. Learning is something Felice deeply enjoys. In her life before Sybal-Heim, it wasn’t considered necessary for a woman to be highly educated, but the intellectual fire of the Renaissance caught light in her mind and couldn’t be snuffed out. One of the few things Felice genuinely enjoys about Sybal-Heim is her ability to read, study, and learn unhindered by social expectations.

History:

    Felice was born in Florence in the year 1408. As a girl she was sent to a convent to be taught sewing, reading, and writing. At the age of 16 (in 1424) her father arranged a marriage for her into the powerful Albizzi family: her new husband Giordano being a distant cousin to the family’s head Rinaldo degli Albizzi. Felice was supremely happy with her role as wife and, eventually, mother. She enjoyed the comforts of her life. Felice and Giordano formed an affectionate, gentle relationship as time passed, and Felice’s devoted love for her children was boundless. Nothing gave her greater joy and fulfillment than her family.

    Felice educated her children in the humanist teachings of the day. The achievements of Ancient Rome were being rediscovered, and spread throughout Florence. Bankers and the merchant class had grown powerful enough to take political offices and amass great wealth. Artists, architects, and craftsmen competed for patrons and commissions. Florence was a hive of trade, commerce, and learning. It was a picturesque time for Felice. Her favorite thing to do in the city was to take her family to view the nearly-finished dome of Florence’s cathedral. The architect Brunelleschi was managing to complete a project that had stood undone for hundreds of years—and Felice was enraptured by it. Felice also took her children to see other works of art that were becoming common around the city.

    But, amid her golden days a dark shadow loomed…The Albizzi family, while an old and wealthy Florentine family, was floundering. Rinaldo degli Albizzi was an aggressive political force in Florence, and had earned himself resentment from the people—even from Albizzi supporters. The Albizzi family had a militant political policy and had cost taxpayers in Florence with their desire to wage war on neighboring cities. After a failed attempt to conquer the city of Lucca, Rinaldo decided to lash out against a hated rival of the Albizzi family: The Medici Family. Though impulsive, Rinaldo believed striking down the Medici had to be done. In addition to being rivals of the Albizzi family, Cosimo de’Medici was easily the most popular potential leader for political opposition, and even had the support of Rinaldo’s younger brother Luca to back him. Rinaldo put Cosimo on trial for treason and exiled him. Rinaldo’s actions spurred more anger from the people. A year after the trial, in 1434, a newly selected signoria reversed the sentence against Cosimo. Enraged, Rinaldo attempted an armed coup, but his efforts failed. Sympathizers of Cosimo created a special court to reform the government and the Albizzi family was banished from Florence.

    For safety, Giordano planned to take his family to a small country villa a week’s journey outside of the city. Leaving was hard on Felice, both because she had to say goodbye to the home she knew, and because she was seven months pregnant with their fifth child and traveling was difficult. However, escape from the violent danger of Florence was necessary, and the villa’s halls, orchards, and livestock would sustain the family comfortably for as long as was needed. It was the best solution. Giordano did his best to ease her journey, and Felice put on a brave face to encourage and comfort the children.

    A day’s ride from the villa, the family was attacked on the road. Giorgio shouted for Felice to flee with the children while he, and their small group of servants and guards, defended the wagons. Felice took the children but to her alarm, soon realized she was being pursued. Not knowing what else to do, she sent her four children to hide in a vineyard and she ran into a stand of trees, hoping to divert her followers and protect her dear young ones. Being advanced in her pregnancy, Felice didn’t make it far before the bandits caught up with her. With nowhere else to hide, Felice stayed where she was huddled against a tree. She shut her eyes, knowing the men would see her at any moment…but nothing happened.

    She opened her eyes to the men were gone. She got to her feet quickly, not wanting to waste the chance, and she back-tracked to find her children. As she walked, she found the trees became thicker, and of a variety she has never seen before. The ground beneath her feet was different. It didn’t make much sense, but she concluded that perhaps she had fainted and the men had somehow overlooked her. She wandered deeper into the strange shadowy forest, arriving at the edge of a grand city she’d never laid eyes on. Theo was waiting for her, and introduced her to the city. He brought her to Ambrotos and there she was registered as a citizen and given a room. Felice was awestruck but frantic. She wanted to know where her children were, where was Giordano—what had happened?! Was her family brought to the city? When she was informed that she alone had come, she demanded to return. Theo, though sympathetic and kind, told her Sybal-Heim was now her home and she could not return.

    Felice refused to believe his words. She spent the rest of her first day attempting to penetrate the forest and find her way back to the Florentine countryside. By dusk she was exhausted but still determined to reach her loved ones. She changed into her sybal form as night fell, and unbeknownst to her, felt her unborn child move within her for the last time. Felice’s first sybal transformation was not especially traumatic for her. She was simultaneously fascinated by the city and fixated on finding her way out of the forest. Basileus came to her while she was in the city, because Theo had reported concerns over Felice’s distressed state. Felice largely ignored Basileus, and when she returned again to the forest after eating, he left her to attend to other matters.

    It wasn’t until morning that true horror struck her. As the sun rose, and she reverted to her human form, she was immediately aware of her flat stomach—her fifth child, whom she had carried in her belly for seven months, was gone... just gone.

    In a frenzy, Felice sought out Theo and demanded to know what the “black devil” had done with her baby. Theo said Basileus had done nothing with her child, and explained that human pregnancies cannot be maintained in Sybal-Heim.

    All Felice felt was wretched, hollow despair. She tried to bargain with Theo, begged him to do something—anything—to help her. But there was nothing for him to do. Felice broke down—overwhelmed by everything that had happened. Theo took her to the Ambrotos Minister’s estates. Felice confined herself to her room for a week—sending away staff and refusing food; overcome with grief. Her family was separated from her…her most adored ones… and she allowed her sorrow to consume her. After that week Felice was cared for and monitored carefully. Solomon, the minister of Ambrotos at the time felt great sympathy for her and wished to provide the best that could be offered given the situation. In addition to concerns for her health and mental well-being, the staff considered Felice at-risk for feral behavior. They watched her closely at night but Felice did very little and fears of feral behavior diminished. Felice lived at the minister estates for an unusual two full months.

    Many were concerned she would not overcome her depression, but Felice surprised them one morning by appearing from her room with a polite smile on her face and asked where she could find work in the city. Skeptical at first, due to her abrupt and miraculous recovery, they were hesitant to allow her to leave the minister estates. Felice was undeterred. She openly admitted to missing her family, but asserted that she had nevertheless come to terms with her new life and could see no sense in waiting for it to change—she would rather do something with herself than be idle.

    With no evidence of feral behavior, and no reason to keep her in the estates against her will, Felice was allowed to move into the city. She stayed in Ambrotos and worked for several years, first as a washer-woman at a laundry facility, then as a seamstress repairing clothing. Felice became an apprentice to Khandro Sakya (fav.me/d9428hu ) and worked until she had enough clients specifically requesting her work to open a shop of her own. Her clientele continued to expand, and within twenty years Felice found herself living comfortably in an elegant home she purchased, with money enough to sustain herself nicely. On the surface Felice appeared to have fully integrated into life in Sybal-Heim and was at peace.

    But the assertion she made at the Ambrotos ministry estates years before was not the complete truth. While she did crave work and could see no sense in doing nothing—she had not accepted her place in the magical city. Felice’s conclusion was that she had somehow become trapped in purgatory. The other citizens were either prisoners (like herself) or servants of the devil. This was a literal test of her soul; Basileus was a demon who had stolen her baby from her very body, and Felice had to save her child and escape the city for the sake of her eternal salvation.

    Felice kept her rebellious feelings to herself, along with her painful loneliness and longing for her children. Her behavior while in sybal form became more and more feral. She quietly sought comfort in the companionship of others who were also unhappy in the city. It didn’t take her long associate herself with the insurgent movement.

Additional Info:

-Her name is pronounced fell-EEEE-chay.

-She is Catholic. Over time her thoughts and philosophies on the topic of religion have broadened and changed, but she attends mass weekly at the Ambrotos Cathedral and has a deep faith in God. She has studied different religions, and adopted some of their views into her own personal worship.

-Felice enjoys foods that are sweet. She also enjoys heavily seasoned foods, particularly when seasoned with fresh herbs.

-When she first arrived in Sybal-Heim Felice wore her hair up and covered, like a proper Italian noble woman. As time passed she began to relax, and now is most frequently seen with her hair loose.

-Felice has had a number of men try to woo her over the years, but she has always turns suitors down.

-Felice has been friends with Erina for nearly two hundred years. She feels kinship her, understanding the loss of family, and wants to help Erina be reunited with hers.

-Felice and Khandro (fav.me/d9428hu ) have a sassy business rivalry but this covers an abiding friendship they share.

-Felice has a deep appreciation for architecture and sculpture. While she feels she has no talent for such things herself, she values and admires the work of others. Her home is decorated with lovely sculptures.

-Felice’s most treasured possession is a necklace she was wearing when she first arrived in Sybal-Heim. The necklace was a gift from her husband, Giordano. She takes exceedingly tender care of it, and wears it on special occasions.

-Felice’s four children are named Fillipo, Lorenzo, Eleonora and Caterina. Her fifth child is unnamed.