User:Llivia1990

BASICS

Name: Llivia Llyre (her surname is only known by the highest-ranking Bene Gesserit)

Pronunciation: liv-EE-uh

Also Known As: the Bard, the Love Witch, the Siren

Gender Expression: Female

Apparent Age: 30s

Origin: Chusuk

Height & Weight: 6'1, 159lbs

Alignment: True Neutral

Faction: Heralds of Azhar, Bene Gesserit

APPEARANCE

Eyes: Purple

Hair: Purple (originally black)

Skin: Pale, Heavily Tattooed

Build: Lithe, Slender

Voice: Sultry, Seductive, Domineering

Bearing: Confident, Fluid, Swift

Laterality: Ambidextrous

Distinguishing Features:

• Intricate black tattoos all over her body, up her neck, and on the sides of her head, leaving her face uninked.
• Taller than most women (and some men), with a very slender form and soft curves.
• Striking purple eyes, and a waterfall of purple locks that cascade over her shoulders.
• Dextrous and spider-like fingers with long, black-painted nails.
• Always carries a baliset made from a singular piece of black wood, cradling it in her arms rather than having it secured on a strap.

Style: Sheer black fabrics that leave little to the imagination, putting much of her body and sexuality on display (likely to her fellow Bene Gesserit's chagrin).

BACKGROUND

Poise. Perfection. Purpose. These were the principles of Llivia's early life, tenets that were constantly projected onto her by two oppressive parents. She was expected to play the baliset at the age of three, like her mother had done as a child, and master the stringed instrument before her ninth birthday. Fortunately and unfortunately, Llivia would meet these expectations - thanks to her mother's good genetics and strict tutelage- predestining her life as one of Chusuk's premiere baliset players.  

Cayde and Marasenna Llyre, Llivia's parents, were aspiring nobles, citizens of Chusuk's upper middle class. Cayde, Llivia's father, had dreams of becoming a General in the planet's security force, while her mother, Marasenna, had been eyeing a Headmistress position at the Varotan Arts Institute. They wanted Llivia to be a testament to their ambitions, expecting her to look and act like a high class woman as she transitioned out of girlhood.

Because of her innate skill and honed talent playing the baliset, teenaged Llivia had become a prodigy of sorts, and was thrust into the very adult world of orchestras and symphonies. She was invited to play at some of Chusuk's most prestigious venues, forcing her to grow up quickly around peers that were a decade - or more - her senior. While she enjoyed her life as a working musician, Llivia would come to resent her parents for placing their desires before whatever childhood she might have had.

When she turned eighteen, Llivia had secured a permanent spot in House Varota's Planetary Symphony, the most prestigious ensemble on Chusuk. Despite being an adult, and now an independent working woman, Llivia's parents arranged for her to marry one of the planet's lesser Lords, Viscount Hugo Agostin - a man that was thirty years her senior. Llivia had been an unsuspecting pawn in her parents' life-long scheme, and with this final act their acceptance into Chusuk's upper class would finally be achieved.

Knowing nothing else but obedience to her parents, Llivia reluctantly married the Viscount, and became a victim to his abuses not even six months into their marriage. He forbade Llivia from working in the Planetary Orchestra, a job she had come to love, and controlled when and where she was allowed to play her baliset. She had been reduced to nothing more than a string-plucking trophy for him to display at his extravagant galas, pressuring her to present herself as a doting, talented housewife.

However, these abuses were nothing compared to what Llivia would experience after her husband found out that she was unable to have children.

After a year of relentless mistreatment from the Viscount, and with no support from her now absent upper class parents, Llivia had reached her breaking point. Over the course of her life mastering the baliset, Llivia had learned everything about evoking sound and vibrations from the instrument's strings. She had learned how to twist and command the notes she played, utilizing sound to pacify or excite her audience. She could also break a glass with the vibrations from her plucked notes, and perfected a technique where she could excite matter at an atomic level.

One day, when she had already been blackened and bloodied by her husband, Llivia decided to play the Viscount a song that would calm his rampage. She played a relaxing tune, plucking dexterously at her strings, until the Viscount felt his heart start to palpate violently. Llivia then honed her tune with sharp notes, causing her husband's eyes to bulge as his heartbeat increased. With one final chord progression, Llivia commanded the muscles of her husband's heart into overdrive, forcing it to burst within the walls of his chest.

Llivia had killed her husband, the Viscount Hugo Agostin, rendering him unable to ruin her life any longer.

Taking nothing but the instrument she had dedicated her life to, Llivia fled from the Viscount's estate, ignorant of where to go without anyone to rely on. Fortunately, Chusuk's assigned Bene Gesserit Sister had taken an interest in the baliset prodigy, and had been watching over Llivia for nearly her entire life. Intercepting her as she was attempting to escape the planet, the Sister provided Llivia with a safe place to stay while the Sisterhood worked to cover up Viscount Hugo Agostin's murder.

After a time, Llivia would be granted true freedom by the benevolent Sister, who became a sort of parental figure to her as she picked up the pieces of her life. Under the Sister's patronage, Llivia would learn about who the Bene Gesserit were, becoming increasingly interested in the Sisterhood's purpose and goals. She also learned that her ability to manipulate the notes and tones she plucked on her baliset was not unlike The Voice, a hallmark of the Bene Gesserit's power.

At the age of twenty, Llivia began her life anew as a Bene Gesserit Acolyte, exploiting her raw talent and discipline to quickly rise amongst the Sisterhood's ranks. Within a decade she would become a full-fledged Sister, specializing as an Imprinter to advance the Bene Gesserit's influence via song and sexuality.

Llivia had evolved into everything she was destined to be; poised in her seductive abilities, perfected in her musical craft, and purposeful in her dedication to the Bene Gesserit.

‎

ARRAKIS ARRIVAL

Idle music reverberated in the air around her, emanating from the baliset's vibrating strings as she plucked them with practiced fingers. She had always enjoyed the way her music sounded inside of the Bene Gesserit's tomb-like ships, with an interior vast and void-like in its construction. Musing a bit on the commingling of each note, she tried to create a single, steady tone, harmonizing her instrument like a honed weapon. The glass upon the table before her began to vibrate, building more and more excitement as Llivia continued to synthesize her notes.

Before the glass was able to shatter, however, she heard a soft voice from somewhere behind her, meek and high-pitched. "E-excuse me Lady Llyre-"

"It's Llivia." The musical resonance in the air immediately ceased as she corrected the demure Acolyte, accidentally utilizing The Voice in her frustration.

"Llivia," she responded, now with more conviction and purpose. "Forgive me." Nervously shaking off the odd compulsion brought on by The Voice, the Acolyte waited for Llivia to speak once more.

Rolling her eyes, Llivia gently laid her baliset on the chaise lounge she was perched upon, the only other piece of furniture in the pantheonic room. "Well, what is it?"

"Arrakis, Sister. We've nearly arrived."

Llivia mused on this a moment, a slight curl budding at the edges of her lips as she reached over to idly stroke the strings of her instrument. "Good."

The Acolyte waited for another order, though none came for quite some time. She used these silent moments to observe the Bene Gesserit Sister before her, lounging in this great room all by herself.

There was no question that Llivia commanded a great deal of respect, though it was unclear to the mousy Acolyte if the woman held herself in this manner around those of higher rank. Llivia had spoken to the Sister with a noblewoman's sharpness, and there was hawk-like awareness that flashed within those duplicitous purple eyes. She noticed that Llivia's hair had been dyed the same shade of shimmering purple, cascading over her shoulders like a deep pool at night. The sheer black garments she wore betrayed much of Llivia's tattooed skin, displaying intricate designs inked on nearly every inch of her milky flesh.

"You are dismissed," Llivia commanded, her voice cutting through the silence like a sharp note. "And do not disturb my playing again."

"F-forgive me, Sister," the Acolyte stammered, offering a hurried bow before skittering out of the woman's acoustic mausoleum.

After ensuring that she was once again alone, Llivia allowed the smile that had been building on her lips to curl even further. "Arrakis," she said once more, throwing herself back against the chaise's cushions, her voice tittering with glee. "I wonder what trouble I'll get into in Arrakeen..."

Her lavender gaze idly swam in the empty void above her, refusing to focus on any one point while she dreamed and schemed. She stayed like this for a while, eventually reaching over to pull her instrument back over her body. "Oh what trouble I'll get into," she sang, grinning as she harmonized a tune from her baliset once more.