<div class="floatleft">(https://38.media.tumblr.com/88a931e54e67834d0843c37ee864fa19/tumblr_nbcu4gQRwO1sq1xo4o1_500.jpg)</div><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Maelys Thackeray (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=1006996)</strong></span><br/><br/>Maelys was the bastard off-spring of Duke Neelan Thackeray and a mysterious, irresistible woman he met by chance one evening when he had become separated from the rest of his hunting party.  She came to him in the woods where he was camped on the edge of a spring, and they spent the night together.  Neelan never spoke of the encounter, though the memories lingered long in his mind, even fueling several return trips to that same location in an attempt to meet the hauntingly beautiful woman again.  He never saw her, though, and eventually he resigned himself to his memories and an unquenchable longing.<br/><br/>When the beautiful, raven-haired infant was discovered on the front steps of the manor house with a note addressed to the Duke, she was brought inside and presented to Neelan.  Upon reading the note, which both elated him and drained the blood from his face as if he'd been stabbed, he declared the child his daughter and bid the servants to take her to the nursery.  Neelan already had three children, a boy and twin daughters, all several years older than the child.  His wife was none-too-happy with the fact that her husband was bringing his bastard child into their home and expecting her to simply accept it, but there was little she could do.  Still, while Neelan doted upon the winsome girl, his wife remained cold, and even hateful toward it, though she never abused Maelys where anyone else could witness her actions.<br/><br/>Neelan told his beautiful daughter the story of how he met her mother many times as she was growing up, and they both enjoyed speculating about what her mother could have been.  Even though Maelys looked human, it was clear from her unusual eyes and inherent...otherness that she was not entirely so.  Unlike most bastards, Maelys was given the best of everything, just like her half-siblings.  She had a keen intellect and a prowess with social interaction that served her well in her studies, allowing her to learn the art of political machinations and etiquette.  She was given the chance to put her skills to good use, attending parties with her family when she grew older, though she was treated with the sort of barely-masked scorn that one might expect.<br/><br/>Then, the Day of Mourning.  Maelys was nineteen when her entire family was destroyed by the unthinkable.  She had been to Breland, where her father had located a suitor he considered a proper match for his youngest child.  Maelys had traveled alone, with only a handful of retainers, and she was on her way back to Cyre when everything changed.  She ended up returning to Breland, though the suitor her father had chosen was not someone she desired to marry, as his lust for her barely concealed his contempt.  She and her servants became refugees, all they knew and loved gone in a moment.<br/><br/>It's been two years since she lost everything, and Maelys, never one to crumble under pressure, has turned her misfortune to her advantage.  She has regained some of her status in society, using her skills as a witch and keen intellect to secure herself a, nominal, place among the nobility.  King Oargev knew she would jump at the chance to help rebuild their nation, and knew her political mind and social graces would serve well in that endeavor.  She is determined to secure her position among Cyran noble society, and no longer be subject to the thinly-veiled contempt and jealousy of the other nobles.