Background: When she arrived at the school, Laudanum Arioch had the attitude of someone who is used to be being queen of the castle and Daddy's little girl. House Arioch, despite being numbered among the weaker of the Chaosian Houses, is a proud and regal one, for they consider their blood extraordinarily pure of any shadow, Amber, or demonic strain. Rumors are that they are somewhat inbred in order to achieve this, since the ancient House has been in a decline of power and money for centuries and often have difficulties finding suitable matches outside the clan. Laudanum is the only daughter of the House Head, though she has two brothers, one older and one younger. Her mother died of complications relating to a poison (a common method of assassination in House Arioch) when she was eight years old, so she was mostly raised by her father and her brother, who is ten years her senior. Her other brother is two years younger and expects to attend the School of Amber next year. Laudanum was spoiled, sheltered and raised to be extremely old-fashioned in speech, dress, and gesture.

School was a bit of a rude shock for her in her first year. No longer did things come as easily as they had. Making the "I'm going to cry" face never seemed to have a positive response in the teachers, most of the students did not seem to believe in her instrinsic superior value, and she was even laughed at a bit for some of her archaic manners.

But Laudanum sucked it up, persevered, and found methods that worked. She found out who was popular and worked very hard to be friends with them, even if it meant changing a lot of her ways, so that she ended up having three or four different masks she could wear in different situations to fit in. She studied each of her professors for what they liked in a student and tried (to differing degrees of success) to be that. Although her immediate interest in befriending the in-crowd came from a desire to dethrone them and step into the spotlight again, Laudanum found herself making some real friends (and undoubtedly real enemies) now that she was away from her family. Almost unbelievably, trying to be what other people wanted in her for a change helped her to discover things that were actually true about herself. She is still a bit self-centered and very ambitious, but she'll settle for princess of this castle.

Laudanum will still have a reputation in her second year as a second-banana. She may even be seen as the kind of girl who bends over for anyone. The most perceptive may see her as a bit of a snake in the grass, in that she doesn't seem to have too many limits on what she's capable (emotionally) of doing.

Personality and appearance: Laudanum Arioch is a tall, elegant young lady. A shimmer of antiquity still hangs around her, vestigial from when she first arrived, the holdover from thirteen years of semi-isolation in remote Arioch House. She moves softly, gliding, at most times and can be eerily silent in her approach, though she generally wears rustling clothing which dampens the effect. Her hair is a rich honey gold, worn extremely long, her eyes are deep ocean blue, of an unusual shape particular to her House (sort of an anime hexagon, if that makes sense) and her features are aristocratic, cold and gem-cut pale. She wears her fingernails very long but does not tend to wear makeup, and her only jewelry is a heart-shaped ruby pendant which generally hides beneath her uniform. Laudanum craves attention, adores people and has strong ambitions. As a holdover from her upbringing, she still sees her possibilities of gaining power as basically through other people, so she has learned to be extremely manipulative. A natural ruthless streak is tempered by a genuine appreciation of extraordinary people so that she is fiercely loyal to those who take the time to know her or help her. As, I would assume, most students, she is quite intelligent, but as there are so many
things she would rather be doing than homework, her grades don't always reveal that.

Skills: Her top three classes are Charms, Etiquette and Potions, though there are others that she is quite decent in as well. Her least successful are Transfiguration, General History and Shapeshifting. She is known to be a pet of Lady Flora's and to get along very well with her Head of House, Professor Brand. Professor Delwin, in particular, suspects her of not trying her best in his class. Other skills include manipulation, acting, knowledge and use of poisons, music (singing and playing an ancient Chaosian version of a harp/guitar/something) and a very good memory.

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