the doll house

name: gneshka Anh-joolee
tribe/clan/lineage: Namoo-jshean
age: 19 by human standards
homecoming to the earth realm: summer 2007
underworld year: 10199, in the 4th year under Emperor Melior Atrayus


race: Torshka-orveeno…the torshka’s populace numbered around 550,000 prior to the mercenary raids of 10195. after the raids their numbers were closer to around 3500.

humankind would describe a torshka as having an appearance like that of a gypsy, with a few parts dark-elven, some unidentifiable race of fei or other fairy-folk with a well behaved day-walking vampire hiding just beneath the surface. they are taller than others of elven descent, but not quite the height of a human.

they call the far north-eastern edge of northern auhm-horeen their home. nestled to the right of the mountain climbs of the khal-alude-madeena, you’ll find another set of twin mountains pushing boldly towards the skies. the two twins are called esh-nivick auh-roon…’the shadow twins’. the twins names are the parushk-oveck moutain range and the vairoo-khalia mountains. a thick forest skirts their outer edges like a private ring around a dark and beautiful other-world: the forest of endoorrh. beyond the forests & betwixt the mountains one stumbles into the wondrous torshka stronghold of ohberron.

ornately constructed torshka buildings climb up to the sky, closely built about tall trees. the torshka love the idea of mixing bold architectural elements together. their buildings are commonly two to three story, neo-victorian constructs. vibrantly colored polychrome facades pepper their streets, with huge onion-shaped cupolas and minarets spiraling all around. all stucco and tiles, with little gardens in every courtyard, torshka live in a world constantly encroached by the beautiful.
honeysuckle vines bloom year round and fill even the cold air of their harsh winters with a constant and heady perfume. cherry blossom trees commonly line the cobbled streets and bloom three times a year.

the torshka world is a steam-punk world that tends to mix the seemingly magical with the various elements of their magnificent and odd technologies. one of their most celebrated art forms involves constructing moving sculptures made of intricate cogs, gears and wheels.

the torshka-orveeno people are ruled by one called the Great Matriarch and beneath the matriarch is a council of five others that represent the five clans that make up the torshka-orveeno people at large. every six months the great council adjourns to discuss political matters.

at large, the torshka-oveeno are seen as a extremely sociable creatures, full of passion and fire. a common saying attributed to their people is, “Live life to the fullest, enjoy every moment for it could be your last.” they are known for having a keen eye for details, an insatiable curiosity and a knack for being brilliant strategists.
sometimes seen as sneaky & treacherous, they are often employed as spies & assassins. due to this they are sometimes called by the derogatory term “slitheen” which means “quietly slithering thing” . their kind are also frowned upon for their particular disregard for the taboo of incest, termed ‘esh-ond-eros’ in their common tongue. they see nothing wrong with close relations particularly between siblings. however, parent/child relationships of a sensual nature are seriously frowned upon and biological siblings are forbidden to produce off-spring by penalty of law. “genetic abomination”, as it is termed, is not tolerated and such creatures find themselves born to die by quick blade.

the torshka are perpetually a mix of undulating contrasts: brutal & charming, with a cunning & sharp intellect. deliciously beguiling, they are fantastically sensual creatures & hence they are notoriously promiscuous. yet it seems all things set to their hands turn to art and these intensely gifted seducers are known for having some of the most elegant and refined brothels in all the realm.

their kind are often seen as: tinkerers, inventors, weavers, master craftsman, gifted linguists known for the ability to learn a language within a day, entertainers, circus masters & stage magicians. they are also known for the high quality of their finely crafted tarot cards, general scrying instruments, crystal balls, poisons, potions, aphrodisiacs & time pieces. the torshka also excel as puppet-makers, spies, assassins, acrobats, doll & toy makers, tailors & tapestry weavers, makers of rich wine, candy & absinthe, master chemists, private tutors and professional consorts or courtesans.

sect/tribe: namoo-jshean.

family status: the namoo-jshean sect are commonly a mix of lower nobility and upper middle class. they usually choose professions such as: private tutors for the children of the high born, spies, assassins, burlesque show masters, professional consorts/courtesans, entertainers and makers of high quality crystal balls and tapestries. they’re mastery of chemistry seems to give them a predisposition towards the selling of mind altering intoxicants, lethal and non-lethal poisons, potions & aphrodisiacs. they are also known for their innate affinity for all manner of magic: from complex tantric magics to simple incantations to bring better spring rains…they also produce the highest quality absinthe in the entirety of the Underworld.

the nahmoo-jshean are a proud people that love nothing more than the company of friends & the sound of music & laughter. they, of course, have their moody moments when they’d just rather be alone. but for the most part, they are social butterflies. simultaneously, they are capable of being very quiet and you can easily lose one in a crowd if they don’t wish for you to follow.

namoo-jsheen families are usually run like tightly knit family-run businesses….since that’s commonly exactly what they are. nomadic in nature, these families include not just immediate family, but extended family consisting of any trustworthy & talented performer that wishes to join their ranks. because of this knack for making friends, the namoo-jshean are known for having extensive connections at all levels of underworld society.

spending most of their time in caravans traveling the realm, you’ll often find them performing for packed houses as burlesque troupes with a bit of freak show brilliance peppered throughout their shows. magicians dazzle the crowds between burlesque acts; consorts and cortessans move with them, selling various services, drugs, potions, absinthe & elaborate torshka tapestries. often in their mists you’ll also find for hire a spy & an assassin. their customs dictate that a family be managed by a man and a woman (not necessarily man & wife), voted into position by the members of the entire family. at this time, the namoo-jshean tribe is ruled by a young aunt and uncle to agneshka and mallick.

agneshka is a young woman of many dark charms and talents. she showed a striking intellect at a young age and her parents —being high ranking council members— spared no expense and wasted no time when it came to her schooling. trained in a multitude of high arts, she was tutored by the best instructors in all of ohberron. her studies spanned all aspects of arcane & sensual arts: alchemy/chemistry, linguistics, mathematics, philosophy, psychology and the political science and history of the realm at large.

agneshka leans more to the darkness and hence excels in dark magics most of all. she is also a gifted reader of tarot and scrying mirror. she’s an accomplished alchemist, capable of making a wide array of poisons and potions, but prefers to push her chemical talents to the cultivating of various intoxicants. she is fluent in 16 languages & schooled in the ways of diplomacy and political intrigue. eight months prior to the mercenary raids she was being trained by the clan master of assassins and hence, is skilled in the use of a wide array of deadly weapons. also trained in the ways of studying the minute, she can read & accurately interpret even the smallest changes in a subjects demeanor & body language. this makes it nearly impossible for others to lie to her… something her twin brother mallick has come to playfully abhor.

some would call agneshka wild, lusty or bawdy, for she has no qualms swearing like a sailor to get her point across. at the same time she can move back into a role of prim and proper lady at the drop of a dime if she so chooses. she’s as comfortable at a cock fight as she is at a formal dinner party. her poise, strong will and sharp intellect commonly cause others to be intimidated by her and she revels in this. her knack for showing an almost masculine self-confidence can be off-putting to some and a heady turn-on to others. she carries a bold sexuality about her, thanks to her years spent traveling with the family burlesque troupe and has an almost complete lack of shame or shyness. her kind are known for their ability to seduce and beguile and take great pride in the liberal nature of their sexuality and how this effects others.

prior to the mercenary raids ashneshka was training with her great-uncle morichai, learning the fine arts of telepathy and telekinesis. life was comfortable and all was well. and then the raids happened and her life was turned upside down. after the raids, she and mallick were tasked with burying most of their family line. soon after the unpleasant experience, their young aunt and her consort, not willing to undertake caring for agneshka and mallick for their own reasons, did that which comes easily to those that do not wish to care for their young charges: they sent them away to boarding school. specifically one of the most prestigious boarding schools for the study of the magical arts: the academy d’ magicka.

during her three year stay at the academy, agneshka was perceived as standoffish & aloof. she was not the least bit happy to be sent away from her beloved homeland to the academy since she considered her private tutoring amongst her own people to be above and beyond anything the so called prestigious academy had to offer. and with good reason. upon attending her classes she soon realized she was far beyond the rudimentary elements being taught and had no problems informing her instructors of this fact during lectures. she felt not one instructor in the entirety of the academy appreciated her skill and hence, not one of them was fit to instruct her. this attitude did not help her win friends amongst the faculty. yet despite her attitude towards them and their childish curriculum, she managed to pass all her classes with honors.

agneshka quickly cultivated a ’shadowy’ reputation at the academy when it became apparent to the faculty that she and her brother mallick had a rather “close” relationship. some considered it a little too close and the two came to enjoy shaking up the entire school with random fits of unruly behavior. they made it a point to hold hands and exchange lingering kisses whenever possible, falling apart with laughter when the ‘norms’ would gasp in shock.

magnificently promiscuous, agneshka and mallick soon discovered that their bad reputation seemed to do wonders for their love lives. despite the upturned noses of the academy’s most elite cliques during the daylight hours, they quickly found ironic humor in the knowledge that members of those same cliques seemed to be terribly fond of requesting their unique line of services under the cover of night.

agneshka’s basic character profile:
agneshka loves and craves excitement, stimulation and knowledge. she is highly creative & active, but is also periodically prone to fits of depression where she wants nothing more than to be quiet & alone. her vices & fixations are numbered and varied and she finds it healthy to indulge in all of them with dignified moderation…though some habits prove harder to moderate than others. every now and then she likes to do something dangerous and craves the unexpected. in this quest she’s gone so far as to commission her twin mallick to the task of slipping mysterious drugs into her drinks from time to time without warning, for she sees it as the kindest and sweetest of gifts that one should be carefully drugged by one who loves them.

a bit of the “unhinging” has kissed her from the time of the mercenary raids and she has a comforting host of obsessive compulsions that make everything just fine when they’re called to action. her memory of the ‘trouble times’ is pocked with vast holes and every once in a while she is plagued by terrible and disturbing dreams. every now and then she tries to force herself to remember, but only bits and pieces come to surface…and those bits usually leave her shaking and nauseous…for somewhere in the blank void of her memories is the knowledge that she had been forced to kill. forced many times, yet all for not when it came to saving her close family. mallick tells her a tale of “the quiet”. the quiet that followed the madness of the raids. he tells of finding her curled up in the white snow covered in a fine mist of blood that was not her own. in one hand she held her fathers long blade and in the other hand she held the head of a reptilian mercenary.

ageshka’s closest companion is her twin mallick and their complex relationship never fails to make observers ask questions. her other close friend is matildha, with whom she often finds a kind shoulder to cry on and a refreshingly genuine sense of understanding. then there’s fairuzza, for whom agneshka finds a strange mix of feelings….most of which are feelings of attraction with only a light sprinkling of fear…and that’s only with regard to the odd hold fairuzza seems to have over her brother, mallick constantine.

agneshka anh-zjoolee, arrived to the house of viollet in the early waking months of summer in the earth year twenty ought seven. in the house of viollet agneshka hopes to further her arcane knowledge and to settle into a home where she is truly wanted and accepted without condition. she craves a life free from the regimentation of the academy & free from the judgmental hypocrisy and ignorance she seems to be constantly bombarded with since the mercenary raids all but destroyed her life.


produced by: soom
type: gem
release name: gena “smoky day”
face up: soom in house artist

measurements:
height: 23″