Confined with white ribbons, the midnight sheen of her thick hair fell past her waist in tumbling ripples, dark wisps escaping to brush around the sharp beauty of her tanned face. She smiled warmly, her generous mouth curving above her pointy chin, and her slanted midnight blue eyes shimmered with deep sadness beneath the dark curves of her eyebrows.
Deirdre, twin to Darthene, daughter of Faiella and Oberon, younger sister of Corwin and Eric, who tormented her mercilessly in her youth [urged on by Darthene (?)]. To escape that nightmare, she turned her back on Amber for a long long time, taking sanctuary in her shadow home, the forest land of Broceliande.
She is married to Kireyas, a relationship which is currently under strain, for several reasons: the numerous still-born and miscarried children; her poisoning with Serpent Venom as a result of her love for Kireyas; her affair with Golan; and the loss of their latest child, Corleu, in a magical ritual which saw his spirit transferred to the child carried by Celia in Fiona's body that would become the girl-child Clarissa.
"Music is magic. Ephemeral, beautiful, and ultimately futile. This is worth far more. Love you. Do not ever forget that."
| PSYCHE | 23 |
| STRENGTH | 4 |
| ENDURANCE | 38 |
| WARFARE | 26 |
Deirdre is not inclined to give her trust easily, she has been betrayed too often, by those closest to her; Eric, Corwin, Darthene, Madoc, Kireyas, Clarissa, Celia... the list is too long, inflated, no doubt, in Deirdre's mind at least, by her deep-rooted paranoia.
To those select few to whom she does give her trust, however, she is a true friend, a very caring person. Included in this group are Raven, Jacob, Golan, Lorelei; perhaps a few others.
She can be outspoken to excess, tending to speak her mind in haste, without considering the accuracy or consequences of her words, and the effect they will have on others. She usually comes to regret her impetuosity. As Thalion once said, "Some people can do more damage with a few words then I could do with an entire arsenal."
Her recklessness can also spread over into deeds, so that her good intentions go astray, causing her motives to be misunderstood. And her intentions are good, whatever others may believe.
As a mother, Deirdre was almost too good to be true; supportive, but not controlling; caring, but never suffocating. And then there was Broceliande. What child could ask for a better home to grow up in? Endless summer days, in verdant forest land.
And after raising her own daughter, Lorelei, she did it all over again with her grand-daughter, Meredith, when Lori walked out while Meredith was still a child.
Deirdre has loyal allies in her daughter Lorelei, the recently married Raven and Jacob, and Golan. Until recently, her husband Kireyas would have been counted as an ally also, but that relationship has shifted dramatically of late, to such an extent that Kireyas may perhaps now be considered an enemy. This is a matter to be resolved when Kireyas regains consciousness.
Until recently, Deirdre has thought of her twin sister, Darthene, as an enemy, although recent signs have suggested that this relationship may also be shifting.
Her feelings towards her older brothers, Eric and Corwin, are ambivalent, tainted by their use of the twin sisters as weapons in their ongoing feud, which had started long before Deirdre's birth. The reason for the feud are lost in the depths of ancient history. Yet still, they are her family, and she will defend them when needed. Lorelei's public insults of Corwin, for example, are swiftly rebuked, should Deirdre be within earshot.
Nothing is worse than an Amberite that can only see things from their own perspective. Who can't even seem to comprehend/admit that there even are other points of view. Narrowed vision of this type is classicly passive-agressive, as it is used to punish and denigrate all that do not think the way that obviously one should. Add to this an unhealthy romantization of, and meglomaniacal attachment to, the Serpent and Unicorn dichotomy and you have Crown Princess Deirdre, child of Oberon and Faeilla.
By her own tongue Deirdre has admitted that she and her mother were never supposed to have survived the birth of Darthene; she who was to have been Deirdre. That she took it upon herself, then Ryan, to go to the aid of the Queen and save both lives fated to end there on a lonely beach. An act of meglomania that might well have set up endless Paradoxes: from a never meant to be twin-curse to Clarissa's identities to the rise and fall of the Guisel Queen. It seems that Skuld taught Ryan well.....
| PSYCHE | 30 |
| STRENGTH | Amber |
| ENDURANCE | 20 |
| WARFARE | 40 |
It must always be kept in mind that Deirdre is an extremely disturbed individual from the 'dysfunctional family of which all others are but shadows'. She has stated at least once that she was variously abused by both mother and father, that both neglected her twin Darthene. Out of guilt and anguish over the treatment of both herself and her twin, Deirdre has become the consumate martyr. Every hurt done to her and every harsh word spoken to her will be treated as a mortal wound. She is constantly bemoaning the harshness of her reality. At every opportunity she will proclaim how unfair life is. She often cries and does frequent cosmetic alterations of both her form and clothing.
So invested in being a martyr is Deirdre that she will deny the validity of any person's viewpoint who does not reside within her Inner Circle. Near the end of her existence she developed a paranoia so extreme that she would speak only in riddles and poetry. If you were worthy, you would figure it out.
We have only to look to Deirdre's interaction with the Construct Urda to see what the early lives of both Laurel and Meredith must have been like. Having met what appeared to be a child in the first Ritual of the Grove at a time when she was hugely pregnant and doomed to loose the child within; Deirdre fixated on him. He looked a child and so was to be protected. And, as everyone knows, you don't ask a child what it needs and wants....you provide what's best. In one moment of a well-intentioned act of comfort Deirdre completely crippled the Construct's ability to function as his makers intended. How much worse to have been raised an entire life time in her company? No wonder Laurel fled as soon as she could supply Deirdre a replacement!
Games are where Deirdre excels, particularly those of the mind. She is a master at manipulation on levels that perhaps rival those of Oberon himself. Deirdre is a woman that took a look at the world and decided early on that she was going to win. She learned to travel in time from Skuld; 'saved her own life', arranged it so that she would be given Kireyas, that she would birth Clarissa. Was all this to attain the Next Step? To ascend to the dizzying height as the Avatar of a new Primal Power? To end her envy of the Unicorn?
Deirdre has more than a few that love her in Amber, more than might otherwise be thought: Celia has always been Deirdre's friend, from first the two met. A long and occasionally bitter friendship that might well span centuries, perhaps time itself. Always they had each other....
Raven and Deirdre were sudden friends; a relationship intense and brief. Andelia has been heard to accuse Raven of being Deirdre's puppet.
Golan and Deirdre had a relationship that spanned time as well. It has recently been rumored that the two of them had been lovers while Deirdre was still married to the jealous Kireyas. Certainly they are known to have spent a year together in a fast time Shadow virtually alone.
Kireyas,the demonic Construct,was Deirdre's protector and husband. They had 2 children together: Laurelei and Corleu. This last a by-product of their mutual Ascension.
Teridias' affection for Deirdre and his self-proclaimed position as her protector/avenger knight dated from the oath of fealty he swore to her father King Oberon of Amber. At this time Deirdre was Crown Princess.
Thalion endures Deirdre for his mother's sake; Jacob for Raven's..
There is of course the famed emnity between Deirdre and her twin Darthene. The source of her identification with the struggle between Unicorn and Serpent. The twin-curse burns brightly between them as they viciously orbit each other, fueled by centuries of resentment and fear.
Darthene's daughter Andelia has picked her sides to echo her mother's.
The Construct called URDA feared Deirdre above all else for an act(s) committed before all, and seen by none. Deirdre is known to despise Dworkin; the URDA in question is his....