Mia of the Lily

Mia of the Lily was the illegitimate daughter of Queen Cycilia Wilem of Flowers and an unknown father. She was sent to live with her aunt, Lady Lorelai Boran when she was born and her lineage was covered up by the court. She was a famous painter.
== Biography ==
Mia was born in 2 AE when her mother was twenty-two years old on the 29th of Od in secret at the family's summer home outside Wilemberg. Cycilia's pregnancy had been kept largely a secret, but attempts to hide the baby from court life were impossible. Mia was handed off to her maternal aunt, Lady Lorelai Boran, to be raised as her own child. Her mother Cycilia would often visit the baby, acting as her aunt, throughout her life, though eventually Mia would learn of her true parents in her early teens. As a child, Mia grew up in Plumfield Manor, a small estate outside Wilemberg among the orchards of the countryside. She was tutored as a noble lady, excelling early on in the arts. Her uncle Roberte was especially impressed by her childhood scribblings and recommended a tutor in 3 CE. Lady Lorelai, not wanting to deny Mia anything due to the circumstance of her birth, hired Roberte's university peer, the artist Jakob Mikaelovich to train the young girl. In 6 CE she attended her grandmother's funeral in Wilemberg.
By the age of ten Mia was producing lovely watercolors, sketches, and oil paintings. She was especially interested in depicting the workers of the plum orchards who she was quite friendly with. When she turned thirteen in 11 CE, Mia was accepted into the University of the Arts in Wilemberg, one of the few women students to be accepted. There she trained further, producing work which was much renowned by her peers and advisors. She graduated in 16 CE at the age of eighteen upon which she took up residence in the arts quarter of Wilemberg. There, she mingled with many young Proto-Realists and Fleurian Aestheticists. She became an important figure in both movements, having close relationships with many of the famous artists of the movement. In her twenties she produced some of her finest works, such as Woman on the Stairs and Breakfast. Starting in 20 CE, Mia began to have an affair with the famous painter and aristocrat, Lord Alfred Ganeyev. It was also around this time that she earned the epithet "of the Lily" referring to her claim that she was actually the true heir to the Fleurian throne after her mother, Queen Cycilia. Mia developed a fondness for opium around this time as well as becoming a very early adopter of Radium Whale based pigments for painting. 
After finding great success selling her work in the mid 20s CE, Mia became a patron, operating from her house, Yellowpaper, until her death in 27 CE. Her parties and salons were much gossiped about and her mystique across the city was at an all time high the year before her death. In late 26 she contracted a cough that turned to fever which left her largely incapacitated throughout the beginning of 27 CE. Mia made a partial recovery in the spring of that year before relapsing and dying in the fall. She was cremated and her ashes given to her friend, Ivan Katar who eventually had the remains interred beneath a grand monument funded by an anonymous donor in Willowreach Gardens in 29 CE.
== Appearance ==
Mia was very beautiful, considered a great muse to many of her peers. She is a common subject of many works from that era and her face was eventually used on advertisements in the late 200s CE. Mia was tall and slender with a full chest and long neck. Her eyes were light like her hair which she kept shorter than was typical of the time. Always innovating, she wore new styles of dress that pushed what was considered appropriate for the era. In her late twenties, she developed a mysterious rash alongside her illness which caused dark spots to appear on her hands. As she wasted away, these spots grew softer and near black.
File:MiaPainting.jpg|Woman on the Stairs a 19 CE painting of Mia's that was a great success.
File:MiaPainting2.jpg|Breakfast, Mia's 21 CE painting that caused controversy in Wilemberg.
File:Young Mia.jpg|Mia's self portrait at age 14
Category:Fleurian Characters
Category:Wilem Royal Family
Category:Stag