Annais Nevell

Name: Annais "Annie" Nevell
Age: 145
Nationality: None as her family were wanderers
Hair: Coppery brown
Eyes: Gray
Skin: Fair
Height: 5'6"
Voice: Surprisingly low but melodious. She has good ear to tune and a strong alto singing voice (ala Amy Winehouse)
Notable skills: negotiation, the Great Game, archery, riding, singing, dancing
Physical Weakness: Annais has endometriosis so her periods are extremely painful unless she gets Healing
Personality: Patient and diplomatic. Has a good sense of humour and can laugh at herself too. Usually she appears calm but never cool and people who know her think that she is a very balanced personality. Sometimes she herself believes that she is too balanced, mediocre even despite her negotiation skills. She is social but not in the apparent center of the party way. She is in no way shy and tongue tied but she knows when to listen and when to speak. Her greatest strenght is that she gets along with almost anyone and can persuade and inspire others to join her causes.
Annais feels especially lacking intelligence wise being surrounded by the smartest women in the world. She is aware of the fact and tries to surround herself with savvy and wise friends but she can't help sometimes feeling envious and small in comparison. Especially the White Sisters sometimes unnerve her even if she disagrees with many of them clinging to cool logic only. Green and Blue Sisters and their intensity for their cause and command of themselves and the situations they find themselves in also arouse her admiration.
She has come to the point in her life where she is looking back and wondering what she has actually achieved. She doesn't feel like much even though she has been very active and done alot. Annais desires to do something with more longer-term and permanent results and has been contemplating running for a Sitter position. The Amyrlin position would be a fulfillment of a dream she has never quite dared to dream but she would feel confident enough that she can do well and she definitely has her own visions about where she would like to lead the Tower.
The Annie of her youthful years shines up under the ladylike veneer from times to times as a wild streak. She keeps it carefully in check in the White Tower save in the company of good friends. This is the main reason why she will miss traveling but she will quickly find her way to compensate hard work with good fun back in the Tower too.
== Character History ==
Annais was born to Willim "the Crimson Carnation" Nevell, a rogue extraordinaire and Geneveva do'Avriny a'Roihan, a 16 year old noble lady who ran off with Willim after he and his merry band stopped the carriage her family traveled in and politely but firmly robbed them. The pampered and headstrong young woman got pregant almost immediately to her great dismay and after being a mother for only six months, she decided that she had had enough and returned to her family leaving the baby girl behind. Annais grew up without a mother and a female model but she most definately did not lack love and had a plenty of caring adoptive uncles and big brothers.
By the time Annie was 16 herself, her father had made quite a reputation for himself in Ghealdan, southern Andor, Murandy and northern Altara. The nobles and authorities hunted the Crimson Carnation with passion but he had been wise enough to donate large parts of his loot to the common people and aid them when it was just possible so he had allies in almost every larger village. Tragically his daughter played the main role in his demise. Annie had been pestering her father to let her plan and lead a robbery and finally he agreed sending his most trusted men with her.
After some scouting in Ghealdan, she settled on a rich appearing lady traveling with only two guards. Big Jon and Gamwell, her right hand men warned her against it as they had a bad feeling about but she had to have her will. The lady turned out to be a Green sister and she and her Warders killed and captured all her companions. Her the Aes Sedai was going to take to her accursed White Tower since she claimed Annie could also channel. Her father tried to rescue her of course and to her horror Annais witnessed him getting pierced by a sword by an overly eager young Warder. Mireina Sedai had no talent for Healing and her father died before they could reach the next city where the rest of the band were hanged.
Protesting and hateful Annie was dragged to Tar Valon and despite her best attempts to escape she was put on novice whites. First two dozen visits to the Mistress of Novices taught her to hide her rebellion a bit better and she plotted how to run away. She made it twice to the gates of Tar Valon and once outside before she was caught. The third time made her loose hope that the Tower would let her go. Annie refused to go through her Arches twice but it was the last futile attempt to rebel against what she had almost completely submitted to already. What changed her mind were good friends (Maegan, Elyssa and Nyssa) and eagerness to learn Saidar and everything else the Tower was teaching her. In her first Arch she had to leave her father to a certain death and in the second one she had to abandon her own men, including all the people who had raised her up, to the gallows. In the last Arch she found out that Mireina Sedai had been turned to the Shadow and right when Annais had caught her and was about to get her revenge, the Arch appeared and she had to return. The only thing that carried her through was conviction that it was not real and anger for the White Tower for ripping her old wounds open and putting her through this.
The Mistress of the Novices was wise enough to spot her bitterness and assigned her a new mentor, a Gray Sister named Helgatha whose heart was as large as her bulk. She kept Annie busy and focused and even more importantly, she took her out into the world and showed her what difference the Aes Sedai really could make. Helgatha was a fair woman and despite privately cheering for her own Ajah, she made sure that Annais focused every day on tasks and studies suitable for a different Ajah. She discovered her full potential for working with people as an Accepted and the Blue and the Gray Ajahs felt the most suitable to her. The Blue Ajah's lack of focus disturbed Annais a bit and she felt that world peace was large enough goal to keep her busy for the rest of her life and nothing would stop her from helping in other ways if it was needed.
When she had finally decided that she would become an Aes Sedai, she breezed through her requirements and 15 years after arriving to the Tower she reached the Gray shawl at age of 31.
885 NE: Raised to the Gray Ajah. Makes a resolution that no matter how much she travels, she will try to spend at least one season every year in the White Tower (if it is just possible) maintaining relationships with her Sisters and getting to know the new generation by teaching.
885-893 NE: Learned the fine art of negotiation and diplomacy with her Gray Sisters by being a part of missions and watching and learning from the elder Grays. As she traveled around the world extensively during these years, she paid attention to learning the customs of various countries in practice and creating the beginnings of her own Eyes and Ears network.
894-905 NE: Decided that it might be a good idea to try and focus on just one unruly area of the world and try to bring peace and prosperity there. The obvious candidate was Murandy, a land without a strong ruler that was riddled by all kind of criminals who were not as noble as her father had been. Annais spent years trying to manipulate the situation in Murandy enough that a promising young man could finally unite the country. Dulain do Ahlan a'Conlin died in a large battle that Annais was unable to stop and as part of her heart died with him, she decided that she was not a suitable person for letting the game of thrones to get so personal. Not in years again at least.
905-909 NE: Feeling that it is time to make peace with her past, Annais apprentices herself to Mireina of the Green Ajah to be able to forgive her for what she did to her family. The ancient Green takes her to the Borderlands where she studies the other side of the Peace, the War. Annie experiences personally how there can never be real lasting world peace until the Shadow has been defeated for good in the Last Battle. To remind herself of the fact, she returns to the edge of the Blight every seven years and assists the Border nations where aid is most needed. "There can be no peace with the Shadow."
910-915 NE: "As is above is below" The nobles and royalty are not the people in the world who require assistance and who peace affects. Annie feels the need to reconnect herself to the grassroot level of the world and spends five years traveling among the commoners and paying special heed to their problems and concerns.
916-954 NE: A period that I have left vague on purpose in case I want to do some Retro RPing some day. Annais was was abroad during this period in many lands, assisting elder Gray sisters and during the end of the time, leading missions herself.
955-961 NE: Annais negotiates the Fifth Treaty of Falme between Arad Doman and Tarabon covering the peaceful disposition of Almoth Plain. The treaty sadly fails almost immediately due to centuries long hostilities between the countries which is a bitter defeat to Annais. The Tower does not hold it against her as it was a surprise that she managed to make the two countries to agree into any kind of Treaty in the first place.
962-975 NE: These years years were spent to recover from the disappointment of the Fifth Treaty and are another time for possible Retro RPs.
976-978 NE: The Aiel War. Thanks to her experience with negotiating and exposure to battles in the Borderlands, Kathana Trevalear names Annais the representative of the Tower on the War Council. She in turn was advised by the Chief of Security Shoar Daemor.
979-991 NE: Possible Retro RPs with younger Sisters.
992 NE: Karana Majin sends Annais to become the Aes Sedai advisor of King Beslan Mitsobar of Altara. She serves him for 7 years until his death and his daughter Sarena Mitsobar, the current reigning Queen, for 2 years. During the last year's of Beslan's rule, the King consolidated his power with Annais' help and the Blue faction of nobles (traditionally siding with the Ruler) has gotten stronger ever since.
It could be said that Annais did something fairly reckless in 994 NE as she took Lord Milos Asnobar, one of the leaders of the competing Red faction, her lover. He is a handsome man in his 50s and naturally married and a father to adult children but neither let the fact to stop them. The two throughly enjoyed their games of spying for four years and pretended that it was all there was until Annais left. He has written to her since and the letters hint at more. Even though she knows that it is foolish to continue the correspondence, she has done so but never lets herself to sound more like a fond friend. She wishes that she can use Milos as her Eye and Ear in Altara even though it could blow up on her eyes.
999 NE: A year ago Annais was summoned back to the White Tower by the Head of her Ajah to help with the work of improving the relationships between the Ajahs. She has been making alot of new closer contacts during this time and reforging old ones which puts her to a good position for the Amyrlin Seat. Annais has never been a Sitter and even though this is a con in eyes of some Sisters, many also feel that this gives her a much needed fresh perspective on how to solve things. She strives for compromises but never on expanse of watering the goal so it makes her an is an ideal person for achieving things but without alienating allies and fracturing the Tower further.
This character has since died from being thrown from a horse.
Category:Biographies
Category:White Tower Bios
Category:Gray Ajah Bios