Elizabeth Ancelet

> "*Humans by their very nature are explorers, both through the exploration of self and exploration of the universe...*"
> - Elizabeth Ancelet, during a speech to the expedition fleet before the jump to CDC-41-Gamma.
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**Elizabeth Ancelet** (An-se-le, /ænsɛleɪ/) is a Centran scientist from the system of Firewatch and Director of the Avalon Exploratory Initiative, a Tantalus Cluster-wide effort to enable the exploration and colonisation of the CDC-41-Gamma nebula.

## Biography

### Early life

> "*The first Wanderer Platform colonized my homeworld. It's pretty exciting to think I'll spend the next few years living on one...*" - Elizabeth, speaking to Cassandra Farren before the Avalon Exploratory Initiative's departure.
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Elizabeth is presumed to have been born on Firewatch before her adoption by Doctor Sadavar Edric. She earned her doctorate in astrophysics on Firewatch II, in which time she acquired a smoking habit.

### Avalon Exploratory Initiative

Beginning in 0301 PCU, Ancelet worked with her father in the Avalon Exploratory Initiative's construction of Edric's Gate, an immense Drift Gate in the Cardeus Brink System designed to bridge the three thousand light-years to CDC-41-Gamma and enable its exploration and colonisation. In 0304 PCU Edric's Gate was complete. Following Sadavar Edric's sudden retirement, Elizabeth was selected by the Initiative's international selection committee to lead the Expedition Fleet to the nebula aboard the *Wanderer*-class Explorer Platform *Avalon*. Despite her position, Elizabeth was relatively unknown to the public at the time.

Shortly before the Expedition Fleet's departure, Elizabeth met with Cassandra Farren, who she intended on bringing aboard as her Defence Adjutant. However, Cass declined her offer, to Elizabeth's surprise, but not dismay. In Farren's stead, she appointed Admiral Winston Redfield of the CSV *Shabayev* as her Defence Adjutant.

### First Contact

Having arrived at CDC-41-Gamma, Elizabeth was immediately tasked with damage control, having lost contact with much of the Expeditionary Fleet due to imprecisions in the jump from Edric's Gate. A few hours following arrival, the *Guinevere* arrived at the *Avalon* and reported the destruction of the Union outrider *Mariana* in a skirmish with an unknown vessel belonging to the nebula's native civilisation. Given the loss of contact with Admiral Redfield and the Centran Defence Force's contingent of the fleet, Elizabeth appointed Lieutenant Jasper Ravi, the *Avalon's* Chief Security Officer, as her temporary Defence Adjutant.

Following an incident with one of Farrier Squadron's Stardancer fighters, Elizabeth correctly surmised that the Fleet had been scattered by Lauralyn Conduits, a theoretical mechanism for travelling faster-than-light. The *Guinevere* was tasked to explore the Conduit, and Elizabeth insisted on accompanying the ship. Travelling four light-seasons down the Conduit, Elizabeth joined Cassandra Farren and Tamara Melari in the salvage of the wrecked gatehauler GH-0007-VG, recovering a wounded survivor and a critical component for the Drift Gate necessary to return to Tantalus, at the cost of injuring her arm.

In the aftermath of the mission, Cass approached Elizabeth and agreed to her offer to succeed the comparatively-junior Jasper Ravi as Defence Adjutant.

### Avalon Bombings

Following the rescue aboard GH-00007-VG, a degree of normality descended aboard the Avalon Expedition Fleet, reflected, much to Elizabeth's joy, in the opening of the Avalon's bar *Serina's*. Shortly afterwards, however, the the *Avalon* was bombed in a terrorist attack perpetrated by Inventory Officer Michael Favara, destroying the ship's stock of remote resupply drones. Favara, a traumatised veteran of the Frontier War, believed that the Frontier Union contingent would inevitably betray the Centrans and seize the *Avalon*. Favara planted Frontier Union-made explosives at the site of the blast, prompting Elizabeth to order a thorough search of the Fleet's Unioner vessels.

On the advice of Tamara Melari, and against her better judgement, Elizabeth agreed to transfer Frontier Union citizens off the *Avalon* until the investigation could be completed, evacuating them to the frigate *Abigail*. As the *Abigail* was refuelling from the *Avalon* before departing, a second device was discovered in the *Avalon's* fuel lines, which detonated before the *Abigail* could get clear. Captain Tamika Jinn's last act was to steer her ship to a safe distance before its damaged reactor exploded.

### Expedition on the Vitrified Planet

> *"Don't say that. Don't try to make it that easy. All I've done since it happened is run. I've run all the way here. That doesn't make me a new person, it only makes me a coward."
> "If you were a coward, you wouldn't be here. Wouldn't have tried to carry on..."*
> - Cass and Elizabeth, on Cass' attitude to her wartime experiences.
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Several weeks after the Avalon Expedition arrived in CDC-41-Gamma, Elizabeth insisted on accompanying the *Guinevere* to explore a pulsar systen, the first to be directly observed by humans. Arriving in system on 98th of Solstice, 0304 PCU, the *Guinevere* discovered a vitrified pulsar planet in the system, and at Elizabeth's insistence, she and Cass landed on the planet to conduct a week-long survey in the *Guinevere's* R-36 Wildcat All-Terrain Excursion Rover while Croft and Meds completed scans of the pulsar.

Tracking signs of unusual geothermal activity, Cass and Elizabeth discovered the wreck of an alien spacecraft, similar in design to the ship that destroyed the *Mariana*, as well as the corpse of its pilot, the first of its kind to be discovered by humans. Exploring a series of ruins on the planet, Elizabeth used the Expedition's data on the alien language, collected from various written records both on the planet and from the *Mariana* encounter, and found a repeating word that she correctly deduced was the name of the alien race - Advari.

Uncovering what she believed to be a topographic map from a ruin, Elizabeth convinced Cass to take the two of them towards a particular ruin that she believed to be some kind of research base. On arrival, however, the ground beneath the Wildcat rover gave way, causing both to fall into a crevasse and causing a transverse fracture in Elizabeth's left leg. Unconcerned by her injury, Elizabeth was more interested in the discovery of edible vegetation and arable soil in the crevasse, deducing from the map that similar terrariums existed all over the planet.

Waiting for pickup by the *Guinevere*, Cass and Elizabeth confided their life experiences to each other. Elizabeth expressed nothing but confidence in Cass' ability to extract them from the planet, but with Elizabeth beginning to suffer hypothermia, Cass began to slip into a panic attack, rebuking Elizabeth's confidence and expressing her lack of self-belief. Prompted by Elizabeth, Cass described her Frontier War experiences and her role in a disastrous fratricidal attack on the CSV *Acrisius*. Elizabeth expressed her belief that Cass had changed since the incident and rejected Cass' belief that she was a coward.

With both slipping into unconsciousness, they were ultimately rescued by Croft and Meds. Cass recovered relatively quickly in the *Guinevere's* sickbay while Elizabeth was bed-bound for a longer period, and required physical therapy to recover walking. Cass sat by Elizabeth's side while she recovered. Following their return to the *Avalon*, Elizabeth and Cass led the *Siochana* to establish harvesting colonies on the planet.

### Redfield's coup

After being separated from the *Avalon* for over two months, the CSV *Shabayev* unexpectedly re-established contact with the fleet. The *Shabayev's* return prompted scenes of celebration aboard the *Avalon*, and Elizabeth welcomed Vice Admiral Winston Redfield aboard to resume his duties as Defence Adjutant. Redfield swiftly made his presence known, issuing a field promotion to Jasper Ravi for his performance and demanding that repairs to the *Shabayev* be made a priority. Elizabeth quickly found Redfield's behaviour to be secretive and overbearing, prompting a verbal confrontation on the *Avalon's* command deck. She was particular perturbed by her discovery that Redfield had been involved in a skirmish with the Advari and had sacrificed a gatehauler to escape, and that he had taken an Advari prisoner, Castian Vadric, without informing her.

Letting herself aboard the *Shabayev*, Elizabeth ordered Vadric's transfer to the *Avalon* for medical treatment, where he soon showed a swift understanding of the Centran language and was interviewed several times. Conversing with Elizabeth in broken Centran, Vadric warned her that his people's religion believed that life outside CDC-41-Gamma could not be allowed to exist and that more ships would be coming to attack them. Before Elizabeth could act on this however, Admiral Redfield invoked Section 24-D of the Uniform Code of Conduct, removing her from command and seizing the Avalon Expedition Fleet. Believing that the Advari posed an existential threat to Humanity, Redfield declared that the Fleet's sole purpose was now to strike back against them. Despite an attempt by Cassandra Farren to defend her, Lieutenant Commander Jasper Ravi reluctantly ordered Elizabeth to be placed under arrest.

Following their arrest and internment in *Avalon's* holding cell, Elizabeth attempted to break out, to no avail. She was frustrated by Cass' growing willingness to go along with Redfield's offer, and the latter's general lack of motivation and despondancy. However, she remained confident throughout that Redfield would cause more harm than good, and would eventually be forced to let her out. Eventually, she was proven correct, when Redfield surrendered his post back to civilian control following his tumultuous attempts at controlling the fleet Shortly afterwards, Elizabeth and Cass started dating, officially..

## Personality

> *"Come on, Cass! Look at where we are! We're off the edge of the map here, this really is the unknown. It- It's been what? Three days, and we've already seen enough to completely reevaluate half of what we thought we knew about the universe. You're* allowed *to be excited."* - Elizabeth to Cassandra Farren after their arrival in CDC-41-Gamma.
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Elizabeth has a relentlessly optimistic and jovial personality that masks a strong work ethic, being a competent scientist and leader for the Avalon Exploratory Initiative. Elizabeth is an activist leader, insisting on accompanying the *Guinevere* on its exploration of a Lauralyn Conduit and its salvage of the gatehauler GH-0007-VG. Much to the consternation of both Cassandra Farren and Jasper Ravi, she dislikes being addressed as "Ma'am" and prefers to operate on first-name terms. Elizabeth's relentless interest in science and discovery means that she can act indifferent even to serious injury if something captures her interest.

Elizabeth is a smoker, plays the piano, and regularly drinks large amounts of coffee, once joking that "I take in so much caffeine that tea doesn't really register anymore."

## Relationships

### Sadavar Edric

Dr. Sadavar Edric is Elizabeth's adoptive father. Beyond that their relationship is largely unknown, however the two worked together on the plans for the Avalon Expedition, and Elizabeth spoke fondly of her father retiring to Firewatch.

### Cassandra Farren

> *"Four suits? I see you’ve given up on trying to keep me out of harm's way."*
> *"Yeah, I was trained to identify unwinnable battles."*
> - Elizabeth Ancelet and Cassandra Farren, before boarding the wreck of GH-0007-VG.
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> "Then I was expecting you to say it was a terrible, terrible idea because we’re the two most senior officials on the platform et cetera, et cetera…"
> - Elizabeth, musing on the start of their romantic relationship
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Elizabeth and Captain Cassandra Farren of the *Guinevere* share a close, romantic relationship, mostly because of Elizabeth's very open and forward personality. The two have bonded much since arriving in CDC-41-Gamma, especially after Cass agreed to take up the Defence Adjutant position. Indeed, on the strength of her war record, Elizabeth personally requested Cass for the position.

Elizabeth's cigarette habit and her energetic and optimistic personality often clashes with Cass' pessimistic, low energy persona, and her willingness to accompany the *Guinevere* into danger despite being the Expedition's leader is something Cass is often concerned by. Despite this, Elizabeth has managed to convince Cass to come along with her to social occasions, something that Tamara Melari remarked that she never accomplished herself. Other than Meds and Croft, Elizabeth is the only person with whom Cass has confided in about her Frontier War experiences and insecurities.

Following Redfield's attempted coup of the *Avalon*, Elizabeth and Cass made their relationship official, with the two sharing a kiss shortly after Elizabeth's reinstatement as Director of the expedition. They are currently dating.

### Tamara Melari

Elizabeth and Tamara 'Meds' Melari generally have a good working relationship. However, the two clashed in the aftermath of the first *Avalon* bombing when Meds insensitively suggested that the Elizabeth failed to grasp the risk of further bombings (Elizabeth being a native of the Firewatch System, which suffered a similar bombing attack in 0277 PCU). Against her better judgement, Elizabeth agreed to Meds' suggestion to move the Unioner complement off the *Avalon* while the investigation was ongoing, resulting in the loss of much of the Unioner contingent in the destruction of the *Abigail* in the second *Avalon* bombing.

In the aftermath of the near-disaster on the Vitrified Planet, Elizabeth approached Meds for advice on how best to help Cass through her traumatic memories. Meds assured her that she had achieved more in helping Cass than anything she had achieved in the past four years.

### Mathias Croft

> *"Hey Croft… Am I good here? From what I'm hearing it sounds like four's a crowd on this ship. I don't want to be an intruder."*
> *"You're good, Boss. You work in space long enough, and you figure out that the part of a ship that needs the most care and attention is the crew. You've got to quietly look out for them, find the little frictions and smooth them over, keep an eye on how they feel... just be there for them. She likes having you around Boss, and so do I."*
> - Elizabeth Ancelet and Mathias Croft aboard the *Guinevere*.
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Elizabeth has a positive working and social relationship with Mathias Croft, who regards her as a good leader of the Avalon Exploratory Initiative and a good friend to the crew of the *Guinevere*.

### Jasper Ravi

> *"No crazy parties while I'm away, Lieutenant."*
> *"I think that's more your area ma'am."*
> *"Damn straight."*
> - Elizabeth Ancelet and Jasper Ravi.
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Used to a more formal command style from Centran Defence Force commanding officers, Lieutenant Jasper Ravi was initially surprised by Elizabeth's energetic and optimistic personality and her insistence on first-name terms. Elizabeth trusted Ravi's competence enough to feel able to leave him in command of the *Avalon* in her absence while she accompanied the crew of the *Guinevere* on an exploratory mission down a Lauralyn Conduit.

### Castian Vadric

> *I don't know what your people want or why they've attacked us. But I want to learn. I've seen your scripts and your architecture, your race is clearly capable of great beauty. I want us to understand each other. Human and Advari."*
> - Elizabeth Ancelet to Castian Vadric.
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Following his capture by the crew of the CSV *Shabayev*, Elizabeth interviewed Inquisitor Castian Vadric of the Holy Advari Empire, becoming the first Human to successfully communicate with another sapient species. Vadric was surprised when Elizabeth managed to converse with him in rudimentary Advari, and gave her his name in response. After this, Elizabeth ordered that he be brought aboard the *Avalon* for immediate medical treatment. After Vadric acquired an understanding of Centran, Elizabeth interviewed him again, and admitted apprehension towards the Advari but expressed the hope that each could understand the other. Vadric warned Elizabeth that more Advari ships would be coming to attack the Expedition Fleet.

## Behind the Scenes

Elizabeth Ancelet is voiced by Emily Serdahl.

As part of a post made in celebration of Bisexual Visibility Day, Elizabeth was confirmed as Bisexual. This makes Elizabeth the first character in *The Sojourn* to be confirmed LGBTQ+. She was included alongside Cass in 2022's Pride Month Celebration.

## Appearances

* "Pilot"
* Anthology Shorts
	+ *Skeleton Crew*
	+ *Discontinuity* (Mentioned)
	+ *Scar Tissue*
* Season 1
	+ *The Cold Divide*
	+ *Inclement Weather*
	+ *Yesterday's War*
	+ *Dust and Shadow*
	+ *The Promised Land*
	+ *Theirs Not to Make Reply*

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 *The Cold Divide*
2. ↑ *The Sojourn Visual Dictionary - Volume One*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 *Dust and Shadow*
4. ↑ *Centrum Broadcast Radio: 45th of Solstice, 304 PCU*
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 *Inclement Weather*
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 *Yesterday's War*
7. ↑ *The Promised Land*
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 *Theirs Not to Make Reply*
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Theirs Not to Reason Why*
10. ↑ *Scar Tissue*
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 *Skeleton Crew*
12. ↑ [1]
13. ↑ https://twitter.com/TheSojournHQ/status/1541828782259961857?s=20&t=N6MZcfR8MqII5wbIShx4dQ