Vasilissa

**Vasilissa** is a classless Seelie fae, and a member of the Coalition of the Classless.

## Life

It's unknown if she was alive before Olphix and Davix created the classless as batteries, in order to gather power over time that the Mages would later take for themselves at their leisure.

Since Gwyn ap Nudd requests Marika's help to ask for representatives from the Seelie classless fae as part of the Coalition of the Classless, it's likely Marika reaches out to Vasilissa as an attendee. Vasilissa later appears at the Coalition as one of the Seelie representatives. The Coalition decides on and imposes sanctions on both Courts to end Albion's war with the Unseelie Court, stopping them from sending their militaries against each other, outside of territorial disputes, for a decade. Albion is to stop bothering inter-alignment communities, and Gwyn is to stop assassinating Seelie Courtiers and calling in his life debts to disrupt Seelie politics. The Coalition also assigns two members of the Coalition to serve as observers at the opposing alignment's Court, to make sure they are following through with the sanctions, though Old Pete serves as the Seelie representative to the Unseelie Court.

When Olphix steals the powers of the Classless during the ice plague, it's implied that Olphix takes some or all of Vasilissa's powers, though Vasilissa's fate is unknown.

## Folklore/Mythology

**'***Vasilisa the Beautiful* (Russian: Василиса Прекрасная) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in *Narodnye russkie skazki*.' In the tale, the human child Vasilisa was given a doll by her dying mother, and told to feed the doll. Vasilisa did as told, and the doll comforted her. Vasilisa's father remarried, and her stepmother forced Vasilisa to do many chores. Although Vasilisa had many suitors, her stepmother rejected all of them, as Vasilisa was youngest, and no one came to ask for the hands of her two older stepsisters. The stepmother then had Vasilisa go fetch fire for light from Baba Yaga. The doll told Vasilisa to go, and off she went. On the journey, 'a mysterious man rode by her in the hours before dawn, dressed in white, riding a white horse whose equipment was all white; then a similar rider in red.' Vasilisa finally arrived at Baba Yaga's hut, and a black rider rode past her. Baba Yaga had Vasilisa perform tasks to earn the fire, or perish. Vasilisa did many chores, working to exhaustion, even when Baba Yaga left. The doll told Vasilisa to rest, and the doll would complete the tasks, so Vasilisa did so. Baba Yaga returned and was satisfied in the task's completion. Vasilisa asked about the identity of the three riders, and Baba Yaga explained they were Day, Sun, and Night. When Baba Yaga asked how Vasilisa had completed the tasks, Vasilisa said 'by my mother's blessing', and Baba Yaga threw her out of the house with 'a skull-lantern full of burning coals, to provide light for her step-family.'

In her absence, her stepfamily was unable to light anything for light, and the coals from the lantern burned the stepfamily to death. Vasilisa buried the skull according to the skull's instructions, so no one else would be harmed. 'Later, Vasilisa became an assistant to a maker of cloth in Russia's capital city, where she became so skilled at her work that the Tsar himself noticed her skill' and eventually married her. In some versions of the story, Vasilisa lives with her father after the death of her stepfamily.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 6 September 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/37093806. Chapter 28: Like Batteries.
2. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 6 February 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7205945. Chapter 29: Classless.
3. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 14 August 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/10409742. Chapter 56: Islands.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Vasilisa the Beautiful". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasilisa\_the\_Beautiful. Accessed 2 May 2021.