Marian Castelli

## Relationships

### Family

Lucian Castelli (father, status unknown), Erica Castelli (mother, dead); Vera Castelli (17, sister, dead)

### Romantic Interests

Phoenyx Burnstar (I have no idea what's going on between them tbh but there's a lot of ~tension~)

## Out of World Info

### Designed By

Me

Marian was created for an RP on Scratch called The Tenebris. She's fantastic and amazing and I really love her even though I have had her for less than a day at the time of writing this. She holds the record for longest bio to date that I have created, with 20 comments and over 1700 words. I freaking love her.

## Appearance

### Simple Appearance

Marian is an elegant young woman with shoulder length brown hair and green eyes. She has several scars, particularly across her shoulders.

### Detailed Appearance

Marian Castelli spends as much time as she can keeping up the “lady” part of “lady thief.” There’s a certain easy grace to her, a nonchalant and unconcerned aspect where she knows what she’s doing and she knows that she’s good at it. Marian pours a lot of effort into looking effortless and if that doesn’t tell you everything about her as a character, I’m not sure what will. She’s roughly average height, standing at about 5’5. Marian is very agile and flexible, able to get herself into and out of a variety of situations. Her hair is not the soft, sleek curtain to her elbows it once was - she cut it to her shoulders and lets it do its own thing. Her hair is wavy and fluffy and wild. In color, her hair is a dull dark brown. Her gaze is sharp, hawklike - there’s nothing that escapes her notice, generally. Her eyes are a soft mossy green and despite her easy demeanor, her eyes remain guarded. Marian often has a sly smirk and it takes a lot to rattle her out of her default nonchalance. A few scars mar her smooth skin, mainly across her shoulders. A thin scar runs vertical across the left side of her lips. Another scar marks her right forearm and each of her legs bears a scar, a thin diagonal one on her right thigh and a long, thin, vertical one that traces almost her entire left thigh. She wears a very distinctive perfume, one of the last gifts she got in her old life. The original bottle ran out, but the strong scent of wildflowers and lemon clings to her. She managed to track down the creator and get it replaced.

For clothing, Marian takes her status or at the very least her former status very seriously. She dresses well as often as she can, stealing what she no longer has and making what she can’t steal. Maybe her childhood sewing lessons did pay off. There’s a certain balance between practicality and style that Marian strikes. Her most common outfit is a deep red off-the-shoulder shirt with black pants. She mainly wears a pair of soft-soled black leather boots, as well as always having her bag of essentials with her. After her life fell apart, Marian really embraced some of the darker aesthetics of the world. Her favorite article of clothing, which she does not wear very often but frequently has rolled around some of her more precious belongings and tucked very carefully in her bag, is a velvet gown in rich purple. For her, it’s a reminder of a better time. The other important piece of clothing that she wears often is a gray wool cloak. She mainly wears it in the winter, when it gets colder, but she uses it as a pillow or blanket at night year round. Marian also notably has several rings that she wears at almost all times, including one hung on a chain around her neck. In general, she favors deep red, deep purple, black, and gold for clothing.

### Breakdown

* Eye Color - Mossy Green
* Hair Color - Brown
* Hair Length - Shoulder Length
* Hair Texture - Wavy
* Skin Tone - Light
* Height - 5'5
* Weight - lbs
* Voice Claim - Audrey Hepburn

#### Design Notes

* She draws inspiration oorp from royalcore/queencore aesthetics as well as fantasy ranger aesthetics.
* Wears her father's signet ring on a chain as a necklace
* Signature colors are dark red, dark purple, black, and gold

## Personality

### Traits

#### Positive (+)

* Intelligent
* Adaptable
* Courageous/Brave
* Loyal
* Perceptive

#### Neutral (=)

* Guarded
* Enthusiastic
* Charismatic
* Dramatic
* Silver Tongue
* Independent
* Maverick
* Flirtatious

#### Negative (-)

* Reckless
* Pessimistic
* Untrustworthy
* Hedonistic
* Skeptical

### Detailed Personality

Marian is here for a good time, if not a long one. She sure is fighting for a long one, though.

Marian’s best quality, not necessarily morally, is her charisma. Marian prides herself on being charming and likable. She had a silver tongue as a child and her powers of persuasion only got better once she was relying on them to survive. She also dabbles in flirtation, partially because it’s fun and partially because it’s a good way to lower a person’s defenses and get them to trust her. She has a certain amount of femme fatale in her.

Marian is a bit of a maverick, independent and unpredictable. She relies on no one and does her best to make sure no one relies on her. She has her own way of doing things and usually the only person who knows what happens next with Marian is Marian. Not always though. She surprises herself on a regular basis.

She is also fairly well-educated and very intelligent. Not only is Marian familiar with a lot of academic topics, but she has learned a lot and picked up some instincts from her time on her own. She is not only physically flexible, but also highly mentally adaptable. Her attitude toward laws or societal expectations are loose, flexible, and flippant, but her moral code is ironclad. After all, you can’t be a lady thief if you aren’t holding yourself to *some* standards, after all. She is incredibly perceptive and few things escape her notice. Marian pays great attention to detail, which helps both with her reputation as a lady and her skills as a thief.

The last traits that could be considered positive are her courage and loyalty. Many people may be surprised by her loyalty - Marian is not a trustworthy person and she keeps mostly to herself. She is loyal to those who earn her respect, however, those who she has a connection with. Those people are few and far between now, but she still wears her father’s signet ring. She still carries and wears her perfume. She will deny any sentimentality if questioned, but Marian loved her family for all their disconnect and she still harbors a certain pride and loyalty to her roots. Her courage can be and often is better described as reckless. Marian is smart and she can create and carry out an excellent plan. She just doesn’t very often, because she is prone to distraction and challenges. She isn’t afraid of much beyond the Tenebris and approaches seemingly impossible tasks with a certain enthusiasm.

Despite her charismatic exterior, Marian is a pessimistic and somewhat jaded person. After what she’s been through, who could blame her? She is skeptical and suspicious of anything and everything upon first contact and that has kept her alive, at the very least. As noted earlier, she’s not particularly trustworthy and, despite her (probably) good heart, she looks out for herself first and will not hesitate to sacrifice to stay alive and free. She lives as pleasurable a life as she can, searching for happiness in small things and the thrill of a well-done heist.

## Background

### Childhood

Marian was born to Lucian and Erica Castelli. She had a sister named Vera, three years older than her, and they were quite close even at a young age. The Castellis were an old money family, incredibly wealthy and one of the last vestiges of the old world and high society.

The Castellis were a rather disconnected family. They weren't very close to each other with the exception of Vera and Marian. Erica and Lucien's marriage had been one of political convenience rather than love and they didn't have much time for their children among the disaster that was the world falling further and further into disrepair. See, for a while at least, money was power and thus the Castellis were part of a handful of elite families until the Tenebris started preying on them. It started with the Astor family, a close ally of the Castellis, where Sylvia Astor was consumed by the corruption. Sylvia's daughter Lydia was taken soon after and within a few years, the Tenebris' influence had spread to most of the other families.

When Marian's parents weren't being concerned about the world at large and the growing threat to their own power, they were doting on Vera. Vera Castelli was a noble girl, brave and indomitable. She intended to become a Lumen at the first chance she got, to help fight and protect her family. Marian admired everything about her. Vera was the Castelli family's golden child, the last thing right about an increasingly wrong world.

Marian didn't resent her sister. Vera was the only person who actually cared about her, and Marian could never hold their parents' mistakes against her. She did crave her parents' love and attention, though, and started trying to get their attention. The way that she found worked best was theft, which she first tried when she was eight. She stole some food from the kitchen after being told she couldn't have dessert and was caught, of course. She wasn't caught the next time, though and through trial and error, she eventually got good enough that she could start taking her parents' things.

By the time she was eleven, Marian could take whatever she wanted without repercussion. Not that her parents didn't care, just that she didn't get caught. Which seems counterproductive to her original goal, but it was Marian's proudest achievement. She at one point stole her mother's favorite necklace with the sole intention of giving it back to her and saying that she'd taken it. She got in a good deal of trouble for that, but it was worth it to Marian.

For Marian's twelfth birthday, she got a bottle of perfume from Vera. She used it incredibly sparingly so it would last longer and she loved it very much. It was one of the few gifts Marian had ever gotten despite the family's wealth because, well, her parents really didn't care that much. This perfume is the same one she has today and she is desperately searching for another bottle.

### Adolescence

Things started to go wrong when Marian was thirteen. Lucian was never a particularly warm or kind parent, but he started to get worse. He withdrew further from his family to the point where he was even distant with his wife. They had never been particularly affectionate, but Erica certainly noticed it. She was unsurprised when his eyes started to turn scarlet.

Lucian was fully overcome with Tenebris by the time Marian was fourteen. He never bothered to fight it, which surprised no one. He had always been reclusive, volatile if interrupted, and didn't seem to value his family very much. Probably because he hadn't. One otherwise normal day, while Marian was practicing her swordplay in a distant hall of the house, Lucian snapped. Overcome with the dark force, he killed Erica when she came to check on him and Vera shortly afterward.

Marian had been practicing her fencing, because rich people need hobbies too, and she found her mother and sister's bodies a few minutes later. As a reminder, she was fourteen, so naturally she was very upset. That turned into fear as her father attacked her out of seemingly nowhere. Only the sword in her hand kept her alive, since he was just as eager to not be hurt as she was. He left some nasty wounds on her shoulders as well as a few smaller injuries elsewhere, but she hurt him back almost as badly.

On the plus side, she had been preparing for something like this (though maybe not so bad) for weeks and she had a bag packed and ready to go. Among the obvious essentials, she also carried her favorite dress, the perfume Vera had given her, and her father's signet ring, which she had stolen just two weeks earlier from his bedside table. She grabbed the bag and her sword and left.

As far as Marian could tell, her father had survived and that meant that she had to keep moving. She did a very bad job of bandaging her wounds and didn't stay in the same place for more than two or three days at a time. She stole her meals and whatever else she needed. She did a decent job of surviving, even if she wasn't doing very well.

Unfortunately, she was still fourteen and had never had to do all that much for herself before. It was difficult and Marian couldn't gather everything she needed. One rainy night just a few weeks after heading off on her own, Marian was found by an elderly woman named Carrie Lovan. Mrs. Lovan had lost her granddaughter to the Tenebris and since then had been living entirely on her own. She took Marian into her home and took care of her for a while, long enough for Marian's wounds to be patched a little better and for her to get a few decent meals in her.

Mrs. Lovan worked at a local orphanage, partially to help the community and partially to have some human connection in her life again. Marian accompanied her a few times and, despite her desire to never end up there, she did recognize the good they were doing. She liked being a good person just a little bit. Not enough to give up stealing, but now she tried to get things that would benefit Mrs. Lovan or their charity work.

Marian actually settled down for a while, maybe a year and a half. Life was comfortable with Mrs. Lovan. Not what Marian was used to, of course, but it beat being alone. However, without theft to keep her life interesting, Marian struggled not to be incredibly bored all the time. She devoted her spare time to making up tall tales about her childhood to tell the younger kids at the orphanage.

By sixteen, Marian was about ready to move on. She had had enough of little kids whose dreams were just as haunted by red eyes as hers were and she wanted to get out. She packed her bag, now with a few finer things acquired in a mixture of legal and illegal ways across her time with Mrs. Lovan, and just like that she was off. With, of course, a proper goodbye to the woman who had been her caretaker and companion for nearly two years at this point and a promise to visit often.

### Adulthood

By the time she reached eighteen, Marian was fairly well experienced in her chosen line of work. She mainly stole for herself, but if someone had a job for her and was willing to pay, Marian was usually willing to do it.

She continued to contribute to the orphanage and a few other charity efforts, often by donating her ill-gotten gains. She started to think of herself as a Robin Hood-type figure, stealing from the haves to give to the have-nots. And also herself sometimes. Because Castelli was a recognizable name, particularly in the richer circles she stole from, Marian began going by a pseudonym. To honor her folkloric predecessor, she chose the name Robin. For a surname, she chose Silvertongue, honoring her ability to talk her way out of anything. Cheers babygirl you advertise the fact that you're a liar and a thief right out the gate ❤❤❤.

At nineteen, she managed to find a store on the edge of town that supplied weapons and actually saved up enough money to pay for a sturdy rapier. With a trusty sword for self-defense and an incredible skill for lying, Marian was ready to take on the world. She was also starting to codify a belief system for herself, because she needed something to hold onto when things got rough and hey, may as well be religion.

At 20, Marian had settled into a nice routine. One otherwise uneventful day, she spotted a young man on the street below. Bored, Marian decided to go bother him. She tracked him to an alleyway, where he had set up a small fire. She approached him under the pretense of being a concerned citizen who had smelled the fire and wanted to make sure everything was okay. The boy's name was Kameron, though Marian never learned that. She went on her way without much trouble.

She met a man named Tango around the same time, following him down a dark alley because he was mildly interesting. She followed him into a corner store, where he turned out to be quite chatty as well as sharp-eyed - she stole a candy bar and he noticed, even quipping about where to find more. This put Marian a little on-edge, though she kept up her charming, carefree persona through the conversation. It didn't lead to much, but it was certainly an experience.

The trajectory of Marian's life shifted one otherwise normal night when she met a man named Phoenyx Burnstar. On her way to a major heist, he spotted her and decided to follow. Marian recognized him as his alter ego, the vigilante known as the Protector. She was under the impression that the Protector was just a story told to kids to give them some hope, which was very much false. She thought he vanished after a few moments, but that wasn't the case.

He came out of an alley beside her and started to question her about what she was up to. Marian lied, of course. She started flirting a little bit, hoping to fluster him and throw him off. When charm didn't work, she resorted to saying that she had lost something that morning and was looking for it. When pressed for more information, she said it was her mother's ring and told him a modified version of her childhood, that her mother had died when she was a child and the ring was all she had left. Marian doesn't actually have any of her mother's rings - they're all hers with the exception of Lucian's signet ring. Phoenyx offered to help her look for the ring, but Marian insisted that she would be fine.

Feeling good about finally getting rid of him, Marian continued down the street. She pretended to find her ring and headed into a random building, which did not actually get rid of Phoenyx. He was a bit better than she had given him credit for. She found a random apartment that she could stay in and, to her dismay, he followed her. She opened the door, which confused him, and she proceeded to continue flirting and innocently suggesting that he was totally into her. It went poorly.

* She tried to flirt to get him to leave her alone. It didn't work, he attacked her and scraped the back of her neck, she told him he was no protector, she escaped (done)

The day after that nonsense was the anniversary of her losing her family, six years since that day. She lit a candle as she did every year, a candle for Vera. After the candle burned out, she took some food that she had actually paid for to the orphanage, another yearly tradition. Mrs. Lovan wasn't doing very well, so she was grateful for the help.

* Second meeting with Phoenix, three days after the Incident. He started to get mad at her until she ended up admitting to what happened to her family. Turns out that was #relatable and Phoenyx let her go (done)
* Met Faith & Elliot (WIP)
* Third meeting with Phoenyx, a week after the last. In a grocery store, waiting out a storm (done)

Marian was having quite the month. The storms were getting bad and she unfortunately had to be out in one of them to meet a man named Finn. Finn offered her a good sum of money to steal some drugs and herbal components for him. He was trying to create a cure for Tenebris, which he himself was infected with. She didn't know that, as he wasn't far gone enough for his eyes to turn red yet. He refused to explain what he needed them for, which was vaguely amusing to Marian. She didn't need to know, but he got very flustered when she asked, which she thought was funny.

* Encountered Che while stealing groceries (WIP)
* Fourth meeting with Phoenyx. He was sick. That's rough buddy. She made him soup and ended up sharing her real name, on purpose this time, and he shared his in return. (done)
* Fifth meetings with Phoenyx. She informed him that she was leaving the neighborhood and heading north. He's def in love with her lol (done)
* Phoenyx once again! A month later, Marian was trying to steal from formerly famous & wealthy perfumer Allen Shaw, creator of her precious perfume. Phoenyx was hired by Mr. Shaw as a guard and the two encountered each other while Marian was trying to break into Shaw's house (done)
* The next morning, she ran into Phoenyx again. Cafe, rooftop, yaddah yaddah (done)
* She meets Ryker in a corner store while picking up some band-aids. (finished)
* Evening, she's on the same rooftop. They ended up dancing and spend the night in the building (finished)
* They spend the night in the building and get breakfast the next morning
* Phoenyx proposes out of nowhere and Marian panics.

## Other

### Notes

* Marian's family wasn't particularly religious when she was growing up and, in light of the Tenebris, she doesn't feel like any particular existing religion fits her. So she made her own to help cope with her grief for admittedly mostly Vera, but the rest of her family too. I'll probably expand on it later in the backstory, but part of it definitely has to do with burning candles.
* Vera liked the stars and compared them to Lumens, "pinpricks of light helping to stave off darkness and corruption". Marian carries a fondness for them as well

### Trivia

* I want to give her a veil and/or crown later to play more into her queen aesthetic
* Marian enjoys pulling heists and is fond of fine things like silk, velvet, jewelry, etc.
* Some of Marian’s dislikes include snow, mud, and anyone who retains their wealth at this point.
* Marian has a surprising fondness for needlepoint/embroidery and sewing. Of course, her thieving falls under the category of “hobbies” sometimes. She also enjoyed learning swordplay when she was younger and is quite skilled with a blade.
* She was involved in five separate RP threads within 24 hours of her creation.
* Marian has a huge sweet tooth, particularly for chocolate.
* Marian is a Hufflepuff. They're great finders, you know. (I haven't read Harry Potter in literal years but I did take a quiz specifically for this)
* Marian's headcanon voice is Audrey Hepburn because I literally cannot stop hearing *Breakfast at Tiffany's* when I write dialogue for her. It fits with the "highborn lady" part of her, so that's what we're going with. I think it's hilarious.
* Marian's alignment is Chaotic Neutral. I would love to label her Chaotic Good but she's really not.
* Marian is very touch-starved. This should surprise no one - if you're down here, I'm assuming you've read her backstory.

### Quotes

* *"Depends on where you had in mind. I'd rather not be kidnapped on a grocery run."* - to Tango (3/21/23, The Tenebris RP)
* *"You're a deeply mistrustful person."* - to Phoenyx (3/22/23, The Tenebris RP)
* *"You know, it's customary to* ask *if a lady will take you home instead of showing up at her door unannounced."* - to Phoenyx (3/22/23, The Tenebris RP)
* *"Admiring your tenacity, darling. Not that it's going to help you at all, of course, because you still can't prove my guilt of... whatever it is you think I'm doing."* - to Phoenyx (3/23/23, The Tenebris RP)
* *"This is what a tyrant would do. There's nothing noble or protective in hurting people who have no defense."* - to Phoenyx (3/23/23, The Tenebris RP)
* *What kind of loser thought is that? You're Marian Castelli. You could rule this town if you tried, and you're just gonna give up? Absolutely not.* - thinking to herself (3/23/23, The Tenebris RP)
* *"I am Marian Castelli. You dare doubt the word of a lady? Who made you judge, jury, and executioner? I'm infuriating you? Good. Every moment you waste on me is a moment you aren't out serving what you call justice to those who don't deserve it."* - to Phoenyx (3/23/23, The Tenebris RP)
* *"Clearly you want* something*. Most people don't go dumpster diving for nothing. Don't try to deny it, you were definitely eyeing that thing."* - to Toby (3/23/23, The Tenebris RP)
* *"So yeah, I try to do something good on the anniversary, because what else am I supposed to do?"* - to Phoenyx (3/24/23, The Tenebris RP)
* *"Do know that I still hold you in the highest regard. A good man is a rare thing to find, Phoenyx."* - to Phoenyx (4/9/23, The Tenebris RP)
* *"Why? Haven't I caused you enough pain? There's nothing I can do for you, Phoenyx, no way I can help. We both know I'm more trouble than I'm worth."* - to Phoenyx (4/14/23, The Tenebris RP)
* *"I don't know anything, really. About building things, I mean. I do know some things. Just not how to make something last."* - to Phoenyx (4/17/23, The Tenebris RP) They were talking about construction but she wasn't.
* *"I'm not who you want. You'll find some girl someday, Phoenyx, and she'll be your whole world. But we both know she won't be me."* - to Phoenyx (5/13/23, The Tenebris RP)

### Links

https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/33043025/comments/ - when I feel like writing out her adulthood and getting the rest of her quotes

#### Playlist

* Atlantis - Seafret
* The Night We Met - Lord Huron
* Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
* Why Should I Worry - Billy Joel (covered by Annapantsu)
* Never Love an Anchor - The Crane Wives
* right where you left me - Taylor Swift
* Baby One More Time - Brittany Spears
* Magnetic - Seafret
* I Did Something Bad - Taylor Swift