House Slvanna

Unlike most noble houses in Irna, House Slvanna passes the title through the first-born daughter. Males from other houses who marry into it renounce their family names entirely and take on Slvanna as their own. This typically draws second or third sons, or men already disgraced in their own families. House Slvanna understands this dynamic and works it to their advantage. The family has both human and elven lineage. The name Slvanna is also the name the queen assumes upon rising to the throne—no queen may rule for more than two centuries, and her successor is selected from the court's most renowned ladies.

The woman the court now calls only Queen Slvanna was born Holly Jofir, from the Bellree Forest. She is several centuries old and in the final decade of her rule, 5'10" and 145 pounds, with deep emerald eyes and silver hair braided at the sides into a single braid down the back. At public events she wears the house's blue and red gowns laced with pearls. Around Marwen she wears a simple elven gown. She always has the Slvanna crest on her.

Holly is an accomplished wizard and has continued to grow in power since taking the throne, though governing leaves less time for it than she would like. She relies on Hass to handle the more mundane aspects of rule while she focuses on what she considers the most important work of her final decade: preparing the kingdom for the coming war with Oshala.

Hass, a high elf from the Bellree Forest, is 6'2" and 170 pounds, the same age as his wife, with sandy brown eyes and light brown hair worn long in a short ponytail. He moves with an elven grace that is genuine, if slightly less striking than hers. He always wears the Slvanna crest on a brooch, and typically dresses to match the queen—royal red and blue in public, simple elven clothes at home.

He and Holly identified each other as a path to power early in their lives and spent a century building toward it: diplomatic connections, traded favors, cultivated loyalty. Holly was the external face; Hass worked behind it, securing allegiances and handling the transactions that required no public record. He is a powerful druid—second only to Seamus Dirtfoot in Irna—and still makes time to practice, though governing has become the primary work. He and Holly are preparing the kingdom for war.

Haleth is quite possibly the most beautiful person in a room at any given moment, provided she is sitting still. She is quite clumsy otherwise—trips and falls with a frequency she has turned into practiced theater: the giggle, the joke, the immediate recovery. She is envious of her mother's almost angelic grace and manages this by not mentioning it. She is just under 100 years old, 5'9" and 130 pounds, with yellow eyes and golden hair she keeps short over her mother's explicit objection. She avoids the royal blue and red when she can—she believes they clash with her coloring—and wears simple natural-toned gowns when permitted.

Haleth was raised to adulthood before her parents took the throne, which gave her more latitude to be herself than most noble children get. She lives in the castle and spends her time at court. She uses her appearance as a working tool when her parents need leverage with someone—her mother will sometimes direct her attention toward a specific man; she sometimes acts on her own judgment. She finds this straightforward. She has not yet settled into her first marriage, in part because her lack of grace has cost her relationships she actually wanted, and she is only somewhat successful at being cavalier about this.

Jonath is a half-elf in his 80s, 5'10" and built for structural load-bearing, with black hair shaved close on the sides and back with tufts spiked upward on top, and brown eyes. He accentuates his pointed ears. He is always in the crown's colors regardless of occasion and treats this as non-negotiable. He does not make small talk—when he speaks, it means something.

He is Holly's nephew, the product of her sister's relationship with a human. He grew up in a large elf population and spent his childhood being reminded he was not entirely one of them, which taught him to require very little from other people's approval. He has wanted to serve the queen since he was old enough to say so; he got there. He commands the queen's personal guard, hand-picks every soldier on any given detail, and serves as the vanguard wherever she goes. He would die for the queen without deliberation. He has also, for the entirety of his adult life, wanted to pursue an elven woman and never quite managed to ask.

Gavric, in his late 40s, is lean and wiry with salt-and-pepper hair kept short and ice-blue eyes that take in more than his expression gives back. He wears dark, unassuming clothes that allow him to go unnoticed in most settings. He is Queen Slvanna's spymaster—he gathers intelligence, identifies threats, and ensures problems are addressed before they require public solutions. His loyalty to the crown was built through years of service rather than any particular moment of conversion, and is the stronger for it.

Seraphine, in her early 200s, is tall and slender, with long silver hair kept in intricate braids and vibrant green eyes that always seem to be smiling, as if she knows something the people around her don't. She usually does. She wears flowing gowns in greens and silvers.

She manages the royal family's public image: shaping perception, directing court opinion, ensuring that whatever the family has actually done is understood in the version most useful to them. She is charming, warm in presentation, and not to be confused with actually warm. She is fiercely loyal to the Jofir family and will do whatever the work requires.