I was ever a fighter, so --one fight more,
The best and the last!
-Robert Browning, "Prospice"

Repeated bouts of terrible personal tragedy ignited in Abigail "Abbie" Nadine Taylor a burning resolve to love precious life and laughter with a fierce passion, to spit defiance at the darkness of the world so often visited upon her by trying to fill that world around her with joy and light. To Abigail, despair and sorrow are real, tangible enemies she has unconciously sworn vengence upon with every fiber of her being. She knows how terrible grief and loss can be. That's why she fights so hard to be a friend, loyal and true. She knows the world is filled with gloom --that's why she tries to make it smile. Her personality is not due to ignorance of the world's darkness --it is an act of war upon it.

As a mortal, those who knew her would say that she was the perpetually cheerful, always enthusiastic, at times silly, at times sappy, the jokester and hopeless romantic. They'd also call her the single best listener they'd ever known, one of the best friends a person could ever have, and a woman who would stand to the death to protect those she cared about. As a mortal, she poured her energies and talents into trying to make a hopelessly gloomy world a little bit lighter and brighter, and protect those around her as best as she could. Now a Noble, she strives to shape the awesome power of her dark Estate to do precisely the same thing. Abigail was born to serve the cause of the Light even before she knew there was a cause to serve.

Appearance and Gifts

Abigail is a ordinary-looking woman of indeterminate south-east Asian ancestry. Long black hair down past her shoulders, brown eyes, a bit on the short side of height, fit but very average looking. Other than a semi-circular scar under right eye, no other tattoos or birthmarks or other features. In a Mythic world where often Nobles possess a beauty that can ignite uncontrollable desire, Abigail is not ugly, per se, but nor is she anything remarkable --at first glance.

For those, however, who stop to talk with Abigail for more than a moment, Abigail has a presence around her that affects all around her in a fundamental way. To those who take more than a cursory glance, Abigail possesses a particular kind of beauty. It is not the lustiness of a lingerie model, or the icy perfect elegance of the Fae nobility, but rather the beauty that every child sees in their mother, or that every father seens in their daughter on her wedding day. The beauty one remembers of the sweet girl next door or their first innocent love, a beauty that moves the heart instead of igniting the loins.

The upshot is that in Abigail's presence, people feel comfortable, relaxed, willing to trust her to keep a secret, inclined to talk, to unload, to be vulnerable, to take Abigail in as a confidant. People like to talk to Abigail, in any of her forms or roles. She very quickly becomes close friends with the people she meets, and they become willing to stick by her side even into the mouth of Hell -- as she would for them; for unlike many others, that projection is not merely a trick but is a true relfection of Abigail's character, taking on a noble power of its own (Glorious).

Abigail seeks first and always opportunities to try to make the world a better place, even if at personal cost. She is not stupid --self-destruction serves noone and nothing (although some things are worth dying for)-- and she accepts that it is not possible to help everyone at once. She understands prioritization is necessary. But what little is in her power that she can do, she will strive, constantly and ever, to do. Necessity and need, not spite, desire, pride or comfort, are the polestars Abigail does her best to be guided by; if there is any way to be helpful, she will find it; while there is help that she can give and strength within her to give it, she will, cheerfully and with an open heart. (Virtue: Selfless)

Abbie the Pooka, her beloved role-playing character for which she as well known as her own mortal persona, was a bounty hunter and adventurer, with a fearsome skill with the pistols almost as great as the size of her heart. That has become a part of Abigail the Noble. (Legendary Gunfighter) Finally, the great pain that has been a part of Abigail's life has built in Abigail strength and endurance. Now her Noble self is tougher and heals faster than most of her compatriots, being one step short of Immortal's resiliance. (Greater Durant)

Sleep tight. /
No harm tonight, /
In starry skies /
The Zimmer flies.

-Paul Zimmer, "The Great Bird of Love"

It is by fear that Noble love is supressed. It is by fear that Noble freedom is constrained. It is by fear that Lord Entropy's laws maintain their grip over all the Noble Earth; fear of punishment, fear of pain, fear of loss, fear of death: by these means is the rule of the Darkest Lord and every lesser crown, from Imperators to mortal tyrants, maintained. Without fear the laws collapse; without laws order collapses; without order, Creation itself disintegrates into chaos. Some say gravity holds together the universe; others say the push and pull of electrostatic charges or sub-atomic quarks. The wise know that Creation is truly held together by threads of love --and chains of fear.

The Estate of Fear is not the pitiful breezes or drizzles other Estates are; it is the Tempest of Tempests, a raw force of nature before which almost all else gives way. It is not the hill, valley or pillar of rock; it is the tectonic plate upon which all else rest, whose movements shake down empires and raise mountains. It is not a mere aspect of Creation: it is one of the foundations upon which Creation is built. Wild, all-pervading, awesomely powerful: the Estate of Fear is the weapon by which the enemies of justice and Order fall and the laws preserved; and the Domina of Fear is the hand that shapes the most powerful of swords. It is a power that can --has-- corrupted utterly many in the past, used for oppression rather than justice. It remains to be seen if the current holder of the Office can do any better.

Abigail brings an unusual aspect to the Estate of Fear --warmth and compassion. In Abigail's mind, her Estate is not served when the innocent fear and the guilty escape her Estate's grasp. Fear is not glorified by mere volume or quantity; the firepower of her Estate without direction is no better than meaningless fireworks: sound and fury, accomplishing nothing. There is no majesty in the tremblings of the oppressed; no triumph in the terror of defenseless children. But when the injust tyrant rings himself with hired swords, wards himself with deadly magicks, raises mighty ramparts to hide behind and *still* cannot escape the reach of Fear, in that is the Estate exalted. Fear is the edge of the sword of Justice, the threat that stays the hand of the oppressor, the sword to be unleashed on the enemies of the innocent and Creation, to be steered from where it is wasted to where it can take full bloom. Fear needs not a gardener but a shepherd; it is not a fragile flower to be pampered but a pack of Creation's fiercest hounds, and the Domina of Fear is the Huntswoman. Fear suffered by the innocent is not a natural state of affairs but a symptom of Creation undermined by Excrucians or traitors; and as such, kindness to the victims is not just morally justified, but practically expedient --a little kindness in this hope-starved world can reap many times its weight in leads, loyalty, and cooperation. In such ways does Abigail work to stay true to her Affiliation and to herself in service to Creation and to her Estate.

Weaknesses

While some Nobles have no qualms about using their Anchors as tools and pawns, Abigail cares deeply about her own as individuals, and would never --could never-- do the same. Indeed, Abigail took her Anchors as the only way she could protect those she cared most about and not run afoul of the Code.

Fate has taken away Abigail's mortal family; Lord Entropy's Laws --above all the Windflower law-- have taken away Abigail's friends. Even if she was willing to risk the Locus Court's wrath on herself, she knows fully the cruel powers of the Darkest Lord would more easily destroy all that she valued as a mortal instead. To her is lost all that she cared about in a life now gone. These sorrows, with all the others, she bears; her duties, she accepts.

All that remains are those people the Law *does* permit Abigail to care for; her Anchors, her Chancel, and above all, the Familia who are now the last brothers and sisters she will ever have. For them, no burden is too heavy, no sacrifice too great, and no price too high to pay to protect her people and her Familia against unjust assault. It is irrelevant to Abigail whether or not that feeling is returned --you don't take care of family just because they do things for you. You take care of your own because that's what it *means* to be family, whether or not they take care of you. Quite simply, anyone who seeks to unjustly harm her brother or sisters Caelestis will have to outflank or destroy Abigail first. Nothing but the most awesomely hideous of crimes or treason on the part of her Familia could ever convince Abigail to do otherwise; mere risk or threat of total destruction or excruciating pain would not sway her for a moment, not in defense of her Familia. Most call this kind of self-sacrfice and loyalty a weakness. Abigail would live no other way.

Design

Abigail's primary design is composed of the flowers of Fear and Camaraderie, the Oleander and the Bog Orchid, entwined around a cadecus on a field of grey with a raindrop pattern.

In many traditions, the Oleander, Nerium Oleander, stood for caution, another term for fear; but too for Beauty and Grace. The blooms are a partially closed red, for valor, war, and the Valade Bellum; rough textured leaves in an alternate pattern for Creation and the element of fire. The Bog Orchid, Platanthera hyperborea, a trumpet-like open green flower with radical leaves, is Abigail's personal: the bloom for joy and friendship in abundance, the leaves for endurance and the element of Spirit.

The Hollyhock and Bog Orchid flank the cadecus, their vines entwined around the shaft; all three elements form the lower two thirds of Abigail's full sigil. The grey field parts in the upper third like clouds, and in that top third through a starry night sky a golden hound leaps; the ancient heraldic symbol for courage, vigilence and loyalty, the symbol Abigail has chosen for herself. Around the design is a circular border of green and red, notched as a Raguly line, for difficulties encountered and endured.

Associated Non-Player Characters

Erin McGowan is Abigail's oldest friend outside of her family, a classmate during high school, college, and graduate school, a talented engineer, an even more talented swordsman and dancer; and an hobbyist blacksmith. Erin and Abigail have been like twin sisters all those years, supporting each other and befriending each other through high and low. They are, in many regards, like yin and yang, perfectly complementary: Abigail doesn't drink, and Erin can drink virtually any two men under your table of choice; Erin was a jock to Abbie's geekery, although both were superb students; Abbie had nearly inhuman patience even with those who vexed Abigail, while Erin was quite often a hot-tempered firebrand without mercy for those who insulted Erin or Erin's friends; Abigail has a meticulous preparation for contingencies that borders almost on quiet paranoia, while Erin cheerfully lets details fly to the wind and optimistically asserts all will be well --and has the luck of the Irish --or the devil-- that it almost always does. Abigail has had two long-term boyfriends, while Erin tended to be a flirt --with women just as much, if not more so, than men. (Which in some regards explained the lack of jealousy Erin had for Abbie's long relationships.)

BIOGRAPHY

Due to character limitations on this site, the biography appears here.