Jayde
From Changeling Venue
| Seeming | Elemental Snowskin |
|---|---|
| Court | Winter Court ••••• |
| Freehold | Aisling |
| Player | Miguel Duran |
Contents |
Overview
Alias(es): The Eibon Jayde (Ebon Jade?), The Jayded One, Aedan Jayde, Darask, Munoz
Real Name: Michael Durham (nom de plume?)
Age: 32
Concept: Embittered romantic, the Valmont who Lived (Rather Unhappily), Creative Writing Professor and Novelist, the Dragon in Winter
Entitlement: Aside from a healthy sense thereof, none as yet.
Appearance (Mask): Michael Durham appears to be a strikingly good-looking young man of Hispanic descent in his early 30's. His relatively thin frame is in fairly good shape, albeit lacking definition. He wears his short black hair slicked back and tends to dress in conservative dark apparel which complements his almond skin tone.
Appearance (Mein): Jayde's seeming is faded and pale, with eyes of reflective black ice and silver, frost-rimed hair. Cold winds ripple across his being and when he speaks, the sound of tiny bells and, distantly, faint feminine laughter whispers in the distance. The intensity of his beauty is second only to that of the Fairest and it is clear that he has some understanding of the Vainglorious arts which, in turn, complement his naturally handsome features.
Relevant Mechanics: Striking Looks 4, Mantle 5, Fame 3 (Well-known fantasy/horror fiction writer and professor at the University of Washington -- somewhat infamous among fellow academics as a "hack"), New Identity (and then some)
Character Livejournal: enmissuenos
He Walks the Miracle Mile With a Rhinestone Smile
Lies Agreed Upon
Basic Timeline:
June 29, 1974 -- Born to loving parents in Austin, Texas.
December 21, 1990 -- Taken.
January 3, 2006 -- Returns through Hedge rather unhappily to Austin, Texas.
January 17, 2006 -- Decides there is very little of interest left in Austin. Meets David "Gilded" Manning in somewhat eye-opening fashion. Stumbles north.
January 17, 2006 through August 2006 -- Roadtrip!
August 2006 -- Arrives in Seattle, Washington. Begins to insinuate self with local artist and writers community.
December 2006 -- First novel, "Ash Above, Snow Below", published. Sales are massive, as is critical disdain.
September 2007 -- Second novel, "Of Lilies and Remains", published. Sales continue to be extraordinary, with the book reaching #4 on Amazon's genre bestseller list. Strangely, Durham does not appear to be gaining much, if any, material wealth from the sales.
November 2007 -- Durham accepts a post as a creative writing professor at the University of Washington, beginning in the 2008 Spring Semester.
Current Activities:
Hard at work on his third novel.
Once and Twice Upon a Time:
Once upon a time, I was a Prince of Winter. Twice upon a time, I watched a Dreaming die.
It begins with a girl. A girl with fire in her hair, her eyes, her voice, her heart. A girl who made me believe she saw something in me when I was too old to believe in monsters under the bed and too young not to believe in her. If she'd found me before or after, I'd've never chosen to let her choose me. But if's are best left drowning in the river before the Cold takes them and causes them to be forgotten forevermore.
I thought she'd called me across to be her Love, but as it turned out, the Lady already had one. An old and powerful Lord who led me to believe that he'd teach me all of his secrets of war and politics if I contracted with him as his pupil, as his pawn, as his toy. I thought I was a Prince, but time would teach me otherwise. And I thought that she and I had a secret, that she loved me with all her heart, that she would see me someday, somehow transformed into something as beautiful and terrible as her Lord. I have a hard time sleeping some nights when I remember how much I wanted that, how much I might want it still.
I don't know how many strange wars, courtly intrigues and mysterious quests I pursued on their behalf. In the end, was any of it even real or was it all just scripted play that offered him something to joke about with his counterparts behind closed doors? I can't say for certain. Perhaps I never truly wanted to know at that time.
All that matters is that I grew older and wiser and, at some point, they grew tired of me. On one night, they revealed their cosmic joke to me and, laughing all the while, exiled me from their palace, their hounds chasing my every step.
For over two years, I ran. My shoes cracked and fell away from my feet, my clothes became tatters. My face was lost and found again in a mess of mud and scratches and frozen tears. Where once I had been radiant, a glowing emblem of the supposed tutelage of my noble mentors, my form came to know less of fire and light and more of the frost and shadow that had overtaken my heart.
Perhaps if I'd crossed before their betrayal, I would have kept my old oaths and understandings and emerged as one of the Fairest. But that was not to be, for all that had once been Fair was now lost in Winter. For when they chased me across the Hedge and back to that mundane, pitiful, and yet vital and necessary world which I had called home for sixteen years and from which I had been absent just as long, all that I knew as I stepped into the misted rains of Seattle was Cold.
Do I hate my former masters and, if so, is that born from the hate I bear myself for loving them so? Have I embraced my new home here or do I long for the lie? What would I do, were I to stand before Her once more?
For these questions, as yet, I have no answer. I have even taken His name, as a reminder of what I wished to be and what I yet wish to kill.
Once upon a time, albeit much diminished and within a court that is merely of Shadow, I am and will be a Prince of Winter,
Twice upon a time, in this world and the last, I watch and will watch a Dreaming die.
And so shall it be in these final sixteen years, in my twilight, in my winter.
The Devil's Disciples
This space to be filled with allies, friends, lovers (ha!), compatriots, and what-not.
- Bianca Snow - Still as beautiful as ever. In hindsight, not killing her that evening was one of the better decisions I've made since returning.
- Francis Hudson - Efficient. Very efficient. And a man of discretion. I'd recommend him thoroughly, but fear that the day might come when I would have to wipe out the rest of his Rolodex in order to secure his attentions upon a matter of no small importance. Best to keep that task... simple, then.
- Althea Sexton - Do I adore or despise her? Both, I think. She is water -- fluid, deep, mercurial. While she has come as close to Winter as I, she has not yet let its touch harden her heart. When the worst comes, when she faces inevitability, I want to be there to watch."
- David "Gilded" Manning - Too many people focus on his 'strength', his 'purpose'. I don't know much about the man who pointed me north, but I do know this. That strength and purpose is only useful so long as the wrath it drives is pointed in the right direction. But what happens the day Gilded gets the wrong man? What happens when he realizes it? What do we find beneath the gold flake then?
- Doctor Emil Zahne - Sometimes the Doctor becomes the Patient, albeit only when he so allows. I normally hate his kind, but we found common ground together during that winter in Pittsburgh. Ground steeped in blood. Her death was a necessary part of his emergence into the life Fate has decreed for him. Make no mistake, that ground will bear fruit, even as other lives must end to feed it.
- Crystal - A curiosity who came to me during the Hunt at the Great Gather of 2007. A lovely creature who speaks in riddles and has obviously known tragedy. And somehow she ended up where I first emerged. Perhaps our meeting was no coincidence...
- Handsome Susan - From Susan: If being and doing are one, then as I am a thug, we are allies.
The Devil's Due
This space to be filled with all sorts of folk and fae who formerly fit into the above category as well as some individuals who -never- really liked the lad.
Various Sources Plundered
- Clive Owen is a beautiful man and one who two different people have told me I vaguely resemble. That's good enough for me to feed my vanity.
- Ashes and Snow is a fantastic exhibit that must be seen to be believed.
- Of Lilies and Remains is, of course, a fantastic Bauhaus song.
- Neil Gaiman's Stardust is an obvious cite, but such a lovely one to read.
- Romeo is Bleeding will always be my anti-hero inspiration, and for good reason.
- The BBC's Urban Gothic is a trashy good watch and it's distracted me enough to keep me from putting together a Deadwood concept.
- I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for 'The Shadow Court'. For what are hopefully obvious reasons.
- Jayde is a bad spelling of an old Dungeons & Dragons character from high school. All other similarities and allusions are entirely coincidental.
- Cool Air by H. P. Lovecraft may have offered a thought or two.
- Gandahar / Light Years inspired a lovely little writing tool that I used in my own fashion.
- Frank White from 'King of New York' is a huge inspiration on multiple levels.
Chimes In The Snow
Track 1: Into the Hedge -- Cold Cold Water -- Mirah
Track 2: Not a Bad Man -- These Things -- She Wants Revenge
Track 3: Intoxication -- Pumpkin -- Tricky
Track 4: Manufactured Bliss -- Skin and Lye -- Malign
Track 5: The Request -- Cold -- The Cure
Track 6: The Refusal -- Colder -- Lycia
Track 7: The Resolution -- Frozen -- Collide
Track 8: One Last Night in Paradise -- If Only Tonight We Could Sleep -- The Cure
Track 9: 40 Days -- Goddess of the Green Fields -- Lycia
Track 10: Purgatory -- Nobody Home -- Pink Floyd
Track 11: Release the Hounds -- Black Wave / Bad Vibrations -- Arcade Fire
Track 12: What Dreams May Come (Tell Me What Is Reality) -- Sumerland (What Dreams May Come) (live) -- Fields of the Nephilim
Track 13: Two Hearts, One Jade -- Blood Promise (live) -- SWANS
Track 14: What's in the Jar? -- Don't Fade Away (live) -- Dead Can Dance
Memorable Quotes and Insights From Others
"Jayde? Oh, you should believe everything you hear of him. The Ebon Prince is indeed as wicked as rumoured and more." - Bianca
"The world would be a whole lot better if someone could just convince him that he's a good guy. Of course, the world would be a whole lot better if cars ran on laughter instead of gasoline, too. Somehow, I think the car thing is more likely." - Dr. Emil Zahne
"Oh yeah, meet him down in Texas when I was on a business trip. Told him he should really take a look at the Pacific Northwest, I had some friends up there. He seemed a Seattle guy, not a Texas guy." - Gilded
Danger: Unstable Ice
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- "Michael Durham" doesn't actually do any of his own writing. He takes the credit, but the author is a mortal who's fallen victim to the Ebon Jade's unique... charms.
- The reason the handsome Jayde refuses intimacy or intercourse of any sort is hidden in the secret of his Mantle. He has embraced the Cold of Winter to such an extent that his heart is now ice. Should it one day melt, so shall he.
- Bianca Snow and Jayde made a illicit pact together which consumed their hearts leaving both of them with only icy voids.
- Jayde's scorn for the so-called Dukes and Duchesses of the Icebound Heart is already legendary.
- There is a Code within Jayde's works that, when broken, reveals within their texts the darkest of his deeds in Arcadia.
- Jayde himself does not know the cypher for the Code and seeks desperately to discover it before another.
- Jayde has been involved in a torrid affair with Bianca Snow -- it is her money that has financed his book deals and bought his undeserved academic position.
- Jayde worked closely with Francis Hudson in early 2007 to find a tome of some significance. Rumors of possible diabolism circulated, but neither he nor Hudson have spoken of it since.
- Jayde was never far from Althea Sexton's side at the recent gathering in Nashville and accompanied her on the Hunt beyond the Hedge. While he served as her right hand there, his true motivations for joining the gather were far from selfless.
- The last time Jayde went to visit Doctor Emil Zahne, a young girl ended up dead and the good Doctor found his way into the Winter Court shortly thereafter.
- When Jayde is accompaned by The Blackthorn Wolf, almost certainly will The Lady of the Bitter Sea's hand be guiding their searches.
