"She who faces death by torture for each life beneath her breast
May not deal in doubt or pity- must not swerve for fact or jest
These be purely male diversions- not in these her honour dwells
She the other law we live by, is that law and nothign else.

She can bring no more to living than the powers that make her great
As the Mother of the Infant and the Mistress of the Mate
And when Babe and Man are Lacking and she strides unclaimed to claim
Her right as femme (and baron), her equipment is the same.

She is wedded to convictions- in default of grosser ties;
Her contentions are her children, Heaven help him who denies!-
He will Meet no suave discussion, but the instant, white-hot, wild,
Wakened female of the species warring as for spouse and child.

And She knows, because She warns him, and her instincts never fail,
That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male"

~Excerpts from 'The Female of the Species'by Kipling

Overview

Contents 1 Overview 2 History 3 Cast of Characters 4 Inspirations 5 Quotes 6 Rumors 7 Soundtrack

Real Name: Not commonly known

Alias: Kalen Blazenheart

Age: Apparent age is mid to late 40's

Seeming: Beast

Kith: Hunterheart

Aspect: Wolverine

Court: Summer, Mantle 3

Keeper: The Primordial Stalker of Eternity's Undoing

Apperance:
Mein: Kalen is strong and well muscled woman of average height. Despite her lean warrior’s build she is still rather curvy and comes across as very earthy and female. She favors non-nonsense clothing, usually seen either in jeans or snug-fitting black leather armor which does nothing to hide her figure. Of the Beasts, she exudes a predatory, feral grace and exhibits several bestial features including: dark fathomless eyes, taloned hands and feet, and lots of wild dark brown and black hair, with a few silver streaks, that is usually full of dozens of small braids. Her mien radiates with the heat of summer, and there is a strong, but not unpleasant, musk about her.

Mask: Kalen’s mask shows what mortals would expect: an older woman who is a little tough and worn but still well preserved and sexy. Mortals see a woman who is still strong and voluptous, but her hair seems less unkempt and wild and her dark eyes are striking but not animalistic. In public she favors jeans, vintage band t-shirts, and leather vests that show off her well-toned arms. She could easily be mistaken for a biker-chick or an old hippie rocker.

Obvious Merits: Striking Looks x2

Location: While Kalen has been a member of the Fen of BramblesFreehold for the last several years, having served dutifully as it's Summer Queen several times, she was recently banished by the Winter Queen and has since decided to return to her 'home' in Orlando, re-joining the House of Cards Freehold there.

Titles and Positions:

• Centurion of the SE in The Praesidium
• Initiate of the Order
• Last Summer Queen of the Fen of Brambles Freehold

Character Livejournal: Feralhearted

History

Beginings:
I was a child of the woods and the earth. Or so I thought…sometimes you get funny ideas when you’ve spent too much time in an altered state of consciousness listening to a combination of Peter, Paul, and Mary and Led Zepplin. I’d settled down considerably from the girl who hitch-hiked to Woodstock against direct parental orders when she was but 16, but I still loved the feel of grass and dirt under my bare feet. Even after my daughter was born, my beautiful perfect little girl, I would still find excuses to leave my stuffy upper-class existence and wander in the woods and fields on our property. My mother-in-law hated that about me, but my husband adored it, loved me for my wild innocence…

…innocence, funny word that. I didn’t think I was innocent at the time… But I was to be proved wrong...

Durance:
I don't remember my Durance, and I prefer it that way... But, sometimes, in the middle of the night... I'll wake up from a nightmare and for the briefest of moments I feel hunted and stalked... the heavy weight of a collar around my neck keeping me far too close to the roaring heat of a fire... and a dark, male presence that chills my soul and makes my blood boil all at the same time...

And then I come fully awake... and forget again.

Escape:
Goddess if I know how I got out of Arcadia. Someone must have helped me slip my chain, but when I finally came out of the hedge I was alone... and with one thought only on my mind. But, when I finally found her again...my small one, my cub, my daughter...she was not as I had left her... She wasn't my daughter anymore.

The Real:
I was a wreak when I re-entered reality... But that's a long story I don't care to share. Suffice it to say that if it were not for Mother Silver I would have torn right back into Arcadia, determined to take back what they had stolen. She introduced me to Summer, took me on as a student...and beat me senseless when I needed it. For years she kept at me, and eventually I learned to actually fight instead of clawing and biting like a cornered wild thing... I learned how to balance the animal inside with the humanity I'd lost. But, she could never quite get me to learn how to temper my rage... my rage was all I had left.

I wandered for a bit, tried to find some sort of purpose...some sort of reason to stay. I flirted with the edge of the Hedge, occasionally pulling other Lost out. Then one day, in Florida, there was a group of gladiators on their way out, led by a draconic who couldn't have found his way out of a wet paper bag...

...and somehow I found that I had a reason to stay.

The Now:
There's honor in having a cause, and along with my brothers and sisters in The Praesidium I have dedicated myself to making sure that no others are taken, that no freehold falls...But it is more than that. Here I have found a place...a Family... a Pack... and I would gladly die for any one of them.

Cast of Characters

Groups:

• The Praesidium- My Brothers and Sisters, both on and off the field of battle. We are pack in the truest sense of the word.
• Fen of Brambles- This freehold has fallen to villainy before, both from within and without, and it cost us dear to get it back. I'll be dammed if I let it fall again.
• House of Cards- Duty may keep me in the Fen, But the House of Cards was my first home in Florida and will always feel that way to me.
• Order of The Isle- I am a true follower of my Goddess...but this whole ritualized practicing of faith with others is just...Strange.

Motley:

• Gaius Arctorus- My Shield-mate is the strength of my arm and the fire in my heart, that will never change...even if he does go and get himself married.
• Gwalchavad- He's like a little brother to me, even if he is twice my size...but Goddess if I know why he continues to act so reserved around me all the time. We're still working on that.

Brothers in Arms:

• Brand- Most people think I'm one of the guys, but Brand is one of the few people to actually treat me like a Lady... and he does it with such style! Everyone should take lessons.
• Cage Adams- Cage is a sweet boy, always ready with a smile and a drink and a willing ear to help others with their sorrows... I just hope he learns how to deal with his own sorrow one day... preferably before he goes and gets himself killed on one of his suicide runs through the hedge.
• Dzxoxian Brokehorn- I didn't so much train the big lug, he came out of the hedge already violent and strong. What I had to do was chase him around for the first few months, reeling him in or stomping on his face to keep him from doing something supremely stupid. He's settled down considerably, but I'm still not above smacking him upside the back of his head when he needs it.
• Gwyneira- People make a mistake when they take one look at those big blue eyes and blond curls and COMPLETELY underestimate her... because that is something that is very, very dangerous to do.
• Lance Drake- I could...and I have when we've been drinking... make Monty-Python style jokes about poncy French dancers... But that is severely selling Lance short. He may move like he's floating and be far prettier than any man deserves to be... but besides being good in a fight he's also sweet, attentive, and loyal to a fault. One of these days some girl is going to break his hopelessly romantic heart and when that happens I'm going to be first in line to make sure she regrets it.
• Morgan Silver- I owe quite a lot to Mother Silver, more than I could ever repay. She has influenced the person I have become more than even my birth mother... Though I think she despairs of ever teaching me how to curb my temper on the battlefield.
• Wayland Smith- I’m rather fond of the curmudgeonly old bastard
  

Cubs:

• Celest Silverstorm- Celest is extremely intelligent and crafty, and a more stealthy Hedgerunner I have never seen... but the girl IS going to get caught one day and I truly wish she would stop fighting me on the fact that she needs to learn how to defend herself.
• Danny Darling- On paper I'm Danny's Foster Mother, but really, he's so self sufficient I think all I've ever had to do was give him a place to crash and make sure he got driven to soccer practice. He's got a better handle on things than most Lost I've met and has never really needed me invovled in his life. It's not that I don't care, But to tell the truth we're just such different people that all I really feel I can do is just keep a loose eye on him and be there incase something happens.
• Tristan Howlett- He's a sweet kid, and there's something about the fact that we're both wolverines that makes me instinctively protective of him... Either that or I feel protective because he's just out of the hedge and overly excitable in that kid-on-too-much-caffeine sort of way.
• Van Silverstorm- Around me Van is respectful, follows orders, and is the epitome of a dutiful Summer Court...and yet I have this sneaking suspicion that behind my back the boy is anything but respectful. One of these days I'll catch him at it and then maybe he'll learn that he can be himself around me.

Family:

• Ae Lament- So apparently all Ae and I needed to 'bond,' as it were, was a fuck ton of alcohol. Should have known that what didn't work with one of my neices would work with the other. Also discovered that apparently dirty tactics when brawling is a fine family tradition, especially in a bar fight. The two of us set that drunken wanna-be cowboy's head spinning so fast that by the time he hit the floor I'm sure he'd completely forgotten which one of our asses he'd grabbed... and it was really too bad for his ten friends that he had to go and make a stupid mistake like that.
• Edria Meredith- I want to understand the person she has become... Truely I do. But everytime I look at her I am torn between seeing the smiling, happy four year old I used to carry around on my hip, and this woman who is younger and prettier than I... and betrothed to my Shieldmate.
• Erised- It has been less than a year since I discovered my nephew even existed... And I will pay the Gentry back dearly for robbing me of the chance to have held him in my arms as a babe.

Friends and Neighbors:

• Revenant- I have a great deal of respect for Grandfather...Sure he's creepy as all hell, but that's because he's been places and seen things that I'm pretty sure I don't even want to know about. Besides, I'm getting on in years myself and if by some miracle I manage to live as long as he has I'd want the next batch of young upstarts to have the same appreciation for the wisdom that comes with age as I do.

Not-So-Friendly:

• Kei- There is a certain tragic nobility to this one that has fallen so far and so hard, and I will disdain no strong arm where the safety of my freehold is concerned...But that doesn't mean I can ignore the fact that Summer has turned it's back on him, And despite any inherent nobility he is still an oathbreaker and a drunk.
• Rattenkonigin- No Shit, there I was, Naked as the day I was born with a sword in one hand and a boot in the other, watching helplessly as this furry little person scampered off with the rest of our clothing... And still I was hard pressed to keep from laughing because the LOOK on Gaius's face....
• Lady Zephyr- I would meet Gaius's sister on the field of battle, only I wouldn't want to damage her pretty little tailfeathers... and to be perfectly fair I don't much feel like getting myself forcibly declawed either.

Inspirations

• Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni: There is no fury as great as that of a mother protecting her young, harm those under my protection and I will raze your cities to the ground.

• Brighid, Celtic Goddess: Fires of Inspiration, Hearth, and Battle...summer's heat can warm and comfort as well as burn

• Grainne Mac Connor from Jaqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series: Party hard, Fight harder.

• The Lady of The Lake: Cryptic Know-it-all Tart

• Polgara the Sorceress: Acerbic, regal, and proud... but still motherly

• Tomoe Ame, from Usagi Yojimbo: Duty and Honor

• Xena, Warrior Princess: Hot Bad-Assedness in leather armor

Quotes

Kalen Says:

• "Do you think to tame me my lord? I am not a simpering maiden to be won over by pretty words. IF I come to you, it will be because you have proven yourself strong and worthy, and when I leave it will be because I am done with you."

• "Take only Battle seriously. Summer is Fleeting as well as Enduring, bank the embers of your rage and learn to laugh at yourself and others in between the times when you let the fire consume you...if you don't the only thing you'll discover is how quickly it can burn out."

• "They made me a Beast...so a Beast I'll be."

• "How the HELL did I end up the Lancelot in this crazy fucked-up love quadrangle?"

Peanut Gallery:

• "Yes, Brother-decurion, we all noticed she has breasts. We also all noticed that she just beat you soundly. Now pick yourself up, and try again." - Gaius Arctorus

• "If she says I am the Eternal Summer, then she is the Fleeting - the moment's gust of warmth that draws people into an Indian Summer. For while you know the heat will fade again like the tides... you also know it will return just as quick." - Gaius Arctorus

• "I meant to leave the other boot for her too, 'sonly fucking polite, right? But damned if the naked girl didn't distract the hell out of me. Especially when the naked girl has a sword and is busy trying to remove one of my tails and coming all too close for comfort." - die Rattenkonigin

• "Sometimes the Goddess' sense of humor leaves much to mortal minds to be desired. The damned women spent six months making my life hell and now she's my aunt? That blade of hers is deadly but she's taking to my teachings now as well. She will find steel is no answer to sorcery and then maybe we'll find a balance between power and blood ties again." - Edria Meredith

• "She is everything that is expected of a Beast. Perhaps it is why I am often mistaken for a Fairest." - Lady Zephyr

• "When I came out of the Hedge, I was strung out on mind-blowing fear and rage, could barely speak, and was ready to start tearing everything and everyone around me into tiny pieces until shit started making sense to me again. I met Kalen first, and she basically hit me in the face until I stopped being an idiot and remembered I once was a human fuckin' being. She beat me, tormented me, hounded me night and day for months, and saved me from being a rabid thing that had to be put down. So just remember, new fish, if she ever even hints that she doesn't like you, I'll stomp on your head so hard people will think I've been fucking Riverdancing in ten gallons of red paint." - Dzxoxian Brokehorn

• "Ask her thyself, if thou darest. She'll have no harsh words from my lips; most other protection, she needs not." - Gwalchavad

• "Kalen Blazenheart? I have a feeling she and I won't get along. But then I don't have to be nice to everyone. Hell, I don't have to be nice to anyone. Even if they can kick my ass." - Red Eyes

• Auntie Kalen? All I remember as a kid was one of those cookie-cutter Stepford wives with prim necklines, pearls at the ears, throat and wrist. I remember she always smelled faintly of aerosol hair spray. A plastic smile that seemed to be painted on completed the picture. That's what I remember; a stale woman in the throes of suburban depression. I grew up knowing only her fetch and now I am faced with coming to understand the real thing. ~ Erised

• "No, you got it wrong... I wouldn't call her my enemy, if she was, she would be dead no matter what King Aurtus Maximus Desmidus fancy pants in Orlando said or did. But we don't get along. She is all order and structure in the one place where most people here don't want that. I'm all kinds of lawless reckless explosion-waiting-to-happen she doesn't want around here. But, we set that aside when someone comes to fuck with our shit." - Kei

• "... Some days we get along, some days we don't. Ever had a stepmother? No. Come talk to me after you do. I like the woman, respect her highly... just sometimes. Doesn't matter. She is an amazing fighter. And one of these days she will have her way and teach me to use a weapon or throw a punch or anything aside from hide." - Celest

• "...I remember when only I ruled, when only I had power, then I left and the kids came in and tried to "Clean up" my home... She might be strong, She might be fast, but this old man never forgets... though I should hold my breath, my few last nights on this world don't have to be wasted on a creature not willing to give into what they are..." - Revenant

• Foster mother. She's strong, smart, tough, and sexy. You heard me, its not like she's the one that gave brith to me. The whole pearls and highheals thing that I remember about my real mother just makes me view Kalen like a guy with pune. Wow, does that make me feel gay...what would Freud have to say about all this?! - Danny Darling

• "Kalen? Oh she is so hot! She has this thing she does in bed with flips and... Oh never mind! I forgot I am not supposed to speak about that on account that she know kung fu. So, umm... I gotta go that midget is trying to steal my stash again!" - Rift Hendrix

• "Ah Kalen. An excellent fighter and a wonderful woman. There is a sadness there that many do not see and under it all, she's part human like the rest of us. One day, this fact will come crashing down on us all and when it does...I will be there to play my flute in the rain..." - Ryver

• "There's something electric about her. Not the electricity from a wall socket, but more like arc lightening, flashing briefly and devastatingly then hiding again in a fluffy, but foreboding cloud. And those claws...magnificent." - Bandabras Pelinor

• "I really Don't understand Kalen. She seemed really hostile at House of Cards, but trip to Gainesville showed her in a Very different light. On way back home she kept saying that she likes me. I don't know if I should be honoured or worried. She seems protective though....." -Tani

• "Many Beasts are known, but none are the same. Blazenheart-san is one of the more primal of those that are known - she fights with her anger in a way different than even many of those of the Summer Court. Though her style is different, it is known to be potent. This one wonders, though, can too much rage burn out even a Summer courtier? And if so, how closely does she push that border? And what lies beyond it?" - James Daniels

Rumors

please feel free to add whatever rumors you may have heard...or just make one up!

• Only got named Centurion of the Southeast in The Praesidium because she slept with Gaius Arctorus.

• At one point during the siege of Som i'Seely, Gwalchavad had to carry her kicking and screaming off the battlefield and into the saftey of the freehold. Her claws have regrown and show no sign of the event; his arms, however...

• Has remained Gaius's lover despite his betrothal to her neice Edria

• Is secretly married to Gaius

• Had an illicit fling with Rift Hendrix that she would now rather forget

• It is Kalen's goal to have had lover from each seasonal court. At this point she is only missing an Autumn.

• Kalen and Lady Zephyr are either best friends, or can't stand each other... Noone's quite sure because it seems to change daily.

• Kalen has been dubbed 'The Most Awesome Mom Ever' by Danny's high school friends for her tendency to drive him to soccer practice on her motorcycle...and her preference for tight leather vests.

• Kalen once beat up an entire bar full of drunken cowboys because one of them made the mistake of grabbing her Niece's ass.

• Kalen was Banished from the Fen of Brambles by the Winter Queen either because she resents Kalen's overprotectiveness, Kalen was deemed to be a danger to the freehold, or for Kalen's own saftey... only the two of them know for sure.

Soundtrack

• Animals- Nickleback

"No, we're never gonna quit, Ain't nothing wrong with it, Just acting like we're animals..."

• Barbarian Horde- Gladiator Soundtrack
  
• Bitch- Meredeth Brooks
  

"You know you wouldn't want me any other way..."

• Boadicea- Enya
  
• Both sides the Tweed- Mary Black
  

"Let virtue distinguish the brave..."

• Bridge Over Troubled Water- Simon & Garfunkle

"When evening falls so hard...I will comfort you...I’ll take your part..."

• Cecelia- Simon & Garfunkle

"Oh Cecelia... your breakin' my heart..."

• I'll Back you Up- Dave matthews Band
  

"And in your eyes, the seeing of the greatest few... Do what you will, always...Walk where you like, your steps...Do as you please... I'll back you up."

• Now We Are Free- Galdiator Soundtrack
  
• Turn! Turn! Turn!- The Byrds
  

"To everything... there is a season..."

• Say This Sooner- The Almost
  

"All my friends say that I'm gone, but I swear, I swear I'm not..."

• Shadow of the Day- Linkin Park
  

"And the sun... will set for you...Sometimes solutions aren't so simple...Sometimes goodbye's the only way..."

• Stairway to Heaven- Led Zepplin
  

"There's a feeling I get... when I look to the west..."

• Winter- Joshua Radin

"I should know...Who I am by now, I walk...The record stands somehow"