Name: Libby Age: old Contact: u kno Other Characters: Petrana, Gwenaëlle, Joselyn Interests: WHAT'S GOOD, RIFTWATCH. While Benevenuta (and her mother) rarely advertise it, she is in fact half-Tevene and has some concerns, some notes regarding the current state of Tevinter and the possible solutions. The Inquisition increasingly does not seem to her to still be the most effective place she could be to effect anything useful, particularly with regard to Corypheus and also her own home concerns in Nevarra.
CHARACTER
Name: Benevenuta Thevenet Canon/OC: Original Journal:ungovernable Race: Human Nationality: Nevarran Occupation: Politician Division: Research Mage or Not: Mage Age: like 35 by now
History
Benevenuta Thevenet is the only surviving daughter of Neverran General Matej Thevenet and his estranged Mortalitasi wife, Lady Ayse Thevenet, raised primarily by her mother ('s attendants) in Nevarra City while her father devoted himself to the military life. The two of them increasingly drew the battle lines in their personal life as well, as Matej's subtle preference that should she display the aptitude, Benevenuta join a Circle that wasn't dedicated to the Mortalitasi order became more of a problem for his wife. Ayse, who had left her home of Tevinter at a very young age and embraced Nevarra wholly as she clawed her way up to its heights, viewed it as the highest honour that could be afforded their child and her own position of influence as something for Benevenuta to aspire to - not surprisingly, given their status in Nevarra City and her mother's unimpeded influence during her childhood, Benevenuta concurred. As one of many replaceable Knight Generals of Nevarra vs Ayse as a well-placed, influential member of the Mortalitasi, that battle was over before a shot was fired.
From early adolescence, Benevenuta was removed from her father's household and dedicated to her education as a mage; the prestige and freedom afforded Nevarran mages (and the Mortalitasi in particular) meant that this experience was not an uncomfortable one, not dissimilar to growing up in a very particular kind of boarding school. She saw her mother not infrequently, as Ayse took an interest in all of the up and coming mages, and wrote dutifully to her father in neutral language that did not discuss her own life but focused on her prayers for his wellbeing and successes. She progressed rapidly through her studies, completing her apprenticeship and becoming a fully-fledged mage in her own right in her early twenties under Ayse's watchful eye. Rather than being independently unleashed upon the world, she became her mother's right hand, seen frequently at Ayse's side in official and unofficial capacities and rumoured to work diligently on her behalf as Ayse's political rise limited her own direct action and made her reserved, amiable daughter's freedom of movement more useful to her, and made her more of a direct threat to her rivals.
Having acted as her mother's political aide and poisoned dart for some years, Benevenuta did not hesitate when instructed to undertake the journey to Skyhold and ally herself with the Inquisition. Ayse has rarely seen a pie she didn't want to put a finger in, and Benevenuta her ideal tool; clever, charming, and capable of thinking on her feet in unusual circumstances.
Personality
Clever, charming and resourceful, Benevenuta is understated in most of her interactions, having a very measured approach to the rest of the world. She thinks before she acts and before she speaks, and she is very conscious of the way that she appears to other people and how she can utilize that to her own best advantage. She has a sense of whimsy and playfulness that tends to underpin positive interactions - by nature she's generous, warm-hearted and genuinely interested in the people around her, and the fact that it benefits her to allow that to be seen doesn't make it artificial. She is aware of herself as a tool, and has no compunctions about using each and every part of herself to achieve whatever goal she's set towards. The impulse to perform simple acts of kindness and generosity is as genuine as her awareness of her audience should she have one, and how her determinedly upbeat approach to life can come across. She values experience, and can find the silver lining around just about any cloud - you don't value happiness as much if you never experience pain, for all that true hardship is something she has known largely as a tourist or observer. She can be tiresomely positive in her outlook, for all that she can be sly in her humour.
Her driving motivation is a love for the world around her and the people in it, noblesse oblige writ large and in dedicated sincerity. That sincerity is easily one of the most dangerous things about her - she is a zealot with a cause she believes in wholeheartedly, and her unquestioned righteousness allows her to act without guilt in ways that other people might quite reasonably find abhorrent. When she's made a decision, she is unhesitating and without second-thoughts, and she is ruthless, methodical and brutal in the pursuit of her goals. She has been taught from a young age that this is the correct way, the best way to work on behalf of those who need and deserve her protection, and she's never questioned either that or, as an adult, her own actions in support thereof.
She is a skilled actress, an inveterate liar, and most of the time a remarkably temperate woman, keeping her cool in all manner of unusual circumstances. In the rare occasions where even her insufferable idealism is pushed to its limit, she tends to lose her temper with a spectacular lack of grace - she is a vase-throwing, below-the-belt-insult-aiming, vindictive harpy at her worst, and it's a personality flaw she's not particularly proud of and works hard to avoid displaying. She strives for patience and most of the time succeeds to the point her patience seems limitless, it just.
Isn't.
Opinions & Affiliations
Benevenuta is a pro-freedom Libertarian Mortalitasi mage; she supports the mage rebellion, though she prefers to think of it in terms of independence and what that will mean going forward. She's concerned that plans are not being made for the future, and that with no structure or examples to follow, the Chantry will be able to strong-arm concessions.
The Templars, like everything, are a tool. To date, a tool that has been largely misused; she doesn't believe they should be written off entirely, but as with the Chantry and the Circles, the status quo can't stand.
Mortalitasi Necromancy is Benevenuta's specialist focus as a mage. She favours fire for preference (and therefore best practise) when it comes to elemental magic, and has no particular skills in the healing arts. She is also skilled in mundane arts of death - her particular focus being poisons and their antidotes, which she has studied extensively and takes great pride in.
Benevenuta is interested in knowledge for its own sake, pursuing her academic interests and other curiosities where she is able to; Skyhold provided her with opportunities to develop her skill in physical combat that Nevarra had not required of her in the same way. While she has no real interest in studying any kind of healing magic, she developed an interest in midwifery through a friendship she maintained with a midwife and has entertained the idea in the past that if she were obliged to reinvent herself (for some reason... it's normal to consider that you might need to abandon your entire life probably) she would be well-served apprenticing to such a woman as it's an unlikely hobby for a necromancer.
Generally speaking, Benevenuta is a nosy dabbler - there is little, given the chance, that she wouldn't try at least once to see if she liked it, and when presented with something she can't do, it is her instinct to try and prove she probably can. The obligations of the life she leads have limited the ways in which she can feasibly indulge this "anything you can do" attitude, but there it is. Her scholarship serves as a convenient smokescreen for her other activities, often; she is genuinely inclined that way, but sometimes it's just a matter of appearing to be studying while plotting someone's unpleasant but untraceable murder.
Inventory
An aging war mabari named Max, inherited from Grey Warden Hercules Hansen. (Husband, a lapdog, presently resides with her mother in Nevarra City.)
A velvet bag of poisons and their antidotes. The bottles are designed to be easily differentiated by Benevenuta by touch; they have subtly different carved grooves, and are otherwise unadorned and unlabeled.
A set of slim, sharp knives, simple, finely-made and designed for ease of concealment.
Her mage's staff.
What of her personal effects that she could readily take with her on one horse.
Bejeweled talking skull. I'm sorry.
Motivation
At the behest of her mother, Benevenuta spent roughly a year as a member of the Inquisition to gain knowledge of their people and goals; she served as a member of the Mage's Council and worked tirelessly on the Inquisition's behalf, albeit always aware that their goals aligned but not their loyalties. With threats looming closer to home, the elder Thevenet pulled her daughter back into the fold- but while working there, lobbying on the Inquisition's behalf at the Nevarran court and funneling information into appropriate channels, seeking out the local dangers (there've been a few accidents, since she returned to Nevarra), Benevenuta has only grown more convinced that the Inquisition is where someone of her particular talents should be. The Mage Council was a waste of time that she gladly leaves in Vivienne's hands - let her be bogged down in it! keep her too busy to damage the rebel cause! - but there is work to be done, and she has two hands to do it. For the past two and a half years, she has been in Skyhold as a reinstated member of the Inquisition and local Nevarran expert.
Since the Inquisition's gone full Exalted March, Benevenuta and her main bitch are sneaking out in the dead of night to join Riftwatch instead, on account of it currently doing fewer war crimes that they're aware of.
benevenuta thevenet | native original | they're back
Name: Libby
Age: old
Contact: u kno
Other Characters: Petrana, Gwenaëlle, Joselyn
Interests: WHAT'S GOOD, RIFTWATCH. While Benevenuta (and her mother) rarely advertise it, she is in fact half-Tevene and has some concerns, some notes regarding the current state of Tevinter and the possible solutions. The Inquisition increasingly does not seem to her to still be the most effective place she could be to effect anything useful, particularly with regard to Corypheus and also her own home concerns in Nevarra.
Name: Benevenuta Thevenet
Canon/OC: Original
Journal:
Race: Human
Nationality: Nevarran
Occupation: Politician
Division: Research
Mage or Not: Mage
Age: like 35 by now
History
Benevenuta Thevenet is the only surviving daughter of Neverran General Matej Thevenet and his estranged Mortalitasi wife, Lady Ayse Thevenet, raised primarily by her mother ('s attendants) in Nevarra City while her father devoted himself to the military life. The two of them increasingly drew the battle lines in their personal life as well, as Matej's subtle preference that should she display the aptitude, Benevenuta join a Circle that wasn't dedicated to the Mortalitasi order became more of a problem for his wife. Ayse, who had left her home of Tevinter at a very young age and embraced Nevarra wholly as she clawed her way up to its heights, viewed it as the highest honour that could be afforded their child and her own position of influence as something for Benevenuta to aspire to - not surprisingly, given their status in Nevarra City and her mother's unimpeded influence during her childhood, Benevenuta concurred. As one of many replaceable Knight Generals of Nevarra vs Ayse as a well-placed, influential member of the Mortalitasi, that battle was over before a shot was fired.
From early adolescence, Benevenuta was removed from her father's household and dedicated to her education as a mage; the prestige and freedom afforded Nevarran mages (and the Mortalitasi in particular) meant that this experience was not an uncomfortable one, not dissimilar to growing up in a very particular kind of boarding school. She saw her mother not infrequently, as Ayse took an interest in all of the up and coming mages, and wrote dutifully to her father in neutral language that did not discuss her own life but focused on her prayers for his wellbeing and successes. She progressed rapidly through her studies, completing her apprenticeship and becoming a fully-fledged mage in her own right in her early twenties under Ayse's watchful eye. Rather than being independently unleashed upon the world, she became her mother's right hand, seen frequently at Ayse's side in official and unofficial capacities and rumoured to work diligently on her behalf as Ayse's political rise limited her own direct action and made her reserved, amiable daughter's freedom of movement more useful to her, and made her more of a direct threat to her rivals.
Having acted as her mother's political aide and poisoned dart for some years, Benevenuta did not hesitate when instructed to undertake the journey to Skyhold and ally herself with the Inquisition. Ayse has rarely seen a pie she didn't want to put a finger in, and Benevenuta her ideal tool; clever, charming, and capable of thinking on her feet in unusual circumstances.
Personality
Clever, charming and resourceful, Benevenuta is understated in most of her interactions, having a very measured approach to the rest of the world. She thinks before she acts and before she speaks, and she is very conscious of the way that she appears to other people and how she can utilize that to her own best advantage. She has a sense of whimsy and playfulness that tends to underpin positive interactions - by nature she's generous, warm-hearted and genuinely interested in the people around her, and the fact that it benefits her to allow that to be seen doesn't make it artificial. She is aware of herself as a tool, and has no compunctions about using each and every part of herself to achieve whatever goal she's set towards. The impulse to perform simple acts of kindness and generosity is as genuine as her awareness of her audience should she have one, and how her determinedly upbeat approach to life can come across. She values experience, and can find the silver lining around just about any cloud - you don't value happiness as much if you never experience pain, for all that true hardship is something she has known largely as a tourist or observer. She can be tiresomely positive in her outlook, for all that she can be sly in her humour.
Her driving motivation is a love for the world around her and the people in it, noblesse oblige writ large and in dedicated sincerity. That sincerity is easily one of the most dangerous things about her - she is a zealot with a cause she believes in wholeheartedly, and her unquestioned righteousness allows her to act without guilt in ways that other people might quite reasonably find abhorrent. When she's made a decision, she is unhesitating and without second-thoughts, and she is ruthless, methodical and brutal in the pursuit of her goals. She has been taught from a young age that this is the correct way, the best way to work on behalf of those who need and deserve her protection, and she's never questioned either that or, as an adult, her own actions in support thereof.
She is a skilled actress, an inveterate liar, and most of the time a remarkably temperate woman, keeping her cool in all manner of unusual circumstances. In the rare occasions where even her insufferable idealism is pushed to its limit, she tends to lose her temper with a spectacular lack of grace - she is a vase-throwing, below-the-belt-insult-aiming, vindictive harpy at her worst, and it's a personality flaw she's not particularly proud of and works hard to avoid displaying. She strives for patience and most of the time succeeds to the point her patience seems limitless, it just.
Isn't.
Opinions & Affiliations
Strengths & Weaknesses
Mortalitasi Necromancy is Benevenuta's specialist focus as a mage. She favours fire for preference (and therefore best practise) when it comes to elemental magic, and has no particular skills in the healing arts. She is also skilled in mundane arts of death - her particular focus being poisons and their antidotes, which she has studied extensively and takes great pride in.
Benevenuta is interested in knowledge for its own sake, pursuing her academic interests and other curiosities where she is able to; Skyhold provided her with opportunities to develop her skill in physical combat that Nevarra had not required of her in the same way. While she has no real interest in studying any kind of healing magic, she developed an interest in midwifery through a friendship she maintained with a midwife and has entertained the idea in the past that if she were obliged to reinvent herself (for some reason... it's normal to consider that you might need to abandon your entire life probably) she would be well-served apprenticing to such a woman as it's an unlikely hobby for a necromancer.
Generally speaking, Benevenuta is a nosy dabbler - there is little, given the chance, that she wouldn't try at least once to see if she liked it, and when presented with something she can't do, it is her instinct to try and prove she probably can. The obligations of the life she leads have limited the ways in which she can feasibly indulge this "anything you can do" attitude, but there it is. Her scholarship serves as a convenient smokescreen for her other activities, often; she is genuinely inclined that way, but sometimes it's just a matter of appearing to be studying while plotting someone's unpleasant but untraceable murder.
Inventory
Motivation
At the behest of her mother, Benevenuta spent roughly a year as a member of the Inquisition to gain knowledge of their people and goals; she served as a member of the Mage's Council and worked tirelessly on the Inquisition's behalf, albeit always aware that their goals aligned but not their loyalties. With threats looming closer to home, the elder Thevenet pulled her daughter back into the fold- but while working there, lobbying on the Inquisition's behalf at the Nevarran court and funneling information into appropriate channels, seeking out the local dangers (there've been a few accidents, since she returned to Nevarra), Benevenuta has only grown more convinced that the Inquisition is where someone of her particular talents should be. The Mage Council was a waste of time that she gladly leaves in Vivienne's hands - let her be bogged down in it! keep her too busy to damage the rebel cause! - but there is work to be done, and she has two hands to do it. For the past two and a half years, she has been in Skyhold as a reinstated member of the Inquisition and local Nevarran expert.
Since the Inquisition's gone full Exalted March, Benevenuta and her main bitch are sneaking out in the dead of night to join Riftwatch instead, on account of it currently doing fewer war crimes that they're aware of.