35 years old, wife of sir Gawain, court-lady of Queen Guinevere. No one seems to know much about her past or her family.

Pagan
You are a fairy

“It is me who owns my life, and I won’t let you take it from me.”

You are a fairy.

You had become a victim of their practical jokes and had been cursed to look like an old hag. No one among fairies was able to break that curse and no one was even willing to help you out. Except for you brother, a giant. Together with him, you conveyed a plot to set you free of the curse. You turned to humans for help.

Your brother captured King Arthur and under the threat of killing him made him promise to find out what women desire the most. Arthur wasn’t able to figure it out. That’s where you came in with a promise to help Arthur with the answer, on the condition he will wed you to the sir Gawain who enchanted you with his beauty. And Gawain agreed, raising a condition of his own – Arthur has to repay his debt by making him the successor to the throne.

You revealed the answer to Arthur. What women desire the most is sovereignty – the ability to make their own decisions over their lives, their minds, their bodies. And thus you became the wife of Sir Gawain, the famous lover-boy. He married you despite thinking you were an ugly hag. What was his surprise when you turned into a beautiful maiden at night!

“You have a choice,” you told your husband. “You need to choose whether you will have me in my natural form as you see me now by night, and hideous as you have seen me before by day, or have me in my natural form by day and hideous at night. With the enchantment, it cannot be both. What do you choose?”

“Alas!” said Gawain, “the choice is hard. To be with you as you are now at night but not anymore would grieve my heart right sore. But if by day you were as you seem now, then the nights would be hard, and how. So I must put the choice in your own hands. Whatever you choose, that choice will be mine as well.”

With this freedom to make your own decision, the curse was broken. You started to live your life as a beautiful maiden all the time.

In stories, this is where the “happily ever after” comes. However, this is not a story.

It was time for you to start living among the humans as a part of King Arthur’s court. Except… no one knew who you are. You had no great ancestors to brag about, you had no understanding of the court etiquette, you only had the wedding ring and your beauty as protection. The nobility didn’t trust you and you didn’t understand them. The other ladies at the court barely spoke to you, while Elyzabel was outright hostile to you. Lady Malehaut, a woman devoted to the Christian God, seemed to be especially suspicious of you. The knights bowed to your beauty but didn’t speak to you out of fear of Gawain’s wrath. The only one brave (or rude?) enough to speak to you was Kay, but his words seemed lustful, bitter, and dangerous. You didn’t like him.

You found there was a great difference between the behavior of the nobles and the servants. So while you struggled to find kindred spirits among the lords and the ladies, the common folk around you was much easier to talk to. Eventually, you befriended them all (the court fool Dagonet, the porter Glewlwyd, the squire Percival and the young lady Aoife). An exception among the nobles was Perse, perhaps because she was very young. She was a keen listener and you trusted her enough to tell her the whole story between you and Gawain, including the fact that you are a fairy. In turn, she told you all about her passion for Sir Hector, a knight that she loved, and her sorrow – her father didn’t want that marriage to happen. You spoke to your husband about it. Everyone respected him and he was able to convince Perse’s father to bless that union. 

How happy Perse was after the wedding! However, her happiness didn’t last too long for she felt that Hector doesn’t love her. It was not your fault, yet you felt guilty. And, being friends with Glewlwyd, you soon discovered the reason – Hector loved Glewlwyd. Once you saw them together and later Glewlwyd shyly admitted it himself. You didn’t have the heart to tell this to Perse. And this secret, together with the guilt you felt, scarred your relationship. You stopped confiding in each other and you grew apart. 

Then, one day, your curse came back and you immediately knew why. Gawain cheated on you. He refused to admit it, yet now you are beautiful only during the day and at night you turn into an ugly old woman. Once again, you are not in charge of your own life, your sovereignty was taken away from you. What does a woman need to do to keep her sovereignty?

Once there was passion between Gawain and you. It has been long gone. And with the curse renewed, you had to ask – why did you get married in the first place? And the truth is, you never truly wanted to get married. It just seemed that you have no other choice. Well, now you do have some choices. Gawain has disrespected you and he’ll have to pay for it, one way or another. 

Gawain: a cheater and a liar who doesn’t deserve the things that have been promised to him

Perse: you used to be friends but now your relationship is much colder.

Hector: you barely ever talked to him, yet you know his most precious secret. He is in love and in a relationship with Glewlwyd.

Elyzabel: she used to be quite mean to you and when Glewlwyd told you she used to be Gawain’s lover before you, you no longer wondered why. But ever since your curse is back, she is oddly friendly. Could it be that he returned to her bed?

Malehaut: She cares about the new god very much and has made it clear that the throne of Albion should only be occupied by someone who shares her beliefs. Despite trying, you’ve never managed to convince her that you’re a devotee of this new god as well. You fear that if she found out the truth about your ancestry, she would become your enemy.

Galeholt: He is respected by many and most importantly by his wife. If you could become friends with him, it could give you the protection you need.

Arthur: he seems to hold no grudge against you despite what happened. 

Guinevere: she doesn’t seem to care for you much.

Aoife: unhappy scared child. You like her. 

Glewlwyd: servant, chief of the ceremony. The right hand of Kay but you know you can trust him. 

Percival: big-hearted young man. But very religious. You fear what might happen if he would learn the truth about you. But his presence makes your knees soft…

Kay: big bully and perve.  

Dagonet: jester, full of jokes on the outside, but sadness on the inside. You pity him and tries to be a friend to him. 

One way or another, your husband Gawain is going down. You don’t want to go down with him, instead, he alone should pay what he’s done to you. But without the protection of his name and position, you need to firmly establish your own position at the court. Find allies. Find leverage on people who might pose a threat to you. You have friends among servants – they are often overlooked and that’s precisely why their help might be crucial.

TODO:

1. Find out who is Gawain’s new lover. Follow him around or ask anyone who could know something. Glewlwyd is always well informed. Elyzabel might also know something.
2. What will you do to him to punish him for this infidelity? You could tell King Arthur that Gawain broke his promise to her and therefore doesn’t deserve to be the successor of the throne anymore. Or you could ask a mage to brew an appropriate curse for him… An eye for an eye. There are many who could help you with this – Merlin, Morgana, Nineve, or Vivian.
3. You need friends among nobles. Try to save your friendship with Perse. What could you do to reignite the connection? Should you tell her about Hector’s secret?
4. Be careful around Lady Malehaut, priest Patrick and priest Eivyn. They cannot find out you are a fairy. Make sure that the people who know your secret don’t let their tongues slip.
5. Find out whether there’s something that King Galeholt needs. If you will become his ally, he will hopefully protect you from his wife Malehaut. 
6. Since the moment you saw Percival, your heart started to beat for him. Could he be a new, better man to you than Gawain?