Editing Campaign:Conquering of Canals/Melancholy (section)

== Basics ==
'''Name:''' Melancholy  <br/>
'''Concept:''' Street Magician out of retirement <br/>
'''Caste:''' Eclipse <br/>
'''Motivation:''' Find a Cause Worth Backing<br/>
'''Intimacies:'''  Performing, Seeing the World, Occult Matters, Cute Things<br/>
'''Anima Banner/Totem:''' An ornate fireworks display that forms a hundred sunbursts when iconic<br/>
'''Anima Effect:''' Oath-binding and learning Charms<br/>
'''Experience:''' <br/>
=== Background ===
A little girl was born to a traveling performer and in her bitterness at this brat weighing her down, she named the girl Melancholy.  The troupe raised her much more than her mama did and so Melancholy grew into a sweet little spitfire with quick hands and a knack for legerdemain.  She left the group in her teens, wanting a more interesting place than the countryside to call home, a place where she could make it big.

There, she was a street [[wizard|magician]], doing what she did best and interacting with different shopkeeps to learn to make her performances seem more [[magic|magical]].  Over time, she started helping out in one particular shop more and more due to the shopkeeper's son.  Finally, she actually proposed to the man and as you'd expect... yeah, she got refused.  Three times, actually, over three years before he agreed to the crazy street magician's offer.

Melancholy was happy for twenty years, giving birth to three children while helping to run the shop she had worked in for so long and literally enjoying her now settled life.  Perhaps she would have lived like that until her dying days, if it weren't for one detail in her character that came to light when a Dragonblooded got involved.  The young Terrestrial demanded her son's hand in marriage, with Melancholy refusing due to not following the proper rules of engagement.  That night, she found her home broken into, with her oldest son missing.

The middle-aged woman tracked down the Terrestrial, but instead of attacking her, she chewed the Dragonblooded out for completely ignoring what she had said about the customs of the area and if she didn't listen this time, she would beat the crap out of the bitch who tried.  The Air Aspect laughed and tried to attack... just when an Eclipse shard Exalted the angry mother.  Melancholy quietly returned home afterward, requesting a divorce from her husband, with her being Anathema and all.  Once she got it, she left the town to see what she can do.

Since then, she has gotten back to her old tricks as a street magician as well as building up her skills again.  Maybe some day she'll find a place where she can feel proud to belong now...

=== Appearance ===
Melancholy is an older woman, standing at 5'4 and in her late forties.  Once she was absolutely lovely, but the years of being a mother and a shopkeep were hard on her, even if they were happy years, leaving her just pretty.  Her long red hair is now streaked with silvery gray and her face is lined with delicate wrinkles from life and age.  However, over the last several months, she has been very focused on improving herself.  She has always been graceful and quick, but now she is hale and strong again as well, her body finely toned under a well-made buff jacket.  Mel seems like a pleasant woman, especially with her grin and the gentleness in her blue eyes.

She'd almost look normal, if it weren't for the brilliantly gold clasp at the end of her braided hair, with a yellow-green stone glittering from it.