The Spring Maiden
Lady Viola Meadowsweet (a.k.a. The Spring Maiden)
The Spring Maiden is perhaps the most lovely and well-beloved figure in all of Altairus. Taking the form of a talking rabbit, she is the ancient in charge of making sure spring arrives on time and making the transition into the warmer seasons as smooth as can be.
Divine Domains
The Spring Maiden, as one would guess from her name, presides over the springtime and the return of warm weather to Altairus. She works in tandem with The Winter Orchestrator, taking over for him as soon as winter begins to depart.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
The Spring Maiden is associated with spring fauna, such as bunnies, chicks, and bluebirds, as well as flora like tulips, daffodils, and irises. She particularly has a strong association with meadowsweet.
Holidays
The Spring Maiden is associated with the Vernal Equinox above all else. This is when she and her bunny folk helpers emerge from their dens in the Verdant Hills to usher in the warmer seasons.
Physical Description
Body Features
The Spring Maiden has the body of an anthropomorphic rabbit. She has tawny brass fur with pinkish highlights.
Special abilities
The Spring Maiden is unrivaled in her powers of animal communication. She works together with the birds and beasts of Altairus to usher in spring every year. Her abilities even extend to plants; her ability to talk to them and make them grow rivals even that of a Dryad.
Wherever she steps, grass and spring flowers begin to grow. All of these things make people compare her to a storybook princess.
Apparel & Accessories
The outfit the Spring Maiden wears attests to her role. Her clothes are made from leaves and plant fibers, and she wears a crown bearing flowers the colors of the six elements.
Around her shoulders she wears a white fur cape with winter wolf fangs adorning the front. This was a gift from the Winter Orchestrator when they got married, and it symbolizes her connection with him.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Lady Viola Meadowsweet, or the Spring Maiden as she is called, was born only a few decades after Altairus's first millennium had passed. She began life as a small talking rabbit in the Verdant Hills. At this time, the seasons cycled normally, but the transition was not always smooth. It was much like on Earth, where snowstorms and frosts could be expected throughout March and even April.
As she grew, little Viola began to take an interest in the Vernal Equinox and the rites surrounding it. This would become even more pronounced when she was put in charge of her warren at 18.
Over the years, Viola would slowly grow to be known as the Spring Maiden. Over the years, she met two certain Yule goats, namely The Elder Goat and The Winter Orchestrator. The latter she married some centuries later, and the bond between them has been inseparable ever since.
Mental Trauma
The War of the Wendigoes was not easy on the Spring Maiden. After the War ended, she and her helpers became swept up in a panic over the damage done to Altairus. They worried that the trees and flowers would never bloom again after what happened. And for a while, it seemed like that was true; vast Anima Depletion meant that plants had a hard time flowering and fruiting, leading to famine in many parts of the world. However, spring did eventually come back, much to the Spring Maiden's relief.
Taboos
The Spring Maiden takes the health of her helpers and friends very seriously. Being kind to her woodland creatures will gain her favor very quickly, but cruelty to them will lead her to sic them on you. Animal communication doesn't sound so stupid when she's commanded a murder of crows to peck your eyes out or a wild bear to maul you to death. So just don't do it.
Social
Contacts & Relations
The Spring Maiden is married to the Winter Orchestrator. While they don't see each other for most of the year, they play an important role in the shifting of Altairus's seasons.
Social Aptitude
She is good with animals and plants, but not so good with sapients. She will usually hide from others, so if she talks to one, it is for a very important reason. Even then she tends to mumble and stare at the ground. The Winter Orchestrator is the only sapient she can talk to normally.
Speech
The Spring Maiden's voice is light and airy. She doesn't talk much, especially to people she doesn't know well.
Air
In some ways, the Spring Maiden is the Altairian equivalent of the Easter Bunny. In others, she is more like the equivalent of Demeter and other various agricultural deities.
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