Lady Amelia, the 5th Wonder of Mars (ˈkɑː(ɹ)mən)

"Carmen's fiery soul, A wonder among the stars, Strength in elegance."

Created & Written by Khali A. Crawford | Portrait made with MidJourney

One of the Seven Wonders of Mars & the Red Spy Master, Carmen Tejedor Skyburner

Physical Description

Specialized Equipment

• Retirement, Swiftblade of Eternal Struggles

Gifted to Carmen by Balkyth, this Yatagan blade is incredibly valuable. Complete with ornate markings and expensive decorations, it once belonged to Lord Paramount Ummu Kulthoom el-Sadek who reigned over a galaxy-sized empire. The Lord's rule came to ruin when the Star Javelin destabilized his kingdom and cut off his head. Amelia wielded the sword with great confidence and employed the many enchantments on it, principal amongst them granting swift speed and agility to its wielder.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Carmen hails from the World-Ship AEGIS-9, the 4th of 5 children born to one of the Justice Departments Master of Laws, Madelyn "MADOX" Skyburner, and the engineer Jonatán Tejedor. Carmen left her home when she was an adult and brought passage on a smugglers ship to see the universe, unrestrained by the strict and sterile living style of the AEGIS-9 vessel. Years later, Lady Carmen had made herself into one of the Seven Wonders of Mars, a prized escort of the Qu Dumania pleasure palace.

Education

Carmen, like her siblings and all children of the higher classes aboard the AEGIS-9, was educated privately apart from the commonwealth by s in the fields of Philosophy, Literature, Arithmetic, Higher Reasoning, Science, and Technology. She excelled at Mathematics and had a calling for poetry. After completing her basic education she studied economics and finances for serval years under her own personal Skald and received the title of Master Mathematician.

❖

On her travels in her youth, Carmen studied the way of the blade, never becoming a King of Swords, but could wield a Sword with deadly efficiency. She tried her hand at Magic, and has proper understanding and power over a few of the Arts, but has not mastered them.

Employment

Carmen worked as a high-value Companion for the infamous Qu Dumania pleasure palace on the planet Mars in Midgard, she was one of the 7 Wonders of Mars, seven Companions who had billable hours in the trillions. Each Wonder only had a catalog of 20-50 clients and less than half could afford a night, regardless they were the top earners of the pleasure palace. Companions differed from the common concubine or escort in their education and variety of talents from art to music to swordsmanship, all skills that add to the value of their time to high-end clients. Carmen had billable hours of 2.9 trillion  per hour.

❖

Carmen took full advantage of her position to expand her power and security within Mars and her local galaxy. Carmen owned a smaller brothel on the Qu Dumania campus, the Mia Heart, that served as a front for her extensive network of spies and informants. In the modern day, information was power and Carmen was extremely powerful. Many of her escorts were s, costing Carmen almost 48 hours worth of Hosar, but worth every coin. The Widows had government officials and Commonwealth federal agents on their catalog. Carmen extended her power across the system, and beyond, setting up her own chain of Mia Heart pleasure houses across the galaxy, all infiltrated by her growing army of Widows.

❖

As a Master of Mathematics, Carmen put her intelligence to work in the trading and smuggling business. Mars was a trade hub of the star system and she started small by jump-starting her own shipping lines, which failed as a result of the cut-throat industry. She instead focused on investing in the big players in trade and industry, like the Undakir Shipping Union (USU) and FLEET. The smuggling business was much easier to get involved with as loyalty can be brought, and everyone has a price there. As long as Carmen was paying more than the competition, her deliveries always made it where they needed to. Some smugglers would remain in her service in a partnership capacity as she could blackmail certain officials to move contraband past checkpoints, sometimes without even hiding it.

❖

All of this work was extremely tricky and dangerous, which is why Carmen employed her own army of Eunuch warriors with absolute loyalty to her. They were posted at her brothels, maintained her drydocks, protected valuable assets during transit, and hunted down her enemies on command. At any given time Carmen would be flanked by serval Eunuchs, ready to turn any room into a bloodbath with a single non-verbal command from their Master. Carmen was a Wonder of Mars and an extremely dangerous woman to cross.

Personality Characteristics

Vices & Personality flaws

Carmen Skyburner was a woman who did not truly love anyone, except for the father of her son, Lord Bālkyth Reyes. She had originally learned of his secret visit to Mars to track down a Seerer who could help him pursue a Servent of Khaos and invited him to her villa. Not only was he wealthy and a possible addition to her high-end list of clients, but he was a legendary warrior who slew Khaos Dragons as a pass-time. He was the 6th Arcane Lord and an Eight Arts Mage. Such prestige would be invaluable to her work and would have been, had she not begun to fall in love with him.

❖

Reyes was the only man Carmen ever loved, their son together was proof of this alone. For the first time in her life, she saw a possible future with an equal partner and imagined them living together as a family somewhere, despite all the complications, such as his wife and their newborn daughter. Things escalated with a leak in her security which called into question the legitimacy of Princess Bālgaroth, Balkyh's daughter, as the 7th Arcane Lord. Balkyth had vowed to resolve this issue but was killed in the Realm of Tears before he could, leaving Carmen by herself with their son.

❖

She never let anyone else in ever again and became obsessed with protecting her son, smothering him with layers of protection, subconsciously hoping he would feel safe enough that he would never want to leave. But, of course, he did, and she felt betrayed and abandoned again. Carmen couldn't let go of her son until it was too late and in the end, she was never allowed to rectify her emotions with him before her death.

Social

Contacts & Relations

The Mia Heart Brothel and Bed

The MHBB was a business Lady Carmen started to lay the groundwork for what would become her network of spies and informants for anything she wanted to know, on or off Mars. On the outside, Lady Carmen had started her own escort company to supplement her income as one of the 7 Wonders of Mars, she hand-picked her escorts and maintained them and all of their needs while also giving them access to her back-catalog of mid-range suitors. Because she paid for everything and provided the client list, they only needed "play money" as housing and basic needs were fully covered. Some thought Carmen was double dipping and others thought she might turn away from Qu Dumania in the future.

❖

On the inside, however, the truth was evident. The "escorts" were Black Widows, and were not cheap to purchase (139.2 trillion ∐ Hosar to be exact, for her starting order), but well trained and loyal to death. The back catalog of clients extended to prominent government officials and persons of interest from whom information could be obtained or whose services could be purchased by means of blackmail. The MHBB would be replicated and franchised on other planets, throughout other star systems, and across The Milky-Wæ Galaxy. This front was the means by which her spies communicated and coordinated themselves under the light of the red district.

---

• Calcifer-Z03 (Slave-Knight)

Captain Calcifer is the Captain of the Eunuch Slave-Knights Carmen purchased as security for her public and private operations. Calcifer and his Knights were purchased from the Eiglay Company, a mega-cooperation in the bio-engineering market that bred Eunuchs without any desire to be completely complacent to a master and loyal to the death. Calcifer was the greatest among them and he was never far from Carmen's side.

• Terrwyn & Tagwen Rhoderick (Employees)

Otten is referred to simply as "The Twins" or the "Terror", Terrwyn and Tagwen Rhoderick are two of Carmen's Black Widows and among her best at information gathering and intelligence. They are assigned to run the Mia Heart Brothel and Bed pleasure house franchise and weaponize it to meet Carmen's needs.

Family Ties

• Madelyn "MADOX" Skyburner (Mother)
• Jonatán Tejedor (Father)
• Paz Skyburner (Older Sister)
• Jeremías Skyburner (Older Brother)
• Maximiliano Skyburner (Older Brother)
• Anna-Monserrat Skyburner (Younger Sister)

The Skyburners were a family of excellence and genius, descending from River the Runner, who earned the name "Skyburner" after he poisoned the air of the Krie Realm, wiping out its people. After Cardmen left the AEGIS-9, she lost contact with her family for many years, only reconnecting with Maximiliano while on tour with a traveling band o performers to inform her of their sister, Anna-Monserrat, death and Paz's marriage to one of the regal lords of the AEGIS-9, Javier Gaylord. Howver, when she became one of the 7 Wonders of Mars, her communications with them ceased.

• Bālkyth Reyes (Lover)
• Bālthazar Reyes Skyburner (Son)

Lady Carmen, portrayed as Amelia, one of the Seven Wonders of Mars, was an expensive Companion that only the wealthy could afford a single hour with, and only the extremely wealthy could afford a night. Her catalog of suitors was short but contained names ranging from government officials in the highest offices of Mars to wandering warriors who could crack the surface of planets. They were all clients, but one of her most frequent suitors was not on any list or chart, there was no record of their communications and no proof he had ever even been to Mars; Lord Bālkyth of House Adramélekh and Prince of the Hunt, better known as the Star Javelin.

❖

Bālkyth was the only unofficial suitor Lady Carmen entertained and the only suitor she bore a child for, Bālthazar Skyburner. In doing so, she had unknowingly mothered the 7th Arcane Lord, becoming pregnant 1 year before Bālkyth's Lady Wife, Queen Rorkokis. When rumors began to spread that Princess Bālgaroth was not the true 7th Arcane Lord, Bālkyth made arrangements to cover his tracks and hide Carmen, but he never returned to Mars. He was pulled into a chase with one of the last Khaos Dragons in Yggdrasil and met his end in the Realm of Tears.

Wealth & Financial state

Carmen was an extremely wealthy woman with investments in some of the biggest mega-cooperations known to traverse the cosmos, her various trading deals, and her large catalog of businesses, among them her spy front the Mia Heart Brothel & Bed franchise. Billions of ∐ Hosar were kept in her digital account for fast money but she kept secret vaults filled with treasure for conversion to ∐ Hosar credits hidden across the galaxy.

---

Current Status

Gone

Honorary & Occupational Titles

• The Red Beauty
• Envy of the Martian Sands
• Wife of the Red God
• The Vagabond's Lover
• The 5th Wonder of Mars

Age

60+

Circumstances of Death

Killed and eaten by Kháos Daemons, denying her SOUL entry into the City of the Dead

Place of Death

Planet Mars

Family

The Arcane Lineage

Children

• Billy the Hero, Beholder of the Word Legendary

Pronouns

She | Her

Sex

Female

Eyes

Dark Blue

Hair

Long & Black

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Brown / Carmel

Height

6'9"

Weight

120 Lbs.

Belief/Deity

Keeps the Old Gods (The Red God of Mars)