Name: Lady Marijke Van Dijk.
Age: Eighteen.
Gender: Female
Class: Courtieur
Physical Description:

When one utters the name Marijke Van Dijk, one would assume that is a typical Ashton girl, one of Dutch descent. An image of a petite, spritely young girl with golden, light blonde hair, light eyes and ivory skin is the main image that seems to pop into most people's mind when they hear such an interestingly foreign name.


Well, Marijke is one of the polar opposites of such image. For a girl born to two blonde parents, and with even blonder siblings: mused, blindingly red hair, stark gray eyes, skin the color of peach, dotted with many, cinnamon colored freckles and an daunting height of 5'9" are all staples of her image. Setting her apart from all the other girls of the court, her look --especially her hair-- has been sometimes deemed far from unique, sometimes viewed as unattractive by the bulk of the many regular faces of the court. Marijke isn't exactly one to care much for what others think of her natural look, she still tries her best to appear like a fine, Ashton girl. Although wearing her hair loose in front of men is out of the question due to her family's values, it has not stopped her from doing it on occasion. Otherwise, her "river of fire" is usually pulled back into an elegant chignon, decorated with emeralds and golden nets, usually to bring the bright, burning red color out (if she wants to enhance the more carrot-colored shade, she'll use turquoisie, or blue gems instead).


Because recessive genes seem to run amuck within her family line, it is no suprise that Marijke inherited steel like, blue-gray eyes, maybe just a tad different from her mother's teal-coloured eyes, or her father's ocean-blue orbs. Ironically, her cold eyes -- the infamous glacial "hawk eyes" that can turn anyone to stone-- are her most betraying part; they shine when she is excited, they glimmer with malicious intent when she is upset, they even become dull when she is bored or melancholy. She tries her best not to let her eyes betray her emotions, she knows very well that in court, emotions can always be used against you and your family. And she can't be bringing that down on her family, now can she?

Native Duchy: Ashton
History:

The history of the Van Dijk family is not as bulky as some other families, neither is it as heroic or prestigious. It is about as laconic as any other families. Yes, like all family's the Van Dijk line goes far back, even into the time of the 1300's. However, the prestigious, money-filled Van Dijk family is the only part of the family worth noting.


Marijke's father, Maarten, was born an only child to Pieter and Roos Van Dijk, the only son of a slightly wealthy merchant and his farm-raised wife. No one knows much about Marijke's grandfather. We know that he was born outside of Adesia, far from it actually -- all that is personally known is that one day, Pieter arrived home dropped two full sacks, filled with gold onto his wife's sewing table and told his family that they were leaving. And from then on, the family moved from the inner-city of Ashton, to a more genteel area. And from that day forward, Pieter and Roos were known as Lord and Lady Van Dijk. Maarten had went on, serving his life away in the Ashton court. In his younger years, her father had served as one of the late Duke Rochester's many riding and hunting companions.


Maarten had been expected to marry a fine girl, from a respectable family; he was expected to not see the fine whores of Ashton instead, or celebrate late into the night with young Duke. Yet, even as a twenty-three year old Maarten stood at the alter with his sixteen-year-old bride, Godelievt Brunner (a pretty blonde of English and German descent), his mind raced with the thoughts of the reception, and sowing his seed into his new toy wife, Godelievt. Even afterwards, he found his newly broken toy undesirable, too naive for pleasuring him, so he tossed her aside and kept pursing his well-acknowledged whores.


Within a year or so, Godelievt was already round and full with her first child. In short, Godelievt had a miscarriage. Actually, several. She began to give birth to stillborn, after stillborn. The only clothes she made were used as burial gowns for her little unborn children, the ones who came out with the umbilical cord wrapped around their necks, their big blue or green eyes frozen over in death. Now, Maarten wasn't exactly one to lash out, but the fact that his level of alchohal consumption was up and the fact that this silly woman couldn't produce him a proper male heir, --neverless a living heir-- was just damned stupid! So, what did the creative Maarten Van Dijk think to do, to solve his dilemma? The only thing probable for an ex-courtieur clouded in frustration-- he beat her. He beat her, and beat her, fucked her, ostrasized her and beat her even more. He beat her on the sole pretense that she couldn't produce an heir, that she couldn’t bear children that could live for more than two days at a time. She was spineless and weak, and when someone of his family was weak, well goddamnit-- it made him look weak. And Maarten couldn't exactly have that, now could he?


When finally a living child escaped the clutches of his wretched wife's womb, it was a female. Much more dissappointment in Maarten's eyes. And so many more beatings. Only three years afterwards, a miracle happened: the second to pop out was the middle Van Dijk child, the male heir (not only had he'd prayed, wished and hoped for) who would grow up into a non-suprisingly carbon copy of Maarten. After the birth of that son, the beatings substantially descreased, however a quick slap here or there to the woman was just so she could remember her pitiful place. What good news for Maarten.


Marijke was more of an accident, per se. Her father saw no other reason in producing more children: he had his male heir that he wanted, he had an attractive daughter he could always sell off to a good man with money, if all else failed: he could always leave this hopeless whore and find a younger, more functional uterus to fill. But, one night, Maarten was lured to bed by his wife's mesmerizing curves, and only nine months later out popped the youngest and last of the small clan: Marijke Van Dijk. Even from birth, the swaddled little baby that was Marijke seemed to grow and grow...and grow and grow. By birth or default (or whatever), she was already the youngest, with two siblings leading the way for her. As a young child, her mother tried to instill some sense of being a classy, little lady, in reference for future use on how to be the perfect woman. Her mother once was a care-free woman, ready to marry a man who would sweep her off her feet and love the very ground she tread on. She was sassy as she was sweet, however, Maarten did not exactly appreciate that part of her. He beat her, rarely though. Due to her lack of production of heirs, he was quite unfaithful to her, spending his nights in between the legs of cheap women and drowning away his sorrows in wine. However, as expected, Godelievt had the ability to hide her unhappy, shrill self of her underneath a gentle, pleasant facade or mask, which usually came on when they were in the presence of their fellow courtieurs.


The rest of Marijke's life was of the norm -- she followed life in the shadows of her handsome, very well-abled brother and beautiful, graceful sister. She was always the intelligent, highly cultured girl; never the popular, pretty or even capable sibling. During their younger years, it was made apperant that her older sister was the favored, prettier one of the duo. Her sister Famke --with her lush white-blonde curls, sparkling blue eyes and ivory skin-- was an exceptional beauty, while she stood in the background, as the wavy-haired, red-headed clown. So many kind remarks were handed to her sister, rather than her, so it was no wonder when her mother decided it'd be better if Famke recieved the bulk of the housewife and courtier education, rather than Marijke. At the time, it was never any lost to Marijke; she preffered risking a severe thrashing with a switch from her father by sneaking into his study and reading his books, letting her seven-year-old eyes gape at the wonder of his drawings of nude people and animals. She preferred it much rather than sitting in a stuffy kirtle all day, learning to sew and chatting idly with her mother.


That stuff never applied to her, even when she was a twelve-year-old girl, waving her sister off as she traveled off to the Ashton court. Or even as a sixteen-year-old girl living at home, instead of court, watching her sister wed to a wealthy man. It never applied even when she heard news of the Duke and Duchess being slaughtered in their beds, with a female taking the crown.


It never applied to her until this year. As an eighteen-year old girl living at home, Marijke knew she was somewhat of a laughingstock; all girls her age and status were either married, betrothed or a court member. She was nothing but a girl who loved looking through the family library, for some new piece of literature to read, or sketching pictures of the panorama from her own private balcony of the manor. And by the request of the "king" of the five duchies, or Adesia as well as Ashton's own Duchess, all elgible (young, single, wealthy females) should attend royal court. And what better idea for Maarten and Godelievt Van Dijk to get their two younger children out of their hair by shipping them to court...

Parents:
Maarten Van Dijk, father, 46
Godelievt Van Dijk, mother, 39
Siblings:
Famke Van Dijk Lawlingston, sister, 22
Gerard Van Dijk, brother, 19
Personality:

Unlike many other ladies of the court, Marijke can be antagonistic, belligerent, and generally a rather solitary girl. Most court member don't go out of their way to speak to her and that's just the way that she prefers it. She finds the shilly-shally talk between most courtieurs as a fruitless rambles between overly decorated sheep. Marijke is prone to shooing people off with her infamous cold eyes, often leading people to find her unfavorable. For those that do try to start a conversation, she'll either offer them short, insufficient answers (such as a simple "yes", "no" or "oh") or if already irate, a possible line of venom in order to deter them from trying again. Though often confrontational, Marijke is a long way from self destructive or violent.


In spite of the confident, "I adhere to no-one, but my calling" attitude and persona that she portrays, there isn't a soul in the court that can truely claim that they know the real, in depth Marijke. All people can tell is that she a proud, proud girl, with cold eyes and an occasional temper as firey as her hair. She refuses to ask for help, preferring to suffer than admit that she can’t do something on her own. She believes that nothing comes for free in this world; some can consider her paranoid, as she does not believe that people actually do things selflessly; they only do something if they want something – it is after all human nature, right? Within the last year or so, she has become even more withdrawn, refusing to allow anybody in, building walls around her inner self so high that she’s not even sure her damn self that she'll be able to break them down.


In reality, like the Ashton girl that she truely is, she really does have a romantic and philosophical side; she adores the arts with a burning passion, with drama and plays being her firstmost favorite thing. However no one is likely to see her love of such arts, considering all the smoke and mirrors created as a result of her so called upbringing. Marijke, if one could ever get past her defences, is a sincere, highly affectionate girl. When she has a friend, she does her best to smother this so-said friend with as much love as she feels they need; she is known to hug, snuggle and even kiss her friend's (on the cheek or forehead, of course) in the privacy of them two. However, she believes such situations with friends are rare. Experience has taught her that being too nice with your friends will only come back to gnaw her arse off.

Items:

- 1 sewing kit, for embroidery work
- 2 sets of clothing: Two, Ashton-styled dresses [high, square neck, low dipped back]. One is medium-colored purple, for outings; the other a lighter lavender shade for everyday. This includes a wire hair net, slippers, fan, and gloves.
- One cream-colored, silken nightdress
- One light gold chain
- A golden ring with a large, bright Emerald stone in the middle.
- A book of parchment, ink, and quill, with a little bit of sealing wax
- Hygienic effects: hair brush, pins (to hold the hair in place), a little bit of scent (perfume), etc. You can just assume that you have anything you need to stay clean and well-groomed.
- The ability to sing quite well.
- Theater, as in the ability to act out skits, plays and et cetera very well.
- One maid
- One striped orange Persian cat named Roos.

Roleplay:

Other: I love this site =]

OMG lovey I'm so sorry for taking so long on this. I've never made anyone wait this long before x.x

Okay, this gets my stamp of approval except for a few things:

1) English = Adesian, and Dutch... right now we really don't have an equivalent for Dutch, so you might just want to hint at a vague foreign ancestry x.x sorry for the inconvenience.
2) "And by the request of the "king" of the five duchies, or Adesia as well as Ashton's own Duchess, all elgible (young, single, wealthy females) should attend court in Adesia. And what better idea for Maarten and Godelievt Van Dijk to get their two younger children out of their hair by shipping them to court in Adesia..." - did you perhaps mean shipping to court in Ashton? Since technically there are 6 courts in Adesia... one for each duchy and then a royal one.
3) In Ashton, only the Rochester family can wear dark purple lovey, though you may wear a lighter shade.

I think Anna got everything haha...but once you fix those things, then I approve as well. :)

Alrighty, I made the suggested corrections. I had no idea if the courtiers were automatically in a royal court or whatever, but heh, thanks for clearing some things up!

Tis okay about the taking long thing, you have a life outside of this, I know hehe :]

Okay, I still see a mention of Dutch descent in her physical description, and English and German descent in her history (talking about her mother), as well as a mention of the 1300's I just saw, which doesn't quite fit since this is an alternate history, meaning the years and everything aren't the same as far as I know.

So her parents are sending her to the newly established royal court in the Sapphire City, not Lucy's court in Ashton? That's what I'm getting from the end of your history; and that's fine as far as I'm concerned lol, I just wanted to make sure I was understanding it correctly.