Arachné, born Hélène, the Spider

Arachné filia Cletho Ex Miscellanea Aranea Ab Andorra

The Spider's Character Sheet
The Spider's Grimoire
The Spider's Nest
The Spider's Workshop
The Spider's Treasure
Eva, assistant and servant

From the Spider's Spellbinding Compendium, a collection of notes on the design and laying down of magical traps

Youth and apprenticeship

Apprenticed at Laguna Sententia (Amul, if you’re reading me…).
Born and raised in toulouse, to a family of servants to a wealthy merchant.
Didn't get along well with the other childs. Got into fights when she couldn't hide.
Was bought by her master, and brought to laguna sententia.
Her master, Cletho was a little stingy but not a bad guy. She hated him do to his gift, though. He didn't raise his parma over her as he wanted her both to understand the gift's effects and to grow used to his gift.
While still an apprentice, and chaffing under her parens tutelage, she was approached by a magus that promised to help her acquire power. She got involved, and learned some things, but she was far from a fool, and soon realized something was off. Afraid of both the cult and her master, she avoided them, pretexting her master's tight leash to flee them. This was 5 years before gauntlet, and she has since came to the realization that the cult were, in fact, diabolists. She did not hear from them in the following years, but, since she figured they might take an interest in her anew, this made her nervous. She knows next to nothing about them, but she knows they are older, of unknown number, and yield both hermetic and non hermetic powers.
Lacuna is also the place where something else happened to her. She had a best friend in the servants, Isabelle, a girl only one year younger that, being too rebellious and outspoken, was shunned by the elder maids and was happy to befriend Helène, as a creepy maybe friend was best that no friend at all, especially when she could do magic tricks. When she was older, though (say, 14), she realized she had feelings for Isabelle. She opened up, but the feelings were not reciprocal. They managed to stay friends, however.

First Cycle: The founding of Insidiae

She spends some time in Laguna Sententia, developing her spells, but feeling unwelcome due to her pater's presence. In Summer 1202, she is contacted by Dorika Guernici (investigative magics), and founds Insidiae Covenant with her and Clarisse Jerbitonis (social graces and mentem mastery), taking Isabelle with her. They are to investigate minor events, both magical and political, and smooth things up before it becomes a problem requiring the attention of senior guernicus magi.
All goes well at first, until, in Winter 1204, while investigating a minor cult, she is grievously stabbed by a man, but not before being recognized by the cult leader, with hints to her diabolic past. She spends the rest of the season recovering, but is shaked by the event.

Second Cycle: Shadow within, Shadow without

Insidiae is developing nicely, helped by Magvilus. They are send on missions that are more and more important, usually to investigate hedge mages or supernatural nuisances.
This is also the time when, against all expectation, Isabelle gets married. The event shakes Hélène, as her best friend, who she's been in love for years with, leaves her to live with her husband, a valorous (and widowed) knight they helped deal with a Faerie problem.
To deal with this, she holes up into the lab, learning her arts and crafting more and more items.
This is then, at her most vulnerable, that she is approached again by the magus that inducted her into infernal mysteries, promising that his masters can make Isabelle truly love her. Hélène is sorely tempted, but rejects him nonetheless, telling him to go to hell. Dorika and Clarisse suspect something, but say nothing.
In winter 1205, at age 34, feeling age coming, she gets a lvl 50 LR done for her by a specialist, in exchange for a whole bunch of charged items and 17 pawns of vis.
In 1207, the Shadow Flambeau are exposed. The 3 maga do frequent trips to Iberia to participate in the search for the Renounced Magi. They also manage in 1208 to seek out and kill Landis, a black flambeau that had slipped into Provence.

Third Cycle: Making friends, Losing love

In 1209, Dorika negociates for the team to spend 2 season in Magvillus, to use their library and be taught in various disciplines, all so that they can be a better team.
While hunting diabolists, she befriends Antonio Perez in 1210. They spend some time together fighting magical threats, and will correspond, however irregularly, for the years to come. This is also the year in which Arachné discovers a vis source she registers on her own name.
Back in Provence, the maga of Insidiae are given more and more secret missions by Magvillus, and Hélène crafts quite a lot of different spiders. She takes the habit of traveling with a lot of different items, in order to compensate her deficient formulaic magic. She also reinforcates the covenant's defenses, putting various traps and charged items in it.
In 1214, she is asked by Antonio and Dimir Taar to work on the Vault's defenses. Both are satisfied by her work.
In 1215, she learns that Isabelle and her husband have been killed, supposedly by a dragon. Grieving, she tracks down the beast, only to discover that it was a cover story concocted by the real killer, Asterion Ex Bjornaer. Their child was gifted and he wanted to take him, but the parents refused. Things escalated, as he couldn't take "no" for an answer. He never could, and thus killed the parents, captured the child. Arachné declares a Wizard's War with Asterion, but she finds herself on the bad end of the war, as her magical defenses proves unsufficient to the task. Luckily for her, while desperately trying to cancel Asterion's parma, she botches her spell, and is send into twilight. Lost in the magic realm, she meets Melantha, a spirit that claims to be her ancient, greek ancestor. Melantha guides her back to the mortal world, and Arachné discovers there that her Parma Magica has been greatly enhanced by the experience.
Suspecting Asterion will come back to her, she plays the fearful part. True to his colerous character, the bjornaer declares a war on her as soon as he heard she has returned. This time, however, she is able to better resist his spells, and manage to kill him. This, however, does nothing to alleviate the loss she feels.

4th cycle: Transylvania

Following her victory on Asterion, she claims Isabelle's child as her trophy, and beings to induct the yound boy, damien, into hermetic magic. Soon, however, she finds that the boy reminds her too much of her former love. Through Antonio, she arranges for Damien to be ceded to a flambeau friend of his. That was the last time she heard of Damien.
In 1217, Dorika, Clarisse and Arachné head to Magvillus, to receive further training in the Mercurian tradition. Arachné is proposed to be subjected to a ritual (and initiation) granting her Mercurian Magic, but it fails. Nonetheless, they are able to improve their arts, learn some spells, and, more importantly, learn some special Mastery abilities.
In 1221, she is hired by Lycaneon covenant to work on their defenses and supply them with charged items. She finds that a sign that her skills are beginning to get recognized. She spends 4 years here, studying in their library while installing many defenses and crafted items. She comes out of it with a better appreciation of Doctrina and synergy in a team of magi.
In 1221, Arachné is contacted by the Diabolic Cult. They deny all allegiance to demons, and claim that Landis has returned as a demon, and offer their help in rounding him up. Arachné refuses.
In 1222, signs that the info was right abound. The 3 maga are powerless to track down their ennemy, which causes a lot of trouble to them, and puts them close to having trouble with the Code. The cult contacts Archné again, but she refuses to deal with them. They then give her the information about where "Landis" is to be found. Reluctantly, Arachné uses it, and the maga of Insidiae are able to find and destroy the fell beast.

5th cycle: The Fall of Insidiae

In 1225, Melantha, deeming Arachné ready, leads her on a mystical quest to a portal that leads them through the Magic Realm. This allows Arachné to unlock the link to her ancestors, and she gains Magical Blood, although this lessen her ties to the mortal world, giving her a Fragile Constitution. During the quest, she also suffers twilight due to a botched spell. She manages to control it, though, and comes out with Cautious Sorcerer, thus increasing her chances to avoid further botches.
In 1228, they are asked to investigate the disappearance of a covenant in the Levant. They send a bunch of grogs there and follow thereafter. They find out that the covenant was attacked by a mixture of mundane and supernatural forces. Cautiously, they try to determine whether this was the Order of Suleiman striking at the order or not, when their base camp is brutally attacked, in the midst of the night, by winged, dark creatures, backed up by mundane archers. Dorika is killed by the first strike, as are most of the grogs. Seeing that the battle is lost, Clarisse and Arachné teleport back to Insidiae, leaving the few surviving grogs to their fate, and immediately send a report back to Magvillus.
2 nights thereafter, while they lick their wounds, thinking themselves safe, they are attacked, apparently by the same forces. This time, the battle is massive, as Insidiae harbors a lot of magical defenses elaborated by Arachne over the years. Fighting desperately, the two maga and their servants manage to kill most of their attackers, but the covenant is leveled by the magics unleashed (due in no small part to Arachné's destructive traps). In the morning, the 2 maga stands triumphant, although Clarisse, grievously wounded, agonizes in her friend's arms. Of their assaillants, there is no trace. Broken and tired, having lost all she trived for, Arachné warns Magvillus, and decides to rest and hide at her friend Antonio's powerful Andorra covenant.

6th Cycle: Andorra (1230-1234)

Feeling quite paranoid after the destruction of 2 covenants and the attack on Andorra, Arachné decides to strenghten her new home, to make it a fortress unassailable by man or magic.
She manages to get hold of the Warden position, which allow her the latitude and ressources to do just that, and gets to work, creating enchanted guards and the Wand of the Fearsome Ballista. Sadly, she fails in making any new friend, and feels more isolated than ever, even though she retains a sense of loyalty to her new home. Worse, her frequent run-in with vulcanus don't endear the verditius to her. She misses her friends, she misses Isabelle, she even misses Antonio, the old goat. Yet, she endures.

7th Cycle: The rebirth of Andorra (1235- )

Arachné works tirelessly to improve andorra's defense and advise her fellow magi, creating Windows of Singular Direction on the covenant's walls, giving it wooden guards, and crafting many arcane, albeit charged, items.
In Summer 1240, Carmen, by then Pontifex Maximus, elevates her to the title of Pontifex Majore.