Julia FitzRichard
From Age of Intrigue Wiki
This character is deceased.
Julia FitzRichard is a relative newcomer at Court, a beauty, and an amateur poet.
Contents |
Short Stats
- Character Name: Julia FitzRichard
- Title: Mistress FitzRichard
- Estate Name: N/A
- Nationality: English
- Age: 17 (19 December, 1658)
- Gender: Female
- Eye Colour: Green
- Hair Colour: Dark Brown
Physical Attributes
Standing at just over five feet tall, Julia is shapely and well-developed. Her peaches and cream complexion is perfectly complimented by the warm tones of her dark brown hair, which is usually worn high and full to frame her face, and her intense golden-green eyes. Much of the youthful roundness to her face has started to thin, giving her a more womanly appearance as she continues to mature. Graceful in her mannerisms, she dresses in a manner to show her charms to their best advantage with most of her wardrobe being cut low to display her rounded bosom and slender arms.
Her Character
Upon first introduction, Julia appears to be daring, bold, and flirtatious. She seems to be at something of a loss in all-female company, especially the company of naïve, credulous women with whom she often grows impatient. She likes to be amused and has a contagious laugh, deep-throated and gurgling, and has a noticeable fondness for games of all types. Her favorite games, however, are games of intellect or words: she enjoys riddles and other challenging activities that make one think. She enjoys learning for its own sake but doesn't make a point of showing her depth of knowledge to others, though she speaks French fluently and has a working knowledge of Latin.
Her flirtatious nature does not discriminate on gender and she has been known to flirt with women as well as men, though she is not especially intent upon corrupting others. A skilled equestrienne, her favorite form of exercise is riding out daily on her black cob, Nero.
Background
Birth and Childhood
Born at Eldergrove House, near Fawley in Hampshire, Julia is the illegitimate daughter of Richard Lambart, 2nd Earl of Cavan and his mistress Lady Diana Maxwell. Lady Diana was the first wife of Lord Cranborne and bore him two children: James Cecil, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, and Catherine Hay (née Cecil), Countess of Kinnoull. Lord Cavan had only one legitimate child, Charles Lambart, 3rd Earl of Cavan, whose relationship with his illegitimate half-sister is strained at best.
She was educated by the Rev. Dr. William Thorpe, rector of Fawley Parish until January of 1675, when her mother's death forced her to make her way to London. She arrived in the city at the close of the September Season, but the short time that she spent there was far from uneventful.
September Season
On her second evening in town, she visited the Privy Garden, and while there, unwittingly made the acquaintance of Lord Rochester. Intrigued and amused by him, despite his reputation, she stayed to play a little gameof negotiation with him, bartering sexual favors for an introduction to the king. Unfortunately, the negotiations stalled and they were joined in the garden by Louis Killington, which prompted the frustrated earl to toss an insult and a purse at her before taking his leave. Furious, Julia stormed off, intending to go home herself, but was stopped by Lord Basildon, fooled at first by his perfect civility and apparent kindness. Upon conversing with him, however, she became increasingly wary of the man and eventually did take her leave, though nervous that he would at some point in the future use the scene in the garden against her.
She returned to Whitehall the next day, attempting to find some sort of solace in the brilliant greenery of the conservatory where she met Henry Grey, Frances Liddell, Lord Starnberg, and Lady Mignonette de la Rovere. The conversation with the group was slightly awkward, as the events of the previous evening continued to gnaw at her, but it was eventually decided that the new acquaintances would attempt to form a group for the theatre at some later date. Shortly after the decision was made, Julia took her leave, hoping that a good ride in the park would make her feel better.
At St. James's Park, she once again met with Lord Fownhope, where they raced their horses for the prize of a cup of coffee at Kemp's. Julia won the race and they set up their coffee rendezvous for the following afternoon. A comfortable and friendly conversation saw them to the end of the bridle path where they parted ways, less formal than they had been in the conservatory.
Later that evening Julia found herself once again at the palace, doubts about her embarrassment in the garden prompting her to perform a tarot reading for herself in the central drawing room. There she met Adam MacGregor who, over a game of la bete, managed to both cheer her spirits, and advise her on her unfortunate situation. Something about the Scotsman won her trust and she promised that she would take his advice, promising also a letter in the next few days to inform him of any developments. They parted after several hands of the game and Julia returned home.
The morning of the 23rd saw Julia on Rochester's doorstep and after returning the purse he had left with her in the garden, she proceeded to explain the unenviable position that she found herself in, with the possibility of Basildon utterly ruining her by telling the tale of her indiscretion. The meeting ended much more favorably than she had hoped, with Rochester offering to mentor her - an offer, moreover, that she quickly accepted, showing her gratitude, as it were, by finishing the favor she had started in the garden. An invitation to dinner was issued and likewise accepted and she left to keep her meeting with Henry at Kemp's.
At Kemp's, Julia and Henry continued their bantering conversation from the park and exchanged mutual revelations...which led to her luring another gentlemen to their table for Henry's sake. Both she and Henry rather unkindly teased poor Francis de Courtenay until their consciences got the better of them, when they turned their attention to the subject of theatre once again, Julia remembering then to give Henry the play she had promised him in the conservatory. When Francis explained that his sister enjoyed the theatre more than he did, Julia postulated that he had perhaps not seen the right plays and invited him to join the party Henry had formed the previous day.
Evening saw Julia once again at Rochester's where she took her first lesson from her new mentor - how to make food sensual. The games at the dinner table led to games of a different nature: a chess game that ended with her completely nude and a begging game that led to actions of a more intimate nature.
Mid-morning on the 24th was spent at the apothecary's where the proprietor hoodwinked her into purchasing the opposite of what she wanted before she returned home for a nap. Also present at the apothecary's was Lord Breckland, in to replenish his stocks of laudanum. By mid-afternoon, Julia had returned to the gardens where she had intended to write in her journal but was drawn instead into a delightful conversation with Lady Lismore. Their conversation ran onto horses and the joys of the hunt before they were joined by Lady Mignonette and her dog, Louis.
The 24th passed into the 25th, the season completed with the departure of the king and much of the court to Newmarket and their various estates, leaving Julia in London to await the arrival of Christmas.
Fall Recess
With nowhere else to go over the recess, Julia has stayed in London, left alone in the Piccadilly town home by Lord Kinnoull's departure to rejoin her sister and nephew at his Scottish estate. Her days were divided between riding in St. James's and hours spent at home reading and more and more frequently, writing. She has worked diligently to better her compositional skills in poetry by study and application, having decided that verse is a more elegant and cathartic manner of chronicling her feelings than mere prose alone. In addition to her versifying, another read-through of her favorite plays has ignited a growing desire to try her own hand at drama...to see if she is actually capable of completing a play.
In late October, she received news from an old acquaintance that her brother, Lord Cavan, recently got married and that both he and his bride would likely be attending the king at Windsor. The unpleasantness of such tidings was mediated however by the amusement provided by a series of correspondences with Lord Fownhope and more sporadically, with her newly acquired mentor, Lord Rochester. Having turned seventeen on 19 December, she is now the proud owner, in name as well as practice, of the black cob, Nero, courtesy of her sister, Catherine, and Lord Kinnoull. A pair of earrings that had once belonged to their mother was sent to her by Salisbury and as expected, Cavan made no contact, though that lack of communication was gift enough on its own.
