Melisende Rhodes

'Melissa'

Played by: SonjaFulmo

INFORMATION

Mortal, Female, 29

Aliases: None known
Nationality: UK (Britain)
Residence: London
Employer: Templars
Function: Researcher

• Born to the Temple •

• Education •

• From TSW to SWL •

• Known Associates/Affiliations •

• Special Notes •

• SECTION TITLE GOES HERE •

Melisende, known to all but her closest friends and family as "Melissa," was born to an old guard Templar family. Her great great uncle was Cecil Rhodes, diamond magnate, British colonialist, Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in South Africa, and founder of the country of Rhodesia, the Round Table Group, and the Rhodes Scholarship. For a century and a half, the Rhodes family has been a loyal part of the global Templar organization, contributing money to the coffers and family members to the Secret War. But although there are several exciting and adventurous Rhodes in the family line, Melissa's parents were more stay-at-home types, preferring to contribute to the Templar cause by throwing expensive charity galas and writing large checks every Easter.

Melissa grew up with enormous privilege, and with the high and mighty of the Templar community passing regularly in and out of the family home. She displayed intelligence and curiosity from an early age; for example, when her parents were distracted (which was most of the time) she worked her way through their occult library, experimenting with spells and rituals which no adolescent had any business reading. Her parents finally discovered this in her 14th year when she crafted a love spell which went awry, leaving a handsome young man naked in Temple Court trying to hump a parking meter.

It was decided Melissa would be groomed for a research position, and at the age of 16 she was sent to Domdaniel College, Oxford.

"Now we shall see how a double first at Dom-Daniel avails against the private tuition of my master Bleise." Merlin, to Madame Mim, The Sword in the Stone, TH White

Domdaniel College is a hidden (or "Invisible") College at Oxford where magic, occult lore, and other aspects of the Secret World are taught. At 16, Melissa was one of the younger students there, and she quickly became infatuated with a handsome older male student. The two began dating as she focused on her studies, which included folklore and mythology around the world, British history and literature, and the magical arts. Pretty but bookish, she had a small circle of intense friendships, mostly with other girls her own age. Periodically she would return back to London to visit family or consult the Temple archives for one of her academic projects, but in general she lived on campus in dormitory housing, sneaking out to spend nights with her boyfriend. At Domdaniel she read all the classics of modern magic, her sole negative mark being in a course on Golden Dawn Hermeticism when she refused to sleep with the professor. When she was 19, she tried to satisfy her boyfriend by inviting her closest female friend over for a threesome, and during this encounter began to realize she was lesbian. She kept this secret from her friends and family, but made no complaint when her boyfriend broke up with her shortly before graduation.

Melissa's undergraduate thesis was an attempt to reverse-engineer Morgan Le Fey's famous "Vale of No Return," an enchantment which created a private pocket dimension from which no one could leave without Morgan's permission. Although she was unable to recreate the effect, the project garnered her attention among more advanced magical practitioners and her faculty mentor suggested she apply to the Scholomance. Acquiring the required letters of recommendation was a quest in and of itself, involving travel to the Hell dimensions, an aggressive letter-writing campaign to the Draculesti, and one incident of fellatio ("for academic purposes"), but she successfully won admission.

The Scholomance is one of the most exclusive and famous occult universities in the world, and Melissa's instructional regimen was both rigorous and personally dangerous. Among her classmates were demons, vampires, and, worst of all, Illuminati. She mastered the arts of elemental magic and blood sorcery while writing her PhD dissertation on the Grail myth. She graduated in 2014.

If your character existed in TSW (The Secret World) before coming to SWL (Secret World Legends) -- how do you treat the transition? Are they exactly the same? Did they suffer memory loss? Are they some 'alternate reality' version of themselves?

Everyone knows someone. What groups, people, friends, and relatives does your character have ties to? Would other characters know them from a favorite hangout or a particular organization?

Are they demon-possessed? A skilled Elementalist? Want to describe their awesome powers or trademark equipment they always carry? This is the place to do it.

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