Empress Celene
Dressed in the whitest silver you'd smile at me, every night I wait for my sweet Celene. But still, solitude's upon my skin, a life that's bound by the chains of reality.
AKA:
The Lioness
Briala's Body Minus the Right Hand
Maybe Doesn't Have a Face
Celene Valmont I is the current Empress of the Orlesian Empire and thus in charge of the most powerful nation on Thedas. She assumed the title at just 16 years old after some particularly messy Game-playing resulted in multiple deaths. Despite her youth, Celene expertly navigated the dangers presented by would-be usurpers and solidified her power. She proved to be a progressive leader in many ways, and was even willing to ally with and aid Ferelden during and after the Fifth Blight, despite many in her court wanting to take advantage of the damage done by the darkspawn to reclaim their erstwhile territory. Around a year before the explosion at the Conclave, her cousin Gaspard de Chalons, a Grand Duke and chevalier, tried to claim the throne and began a civil war known as the War of the Lions. This distraction meant that the Empress, and therefore Orlais, were initially unable to help the Inquisition against Corypheus. Celene and I first met at the Winter Palace in Halamshiral when Gaspard’s sister Florianne arranged for peace talks between the two sides disguised as a grand ball. Thanks to our trip to the future, we knew that Corypheus planned to have Celene assassinated and blame Gaspard, plunging the strongest country in the world into chaos and making it much easier to conquer. The Empress is as polite and elegant as you may expect from one of her standing, but also ruthlessly intelligent. Given that she has held her position for decades, she is also an extremely canny player of the Game, and in reality, if the Game was only being played between her and Gaspard that night, she would have won. The wild card of Cory being thrown in meant that we needed to help keep her alive. Which we did, exposing her rivals and even reuniting the Empress with her lover, Briala, for good measure. Since then, Celene has acted as a staunch ally to the Inquisition, even traveling to the Arbor Wilds with her troops. I’m sure we can look forward to continued cooperation, though hopefully fewer formal functions, in the future.
