Caterina Montivelo

Name: Caterina Montivelo

Birth date Rukha 18th, 1784

Age as of 1826: 42

Race: Shivian

History:

Caterina was born to the foreign officer of the Ignis Desert and his Druid wife. She spent her early childhood in the sands of the Ignis, watching her father install order and discipline in the Indariums. This was during the height of Shiva's colonial aspirations in the desert and the beginning of the tensions between the Shivian and Shadow empires that would lead to the First Shadow War. The Shivians, thanks partly to Caterina's father, controlled the northern half of the desert while the Shadows had solidified their control of the southern half. The only portions in contention were the Fenagal Oasis, parts of the coastline, and the heartland of the desert, the Yanakuja. Both countries were encouraging tribes within the other's territory to rise up and revolt while lying to each other. Caterina's father's difficult task was to make sure the Shadows never traced the uprisings to Shivian agents while trying to keep his own tribes under control. It was a thankless job with only a lasting bout of malaria and a letter of thanks from the Shivian government as a reward. While her father grumbled and her mother tried to adjust to the heat and disease, Caterina explored and studied the Indarium artwork. Her father, after coming down with what is now believed to be Yellow Fever, was called back from the desert, Caterina brought with her a basic understanding of the Indarium language, numerous amounts of Indarium pottery, and a deep desire to create artwork that merged the Shivian ideal of beauty with the Indarium ideal. When she was fifteen, her parents sent her to world renowned potter, Travis Pomree, and she flourished under his guidance. He was astonished by her Indarium influence and allowed her to show a select five pieces at one of his own galleries. While Caterina learned art from Travis, she learned romance from his son, Maurice. They married at the age of eighteen and owned their own gallery-Caterina filling it with her pottery and Maurice filling it with his risque cut outs-paintings made completely of cut paper.

"Come to Ferdern with us, Kingsley. There a Killer can be free and we can have a proper family. Don't throw your life away."

Unfortunately their happiness did not last long, for a year later the First Shadow War started and two years later Maurice was drafted. Caterina kept their gallery open and focused on pottery in order to distract herself from her dread and the horrors of war. She gained quite a following and after the war became a world renown potter, but it could not make up for the fact that Maurice died in the war in 1807. Travis was overcome with grief and Caterina moved in with her father-in-law to try and help him heal. She continued her own artwork and ran a few culture exchange programs with the Indariums and the Shivians in an attempt to close the culture gap between the two races. However, it was all for naught for in 1818, the Indariums revolted, and the Shivians were dragged into the Ignis Desert War. Caterina, instead of focusing her artwork on bridging the two races, turned to protest art and became an unspoken opponent of colonialism in general. Her father-in-law died in 1822, leaving her with all of his possessions and wealth. It is around this time that Caterina took in a young Kingsley and his father, Rory Montivelo. Kingsley did not seem overly fond or comfortable with Caterina, but she and Rory seemed to have found an understanding with each other rather quickly. Caterina continued her protest art and Rory took care of the house for her while Kingsley did his best to learn basic arithmetic and Shivian. During this period Caterina and Rory fell in love and married in 1826. Kingsley may or may not have attended the wedding and he may or may not have seen them off when they left for Ferdern. Caterina continued her protest art is Ferdern while also serving as a teacher at a school for refugee Indariums and Killers. She was a vocal proponent for Ferdarian intervention in the Killer-Shivian relationships, but did not enter the world stage like Margaret Leland or Devin Tossier. She seemed content to let her art speak for herself while she enjoyed a quiet marriage with Rory in the Ferdarian countryside.