Player Handle: Chris
Character Slot: Princess Ozma Tippiterius

Name: Maud Greensward (She choose Maud because she thought it was a plain, common sort of name not likely to attract attention. It's also the name of the wife of the man who wrote the Oz books. It means "victorious in battle" and is derived from the name of the wife of William the Conqueror – so some ties to royalty and rulership. Greensward means an area of green grass, green is a reference to the Emerald City, whereas Greensward is a reference to her kith as a Flowering)
True Name: Charlotte Baker.
Age/Missing: She is but 17, though she's been missing since 1943, age 12.
Seeming/Kith: Fairest/Flowering
Court: None.
Virtue: Charity
Vice: Pride
Likes: Bells, harmony (in music and in life), books, baths, idle gossip, handicraft, dogs.
Dislikes: Computers, coffee, the dark, the Wizard of Oz books (obviously, but it bears mentioning), waking up, new places.
Hobbies: Knitting, reading, gardening.
Mask: Maud is lovely; there is no question about that. She stands at about 5'5" tall, and has a small, willowy frame. She weighs around 125 pounds. Shoulder-length brown hair with just a bit of a curl to it frames her oval-shaped face. Her skin always looks fresh, and soft, and touching it only reinforces this, though it looks as if she could use a bit of sun. Her cheeks and lips are tinged with pink, so that she never needs to wear makeup. Her eyes are dark green, the sort of color one usually needs contacts to acquire, wide and open. She has a sharp, pointed nose. Her hands always look well manicured, though she never seems to paint the nails. They're the sort of hands that look like they've never seen hard work in her life. She prefers dresses to pants. There's often an odd, sort of restless air to her, as if she's worried that she doesn't know, exactly, where she is, or that someone she was supposed to meet hasn't shown up yet. There's a perfume, floral, light and airy, that hangs about her. Her voice is a clear, upper alto, sweet sounding and pleasant.

Mien: Beauty given form. In the books, Ozma was always described as being beautiful beyond description (very circular, Mr. Baum), and the Wizard-King agreed with this. "Everything about Ozma attracted one, and she inspired love and the sweetest affection rather than awe or ordinary admiration." While perhaps not that lovely, she's close enough.

Her hair shines with a rich, dark brown luster, and entwined in it are two large, blood red poppies, which sit on the sides of her head and cover her ears, along with her hair. A coronal of flowers – periwinkle, scarlet pimpernel, violets, & buttercups (blue, red, purple, and yellow) – rests on her head. She can remove the garland of flowers from her head if she chooses, but they always wither by the next dawn (and are replaced at dawn by a new garland, as well). Her skin feels like it's made of magnolia petals, soft and cool to the touch, not magnolia white, but still pale. Her eyes look as if they were carved out of emeralds. The light floral scent that hangs about her is more pronounced to Changelings – and it's clear that it's a mix between the flowers in her hair, and her skin, which gives off the scent of magnolia blossoms. She looks as if she should be a Fairy Princess because that's the role (one of them, anyway) she was given to play.

Mantle: The scent of a thousand different wildflowers and the indistinct murmur of dozens of people in pleasant conversation.

History: Charlotte grew up in the midst of the Great Depression. Her first memories are of moving, constantly moving. Her parents had been farmers at the time, but when the Dustbowl hit, they were forced to move around the country, looking for work here and there. Basically she was born into a copy of The Grapes of Wrath. She had an older brother, named Paul who helped their father in the fields (he was already 10 when she was born in 1931). They lived in tents and caravans until the late 1930s. She had little formal schooling, though her mother tried her best to teach her.

World War Two changed a lot of things. It gave her father a job in the army, and her mother a job making parachutes. Her brother was old enough to enlist as well, and though he had a fiancé, he went off to join in the war as well. This generally left Charlotte by herself. The sudden influx of money meant, however, that the family could finally afford to rent an apartment, and so she and her mother lived in Los Angeles during the war. Living in one place for a long time also meant that she could finally attend school regularly.

She wasn't a very good student (she was behind in almost everything) but one thing that she loved was reading. And having access to the public and school libraries, she attacked them, and read books. English was the one course where, sometimes, she was okay. Her favorite books were the Oz books – and the most wonderful part was, every year, a new Oz book came out. Until 1943, that is. The last Oz book to be published in the yearly rotation was Lucky Bucky in Oz, published in 1942 (it urged the readers to buy War Bonds, which of course her mother did). The Illustrator/Author died, and the publishers decided that, perhaps, 42 years and 36 Oz books were enough.

One day while coming out of the library, Charlotte met a short, bald man. He asked her a few questions, things about school, her family, and what books she liked. She said that she enjoyed the Oz books. "Oh really? Isn't that wonderful? They're such enjoyable books. A pity they aren't making more. I think it would be nice to live there, don't you? Wouldn't you like live in Oz, and be like Dorothy and Ozma?" She answered him, "Why, yes, I think that would be nice."

At that moment she entered into a contract she wasn't even aware existed. To this day she doesn't know if she was chosen randomly, or not, only that she was chosen. The world turned black, leaving only her and the old man, and Charlotte passed out. When she awoke, she was lying in a bed she didn't recognize, and when she left the tiny house, she found three blue-clad men with long beards waiting to inform her that she'd killed the Wicked Witch of the East with her house. From that moment on, Charlotte was forced to act out, in excruciating detail, the events of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She even found that she'd been provided a dog.

The storyline proceeded until the very end, and finally she was told that she was going to be sent home. This was her one hope – that she would be sent home at the end of this waking nightmare (it's one thing to read about the Tin Man cutting the head off of a bobcat, it's quite another to witness him doing it, or to be attacked by half-tiger/half-bear creatures in the middle of the night). The silver slippers would send her home. She used the magic, took three small steps, and faded into nothingness.

She awoke in a strange bed, in another strange farmhouse. She was the servant of a witch named Mombi, and realized she was in the second novel. At least she wasn't a boy. She played out the entirety of the second novel, until the very end when Mombi uses her magic to restore her servant to her Real, True Form. It was then that she realized that Mombi was actually the Wizard-King (who she thought had disappeared in a hot-air balloon several weeks prior in the Emerald City) – there was something about the eyes that reminded her of the funny old man. He transformed her into the vision of loveliness (and added 5 years to her life as well) that she is today and then was 'banished' by the Witch of the South. Charlotte, now known as Ozma, went back to the Emerald City to "rule" over Oz.

Several weeks later she awoke in a chicken coop in the middle of the ocean. Over the years, she reenacted every single Oz book, playing the roles of Ozma and Dorothy rolled up into one. The worst books were the ones with another protagonist, because then she would wake up one morning in a wholly different place and have to figure out what in the world was going on, and usually have to work her way back towards Oz. And always, at the edges of scenes she would see people who reminded her of the Wizard King (who "came back" to stay for good after she woke up one day next to a strange boy, falling through the earth in a carriage, and met up with the Wizard-King soon after). Sometimes he would be playing villains, or friends, but she could always recognize him. She hated him – he was constantly watching her. She both hated and enjoyed the times when she was forced to adventure – it meant that she had to risk her life (how many companions of hers died over the years in protecting her because she could no longer remember the stories? Only to be replaced by copies a few weeks later?) but it also meant that she wasn't expected to fulfill her 'consort' duties that, once the Wizard-King came back to stay permanently, she seemed to be required to perform more often than she would ever want.

Time passed slowly. She could feel the years slip by, but in all of the decades she was certain she had lived there, she never aged. She couldn't remember the books she used to read anymore, and it got so that she felt that they were doing stories over again as the years went by. They probably were. Of her life outside of Oz, outside of being a Princess-Consort, she had very few memories. She remembered, dimly, her family, and the tent she used to live in as a child, and the war. She also remembered the promise, from years ago, that she would get to go home. One day, while the Wizard-King was gone she left, and ran for the borders of Oz. She knew that, somewhere beyond this place, was home. The sand of the Deadly Desert that surrounded Oz choked and blinded her, but eventually she crossed the sands, and found herself in the mortal world again, lost and highly confused in a world that had moved on without her. If she has a fetch, it's 76 years old by now.

Personality:
Mortals: Normally Maud would be all over loving everyone. It's perhaps part of the reason why she was picked as a child – had a capacity to love almost anyone, no matter who they were. The Wizard-King changed this, of course. She wants to love people again, but she's afraid of others at the moment. She's confused and afraid, but at her core, she's an extremely giving person. She bears no ill will towards regular people. She's jealous of their normal lives, though she does her best not to hold it against them – it's not their fault that any of this happened.

Lost: Though she wants to hide away from everything, Maud cares too much about the world and others to be able to do that and fit in with the Winter Court, but then she doesn't fit in with the wild parties and festivities of the Spring Court, she's too mild and reserved for it. She admires the "we're all in this together"-ness of the Summer Court, but she's entirely too much of a 'can't we all just be friends and get along? 'type to pair up with them; though she loves books, and studying, her desire for 'normalcy' (whatever that is) prevents her from the serious study of Contracts. In short, she shares some traits with all groups, but belongs to none. She gets along well with any Changeling, though one of her main concerns is to step back and consider the others. She wants everyone to love and be loved. She's much more open with the other Lost because, well, they all know. She'll be fearful of meeting new Lost, but once she's known them for a bit, she'll open up.

Inner-self: Maud is, at the moment, highly confused. Extremely, highly confused. She left a world still gripped by World War II, and has come back to modern America. Things are different, and she's not sure how to handle them, yet. She wants to look about information on her brother, but she's afraid of what she'd find. Being in new places scares her, for reasons that she can no longer remember well – but she's going to be jittery and nervous for awhile, and will probably continue to be nervous about her situation after she finds out that there are Fae who are after her and the others.

What she wants to do with herself in almost any situation is help. Even though she's nervous and scared, if you need her help (and aren't doing things she'd consider illegal/immoral), she will give it to you. She really does believe in the words of her motto – everyone must get along and be friends, or if not friends, at least not want to kill each other. All of the Courts have their own defenses, but alone they aren't enough – it is only through cooperation and helping each other will anyone have a chance. This is what she believes. However, she also believes that she's right in this, and in most things that she begins. She's stubborn, and it's difficult to get her to abandon a project or person – she refuses to give up because she believed in whatever it was. She knows that she's right about this. She's certain that she's right about most things. Most of the Fairest are a little aloof – her aloofness comes through the fact that she knows her way is best. She'll let you do your thing, "but really, it would be better if you . . ." Perhaps she thinks too much of herself – but she did spend decades acting (perhaps half of the time anyway) as a ruler of sorts. She doesn't remember most of it, but acting the part of a ruler (no matter how false it is in reality) after that long will ingrain itself into your being. She expects to be listened to.

Title: Princess Ozma Tippetarius.
Domains: Balance, Eclipse, the Center
Colors: Ivory, Alice Blue, Gold. (Ozma is almost always pictured wearing pure white, with gold accents. However, a very long time ago, Maud first came to Oz as Dorothy, and wore blue. She has played both roles, and even though the blue in her outfit is as pale as blue gets, it's still there as an echo of what once was.)

Motto: "Here friendship outranks every other quality. Unless you can all be friends, you cannot retain our love."

Armor:
Underdress- Ozma wears a dress checked in pale blue on ivory. The sleeves go down to her elbows – they feather out at the end into a gauzy haze. The skirt goes down to mid-thigh, and also feathers out like the sleeves do.
Collar- Ivory sailor collar, with two lines in Alice blue around the trim.
Sash- A wide strip of silk goes around her waist, and ties in the back in a large bow. Much like the sleeves and skirt, the ends of the bow feather off into nothingness.
Breastplate- Her breastplate is made of gold, though it isn't as soft or as heavy as that should be. Etched into the breastplate are flowers – the same ones in her coronal. The straps on it are ivory white, with the buckles in gold. In the center of the breastplate there is a four pointed star etched into the gold, with four smaller four pointed stars surrounding it at the compass points.
Tiara- Golden wires run through her floral coronal (if she transforms and has lost her coronal for some reason, it will replace itself with the transformation). In the center of her forehead , hanging down a little bit from the coronal, she has a white opal, with golden wires running around the edges like vines.
Gloves- White gauntlets with ivory trim.
Shoes- Ozma wears rather sensible flat-heeled shoes in ivory white. They're made of white leather, and have no laces, and the toes are just a little pointed, but not much. They're comfortable, and could be worn for hours if needed without having to worry about hurting the feet. She wears ivory-colored nylon knee-highs to make up for the fact that she's not wearing much skirt.

Tokens:

Hen's Shin Locket: The world sees an old brass brooch, in the shape of a Greek cross, or a plus sign. It looks dingy and tarnished and it's obvious that it used to have several gems, one in the center and at the end of each arm of the cross, but they're missing. You'd be hard-pressed to get $1 for it at a garage sale. To Maud, however, it's made of pure gold, and the stones are still there – Emerald in the center, and Amethyst at the top, Sapphire at the right, Ruby at the bottom, and Amber on the left. On the inside of the locket, the shin bones are tied in with alice blue colored silk. The gemstone is another moonstone, white and brilliant. Looking at the bones makes Maud sad for reasons she can no longer remember.

The Magic Belt: To the rest of the world, this is an old leather belt with a silver buckle that has nothing particular about it. Maud, however, sees it shining with silver, and set with opals. Any other changeling who views it sees it covered in symbols appropriate to their court (if Courtless, they see the same thing Maud does). The wearer of the belt can request ask a court ruler to grant them the use of one contract (of any level) for a season, which may be used once a day, as if it were any normal contract the wearer knew. It also grants the wearer Court Goodwill to all courts (though in RPG terms, only one dot).

Catch – Lots of them. The user may only beg a contract from a court they do not belong to. The user may only ask the ruler of whatever season is opposite the current ruling court (Summer contracts in Winter, Spring in Fall, etc). The user must also complete some task for the court ruler, to be completed before the current season is over. A new contract with the new season may not be invoked unless the task from the previous season is completed. Regardless, with the switching of the courts, whatever contract was borrowed disappears, completed task or not.

Contracts:

Eclipse: Fuzzy Details – The user can hide one detail about something from the person of her choice, but only one person, and only one detail. The user can make the person of their choice forget about something as large as the existence of an object or person in a specific location, or as small as eye color or what shirt a person is wearing. This usually lasts for no longer than ten minutes for big details, though small details may be forgotten until the next sunrise. No more than two of these can be invoked at one time.

Catch: The user must draw a large, blatantly obvious X on the object or quality she wants a person to forget.

Center: Sitting at the Hub of the Wheel – The center of the wheel turns a little, but the edge spins with great quickness. The center has great influence. The user of this contract may invoke a round dance, centered on herself. Whatever dance motions she makes, the targets must do the same, but two to three times as powerful. She can also direct how far away the targets must dance from her, though it has to be within fifty feet, no matter what. In essence, the user becomes the caller of a dance. This can affect between one and twelve people, and lasts for three minutes, or the length of one piece of music.

Catch: A piece of music must be playing that all the affected, and the user, can hear.

Splendor of the Envoy's Protection- The user dazzles Mortals and other beings with his/her true face.
Catch- The user invokes this at a formal party containing at least a dozen people.