we are officially open for interactions but we still have one spot left ! if you’re interested in joining a small, closed writing group based on the secret history, dm me for more info or send in an application !
caeles, latin, noun: divinity, dweller in heaven. we are a small, dark academia, closed writing group based on the secret history ( and other texts and films ) where twelve students of elite new england college, leopold university, are hand picked by professor ellison, of greek prose and classics, to participate in an exclusive course for the duration of their student career. we have a total of twelve spots, for each of the twelve olympians, and only one spot available. to reserve a spot or faceclaim, or get more info, please dm me ! interactions are set to begin on TODAY, at 6PM EST.
Hi members ! Posting this here in case any of you miss it on the discord. I left a message in the announcements channel asking you all to react to it by Sunday (today, 12/8) if you’d like to still be in the group.
If you haven’t done so yet, you should have received a message asking if you would still like to be part of the group. Please let me now by end of day today to hold your spot in the group, otherwise your role will be reopened tonight.
Interactions are set to begin on Wednesday, December 11 so if you haven’t gotten your intro up yet I encourage you to do so and start plotting !!
felicity helena burgess is the twenty year old sophomore in professor ellison’s classics course. they are a capricorn, which is probably what makes them so creative and diligent. every time i see them, i can’t help but think of loose fitted turtle necks, the smell of your grandmother’s coco chanel, the sound of turning pages, no makeup but red lipstick, running barefoot in a graveyard past midnight, the smell of fresh coffee in the early morning, golden glitter stuck to your skin.
FULL NAME : felicity helena burgess
NICKNAME : effy/effie, flick (to family members only)
SEXUAL & ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : bisexual , biromantic
HOMETOWN : fairfield, connecticut & new york, new york
FAMILY :
father: laurent (laurence) burgess
mother: jacqueline black
full siblings: ambrose burgess, 28 & brother, 21-22 (wanted connection!)
half sibling: emile burgess, 42, from father’s first marriage
step sibling: step sister , 18-22, from father’s current marriage (wanted connection!)
ACCENT : posh, new england
LANGUAGES SPOKEN : english (germanic), french (romance), german (germanic), russian (slavic), mandarin (indic, eastern zone), greek (hellenic / literate, not fluent), arabic (indic / literate , not fluent)
AESTHETICS : loose fitted turtle necks, the smell of your grandmother’s coco chanel, the sound of turning pages, no makeup but red lipstick, running barefoot in a graveyard past midnight, the smell of fresh coffee in the early morning, golden glitter stuck to your skin + PINTEREST
CHARACTER PARALLELS : camilla macaulay (the secret history), siobhan roy (succession), kitsey barbour (the goldfinch), amma crellin (sharp objects), alice charles (the politician)
FAMILY PARALLELS : roy family (succession) belfort family (wolf of wall street), horowitz family (clueless),
BACKGROUND & FAMILY DYNAMICS
if you grew up in north america, you have probably heard of the burgess family. hell, even if you didn’t grow up in america, you have probably heard of the burgess family.
though they pride themselves on “small town family values” and “keeping the business in the family,” the burgess family has no intention of actually relating to small town america, to trusted catholic traditions, to family run businesses.
true, the leaders of the multibillion dollar media conglomerate known as VVIO are all close friends of the family, if not actually family members, but that’s about where the similarities between the burgesses and middle class america end.
Vvio is one of the largest media conglomerates in north america. think similar to cbs/viacom, they have news, movies, television, late night shows, streaming platforms ! whew..
their father, laurent burgess, known better as laurence in an attempt to americanize himself after emigrating from france in the 1960′s, is the ceo and mastermind behind Vvio. coming from a poor family from the outskirts of paris, laurence moved to america’s real capital — new york city, not dc — with big dreams and even bigger ambitions.
in the grand scheme of things, Vvio grew into the multibillion dollar corporation that it is today rather quickly. by the time laurence was in his early 30′s, he was a millionaire. at that point, he was married to a woman he’d known in france, his “first love,” who he’d flown out from their small town to be with him in new york at the first signs of success.
he was a multi millionaire, a drug addict, an alcoholic, a serial cheater. he fell in love with a young french model in the 80′s, and is having an affair for an entire year before his wife finds out. though they try to reconcile, they ultimately end up getting a divorce, and he marries the french model not even a year later.
that french model was jacqueline black, felicity’s mother. they would be married for nineteen years before ultimately getting a divorce, which both can be blamed for, but it was mostly laurence and his inability to stay faithful or sober
the burgesses grew up in fairfield, ct. each of the siblings attended private school in the city, a near two hour commute each way for the best education possible.
THE SIBLINGS: growing up, everyone was constantly fighting for the attention of their father. the eldest son, ambrose was “the fuck up,” but he’s a rich fuck up, so did it really matter? very george bush-esque — always drunk, doing coke, fucking prostitutes, but did he still get into harvard with no merits because of his last name? you bet. emile was their father’s pride and joy. which wasn’t necessarily a good thing, when all his siblings had daggers in their eyes thinking that he was just as much a fuck up as ambrose. it was true, fortune favors the fuck ups. felicity’s other older brother (wc!!) would be the obvious choice to take over. sure, he can be wild, reckless, and impulsive — but he’s intelligent, fiercely competitive, and a people person through and through. everybody loves him. except for their father, who seems not to notice all the areas in which he excels. felicity is “daddy’s little girl” which was nice as a kid, she was favored and loved and one of the few children in which he shows affection toward — but it quickly grew old as she grew up. intelligent and well rounded, never one to drunkenly throw herself off a bridge like her, or snort so much cocaine they can’t move their legs, or get in a car accident that needs covering up like her brothers. but no matter what, she was the little girl. kept away from the business and the politics, a fragile mind like hers couldn’t “handle it.” she spends so much time trying to prove herself again and again to her father, that she was just as intelligent and capable as her brothers, only to churn out the same goddamn result. her relationship with her step sister (wc!!) isn’t a great one, seeing as they are the same age, and have been in competition with one another since they became sisters at thirteen. but she has it lucky — she will never feel the need to fight for laurence’s attention.
PERSONALITY
when felicity was three years old she wondered into the section of the house her father forbade the kids from going. included in that section was his library — an enormous room with high ceilings, covered ceiling to floor with bookshelves, lined with all sorts of books from academic papers to novels, first edition to signed copies, etc. she fell in love, and when her father found her in there, he decided to let her explore, expand her horizons instead of punishing her for breaking the rules (which probably would have happened had it been one of her brothers, rather than her)
it was the start of her love for all things language arts & literature. her father saw it early on, deciding to hone in on the skill, he allowed and encouraged her to pick one book from his library each week. while the jacqueline spoke to all their kids in french, laurence also decided it was best to hire tutors for felicity, who clearly had a knack for languages, and encouraged her to learn some of the world’s most important languages, as well as choose ones that she would like to learn based on interest alone (like greek, for example)
felicity is an academic through and through. not only does it come naturally to her, but she enjoys learning. unlike her brothers, going out and getting fucked up all weekend isn’t her idea of fun. she’s much more straight edge — enjoys sophisticated dinner parties with a glass of wine. if she’s hanging out with “the boys,” she’ll have a glass of scotch. she never drinks in excess, always seems very collected and poised, and is the first to call out her siblings for acting idiotically. not that they care, there never seems to be any repercussions in the burgess family, not legally at least — though their father’s disappointment tends to be one of the worst consequences imaginable.
picking a weekly book from her father’s library continued until she moved to attend leopold university at eighteen. when she was thirteen, she came across a book on astrology, and was completely enamored by it. of course, she’d learned about zodiacs before, but never in depth, and it became a new project for her, learning everything about the signs and birth charts, planets and placements. by fourteen she was discovering her entire family’s birth charts, seeing how they each fit in and played a part. with one another. this eventually lead to other spiritual activities, such as tarot cards, which is now one of her biggest passions. she has a collection of different decks, but her favorite remains as the deck she’d bought for herself at seventeen, from a vintage, spiritual and healing store in the east village of new york.
emile was the first of the burgess siblings to be accepted to leopold and handpicked by professor ellison, so that when felicity and the others decided to attend, he’d already had the burgesses on his radar. one of the most powerful families in north america, and even the world, it was no wonder that ellison had taken an interest in them. since joining the classics course last year, felicity has formed quite a special bond with their professor. her knack and knowledge of multiple languages has piqued his interest, and they often sit together in his office and discuss works of different origins and translations and compare the literatures together. professor ellison has been helping her in her quest to learn greek and also arabic, which so far she has almost mastered reading, but still needs to work on speaking.
kind of has major daddy issues, thanks to spending her whole life competing for her father’s validation, which is where her strive for professor ellison’s validation comes from. she really seeks for his approval and favoritism, because it’s his validation that soothes the open wound that her father could never seem to fill with his empty promises and lack of approval
RANDOM HCS/TIDBITS
has a big, fat orange cat named henri
drinks 3-4 cups of coffee every day, along with 2-3 cups of tea
has never received a grade lower than 97%
wears a lot of gold jewelry, especially gold rings
wants to be a novelist, and yet hasn’t even started working on her first novel. does have a few published short stories and poems, though.
has an entire drawer in her apartment full of crystals for different days, moods, seasons, health issues, etc.
parisian girl at heart, spent many summer and winter vacations in paris and it’s her favorite place in the entire world. yes, she romanticizes the fuck out of it
that being said, she romanticizes the fuck out of everything and everyone. perhaps it has something to do with being a writer and a poet. you’re always sad and in love with something.
WANTED CONNECTIONS
siblings! she has an older brother (21-22) and a step sister (18-22) that would work for this group! if you’d be interested in being a part of the burgess fam (the step sister would obviously have a different last name) then hmu
cousins!!! this family is VERY family-centric, the whole company they own is family-centric, so even if they’re not actually close, they’re close. if that makes sense. this could be a cousin from his first marriage or second marriage (if through the mother’s side), or a cousin from the dad’s side in which case might cause some ~drama~ because felicity’s dad definitely slighted his siblings and doesn’t really talk to any of them (which would be that muse’s parents)
best friend: felicity spent most her life surrounded by boys (she’s the only daughter, minus her newer step sister), and has always found it easier to get along with them. so, mostly, she’s friends with boys, but i imagine her BEST best friend, the one she shares all her secrets with and really lets in, is a girl.
close circle: effie is a capricorn which means she doesn’t let just anyone in. she’s never really liked the idea of having a lot of friends. a few, very close friends has always been the smarter decision in her mind. that way you don’t lose track of who you should and shouldn’t trust. and if someone misplaces your trust, you know exactly who to cut off. where their loyalties lie. anyway, like i said, she tends to mostly be friends with boys, just because it’s what she’s used to, and finds herself being fiercely competitive with most other girls, so this would be mostly made up of guys! with maybe an exception.
roommate: could possibly be looped in with best friend / close circle, but i imagine they have a quaint, historical, and beautiful two bedroom apartment off campus.
rival: if i get her step sister wc, that would be this, but if not, just someone in which a rivalry has sparked up since they both joined the classics course. perhaps they are both striving to be the professor’s favorite or something IDK
toxic, on-and-off rs: this could be m/f/nb since effie is biromantic/bisexual, but basically the two are just not right for each other. it’s equally toxic on both ends. on felicity’s end, she tends to be controlling and jealous, and very much a know-it-all that can often be hard to deal with. probably an rs that won’t last anyway because they truly are not meant to be but also it’s nice to see where the chemistry goes anyway lmao
bad influence: effie is v straight edge so someone get her dunk !!! she tends to pass on most parties unless it’s like #dinnerparty so like i need a connection that drags her ass out to everything she says no to
My brother once showed me a piece of quartz that contained, he said, some trapped water older than all the seas in our world. He held it up to my ear. “Listen,” he said, “life and no escape.”
Anne Carson, “The Wishing Jewel: Introduction to Water Margins,” The Anthropology of Water, Plainwater: Essays and Poetry
(via lifeinpoetry)
we are a small, informal, dark academia roleplay based on the secret history and we currently have three spots open. we have not started interactions yet so if you have any reservations about feeling left out, this is the perfect time to join ! please just inbox or dm me if you’re interested in joining and i will gladly reserve you a spot. you can read all about the concept/plot here and the taken students here.
kianamaiart
discoholicmusic
dailybridgerton
prguitarman
theartofmadeline
dededos
annaxmalina
jacobvanloon
gummygunk
