Fortune's Fools
is a serial webcomic
by Mel and MJ

Updates on Tuesday

The story goes that in 1377, on a sunny day in mid-June, Celeste was born in the Spanish Kingdom of Old Castile to Conde Alvaro de Burgos and his Gascon wife, Jehanne Argent. Celeste's childhood was overshadowed completely by the birth of young Cézar--the first male born to Alvaro and Jehanne after five girls--on the same day the year before. While Celeste's sisters were well-known and properly married in their time, Celeste's own place was forgotten under young Cézar (so much so that even friends of the aging de Burgos were surprised when Jehanne would talk about her six daughters).

Alvaro de Burgos died in the early spring of 1395, at the age of 67. A month later, young Cézar disappeared and within weeks Celeste, with her mother's blessing, moved to France to live at the court in Paris with her aunt, Lady Francesie d'Argent.

The eighteen-year-old Celeste was awkward and out of place when she arrived, unused to the games of Charles' court. Fortunately for Celeste, her Aunt Francesie was a master manipulator. She was a force to be reckoned with within the women's circles of court and Celeste became her dutiful apprentice. Celeste was patient and quiet as she learned how to navigate the court, until at last her aunt retired the court to marry one of her wealthier (and much younger) conquests, and she struck. She soon became a force within the court. Buoyed by her aunt's old network and the Castillian estates unclaimed by her missing brother she expanded her control of the French nobility beyond her aunt's wilder dreams of influence.