Antiope's Backstory
Entry posted by Antiope_Apollonia in Background
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Antiope's parents were probably poor farmers somewhere in High Rock who had a bad harvest one year when she was too young to remember. Or maybe they were hunters who hit a long spell of bad luck. Or perhaps her mother was a tavern whore who got knocked up by a client. Who can say? Antiope never knew them, at any rate. And if Mistress remembers them, she has never told Antiope. But Mistress has bought and sold so many slaves over the years that she'd be forgiven for not remembering whom she bought that adorable little female Breton from at least a decade and a half ago. Suffice it to say that Antiope has never known any life outside of Mistress's household.
Yet Antiope has been extremely fortunate in some respects. She's fortunate to have won the genetic lottery and been endowed with the kind of body that is desired by everyone and the kind of face that melts hearts. She's fortunate to have been blessed with good health and a sound mind. She's fortunate that, whatever the problems or failures they may have had, her parents did at least give her a chance to live by selling her to a slaver rather than, on the black market, to necromancers or cannibals or daedra worshippers or vampires who'd have had more use for her dead than alive. And—and she would admit so herself—she's fortunate to have been purchased by a Mistress who, whilst perhaps not especially warm or gentle, is at least not wantonly cruel or unreasonably capricious, and who values her slaves as pets and companions rather than merely as tools.
But maybe most of all, Antiope is fortunate to possess the talent and intellect to excel within her station. She has made the best of the slave's lot and worked her way into a position of some—relative—esteem, wearing the red ebonite collar and cuffs and the diamond plug that denote the highest rank within Mistress's household. Although still nominally a sexual companion—and still occasionally used as such—Antiope has become indispensable to her Mistress, and much of the day-to-day running of the household is delegated to her. It falls to Antiope to plan the assignments for Mistress's newer slaves, deciding who should inhabit which of Mistress's many properties and who should be responsible for which jobs in each locale. Furthermore, Antiope is one of Mistress's two most trusted battle slaves, and the three of them almost always travel together whenever Mistress has business to take care of or wishes to acquire new slaves.
And when new girls are captured, it's Antiope who sees to the bulk of their training, at least in the early stages. This is a lot of responsibility, but it also brings significant privileges. Antiope is able to avail herself of lower-ranking slaves for sex whenever she likes—well, almost whenever, as long as Mistress isn't using her at the time!—in furtherance of their training in the Dibellan Arts, and in practice, it is largely Antiope who decides which new acquisitions are added to the household and which are trained for sale, although Mistress does step in to make such decisions personally on rare occasions.
Antiope takes her responsibilities very seriously. She fully comprehends what the alternative is for these girls, and she knows with all her heart that the life Mistress can offer them is so much better than the headsman's axe or a bounty hunter's blade or an empty stomach huddled in some cave, so she's determined to save as many as she can. Sometimes, that means she must beat the new girls to break their most rebellious instincts before they hurt themselves or others—she knows she must, for their own sakes—but it always breaks her heart to do so, and she's as sparing with the harsh punishments as she possibly can be. Mistress indulges Antiope's soft touch approach, because although many might criticise her for it, there's no denying that she delivers consistently excellent results with her training methods emphasising positive reinforcement over corrective punishment.
In the end, most of the other slaves do come to be grateful for Antiope's tutelage. When Antiope and her Mistress visit almost any city or town, slaves they've sold there will whisper, "Nice to see you again, Miss Antiope," and, "Honoured to see you again, Mistress," in their ears as they pass or do business with their new owners; some will slyly, affectionately squeeze Antiope's palm when no one is looking; once in a while, a slave with a particularly unpleasant new owner will even beg Mistress to buy her back—and on a couple of occasions, perhaps when Antiope's comely face was especially twisted in agony at the sight of her former charge in such distress, Mistress has even opened her coin purse for the girl's succour.
All told, Antiope is a pretty contented girl. She spends her life surrounded by people she cares about—fellow slaves ranging from friends to lovers to something like family. Her work is hard, but she finds fulfilment in it; there's always pride in a job well done, and beyond that, she's certain she's helping to make the world just a little bit better. And she has a Mistress she genuinely admires and who takes excellent care of her. Antiope loves her Mistress the way a freedman child loves a stern but honourable father. Mistress is a good provider. Antiope has always been well fed, and growing up, she always had a clean cage to sleep in—nowadays, she gets to sleep at the foot of Mistress's bed. Mistress also owns one of the most extensive libraries in Skyrim, and her fully-trained pets are allowed use of it when their chores are finished. Antiope makes good use of her privileges and has become more well-read than most freemen, and Mistress—herself quite erudite—has come to enjoy her conversation during downtime on long journeys.
Yes, Antiope leads a good life. She doesn't yearn for any other. She knows of no one she'd rather trade places with. It's likely that many dream of trading places with Antiope, however. Wouldn't you?
Edited by Antiope_Apollonia
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