http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/KushielsLegacyCourtOfNightBloomingFlowers

For the main character index, go here.

open/close all folders

The Court of Night-Blooming Flowers

An elite cadre of prostitutes known as Servants of Naamah that are the highest ranked courtesans in Terre d'Ange. Prostitution is considered a religious act for adepts of the Court, as it is elsewhere in Terre d'Ange, and adepts make offerings to Naamah during their service. All thirteen houses are based in the City of Elua, the d'Angeline capital in the district known as Mont Nuit. Each house has its own motto which both serves to provide their unique theory as to why Naamah offered herself to the King of Persis in d'Angeline folklore and to describe the tenets conveyed by each house.

All Houses

Band of Brothels: They work with one another sometimes
Flower Motifs: All the houses are named after flowers
High Class Call Girl/Boy: All adepts are this.
Red Light District: The hill all of the houses are located on is known as Mont Nuit.
School of Seduction: They all train their own adepts.
Sex as Rite-of-Passage: A visit to the Night Court is a typical part of a D'Angeline noble's sixteenth birthday celebration.
Unproblematic Prostitution: Justified due to prostitution being a sacred calling in Terre d'Ange.
Work Off the Debt: Adepts pay off their debt to their house by making their marque.

Alyssum

Alyssum House

With Eyes Averted

The house of modesty. Alyssum adepts specialize in creating an illusion of modesty for their patrons.

Tropes applying to Alyssum House:

Eyes Always Averted: Naturally, given the house motto. Adepts will typically keep their eyes averted when meeting patrons.
Shrinking Violet: The adepts, who present a shy and modest demeanor to patrons.

Balm

Balm House

Rest and Be Soothed

House of the Night Court dedicated to healing. Balm adepts are often expert masseurs.

Tropes applying to Balm House:

Happy-Ending Massage: An assignation in Balm House can often start with a massage.
Intimate Healing: Balm is the house of sexual healing.
Sex for Solace: Imriel visits Balm House for his first trip to the Night Court, where an adept helps heal some of the scars left by his experiences in Darsanga.

Bryony

Bryony House

Wealth Seeks Company

The house of the Night Court associated with wealth. Byrony caters to patrons who find money and wealth arousing. The adepts are skilled in money management and many go on to work in the royal treasury after making their marques. They are also expert gamblers.

Tropes applying to Bryony House:

The Bet: The first rule of Bryony House is never bet against its Dowayne. Also, Bryony adepts are the only ones in the Night Court willing to wager for their favors.
The Casino: The house has a casino-like atmosphere.
Gold Digger: The house caters to those who are attracted to money.
Money Fetish: Bryony House runs on this trope.
Professional Gambler: All Bryony adepts are essentially this.
Strip Poker: Naturally.

Camellia

Camellia House

Without Fault or Flaw

The House of perfection. Camellia House has no canon save perfection, meaning the only qualification for adepts is that they must be incredibly beautiful.

Tropes applying to Camellia House:

The Beautiful Elite: Camellia adepts are extremely beautiful, even among D'Angelines.
Hired for Their Looks: While other houses require adepts to have particular skill sets, all Camellia requires is that its adepts be physically perfect.

Cereus

Cereus House

All Loveliness Fades

The first of the 13 houses, Cereus House celebrates the fragile and ephemeral nature of beauty. Because of its status as the first house, Cereus hosts the Midwinter Masque for the Night Court every year.

Tropes applying to Cereus House:

Delicate Is Beautiful: Cereus adepts are known for their delicate, pale beauty.
Everyone Loves Blondes/Plenty of Blondes: Blonde hair is the canon of Cereus House.
Masquerade Ball: Hosts the Night Court's Midwinter Masque every year.
Silk Hiding Steel: Some Cereus adepts possess an inner core of steel despite their delicate appearance.
Winter Royal Lady: Cereus always provides the Winter Queen for the Night Court's Midwinter Masque.

Dahlia

Dahlia House

Upright and Unbending

The house of dignity. Dahlia adepts are known for being proud and haughty toward their patrons.

Tropes applying to Dahlia House:

Proud Beauty: Their shtick

Eglantine

Eglantine House

To Create is to Live

The house of creativity and performance. Eglantine adepts are skilled in the arts, including but not limited to music, singing, dancing, and acting. Because of this, adepts will sometimes be hired to perform at fetes or other occasions.

Tropes applying to Eglantine House:

Artists Are Attractive: Eglantine House caters to patrons who find practitioners of the arts to be attractive.
Performance Artist: As to be expected in the house of theater, music, and dance.

Gentian

Gentian House

Truth and Vision

The house of spirituality and mysticism. Gentian adepts specialize in mystic disciplines, such as dream interpretation.

Tropes applying to Gentian House:

Dream Walker: Adepts are skilled in dream interpretation.
Higher Understanding Through Drugs: An assignation in Gentian House can involve burning opium before going to bed.

Heliotrope

Heliotrope House

Thou, and No Other

The house of devotion. Heliotrope adepts specialize in creating an illusion of love for their patrons.

Tropes applying to Heliotrope House:

Devoted to You: Heliotrope House runs on this trope.

Jasmine

Jasmine House

For Pleasure's Sake

The house caters to sensual pleasure and has an exotic atmosphere. It is said that there is Bhodistani (Indian) blood in the house's adepts.

Tropes applying to Jasmine House:

The Hedonist: Jasmine is all about sensual gratification.
Royal Harem: The house has an Eastern-inspired harem atmosphere, to the extent that the adepts actually dress up as harem members for the Longest Night.
Sex God: Jasmine adepts are known for their stamina, even among other houses.
Sultry Belly Dancer: Some adepts are this.

Mandrake

Mandrake House

Yield All

One of the two houses of the Night Court specializing in BDSM, Mandrake is the house of dom(me)s.

Tropes applying to Mandrake House:

Dominatrix: They specialize in administering pain for sexual reasons.
Sex Is Violence: As to be expected in the house specializing in dominance.
A Taste of the Lash: Mandrake adepts specialize in administering pain to their patrons. Naturally this can involve whipping.
Whip of Dominance: The Mandrake House Dominatrix-coded adepts are skilled with using whips to extract both pain and pleasure.

Orchis

Orchis House

Joy in Laughter

The house of joy and humor.

Tropes applying to Orchis House:

Cheer Them Up with Laughter: Patrons visit the house when they want a night of merriment.
Fun Personified: Orchis adepts are known for their humor and cheery dispositions.

Valerian

Valerian House

I Yield

One of the two houses of the Night Court specializing in BDSM, Valerian is the house of subs.

Tropes applying to Valerian House:

Bound and Gagged: Frequently happens to the adepts.
Sex Is Violence: As to be expected in the house specializing in submission.
A Taste of the Lash: Valerian adepts are often on the receiving end of this at the hands of their patrons.

Charactes

Miriam Bouscevre

The Dowayne of Cereus House early on in Phèdre's trilogy. It is she who introduces Phèdre to Anafiel Delaunay.

Tropes applying to Miriam Bouscevre:

Iron Lady

Cecilie Laveau-Perrin

A widow and former adept of Cereus House and friend of Anafiel Delaunay. Anafiel hires her to teach Phèdre and Alcuin how to be courtesans in the first trilogy.

Tropes applying to Cecilie:

High-Class Call Girl: Was one of the top courtesans in Terre d'Ange in her heyday.
Delaunay: You have to ask, who was the greatest courtesan of our age?
Professional Sex Ed: Teaches Phèdre and Alcuin Naamah's arts
Silk Hiding Steel: Like many Cereus adepts.

Jehanne no Cereus de la Courcel

King Daniel's considerably younger second wife and stepmother to Prince Thierry. She was once a famed courtesan in Cereus House before giving up her profession to become queen. At first at odds with Moirin due to a shared rivalry over Raphael de Mereliot, she later becomes a friend and trusted confidante as well as lover to Moirin.

Tropes applying to Jehanne:

Backup from Otherworld: She appears to Moirin several times in dreams after her death, providing key information & assistance to her.
Bed Trick: Pulls one on Moirin by serving her as a Cereus adept when she requested a Showing.
Death by Childbirth: Dies giving birth to a baby daughter by Daniel de la Courcel, named Desiree.
High-Class Call Girl: She was an adept of Cereus House before marrying Daniel and becoming queen.
Hot-Blooded: She has quite a temper. It's so infamous that courtiers take bets on how long she'll go before making a chambermaid cry. Eventually this starts to diminish a bit as a result of her relationship with Moirin.
Hot Consort: She is Daniel's Queen Consort and considered the most beautiful woman in Terre d'Ange of her generation.
Gold Digger: Averted. Some of the citizens in the City of Elua think this of her but she and Daniel truly love one another.
It's All About Me: Jehanne loves being the center of attention.
Love Triangle: Between her, Daniel, & Raphael, with Daniel giving her the ultimatum that she must set Raphael aside when they try to produce an heir. She does so after spending one last night with him. A second one occurs between her, Raphael, & Moirin.
Manipulative Bitch: Less of a bitch than the trope suggests, but she is skilled at using manipulation to get what she wants.
Missing Mom: To Desiree, as she dies giving birth to her.
Ms. Fanservice: Certainly qualifies, given that she's a Servant of Naamah.
Second Love: Is this for Daniel.
Sexy Mentor: Becomes this for Moirin during Kiss.
Wicked Stepmother: Subversion. Thierry thinks she is one & even accuses her of wanting him dead. It isn't true, & she makes an effort to make amends with Thierry by assuring him that any child she has with Daniel won't take his place as heir.
Winter Royal Lady: Dresses all in white for the Midwinter Masque.
World's Most Beautiful Woman: Said in Kiss to be the most beautiful woman in Terre d'Ange of the current generation.
Yuri Genre: The first book in the third trilogy is all about her relationship with Moirin with several detailed sex scenes between the two.

Favrielle no Eglantine

Dressmaker and designer. She fashions most of Phèdre's clothes during Avatar and Imriel's trilogy. By the time of Moirin's trilogy her business Atelier Favrielle is the most popular dress maker in Terre d'Ange.

Tropes applying to Favrielle:

Blemished Beauty: Described as very beautiful but it's mentioned she has a scar on her lip from what she says was slipping in the bath, though later gossip has it that she was pushed.
The Fashionista: She is renowned for her genius in designing clothes. After Phedre frees her from the debt she owes her House, Favrielle opens her own coutouriere and soon becomes the top fashion-designer in the City of Elua.
Fiery Red Head: She's a redhead with a feisty, rather irascible personality.
Insufferable Genius: She's extremely had to get to know and the most insufferable character in the series, but no one can deny her genius in making clothes.

Characters / Kushiel's Legacy - Court of Night Blooming Flowers

Edit Locked