Siobhan the Writer (shi-VON or shi-VAWN | / ʃɪ 'vɔn / or / ʃɪ 'vɒn /)

Siobhan had an unspecified health condition that occasionally made her legs give out randomly. Siobhan also had surgery for cancer in her throat.

The Queen of Bats was slim and tall, with what would almost be a "fashion-model's figure," except that she was too busty for that description to be entirely accurate. She did not have a "half-bat" form per se, but instead, could manifest bat wings that were proportional to her size, which she could use to fly over short distances.   As a bat, Siobhan was indistinguishable from a normal little brown bat, which is a species common to Northern Interior BC, where she was born and raised. She was on the long and slim side of the species, just as she was in her human form.

Siobhan had sharp, narrow features and a high forehead that gave her an intelligent, almost hawkish look. Her disapproving glare was regarded by many as being deeply intimidating.

The tip of Siobhan's second finger on her right hand was broken when she was working at a lumber mill. It and the fingernail healed at a crooked angle.

The Queen of the Night had a twitchy, frenetic energy in the way she moved. She seemed incapable of sitting still. Often, her leg bounced or she fidgeted.

Persistent Literomancy: Exhaustion was rarely an obstacle to Siobhan's literomantic talents. She seemed to be capable of writing a convincing yarn even when half asleep.   Bat Summoning: Siobhan could summon a swarm of bats to fly at, confuse, blind, or sometimes even bite her enemies. It is unclear whether these were conjured from ether, or called from the surrounding area. These swarms could number in the thousands.   Echolocation: Whether in bat form or not, the Queen of the Night seemed to be able to navigate via echolocation, and therefore, was not affected by blindness or darkness.   Sonic Magic: Siobhan the Writer, regardless of the form she was in, was able to create supersonic high-pitched noises that caused sonic damage, such as painfully vibrating bones, shattered eardrums, or broken glass. Further, these sounds were also used to carry effectively silent messages for hundreds of miles that only other Bats could hear. It is possible these supersonic noises may also have been able to silently carry literomantic effects, making her literomancy effectively undetectable.

Siobhan strongly prefered flowy skirts and dresses that emphasized her figure. She was almost never found in pants and didn't own a single pair of jeans.

Siobhan's royal regalia was a silver crown with two silver bats suspended above the band on hornlike points. She also wore a white satin cape.   The Queen of the Night carried a gnarled wooden walking staff that doubled as a shillelagh. She occasionally carried her tanto if she was expecting a threat, and wielded a traditional Celtic broadsword in war or ritual. Siobhan was quite proficient in the use of all of these weapons, and was an accomplished archer as well.

While the history of the Chiroptera clan was once a powerful one in Ireland, with a long history of Druidry and folkcraft among the Celts and Gaels, by the time the Queen of Bats was born, the House had fallen to near obscurity. The most affected by the anti-literomantic policies following the War of the Roses, and having been further devastated by the various wars that struck their homeland and by the infamous Potato Famine, the dwindling Chiropterans immigrated to Australia, or to Canada following World War II, and there hadn't been a literomancer born to them in generations.   Needless to say, Siobhan was more than a bit of a black sheep in her Northern BC rural family. Her old fashioned Pentacostal parents had no understanding for the bookish trans girl in their midst. Her parents kept urging her to pursue more "masculine" passtimes, and her father was physically abusive. At school, being a thin and reedy child who was perceived as a boy, she was often bullied, even and especially by her erstwhile "friends." Books and writing were her escape.   When Siobhan was in her pre-teens, she accidentally happened upon a literomantic text in the Prince George Public Library. She kept the book and paid the lost-book fines, and her journey into literomancy had begun. Her urge to connect with other literomancers led her into a variety of "nerdy" pursuits, including RPG gaming, the Society for Creative Anachronism and RenFaires.   Siobhan met Sable Aradia when they were both young women, through a friend who was then Sable's boyfriend, who had recently moved to the area from the Okanagan; and also through Sable's half-sister Princess Rowean, who grew up in the region. When Sable graduated high school, her boyfriend left college to move in with her, and most of his group of friends followed him to the Okanagan, including Siobhan and Rowean.   The group of friends continued to engage in a variety of activities together, such as RPG gaming and the SCA. While Sable and her boyfriend broke up within a couple of years, and The Chief Rabbit entered into a relationship with Erin Righ, Siobhan, Rowean and Sable's friendship endured. Sable was happy to assist her sister and her good friend in catching up on the literomantic training that their eclectic study had missed.   Siobhan, now known as Siobhan the Writer, researched her family history as part of her involvement in the Society for Creative Anachronism, and discovered her family's ancient literomantic heritage. She reclaimed the title of The Queen of Bats by virtue of being the family's only known literomancer.   Over time, the duties of adulthood, marriages, and families forced the three apart. Still, they insisted on getting together at the Game of Tomes for literomantic competition every year. There, Siobhan discovered a few scattered Chiropterans, and a few Werebat literomancers who were only too happy to have a House to join. House Chiroptera began to rebuild.   By the outbreak of the First Word War, Siobhan had come out as trans, ending her marriage, and after a series of jobs in fast food and as a barista, Sable got her an entry-level job as a reporter for the ASC News Network. Siobhan, who was building a stronghold for her House that was simply known as The Cavern, was right in the thick of the war.   While reporting on the fate of House Apis for the ASC, on November 15, 2020, Siobhan was stung by a Zombee (a former House Apis Tome Knight, now a Tome Zombie ), and joined the ranks of the Undead Horde. Her first act immediately upon being raised as a vampiric Tome Zombie was to eat her cameraperson, also a Chiropteran, and Aydan Nightshade joined the Horde as well.   It wasn't long before House Chiroptera fell after that. Siobhan the Nite Queen's first goal was to take down her friend the Mother of Bunnies, and she led a raid on The Warren.   House Lapin fell soon after, and the survivors, including Sable Bright-Eyes, fled to House Mollusca to bend the knee. Together, the survivors defeated the Undead Horde, and Coffee Quills took The Iron Tome. Siobhan was one of the first resurrected.   The Queen of the Night turned her attention to building up her House, expanding the Cavern, and honing her literomantic skills, determined to never again be caught unaware by unexpected threats. She appointed a House Forgemaster and a Guard Captain and participated actively in the Tourneys of Tales in 2021.   When a bat-shaped Zombie Summoning Totem was discovered near The Warren, Sable Aradia assumed that Chiroptera had attacked her House, and declared war. The Missing House, traditionally bannermen to Lapin, gave their allegiance to Chiroptera instead, further imbittering relations.   A few days into the war, a duel took place between the Queen of Bats and the Mother of Bunnies. It is unclear whether Sable defeated Siobhan, or Siobhan simply put herself in a vulnerable position to challenge her friend to kill her if she was determined to do so. Either way, both House Leaders left the field of battle alive.   The Missing House returned to the Lapin fold, claiming they had served Chiroptera in the early stages of the war to discharge a debt of honour. The fallen Houses House Tiki and House Sauropoda, and most of their bannermen, fled to the Cavern. At about the same time, the true threat -- the Undead Horde -- was revealed. The Queen of the Night met with Sable Bright-Eyes to negotiate a truce so that they could deal with the greater concern.   House Chiroptera fell on November 21, 2021, and fled to the Warren. Instead of forcing the Queen of Bats to bend the knee, the Chief Rabbit offered an alliance. When House Meles left the Zafforza Trench for the Warren, the Babbit Alliance became the heart of the Grand Alliance, which all Houses in the Realm joined once House Mollusca fell.   The two friends fought back-to-back in the Battle of the Warren, each supporting the other with their own strengths, and the Grand Alliance defeated the Undead Horde on December 2, 2021. Sable Aradia claimed the Iron Tome.   At the celebratory banquet following the battle, Siobhan the Writer proposed to Sable's son and heir, Prince Jean , and he accepted, thus solidifying the Babbit Alliance. However, the royal wedding was delayed by a near-successful assassination attempt on the Mother of Bunnies. Queen Siobhan's attempts to help determine the identity of the assassin, and later, to find Queen Sable's missing Owsla Commander DM Stretch, led to an ambush and her near-murder. Only the quick action of her dog Beansidhe, in fetching her friend Sable, saved her life, as the Bunny Queen's healing powers were able to seal the wound. Queen Siobhan would bear a throat scar for the rest of her life thereafter.   However, Queen Siobhan had by then discovered that one of her Knightwings was, in fact, her niece. She declared TaraFaeBelle her Heir and immediately brought her into the fold of the Chiropteran royal family with its contingent duties. The choice was a popular one, and Princess Tara embraced her duties.   A high-profile lawsuit, launched by Queen Sable, Queen Siobhan, and Tal ElementEds against the GOT News Network for violations of privacy and wrongful dismissal, further delayed the would-be royal wedding. Slander and lies against the Tome Knights brought scandal to House Chiroptera and House Lapin. However, the lawsuit was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.   Queen Siobhan was one of the Tome Knights who participated in The Battle of the Book, and thus, was named a Defender of the Realm for her part in the action.   In September of 2022, Queen Siobhan was visiting her fiance in the Lapin Protectorate and they took a private holiday along the BC coast. On the 14th, the car they were in swerved to avoid hitting a deer on the Sea-to-Sky-Highway and plunged into the ocean. Prince Jean recovered in hospital with the aid of his mother's magic, but most of Queen Siobhan's body was never recovered, so she could be neither healed nor resurrected.   The Chiropteran State Funeral was held on September 15, 2022 in The Cavern, and was attended by the leaders of all of the Major and Minor literomantic Great Houses. She was laid in state deep in the Cavern's crypts, to rest beside the bones of her ancestors, whose legacy she had singlehandedly saved. She was toasted by the Defenders of the Realm, all of whom also attended her funeral.   Queen Siobhan was succeeded by her niece, Queen TaraFaeBelle, who was coronated on October 7, 2022.

Siobhan was a transgender woman.

Pansexual

The School of Hard Knocks

Siobhan was a proud literomancer, having completed NaNoWriMo twice while living. Unfortunately during the war of 2020, it was the Nite Queen who completed NaNo. She also completed several Camp Nanos.   Self-Care Badges

Siobhan frequently suffered from self-doubt, and blamed herself for House Chiroptera not having successfully claimed the Iron Tome.

Siobhan the Writer was sexually abused by a babysitter as a child, and her household was physically abusive. She was also traumatized by the Word Wars. In particular, the The First Word War haunted her. She was aware that she helped to assault the Warren and kill some of her friend Sable's leverets, and from the little she could remember of having become a literal Vampire Bat, she believed she enjoyed it far more than she should have.

Siobhan was a bright, intelligent and creative Bat who liked writing. She suffered from self-doubt and thus could be self-destructive when success was within her grasp. She looked at her writing as a way to broach sensitive topics, and bring awareness to the problems of members of the LGBTQIA2+ community, primarily those who identified as transgender. She championed the trans community throughout her life.

The Queen of Bats was highly competitive. Perhaps because of a lifetime of bullying, she felt the need to prove herself and try to be the best in any field she had both skill and talent in. She was therefore routinely the most prolific literomancer on the field, often achieving 50,000 words in a matter of a few short days, and usually achieving the highest word count. She would do whatever she had to in order to get things done, and refused to let anything stop her.

Siobhan the Writer had a keen memory, especially for trivial facts and numbers.   The Queen of Bats was painfully shy and often socially awkward. She sometimes stammered over her words when nervous, and occasionally forgot how to noun when she was excited, making her speech into a string of disconnected verbs and sound effects.

The Queen of Bats was an avid reader, and music lover. She played TTRPGs, and liked games involving strategy.   The Bat Queen disliked not having the 'spoons' to ensure that her living space was immacculately clean. Because of this she was known to go on a cleaning frenzy from time to time and end up in bed for days afterward.

Though the Bat Queen was shy and uncomfortable in social settings she was very approachable, unlike her BFF Sable Aradia, who unintentionally inspires fear. This approachability often left her stunned and at a loss for words. However it allowed her to make many friends within the GoTverse, both Major and Minor House Leaders, as well as the common Tome Knights.

Siobhan the Writer was a smoker and suffered from anxiety, depression and ADHD. At the time of her death, she was seeking an autism diagnosis.

Siobhan the Writer was known to become so flustered while speaking that she left out verbs, nouns, and explicatives, only to replace them with sound effects and gestures.

The Queen of the Night was subject to depressive bouts, especially during the season following the Word Wars. She tended to be somewhat neglectful of her hygiene during that time. The rest of the year, she was fastidiously neat and clean. Her housekeeping skills, however, were disastrous at the best of times, and she lived in a perpetual state of untidiness.

1993-2022

Siobhan the Writer had an understated eloquence which she used on a subconscious level. She prefered to avoid conflict but once challenged she rarely backed down. This particular quirk of hers led her to defend those who in truth didn't need her help. It also forced issues to be resolved before they had truly become an issue. She always had a friendly ear, and a shoulder to cry on for those she called friends.   The Queen of the Night wore her heart on her sleeve. She didn't hide her feelings about people unless she believed it would end in conflict.

Siobhan the Writer had a half-kelpie, half-pitbull named Beansidhe, who she adopted on 16th Oct. 2020.

The Queen of Bats had about a three octave singing range. She did not care for the deepness and desired to become a true alto, if not a mezzosoprano. She was working on vocal training before her passing.