Liaden Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Kareen yos'Phelium Clan Korval

For an in-depth portrayal of Lady Kareen, including memories of her childhood, see short reads Daughter of Dragons and Hidden Resources

Description[]

Born on Liad in 1313, age 80 in year 1393[1][2] (see Timeline ) "dark hair, now iron grey, and dark eyes[3]

At age 48-50: "a handsome women, her dark hair a silky cap adoring a shapely head, and bright stones glittering in pretty ears."[4]

Twelve years older than her brother, Daav yos'Phelium:

"True enough, Kareen could give him ten years"[5] -rounding down
“I am his elder by every one of a dozen Standards."[6]
“His mother at study, various editions of the Code laid open on the table around her workstation; her face intent upon the screen.” [7]

Titles[]

“The Right Noble Lady Kareen yos’Phelium, Patron of the Solcintra Poetry Society, Founder of the League to Preserve the Purity of the Tongue, and Chairperson Emeritus of the Embassy of Form” [8]

Foremost authority on The Liaden Code of Proper Conduct[9] and master of Language and Socioculture — even the Council of Clans seeks her expertise on knotty issues. She is the chair of the League for the Purity of the Language, which oversees revisions of the Code, and is credited as the editor of at least one edition.[10]

Kareen took up The Code at roughly age 12, when her mother praised her work after she successfully solved a complex melant'i problem:

"Your solution was by far the cleanest -- and one not discovered by three Delms after many days of negotiation and research...It is my belief that you have found your calling. Pursue it."
"That had been the last time she'd had complete regard of her Delm, or her mother."[9]

Failed Pilot[]

Kareen is absolutely not a pilot[5] despite all her young efforts with equations and bruises from Bowli Ball [9]

"The elder child is brilliant, and convenable, and an asset to her House. Merely, she is not a pilot, and Korval House law states that the delm must be a pilot." [11]
Kareen calling warning light

excerpt, Daughter of Dragons

"Kareen said with a touch of acid. "I recall that your own father was - solidly - Low House."
"But a pilot to marvel at," Daav returned, very gently. "So our mother praised him."
Kareen, who was no pilot at all, took a deep breath." [5]

Kareen and her younger brother Daav have contrasting personalities and the piloting issue only exacerbated their tense relationship. Her frustration and disappointment with the boards may have effected her son, Pat Rin yos'Phelium, because he didn’t gain confidence at the controls until well into adulthood, as Boss Conrad. Keep in mind, Lord of the Dance is not officially canon, so...

Her Landau[]

Excerpt Dragon in Exile, Kareen’s Landau

The Lady & the Professor

Lady Kareen is chauffeured about in a spacious landau, both on Liad [12] and on Surebleak. Scholar Kamele Waitley finds it quite decadent. [13]

The landau was . . . perhaps practical, if it was necessary that its occupants arrive at their destination in a state of unruffled euphoria. Indeed, if there was fault to be found, it was that the temperature in the passenger compartment was just slightly too warm. The large armsman, Diglon, was at the controls in the front of the vehicle. ..“I’m not at all cramped; in fact, I’m feeling quite decadent.”[13]

Her Character & Chi's Vision[]

Excerpt Local Custom Kareen Daav

Daav reflects on his sister

Kareen's character fluxes. There may be a logical explanation, elucidated below:

Kareen was once happy and cheerful:

"...the days of her brief youth, when hope had still been high, that Chi yos'Phelium's bright daughter would one day be Delm"[9]

She perhaps began to sour when, roughly age 12, she fails piloting:

"inadequate to the Clan's needs"[9] and must endure the spite of society - "attempted strikes against Kareen, poor child" [11]

Young Kareen reasoned with her delm against the pilot-as-delm requirement:

"adhering to a protocol made in the last universe during a time of war and strife did active harm to a clan residing in a time and universe of relative peace and prosperity."[11]

She did not welcome Chi's contract husband, Fer Gun pen'Uldra, but she did offer a show of public support to her mother [11]

Over time, Kareen becomes a storied master of Liad’s Sociocultural Complexities

"a brilliant scholar, gifted in the field of social science"[11]

But she was malicious. Perhaps her spite was encouraged by a certain puppet of the Department, her lover.[9] Her chill was so cold that Korval Himself asked Luken bel'Tarda to foster her son Pat Rin, a little boy.[5][14]

Lady Kareen was spiteful towards Er Thom and Anne [15] and towards Daav and Aelliana.[16] She misused her position in society to cause heartache:

"So." It was a hiss. "Er Thom yos'Galan is to be allowed a bastard mongrel" (meaning Shan)[14]

Except for Chi’s vision, Korval might have killed her:

"Alone of all the orders he had from his mother, who had been delm before him, the mandate to preserve Kareen's life stood, senseless. It was doubtless some failing of his own vision that he could not see what use she was to the delm she continually worked to thwart.. . .Perhaps as he grew older...he would acquire the vaunted Delm's Vision and see what his mother had found worth preserving in Kareen."[5]

Even young Val Con had felt childhood rejection from her [17] — (but illogical, why would Daav offer his beloved son to her, after fostering her son to bel'Tarda??)

Anyhoo. . .since Plan B went into motion, Kareen has been changing. While escaping her home on Liad, Kareen calls Jeeves by name (a first!) and thanks him. She also begins to remember various scenes with her brother Daav -- "no love lost between them"-- and to miss him.[9]

While on Runig's Rock, Kareen is fiercely protective of the children, putting herself in the way of a possible enemy attack. [18]

On Surebleak, Kareen restrains from embarrassing Kamele as she learns Liaden:

"The elderly lady's patience remained unruffled. She mildly corrected those infelicities of mode produced by her companion."[19]

Kareen is finally -- decades behind her kin -- seeking to "converse in Terran so she might perfect her skill"[20] She commends Rys of The Bedel for coming to dinner in his best clothing, despite their colorful mismatch [21] and becomes good friends with Silain the Luthia of the Bedel

Yet Kareen hasn't wholly and improbably changed since leaving Liad behind. Theo Waitley has the sense to tread warily around "the stiff old lady glowering in her chair."[22]

In hindsight, did Liad’s culture bring out the worst in Kareen?

“She [Aelliana] must have been remarkable," Kamele said.
"We were not friends," Kareen answered. She looked at the portrait, her brows drawn, as if trying to recall why that had been."[6]

Is Surebleak bringing out the best in her? (Note that Lord of the Dance is not canon)

Surebleak Culture Study[]

When Clan Korval moved to Surebleak, the Delm assigned Kareen a task:

"It is my duty to deduce Surebleak's society before it is fractured yet again, and its core hidden forever....That is why I must be located in the city." [13]

Possibly, this work explains why Kareen's mother, Chi yos'Phelium, told Daav that he must preserve Kareen's life, even when she was thwarting clan members[5] Perhaps Kareen herself has begun to glimpse this possibility and finds it comforting.

Scholar Kamele Waitley is a fellow researcher on the study, along with one of the Surebleak Scouts and several others. See full list and more details at Surebleak Culture Study

Kareen's Kin[]

Dragons Korval Colorful


Household on Surebleak[]

Kareen lives on the corner of Dudley Avenue & Farley Lane, in Pen Kalhoon’s Hamilton Street territory, (what was Latimer’s Turf) Surebleak, with Kamele Waitley and several others.[23] Her staff and fellow housemates are listed in Korval's Employees.

Miri was sitting in what Kareen called the interview studio, which’d prolly been the front parlor, back when Ms. Lanni’d lived in the house, when Miri’d been a kid on Latimer’s turf. There were just a couple comfortable chairs that looked like they’d come out of Jelaza Kazone’s storerooms, and a rug that likely had the same source. [24]

She [Kamele] liked the culture of the house, which was an amalgam of Liaden, Delgadan, Yxtrang, and native Surebleakean. Sometimes the house ambiance reminded Kamele of graduate dorm common rooms....if all the house’s residents could find a balancing point among their considerable differences, surely they could find a similar point, for Surebleak, in whole. She laughed, softly. Well, surely they could. But it was still going to be what Dilly dignified as a job of work. [23]

Misc[]

  • Lady Kareen "did not keep cats, or any other domestic creature, aside the occasional servant."[25]
  • In Solcintra she lived at The Grand Lakes Townhouse [9]

References[]

  1. I Dare
  2. The Updated But Partial Liaden Universe(r) Time Line'
  3. Hidden Resources
  4. Mouse & Dragon, ch 8
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Local Custom, ch 7
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Dragon in Exile, ch 10
  7. I Dare Departing Teriste
  8. A Day At The Races
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 Daughter of Dragons, in Dragon Tide, and in A Liaden Universe Constellation, volume II
  10. Scout's Progress, ch 34
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Due Diligence
  12. A Day at the Races
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Dragon in Exile, ch 14
  14. 14.0 14.1 Local Custom, ch 23
  15. Local Custom
  16. Mouse and Dragon
  17. A Day at the Races
  18. Hidden Resources
  19. Dragon in Exile, ch 1
  20. Dragon in Exile, ch 10
  21. Dragon in Exile, ch 5
  22. Ghost Ship, ch 28
  23. 23.0 23.1 Dragon in Exile,ch 17
  24. Dragon in Exile, ch 21
  25. Heirloom
Advertisement