Haughty and imperious, Roisene Meriodred recently emerged from brutal infighting among the Yellow to claim a seat in the Hall, making more than a few enemies in the process. Born of minor Cairheinin nobilty, little more than landed gentry, Roisene affects the airs of a queen. She is an accomplished Healer nonetheless, one the most respected in the Tower. Arriving at the Tower a wilder, Roisene has a soft spot in heart for other such as herself. She is believed to have been associated with an outlawed association of channeling women, but unlike Tianan Tanches, her connection has never been proven. Roisene is actively hostile rival to Tullia Nembrey. Roisene has one gaidin, the nobly born Willem Bedevere, former captain in the Queen's Guards of Andor.

Born to House Meriodred, a house of lesser nobility in Cairhien, over a half century ago, Roisene Meriodred was raised to expect more from life, and more importantly, to demand it. Not wealthy or influential, the Meriodreds were lords by courtesy, having the ownership of planted fields, but no armed retainers to speak of. As the eldest daughter of the eldest son and heir of old Lord Keirengail, Roisene was afforded a better education and given a finer wardrobe than her siblings and cousins, but still not the luxury that Roisene sought.

In time, she grew resentful of her family's rustic life among the countryfolk, and when she was fifteen, she bullied her effete mother and ineffectual father into bankrolling her entr�e into society in Cairhien, and then sending her and her governess and maid on the tour of Great Cities. Her parents did so, forced to sell off lands to finance her escapade. After her presentation at the Sun Palace in Cairhien, she, her governess, and her maid, traveled to Caemlyn, to Tear and lastly to Illian. Foolishly overspending the whole time, they arrived in Illian perilously close to penury. There in Illian, her governess, Diorelle, took sick of some marsh fever, and Astred, the maid, ran off, and stealing some of her clothes and the last of Roisene's coin. Roisene fell in with the innkeeper, Juliya Spiros, taking service in the inn to pay her board until she could contact her family, bitter and resentful the whole time.

Through circumstances Sealed to the Flame, Roisene was brought to Tar Valon approximately two years later until the disapproving eye of Dianys Mathenos, the influential Blue sister, having a wilder's ability that was seemingly trained outside of the White Tower. Enrolled as a novice, Roisene quickly earned the dislike of her fellow students for haughty and demanding manner. As she studied, she demonstrated that she had an amazing Talent for Healing, and upon her elevation to Accepted, focused on Healing and all its intricacies, seeking mastery of the subject, to better stand out among the Accepted.

When she was raised to the shawl, she chose Yellow, harboring intents of rising high among them by virtue of her proficiency as a Healer and her respectable strength. This coupled with her unbridled ambition propelled her through her career, even as she acquired enemies during her rise, chief among them Tullia Nembrey, a sister Yellow. During the Aiel War, she encountered the man who would become her warder, Willem Bedevere, who was a noble-born captain of the Queen's Guards of Andor.

Recently installed as a Sitter for the Yellow in the Hall of the Tower, Roisene's thirst for power has only grown, it is an open secret that she seeks a high office, the Seat itself, when the time comes. However, a bloc of sisters among her own Ajah is determined to see that day never comes.

Although generally dismissive of the students in the Tower, Roisene has cast a proprietary eye on two novices, despite each having benefactresses already. The two are Baedille Daraghain of Cairhien and Helyn dene Artemedes of Illian, both derived of royal blood in their homelands. Additionally, Roisene has cultivated an Domani Accepted, Sileane Teffar, as a protégé for reasons less obvious.

Character Description:

A pale dark-eyed Cairhienin, Roisene Meriodred is unusually tall for her countrywomen, with refined features, although with a nose too long for beauty and a jaw too strong for elegance, all in a dignified Aes Sedai's face of ageless complexion. Roisene's hair is a glossy sable, a mass of curls confined by a delicate net of golden filaments, adorned with glistening bits of topaz. Roisene wears a formal Cairhieinin-style gown of darkest bronze satin, although with panels of lighter, mustard colored satin on the bodice and down the front of the skirt, all heavily worked in golden embroidery making out a labyrinthine pattern evoking leaves and thorns. The gown features a long train, and Roisene wears a flowing manteau of saffron velvet over the gown, habiliment regal enough for a queen. Roisene wears a large square-cut topaz on her breast, hanging from a silken ribbon, and several bracelets studded with yellow opals on each wrist. Lastly, her Great Serpent ring is worn on her right hand, amid several golden bands. Soft slippers cover her feet, sewn with more golden thread, matching to the dress.