07/09/2026
Let me tell you about Severine Chenery...
Severine of the Oaks
Born into the French lower lordly household Chenery at the turn of the 12th century, Severine had difficulties assimilating with her noble upbringing. Drawn to the wild growth of the family's vineyards, the lively barns and paddocks, and the beauty of the gardens, Severine spent much of her time amongst serving folk, always making fast friends through her generosity and curiosity. The freedom of their lives compared to the path of her own: arranged marriage and the production of heirs, trapped in a stuffy manor house amongst equally stuffy nobility, seemed deeply preferable.
Opportunity struck when Severine's dear friend Laran invited Severine to visit her father's workshop. Laran's father, Duval, was the town potter. He supplied taverns, local manors, and common households alike with his finely wrought wares. Upon Severine's first visit to his workshop, she saw a world unlike her own-- a place where authenticity, creativity, and endless possibility could thrive. She touched clay for the first time that day, and snuck out of the manor every night henceforth to learn from Duval's prized techniques.
It was the following winter that Duval met with grave illness. Laran was left with his debts and an empty studio. Laran's only option for survival was to sell off her father's studio.
When Severine caught word of Duval's fate and Laran's struggles, she wept for her teacher and the beauty that he had opened her eyes to. She spent a week in mourning and misery before deciding to jump to action and make a change .
Severine was able to find the dowry her parents had set aside for her eventual marriage, take it into town and buy the pottery studio and all the tools therein. She gathered all the supplies, clay, and even kiln bricks she could fit on two horse-drawn wagons, left town and never came back.
Making pottery on the road, and traveling wherever the winds carried her, Severine made a name for herself and her wares in many a market. Eventually these travels lead to the edge of the silk road, and the promise of a grander life.
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