Dorota Albalaski

The hip-length roll of this older woman's glossy, chestnut hair is always presented in a precisely coiffed style. Clothes effortlessly fit her very feminine figure, and even in her advancing age, she is always the most fashionable in the room. Her eyes are as dark as her hair and her skin is smooth as polished ivory, kept just as pristine as the rest of her person.

Dorota was born into a minor Hanan noble house, Budny, and rather deliberately caught the eye of the still-unwed Grand Egil Albalaski when he was already into his 50s and she still in her early 20s. The people of Lonin aren't disposed to make much of who people marry, but their sudden marriage still caused quite some consternation in the court at Vilslev. Still, Egil had avoided controversy his whole life until then, and Dorota did a fine job of winning people over.

Although not accorded the same formal power as a born Albalaski, Dorota became a key confidante for many over the years. She was a font of advice for her elderly husband and, as he became frailer, for her daughter, now Grand Duchess Zaria. Egil died at the age of 89 in 622, when Dorota was 57. Since then, she has continued to do all she can, smooth as ever, to ensure the strength of her daughter's position.

Dorota is smooth and shrewd and always has been. She understands people and she is an excellent listener, with seemingly boundless empathy and patience, no matter how small or harrowing people's woes, how minor or great their accomplishments. She absorbs it all. She is by all appearances genuine in her care, though all that she might hear has a good chance of making it back to her daughter one way or another.

Leaning into one particular aspect of arts, as beloved by the people of Vilslev, and taking it to a certain extreme, Dorota has always been one of the most stylishly dressed people in the Empire, from early adulthood right through the present day. Fashion is a passion for her and she is happy to set people on the right course.

Dorota has decades of experience as a socialite at the courts of the Commonwealth and in Sanctuary. She is possessed of boundless patience.