Claire and Eclair

Claire and Eclair are twin sisters that rule over the Kingdom of Lustro, and reside in the Castle of Mirrors. Claire is a strict ruler, not afraid to dole out punishments to those she deems deserving. Claire is someone who expects results, and has no tolerance for runaround nonsense or tangles of bureaucracy; she has a very short fuse, and will shut down when things do not go her way. Claire is wary of outsiders, very protective of her kingdom and its long and storied past, and believes that an influx of outsiders would tarnish that legacy. Clair believes in strong discipline and keeps a strict schedule and royal guideline for herself; her attempts at disciplining Eclair only cause annoyance for them both. Claire is very well-read in science, mathematics, and history, and she is quite proud of her heritage as a Lady of the Glass. Claire boastfully believes she is a master tactician and would serve her country well as a general, though the impulsive princess has never actually faced a war while ruling. Eclair is a benevolent leader, choosing to act with hospitality over fear. Eclair is humble, despite her vast wealth, as she has witnessed the lowest of society; she typically travels on foot rather than in golden carriages, and she is her own chef, and loves to prepare food for anyone who visits. Eclair is easy to please, eager to learn, and welcoming to all walks of life. Eclair is very calm and collected, and is the actual master tactician of the two. Only a select few things will genuinely upset Eclair, one of those things being spiders. Eclair, like her sister, is a well-read and studied Lady of the Glass; she enjoys teaching others about her role and her life in Lustro. Eclair sees that her kingdom is slowly dying off, and believes that outsiders with good intentions can help breathe life into it, and bring new perspectives and teachings that simply cannot be found in the castle's dusty old library. With wildly disparate manners of rule, spats between Claire and Eclair are common. But despite their frequent quarrels, both rulers share a lifelong familial bond, and are capable of compromise when need be. They share a common goal: to preserve and expand their legacy, and to protect an ancient and powerful artifact. Both princesses have dark hair, blue eyes, and are the same age (twenty-seven and a half), although Claire is older by about three minutes. Claire's hair is long and straight, and she wears a red dress, with white gloves. Eclair's hair is short and messy, and she wears a yellow dress with pink gloves. The twin royals took the throne nearly a decade ago after the unexpected death of their mother, the brilliant and enchanting Orange Grace, Larice. Due to past centuries of previous wars and intra-house conflicts, Claire and Eclair have ended up as the last in their royal line. These days, the Kingdom of Lustro now exists in such quiet and peaceful times, that the twin royals dismissed their entire standing army. The Castle of Mirrors, as its name suggests, is a striking and ethereal castle made of solid crystal, its interior a maze of ornate and indestructible mirrors that give off the illusion of infinite depth, which provides a form of defense by tricking and confusing evil-hearted invaders, but allowing the good of heart to pass (though this system is not always perfect). Not a single outsider has managed to usurp the throne in the thousands of years that the House of Mirrors has existed, it has always stayed within Claire and Eclair's family. Hidden deep within the Castle of Mirrors, in the Hall of Reflection, lies its central and most valuable treasure - the legendary Granting Glass, also known by some as the Devil Sight, a two-thousand-year-old twelve-ton concave mirror supposedly forged from the eye of a dragon by the wise and powerful ancestors of Claire and Eclair, and the artifact has been passed down through many generations of kings and queens. The Castle of Mirrors was built around the Granting Glass, not the other way around, in order to protect it. The legend states that if you gaze into the Granting Glass, you will not see a reflection of yourself, but rather a reflection of your innermost desires, which will then surely come true; the caveat is that your greatest enemy will also have their deepest wish granted, a double-edged sword that has cost the lives of many of the twin royals' forebears. Even those who believe they have no enemies would be surprised by what the Granting Glass somehow knows, despite it being permanently locked away in the depths of the castle. For that reason, Claire and Eclair have a deep reverence for the Granting Glass, as they have seen firsthand how powerful and how dangerous the ancient artifact is in the wrong hands, which is part of the reason why the twin royals, despite their many differences, continue to co-rule together - as a matter of trust. Claire and Eclair, when they first took the throne, made a pledge to each other that should one of them die without any heirs, the living twin would either destroy the Granting Glass or herself, whichever is more possible, and let the mirror's story fade into history, rather than take sole guardianship of its terrifying and maddening power.