Sylvia Joubert: A Restless Soul

Young Sylvia

Even within her own family, Sylvia Joubert never quite fit in and not because she's a witch.  Her whole family are witches.  In personality, though, she never could mesh with them.  While her mother and oldest sister Agnes were dignified ladies, Sylvia could never stand wearing a dress.  And while her other older sister Sophie was content to sit inside and read all day, Sylvia preferred going outside to hunt in the woods.

Once she became a junior member of the coven, Sylvia's specialty of "offensive magic" gave her the freedom to travel the world, hunting demons and other evil spirits that threatened the balance of magic in the world.  But it also meant she could never settle down and have anything like a "normal" life.

While on a mission in Scotland in the 17th Century, Sylvia found another calling.  On a coach in Edinburgh she met an arms merchant named Conor MacCullum.  She and Conor had a mutual interest in armaments and Sylvia was taken by Conor's business practice of selling only to sides he believed would use the weapons for a good cause.  Upon his death, Conor bequeathed his business to Sylvia, something she had not imagined.  She found she had a knack for the business and after her mother and Sophie died only months apart, it gave Sylvia something to throw herself into.  Being a witch she could go one better than Conor by using a spell to make sure anyone who tried using her weapons for ill would find them inoperable.

Eventually, though, Sylvia yearned to return to her native France.  Unfortunately she chose to return in the late 1780s, on the eve of the revolution.  Sylvia joined the underground fighting against the tyranny of the king, though to avoid the coven's wrath she did not use her magic to help.

While the success of the revolution should have cheered Sylvia, she soon found herself disillusioned by the new government.  Eventually she took to wandering again, finding her way to the American frontier.  Her skill with weapons and ropes made her a natural cowboy, something she continued to do until the frontiers began to close.

Old Sylvia

Only then, after centuries of hardship and heartache, did Sylvia's wanderlust begin to fade.  She decided to find herself a place to settle down, someplace where she and her sister Agnes could make a fresh start.  That place turned out to be Rampart, in a comfortable little house in what was not yet known as the Historical District.  There Sylvia was finally content to rest, though she still maintained her arms business on the side and began a new secondary business of styling hair, a trade she had learned by practicing on her sisters growing up and by learning to tie complicated knots used to ward off demons.

And yet while she might be comfortable in her new home, there is still a restlessness to Sylvia that will never allow her to truly settle down.


(BTW, another fun fact:  Conor MacCullum is based off Destro from GI JOE in the '80s, only Conor wasn't evil and didn't wear a metal mask.  And most of this information comes from the prequel story that deals with Sylvia and her sisters.)

T is for the Trenches:  An Area to Avoid