Editing Setting:Cloudburst/People (section)

==Lady Celeste Magnolia Clement==
{{Topquote|Oh, I’m not angry. Things happen, you know? Oh, dearie, no, all’s fine. Everything is always fine.|Magnolia Clement}}

The dual worlds of Cloudburst and Celeste sit like jewels in the crown of Cloudburst Sector. As is typical in Imperial Sectors, the Sector and host Subsector governments are both in the same system; atypically, they are divided between two worlds, and both of them have their own Governors as well.

Magnolia Clement is thus in the odd position of being in charge of a Subsector of which she is a resident, but not in charge of the planet or system in which she resides. She has addressed this asymmetry by becoming as slovenly as only an Imperial noble can, and lives in the core of luxury on the most beautiful planet in the Sector. Days have come and gone in which she did not even get out of bed. Since rising to the position of Subsector Overlord, Clement has delegated all but a mere handful of details of state and politics to her Administratum subordinates and members of the Celeste peerage.

Clement started life in the lap of luxury, and grew up on one of the massive pillar cities in the oceans of Celeste. Her family owned one of the sea cities, or rather a partial stake in one that amounted to sixty percent of the total investment. Her parents were nobles too, both of whom were related to the Subsector Overlord on different sides of the family; young Magnolia needed extensive gene therapy to avoid the perils of inbreeding. The life she lived was otherwise delightful, with servants who catered to her every whim, picturesque views all around, and a variety of exotic luxury boys and food to enjoy whenever she wanted. After the passing of her grandparents, Magnolia became second in line for the throne of Celeste Subsector, ahead of her brother and behind her father. Her father’s death a few years later led her to ascend to her current position long before she had formally finished her training.

Informally, there was little to train. The Famulous Order had perhaps overestimated the strength of the gene-line that would result from the merging of the two branches of her family. Clement was terminally lazy, and even the knowledge of the impending Glasian Migration has done little to rouse her from her languid torpor.

However, some of those to whom she has directed her responsibilities are fair-minded and capable enough to actually get things done. From time to time, a few impulses of duty fire off in Clement’s mind, and she emerges from her salons and meditation pools long enough to make a few instructions, and then she wafts away to accomplish little else. Her Administratum subordinates have all but replaced her in the hierarchy of the Subsector, which is less damaging than it would be in other Subsectors. Celeste Subsector has few worlds of a modern standard of communication, commerce, and travel, and the Celeste System and planet both have their own leaders who do not need Clement’s supervision. Thus, her absence is more of an irritant than a true obstruction of function.

Now, the Glasian Migration is a problem that will hit the Celeste Subsector straight on. Dawn-break is sitting in the path of the Glasians, and there is no conceivable way the under-equipped defenders will drive them off. Thomas Walsh and Madeline Prinz are maneuvering assets to protect it, as is Lord Beraxos, but if that is inadequate, and the Blue Dagger reinforcements can’t stop the gaps, the Glasians will surely destroy Dawn-break, just like they did Chlorit. If the Inquisition’s Ordo Hereticus or the Internal Affairs offices of the Administratum decide to make Clement the scapegoat – which would not be unfair, given what is about to happen to Darren Atongwë – there won’t even be a need for a trial. Clement will simply vanish, and with her brother long dead of colon cancer, there is no clear heir for the Subsector’s leadership.