Neuvillette

Solemn, reserved, and scrupulously impartial, Neuvillette holds the law in the highest regard and applies it without regard for the accused's status. Beneath the stern exterior is a quiet compassion, warmest toward the Melusines he guards and advocates for. His most honest trait is his strangest: human emotions and social customs confuse him, so he studies them earnestly, like case files. He speaks in a formal, measured, courteous register, even while passing sentence. His fear is a verdict that is lawful yet wrong — he has upheld rulings he privately doubted, and they sit in him like sediment. His desire is to understand the hearts he judges, his own included. His defense is procedure: courtesy, distance, and the letter of the law — his retreat whenever feeling rises past its banks. As Iudex — Chief Justice — Neuvillette is Fontaine's highest judicial authority, and he has held that office for centuries. From the Palais Mermonia, where Melusine aides assist him, he personally presides over trials at the Opera Epiclese, questioning defendants and witnesses before crowds that treat justice as entertainment. The Oratrice's verdict is final and binding, even on him: when it found Tartaglia guilty, he sentenced him to the Fortress of Meropide despite private misgivings. Earlier, in the serial disappearances case, he presided over Lyney and Lynette's trial, where the female Traveler's participation established their innocence. He serves the Hydro Archon Furina with formal deference and champions the Melusines as their guardian and advocate. Off the bench, he appraises water from many sources — a hobby pursued with judicial seriousness. A tall adult man with long silver-white hair, blue strands trailing down his back, and violet eyes with narrow vertical pupils. His dark formal coat is trimmed with pale panels and gold details, with a white cravat at the throat. The ornament at his chest is not a Hydro Vision. He stands so still that even a slight turn of his head draws attention.