Anya Simonova
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 Anya with her display for Terra Pomaria's Artifacts of a Life event in AS 60 | ||||||||||||||
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 Per chevron fimbriated Or, sable semy of crescents pendant argent and gules, a bee proper. |
Anya Simonova
Anya Simonova (mka Jessica) is a member of the Barony of Three Mountains Populace and mostly plays in the Tri-Baronial area with occasional excursions.
Most of her research and engagement focuses on aspects of her persona culture, early 11th century Kievan Rus'. However, she is a broad lover of the arts and sciences, including calligraphy and illumination, woodburning, embroidery, chandlery, and ethnobotany/traditional medicine.
As of AS 60, she is a Scribal Deputy of Three Mountains. She is a member of the Compagnie de Cabril household.
Persona
Anya Simonova lived in the early 11th century in Polotsk, Kievan Rus' (modern day Polotsk, Belarus). She was from a Christian beekeeping family that served as favored chandlers to the Prince of Polotsk. Her parents’ handiwork supplied the castle in the city - as well as prominent monasteries and churches championed by the crown - with beeswax candles. Her father crafted, her mother helped, and Anya was their apprentice, learning chandlery while also running their deliveries. As Christianity spread, leading to the opening of new religious and academic centers, her parents’ business and fortune boomed.
After some time, Anya’s sister fell ill. While her parents were firmly Christian, faithful to the Prince who patronized them, Anya's grandmother rejected the new religion and believed that the girl should be treated using their traditional medicines. In the end, the Christian doctors failed to save the girl, and Anya’s sister passed away. Unbeknownst to her parents, this radicalized Anya against the ongoing Christianization, and moved her to begin secretly studying Slavic prechristian medicine and religion from her grandmother. When the pagan uprisings in her town began, she snuck out to help. She ultimately took a role using her healing knowledge to mend comrades’ burns and combat injuries – a proto-protest medic.
SCA History, Interests, & Activities
Jessica joined the SCA at a difficult time in her life when she was seeking community and healthy pastimes in the immediate aftermath of her wife's death by cancer. Her first SCA event was Acorn War AS 59 (2024), which fell on her and her wife's anniversary. The SCA has more than lived up to this hope, as in the years since, she has found a chosen family and some of her dearest friends, as well as a lifetime supply of hobbies and artistic expression. Jessica is a grad student working full-time, so she is less fully engaged than she would prefer to be, but can often be found at Barony-level weekend events or on the An Tir Discord.
As of AS 60, she is primarily working on developing her persona. Her "Protest Medic Kit" display/entry at Artifacts Of A Life was the official beginning of this journey, for which she was honored with Three Mountains's Myrtle Leaf. She is also working on two persona-relevant A&S classes, one on beeswax candles modeled after the finds at Gniozdovo dated to 970, and one on motanky. Stay tuned!
Other current projects of Anya's include a role as a scribal deputy of Three Mountains, and making woodburned boxes inspired by whimsical marginalia for kingdom largesse.