Born and raised in Helena, capital of Renatus, Raymonde d’Arteu (married Raymonde Corbeau) is a woman of Relourian background who spent her youth travelling and mingling with merchants. Her family were vendors, travelling from land to land in search of exotic goods and selling it in a hub of trade. As such, Raymonde was exposed to many cultures and races alike, gaining a well-rounded and enlightened worldview and a streak of curiosity for the world beyond. Her mother spending time abroad to raise her younger brother, she was left in the care of her busy father and tutors and maids alike. Taught in etiquette and manners at her father’s liking, the girl was conditioned from youth to be an ideal marriage prospect for men of higher ranking.
Surrounded by mostly men in her earlier years though, Raymonde developed interests that weren’t in the norm for females. She took a particular liking to Astronomy and the pursuit of studies of other planes and bodies. Spending her days in classes and her nights studying the sky, Raymonde developed a streak for science and that which she could not explain.
With the family business growing increasingly successful and amassing wealth, the next step for the d’Arteu family was expanding their influence into more noble and land-owning properties. Becoming steady suppliers for the Relourian high-born family of the Corbeaus, soon it became strategic for Raymonde to marry the patriarch of the family. Although she was initially against it as a Canonism loyalist due to the patriarch already being married, the potential benefits to the union and her interest in Etienne as a man brought her to be joined with him as his second wife at the age of 19.
Growing closer with the Corbeaus that were now her family and moving away from Helena to be with her husband at his estate, she continued her pursuit within the sciences more than she could while restricted to her former home, studying books on the side of her wifely duties and new introduction to politics.
