Post by Sheherazade on Jun 16, 2017 21:33:40 GMT -5
SHEHERAZADE
NICKNAME(S). Close friends can get away with ‘Zade’.
AGE. 9 years.
SPECIES. Avian.
BREED. Lammergeier.
GENDER. Female.
PURIST.No.
APPEARANCE
HEIGHT. 48 in. long, wingspan 9.1 ft.
WEIGHT. 16.7 lbs.
EYE COLOUR. A pale grey-blue.
PHYSICAL. Sheherezade may be of avian descent, but she is built like a tank in every sense of the word - albeit a flying one. Large and imposing in stature even amongst her own kind, she is entirely aware of her strength and prowess, and is unafraid to display it. With a beak kept sharp and daggers for talons, she has zero hesitance in using them should a situation demand it.
Although the coloring of her plumage is common for her species, her eye color is a notable steel grey - fitting, given her steely nature.
PERSONALITY
✔ dignified, collected, decisive, honest, focused, fiercely loyal, self-disciplined, independent, reliable, imaginative.
Sheherazade was raised to honor and uphold a proud and shining legacy of warrior guardians, and she holds true to that upbringing as best she can. She has a notably regal bearing that exudes strength and demands respect, for if no respect is received, none will ever be given. Honorable and honest, Sheherazade is a dependable and a very loyal friend to have on one’s side. Zade can be counted on to hold true to promises, as failing to keep her word is seen as an unforgivable sin in her eyes.
Focused and decisive, Sheherazade is incredibly difficult to deceive and impossible to sway from her chosen path. Once she has set her mind to something, it will get done, no matter how long it’ll take or how difficult the task.
Little known to most, she also has a creative streak, and has always loved listening to finely crafted stories.
✘ abrasive, domineering, intimidating, overly guarded, obstinate, combative, explosive, wrathful, self-sacrificial, conflicted.
Many things can be said of Sheherazade, but jovial and easygoing aren’t among them. Her feathers might as well get turned into porcupine quills, given how prickly she can be. One of her greatest peeves is someone younger and less experienced than herself trying to tell her what to do or how to do it, and has no qualms letting them know exactly what she thinks of them and their (typically faulty) methods. The emotional walls she’s built around herself are immensely difficult to break, and require a legendary amount of patience and understanding to navigate. Zade’s mindset and opinions on many things are not easily swayed, and will do what she thinks is best in most situations - other’s opinions are rarely taken into account.
That being said, she’s rather difficult to get along with, made even worse by the fact that she prone to becoming incredibly combative with an explosive temper to top it off.
Although it takes much to break through the calm and collected exterior Sheherazade maintains, once this is shattered, she becomes an unstoppable force of nature. Sheherazade’s rage manifests as fire disguised in ice; disturbingly calm and frigid. Pinpoint, calculated, devastating.
In spite of her less savory personality traits, she will still do damn near anything for the few she genuinely cares about - even if it means putting her own life on the line to protect theirs.
One of her lesser-known traits is how internally conflicted she is: not only about her past and present, but her life choices, herself. She was once so sure of who she was that after becoming infected and being forced to leave her homeland behind, her confidence has been shaken.
HISTORY
Sheherazade’s story began long before she was born. Clan Vah’rel was an ancient and secluded collective of various species, keeping to themselves and fiercely protective of their territory. There were no true leaders, only Elders to guide them - and all could find purpose amongst the ranks. Each clan member had a role to play, from healers to herbalists, storytellers to historians, soldiers to battlemasters. In particular, the role many avians played were that of Guardians. The all-seeing eyes of the clan, avians were capable of spotting threats from miles off, reaching heights no land-dwelling creature could hope to see. Not only that, but they were capable warriors as well, and the birds were held in particularly high esteem.
However, only the best of their ranks were posted as Sentinels around their territory boundaries, relaying valuable messages, intercepting any intruders, and engaging in battle if required.
It just so happened that in more recent memory, a pair of Clan Vah’rel’s finest Sentinels hatched their first and only daughter: Sheherazade.
A large hatchling from the start, it became evident that she took after her parents and their ancestors before them - powerful and dignified, unafraid to brawl with whoever challenged her, yet honorable in her actions.
Told that she would be one of the greatest Sentinels in the clan’s history, convinced that it was her destiny to reach such lofty heights, Sheherazade was raised with little else in mind; her parents nearly forbade her from any other pursuits in the clan. Although she liked the idea of becoming a story weaver, she knew better than to voice such a thing and kept this to herself until it faded to the back of her mind. Her parents were grooming her quite well to follow in their footsteps.
It was of no surprise that she followed the exact path that had been set before her, and true to that ‘destiny’, she trained hard under the tutelage of the most esteemed battlemasters and rose swiftly in the ranks, becoming a Sentinel fairly early in her career.
Posted at Clan Vah’rel’s northern border - by far the most active in terms of intrusion - Sheherazade took to her duties like a finely oiled machine. Under her watchful eye, there was not a single breach along that border for five years.
Until she was one day faced with a force and the creature behind it unlike any she had ever witnessed before.
There hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary about that day. Sheherazade had taken to the sky to stretch her wings and patrol, with her ground companions moving in tandem with her flight pattern.
One moment, the skies had been clear and cloudless - the next, stormclouds gathered seemingly out of thin air, with driving rains and gales that brought Sheherazade practically crashing into the ground.
As if fate itself had decided it, she landed before the massive paws of a bear. And there was nothing normal about it - the markings, the antlers poking from its skull, though most unsettling were it’s eyes. A piercing green, almost glowing. Like poison.
She doesn’t remember much after that. The bear muttered something in a language she could not comprehend, and in the next instant, her sight was gone. Screeching and seething, Sheherazade attempted to follow despite her dazed and blinded state, though shortly thereafter found herself bound in place by what felt like vines. The startled and angry cries of her fellow Sentinels nearby let her know that they were in similar predicaments, but were at the very least alive.
Sheherazade could do nothing but wait, and dwell on the fact that she’d completely and utterly failed. The one duty she’d trained all her life to uphold, and she’d been spectacularly subdued. But that was the other thing on her mind… what had happened to that bear, how had it been able to do these things, incapacitate the most highly trained warriors of the clan without lifting a single claw? Magic was only a part of the tales storytellers spun for younglings… right?
- - - - - - - - - -
It took until sunset for her sight to return, the binding vines to slacken enough for her to wriggle and claw her way free. Regrouping with her other two Sentinels nearby, it was decided the situation was dire enough to leave their posts without the nightly relief and head back to the heart of the territory. They had to make sure the rest of the clan was safe…
Upon reaching the main camp, Sheherazade and her squad were stunned to find the camp untouched - aside from the fearful expressions nearly everyone wore, there were no injuries or spilled blood.
The Elders called a gathering shortly afterward, and announced what had happened: that the bear had been an envoy. Not for any invading clan, no - for a disease. That disease was amongst them now, and there was only one way to keep it in check. Something about venom and a land nobody had ever heard of up until now...
Sheherazade, like most of her kin, were deeply disturbed by the news, and unrest rippled through the clan. Nobody knew who was infected, or what should be done with them. Only a moon passed before they started discovering for themselves whether or not they bore the illness.
To her utmost dismay and completely by chance - or perhaps fate - Sheherazade soon discovered she was one of the infected. It was easy enough to brush off the odd feeling she got when the sun’s heat appeared to focus in places she wanted it to, but when sparks suddenly began dancing around her clawtips one evening, she could no longer pretend all was well.
Without hesitation, she brought the news to the Elders, and stood proudly as she awaited judgement. Others joined her, wishing to keep the rest of the clan free of the disease if they could.
After a painfully long series of deliberations, it was decided they would all be exiled, and had to find their own way outside of Clan Vah’rel’s reach. They would be remembered with honor, but would be considered deceased from then on.
Sheherazade felt something in her break that night. Something she knew she wouldn’t be able to put back together, but she was far too noble to let it show or give in to fear and doubt.
She knew exactly where she was going to go. The land she would find answers, and possibly salvation, no matter how many moons she would have to travel to get there.
Toren.
PLAYER
NAME. Rustic.
AGE. 22.
OTHER CHARACTERS. Eidolon.
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