Post by VecaVjestica on Jun 17, 2009 23:42:22 GMT -5
Player Name: VecaVjestica
Contact Information: PM or e-mail
Character Name: Nura Besazar
Race: Mix-breed, 3/4 human and 1/4 elf but, although Nura knows she has mixed blood, she doesn't know what blood besides human she has.
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Place of Birth: Somewhere on the banks of Alamy River
Arcane or Secular: Arcane
Physical Description: Nura looks pretty much like an average human girl: 5' 5'' tall, weighing 115 lbs, neither flat nor particularly "developed", with neither a pretty nor an ugly face, full lips and a straight nose. In fact, nobody would probably even notice her at all if not for her two very distinguishing features: eyes and hair. Her eyes have a rather unusual color, a darkish shade of amber with a golden shine, and are slightly bigger than a normal human would have. Her hair is flaming-red, goes down to her waist in thick, smooth waves, and she usually keeps it braided and often with some sort of head-wear, because it tends to unruly. Her skin is light, but not quite fair - an evidence of her social class and the fact that she always had to work for a living. She prefers to look as common as possible, to avoid standing out amongst others, using garments that are both most practical and fit into her surroundings as much as possible. She will, however, always have a pouch containing her most necessary belongings and a dagger with her, especially while traveling. She wears a gold ring on a leather string around her neck - the only memento she has left of her mother. This ring is Nura's most prized possession and she will never willingly part from it.
Personality: More than anything else, Nura's personality resembles a deep, seemingly calm river that suddenly turns into a dangerous rapid: she is very emotional, but too used to hiding what she feels, so you won't know you got on her bad side until you see a golden flash in her eyes and, when that happens, you only have the time to either back away or get your nose broken. She doesn't trust people easily, especially men, and has a slight case of "me against the world" complex. She is a proud person, especially of the things she is good at, and one of the things she hates the most is when people consider her a helpless little girl just because she looks like one. Troubled by her past and origin, she sees herself as an outcast, destined to live and die alone, which collides with her passionate nature. She is stubborn, spiteful and fairly intelligent. Race means absolutely nothing to her, since she herself has no idea what kind of mix her blood is and her lifestyle provided her with equal amount of sites of both good and bad persons in all the races she's ever encountered.
Nura has a very low tolerance for any kind of injustice, and will often raise her voice against it, even if that means putting herself in danger. When the cause is worthy, she never backs down from a fight, not even if her opponent is someone much more powerful. She is prepared to go to the outmost extremes for the people she cares about and those who hurt her loved ones are in for hell, but once you betrayed her trust, you are as good as dead as far as she's concerned. Used to the life of "do what it takes to survive", she has absolutely no problem with stealing, killing or any other form of crime, if that is the only alternative left. She would never harm an animal, unless she has to (for food, clothing, protection) but even then she does it quickly and inflicting as less pain as possible.
But Nura is not always the quiet, distant girl. She never had the chance of living a childhood or adolescent age like other people, and her young soul craves fun, laughter and happiness just like any other. She can be kind, gentle, even joke, and all she wants out of life is a place where she can truly belong and finally let herself relax.
Background: Nura's life was sentenced to drama even before her mother was born, and there is no escaping it. It all started when her grandmother, Fidela Bensen, daughter of a wealthy merchant, met an Elf by the name of Oulies Yamoth. She was 16 and attending a boarding school for young ladies from wealthy families. In truth, if wasn't really a school, but more a breeding center, seeing how the girls didn't really learn anything beyond maintaining a household, dressing up, using cosmetics, playing all sorts of instruments, singing, painting, making tapestries and, all in all, being useless stupid trophy wives for rich men. She despised the school, the teachers and, most of all, the other girls for letting their families turn them into mindless hens. Fidela wanted true knowledge, but her greatest love was botanic.
She spent a lot of time in the city library, which is where she met Oulies Yamoth. She was looking for a book on forest plant-life and found it in his hands. She was mesmerized by his unusual looks, especially his flaming-red hair that went on down to his shoulders and big eyes that had the color of caramelized sugar with a golden-amber shine. The book caused them to have their first conversation, first of many because their meetings soon became quite frequent. He was a visitor to the city, invited by the scientists who worked in the library, and spent there nearly every day as it was, but he too became interested in his accidental acquaintance, far more than he knew was wise.
They began meeting outside of the library and it wasn't long before they were both smitten with love. It felt like a miracle to Fidela, who knew how cold and aloof Elves usually are, when they became lovers. They both knew it was not smart, but they couldn't help themselves. The feelings were simply too strong.
But their happiness was short-lived, because Oulies got news of his father dieing only a few months later. He asked Fidela to come with him, but she was too frightened of her father's reaction to accept, even though there was nothing she wanted more. Finally, they reached middle ground – Oulies will leave alone and come for her that summer, when she goes back to her family home. She hoped that, together, they would be able to talk her father into letting her marry him. Alas, only weeks after Oulies left, Fidela began experiencing strong nausea that last on for days before the headmistress of the school sent for the doctor, who confirmed Fidela was three months pregnant.
When her father heard of this news, he was furious and pulled Fidela out of the school. This scandal ruined all the plans he had for her. An ambitious man, he wanted to marry her off into the Wael clan, and now he was left with worthless goods. He locked her in a basement, starved and beat her, but no matter what he did Fidela wouldn't tell him the name of the man who impregnated her. The only reason she didn't die or loose the baby was because her mother could no longer stand to see her suffer and, with a few loyal maids, helped her escape after nearly two months of torture. Her maids took her to one of the caravans that was to leave that night and paid a generous sum to have them take Fidela far away, not telling them anything about her at all.
The caravan's healer and midwife, a southern tribes woman called Yasmin, took care of Fidela, but couldn't do much for her but keep her alive until time to give birth to her baby came. The labor was too difficult and Fidela didn't survive. She gave birth to a baby girl and, before she died, named the child Arian and told the midwife as much of her story as she was able to before she passed away, omitting all information about the baby's father.
Yasmin took the child and raised her as her own. She respected the child's mother's wish to name her Arian, but also added Besazar, "kissed by fire", as the babies last name because of her hair, which was considered a sign of good luck in the southeastern parts of Waeleden. She never hid anything for the little girl about her origin and taught her everything about her job as a healer and midwife. Since Yasmin had no children of her own, Arian was meant to continue her work in the caravan. The girl had a happy life, while the caravan traveled Waeleden high and wide. Like all the other children, she was obligated to do her share of work, learning how to cook, take care of animals and goods, read, write, calculate and a few languages. It took only a few years for everyone to notice that the number of people and animals who died has greatly deteriorated since Arian joined them, so they started thinking of her as their good-luck charm. Arian herself became proud of her reputation, up to the point of being foolish enough to think nothing bad can happen to her, but she was soon proven wrong.
While the caravan visited the city of Ambasil, Arian, now a pretty, cheerful 17-year old girl, and her friends used their free time to visit the local fair. Being young and foolish as they were, they bragged to the people about her gift, despite of the fact that the elders of the caravan always told them not to do so. The people didn't believe them and dared them to prove it. Proud of her "talent", Arian told them to take her to the wildest animal they have, asking for free food and drink for her and her friends if she succeeds in taming it. The townspeople agreed and took her to the cage with a recently caught tiger. It only too a few minutes for the tiger to literally eat out of Arian's hand. Unfortunately, the leader of one of the other caravans heard and saw this. He had heard stories about Arian before, but didn't take them as anything but stupid tails until now. A plan forged in his head immediately and he and his men kidnapped Arian that very night, packed the caravan and fled in an unknown direction. She never saw anyone form the caravan she grew up in ever again.
The following three years of Arian's life were hell. She was treated like a slave, obligated to take care of every single animal in the caravan and the owner stopped trading with all other goods once he saw that trading with animals would provide more than sufficient profit for him, as long as he has Arian in his hands. And he had her in his hands in more ways than one, raping her whenever he felt like it, even when it was her time of the month. He also often gave her as a "gift for the night" to his numerous guests and business-partners, of which not all were human. This constant torture turned Arian numb, unable to fight for herself. She learned to "get lost in her mind" whenever she was forced to be with the leader of the caravan or any other man, she didn't even notice the places they traveled trough and she would probably end up going insane if, one day, she didn't wake up with a strong nausea. This went on for a week before it finally dawned on her - she was pregnant. Being someone who was trained to be a midwife for years, it wasn't hard for her to calculate that the approximate date of conception was six weeks before that. There were a lot of guests that week, because of the great cattle-trader's fair, so she was unable to say exactly who the father of the child might be or even if he was human or not, but she considered this to be a lucky thing, because she could at least hope the leader of the caravan, who's name she never spoke, isn't the one.
This sudden discovery made Arian snap out of her lethargic state and start planning her escape. She had no intention of letting her child suffer like she did, especially if it inherited her "talent". She waited for the perfect opportunity to escape, which occurred about a month later. The caravan was resting in a lonely field, somewhere on the banks of the Alamy River. That night, she was called to the leader's bed and, after he was done with her and fell asleep, she suffocated him with a pillow. She quickly grabbed one of his knifes and carefully sneaked away. She knew she has to run away as far as she can, because when everyone else in the caravan wakes up and finds their leader dead and her missing, they will come after her. She ran all night, not even once stopping to rest or eat, until she reached a small farm. She banged on the door and the elder couple that lived there opened. Arian told them what she had done, not hiding a thing, and asked for help. And, strangely, they took her in and hid her for a few weeks, until they were sure the danger was over. Arian stayed with them for a bit over a year, helping the old couple in their work at the farm. During her stay there, she discovered that her "talent" also has an effect on plants and gave birth to a baby girl, who she named Nura, "the light". The baby was born with the exact same shade of hair as her mother.
Nura didn't look any different than any other human baby, apart form her big, unusually colored eyes. Arian got along very well with the old couple that owned the farm; at one time she even considered staying with them as they have asked her to do so numerous times. They liked the young woman and literally fell in love with her baby. But things were not destined to be so well. Arian's presence made the old couple's farm flourish and once the poorest farm in the region became an admirable household. This, and the presence of their strange, never before heard of "cousin" and her bastard child, made the neighbors quite nosey. At one point, someone remembered the story about a witch slave-girl that killed her master and ran away about a year ago and connected it to Arian. It didn't take long for a mob to gather and attack the farm, demanding that "the witch and her devil-spawn" be burned alive. The old couple refused to cooperate and the mob burned down the farm. When Arian saw what they are about to do, she wanted to surrender herself and beg them not to kill her baby, but the old woman stopped her. "They will kill both you and the baby no matter what you do," the woman told her, "So take this and leave now!" She gave her a bag filled with food and a blanket. Arian obeyed and managed to save her life and the life of her infant daughter. She never found out what the faith of the old couple was.
The following years, Arian and Nura lived a gypsy life. They traveled the borders of Waeleden, keeping away form big cities and major caravan roads because Arian always feared someone from the caravan she escaped would find her. They sustained themselves as season workers, moving form one farm or plantation to another. Her mother told her all the stories of her life, the good ones and the bad ones too, always treating her as an adult. This resulted in Nura becoming a rather quiet and serious child. Many times Nura and her mother had to run away from the angry villagers - whenever someone would notice that strange things happen around them they would be accused of witchcraft, especially if there was an epidemic of some sort, because neither Nura nor her mother ever got ill. They managed to save their lives, sometimes just in the nick of time. Living her life like this, Nura had the chance to see both the best and the worst of people, human and other races.
But, one day, when Nura was away working in a cornfield, while her mother stayed at the worker's barracks, since it was her time to prepare the meals, a tragedy happened. The owner of the plantation had his eye set on Arian and he used the time when she was alone to try and talk her into sleeping with him. Arian's time as a slave made the idea of being with a man ever again rather disgusting and she refused him bluntly. He tried forcing himself on her, but Arian had fought him and the man punched her so hard she flew straight on the floor, hitting her head on a stone bench. She died instantly. The shock Nura survived when she came back with the other workers to find her mother dead on the floor was so great, she spent a whole week crying. But once the depression was substituted by anger, she went on to look for the man responsible for her mother's death. Although everything that happened was a "public secret", nobody had the intention of punishing the perpetrator. He was rich - Arian was nothing but a migrant worker. Enraged by this, Nura picked up a shovel and, when she found the man, broke several of his bones and smashed up his face before the other workers finally managed to restrain her. Needles to say she was no longer welcome on that plantation and had to run for her life again.
For the first time in her life, Nura was completely alone. She was only 18 and she very well knew the risks of living her life the same way she did so far - young girls who travel alone were frequently attacked. And so, she head straight to the nearest town. The city life also provided one small advantage - with few living plants and animals, she was able to keep her "talent" a secret for a longer time. She kept the habit of sticking close to the borders of the kingdom, since the people tended to be much more tolerant of her somewhat odd look and a lot less nosy. Yet, she was often forced to move (though not as often as she used to), and in the past three years, she has changed many professions.
Skills/Talents: With the lifestyle she was raised in and nobody but her mother to rely on, Nura had to learn to take care of herself very quickly. She gathered a very wide and colorful list of abilities, living in so many different surroundings as she has. The proverbial "Jack of all trades, master of none," she is competent with many skills, but is not outstanding in any particular one. She never went to school, but she can read, write and calculate rather well, and is skilled in using most agricultural tools and machines. She also speaks several languages and different dialects spoken in Waeleden on the basic conversational level.
Out of pure necessity, she learned some basic self-defense, but nobody could ever call her a "skilled fighter". When fighting, her main goal is to inflict a great deal of pain fast and then escape (because, as foolish as her pride and intolerance for injustice can sometimes make her appear, Nura knows full well she stands a fighting chance against a very small number of people). She is very good in using canes, knives, daggers, has a mean right hook and the tendency to break her assailants nose.
However, Nura's main skill is what her mother used to call their "talent": plants grow better, healthier and richer around her, animals and children up to two years of age are calmer, healthier and obey her (up to a certain point) and all living things heal rapidly if she takes care of their injuries or illness'. Her "talent" also provides her with perfect health - she never gets ill, not even from the deadliest diseases (she doesn't even have a single split hair on her head).
Weaknesses: It is still unknown if Nura has some special weaknesses connected to magic. Otherwise, she is as easy to physically hurt as any other human. Tampering with her mother's ring, as well as her temperament, lack of trust, fear of giving in to her emotions, spite and stubbornness can all be used to her disadvantage. She has no real control over her "talent" – you could say that Nura simply emits the energy that has this specific effect on other living things; she isn't able to channel it, control its strength or chose who/what it effects (with the exception of healing and communication). Nura can use magic only within the boundaries of her "talent" and she is unable to cast spells, make charms, potions and such. Also, if she gets physically injured (stabbed, for example), she doesn't heal any easier or quicker than any other normal human because, ironically, her healing power has no effect on her whatsoever.
Sample Roleplay: Nura sat on a stool in front of the mirror in her room, combing her hair. She had to go to work soon - one of the waitresses didn't show up and she had to take her place. It was a frustrating job, for her hair had the tendency to slip away from her hold as well as the lace she used to tame it, and Nura wished, not for the first time, she had to courage to cut it short. But, like every time that thought crossed her mind, she felt a sting of pain in her chest. She remembered the time her mother spent combing and braiding her hair, telling her stories about her childhood in the caravan. Oh, how she missed her voice, filled with both sorrow and happiness when she reminisced of those times! Her hair was a living memory and, no matter how much trouble it gave her, Nura wasn't able to let it go.
She slowly braded it, shifting her thoughts to business. It was supposed to be a slow night, but the weekend that was to come will be rough. The fair will be in town next week and all the inns and taverns will be stocked full. Yva, the waitress she was filling in for this night has been giving them a lot of trouble lately, ever since she started regularly seeing one of the city guards. She will have to fire her - and in the worst time possible. She needed at least two new girls and one to take Yva's place...and good help was so hard to find these days.
And that wine merchant...four barrels of his last shipment were stale, so stale they couldn't even use it to make vinegar. This wasn't the first time it happened, either. The bastard had to pay for tricking them, and Nura was going to have a long conversation with him tomorrow. He was a friend of the owner of the tavern she worked in and they did business together for a long time, but ever since Nura started taking care of all the purchases for the inn, the merchant began to abuse of the trust that existed between the two of them.
She thought about letting the owner handle the situation - they were, after all, friends - but she knew that, if she doesn't show him Nura Besazar doesn't take shit lying down, she would never earn his respect. And his wine was the best in the region; to lose such a supplier would be bad for business, and Nura really didn't want to loose this job. The owner was such a great man, hard working, intelligent and respectful. She didn't meet his kind very often in her life.
Noises made by people talking, laughing and yelling in the room below became louder and louder as they slowly filled the inn. She had to come down soon. The owner was there, by the bar, sure, but she didn't earn his trust by stalling when she should be working. She tied the braid with a black linen tie, got up, and straightened up her skirt. Like all tavern serving-maids (wenches, as most of the men called them, sometimes endearingly, but sometimes as an insult), Nura dressed to entice her patrons to drink and have a good time, with her bodice laced tightly to amplify her bosom and her chemise showing plenty of skin - though not enough to show what it hid underneath: teasing was always a part of the game when your job was catering to men. Once she was happy with her looks, she pushed the stool under her table and put down the lamp before leaving the room. As she was coming down the stairs, she wondered if she'd get to break a nose of two tonight. She hasn't done it in a while...and she kind of missed the feeling.
Contact Information: PM or e-mail
Character Name: Nura Besazar
Race: Mix-breed, 3/4 human and 1/4 elf but, although Nura knows she has mixed blood, she doesn't know what blood besides human she has.
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Place of Birth: Somewhere on the banks of Alamy River
Arcane or Secular: Arcane
Physical Description: Nura looks pretty much like an average human girl: 5' 5'' tall, weighing 115 lbs, neither flat nor particularly "developed", with neither a pretty nor an ugly face, full lips and a straight nose. In fact, nobody would probably even notice her at all if not for her two very distinguishing features: eyes and hair. Her eyes have a rather unusual color, a darkish shade of amber with a golden shine, and are slightly bigger than a normal human would have. Her hair is flaming-red, goes down to her waist in thick, smooth waves, and she usually keeps it braided and often with some sort of head-wear, because it tends to unruly. Her skin is light, but not quite fair - an evidence of her social class and the fact that she always had to work for a living. She prefers to look as common as possible, to avoid standing out amongst others, using garments that are both most practical and fit into her surroundings as much as possible. She will, however, always have a pouch containing her most necessary belongings and a dagger with her, especially while traveling. She wears a gold ring on a leather string around her neck - the only memento she has left of her mother. This ring is Nura's most prized possession and she will never willingly part from it.
Personality: More than anything else, Nura's personality resembles a deep, seemingly calm river that suddenly turns into a dangerous rapid: she is very emotional, but too used to hiding what she feels, so you won't know you got on her bad side until you see a golden flash in her eyes and, when that happens, you only have the time to either back away or get your nose broken. She doesn't trust people easily, especially men, and has a slight case of "me against the world" complex. She is a proud person, especially of the things she is good at, and one of the things she hates the most is when people consider her a helpless little girl just because she looks like one. Troubled by her past and origin, she sees herself as an outcast, destined to live and die alone, which collides with her passionate nature. She is stubborn, spiteful and fairly intelligent. Race means absolutely nothing to her, since she herself has no idea what kind of mix her blood is and her lifestyle provided her with equal amount of sites of both good and bad persons in all the races she's ever encountered.
Nura has a very low tolerance for any kind of injustice, and will often raise her voice against it, even if that means putting herself in danger. When the cause is worthy, she never backs down from a fight, not even if her opponent is someone much more powerful. She is prepared to go to the outmost extremes for the people she cares about and those who hurt her loved ones are in for hell, but once you betrayed her trust, you are as good as dead as far as she's concerned. Used to the life of "do what it takes to survive", she has absolutely no problem with stealing, killing or any other form of crime, if that is the only alternative left. She would never harm an animal, unless she has to (for food, clothing, protection) but even then she does it quickly and inflicting as less pain as possible.
But Nura is not always the quiet, distant girl. She never had the chance of living a childhood or adolescent age like other people, and her young soul craves fun, laughter and happiness just like any other. She can be kind, gentle, even joke, and all she wants out of life is a place where she can truly belong and finally let herself relax.
Background: Nura's life was sentenced to drama even before her mother was born, and there is no escaping it. It all started when her grandmother, Fidela Bensen, daughter of a wealthy merchant, met an Elf by the name of Oulies Yamoth. She was 16 and attending a boarding school for young ladies from wealthy families. In truth, if wasn't really a school, but more a breeding center, seeing how the girls didn't really learn anything beyond maintaining a household, dressing up, using cosmetics, playing all sorts of instruments, singing, painting, making tapestries and, all in all, being useless stupid trophy wives for rich men. She despised the school, the teachers and, most of all, the other girls for letting their families turn them into mindless hens. Fidela wanted true knowledge, but her greatest love was botanic.
She spent a lot of time in the city library, which is where she met Oulies Yamoth. She was looking for a book on forest plant-life and found it in his hands. She was mesmerized by his unusual looks, especially his flaming-red hair that went on down to his shoulders and big eyes that had the color of caramelized sugar with a golden-amber shine. The book caused them to have their first conversation, first of many because their meetings soon became quite frequent. He was a visitor to the city, invited by the scientists who worked in the library, and spent there nearly every day as it was, but he too became interested in his accidental acquaintance, far more than he knew was wise.
They began meeting outside of the library and it wasn't long before they were both smitten with love. It felt like a miracle to Fidela, who knew how cold and aloof Elves usually are, when they became lovers. They both knew it was not smart, but they couldn't help themselves. The feelings were simply too strong.
But their happiness was short-lived, because Oulies got news of his father dieing only a few months later. He asked Fidela to come with him, but she was too frightened of her father's reaction to accept, even though there was nothing she wanted more. Finally, they reached middle ground – Oulies will leave alone and come for her that summer, when she goes back to her family home. She hoped that, together, they would be able to talk her father into letting her marry him. Alas, only weeks after Oulies left, Fidela began experiencing strong nausea that last on for days before the headmistress of the school sent for the doctor, who confirmed Fidela was three months pregnant.
When her father heard of this news, he was furious and pulled Fidela out of the school. This scandal ruined all the plans he had for her. An ambitious man, he wanted to marry her off into the Wael clan, and now he was left with worthless goods. He locked her in a basement, starved and beat her, but no matter what he did Fidela wouldn't tell him the name of the man who impregnated her. The only reason she didn't die or loose the baby was because her mother could no longer stand to see her suffer and, with a few loyal maids, helped her escape after nearly two months of torture. Her maids took her to one of the caravans that was to leave that night and paid a generous sum to have them take Fidela far away, not telling them anything about her at all.
The caravan's healer and midwife, a southern tribes woman called Yasmin, took care of Fidela, but couldn't do much for her but keep her alive until time to give birth to her baby came. The labor was too difficult and Fidela didn't survive. She gave birth to a baby girl and, before she died, named the child Arian and told the midwife as much of her story as she was able to before she passed away, omitting all information about the baby's father.
Yasmin took the child and raised her as her own. She respected the child's mother's wish to name her Arian, but also added Besazar, "kissed by fire", as the babies last name because of her hair, which was considered a sign of good luck in the southeastern parts of Waeleden. She never hid anything for the little girl about her origin and taught her everything about her job as a healer and midwife. Since Yasmin had no children of her own, Arian was meant to continue her work in the caravan. The girl had a happy life, while the caravan traveled Waeleden high and wide. Like all the other children, she was obligated to do her share of work, learning how to cook, take care of animals and goods, read, write, calculate and a few languages. It took only a few years for everyone to notice that the number of people and animals who died has greatly deteriorated since Arian joined them, so they started thinking of her as their good-luck charm. Arian herself became proud of her reputation, up to the point of being foolish enough to think nothing bad can happen to her, but she was soon proven wrong.
While the caravan visited the city of Ambasil, Arian, now a pretty, cheerful 17-year old girl, and her friends used their free time to visit the local fair. Being young and foolish as they were, they bragged to the people about her gift, despite of the fact that the elders of the caravan always told them not to do so. The people didn't believe them and dared them to prove it. Proud of her "talent", Arian told them to take her to the wildest animal they have, asking for free food and drink for her and her friends if she succeeds in taming it. The townspeople agreed and took her to the cage with a recently caught tiger. It only too a few minutes for the tiger to literally eat out of Arian's hand. Unfortunately, the leader of one of the other caravans heard and saw this. He had heard stories about Arian before, but didn't take them as anything but stupid tails until now. A plan forged in his head immediately and he and his men kidnapped Arian that very night, packed the caravan and fled in an unknown direction. She never saw anyone form the caravan she grew up in ever again.
The following three years of Arian's life were hell. She was treated like a slave, obligated to take care of every single animal in the caravan and the owner stopped trading with all other goods once he saw that trading with animals would provide more than sufficient profit for him, as long as he has Arian in his hands. And he had her in his hands in more ways than one, raping her whenever he felt like it, even when it was her time of the month. He also often gave her as a "gift for the night" to his numerous guests and business-partners, of which not all were human. This constant torture turned Arian numb, unable to fight for herself. She learned to "get lost in her mind" whenever she was forced to be with the leader of the caravan or any other man, she didn't even notice the places they traveled trough and she would probably end up going insane if, one day, she didn't wake up with a strong nausea. This went on for a week before it finally dawned on her - she was pregnant. Being someone who was trained to be a midwife for years, it wasn't hard for her to calculate that the approximate date of conception was six weeks before that. There were a lot of guests that week, because of the great cattle-trader's fair, so she was unable to say exactly who the father of the child might be or even if he was human or not, but she considered this to be a lucky thing, because she could at least hope the leader of the caravan, who's name she never spoke, isn't the one.
This sudden discovery made Arian snap out of her lethargic state and start planning her escape. She had no intention of letting her child suffer like she did, especially if it inherited her "talent". She waited for the perfect opportunity to escape, which occurred about a month later. The caravan was resting in a lonely field, somewhere on the banks of the Alamy River. That night, she was called to the leader's bed and, after he was done with her and fell asleep, she suffocated him with a pillow. She quickly grabbed one of his knifes and carefully sneaked away. She knew she has to run away as far as she can, because when everyone else in the caravan wakes up and finds their leader dead and her missing, they will come after her. She ran all night, not even once stopping to rest or eat, until she reached a small farm. She banged on the door and the elder couple that lived there opened. Arian told them what she had done, not hiding a thing, and asked for help. And, strangely, they took her in and hid her for a few weeks, until they were sure the danger was over. Arian stayed with them for a bit over a year, helping the old couple in their work at the farm. During her stay there, she discovered that her "talent" also has an effect on plants and gave birth to a baby girl, who she named Nura, "the light". The baby was born with the exact same shade of hair as her mother.
Nura didn't look any different than any other human baby, apart form her big, unusually colored eyes. Arian got along very well with the old couple that owned the farm; at one time she even considered staying with them as they have asked her to do so numerous times. They liked the young woman and literally fell in love with her baby. But things were not destined to be so well. Arian's presence made the old couple's farm flourish and once the poorest farm in the region became an admirable household. This, and the presence of their strange, never before heard of "cousin" and her bastard child, made the neighbors quite nosey. At one point, someone remembered the story about a witch slave-girl that killed her master and ran away about a year ago and connected it to Arian. It didn't take long for a mob to gather and attack the farm, demanding that "the witch and her devil-spawn" be burned alive. The old couple refused to cooperate and the mob burned down the farm. When Arian saw what they are about to do, she wanted to surrender herself and beg them not to kill her baby, but the old woman stopped her. "They will kill both you and the baby no matter what you do," the woman told her, "So take this and leave now!" She gave her a bag filled with food and a blanket. Arian obeyed and managed to save her life and the life of her infant daughter. She never found out what the faith of the old couple was.
The following years, Arian and Nura lived a gypsy life. They traveled the borders of Waeleden, keeping away form big cities and major caravan roads because Arian always feared someone from the caravan she escaped would find her. They sustained themselves as season workers, moving form one farm or plantation to another. Her mother told her all the stories of her life, the good ones and the bad ones too, always treating her as an adult. This resulted in Nura becoming a rather quiet and serious child. Many times Nura and her mother had to run away from the angry villagers - whenever someone would notice that strange things happen around them they would be accused of witchcraft, especially if there was an epidemic of some sort, because neither Nura nor her mother ever got ill. They managed to save their lives, sometimes just in the nick of time. Living her life like this, Nura had the chance to see both the best and the worst of people, human and other races.
But, one day, when Nura was away working in a cornfield, while her mother stayed at the worker's barracks, since it was her time to prepare the meals, a tragedy happened. The owner of the plantation had his eye set on Arian and he used the time when she was alone to try and talk her into sleeping with him. Arian's time as a slave made the idea of being with a man ever again rather disgusting and she refused him bluntly. He tried forcing himself on her, but Arian had fought him and the man punched her so hard she flew straight on the floor, hitting her head on a stone bench. She died instantly. The shock Nura survived when she came back with the other workers to find her mother dead on the floor was so great, she spent a whole week crying. But once the depression was substituted by anger, she went on to look for the man responsible for her mother's death. Although everything that happened was a "public secret", nobody had the intention of punishing the perpetrator. He was rich - Arian was nothing but a migrant worker. Enraged by this, Nura picked up a shovel and, when she found the man, broke several of his bones and smashed up his face before the other workers finally managed to restrain her. Needles to say she was no longer welcome on that plantation and had to run for her life again.
For the first time in her life, Nura was completely alone. She was only 18 and she very well knew the risks of living her life the same way she did so far - young girls who travel alone were frequently attacked. And so, she head straight to the nearest town. The city life also provided one small advantage - with few living plants and animals, she was able to keep her "talent" a secret for a longer time. She kept the habit of sticking close to the borders of the kingdom, since the people tended to be much more tolerant of her somewhat odd look and a lot less nosy. Yet, she was often forced to move (though not as often as she used to), and in the past three years, she has changed many professions.
Skills/Talents: With the lifestyle she was raised in and nobody but her mother to rely on, Nura had to learn to take care of herself very quickly. She gathered a very wide and colorful list of abilities, living in so many different surroundings as she has. The proverbial "Jack of all trades, master of none," she is competent with many skills, but is not outstanding in any particular one. She never went to school, but she can read, write and calculate rather well, and is skilled in using most agricultural tools and machines. She also speaks several languages and different dialects spoken in Waeleden on the basic conversational level.
Out of pure necessity, she learned some basic self-defense, but nobody could ever call her a "skilled fighter". When fighting, her main goal is to inflict a great deal of pain fast and then escape (because, as foolish as her pride and intolerance for injustice can sometimes make her appear, Nura knows full well she stands a fighting chance against a very small number of people). She is very good in using canes, knives, daggers, has a mean right hook and the tendency to break her assailants nose.
However, Nura's main skill is what her mother used to call their "talent": plants grow better, healthier and richer around her, animals and children up to two years of age are calmer, healthier and obey her (up to a certain point) and all living things heal rapidly if she takes care of their injuries or illness'. Her "talent" also provides her with perfect health - she never gets ill, not even from the deadliest diseases (she doesn't even have a single split hair on her head).
Weaknesses: It is still unknown if Nura has some special weaknesses connected to magic. Otherwise, she is as easy to physically hurt as any other human. Tampering with her mother's ring, as well as her temperament, lack of trust, fear of giving in to her emotions, spite and stubbornness can all be used to her disadvantage. She has no real control over her "talent" – you could say that Nura simply emits the energy that has this specific effect on other living things; she isn't able to channel it, control its strength or chose who/what it effects (with the exception of healing and communication). Nura can use magic only within the boundaries of her "talent" and she is unable to cast spells, make charms, potions and such. Also, if she gets physically injured (stabbed, for example), she doesn't heal any easier or quicker than any other normal human because, ironically, her healing power has no effect on her whatsoever.
Sample Roleplay: Nura sat on a stool in front of the mirror in her room, combing her hair. She had to go to work soon - one of the waitresses didn't show up and she had to take her place. It was a frustrating job, for her hair had the tendency to slip away from her hold as well as the lace she used to tame it, and Nura wished, not for the first time, she had to courage to cut it short. But, like every time that thought crossed her mind, she felt a sting of pain in her chest. She remembered the time her mother spent combing and braiding her hair, telling her stories about her childhood in the caravan. Oh, how she missed her voice, filled with both sorrow and happiness when she reminisced of those times! Her hair was a living memory and, no matter how much trouble it gave her, Nura wasn't able to let it go.
She slowly braded it, shifting her thoughts to business. It was supposed to be a slow night, but the weekend that was to come will be rough. The fair will be in town next week and all the inns and taverns will be stocked full. Yva, the waitress she was filling in for this night has been giving them a lot of trouble lately, ever since she started regularly seeing one of the city guards. She will have to fire her - and in the worst time possible. She needed at least two new girls and one to take Yva's place...and good help was so hard to find these days.
And that wine merchant...four barrels of his last shipment were stale, so stale they couldn't even use it to make vinegar. This wasn't the first time it happened, either. The bastard had to pay for tricking them, and Nura was going to have a long conversation with him tomorrow. He was a friend of the owner of the tavern she worked in and they did business together for a long time, but ever since Nura started taking care of all the purchases for the inn, the merchant began to abuse of the trust that existed between the two of them.
She thought about letting the owner handle the situation - they were, after all, friends - but she knew that, if she doesn't show him Nura Besazar doesn't take shit lying down, she would never earn his respect. And his wine was the best in the region; to lose such a supplier would be bad for business, and Nura really didn't want to loose this job. The owner was such a great man, hard working, intelligent and respectful. She didn't meet his kind very often in her life.
Noises made by people talking, laughing and yelling in the room below became louder and louder as they slowly filled the inn. She had to come down soon. The owner was there, by the bar, sure, but she didn't earn his trust by stalling when she should be working. She tied the braid with a black linen tie, got up, and straightened up her skirt. Like all tavern serving-maids (wenches, as most of the men called them, sometimes endearingly, but sometimes as an insult), Nura dressed to entice her patrons to drink and have a good time, with her bodice laced tightly to amplify her bosom and her chemise showing plenty of skin - though not enough to show what it hid underneath: teasing was always a part of the game when your job was catering to men. Once she was happy with her looks, she pushed the stool under her table and put down the lamp before leaving the room. As she was coming down the stairs, she wondered if she'd get to break a nose of two tonight. She hasn't done it in a while...and she kind of missed the feeling.
