Nicknames/Explanation: Ice-Queen - Sylvani had seen the death of her mother at the hands of her father, a gladiator driven insane by the ring and the constant pressure. She watched as the man attacked her beloved mother for breaking a soup bowl, the noise reminding him of something in the ring. She begged her father to stop, but the man continued his attack against the much weaker Druwen until the woman had died. Sylvani gathered the body herself, wrapped her in the red funeral robe, and helped gather the wood to make the pyre. On the day of her mother's Ascension, Sylvani stood in the main-square and watched, as her father was pulled away. It was only in his training; and while it was wrong to kill such a beautiful exotic-specimen like Sylvani's mother -- the singer Druwen -- there was nothing more to be done but send her father back to the ring.
Sylvani shed not a tear for either her mother or her father. The young girl, only twelve years old, felt the burden of the world on her shoulders, and she didn't crumble. She took up a facade; she looked at her horrible world with distant eyes. Regal eyes. Traitorous eyes. She grew into a woman that would not be broken. Despite her half-elven race, she was sent to the gladiatorial field. Men wanted to see her broken, they wanted the Ice-Queen to crumble. They knew that she would never survive in the ring, her blood would be spilled for the amusement of the dictator king. Still, at twenty-three, the Ice-Queen Facade remained.
Age: 23 (In appearance. She's half-elf and will sometimes make comments that show that she's older than she appears)
Race: Half-Elf -- She's tall in appearance, with a willowy-grace to her, but she is also more fragile than any of the stockier races. Some other elves have been known to be stronger than the Aubade-Elfkin. She has taken strongly after her mother in terms of ability and was a noted healer's apprentice before her mother's death.
Gender: Female
Theme Song:http://youtu.be/SRmWD9nhv7E
Her and her lover's Song:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUGEzPH2dJQ (Her Lover: http://www.roleplaygateway.com/roleplay/red-sand/characters/alrun-myw-bastraes/ )
Description:
Even though she's half-elf, she has her mother's coloring but her father's ear-shape (I.E. No pointed ears) She's 6'0 (from a tall race of elves) and tends to wear the white gown seen, with her hair down. She does it so that people are reminded, as the blood covers her gowns, just how much of a monstrosity this King is.
[color=#00BFBF]Scars: She has tattoos of black cats (chat noir) on the soles of her feet, marking her as one of the "owned" women (meaning that she had been going through training to be a 'companion' to a gladiator. When her healing became noticeable during the mandatory training, she started to have to heal. Her owner at the time had no choice but to allow her to heal a gladiator. Her first fight changed everything. She saw her gladiator (a man named Hevn) cut down, the fight officially over, and she rushed out to him. Hevn tried to rise to reassure the young woman that he would be fine and his opponent lashed out with the crucible, a mid-ranged supple-stalk that had tendrils equipped with barbs. Hevn's opponent missed him, but the crucible caught Sylvani's shoulder, wrapped down her side and across her mid-back, cutting into her flesh. The gladiator, in his anger, tore the weapon back, tearing the flesh from her back and cutting deep into the muscle. She passed out from the pain and had to be taken to the infirmary. Her owner refused to spend money on a scarred slave and sold her to the arena to be a full-time healer. Because her magic only works if she's conscious, she is left with jagged scars that limit her mobility on her left side and she can't raise her left arm completely upwards. She is very self-conscious of the scars and always wears a long white shift under her dress and hates it when people get too close to her to see the hints of the scars that show on her left shoulder.
Personality: She's called the Ice-Queen (or the not-so-polite: Ice-Bitch --She is a woman that keeps her feelings locked deep inside. She tries to ignore the stench of death that rolls her stomach or the way that the men grab at her and beg her to fix them. She can't fix everyone because the healing tires her and makes her have to go and replenish herself either by sleeping or spending time out in nature. Like her mother, she is of nature-kin, and she needs to be out in nature. Knowing this, she has a very small garden that she had planted to be able to go out and sit. She doesn't speak...often, and when she does speak it's only to her gladiator. If she has to speak to others, she speaks very quietly but not because she is docile. Her race has a naturally quiet voice, though she has a fierce temper if something happens to her gladiator. When her first gladiator died, she mourned strongly for him and cut her hair, a strong symbol of her closeness with him. Now, she is without a prime gladiator and goes from one to the other, trying to help what she can. She's at her best when she's not angry or annoyed, or any other time when her emotion is high. She's very stubborn and if someone makes fun of how physically weak she is... they might find themselves with a rather large snake in their bed the next time they climb into it.
Preferred Weapons: She's a Healer, the only weapon that she carries is a small dagger that she uses to cut herbs and in a pinch a she can defend herself, though not for very long. She is physically weaker than most people, though in terms of magic... the weaker she gets in physical strength, the stronger she seems to get in magic. She is working hard so that she can heal whomever becomes "her" gladiator, so that she doesn't have to lose another person.
Preferred Armor: She can't carry armor, being that it is too heavy for her. Her previous Gladiator, Alrun, used to laugh as she struggled to carry his shield, for she is a tall woman... but physically weak. At times, she can manifest a magical-barrier, but that barrier is only good for one strike and then she must depend on someone else to help her with the defense.
History/ Feelings on being a gladiator: She had a good life, unlike some people, because of her people and their nomadic lifestyle. They traveled far, collected many things and Sylvani learned what it was like to be a healer, even learning some of her mother's healing songs. Yet, Sylvani always wanted to know about her father, a man named Angelos Nikolaidis. Who he was, where he was, why she couldn't see him, and her mother would look away, her face sad. Yet, Sylvani continued to ask, begged to know more about him. On her fifth birthday, her mother agreed, finally...but this led to their downfall. They arrived back in the city, Sylvani met her father, a broken man. A human man. A Gladiator. He had once been a warrior for the previous King and now... he was something else. He was prone to fits of rage, bouts of sadness...but there were times when light would enter his silver eyes (the same color as Sylvani's) and he would some way to give her a treat. Some sweet-bit. A story about a bird that he saw, something to keep the innocence alive in her eyes. The Aubade Elf-kin were nomadic by nature and they had to leave Sylvani and her mother behind. Sylvani's mother worked in a tavern, singing her songs and bringing a small amount of piece to these broken men and women. Sylvani had to stay in her house, confined to the backyard, so that she wouldn't be dragged off to the coal-mine.
When Sylvani turned twelve, her mother was cooking dinner and dropped a bowl, shattering close to her father's feet. The man flew into a rage, thinking that he was back in the ring, and attacked the weaker Aubade woman. Sylvani watched in horror, as her father killed her mother. Watched as it took five men to pull him away from the bloodied corpse. She later watched, as her father was pulled back to the Ring, where for once... he refused to fight. She watched, her face impassive, as her father stood in the center of the ring. His sword stayed sheathed, and he was cut down, his eyes never leaving the ice-cold face of his daughter's.
Rumor spread of the Aubade girl's ice-mask. Her cool temperament and her refusal to break and plead for mercy. At eighteen, she was dragged off to the gladiatorial ring and people questioned: Would she be like her father? Would she fight until the madness overtook her mind? Or would she stand, and in one final act of atonement, be cut down? She never made it past training. Her magic blossomed quickly and her physical strength lessened. One sword that a man could use with one hand, it took her two, and she could barely lift it from the ground, much less swing it. If she was forced to be a gladiator, she'd die quickly, but, Alrun, a gladiator only a few years older than herself, saw that she had the healing ability and made it known. While she wasn't trained in how to use it (being that her magic is different than many) she learned by herself, often using poor Alrun as a test-subject. For once, there was a sort of happiness back on the elven woman's face. She worked hard, learning as much about her ability as she could. She slaved over books on herbs, taking careful notes, learning herbology so that she could draw on her magic only if it was truly needed. She allowed herself to dream of the day when Alrun would get his freedom, before the madness overtook him, and they could be free. They would join the Aubade people; she'd be among family again.
Alrun died when she turned 22. He had gotten distracted, and he was ran through with a trident. By the time Sylvani reached him, he had died and no amount of herb, or song, or magic could bring him back. He was buried according to her people, and the keening wail of the funeral song that she sang for him was echoed in the hearts of the widows that had lost sons, brothers, fathers... daughters, wives, mothers.
She now goes from one gladiator to the other, healing what wounds she can. Though, she rarely speaks to them. She doesn't want to get close, allow the dream that she had shared with Alrun to give her a fool's hope. Her ice-mask had started to melt with Alrun, but it had frosted over with increased strength. She was once again the Ice-Queen with a heart that would be untouchable by even the most fiery blade.
*Note on her view on the gladiators* She doesn't hate them; she hates that they have to fight, and kill, and die. She hates that this is all done for a sick-King's amusement. She helps the gladiators, when she can, but no songs are sung for them and she stays to herself, always studying one book or another. It is no secret that she is trying to become a healer that is good enough to bring back someone's spirit. It is no secret that she is searching for a way to bring back Alrun.
A Note on her magic: The stronger she gets physically -- the less magic she has at her disposal, and the opposite is true. The stronger she gets with magic, the weaker she gets physically. The Aubade-Elfkin used that sacrifice to make sure that no one person in their tribe grew strong as a warrior and as a mage. Like her mother, she was born with the ability to do magic, and it manifested when she was a child and revived a small dead pansy (her mother's favorite flower). Sylvani's magic is completely dependent on her own mental strength, and her magic is dependent on the core of magic that is tied with her spirit, as well as the inherent magic that resides in nature. When she draws upon too much of her core-magic, she has to go outside, to her garden. The sacrifice to her garden is seen often when she does deep healing (major reknitting of the flesh)... her garden dies and she has to work to make it bloom again. It is a constant cycle of life-and rebirth. If her garden dies and she draws upon the reserve of her magic -- one of two things happens: She can either die (from literally burning up from the inside - out) or, if she's lucky, her mind will schism and her magic will cease to be a part of her, and she will be unbalanced until someone can help her heal the fissure that the magic has made.
She -does- use herbs when she can, instead of her magic. She doesn't use magic as her first recourse because of how draining it is. She's constantly studying from one tome or another, always working to see if there is something else that she can do. She is often seen asleep at a table, her tome serving as her pillow, and due to her high amount of reading, she has started to read with the book closer to her, meaning that her eyesight is getting a little worse. Still, she's too stubborn to ask for eyeglasses.
Other Notes:
Her son's dog, named 'The Brute'. The Brute is often unapproachable by anyone. While he was close and affectionate to Sylvani prior to her son (Erryn's) birth, his loyalties shifted to Erryn (pronounced Air-yin) as soon as the child was born. Now, the dog is always in company of the boy, unless he is returning to Sylvani's room at night to make sure that the woman is there. Only if the woman is there does the dog bring Erryn back to his mother, otherwise the boy stays out in the forest.
