Name:Sayleth Donal
Sex: Female
Age: 17
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 108 pounds
Profession: Traveling Merchant

Appearance:
Sayleth is a young women who most consider to be cute more the beautiful. Much to her annoyance at times, Sayleth is still mistaken for a child in cities where she is not known. Sayleth has a small but well toned frame to her as many of the plains tribesmen do. Despite not having been among her people since an early child, she still follows many of their customs and wears their traditional garb. In many towns and villages, Sayleth is both a welcome and alien site. Being a merchant she brings many much needed supplies and the villagers of course thank Sayleth for this, but at the same time they remain wary of her. The native tribes from the plains are rumored to be everything from savages to thieves and though this is of course all stories, Sayleth is tolerated at a distance usually. Unlike many women, Sayleth does not wear jewelry, or makeup for that matter, outside of a small bracelet on her right hand. The only use she has ever found for these things is in selling them. The most notable aspect of Sayleth's appearance however, are the scars that dot around her body. She keeps these hidden from sight because of her clothing but to those who have glimpsed the old faded wounds, it is clear that they were the result of some sort of prolonged violence.

Likes:
Horses
Money
Her Culture
Nature
Animals
Sweet things
Moonless cloudless nights
warm campfires
Quietness (not necessarily solitude)
Warm weather
Kindhearted people



Dislikes:
Extremes of weather
Fighting
Slavery, and anything that goes with it
Bandits
Most rich people
People who look down on her and her culture
Spicy foods
Having to hunt
Taking a life
Forced spirit binding

Fears:
She will be enslaved again
Sharing her secrets
She will never find much meaning in her life
Her culture will die out
Friends dieing
That no God is there to listen to her, or that no God really cares.

Items of Note:
Three Hailito - The traditional weapon of the Plains tribes. The Hailito is a type of short spear that can be thrown much like a javelin or used as an extremely effective hand to hand weapon. Though it does not have the arc of a sword, the weapon is designed to be used in quick decisive jabs to pierce armor and flesh.


Sar-Shonon - Sar-Shonon, or roughly translated as Star Runner or Spirit Runner, is the name that Sayleth has given to her horse. Sar-Shonon is a very large and very ferocious black charger. He is a trained war horse and it is definitely noticeable, even if the horse merely pulls a wagon now. Regardless, the horse is Sayleth's best friend and she loves him greatly, it can be assumed that Sar-Shonon loves the small plains-women as well and he will allow only her to ride him. Despite his now docile role, the horse is aggressive and when it comes to a fight, Sar-Shonon goes in kicking and biting.

Silver Bracelet The only piece of jewelery that Sayleth wears and her dearest possession. Given to her by her mentor and friend Zetoph as a promise to remember him and her heritage. It's also a promise to herself to never lose hope in herself. Sayleth never takes the bracelet off.

(More to be added as RP progresses)

History:
Sayleth was born a member of the Secai Tribe, one of the few remaining tribes of the Feralin Plains. During her years among her native peoples, Sayleth was taught by her father how to hunt and live, she was taught the culture and history of her people as well as their beliefs. It was a simple life and one fraught with danger from both natural dangers as well as oppression by settled folk, but it was a happy life.

The Feralin Plainsmen have long been oppressed by many of the settled populations of Lumes. They are considered by most people to thieves and primitive savages and as a result they have become targets heavily by slavers. Despite the Tribes efforts to fight the continuous onslaught, the population of the Feralin Tribes is low. Each tribe consists of only a few hundred people and many tribes have been destroyed over the past 300 years. Sadly during the spring of Sayleth's 9th year, such an event occurred. A group of bandits paid for by a company in the southern desert kingdoms, assaulted the Secai Tribe and scattered them into the night. The tribe would later meet back up and mourn their loss but such was life. The raid carried off 42 able bodied men and children to be sold to the nobles of the Southern Kingdoms who dealt in the bloody world of gladiatorial combat. Sayleth was one of the prisoners.

The forced march that followed would be one fraught with hardships and death. The Feralin plains are vast and the weather can turn from sun to downpours at a moment's notice, making the path muddy and treacherous. Sayleth for awhile tried to count the days they traveled and prayed for a fellow tribe to spot the bandits and rescue them, but that help never came. On the 20th day of travel, the exhausted and beaten Secai prisoners saw for the first time the dusty expanse of the southern desert and their hope broke. Sayleth was no exception and soon even she lost track of the time that had passed, only pain and enslavement was left to them. By the time they arrived in the southern city of Dolamar, only 18 of the starving and dirty plainsmen were still alive.

After arriving in the city, the broken tribesmen were given only a few days of rest before they were put on the block and sold to the companies that would bet on their very lives. Sayleth was the only child who had survived the long march and despite her current shape, that made her a high demand product. Children who survive the long march are rare and those who do have proven their strength. Sayleth was purchased by the owner of one of the largest and most successful gladiatorial company, the ruthless Jonah Tallamon. Jonah was once a gladiator himself in his youth who, through his unparalleled success in the arena, managed to win his freedom. He loved to see suffering and blood on the field of battle and so upon his release he pulled a loan and opened up his own company. Over the years he has become known for his two things;
One: Jonah's gladiators always win, even if they die to accomplish victory.
Two: Out of every ten slaves Jonah purchases, only two will ever see the arena.
Because of his ruthlessness both as a gladiator and as an owner, Jonah earned the nickname "The Butcher".

Sayleth was taken back to Jonah's training camps and placed into a small group of 20 fellow slaves. These slaves would sleep, eat, fight, and ultimately die together, all in the name of supposed gladiatorial honor. Most of Sayleth's group were fellow slaves, though two young men were condemned thieves. Only two others of the group were Feralin Tribesmen. One of these tribesmen was the last remaining member of the Novalie tribe. The warriors name was Zetoph and though he was of a different tribe then Sayleth, he took it upon himself to protect the small girl and teach her how to survive in a gladiator's world. Zetoph taught Sayleth how to fight with the Hailito and as the Tribesmen say, dance the spears. How to use speed and dexterity to strike your opponent hard and fast and to always attack. The older warrior did not just teach Sayleth how to fight, but he also continued to instruct her in the ways of the Feralin Tribes. The training that Sayleth was forced to undergo was brutal and the training always required the death of your opponent. There was no mercy in Jonah's training, only ind numbing brutality. Some were driven insane by the training and others resisted, only to be broken by the whips of the hired soldiers. Sayleth struggled to survive in such a world but because of Zetoph's teachings in both warfare and her own culture, the young girl was able to carry on despite the pain and oppression.

Sayleth's gladiatorial training lasted two year and during that time the young girl received more pain and combat then most would in a lifetime. At the end of every month, there was a culling of the ranks, a competition of sorts where each future gladiator was put into combat against someone in their group. One of each pair would be killed by the other, should mercy be shown, both slaves would be killed. The bloodshed of this training was designed to kill the humanity and instill a blood lust into each gladiator, this was how the Butcher's gladiator's were so successful. You break the slaves will and you create the perfect gladiator, but the butcher was never able to break Sayleth's will. She survived, beaten and bloody but never broken.

Now Jonah the butcher didn't like this, Sayleth was proving to be one of the most capable slaves he owned and though she played her part well, she carried her head to high, her will was too strong. He had her beaten and put her in fights that would risk her very life just to try and break her, but she never did and he blamed her Feralin spirit for it. So on the very last fight before the remaining slaves would become full gladiators, the Butcher decided he would try one last attempt to break her. He placed her against Zetoph. This was unusual for Zetoph was already a full gladiator with a half a years experience under him, but he knew that Zetoph would not be able to kill the young girl he had mentored, he knew that the man would force his pupil to kill him. The butcher believed that the death of Zetoph at Sayleth's own hands would shatter her spirit.

The two plainsmen fought hard. Zetoph was not capable of killing Sayleth though and both of them knew it, but still Zetoph bloodied Sayleth when he could. However, each time he had an opening to beat her, he would withdraw and allow himself to be hit. The battle raged for several minutes, both combatants engaged in a beautiful if deadly dance of their spears. Finally though, Zetoph parried away and tried to make a quick jab at Sayleth's legs but he was intercepted by the but of Sayleth's spear. Sayleth, her training carrying through, spun around, knocking Sayleth's Hailito aside and delivering a decisive jab into Zetoph's chest. The crowd of blood thirsty slaves erupted into cheers and a smirk crossed the butcher's face as tears streamed down Sayleth's face. However, victory was not to belong to the butcher. Zetoph, now collapsed to his knees and wheezing for breath grabbed Sayleth's leg and pulled her to the ground where he engaged her in a faked struggle over Sayleth's hailito. It is here where Zetoph would steal victory from the butcher, he told Sayleth in what few words he had left that the Great Spirit had not abandoned her, that she needed to fight for her people as well as her freedom, and that no matter what she was a Secai Spear maiden, he had seen her freedom in a dream but she must never give up her spear in order to achieve that freedom. As a parting gift, Zetoph gave Sayleth a silver bracelet, the bracelet had belonged to Zetoph's daughter who had not survived the forced march from his capture. It was a gift that Sayleth would Cherish and use not only to remember her promise to Zetoph but to pray for the strength to continue her fight. Once the bracelet had passed hands, Zetoph let go of the spear and allowed Sayleth to deliver one final thrust and send the last Novalie to join his tribe in the heavens.

Sayleth, after having killed her only friend and mentor, stood up from the dusty arena and met the gaze of the Butcher, wiping the smirk from his face. Sayleth stared the butcher down until in disgust of his failure to break the girl, he left his balcony seat. Over the next three years Sayleth would become one of the most feared gladiators in the arena, always pulling victory and was even showered with honors. Because of this fame, many opportunities to escape from her enslavement and torture appeared and each one she let pass because of a simple promise she had made to herself after killing Zetoph. She would not leave, not until she killed made the butcher suffer the bite of her Hailito.

The opportunity to accomplish her promise came in the summer of Sayleth's 14th year. The Butcher was by now extremely worried about about his famous gladiator and had tried several times to have her killed in the arena, but his every attempt failed bitterly and as a result she was even more loved by the crowds. After one especially spectacular fight, the king of Dolamar presented Sayleth with a gift of a young war horse, possibly hoping to win over the young girl so as to be purchased and placed in his guard. The Butcher was not going to have anything of the sort, he was determined to see the girl broken and killed, so later that night he threatened to have the young charger killed. Sayleth challenged him to a dual over it. Now, the Jonah the Butcher had every right to refuse such a preposterous proposal, a slave challenging her master was unheard of. However, the Butcher was a very prideful man, and though he was old, he remembered very well the days of his glorious victories in the arena. He accepted the challenge and scheduled the fight to take place in the Dolamar's arena in three days.

Word of the fight spread quickly and on the morning of the dual, the Arena managed to pull more then it could seat, the fight was the buzz of the city. Two legendary gladiators facing off, one betting his pride and the other her freedom. To most the fight would seem mismatched, Jonah was a mountain of a man, standing at 6'5" and wearing a full plate armor and longsword, Jonah seemed to be an impregnable fortress. Sayleth on the other hand wore just the light clothing of the Secai tribes and wielded just three small Hailito. It was almost laughable until the dance started. True to her teachings, Sayleth charged Jonah and pressed him over and over again. Jonah swung after the quick-footed Sayleth as he was assailed by her spears, but she always managed to dance around his strikes. The battle raged on but the longer it went on, the more of an advantage Sayleth had as Jonah exhausted himself in his heavy armor. Worse for him, Sayleth's pricking spears continued to find little chinks in his armor and prick the mighty giant. For twenty minutes this battle continued until Jonah's armor was stained with blood and damaged from the constant pricking of Sayleth's spears. He had managed to clip the younger gladiator only twice during this time but these clips had been much deeper then Sayleth's little pricks. The fight appeared to be in Sayleth's favor but it was not at a critical moment. The two fighters were facing each other down and panting, waiting for the other to make the first move, ten seconds passed, twenty, finally after 30 seconds Sayleth took the charge. Jonah swung with all his might to cleave the young girl in half, but Sayleth side stepped the swing and danced into Jonah, raising her spear she thrust into Jonah's helmet, the thinner metal bent in and broke, penetrated by the tip of the Hailito. Jonah crumpled as the spear tip entered his skull and killed him.

The crowd was stunned but slowly a blood hungry cheer rose from the stadium for the victorious Sayleth. However, Sayleth felt no joy in this victory, relief that she was free, yes, but never joy. One of the tenants of the warrior code was that no warrior take joy in the death of another. Sayleth walked out of the arena for the last time, never to return again. Under Dalomaran law, all of Jonah's belongings were hers but Sayleth took none of it but a little gold to help her on her journey. Her last item of business in the city was to free all of Jonah's slaves and spread his wealth amongst them. Then talking two horses, Sar-Shonon, and wagon full of supplies, Sayleth left the city to begin her long journey back north to the plains of her people.

Sayleth traveled north for two weeks before she managed to find her way out of the desert and it was another four weeks before she found her way back into the Feralin Plains. However the distance was much greater then she had anticipated and by this time she had only a meager supply of water left to share between herself and Sar-Shonon, for a few days it looked as if what years of brutal slavery and combat couldn't kill, starvation would. However, just as Sayleth was about to give up, a hunting party from the Kapochen tribe discovered her and took her back to their camp. Sayleth was relieved to be back among her own people and to have food and drink, but the Kapochen people were wary of her. Despite being a member of the Feralin Tribes, the Kapochen refused to take her in, believing that she had been polluted by outside ways. They would not cast her out, but they refused to accept her back in. This discovery crushed Sayleth who's hope and belief that she could come home was the single drive that had carried her through all her years as a slave in Dolamar. Sayleth simply lost whatever scrap of meaning she had left in her life, for a few months she wandered somewhat aimlessly among the Kapochen tribe and even once or twice considered suicide, though her cultural beliefs held her from committing that evil.

Towards winter a traveling merchant from the northern kingdoms stumbled upon the tribe and offered to trade. The man was relatively well off and knew the Feralin tribes well, he introduced himself as Harold Caln and was invited to stay amongst the Kapochen for a few days. Harold was an elderly man and a wise man, he noticed the way Sayleth seemed to wander about with her war horse and became intrigued about the young girl. He made a few attempts to spark a conversation with her but she seemed close mouthed. However as the days wore on, Sayleth appeared to gain a sort of interest in the old merchant and would follow him around and talk to him a little. However, whenever the conversation turned to her past or her scars, Sayleth would clamp her mouth shut if not outright leave for awhile. Harold asked the Kapochen Chief about her and was horrified when the chief shared Sayleth's story with him. He never told Sayleth that he knew about her past, but on his last day with the Kapochen, Harold asked Sayleth if she wished to travel with him as his apprentice. Sayleth was taken aback by his offer but her spirit was not yet broken enough to realize the promise the offer held. In a stunning leap of trust and faith, Sayleth accepted Harold's offer and she gathered what small supplies she had and left the Kapochen and the Feralin Plains for the second time.

During the next two years, Sayleth would travel with Harold and while learning the merchant trade, she also slowly began to heal her shattered spirit. Harold taught her much but most importantly he managed to heal her somewhat. When Harold passed away in the winter of her 16th year, Sayleth rose from her apprentice position to a fully trained merchant of her own. For the next year Sayleth has traveled town to town in her small wagon selling and purchasing supplies but always looking for some part of her soul that has never healed. The old Sayleth always had a drive, a will, a meaning to her existence, something to keep her going. But, that part of her was driven out at the loss of her own people. On top of this, the Great Spirit she used to find so much strength in, Sayleth could no longer believe existed. After all that she had suffered through in slavery and then the very thing she had fought for had been torn away. Sayleth refused to believe in a God that could allow such an injustice. She was truthfully still lost, a little girl searching for some scrap of meaning in her life after everything else had been torn away from her.

Extras:
Theme Song: Way Away - Yellowcard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ewB59PSZck