



Credit
Titles/Nicknames: She'd really, really prefer Khari.
Age: 27 (9:44)
Race: Elf (Dalish)
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual.
Class: Warrior
Specialization: Berserker
Hair Color: Rosy-red, visible from a long way off, at that.
Eye Color: Kind of a hazel-tinted green.
Height: She's all of 5'4".
Build: Ropy muscle and sinews all the way around.
Appearance: Kharisanna is, as most elves are, a rather small person. Short, and none too broad, she nevertheless manages to give off the impression of someone supremely at home in her own skin. Her general build isnât much bulkier than any other elf, in all honesty, but a little compact muscle tissue goes a long way. Stout she may not be, but the woman is quite sharply-cut, from the lines of her biceps to the angles of her face. A pointed chin, thin nose, large peridot eyes and a full mouth compose her face, which is nice enough, though not really the stuff of paintings and romantic poetry. Like most everything else about her, it lacks a certain aristocratic refinement or delicacy, being vivacious more than elegant or graceful. Sheâs got an infectious smile, though, and thereâs a spark to her thatâs easy to perceive.
Itâs a quality that carries through to the rest of her. Sheâs a little more generous where most elfish women are willowy, muscle rendering her thicker in most places, especially the thighs and hips, and trimmer in the abdomen. Sheâs always on the move, and her body has adapted to facilitate that, giving her a lean, hungry look to her, a sort of nothing-extra efficiency from head to toe. That said, she still looks like a little wisp of a person next to a human warrior, male or female, and she hates that; Khari is constantly trying to conform herself to the standard fighter's build through conditioning regimens of one kind or another. The observant will note that she cringes slightly if she happens upon a reflective surface, and her casual clothing is all extremely loose.
Her hair is worn rather long, usually braided and tucked up into her hood, so as to stay out of the way. Itâs a very bright, very obvious red color, and riotously curly unless she takes steps to make it otherwise, formed into big, loose, slightly frizzy ringlets. Chances are itâs a mess at any given time, and she admittedly doesnât put that much effort into trying to tame it. Sheâs relatively sun-touched, her face, shoulders, and back all dotted with a truly impressive number of freckles. Her brow and cheeks both bear the marks of vallaslin in charcoal grey, those corresponding to Dirthamen specifically.
9:42:
9:43:
9:44
x
Okay, that's a lie. I totally would.â




Credit
She has little issue talking back to authority figures, and indeed feels free to question people when she either thinks theyâre doing something stupid or doesnât understand why something is the way it is. Sheâs caught a lot of flak for this over the years, and was the bane of Keeper, Hahren, and craftsman alike back when she still lived with her clan. Sheâs so straightforward that itâs almost impossible to imagine that what one sees isnât what one gets with her, and to be fair, thatâs most often true.
Khari is the soul of confidence and independence, able to stand on her own and capable of looking out for herself through most any circumstance. Despite her fundamental lack of need for the company of others, however, she seems to enjoy it when she gets it. Itâs not obvious at first, but she has an intuitive feel for personalities and emotions, enough so that sheâs actually become quite accomplished at âreadingâ others, even those she does not know well, from small details in their facial expressions or body language. She may not be book smart, lacking much by way of education, but she is quite people-savvy in this way. Open, friendly, and generally honest to a fault, thereâs also no mistaking the fact that she generally does her best to do right by people, even those that would not so quickly extend her the same consideration.
That said, from the boisterous, lively way she presents herself, many people infer a lack of intelligence or skill. Because she laughs too loudly and talks too much and smiles a little too often, she can be perceived as lacking some better qualities, someone likely to succeed only because she has a way of making friends of superior talent. She is, in truth, quite happy to be underestimated. By now, she knows that her demeanor leads some to fill in the blanks with a rather ungenerous brush, and sheâs come to relish surprising them when she has the bite to back up her bark.
9:42:
9:43:
9:44
Hangups/Quirks: Khariâs relationship with her Dalish heritage is very fraught, and she doesnât really like to talk about her clan or family, or really anything that happened to her before she left. Thereâs a lot of old pain buried back there, and thinking about it makes her uncharacteristically melancholy, so she avoids doing so. On the other hand, sheâs extremely fond of human martial culture, especially the chevaliers of her home nation of Orlais. She aspires to one day be the first elven chevalier, and believes wholeheartedly that this is possible, if only she works hard enough and becomes skilled enough that she cannot be refused. She has even taken to wearing a mask in battle, a steel thing that fastens over the lower half of her face, but leaves her eyes unobstructed. She will also either wear a half-helm or a hooded cloak, making her elvish descent entirely unclear in the midst of a fight.
9:43:
9:44
Strengths: Sheâs really good with people, in the sense that she can get a pretty good read on someone just from a first impression, and also in the sense that sheâs usually found to be quite likable, by a diverse variety of others. There are always going to be exceptions, of course, but her gregariousness and verve have served her well in the past, and will likely continue to do so in the future. In terms of combat, she takes her dream very seriously, and as a result, is a disciplined, vigorous fighter with quite a lot of latent talent still waiting to be tapped. Also surprisingly good at tactical things, like chess, though itâs not like she plays often. Perhaps her biggest strength, however, is her ability to withstand pain. Itâs a core tenet of the berserker discipline, and sheâs always been pretty good at shrugging off things that should have hurt a lot more than they do.
9:43:
9:44
Weaknesses: Kharisanna has been independent for a very long time. While this does enable her to look after herself quite well, it means that she doesnât really know how to ask for help, or remember itâs an option at all, really. Thereâs also the fact that she possesses a startling naĂŻvetĂ©: for instance believing that sufficient skill is all it will take her to achieve a place in the chevaliers, when in fact the biggest barrier is her race. The world is still a fundamentally shiny place for her, mostly because she hasnât really been shown the tarnish yet. Combatively, sheâs physically inferior to a large number of people sheâll have to fight, at least in the strength department, and her training is still only rudimentary.
9:42:
9:43:
Fears: Sheâs basically petrified of spiders, from the little tiny ones to the giant creepy cave ones. Itâs irrational and pointless, but that doesnât mean itâs easily-overcome. Also, sheâs very, very afraid of coming to depend on anyone else, because she has learned from experience that rejection hurts a lot more when someone youâre attached to is doing the rejecting. She doesnât want to be in a position where thereâs something in her life she couldnât stand to lose, because with her luck, sheâd lose it, and she doesnât want to endure that.
9:44
Not about anything.â




Credit
DEX:
INT:
WIS:
CNG:
MAG:
WIL:
CON:
â§ ââââââââââ â [8/10]
â§ ââââââââââ â [7/10]
â§ ââââââââââ â [7/10]
â§ ââââââââââ â [5/10]
â§ ââââââââââ â [0/10]
â§ ââââââââââ â [9/10]
â§ ââââââââââ â [6/10]
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Weapon of Choice: Khariâs never exactly had the funds for expensive equipment. Her sword is a very old hand-me-down from someone she once knew, and it does, to some extent, show its age. There are nicks and scratches all along the surface of the thing, which must once have been quality steel, probably of dwarven make. It is technically a bastardsword, but the blade is much broader and thicker than most of its thinner kin. As such, it can function just as much like a cleaver as a more elegant sword proper, and Khari deploys it about equally often for each function. She has learned to use its weight to her advantage without wearing herself out, though most warriors would doubtless disdain the graceless hunk of metal. The hilt is decorated with feathers and small bone charms, her own additions to its already-crude aesthetic. It might get her laughed at by more conscientious fighters, but the fact of the matter is, the thing is well-suited to her purposes. She needs something that will stand up to the berserker fury with which she swings it; something that can clang off armor a few times and not snap. She calls it Intercessor, and has surprised a number of people more for knowing the word than for the joke behind it.
9:43:
9:44
Fighting Style/Training: Much like her armor, Khariâs fighting style is a very strange, cobbled-together assortment of elements, scavenged from different pieces of her life and hammered, tied, and welded together into something that serves its function well enough. There is nothing elegant or pretty about the way she navigates a battlefield, unless perhaps one finds aesthetic value in brutal efficiency. She moves fluidly enough, to be sure, and indeed much of her effectiveness is predicated on the fact that she is always movingâto fight Khari to a standstill is to put her at a major disadvantage. Without strength enough to match larger people, she needs leverage and momentum, and sheâs very good at getting them.
Her early years in the forest have taught her how to keep track of her environment and use it to her advantage, as well as to move quickly and lightly over many kinds of terrain. More recently, her berserker training has given her the ability to withstand a great deal of pain before it even properly registers, which will keep her pressing forward when others would have grown sluggish or weakened. Thereâs a fierce energy to the flow of battle, and she can and does move with that flow, maximizing her advantage by staying aware and staying mobile.
9:42:
9:43:
9:44
stay moving, stay aware, stay mad.â




Credit
Social Status/Rank: Future chevalier, and thatâs that.
History: Kharisanna Istimaethoriel is the daughter of Hawen, Keeper of the Genardalia Clan, one of the few clans that still wanders the Dales, and Enania, the clan's most respected craftswoman. Generally speaking, the children of Keepers themselves become Keepers, because magic is a heritable trait, but quite rare among the Dalish, as it is in general. Unfortunately for all involved, Kharisanna did not inherit her fatherâs magic, and that was probably her first major failure to contribute anything of use to her clan.
She remembers her childhood as a series of similar disappointments, mostly adults being annoyed at her because of her incessant curiosity and lack of much talent at any of the traditionally Dalish things to do. She wasnât a mage, she couldnât bend ironbark to save her life, and as far as hunting went, she lacked the required subtlety. Still, she wasnât a bad survivalist, it was just that she couldnât shoot a bow for anything, and everyone knew it. She was quite the laughingstock, and only earned her vallaslin on a technicality. No one could fault her then, thoughâshe made not a single noise as they were applied, and honestly doesnât even remember them hurting that much.
She was perhaps twelve when she first encountered a chevalier, as a contingent of them passed through the Exalted Plains while the aravels were there. They didnât stop to talk or bother the Dalish in any way; it might be the case that they didnât even notice them. But Khari noticed the chevaliers, to be sure. The masks, the plumed helmets, the meticulously-bred warhorses, the bright red armorâshe was fascinated, and wouldnât stop pestering the hahren until he told her all the stories he knew of them. There werenât a lot, so she started to ask around for more, picking up as much information as she could via traders and travelers the clan happened to encounter. Her obsession with these human knights was just one more eccentricity as far as her clan was concerned, and though it was nominally discouraged, somewhat more strongly by her father than anyone else, most everybody had given up on her by that point, and preferred to leave her to her own devices.
This fostered a fierce independence within Kharisanna, who learned quickly that the best way to be able to disregard the disregard of others was to be able to make do for oneself. Needing people was a mistake, even if there was nothing wrong with keeping company.
It was shortly after receiving her vallaslin that she left the clan. A terrible row with her father, perhaps his last attempt to make her fit the demanded conventions of her people, precipitated her retreat, but she might have run off for no more than a night had she not encountered a small party of humans. The man at the head of them claimed to be a chevalier, and she ate up his stories of battle and training for an entire night, happily picking up and joining his entourage when the sun rose the next morning. He called her his page, and taught her how to hold and use a sword, much larger and heavier than anything her people had ever crafted.
She spent several years with him and his travel party, as he was an itinerant knight. When they weren't traveling or ridding the countryside of bandits, she was training or listening to more of her mentor's stories. Eventually, however, he declared that he was done teaching her, that it was time for her to go make her way on her own, and grow into her strength. It was considerably more difficult than she had anticipated, and Khari found it hard to be taken seriously enough. She couldnât prove herself in tournaments if she wasnât allowed to enter, and so she had a blacksmith fashion her mask, took to wearing a hood, and entered various competitions that way.
She wasnât doing too badly for herself, but she wasnât getting anywhere fast. She idolized the likes of the Lord-General Drakon, his son the Crown Prince, and Michel de Chevin, the Empressâs champion, as well as her teacher, of course. If she was to have a chance of reaching that level, she needed to be able to provide incontrovertible proof of her competence and worthâand her adherence to the chevaliersâ code of honor.
When the Inquisition formed up, its stated goal finding a way to close the breach in the sky and save the world, well⊠Khari didnât need to be a genius to figure out that the best thing to do was join up. It was the opportunity she needed, and the right thing to do besides.
9:42:
9:43:
9:44



or worse, just being sad that it wouldn't.
I'm done waiting.â