Nel Sayo

[Nel Sayo]

Nel's Song: the Lightning Strike Race: Konti Birthday: 483 AV (27) (17ish by Konti standards) Gender: Female Nel stands at a narrow 5'3, built of seemingly fragile glass and porcelain. Beneath skin the color of bleached alabaster, however, can be found wires of firm muscle and small, but sturdy, bones. Hair of a silvery-white is most often roped back in a tumble of pale curls, the clatter and clack of seashells and beads and braids her constant herald. The only true color to be found on her person resides in the – almost obscene – blue of her eyes. Bright and pale and cerulean. Their wattage is only ever diminished by her smile. Her features are delicate and sharply wrought, nose small and lips bowed, eyes that catty up at the corners and long fans of pale, pale eyelashes, giving her the look of a sylph craft of starlight, or a walking bolt of lightning. In strict defiance of her natural pallet, Nel always wears black. Long-sleeved and high-collared shirts even on the hottest of summer days, and black trousers tucked into sturdy black boots. Black fingerless gloves over each hand, and a black leather sword belt slung low on her hips, whereupon resides an elegant, if well-used, rapier. At all times. Despite everything, Nel Sayo can still smile. That, perhaps, is the most important thing one can ever learn about her – that no matter how bad it seems, no matter what life throws at you, no matter that you've just had your arm bitten off by a Zith and your feet cobbled by rabid monkeys and you're stranded in the jungle with nothing but your other arm to snack on – well, it could be worse and, hey, at least it's a nice day out? An unerringly sunny disposition and an incredible appetite are her very best weapons against the harsher realities of the world. Things could always be worse, and there should always be food. Words to live by. That doesn't mean, however, that she's an idiot. Cautious with newcomers and overly sensitive to her own shortcomings, Nel may be the nicest person you've ever met who'll slit your throat if you give her a damned good reason to. But at least she'll need a reason. Mizahar has not been kind to her, and she has no desire to take it out on anyone, nor does she feel that the world owes her anything at all, but she has learned from her...seemingly constant...mistakes. It's funny, she'd say, because you'd think that someone with precognition could make better choices in life – but, no. The conflicting aspects of her self-taught morality crop up with some regularity, despite her insistence that it all makes sense, if you think about it. Probably, it really doesn't. She has a pirate's greedy eye, a slave's paranoia, a madwoman's careless self-perception, and a bawdy whore's sense of humor. Little to no understanding of her own race or what she may or may not be able to do, but people seem to expect her to know what's going to happen in the future, and she'll happily oblige and tell you that someday, somewhere, something is bound to happen to you. But don't worry about it. It should've all gone differently. Elea i'Dolan De'Nerys arrived in Riverfall following The Call with every intention of returning to Mura with a child – or, alternately, of leaving one there among the Akalak. That had been her purpose, and she'd succeeded at least half-way. Elea conceived and brought the pregnancy to term in Riverfall, where a pale baby girl was born. Despite the understandable disappointment felt among the Akalak, Elea was glad. She'd always wanted a daughter. As a consolation, she allowed the Akalak father to give the girl a name, and he chose Nelyora in an undeniably unusual move, crafting the name partly of his own, though the baby was female and destined for Mura, instead of being his. Nel was a month old when her mother's party left Riverfall to make their journey home. None of them made it. Nel's earliest memories consist of cages instead of cribs, chains and bars and barked orders, and if she knew that her mother had died trying to protect her, that might have eased the lonely, unwanted ache that grew in her belly as soon as she could understand the word family, and realize that she would never, had never, had one. Instead, she knew the word slave and the word servitude and the word bow first, and those were the ones that stuck with her. In the years of her early childhood, she was bought and sold and bought again so many times that she couldn't keep track of all the owners she'd had. Usually, they bought her simply for being an outrageously priced Konti child, fascination and greed being true motivators – she was a rare prize, and many of them intended to raise her to be their personal crystal ball. Of course, times were hard everywhere, and in the end nobody really wanted to wait however many years before her divination abilities might show themselves. So always sooner rather than later, they stopped treating her so well and asking her if she was happy, and started making her mop floors and dust vases and, in some cases, as she grew to womanhood, and still no divine assistance came, spread her legs in grateful service to the master. Those had been the worst parts. At fifteen years old, she met Syon Sayo in the marketplace while fetching the master's eggs one morning. He was a young, strapping pirate, and he juggled the eggs to make her laugh, managing not to break a single one. Sy was free-spirited, happiest on the sea and a firm rejector of slavery, and he spent months convincing Nel that she should run away with him. In truth, it didn't take all that much convincing, just those many months to assure her that he wouldn't just turn around and sell her once they'd escaped the city. He swore up and down. And he didn't look at her the way that other boys looked at her – he saw the person she was, not the beauty, not the mystique and allure of something exotic. He seemed happy just to be her friend. And that didn't change, blessedly, after she fled her master's home in the middle of the night and found herself aboard his pirate ship. He introduced her to his captain as his sister, and the captain just raised an eyebrow and told her she'd have to work extra hard because she was a girl. And so she did. She took Syon's last name to further solidify that she was his sister, even if they were clearly of two different races. It made her feel like she was safer, and like she actually had a family. Sy taught her how to sail and how to fight, told her how to dress to keep her scales hidden from immediate sight, and she quickly mastered the lifestyle of a free-wheeling pirate, much to everyone's amusement. That she could breathe underwater likewise proved an oft-used boon to the crew of the pirate ship, and so she learned how to patch up boats and swim at high speeds; many a pirate found himself fished out of the deep during a fight by that pale- haired girl. They took care of her, and loved her as one of their own. Sooner or later though, Captain Rezar's curiosity got the best of him. A Konti girl was a difficult thing to ignore, especially if she sat at your table yammering about coconuts and dolphins night after night. Eventually, he couldn't stop himself from asking her about her gifts. When she blinked at him, and shrugged, he thought she must have been lying, and couldn't blame her. Though he'd never known her to lie to him. She must have seen the skeptical look in his one good eye, because she insisted, promised – swore! – that she had no such gifts, and that maybe all she'd ever be good at was swimming. Nel simply knew nothing about her own race, had never encountered another like her, and hadn't the education to presume other than that they were all slaves, as she had been. He let it go for the time being. A month later, Nel found herself bolting awake from a nightmare, tangled in her own hammock and hung half upside down from flailing, gasping for breath and blinking roundly at the floor of the crew's sleeping quarters. Sweat covered her skin in a thin sheen. Syon was there, suddenly, helping her climb free of the hammock's strings, asking her what was wrong. She'd just had a bad dream, she said. He didn't ask what it was about, but he should've, because she would have told him that the ship had been sinking, and everyone had been drowning, and there had been nothing she could do about it. When the storm hit a day later, lightning struck the ship in half. Nel had been asleep again, and the rush of icy water woke her with a scream. The madness of the storm and the ship and pieces flying, everyone shouting, thunder crackling down from above. A beam struck her in the head, knocking her unconscious. When she came awake, adrift, still alive, amidst the wreckage of the ship, it was over. She swam, searching, for hours, trying to find anyone who might have survived, but there was nobody left. Presuming they had all drowned, Nel cobbled together the best raft she could from pieces of the decimated ship, and waited for the tide to take her...anywhere. Training (Skills, Arcana, Gnosis, Lore) Skills Starting Package (Initial Skills/Points) sword 20/100 fishing 5/100 larceny 15/100 swimming 5/100 brawling 5/100 medicine 10/100 (+10 from racial bonus) interrogation 7/100 (XP), (XP), (XP), (XP) whining 1/100 (XP) begging 1/100 (XP) flirting 1/100 (XP) negotiation 2/100 (XP), (XP) disguise 1/100 (XP) bribery 1/100 (XP) intimidation 2/100 (XP), (XP) rhetoric 1/100 (XP) tracking 1/100 (XP) debate 1/100 (XP) cartography 1/100 (XP) trip planning 1/100 (XP) storytelling 3/100 (XP), (XP) cooking 1/100 (XP) Gnosis One gnosis mark from birth (Avalis), on the inside of her right wrist. (She's pretty sure it's a “dud.”) Lore Star Navigation – the ability to tell directions by the stars. Ship types – a knowledge of the different kinds of ships and their merits and flaws. Damage Control - pickpockets, male posturing Golden Dragon Smoking Making Murdoch Crazy Giving In to Her Desires Identifying and Accepting Reality in Any Situation Sensing People's Emotions Sharing - food. Giving Comfort Nightmares Stating the Obvious Pre-Tea Murdoch in the Morning Equipment and Possessions Starting Package 1 Set of Clothing (cloak/coat & footwear included) 1 Waterskin 1 Backpack which contains: 1 Set of Toiletries (comb, brush, razor, soap) Food for a week 1 eating knife Flint & Steel Family Heirloom A pearly, iridescent seashell roped into a braid of her hair. In sunlight, it glitters alternately silver and pale blue. The first gift Syon ever gave her. Ledger +100 gm (Starting Package) +500 gm (No shelter from Starting Package) -20 gm: rapier ------ 580gm, 0 sm, 0 cm old acquaintances. +closed+ the house guest. +closed+ [flashback] landing. +closed+ chowin' down. [flashback] bilged on her anchor. +closed+ fierce creatures. +closed+ [flashback] lightning walks. to the festival. +closed+ [flashback] the scholar and the pirate. +closed+ [flashback] where the grass meets the sea. linchpin. +closed+ amateur cartography. +closed+ dawn breaks. +closed+ performance. mechanical marvels. life in death was she. +closed+ everyone loves angst, right? easing the badger. run.