Salumi Ahera |
Appearance
Race: Charodae
Gender: female
Age: 19
Birthday: 495, 43rd of summer
Birthplace: Charobosi
Appearance: Salumi has a curiosity in her pale eyes that rarely leaves when she is around none Charodae. She spends most of her time at sea-ports looking for libraries and listening to old academics in eager anticipation. Her skin is a dark blue like the midnight sea and her easy, lightning fast movements and flexible body often draw the wandering eye. She may not look like other women, but she is beautiful in her exotic ways. 'Lumi's ears are elongated and break into curved fins with six points. From the top of her head a set of three translucent fanning fins fall curving inwards, these float around her in the water a little like a jellyfish's aboral bell.
She's a small creature, barely 5'4ft in height, petite and while she eats healthily enough, she's slim enough to show the outline of ribs. Her lack of bones does make her quite light compared to human women. Her nails are fine and long and the delicate webbing on her feet and hands makes her dislike shoes aside from sandals.
She's not very good with modesty; her species just doesn't reproduce the same way, but she hides under a cloak and light cotton skirts and shirt when she's onshore. She avoids wandering in the middle of the day, mainly for the heat; and its effect of drying her skin out too much.
Character Concept
Personality: Lumi is a curious, determined and unafraid girl, a little too naive to have her dreams dampened by the state of affairs back home and her people's dedication to rebuilding their lost home of Charbosi the long and tedious way instead of uncovering the secrets of the past. She's got a head full of ideas and imagining what she can do for her race if she unlocks those mysteries.
She's cautious of humans enough to cover up around them, but she's not really had any truly bad experiences from them other than their own fear of her strange aquatic nature, and she is deeply interested in meeting the Konti and getting a chance to have a seer help her on her quest for the forgotten knowledges of the past- namely her goal of rediscovering Architectrix.
Her ability with magic is relatively weak and she still has a long way to go before she expects to be any good at her skill with glyphing or Magecraft, but she's focused on her goals- so much so that she left home (and she knows that eventually her parents will realize it’s not just for a few weeks, this time) Charodae are prone to wander , but Lumi more than most; She's wandered right off to explore the surface as much as she dares in the neigh-obsessive pursuit of knowledge.
Lumi is genial toward others, although as a young woman, she's still easily excited and she makes friends quickly enough. She is definitely studious and has a tendency to forget to answer when she's reading- or eat or move and has been found fallen over old, dusty tomes more than once.
She's trusting of others; especially adults and her elders and this may one day lead her astray.
Ethics: Like all Charodae, Salumi is a pacifist; she's not trained in combat and she's not good with physical confrontation- she has good muscles, but they're all swimming and dancing, not so much fighting and lifting weapons. And even if she was trained as a warrior; the idea scares her half-to-death. What if she hurt someone? Although, she does have trouble reconciling the idea that there are forces in the world that simply cannot be bargained with- there are some who only respect violence and Lumi just doesn't get that. She would rather not die, rather not kill- but if she was being charged by a wild animal with no escape, she would try and protect herself and while she'd feel bad, it wouldn't be forever.
Likes: bread and cheese and bright red fabrics, grass and books so old they have to be handled with more care than an egg pouch, the Konti, ancient puzzles, philosophy
Dislikes: bright midday sun, fouled river water, the desert (on principal it scares her), spiders and big cats
Character History
From her earliest memories, Salumi remembers the Old Man Ethru. Her parents never expressly forbid her to annoy and follow him around, and so she ignored their disapproval (or perhaps to spite it) and followed Old Ethru all the time. He was too old to breed and he lived on his own in tightly guarded coral away from everyone. Salumi saw him reading texts in dry-caves underwater and he always had a million stories. A thousand nights of stories and an old Charodae indulging her curiosity and she finally figured out he was hiding a thousand more secrets and magic.
Ethru was very hesitant to teach her magic; and Salumi pressed him for it harder and harder every time she saw him. Her 6 brothers didn't approve of her always being away, leaving her, the eldest of the clutch to her own devices wasn't as fun, since she normally lead their games and adventures looking for sunken ships and rare gold. But Salumi had discovered her own gold- that of knowledge and once Old Ethru had sparked the thirst for magic and wisdom in her, it would not go out.
She sometimes questioned her elders- she challenged questions in school and drove her parents insane (which for a family of 14 was impressive) Salumi soon realized that her people didn't hold all the answers and Old Ethru's teaching was lost on most of them; simple, calm folk when she was budding with a million more questions they didn't have the answers to (typical teenaged 'no one understands me' moments were worse when no one did understand her) so instead of being good and staying home, becoming a teacher or coral-shaper, she started branching further and further from the nest; actively exploring and seeking out humans to trade, to learn from. Her parents gradually got used to longer and longer trips.
Then, Ethru began to weaken and was confined to a sick-bed. She waited on him diligently in his last few days before he slipped away, and he shared with her a secret; he had always hoped to find the ancient Architectrix magic that might help the Charodae make Charobosi as wonderful as the tales of their destroyed city. As dangerous as it is wonderful, Ethru tried to warn Lumi. She couldn't seek it out light-heartedly.
When he passed away he gave her his most frustrating gift; a treasure map with no key. Her mentor passing on galvanized Lumi further to pursue his dream and brave the chance to bring back ancient arcane secrets. Lumi vowed to continue his research in a more active manner, despite his warnings and she left the safety of her home in search of answers with her trusty steed, Reedweaver.