Appearance
Race: Benshira
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Birthday: Season of Fall, Day 61 of 490 A.V.
Birthplace: Yahebah
Appearance:
Standing at 5'2" and 110 pounds, Sheaya stands on the tinier side as a petite woman with thick, long black hair that trails to her knees even when braided. Her seafoam green eyes stand out against her toffy brown skin that is lined with stretchmarks around her belly from her past pregnancies.
There are various unimportant scars on her body from the years of living that have weathered her. Her fingers are calloused and nimble from the years of working with wool and weaving it, and her feet are toughened to walk on the blistering hot sand her tents have crossed time and time again.
She chooses a simpler dress now then when she was younger, her only set of clothing and head shawl which she still wears of a simple blue color and having no adornments in her braid. Aside from the anklet she wears the only other adornments she wears are the earrings presented to her in exchange from her husband and a simple stud in her nose piercing. |
Character Concept
As a devout Benshira she is without a doubt a woman who loves and fears her god. She has never fornicated, lusted, murdered or stolen and would feel condemned if she ever did. She feels strongly that partaking or condoning such behavior would anger her god, and more then ever she just wants his blessings and to be a woman of virtue.
Despite the virtuous shroud she tries to wear she it still a stubborn and proud woman underneath it all. She will struggle with something for extended periods of time over asking for help, and she is less likely to take new direction if she has her set ways.
An advantage of all this is she's not going to quit a job assigned to her just because it's hard as she sees it as her duty to carry it out until the bitter end.
She is hard working, finding herself unable to take pleasure in long resting periods or leisure time. If she is sitting at any time of the day she feels that she needs to be doing something with her hands constantly, singing all the while. The only time she will lighten up is when there is a party, these times are not mere leisure to her though, she sees it as a time to celebrate and rejoices with her friends and family.
If she is faced with a difficult situation she will deal with it head on and bluntly to try and resolve it. May it be survival or resolving a family issue she will use what she knows to take care of it or use a blunt tongue to hash things out.
She seems to lack a subtle bone in her body when it comes to speaking to people in regards to issues as she will not sugar coat things. She will out right tell people to suck it up or that she doesn't agree with something rather then dance around the issue and falsely endorse something she does not agree with.
With that being all said she is an honest friend and companion when dealing with as she'll speak with you honesty and give you the truth on matters and she is always willing to lend a hand where she feels is needed.
She does not feel the need to pity herself for her hardships and losses as she sees it as punishment for straying from Yahal's teachings, and she hates receiving pity for what others might view as hardships in her life. |
Character History
Born as the fourth child and first daughter of her parent's tent, there was a great rejoicing her family tents of her birth with a celebration withing the walls of Yahebah that included even strangers that passed by.
Her family was not permanent in Yahebah, out of most seasons of the year they were traveling with their herds, gathering clay and herbs to sell and make their living while keeping their animals fed. Sheaya knew from an early age that life was not easy on the desert lands. There were many predators and scarce water and food, but they always had enough and there was plenty of extended family in their many tents to help look out for one another and share the work load with.
Her mother spent most of her time creating pottery for everyone. She knew where to dig by reading the sand to find good clay and she would use desert grass to color they clay before working with it. Shea use to work with her mother quite frequently and learned what she could in recreating these bowls and other earth wears that they would use and sell.
She was always close to her family and everyone in the tents, her extended family she knew the names of. She did not have just one set of grandparents, here she had many made up of all the elders who would teach her and scold her as they did all the children of their tents. Celebrations were always joyful too as they would all gather and sing, dance, and play songs through the night. Sheaya always loved to dance and would follow closely to her elder's instructions on how to preform the dances they had carried down from their elders until she could do them fluently on her own. She also excelled in singing, embracing the songs of her family as her voice was her instrument of choice.
When Sheaya was of 19 years of age her parents were approached by another while towards the end of their settlement in Yahebah for the season. Zion, from the tents of Emiah, sons of Rapa and his wife and their son Iishar came forth to propose marriage between their youngest son with Sheaya with the idea it was a good match. There were several meeting in which both children were there to listen to the discussion and it was unusual as to how it had all been approached, but in the end Sheaya's parents agreed that it was a good match and they proceeded with the marriage preparations.
The wedding party waited four days before Iishar emerged from the desert and the marriage commenced. Sheaya still feels this was one of the happiest days of her life and one of the most surprising nights of her life as well when they retreated from the festivities to Iishar's tent to begin their life.
Sheaya bid farewell to her family and gave her brothers and parents all hugs before she left the first time with her new family, leaving with the hope their tents would cross perhaps in the fall if they returned to Yahebah as her family did. It was a good hope as every fall after this she did see them again for some period of time as it was a good place to be when the sand storms could be at their worst.
Life with her husband's family was similar but not all the same. Their family was more oriented with their herds of goats and sheep which sustained a large part of their life. Previously Sheaya had little interaction with the herds her family tents tended to, but here she had to learn to watch over the goats and sheep and wield a slingshot, tend to the sick and expecting nanny goats, and spent a great amount of time dying and weaving the sheep wool and goat hair into clothes and blankets and creating butter and cheese out of milk. There was a lot to learn from her new family but she took it in stride. She loved her husband and she felt she had a good life.
After almost two years of marriage with Iishar and one son between them, Iishar along with one of his brothers and a few of his cousins felt that there were too many tents and decided to break off in their own and grow their own. With their family's blessings they departed for themselves with their own herd of goats and sheep and made their own way through the desert. In some ways life was easier and others it was harder, but they all held together strong as a family should. Sheaya can't exactly tell when exactly they started falling from Yahal's teachings, perhaps they had all simply forgotten to keep praising him for the small blessings they were given, but at some point they had failed their god and would pay the price.
In early spring of 514, some time after giving birth to their second son their tents met with peril in the midst of the night. A band of thieves came in the night to steal and kill the herd and pillage the tents. The tent numbers were small, consisting of only 17 in total, and only eight of them were of men and young boys capable of wielding swords to defend. The women even did what they could by wielding the very slingshots they used on predators against the 20 men on horses and camels.
Sheaya defended while she could, but when the cries of her children forced her to retreat back and fend for them she did. At one point she had been cornered by one of the masked men in her tent and was forced to stab him with a common knife she used for cooking to defend her children and herself.
When the sun rose and all but three of the thieves were dead (the three ran off like cowards) the sand was stained red with the blood of their loved ones. Of the eight men and boys that fought, one survived the fight with only a few cuts to return to his wife and daughter, and two were heavily wounded. None of the boys, still children to their mothers eyes lived, and among the fallen was Iisar. Sheaya grieved heavily for her husband and found her heart heavy laden, but as one of the survivors she had to help the others in preforming their rituals to laying their dead to rest. Their once thriving community of 17 had dwindled to 10 with three of those numbers being children under the age of five and two of them being men hanging on for their lives.
With their numbers being weak and in need of attention they tried to heal the two husbands that were on deaths door. One died within the week after the attack even with treatment of what teas the remaining women were able to come up with. In desperation, their one healthy male member, Iishar's eldest cousin Bethar suggested they travel again in hopes of finding better herbs, grass for their goats, and ultimately help from other tents. Sheaya had no choice but to agree and follow with the family, tending to her tent by herself while tending for two children, one who wasn't even a season old yet.
They traveled at a grueling pace just trying to find their own for help. The last man who had survived the attack barely survived two weeks after his brother had died before his fervor took him and Sheaya even lost her baby to the heat and pace. Bethar kept leading the remaining numbers North, hoping to find fellow tents, and when they found none day after day of unrelenting traveling he kept driving them North in just hopes of finding some sanctuary near Ahnatep.
Bethar was a stubborn man and kept insisting he was reading the charts and stars correctly and that they were going the right way, but when they started leaving the desert and entering the grassier lands of Cyphrus he still refused to turn around, insisting they would be closer to help if they kept heading North away from the sand. He claimed that they would be able to find a city where they would replenish what they had lost and make enough preparations to be able to head back to Yahebah where they could find tents they knew once again.
Despite Bethar's claims things only grew worse for them in the unfamiliar territory. The wilderness was treacherous for them as none had traveled this far North before. Snakes, poisonous plants, and deathly falls dwindled their numbers down once more until there were just four. Even Bethar lost his daughter so that the only child left was Sheaya's eldest son. Once they had found a road and guidance towards the city of RIverfall they felt they were perhaps closer to salvation. Sheaya prayed daily that their god would grant them mercy and deliver them safely with no more deaths, but they were still punished. In the end Bethar lost his life to a monster after failing to safe all but one of their remaining goats.
Only a few days of travel for Sheaya, her son, and Bethar's wife who ended up being the last survivor with her, they continued on. Their food supply had dwindled to nothing and their nanny goat was starting to dry up much to their distress. They were within the sight of Riverfall when disaster stuck once more and Sheaya's son, no more then 4 years of age was bit by a snake and killed within hours. Once more Sheya mourned and burred the last living evident of Iisar's unity with her before they carried on before finding some peace within Riverfall after a suicide journey that had nearly cost them everything.
Since arriving alive at the walls of Riverfall Bethar's wife has since vanished with the last goat and leaving Sheaya with little to nothing. Her only hope and will to go on since then has been to rebuild her supplies and make it back to Yahebah by next fall in hopes of finding her family's tent once more. |
After Winter 514
Even though she tried to work a job withing the walls of Riverfall she was unable to meet her expenses. With no where to go she turned to the city's mercy as was given shelter and help at the cost of her own body as she had to sell herself to them, becoming a Nakivak. |
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Sheaya 
by Sheaya on September 6th, 2014, 7:39 pm 
