Nina
Means ‘strong’. It was chosen by the girl herself at the age of five to show what she hopes to be.
Means ‘strong’. It was chosen by the girl herself at the age of five to show what she hopes to be.
Basic Information
Race: Chaktawe
Birthday: 17th Day of Winter, 497 AV (13 years old)
Gender: Female
Physical Description
Nina has the dark copper skin, jet hair and solid black eyes of her people. She is rather short, standing at 4 foot 7, and is often teased amiably about her height by her relatives. She insists she isn’t short, she’s just one of the good things that come in small packages. She has a stocky build, especially when compared to the rest of her kind who are as tall as mountains to her. Nina is heavier than she looks due to the water-storing organ possessed by all Chaktawe.
Character Concept
Nina is, in general, a very caring person. She is deeply affectionate toward… well, anyone, and tries to always see the good in people. She always ignores the bad and focuses entirely on the positive. She is bubbly and talkative, which can get quite annoying eventually. She enjoys cracking jokes that only she can seem to see the humor in. Sometimes her relation to her sister, Nascha, is even clearer, because Nina can be blunt at times and take a while to realise she has been tactless. When she does realise it, she always apologizes profusely, but she’s so cute most people don’t mind anyway.
She is a typical ingénue type character who has a look of wide-eyed, happy innocence almost always glowing on her face. She sees unhappiness as a waste of time and is disapproving of people who are constantly sad or depressed. Nina will always try her hardest to cheer people up, regardless of whether they want it or not. She isn’t a stranger to hardship and trouble, but she always puts on a brave face through these times and tries not to show it when she’s feeling tired or fatigued.
Although naïve, she tries to be strong and not show any weakness, because she doesn’t want to trouble people who may care about her. She thinks that if people don’t worry about making her happy, they can focus on making themselves and others around them happy. Because of this, she will normally hide something that is bothering her or ignore her own pain or suffering, which she does very well – another trait she shares with her sister. This often leads people to wonder if her generous, happy nature is who she really is or a carefully calculated persona.
Of course, she doesn’t realise that she might actually be hurting people by lying to them about herself. Her selfishness is a strange one.
Other likes:[b] warm blankets, cool water, stars, sweet fruits, singing. Although birds are sacred to her people, she has a strange liking for cats.
[b]Other dislikes:[b] eating animals, a trait she unconsciously picked up from her sister.
[b]Character History
Pre-Creation: WARNING: Very lengthy history ahead. There’s an abridged version lower down for your convenience… but it’d be nice if you would read the whole thing.
Nina grew up in the Kalanue tribe. She is of the Abayla bloodline and as such had already started with her education in the Abayla ways.
Ever since babyhood, Nina has been extremely fond of her sister. Although Nascha wasn’t the warmest of people, Nina suspected that her sister cared for her in return. Nina tried her hardest to help Nascha feel more included and less inadequate. She showed incredible devotion to Nascha, following her older sister around like a Kelvic with adoration practically glowing on her face.
When she was about six, Nina made a clumsy wicker basket under strict instruction from her mother, and gifted her sister with it. It was to hold birds in while they recuperated, and Nascha seemed to like it despite its crudeness, which overjoyed her little sister. Nina was aware of her sister’s liking for birds and, as such, tried to help care for them as much as possible to see the rare smile on Nascha’s face.
Other than storytelling, Nina had a passion for painting. She often daubed the faces of the tribe members with the black paint made from crushed beetles in intricate designs using fine goat-hair brushes that tickled the faces of the tribe members and made them sneeze. It seemed to her body painting was the only thing she was good at – every other skill she tried to learn was disastrous.
When Nascha left the tribe, ten-year-old Nina was devastated. She went into a state of depression, hope only stirring on the eleventh day when the tribes came together. However, Nascha was not with any of the other tribes, and Nina was once again plunged into sadness. When she discovered that her sister had taken with her the clumsily made basket, Nina resolved to find Nascha or die trying. She felt terrible making everybody worry, but she stole provisions and left in the middle of the night on her birthday, with incredible stealth considering her tribe seemed to possess eagle hearing. She supposed they mourned her leaving, but of course they moved on – they wouldn’t wait around for somebody who had deserted the tribe, especially an unskilled child who was so depressed she was hardly a help to anyone. Realizing how selfish she had been, wallowing in her own despair and causing others to worry, she promised herself she would never cause people to worry by being sad ever again.
The small girl wandered the deserts. She prayed continuously to Makutsi and Eywaat for guidance and somehow was not terribly harmed. When she eventually ran out of water, only Nina’s faith allowed her to live up to her name. A passing tribe found her and took her in, delighting in the stories she had to tell that were different to the ones their Abayla knew. She fed them a story about getting separated from her tribe. They seemed to be travelling in the rough direction she was hoping to go (north-east), and she managed to travel with them for a month or two. Unfortunately, they changed direction and insisted that she stay with them so they could return her to her own tribe. Once again she had to steal away in the middle of the night. She was nearly caught, too, by one of the guards, but luckily a passing wildcat distracted him and she was able to slip past. She has been grateful to the wildcats ever since.
Nina had been travelling for months on end, managing to drink what little water she could find, when the land began to change. Endless dunes became rolling hills, the sand became soil that sprouted grass like hair and the land seemed to become ever more fertile as she walked. She had passed into Cyphrus and found the Sea of Grass.
Inevitably, the Web Mages of the Drykas detected her entry when she passed a huge Origin cairn with stones chiseled into intricate knotwork. A passing hunting party from the Ruby clan picked her up. Pitying the small, half-dead and delirious girl, the compassionate Drykas allowed her to drink some of their water and stay a night in one of the less crowded Pavilions. Nina woke feeling refreshed and curious about the people that had taken her in. The Ruby clan questioned her avidly, curious of the Burning Lands they had heard tales of from the few travelers among them. One girl in particular, Tyuru, was very interested in the Chaktawe and questioned Nina endlessly. In return, Nina learned everything she could about the Drykas in a day, awed at the intricate tattoos that adorned their bodies. She sought out the person who created the beautiful designs and demanded that she be taught to tattoo people, offering all the goods and money she had in exchange, as well as menial labor and small tasks around the encampments such as collecting firewood and tending cattle.
For about two years Nina stayed with the Drykas, learning to mark people with flowing tendrils of ink. Of course she was never allowed to tattoo windmarks, being a foreigner, but she was allowed to ink simple decorative designs that the Ruby clan remarked seemed to flow and reflect like rivers. When Tyuru, who had by then become a close friend of Nina’s, left, Nina was devastated at losing yet another important person in her life.
At some point the Ruby clan stopped at Endrykas which was nearing Riverfall. She heard that someone had seen another Chaktawe pass near and said they were heading for the city near the river. Excited and determined, Nina thanked her mentor profusely and left for Riverfall, intent on finally finding her sister and bringing her home.
ABRIDGED: Nina’s beloved sister, Nascha, left the tribe. Nina had loved Nascha very much and vowed to find her. She went on an epic journey across the Burning Lands, eventually coming into Cyphrus and spending a good couple of years with the Drykas, from whom she learned tattooing. She heard a tip that her sister was in Riverfall and, desperate to find Nascha, Nina left the Ruby clan, determined to bring her sister home.
Training, Language, Lore & Skill Points
Camouflage :
Tattooing :
Auristics :
Storytelling Lore :
Lore of the Liar :
Language :
Equipment/Possessions
-1 set of clothing: a simple leather bodice rather like a corset, laced up in front and adorned with colorful beads in earthy reds and browns; a loosely draped short sienna skirt, and beneath this the cloth wrap slit up the sides to her upper thigh to allow for easy running; leather thong shoes that she barely ever wears; a cloak of thick, deep red material for when it gets cold
-1 water skin: only used once every 10 days
-1 backpack with: a brush, an eating knife; flint & steel
-1 complete tattooing kit: 6 strange comb-like tools made of steel; 10 vials of black tattooing ink & 12 vials of colored, 3 of each primary color and 3 of white; 3 shallow clay bowls; 2 long stick-like steel rods for mixing; all contained in one intricately carved wooden box lined with velvet that fits in the pack. This was bought from the Drykas who instructed Nina in tattooing before she left.
-heirloom: a couple of feathers and two beads braided into her hair. The feathers were given to her by her sister Nascha from a wayward bird she cured. Nina treasures them as her last remaining link to her sister and wears the feathers in much the same style as Nascha – at her left temple.
Ledger
100 gm
+500 gm (=600 gm) (cashed in for having no lodgings)
-200 gm (=400 gm) (my estimated price for the tattooing kit)
Thread List
Coming soon…
