Liriel

by **Liriel** on October 2nd, 2009, 5:11 am

Name: Liriel

Physical Information:
Race: Benshira/Chaktawe
Birthday & Age: Season of Spring, Day 68, 490 AV (19 years old)
Gender: Female

Description:
Liriel is half Benshiran and half Chaktawe. She looks very much like a Chaktawe, but lacks most of what makes them unique. She is 5’4’’ and about 120lbs, lacking the special water-storing organ of the Chaktawe. Liriel also lacks their second pair of eyelids, though she has inherited the striaght black hair (which she wears in braids to just below her shoulders) and black eyes with eyelashes a bit longer than normal. Her feet are not particularly tough but just a bit webbed, and she has vestigial traces of the senory pores the Chaktawe have on their fingertips. Hers are almost unnoticable and very weak—giving her just enough information be distracting but not terribly beneficial.

Lireal has skin nearly as dark as a typical Chaktawe, and a slender, almost boyish frame. Life in the desert is hard, of course, and she is stronger than she looks and very athletic from her habit of frequent running. Typically she wears simple Chaktawe clothing—skin garments laced with leather cords—and sandles. Her ears are peirced with tiny silver studs, and she wears small colorful beads at the ends of her braids.

Personality:
Liriel did not have the easiest of childhoods, but she hasn’t let her disadvantages rule her life. Deep down she is rather insecure. She feels like she doesn’t trully belong anywhere, and lacks both the physical abilities of the Chaktawe and the vibrance and close family ties of the Benshira. She is also insecure about her looks—she wishes she looked like her mother, with crysal blue eyes, dark brown hair, and a full figure. Instead she in thin and athletic, and she particularly hates the blackness of her eyes.

But she does not let these insecurities show, in fact she does quite the opposite. She tries to be upbeat and positive, and too see the good in her situation. There is much she loves about living among the Chaktawe, particularly their love of arts, and she loves to hear tales from her mother about Benshiran stories, customs, and so forth. Though for the most part she follows the traditions of the Chaktawe, she wears her hair braided in the Benshiran style and is familiar with their langauge, Shiber.

At a young age Liriel discovered a gift for words, and she used this skill to find a place for herself among her peers. She excelled at holding others’ attention through stories and conversation, and eventually began to take part in many plays and preformances, initially because her looks were foreign enough to make her a good canidate to play other races. She loves nothing more than to be on a stage, immersed in another personality and holding the attention of an audience. Though she did not tend to have close friends, Liriel was well-liked for the way she could entertain others and for her ability to use clever words to defuse minor arguments. She also learned to sing, which she would occasioanlly do for an audience, and to play the Benshiran lyre her mother made for her, which she only ever did privately.

As a young child Liriel was often irritable, and it was soon discovered this was due to the weak sensory organs at her fingertips. They make a constant sound like a whisper of wind, too faint to tell her much but just enough to be irritating. Because of this she initially tried to stay away from other people, straying out into the empty desert where there was little motion to disturb her. Eventaully she learned to calm and quiet her mind through a series of basic relaxation excersises that pushed the noise away, but she has retained a fondness for being alone. She loves to preform, but she must balance sociability with silence. She is pretty energetic and often could not sit still long enough to meditate traditionally, so she created her own form of meditation—running. She loves to run to nowhere at all just for the sake of running, and often finds her thoughts clearest when she does so.

Liriel has a passing knowledge of history and the world, but has lived an isolated life and never traveled outside the desert. She is a bit impulsive, which shows in her decision to leave home and travel the world. She really has no idea what she’s going to do once she gets to Syliras. In stories poeople who leave home always have great adventures, so she figures this is what will happen to her. The outside world seems like a story to her, strange and only half real. Moral and ethics are concepts that mean little to her, as she has never really been tested in those areas. She was raised to respect Yahal, Makutsi, and Eywaat, but paid little attention to religion. If anything she is a bit miffed at the gods for her situation and her failed Searching. She tries to be kind and to respect all life, but has no particular creed to guide her.

Background:
Liriel’s mother is a Benshiran descendant of the line of Malech, and her father is a Chaktawe of the Kalanue tribe. Her parents met and fell in love when they were very young, and with the rashness typical of young love decided to marry despite the consequences. Liriel’s mother was disowned, and so went to live with her father and his tribe. Liriel’s father was a respected hunter/tracker, and her mother was quickly accepted and valued among the Chaktawe for her singing and dancing, her beauty, and her skill at medicine.

Though the Chaktawe accepted her readily enough, Liriel was aware from a young age that she was different. She lacked many of the physical advantages the other children had, for one, and she also had her own name from brith (and a Benshiran name at that). Because she and her mother could not store water, the tribe had to carry more to support their needs, and though they never complained about it Liriel often felt like an inconvinience. When she was very young she naively desired to be an Abayla, or storyteller, and was sorely disapointed when she learned this was impossible due to her heritage.

None of this is to suggest Lirel disliked the people she grew up among. She repsected and admired them, often wishing to be more like them. Though sacred stories were forbidden to her, she loved and often participated in secular plays and music. Life among the Chaktawe is a beautiful life, and she appreciated that. However, she always wanted to know what it felt like to live among the Benshira, and wondered if that was where she actually belonged. Though her mother did not regret her descision to marry her father, she often told Liriel stories of her home, and Liriel knew her mother missed the tents of her real family.

When Liriel was 15 she undertook the Searching, as all Chaktawe children do, though her mother had advised against it. It was Liriel’s hope that she would aquire a guardian who would help her understand what her place in the world should be. However, she received no prophecy and met no guide, and nearly died waiting alone in the desert. She was found, brought home, and cared for, and though no one had really expected her to suceed at the ritual she was disapointed and felt that she had failed. As she lay in bed recovering, she came to terms with a difficult truth: she did not belong among the Chaktawe.

But she was still too young to leave her home, and she did not want to leave her mother and father. Liriel stayed among the Chaktawe for 4 more years, until at 19 she saw no other option but to leave. All the others her age were marrying and settling down into their places in the society. She could have taken up a trade, but she could not picture herself living the rest of her life among the Chaktawe. Her true wish is to travel to Benshiran lands, but she is afraid she will find she does not belong there either. So she decided to travel to Syliras, and begin her own personal Searching. Her parents were sad to see her go, but understood her need and did not try to persuade her to stay.

Training & Skill Points:

Initial Skills/Points:

Languages:

Lore:

Benshiran herbal remedies: Liriel’s mother was quite skilled with natural remedies, and tried to interest her in the field as a child. Liriel never pursued medicine herself, but by virtue of living in her mother’s house she has ammased quite a store of unused knowledge about healing various ailments.

Stories and songs of the desert people: Liriel knows a great many stories and plays of the Chaktawe, as well and songs and stories of the Benshira.

Equipment/Possessions:

Ledger: 100 gold mizas

Liriel

Liriel

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