Akela

[Akela]

Race: Konti Birthday & Age: Summer 475 AV - 37 years old Gender: Female Height: 5'6" Weight: 121 lbs (less after escaping slavery) Hair: White Eyes: Azure Blue Languages: Pavi (fluent), Common (decent), Kontinese (poor) Akela looks almost identical to her younger sister Kavala. They even have the same windmark tattoos on the small of their backs, though the horse Akela bonded with was killed and eaten by the Zith. Her appearance is delicate, though fit from years of practicing the sword. Akela does not move without a need, but when she does, she often looks like she is going to slash someone because of her sudden motions. Her blue eyes betray her disillusionment with life and most of what it has to offer. Her white hair used to be short, but has grown longer with her slavery. Where her sister Kavala is earth - solid, nurturing and fiercely protective - Akela is air and clouds. She does what she wants, always roaming and never settling; dissatisfaction defines her. She is inconstant and unreliable, which has ensured her lack of success in life. She is usually pessimistic, only relying on herself and her resources. She believes the odds are stacked against her, and she has the right to address the problem in any way she can. Laws and traditions hold no meaning in her heart. Akela is a loser by temperament; in fact, she often feels she has fallen far behind her younger sister Kavala, whom she is supposed to protect. She is very self-conscious about her failures. Neither Avalis nor Rak'keli ever marked her, and she was regarded as a curse among the Drykas after her mother died falling from horseback. A failure as a Konti, as a Drykas and as a sister, Akela is convinced she is something of a source of bad luck for those around her. She covers up her insecurities with incredible bravado, sometimes to the point of apparent stupidity, but she is actually more intelligent than she gives herself credit for. Learning comes easily to her, but wisdom does not. She possesses a sharp, witty tongue in a foul mouth and is an excellent liar with an unexpected gift for eloquence. She is especially fond of playing the stereotypical Konti when it suits her purpose, though she can't really keep it up for too long before her real personality comes through. She indulges and overindulges, sometimes in spectacular ways - especially ever since gaining her Ranuri mark. She has betrayed and has been betrayed before, but she will never willingly harm someone she perceives as genuinely good-hearted. It is very hard to get into her heart, but for such people she will perform any kind of sacrifice without even thinking. Akela's only redemption lies in the sword, or rather the way of the sword. A talented katana user, she is a warrior trying to push herself to the very limit. When in battle, she is everything she can never be: one with the breath of the world. She follows no standard honor code, though, and she is not a selfless sword by any stretch of the imagination. She hates weakness, especially in herself. Despite the pessimistic outlook, she is an enormous thrill-seeker and a risk-taker - she will do it and complain about it later. Her relationship with her Ranuri mark from Nikali is a complex one. On the one hand, it makes her want to please others around her, and it saved her when she was a (willing) slave to the Zith. On the other hand, Akela hates being constrained, even by her own divine mark. After years of bearing the mark, she has struck a middle ground: she often fulfills her Ranuri desires for a while, only to start doing her thing at the most unexpected times. Sometimes this includes getting back at the very person she had been serving up till that moment. Akela is extremely whimsical, and unless someone has truly earned her trust, sudden changes of heart are not uncommon.

[Akela]

Katana - 36 (30 SP) Weaponsmithing - 10 (10 SP) Rhetoric - 14 (10 SP) Riding - 10 (10 Racial - special permission) Observation - 8 Tactics - 2 Body building - 1 Construction - 1 Debate - 1 Detection - 1 Evasion - 1 Interrogation - 1 Leadership - 1 Masonry - 1 Negotiation - 1 Weapon maintenance - 1 Thread Gains A reunion too long delayed +1 WpnMnt, +1 Deb, +3 Obs, +1 Neg Taking back what was lost +3 Kat, +4 Rhe, +1 Int Forging ahead +1 Obs, +1 Lea, +1 Mas, +1 Con, +1 BodB The Call, the Dream, the Water +1 Obs The thin line between blue and green +1 Det, +3 Obs, +2 Tac, +3 Kat, +1 Eva Nikali (1) Lore of Nikali Lore of Zith slavery Plus tons of largely useless lores that will be added when I get time... 600 gm (starting money) -100gm (katana) ---------------- 500gm

[Akela]

Akela is daughter to the Ankal Eachann of the Denusk Pavilion and a Konti woman called Ay'aka who came to the Sea of Grass answering the Call and helping cure a disease that had struck the Pavilion's horses. Akela was their first daughter, and grew up as a fiercely independent, warlike child in the way of her father. Her younger sister, Kavala, was by contrast an introverted girl whose talent lay in communing with animals and healing their ailments, much like her mother. Akela was swinging a branch when she could barely walk, and was something of a bully in her young age. She clashed frequently with Eachann's son from a human woman, Vanator; even so, there was true love between them. The world came crashing down on them when Ay'aka died suddenly, falling from her horse - a death regarded as blasphemy among the horse riders. Suddenly the two Konti girls were seen with suspicion by the entire Pavilion as the once proud Denusk people started a slow, but unstoppable spiral into decline. Kavala and Akela reacted in their own different ways. Kavala headed North and went to Mura to reconnect with her Konti heritage. Akela went South to roam the world and become a true warrior. Her dream did not last long: the Zith ambushed her, ate her Strider Glimmer in front of her and took her as a slave for the next two years. She wouldn't have lasted a season if not for the goddess Nikali marking her and making her thrive through adversity. The way Akela adapted to slavery is almost frightening. She came to enjoy being a plaything for the Zith, her savagery matching theirs as required. Never lacking for lust and passion, she was her master's perfection, actually urging him to go on long after he was spent. The Zith were so pleased with her that they kept her alive far longer than they would most slaves. They thought they had broken her. They were wrong - she was simply enjoying herself for a while. One day, she saw her master hold the katana she'd almost forgotten ever having. Just like that, she snatched it from his grasp and decapitated him just because it felt like the right thing to do. She fled the Zith settlement and headed back into the world looking for new purpose. Found Kavala. Talked to Kavala. Left Kavala. You're such a jerk, Akela.