Ero

[Ero]

Ero Physical Discription Age – 31 Birthday – 53rd day of winter, 478av Sex – female Origin – Riverfall Race – Akontak Height – 6’5 Build – well muscled, athletic but not bulky Eye color – Grey Hair color – Silvery-white Skin – dark green Appearance Ero is a tall woman, and her athletic frame makes her seem even taller than her six feet and five inches. She typically wears her long silver hair in a bun to keep it clear of her luminous grey eyes, exposing the gills on her neck. Her athletic body balances her full figure, but she rarely finds any intimacy with anyone. When not dressing for combat, she typically wears light clothes that allow for full range of movement and light boots. Her clothes are usually nondescript shades of grey or brown. Lores: Lore of using her strong personality to her advantage Lore of staying calm in extreme situations Lores Earned: Medical Library of Mura, Kiska’s Skills, Seeking Help from a Stranger, Being Lonely, Seeing Kiska Blush, Konti Government, Being Disappointed, Developing a Friendship,Getting your Ass Kicked,Sparring with a Lakan,Experiencing Personal Dichotomy, Respecting Privacy, Kiska’s Emotional Melody, Reading Kiska’s Fortune, Consequences of Reading One’s Own Fortune, Apologizing, Making a Contract with Kiska, Getting Groped While Sparring, Being Choked Out, The Difficulties of Escaping a Hold, Movements of a Fight, Knowing When to Take a Break, A Good Day of Training Skills: Lakan: 22 Suvai: 22 Auristics: 14 Investigation: 6 Fortune-Telling: 6 Conversation: 5 Rhetoric: 4 Unarmed Combat: 3 Observation: 2 Story Telling: 1 Seduction: 1 Acrobatics: 1 Hospitality: 1 Ledger:(600gm starting amount for not owning a house) Expenses to date: 244gm, 4sm, 2cm. Income to date: 0gm Possessions 50 ft of rope Bag of Glitter Strange Book black silk chemises a beautiful grey full cape Grey broad brimmed hat Fancy silver and white dress Portable shelter – 25gm Sack (Empty) 1 sm Rope, Silk (50 ft.) 10 gm Whetstone 2 cm Leather Armor – 10gm Starting Package: Oilskin Cloak Plain cotton blouse Leather pants Leather boots Water skin Backpack Basic toiletries Straight razor Food for a week Eating knife Flint/Steel Her Lakan a Suvai made by her mother. (Family Heirloom) Character History: Intelligent and somewhat reserved, Ero grew up in riverfall with her Akalak father always watching over her. Though her father’s family had once been large and prosperous, those days were mostly over. Many rooms in their in their large dwelling were left empty. For many years, the only family she knew other than her father was a much older cousin and a younger friend of his who had been ofphaned, being raised by her uncle on the other side of Riverfall. Even though she was viewed as a rare gift by most, she was still put through the intense training that all other Akalak receive, learning weapons mastery and discipline. She learned well, though not quite as quickly as the other Akalak her age. That, in addition to the fact that she was strange and different from them, led to her feeling distanced from everyone else. She learned to be self sufficient at a young age, amusing herself and learning alone. Her father, however, was constantly around, and doted on her to the point of over-protective. He often reminded her that he had vowed at her birth to keep her safe, no matter the cost. While this had been a comfort when she was young, it became a point of contention between them as she grew older. He constantly held her back from many of the more dangerous trainings (which were happening with increasing frequency,) and she began falling behind in her combat. Often she would grow furious with him and attempt to confront him for these decisions, but as she was only a child, there was nothing she could do. However, the beginning of the end of their relationship stemmed from one such confrontation. This incident happened shortly after a humiliating shouting match with her father. He felt that she wasn’t ready to begin fighting with actual edged weapons, and she felt that he was holding her back just to be mean to her. One thing led to another, and before she realized it she realized she had begun the first kata of unarmed combat and was targeting her father. He, of course, easily defeated her attack and knocked her senseless, but not before she managed to break his nose with her forehead. Enraged, in pain, and slightly humiliated, He dragged her back to their home for punishment. To him it was just a demonstration of how vulnerable and unready his daughter was, but Ero had made a discovery. Later that night, still in pain from the beating she had received, she realized what had happened. All her life there had been an indistinct voice seemingly whispering in her ear. Often when she became angry, that whispering would become lauder and more distinct. On that day, the whispering had become a screaming, and then a rapturous sensation. She felt like a different person, one more inclined to take matters into her own hands when faced with problems, instead of trying reason on everything first. She had heard of this happening with her Akalak peers. Occasionally during a particularly intense training session one of the young men around her would fly completely off the handle and wildly attack one of the teachers. Other times someone would gain a frighteningly cold cast to their features and attempt things that no reasonable being would act upon. It had been explained to them that this was their “Dark Brother” taking control. Often she would wonder if she had something like this, some sort of “Dark Sister” lurking in her mind. But never had she thought that this might be an advantage. She could remember the very short fight with her father, though it was more as If she were remembering a story someone else had told her. She had thrown caution and honor to the wind and launched herself directly at his face, simply trying her best to incapacitate him. Now that she thought about it, she realized that she never would have been able to land a blow on him normally; he was no war hero, but he was an adult Akalak. He should have easily put her down, caution or no caution. It was something to think about indeed. They continued to have confrontations in which one or the other would lose control. Ero began to lose herself more and more into the dreamlike state where someone who caller herself Sesim controlled her body and tried to do terrible things. She was young, and the older Akalak easily contained her, as she was still young and much smaller than the others of her age, but she was still dangerous. It became apparent that there was little her instructors could to do to force her to learn discipline, and they confined her to her home for her father to deal with. She was still terribly young to already be branded and given to the Cerulean, but at this rate there was little anyone could do without her embracing their help. Her personalities began to oscillate wildly, and Ero had less and less control over when and how Sesim manifested. The days began to blur together, as her father had even less success controlling the wild Akontak. Both personalities hated and blamed him for the difficulties they faced in trying to conquer the other. Her father swiftly lost his doting and overprotective habits, resorting to simply drugging and beating her into submission. Several years passed for Ero and Sesim in this way. Few memories of those years remain for Ero, just that when she was mildly lucid she wept, convinced that this was all life would be for her. One night, or possibly day, late in her 13th year, Ero came to her senses. She was curled up in the corner of the cell her father kept her in, naked and exhausted. She remembered Sesim shredding her clothes and beating the walls, screaming to be let loose until falling to the ground, exhausted. Ero was unsure what had awakened her, but lay still. She was afraid that movement might trigger Sesim to awaken in her. Before long, though, her arms and legs began to cramp, and she had to move. Finally, she stretched out and stood. She looked around at the wreckage in the cell. She had apparently had a bed, once, but that was torn apart and lay in as many pieces as the clothes she had once worn. When her eyes alighted on the door, she saw that it was standing open, and someone stood there. She could hardly recognize anyone anymore, but felt that this man was familiar to her. She fell to her knees, and began to weep again, “Please, help me; I don’t want to be like this anymore.” That man was her uncle, and he had come to take her to the council as a failure, as one who would become a Cerulean. But she had demonstrated something nobody had expected after four years; a desire to change. Many months later, Ero felt herself gaining the upper hand over Sesim. In her lucid moments, she would recall her uncle sitting with her teaching her meditative exercises. She in less than a year, her uncle had brought her back from the brink. She learned how to live with her dark sister; As Ero found she possessed a very strong personality, while Sesim seemed to be more or less just a bundle of desires and urges. She occasionally slipped up, and when she discovered sex it took many months to get her back to the correct level of self control. But soon she was able to celebrate her 15th birthday, and was told that she would be ready for the Rite of Trial with the rest of the young men her age. The fact that she was not actually a young Akalak seemed not to bother her uncle. On the hunt she performed as well as could be expected, and only received minor wounds. Although less skilled in tracking than most of the young men in her hunting party, she was instrumental in bringing down the terrible bird. When Ero and the young men returned bearing the dead glassbeak, she was welcomed back into Akalak society with pride. However, when the young men where announcing their desires to become trained in the arts of their fathers and such, she was still unsure what she wished to be trained in. As she stood in front of the celebrating crowd with the rest of her hunting party, she saw a flash of white, and her eyes alighted on a beautiful Konti woman. The woman’s eyes rested solely on Ero. When she announced that she would stay and take additional training in the both the ways of the warrior and also seek out a Konti to learn their ways from, she noticed both her uncle and the Konti standing side by side, and nodding in agreement as if she had just made the most profound statement she had ever uttered. When she was finally free to approach the woman, she suddenly felt as if a familiar motif had rung through the crowd. As she got closer, the motif suddenly coalesced, and found meaning on her tongue. “Mother,” she said, and was sure of it. She somehow knew for certain. And when the Konti that was her mother nodded and smiled, Ero nodded to herself. She felt certain this woman was the reason Ero had felt moved to stay in Riverfall, despite all the painful memories. She continued to train with her uncle, learning how to construct a Lakan of her own and how to fight with it. She was taught the value of this holy weapon, and all that it symbolized. At the same time she began learning from her mother. She also discovered that she had a beautiful, almost luminous, lily shaped mark high on her left thigh. When she showed her mother, she was told that it was the gnosis mark of Divination, granted by the Konti goddess, Avalis. Her mother then began to teach her how to use this Gnosis. She taught Ero the basics of controlling her Divination skills, and gave her a Suvai that her mother had made back in Mura for her to wield, and taught her how to fight with it. Years passed, and Ero grew in her skills and talents. She discovered that she had an innate skill in Auristics, and worked to hone that, as well as her combat skills. Before long she began to see the balance that her mother provided to the household, and after her own version of the Rite of Manhood, decided to enter a quest. She would see her peoples united. The governing system of the Akalak was reminiscent of the Ruling system in Mura that her mother had told her about. Konti mothers were the most commonly successful. As she readied her belongings to set off and find the truth, she realized something; she didn’t simply want to unite the cultures of her parents, she wanted to reunite a race that she felt was actually one.