Name: Arisynn, or Ari
Age: 19
Race: Half Saltus Faery, half Human
Height: 5'3
Weight: 110
Physical Description:
Ari is a fairly short young woman, but despite her small frame, there is power hidden within her wiry limbs. She has dark brown, wavy hair of medium length, frequently decorated with a bow of pink lace, though it still hangs wild around her pale face. Her eyes, a light blue, contrast nicely with her dark hair, though they often have a cloudy look, as if they have spent too many days staring up at the bright sun. Her clothing is normally plain, usually consisting of a thin, white dress which hangs to her knees. She hides her wings, which are a dark blue hue, beneath her clothing, always keeping them folded tightly against her back. Her feet are never without a pair of brown, laced knee-high boots, which she strides in with pride. She wears no jewelry, no trinkets save for the pink bow.
Possessions:
An old brass harmonica: a gift from a childhood friend. Though it is not in the best shape, she can still manage to bring a few pretty tunes from it.
A paintbrush with a cherry wood handle: She made it herself after seeing people in town practicing calligraphy. She enjoys practicing the art when she gets a chance.
A bow of pink lace: given to her by the old woman who raised her. If it is not in her hair, she wears it around her right wrist.
Powers:
Animal Magic: One of the few traits passed to her from her father. She can summon any animal that stands within a hundred miles. The creatures will feel compelled to go to her, a compulsion so intense that it is nearly impossible to resist. Ari is able to communicate with them to an extent, but not to that of her father. Mostly she is able to read their thoughts and pass her own thoughts on to them if they are in the range of the summon. The amount of animals she can summon is limited, however. She has never been able to call more than five or so without getting a massive migraine.
Speed: Being so small and light, Ari was always the fastest among her childhood friends and is still faster than most common folk.
Flight: Despite having wings and the ability to fly, Ari rarely uses this power, doing everything she can to keep her fairy blood hidden from the public eye. She could fly great distances as a child but, as revealing her identity often got her into trouble, she is now quite out of practice and can only manage a few short bursts of flight when she needs them.
Combat: She lacks skill with any sort of weapon, but Ari is still able to throw a good few punches and kicks when she must, though they normally don't do much. She is very skilled at hand-to-hand single combat and has learned many tricks in using her opponents moves against them, such as causing a particularly heavy foe to lose their balance.
Literate: She can read simple pieces and often enjoys writing the occasional nonsense piece, always in an elegant scrawl.
Intellect: Ari is extremely smart. She can read people quite easily, but can also evaluate her situations well. After years of having to keep her identity hidden, lest she be shut out of whatever town she is in, Ari has learned how to keep her head low and take advantage of not be noticed.
Weaknesses:
Trust: Ari has problems trusting people. She likes to stay somewhat solitary for this reason, but she still enjoys seeing the color that crowds have to offer. She will not, however, be the first one to speak to any stranger, especially a human one. Since her guardian had taught her to be cautious around humans, she does her best to avoid them when she can.
Astraphobia: Ari has an extreme and pathological fear of thunderstorms. If there is even the smallest of signs of one, she is quick to cower and find a small, dark place to hide until it is over.
Migraines: Often after using her animal magic, Ari will be afflicted with headaches, sometimes lasting up to two hours, with such intensity that she is not able to do much more than lay down and wait them out. Though they only occur after she uses magic, they are unpredictable. Normally the more animals she calls, the worse the headaches.
Curiousity: She refuses to leave things alone. If there is something of appeal in front of her, whether it be a domestic object, a place, or even some else's possession, she must touch it. Her love of learning prompts her to constantly try to figure out how things work, sometimes even taking them apart to do so.
Weak: Due to her small stature and light frame, Ari is not very strong. She would be helpless against an exceptionally large foe and is not able to wield any sort of heavy weapon with much skill.
Madness: Although Ari is normally level headed, she teeters on the edge of sanity. If she does not control herself when summoning beats, her mind will become one with their own and she will begin to act feral herself. This has caused her to fear her gift, as she does not quite understand how to use it. She rarely uses her summoning powers.
History:
The Origin of the Soul
Her story begins long before she was born, in a dark, secluded forest. Here, a young woman named Kista waits for her beloved, a fairy named Issac. The two had been meeting in secret for months after Kista had stumbled upon him in the woods one day when she was collecting herbs for her mother. On this night, beneath the light of the full moon, the two finally come to know each other. The moment is filled with a passion that leaves both dizzy, though Issac's power overwhelms Kista to the point of fainting. When she wakes she is back in her bed at home, her body still trembling.
Months pass and she sees no more of Issac. He is never in the woods where they used to meet and has seemed to fallen off the face of the planet. Her heart aches for him and, despite feeling betrayed, she still longs for him with all of her being. Soon, Kista begins to show signs of pregnancy. Her parents are appalled and demand to know the name of the man, but Kista refuses to tell them, knowing she would be shunned if they learned the father was Fae.
When the night of Ari's birth finally comes, the air is heavy and oppressing. A storm looms in the distance. Kista's labor is long and the babe nearly dies of suffocation, though manages to pull through. Her mother is not so lucky. Shortly after seeing the girl child and the bluish wings sprouting from her back, Kista stops breathing.
The Beginnings of Life
Kista's parents are terrified of the sight of the child. Not only are her eyes a bright blue, the mark of dark magic, but from her back sprouts two matching blue wings. The bundle her tightly with the bloodied rags left from the birth and bring her to the mouth of the forest, leaving her for the spirits to take.
Lucky for the newborn, the town beggar, an old woman of ninety, is watching. The old woman takes the child in, delighted at the sight of her Fae parts. She names the babe Arisynn, meaning "of the sky" and raises her for ten years in her tiny shack at the edge of the woods. The strange old woman encourages the girl to use her wings whenever she is alone, telling her "Such a gift cannot be wasted for the sake of avoiding a little trouble."
It does not take long for Arisynn to see that she was not welcome in the world. Though she flies whenever she can, her guardian forbids it when they are in town together, saying the humans are weak minded and would not understand. However, the child is not easily kept quiet. The old woman is constantly chasing her down, lecturing her of the danger of allowing the humans to see her true self. The woman always refers to the villagers as "the humans," as if she herself is something more. Human or not, she makes her dislike for the villagers evident. Still, she puts Arisynn in a small school where she learns to read and write.
In school she talks to few, keeping to herself and focusing on her lessons. She is fascinated by all there is to learn and eagerly devours information about history and social interactions. Here is where she first learns that what she is is not a good thing. Although she keeps her wings hidden, never showing them to anyone but the old woman, she notices that the mere mention of the word fairy causes her teacher to cringe. Ari is frustrated by the constant lessons on the danger of magic, but she bites her tongue in order to continue learning.
In her class, there is one boy who is not afraid of her. His name is Bane and his father is on the village watch. The boy is scrawny, the complete opposite of his dominating father, and mostly keeps to himself. However, he becomes fascinated with Ari one day when he sees her appearing to be talking to one of the village's stray dogs and begins to follow her around a bit like a puppy himself. Although Ari does not trust him at first, the two slowly become friends. Ari is not completely selfless in their friendship, however. Knowing who his father is, she persuades the boy to teach her what he knows of combat, as many of the other students in their class make a habit of threatening her. Although the boy himself is not very skilled, he teaches her what he knows, eager to please.
On Ari's tenth birthday, Bane gives her a simple brass harmonica after seeing how much she enjoyed hearing his father play for them. She is delighted and, in her happiness, agrees to teach him her "trick" with animals. The two go to the forest and Ari closes her eyes, reaching her mind out. It winds through trees and over streams, searching. However, she encounters the wrong sort of creature. Ari normally spoke with dogs, cats, and birds. This time, her gift brings her a wolf.
The beast stalks a deer two miles away. Ari finds herself wanting the deer, wanting to sink her teeth in its flesh. She feels the leaves coating the forest floor beneath her paws, smells the musk of the wolf's fur beside her. Then, she is running beside him, jumping for the deer...
Her connection to the beast is shattered when Bane lets out a sudden scream. When Ari opens her eyes, she is on top of the boy, growling with her teeth at his neck. She scrambles away from him and the boy runs home. Ari sits still in a daze, eyes hazy, still panting like a wolf. The old woman finds her there as night falls and takes her home. It is days before the girl comes out of her beast-like trance. When she does, the old woman scolds her for her foolishness and, to Ari's horror, forbids her to go back to school. Ari refuses to talk to her for days, staying inside the whole time, never leaving her bed.
When the woman passes a week later at age one hundred, Ari is heart broken. For weeks she does little more then wander the woods. Here, she learns more of her gift. While sitting on a tree stump, crying for the memory of the old woman, she hears a voice in her head.
"Poor Fae. She looks like the Fae King, mother," it says.
When she looks up, Ari sees a small fawn standing beside its mother a few feet away.
"Yes. She smells of him too," answers the doe.
"The Fae King? Who is he?" Ari asks.
The doe blinks in surprise, her ears perking. "You have The Speech? Only the King has The Speech, but I have not spoke to him in years. Who are you?"
But before Ari can answer, another voice booms in her head. "You, my Daughter of the woods. You must come to me."
The two deer flee in fear. Though Ari demands to know who the new voice belongs to, she hears no more.
A Reason for Living
From that day forward, Ari has been searching for this Fae King. She has wandered the forests of Eyropa, searched in every legend and bedtime story for mention of the Fae King. However, very few stories of any clarity have come to her. Even when visiting the more open-minded regions of Eyropa, she finds very few who had ever even heard of "the Fae King," let alone any faeries with powers such as her own.
For a while she finds herself living in Zhaltev in a small house of rebel shifters. Although she is not one herself, the shifters accept her for her magic. Here she stays until she turns fifteen, learning more in the way of combat and practicing her magic whenever she can, as well as doing her best to find someone, anyone, who knows more about the Fae King.
A few days after her fifteenth birthday, she meets an old man in Zhaltev who tells her a story of the Fae of the Woods, the Saltus. Eager to follow the new lead, Ari leaves her acquired "family," happy to be on the way to finding where she truly belongs. She goes to the forest just outside of Zhaltev, where the clans of the Saltus were rumored to live. After days of searching she finds nothing. The Saltus sense her, however and, although they do not know who she is, they know she is tainted with human blood, and keep themselves hidden from her.
Ari returns home, but does not stay there long. She leaves the shifters once again, and searches throughout Eyropa for a place to belong. From Norroenirlund to Corezo, she searches, determined, though she still finds very little information.
She travels to Thar Shaddin in her late teens, where she encounters the true hatred that exists in the world. Any mention of magic leads her into trouble and Ari quickly learns to keep her head down and her mouth shut.
After years of seeing the disdain and disgust prompted from people at the idea of magic, Ari becomes more quiet, losing some of her adventurous spirit. She is slow to trust people and quick to lash out at people who approach her without being prompted to do so. Still, she longs to find out who she is, feeling more and more lost with each year that goes by. She also longs to find someone who is like the old woman from her past, someone who is not afraid of who they are, nor of what she is. After four years of wandering Thar Shaddin, she has grown tired of being met with hatred around every turn.
Her search has currently brought her to Shim, where she hopes to find tell of the voice that called her "Daughter" among the cities colorful array of rumors and stories.
