Hana
06-21-06, 10:19 AM
Name: Lehana Sinji
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Black
Height: 5’2”
Weight: 163 lbs.
Personality
For what she lacks in stature, Lehana makes up for in volume. Commonly known as Hana, the young Fallien woman made the best of a simple life by constantly laughing at herself and others. She is outspoken and impetuous, always trying to break someone’s somber mood or liven things up. Hana is also very fond of children. She’s not shy at all when it comes to showing off or declaring her opinions. For all her cheerfulness, though, she can become terribly jealous or fierce. She tries not to boast about herself, but sometimes fails. Hana openly protests things she considers to be wrong, and tries to argue until someone else is convinced of her point of view. If they’re not – and there are no kids around – the girl is perfectly willing to use foul language in her frustration. She’s also open to settling things in a more physical way, should the need arise.
Of course, to some outsiders, there is no reason for Hana’s behavior. She may often come off as loud, crude, inflexible, and brutally honest – not always in a good way.
Appearance
Lehana is short, and bigger than most girls, but also muscular from years of labor. She has dark brown skin inherited from her father, but a little lighter due to her Fallien mother’s looks, and calloused from her work. Though her skin helps protect her from the harsh sunlight of the desert sun, she still wears a white, sleeveless shift that bares her stomach over short, light brown slacks and full-footed thong sandals. She carries an ankle-length brown coat with her for colder weather. Around her waist she wears a light belt made from hollow, painted wooden beads and fine, woven thread that hangs down in front. Her shoulder-length hair is braided all the way to her scalp, and held up in a messy bun with small braids hanging down.
In compliance with the B’neshan people's social system, Hana has both lobes pierced (to indicate middle class citizenship), and the top of the right ear pierced (at puberty). She also pierced her left eyebrow, but that was mostly for the hell of it and to prove that she could handle it. Because she was born in the summer, Hana had the area around her belly button tattooed with an elaborate yellow sun in veneration to Ghral, the B’neshan goddess of summer.
Skills
Farmhand – Hana has spent enough years working the fields to have a rudimentary knowledge of herbs, harvesting techniques, and harvesting equipment. She can hooks horses up to plows and carriages and tell the difference between a healing herb and a poisonous spice, but is fairly certain that these skills will be of no use anywhere other than R’uuya.
Naginata – The weapon Hana uses was crafted by her father: a shorter wooden staff with a thin, arm-length steel blade inserted at one end. Hana practiced with her brother Julian and her father to learn the techniques involving this weapon, and move with it without too much trouble, but is not entirely proficient with it yet. She knows a few defensive strategies, but other than these, she has more fun threatening to put someone’s eyes out than actually using it on a person.
Weapons
Hana’s sole weapon could be most closely approximated to a short naginata – A thin but sturdy staff of wood with a thin, arm-length steel blade inserted at the top end. Made by Hana’s father and used chiefly for self-defense. Hana also has a curved iron dagger kept at her waist, but she has never used it against a person – it is mostly for various chores and tasks around the house and while working.
Armor
Hana has never needed armor, particularly because any sort of covering would only make her hot and uncomfortable, and is unpractical in the desert.
Items
Dagger – see weapons. Hana has two or three pairs of earrings to interchange with her piercings, kept in a little pouch - some are decorated with tiny, colored beads. She also carries beaded combs for her hair, a cleaning cloth for her weapons, a packet of several herbs for healing and hygienic use, and some spare shirts and undergarments.
History
When Taye Dembi came to Fallien, his intention was to trade in the Spicefields of R’uuya. He was a tall, broad-chested man with skin even darker than that of the natives of Fallien, and he was a handsome one at that. He hailed from B’nesh, a desert country somewhat similar to Fallien. He won over the farmers and traders in R’uuya without so much as a second thought, and soon found himself building onto a hefty supply of spices and goods to take home.
A few nights before he was to return home on the earliest morning ship, Taye made one last trading stop at a small camp at the edge of the spicefields. However, his attention soon switched from the farmer’s herb stock to his eldest daughter, a young woman named Ulani Sinji. Instead of leaving, Taye stayed in the camp, offering to work alongside the farmer’s tribe with the daily work. He spent more and more time with Ulani, who – to the envy of her younger sisters – was as captivated by Taye as he was with her.
As time progressed, Taye became more and more adept at the art of cultivating spices and herbs, and he and Ulani made plans to be married. Despite protests from the rest of the tribe, the B’neshan man and Fallien woman defied tribal tradition and were married within the year. Taye was by now planning his own spicefields, and after lengthy discussion, he and his wife decided to separate from the Fallien tribe Ulani had grown up in. Her people were bitter about her marriage to an outsider, and Taye disliked the stiff religious inclinations of the Fallien people, as well as their xenophobia. They moved from the outside of R’uuya to its very center, where they built an isolated but prosperous farm for herbs.
They had twenty-five years of a happy marriage and three grown children to raise along with their herbs and spices and trades. Aysha, the firstborn, was twenty-four and already married and pregnant; Julian, the only son, was a soldier in training bound for duty at Jya’s Keep in Irrakam; and Lehana, the youngest, was….well, she wasn’t entirely sure yet. As the only child without a secured future, Hana was as a result slightly spoiled, and usually stuck working the fields with her parents.
Which is not to say she’d had an unhappy childhood – having siblings prevented her from totally spoiled, and working daily to harvest the spices and herbs gave her a good work ethic. Taye still took his wife’s surname to honor Fallien’s matriarchal society, but both he and Ulani disliked their neighbors’ fierce devotion to Suravani. They raised their children in the B’neshan faith, which involved praying to four major deities who were patrons for a certain three months of the year. Lehana seemed to embrace this religion more so than her siblings, and even went as far as to have the area around her navel tattooed with a bright yellow sun for the goddess of summer, Ghral. Like the other two children, she had piercings that corresponded to Taye’s people’s social system, despite the fact that the family was far away from any other B’neshans.
After Aysha announced she was pregnant and Julian decided to leave for Jya’s Keep in three months, Hana felt that she was going to be stuck in a dead-end job for years to come if she didn’t do something on her own soon. Her best bet was to find work elsewhere, and to take a break from the isolated home in R’uuya that she’d grown up in. She discussed the prospect of visiting the rest of Althanas with her family, and decided on leaving even after several mixed responses:
Taye: S’fine with me.…just make sure you don’t stay there forever and forget about us. We’re getting older, you know. Well, your mother is, anyway.
Ulani: Oh, shut up. Hana, ignore your father, he thinks you’re going to do what he did and run away with someone from another country. Speaking of which, make sure you take a coat, it’s a lot colder there. Oh, if you catch cold I’ll never be able to forgive myself.
Julian: She won’t catch cold. If anything, she’ll get herself killed by those mercenaries out there. Then again, she might be short enough to overlook in a crowd.
Aysha: Hey, while you’re there, buy me clothes, will you? I heard they make beautiful robes. And make sure they’re maternity!
After such a farewell, it was no surprise that Hana was hesitant about leaving. However, she knew that there were far more opportunities in the rest of Althanas than there were in the Fallien spicefields, and she made her way to the border without a second thought.
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Black
Height: 5’2”
Weight: 163 lbs.
Personality
For what she lacks in stature, Lehana makes up for in volume. Commonly known as Hana, the young Fallien woman made the best of a simple life by constantly laughing at herself and others. She is outspoken and impetuous, always trying to break someone’s somber mood or liven things up. Hana is also very fond of children. She’s not shy at all when it comes to showing off or declaring her opinions. For all her cheerfulness, though, she can become terribly jealous or fierce. She tries not to boast about herself, but sometimes fails. Hana openly protests things she considers to be wrong, and tries to argue until someone else is convinced of her point of view. If they’re not – and there are no kids around – the girl is perfectly willing to use foul language in her frustration. She’s also open to settling things in a more physical way, should the need arise.
Of course, to some outsiders, there is no reason for Hana’s behavior. She may often come off as loud, crude, inflexible, and brutally honest – not always in a good way.
Appearance
Lehana is short, and bigger than most girls, but also muscular from years of labor. She has dark brown skin inherited from her father, but a little lighter due to her Fallien mother’s looks, and calloused from her work. Though her skin helps protect her from the harsh sunlight of the desert sun, she still wears a white, sleeveless shift that bares her stomach over short, light brown slacks and full-footed thong sandals. She carries an ankle-length brown coat with her for colder weather. Around her waist she wears a light belt made from hollow, painted wooden beads and fine, woven thread that hangs down in front. Her shoulder-length hair is braided all the way to her scalp, and held up in a messy bun with small braids hanging down.
In compliance with the B’neshan people's social system, Hana has both lobes pierced (to indicate middle class citizenship), and the top of the right ear pierced (at puberty). She also pierced her left eyebrow, but that was mostly for the hell of it and to prove that she could handle it. Because she was born in the summer, Hana had the area around her belly button tattooed with an elaborate yellow sun in veneration to Ghral, the B’neshan goddess of summer.
Skills
Farmhand – Hana has spent enough years working the fields to have a rudimentary knowledge of herbs, harvesting techniques, and harvesting equipment. She can hooks horses up to plows and carriages and tell the difference between a healing herb and a poisonous spice, but is fairly certain that these skills will be of no use anywhere other than R’uuya.
Naginata – The weapon Hana uses was crafted by her father: a shorter wooden staff with a thin, arm-length steel blade inserted at one end. Hana practiced with her brother Julian and her father to learn the techniques involving this weapon, and move with it without too much trouble, but is not entirely proficient with it yet. She knows a few defensive strategies, but other than these, she has more fun threatening to put someone’s eyes out than actually using it on a person.
Weapons
Hana’s sole weapon could be most closely approximated to a short naginata – A thin but sturdy staff of wood with a thin, arm-length steel blade inserted at the top end. Made by Hana’s father and used chiefly for self-defense. Hana also has a curved iron dagger kept at her waist, but she has never used it against a person – it is mostly for various chores and tasks around the house and while working.
Armor
Hana has never needed armor, particularly because any sort of covering would only make her hot and uncomfortable, and is unpractical in the desert.
Items
Dagger – see weapons. Hana has two or three pairs of earrings to interchange with her piercings, kept in a little pouch - some are decorated with tiny, colored beads. She also carries beaded combs for her hair, a cleaning cloth for her weapons, a packet of several herbs for healing and hygienic use, and some spare shirts and undergarments.
History
When Taye Dembi came to Fallien, his intention was to trade in the Spicefields of R’uuya. He was a tall, broad-chested man with skin even darker than that of the natives of Fallien, and he was a handsome one at that. He hailed from B’nesh, a desert country somewhat similar to Fallien. He won over the farmers and traders in R’uuya without so much as a second thought, and soon found himself building onto a hefty supply of spices and goods to take home.
A few nights before he was to return home on the earliest morning ship, Taye made one last trading stop at a small camp at the edge of the spicefields. However, his attention soon switched from the farmer’s herb stock to his eldest daughter, a young woman named Ulani Sinji. Instead of leaving, Taye stayed in the camp, offering to work alongside the farmer’s tribe with the daily work. He spent more and more time with Ulani, who – to the envy of her younger sisters – was as captivated by Taye as he was with her.
As time progressed, Taye became more and more adept at the art of cultivating spices and herbs, and he and Ulani made plans to be married. Despite protests from the rest of the tribe, the B’neshan man and Fallien woman defied tribal tradition and were married within the year. Taye was by now planning his own spicefields, and after lengthy discussion, he and his wife decided to separate from the Fallien tribe Ulani had grown up in. Her people were bitter about her marriage to an outsider, and Taye disliked the stiff religious inclinations of the Fallien people, as well as their xenophobia. They moved from the outside of R’uuya to its very center, where they built an isolated but prosperous farm for herbs.
They had twenty-five years of a happy marriage and three grown children to raise along with their herbs and spices and trades. Aysha, the firstborn, was twenty-four and already married and pregnant; Julian, the only son, was a soldier in training bound for duty at Jya’s Keep in Irrakam; and Lehana, the youngest, was….well, she wasn’t entirely sure yet. As the only child without a secured future, Hana was as a result slightly spoiled, and usually stuck working the fields with her parents.
Which is not to say she’d had an unhappy childhood – having siblings prevented her from totally spoiled, and working daily to harvest the spices and herbs gave her a good work ethic. Taye still took his wife’s surname to honor Fallien’s matriarchal society, but both he and Ulani disliked their neighbors’ fierce devotion to Suravani. They raised their children in the B’neshan faith, which involved praying to four major deities who were patrons for a certain three months of the year. Lehana seemed to embrace this religion more so than her siblings, and even went as far as to have the area around her navel tattooed with a bright yellow sun for the goddess of summer, Ghral. Like the other two children, she had piercings that corresponded to Taye’s people’s social system, despite the fact that the family was far away from any other B’neshans.
After Aysha announced she was pregnant and Julian decided to leave for Jya’s Keep in three months, Hana felt that she was going to be stuck in a dead-end job for years to come if she didn’t do something on her own soon. Her best bet was to find work elsewhere, and to take a break from the isolated home in R’uuya that she’d grown up in. She discussed the prospect of visiting the rest of Althanas with her family, and decided on leaving even after several mixed responses:
Taye: S’fine with me.…just make sure you don’t stay there forever and forget about us. We’re getting older, you know. Well, your mother is, anyway.
Ulani: Oh, shut up. Hana, ignore your father, he thinks you’re going to do what he did and run away with someone from another country. Speaking of which, make sure you take a coat, it’s a lot colder there. Oh, if you catch cold I’ll never be able to forgive myself.
Julian: She won’t catch cold. If anything, she’ll get herself killed by those mercenaries out there. Then again, she might be short enough to overlook in a crowd.
Aysha: Hey, while you’re there, buy me clothes, will you? I heard they make beautiful robes. And make sure they’re maternity!
After such a farewell, it was no surprise that Hana was hesitant about leaving. However, she knew that there were far more opportunities in the rest of Althanas than there were in the Fallien spicefields, and she made her way to the border without a second thought.