Astrid Whitepeak
01-21-14, 01:05 AM
Name: Astrid Whitepeak
Nickname/Alias: None
Age: 25
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Height: 5’ 6” (~167 cm)
Weight: 135 lbs (61 kg)
Occupation: Apprentice Weaver (formerly), Acolyte Witch Hunter (currently)
Personality:
Astrid is a polite and orderly young woman who strives to embody the virtues of her faith (selflessness, obedience, dedication to duty), and tends to be quite sociable and affable with strangers, except when they are enemies of her religion. She was (and still is) somewhat naive and tends to trust too easily, though recent events including the civil war and her time with the Hunters have been making her more jaded and worldly. Occasionally Astrid suffers from bouts of depression and anxiety brought on by her own actions and the horrors she has seen.
History:
Astrid grew up in a small town named Loshad, roughly a day’s ride west from Archen, where her mother was a weaver and her father was a trapper and hunter. While not a particularly important place in its own right, Loshad had the benefit of being on the way from a small river port on the Testhan River to Archen, and that meant many travelers and merchants chose to patronize the town’s inn on their way to and from the city. The travelers fascinated Astrid with tales of Orcs and Dark Elves and Dwarves while they nursed their ales, but it was a different kind of story that Astrid learned to appreciate; while spending her days working for her mother at the loom, Astrid would overhear gossip that no one thought to hide from a child’s ears. She began to collect the stories of which merchant had left his wife, and which priest was too fond of the drink, and who had sticky fingers at the local market. Soon she started to pay attention to the mannerisms of the people talking, watched the individuals they talked about, and even made a game of trying to decide who was lying or guilty. It never occurred to her that she was eavesdropping, or that she could use the gossip; Astrid simply enjoyed her quiet game. When Astrid wasn’t working with her mother, her father began teaching her the basics of tracking and hunting, something she found far more enjoyable and engaging than weaving (though she missed listening to the rumors floating around town while she was out). She became a fairly good shot under her father’s teaching, and even won several awards in the youth division of her town’s yearly festival’s archery contests.
It was during her teen years that Astrid discovered her life’s great passion: her faith in the Ethereal Sway. Shortly after Astrid’s fifteenth birthday, the local church’s elderly cleric invited an acolyte from Archen to study with him in the hopes that she would eventually take up the position from him when he stepped down. Though Astrid did not have the maturity to understand what was happening at the time, she would later look back fondly on those years and realize that she had developed her first intense crush on Yekaterina, the young acolyte. Astrid would follow Yekaterina around for hours on end, eagerly helping her with the various and sundry chores that needed to be done around the church, studying her reading and writing with her, and listening to her talk about the doctrines of the faith. While Astrid’s family had always been devout followers of the Church like most Salvic citizens, it wasn’t until Astrid started to listen to Yekaterina that she really began to try to understand what it meant to be a believer in the Ethereal Sway. What started as an attempt to curry favor with a crush became a legitimate interest in theology, Church history and the lives and works of the Saints. Soon Astrid began to think about becoming an acolyte in the Church herself. For Astrid’s eighteenth birthday Yekaterina gave her her personal copy of The Ethereal Texts and promised that she would visit her in Knife’s Edge if she decided to enter the clergy.
Unfortunately, just as Astrid was entering adulthood, the civil war broke out in Salvar and her entire world was turned upside-down. The first blow came when Yekaterina left Loshad to return to Archen and help with the Sway war effort in the early years of the conflict, after which Astrid never saw her again. The next came when Loshad was raided and put to the torch by Monarchist forces and Astrid and her family were forced to flee south. While on the way to Knife’s Edge where her father’s family lived and her parents were planning to stay for the remainder of the war, Astrid met a Sway aligned warband and in her anger at the Monarchists and nobility joined up with them as a scout. Because of her experience with tracking and hunting, Astrid was able to help the band with several ambushes and raids against supply convoys and camps, though she never took part in any major battles.
It was during her time with the soldiers that she met one of the Church’s Witch Hunters; as the war raged on many cultists, demon worshipers, witches and rogue mages rose up and took advantage of the chaos, and the Church once again called upon the Witch Hunters to fulfill their role in putting down these heretics and heathens. Although Astrid had immense respect for them and their conviction, the Hunters scared her and she wondered if their methods were excessive. All of that changed, however, after the first time the warband ran across the remains of a diabolist sacrificial altar. Nothing in the campfire stories and tavern gossip had prepared her for the grisly scene she found while out scouting, and when she returned to camp that night she asked the Hunters if she could work with them to punish whoever was responsible for that atrocity. It took some time, but when Astrid and the Hunters finally found the coven of diabolists, she reveled in the marriage of her two great loves: her faith in the Ethereal Sway and the hunt.
When the war ended several years later, Astrid decided to stay on with the Witch Hunters. Although she witnessed many horrors during her time in the war, nothing shook and angered her quite like the crimes committed by those witches and she decided that she would dedicate her life to ensuring that those who would associate with demons and use magic to harm innocents would be put to the sword. She thought that perhaps, in time, she would be able to settle down somewhere as a cleric and find peace in her faith, but for now she could not let these sinners escape justice. The Hunters accepted her as an acolyte and Astrid began her training under their tutelage, attending to them on their hunts and eventually being allowed to participate herself in some capacity or another. She currently travels with them across Salvar in their efforts to eradicate heresy, witchcraft and diabolism from their war-weary nation.
Occasionally, Astrid still thinks about looking for Yekaterina, but she recognizes it is something of a forlorn cause; although she has not entirely given up hope, many clerics and faithful of the Church were put to death after Archen was betrayed and Astrid realizes that Yekaterina was probably among those killed. Furthermore, Astrid’s training has left her little time to search for her onetime crush. But, should she ever have the time, Astrid hopes to put her hunting skills to the test and track down her best friend, even if the path leads to Yekaterina’s grave. Likewise, she is eager to find out how her parents are doing; she knows that they survived the war and live in Knife’s Edge, but she rarely has the time to write to them, let alone visit.
Appearance:
Astrid is a young woman with short cut, mousey brown hair, very pale skin and blue-grey eyes that always seem to be open wide as though she were startled. Having grown up on the edges of civilization where luxuries (and sometimes necessities) are somewhat scarce, Astrid has developed a wiry, lithe body with little in the way of curves, fat or excess muscle. She dresses simply and practically, preferring to wear pants to skirts and eschewing jewelry, silks and other finery.
Image: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Archer-182841695
(credit given to LauraTolton on Deviant Art)
Skills:
Marksmanship: - Astrid is a reasonably skilled archer, and the bow is her favored weapon.
Observant / Perceptive – Years of sitting and listening to others gossip while she was weaving have shown Astrid the benefits of keeping her mouth shut and her eyes and ears open. Astrid is decent at listening to rumors and finding the kernels of truth in them as well as seeing when others are trying to hide something.
Woodscraft – Growing up on the edge of civilization and serving as an army scout have taught Astrid the basics of moving quietly, tracking prey and surviving on the move.
Ethereal Sway Theology – Although not formally a member of the clergy, Astrid is well versed in the doctrines and apologia of her faith.
Abilities:
“Guide My Hand” – Pro: When Astrid feels she is acting in accordance with her faith / in defense of her religion, her convictions and the adrenaline allow her to aim just a little bit faster and shoot more accurately with her bow.
Con: When Astrid is torn about whether her actions are righteous, she hesitates and feels a bit slower and weaker.
“You Are My Shelter and Shield” – Pro: Astrid’s faith in the Ethereal Sway is a source of comfort and zeal even when times are tough or she is hurt; Astrid is capable of ignoring minor injuries for a short time (several minutes) in order to complete her holy tasks.
Con: Because of her belief that the Ethereal Sway is guiding / protecting her, Astrid willfully ignores her pain / exhaustion and suffers even more for it when she comes back to reality. Additionally, Astrid must feel that she is acting for her faith in order to use this ability.
“Suffer Not a Witch to Live” – The Church of the Ethereal Sway’s doctrines are clear; magic is meant to be controlled by the faith, and individuals who abuse its power must be hunted and punished. Pro: Astrid’s absolute certainty in this grants her minor resistance to magic damage / mind effecting spells.
Con: Astrid does not trust magic unless it is strictly regulated, and as such has a difficult time benefiting from or accepting “buffs” or other magical enhancements.
(Attn Mods: I am not sure if this is too power game-y and would like advice / recommendation for how to write this ability)
Weaknesses:
“My Brother, My Enemy” – The recent civil war in Salvar has shaken Astrid’s trust in her countrymen and has rendered her zealous in her faith; Astrid has a distrust of the noble classes, is not very tolerant of non-believers, and absolutely hates heretics.
“A Dark Night of the Soul” – Astrid believes deeply in the tenets of her faith, but has a hard time reconciling those tenets with the realities of the war she’s seen, hypocrisy in her Church and general human cruelty. She occasionally is gripped by deep bouts of depression and doubt.
Equipment/Weapons: A hunting bow and quiver of arrows, and a simple iron short-sword. A well read and much loved copy of The Ethereal Texts and prayers.
Languages: Salvic, Tradespeak
EDIT: Tried to clean up some of the grammar and spelling errors and added an image.
Nickname/Alias: None
Age: 25
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Height: 5’ 6” (~167 cm)
Weight: 135 lbs (61 kg)
Occupation: Apprentice Weaver (formerly), Acolyte Witch Hunter (currently)
Personality:
Astrid is a polite and orderly young woman who strives to embody the virtues of her faith (selflessness, obedience, dedication to duty), and tends to be quite sociable and affable with strangers, except when they are enemies of her religion. She was (and still is) somewhat naive and tends to trust too easily, though recent events including the civil war and her time with the Hunters have been making her more jaded and worldly. Occasionally Astrid suffers from bouts of depression and anxiety brought on by her own actions and the horrors she has seen.
History:
Astrid grew up in a small town named Loshad, roughly a day’s ride west from Archen, where her mother was a weaver and her father was a trapper and hunter. While not a particularly important place in its own right, Loshad had the benefit of being on the way from a small river port on the Testhan River to Archen, and that meant many travelers and merchants chose to patronize the town’s inn on their way to and from the city. The travelers fascinated Astrid with tales of Orcs and Dark Elves and Dwarves while they nursed their ales, but it was a different kind of story that Astrid learned to appreciate; while spending her days working for her mother at the loom, Astrid would overhear gossip that no one thought to hide from a child’s ears. She began to collect the stories of which merchant had left his wife, and which priest was too fond of the drink, and who had sticky fingers at the local market. Soon she started to pay attention to the mannerisms of the people talking, watched the individuals they talked about, and even made a game of trying to decide who was lying or guilty. It never occurred to her that she was eavesdropping, or that she could use the gossip; Astrid simply enjoyed her quiet game. When Astrid wasn’t working with her mother, her father began teaching her the basics of tracking and hunting, something she found far more enjoyable and engaging than weaving (though she missed listening to the rumors floating around town while she was out). She became a fairly good shot under her father’s teaching, and even won several awards in the youth division of her town’s yearly festival’s archery contests.
It was during her teen years that Astrid discovered her life’s great passion: her faith in the Ethereal Sway. Shortly after Astrid’s fifteenth birthday, the local church’s elderly cleric invited an acolyte from Archen to study with him in the hopes that she would eventually take up the position from him when he stepped down. Though Astrid did not have the maturity to understand what was happening at the time, she would later look back fondly on those years and realize that she had developed her first intense crush on Yekaterina, the young acolyte. Astrid would follow Yekaterina around for hours on end, eagerly helping her with the various and sundry chores that needed to be done around the church, studying her reading and writing with her, and listening to her talk about the doctrines of the faith. While Astrid’s family had always been devout followers of the Church like most Salvic citizens, it wasn’t until Astrid started to listen to Yekaterina that she really began to try to understand what it meant to be a believer in the Ethereal Sway. What started as an attempt to curry favor with a crush became a legitimate interest in theology, Church history and the lives and works of the Saints. Soon Astrid began to think about becoming an acolyte in the Church herself. For Astrid’s eighteenth birthday Yekaterina gave her her personal copy of The Ethereal Texts and promised that she would visit her in Knife’s Edge if she decided to enter the clergy.
Unfortunately, just as Astrid was entering adulthood, the civil war broke out in Salvar and her entire world was turned upside-down. The first blow came when Yekaterina left Loshad to return to Archen and help with the Sway war effort in the early years of the conflict, after which Astrid never saw her again. The next came when Loshad was raided and put to the torch by Monarchist forces and Astrid and her family were forced to flee south. While on the way to Knife’s Edge where her father’s family lived and her parents were planning to stay for the remainder of the war, Astrid met a Sway aligned warband and in her anger at the Monarchists and nobility joined up with them as a scout. Because of her experience with tracking and hunting, Astrid was able to help the band with several ambushes and raids against supply convoys and camps, though she never took part in any major battles.
It was during her time with the soldiers that she met one of the Church’s Witch Hunters; as the war raged on many cultists, demon worshipers, witches and rogue mages rose up and took advantage of the chaos, and the Church once again called upon the Witch Hunters to fulfill their role in putting down these heretics and heathens. Although Astrid had immense respect for them and their conviction, the Hunters scared her and she wondered if their methods were excessive. All of that changed, however, after the first time the warband ran across the remains of a diabolist sacrificial altar. Nothing in the campfire stories and tavern gossip had prepared her for the grisly scene she found while out scouting, and when she returned to camp that night she asked the Hunters if she could work with them to punish whoever was responsible for that atrocity. It took some time, but when Astrid and the Hunters finally found the coven of diabolists, she reveled in the marriage of her two great loves: her faith in the Ethereal Sway and the hunt.
When the war ended several years later, Astrid decided to stay on with the Witch Hunters. Although she witnessed many horrors during her time in the war, nothing shook and angered her quite like the crimes committed by those witches and she decided that she would dedicate her life to ensuring that those who would associate with demons and use magic to harm innocents would be put to the sword. She thought that perhaps, in time, she would be able to settle down somewhere as a cleric and find peace in her faith, but for now she could not let these sinners escape justice. The Hunters accepted her as an acolyte and Astrid began her training under their tutelage, attending to them on their hunts and eventually being allowed to participate herself in some capacity or another. She currently travels with them across Salvar in their efforts to eradicate heresy, witchcraft and diabolism from their war-weary nation.
Occasionally, Astrid still thinks about looking for Yekaterina, but she recognizes it is something of a forlorn cause; although she has not entirely given up hope, many clerics and faithful of the Church were put to death after Archen was betrayed and Astrid realizes that Yekaterina was probably among those killed. Furthermore, Astrid’s training has left her little time to search for her onetime crush. But, should she ever have the time, Astrid hopes to put her hunting skills to the test and track down her best friend, even if the path leads to Yekaterina’s grave. Likewise, she is eager to find out how her parents are doing; she knows that they survived the war and live in Knife’s Edge, but she rarely has the time to write to them, let alone visit.
Appearance:
Astrid is a young woman with short cut, mousey brown hair, very pale skin and blue-grey eyes that always seem to be open wide as though she were startled. Having grown up on the edges of civilization where luxuries (and sometimes necessities) are somewhat scarce, Astrid has developed a wiry, lithe body with little in the way of curves, fat or excess muscle. She dresses simply and practically, preferring to wear pants to skirts and eschewing jewelry, silks and other finery.
Image: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Archer-182841695
(credit given to LauraTolton on Deviant Art)
Skills:
Marksmanship: - Astrid is a reasonably skilled archer, and the bow is her favored weapon.
Observant / Perceptive – Years of sitting and listening to others gossip while she was weaving have shown Astrid the benefits of keeping her mouth shut and her eyes and ears open. Astrid is decent at listening to rumors and finding the kernels of truth in them as well as seeing when others are trying to hide something.
Woodscraft – Growing up on the edge of civilization and serving as an army scout have taught Astrid the basics of moving quietly, tracking prey and surviving on the move.
Ethereal Sway Theology – Although not formally a member of the clergy, Astrid is well versed in the doctrines and apologia of her faith.
Abilities:
“Guide My Hand” – Pro: When Astrid feels she is acting in accordance with her faith / in defense of her religion, her convictions and the adrenaline allow her to aim just a little bit faster and shoot more accurately with her bow.
Con: When Astrid is torn about whether her actions are righteous, she hesitates and feels a bit slower and weaker.
“You Are My Shelter and Shield” – Pro: Astrid’s faith in the Ethereal Sway is a source of comfort and zeal even when times are tough or she is hurt; Astrid is capable of ignoring minor injuries for a short time (several minutes) in order to complete her holy tasks.
Con: Because of her belief that the Ethereal Sway is guiding / protecting her, Astrid willfully ignores her pain / exhaustion and suffers even more for it when she comes back to reality. Additionally, Astrid must feel that she is acting for her faith in order to use this ability.
“Suffer Not a Witch to Live” – The Church of the Ethereal Sway’s doctrines are clear; magic is meant to be controlled by the faith, and individuals who abuse its power must be hunted and punished. Pro: Astrid’s absolute certainty in this grants her minor resistance to magic damage / mind effecting spells.
Con: Astrid does not trust magic unless it is strictly regulated, and as such has a difficult time benefiting from or accepting “buffs” or other magical enhancements.
(Attn Mods: I am not sure if this is too power game-y and would like advice / recommendation for how to write this ability)
Weaknesses:
“My Brother, My Enemy” – The recent civil war in Salvar has shaken Astrid’s trust in her countrymen and has rendered her zealous in her faith; Astrid has a distrust of the noble classes, is not very tolerant of non-believers, and absolutely hates heretics.
“A Dark Night of the Soul” – Astrid believes deeply in the tenets of her faith, but has a hard time reconciling those tenets with the realities of the war she’s seen, hypocrisy in her Church and general human cruelty. She occasionally is gripped by deep bouts of depression and doubt.
Equipment/Weapons: A hunting bow and quiver of arrows, and a simple iron short-sword. A well read and much loved copy of The Ethereal Texts and prayers.
Languages: Salvic, Tradespeak
EDIT: Tried to clean up some of the grammar and spelling errors and added an image.