Ilona
02-08-17, 11:54 PM
Full Name: Hanamene Ilona Heartwood
Current Alias: Ilona.
Prior Aliases: Lo or Ona.
Childhood Nickname: Hana.
Age: Unknown, believes herself to be 30 but appears closer to 20 years of age.
Race: Raised by a Salvarian lord, appears Human / Mixed Blood: Fae (Element Unknown) & Siren.
Hair Color: Sandy blonde.
Eye Color: Olive green.
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 128lbs
Occupation: None, specifically. Occasionally takes on the role of advisor, healer, bard or guide. In times of war, she’d be best suited as a tactician.
Personality:
Ilona is as much an old soul as a lost one, in search of her place in the world. Most of the time, she operates as calm, cool and collected. An aloof or enigmatic nature upon first impression, her reserved personality can sometimes mean missing out on the opportunity to form important connections. This is not a betrayal of some inherent shyness, so much as it is evidence of someone who spends a lot of time in their own head and is selective about the company she keeps. Those more familiar with her might refer to her as kind, thoughtful… even, unexpectedly, witty. The latter usually materializes as insightful rapport.
When slighted or incited, however, her well-spoken nature can spiral into venom – having a tendency to respond in harsh truths, and despite their accuracy such truths are no less hurtful. In many ways, she lives by a self-righteous code of ethics and that self-fashioned morality may cause some to see her as hypocritical, stubborn or hard to please on occasion.
Ultimately, she is driven by an ongoing search for purpose albeit often suffers from the uncertainty of what that purpose should be.
Unlike her religious father, whose devotions to the Church of the Ethereal Sway meant shunning magic altogether, Ilona has always had a curiosity about such and is quite drawn to those who practice it.
Appearance:
She appears entirely human. At first glance, she’s the bearing of the “fair maiden” as has been told in many old and romantic tales. Sandy blonde hair reaching the middle of her back, in subtle waves, with a preference to wear her hair loose but she will generally adhere to the styles and customs of the places she travels to or, for formal occasions, may braid it or pin it up. She’s also of a primarily limber build, with shapely (perhaps strong) shoulders and long limbs contributing to a graceful stride. She’s more inclined to offer a subtle smirk than a broad smile. Ultimately, there is more to her than this though the truth of her birth remains ever a mystery, even unto herself. She has an intelligent, some might say disarmingly aware, gaze of bright, olive green eyes that, upon closer inspection, betray flecks of gold. By human standards, there is nothing too obviously out of the ordinary about her save for perhaps, a sense or suspicion that is hard to explain or name.
She is conventional in dress, without much preference for lavish attire. Hygiene, however, is important to her, though she will attempt to downplay her fussiness when forced to “rough it”.
Ilona’s current garb consists of a tailored but plain looking white shirt and masculine style trousers and boots, specifically of fabrics, like vlince, and leathers in the Corone style.
History:
Her father was Lord Henrik Heartwood, a nobleman of Tirel and devout worshipper of the Ethereal Sway. Seemingly born to a life of privilege, she was raised as the apple of her father’s eye – much to the disdain of her distant, if not altogether unloving, mother - Margaretha. Their family was wealthy and, as was common among the aristocracy, she was betrothed at an early age; promised in marriage to an illustrious family of “old nobility” from Uroda. Little did she know, her mother had been having an affair with her soon to be father-in-law; a widower in his own right.
Her world came crashing down upon the unexpected death of her beloved father, months before she was to be married to the Urodin lord’s son. When he died, her mother not only disowned her but revealed that she, the only mother Hanamene had ever known, had not borne Hanamene at all. In fact, to further bolster the shocking revelation, Margaretha had their family physician testify before the courts that Margaretha was, and had always been, unable to bear children. Adding insult to injury, Margaretha also claimed that she’d been less of a wife to Henrik and more his hostage for the entirety of their marriage – an outright lie albeit one that Hanamene eventually understood served to benefit Margaretha in positioning herself as the widower’s new bride in lieu of the marriage of Hanamene to one of his sons.
Though disgraced, Hanamene – having been well-educated by her father and some of the best tutors in the land – fought for and won her right to keep her father’s surname. This was a lengthy spectacle in the Salvar courts and, although Margaretha was able to prove she did not give birth to her – no one could actually disprove that Henrik was not Hanamene’s father. Margaretha, however, furthermore shocked the courts – and Hanamene, for that matter – by the accusation that Hanamene was, in fact, adopted and not of Henrik’s blood after all. She claimed that Henrik, a secretive man and something of an adventurer in his own right, had returned from an expedition somewhere in the east with a babe in tow. They would raise this child, he had told Margaretha, as their own. To Hanamene’s outrage, Margaretha claimed to have agreed to the ruse for fear of her husband’s ire – but Hanamene knew only of her father’s kindness. After much deliberation, the courts allowed Hanamene a modest inheritance albeit a very small portion of the fortune Margaretha came to possess as Henrik’s widow. By then end of it all, Hanamene was glad to leave this betrayal behind her and set out on a new life.
However, beginning anew was not as easy as it initially presented itself. She left Tirel for Eiskalt for a time and, despite never questioning the paternal affection of Henrik, was left with many questions following Margaretha’s claims. After that, she spent many years following in her father’s footsteps, quite literally – retracing the steps of some of his travels in the hopes of finding her real mother, to secure any kind of validation of her birth, or… to find whatever truth awaited her. Using her father’s journals as a guide, she found herself exploring places she’d only ever mused about in her youth. She boarded a ship to Raiaera, spending nearly a year in Tor Elythis where she sought out the magi of the White Spire to help her translate some of the stranger entries – written in what seemed to be a very old form of High Elven – in her father’s records. She had never known him to speak Elvish. It was a strange thing and Elvish was not the only language scribbled in his journals, but even the magi of the White Spire could not identify the other unusual writings. She allowed them to keep most of her father’s journals, in the hopes that they’d one day provide some kind of clarity for her. From Tor Elythis, she found herself in, of all places, Beinost. There, she consulted the College Arcana as well – to a similar outcome save for the revelation in one translation that mentioned Corone and Scara Brae in the same, thoroughly confusing, sentence.
Instead of quantifiable answers, her travels have secured for her only more questions. She realized that perhaps the father she had idolized and adored, was not the man she had held so dear in her memory after all. When she traveled, following in his footsteps, it seemed people remembered him quite differently from one place to the next. Nonetheless, she did not believe Margaretha’s claims of mistreatment by Henrik’s hand – but Hanamene began to realize, and to accept, that she might very well never discover the truth for certain.
With that realization, she has since remained ever a traveler of sorts. Though one without a defined purpose. Occasionally a loner, passing through this or that region, while at other times a temporary companion, to uphold this or that cause – the only tangible aspect of her life that remains now is the compulsion to journey on, and to leave the heart aches of her past behind her. Some call it running away, Hanamene calls it moving forward. Part of that meant distancing herself from the scandal attached to her name, thus she generally goes by her middle name – Ilona – one that has been more commonly attributed to various women within the Heartwood family over the decades. Even so, she will often use variations of the name Ilona (e.g. Lo, Lona or Ona) depending on her travels.
Presently, she uses the name Ilona Heartwood. In more recent years, she’s spent some time in both bardic and scholarly social circles.
Languages:
Salvic: She is fluent as this is her mother tongue.
Tradespeak / Common: She is fluent as this is the common tongue.
High Elven (basic proficiency): She can hold a conversation in this language, in addition to the common tongue of Tradespeak, but sometimes needs to use common words when she’s at a loss for the proper Elven equivalent. As for reading or writing High Elven, she can only really make out or jot down certain frequently used words.
Skills:
Well-educated: She can read, write and can offer geographic, historical or economic insights to those willing to listen.
Mediation / Diplomacy: Given her overall education and calm demeanor, she is skilled at arbitration as well as bringing people together.
Herbal Medicine: Capable of assisting the ill or injured using natural remedies, this was part of her formal education.
Foraging: She is able to identify and collect herbal ingredients in wilderness conditions, and whether or not they are edible or not.
Singing: It is said that when she sings, which is rare despite a more common habit of humming to herself, those who hear it almost truly experience the emotions she conveys in the melodies themselves.
Strong Swimmer: She can tread rougher waters and hold her breath under water better and longer than most land-folk, though not indefinitely.
Functional swordplay (defense): In her youth, her father humored many of her caprices. Among those was a fleeting interest in learning the use of a sword. Ilona never really graduated her offensive skills, but she learned to block and parry tolerably.
Navigation: Given her travels, she’s developed a strong sense of direction over the years.
Abilities:
Charisma / Silver Tongue (latent Siren racial / magical ability): When Ilona experiences very strong emotions, it seems her words carry a little extra weight to them – some would say a hypnotic effect. It may have had a hand in the courts allowing her any inheritance at all. She is completely unaware of this and as such has not been able to harness or sustain the ability reliably. In her mind, not knowing the truth of her birth, she’s simply an efficient and persuasive public speaker. This often correlates with her emotive singing skill.
Detect Magic (Fae racial ability): Unknown to her, as her heritage has yet to be revealed, Ilona’s attraction toward magic is simply in her blood. She is inexplicably drawn to the people, places and things that possess it. When even furtive spells are cast, Ilona experiences a strange, hard-to-explain awareness to their presence. For example, she might not outright see an individual cloaked with an enchantment of invisibility but she will experience the general sense that she is not alone.
Dexterity (Fae & Siren mixed-racial ability): Ilona simply believes she is quick on her feet, but compared to the average human there is a clearly marked difference in the fluidity of her swiftness and reflexes. This lends to her basic skill with the sword, forming a primarily defensive and evasive style (which can be a bit annoying to those with more aggressive fighting styles).
Other:
Ilona has an allergy to cold iron. The result of such is not instantaneous but if worn or held too long, her skin will rash and eventually, perhaps, burn or blister.
She’s also suffered from unsettling dreams, bordering on nightmares, since she was a child – only ever dreaming of those she has known in her lifetime who have passed. In recent years, she frequently dreams of Henrik – but has yet to make sense of it let alone recognize is as any other than the norm.
Equipment:
Young Henrik’s Sword: While her father was buried with the great sword he bore ere his death, the blade of Henrik’s formative years, a young man’s sword, is belted in a scabbard at her hip. Lighter in weight, simple enough to manage, and lacking in the ornate pageantry of an aristocratic family heirloom – it serves mainly to deter would-be pick-pockets.
Henrik’s Journals: Her father kept a variety of leather-bound journals documenting his travels and expeditions over the course of his lifetime. Ilona currently holds two in her possession, the rest remain in Tor Elythis and Beinost.
Familiars:
None.
Current Alias: Ilona.
Prior Aliases: Lo or Ona.
Childhood Nickname: Hana.
Age: Unknown, believes herself to be 30 but appears closer to 20 years of age.
Race: Raised by a Salvarian lord, appears Human / Mixed Blood: Fae (Element Unknown) & Siren.
Hair Color: Sandy blonde.
Eye Color: Olive green.
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 128lbs
Occupation: None, specifically. Occasionally takes on the role of advisor, healer, bard or guide. In times of war, she’d be best suited as a tactician.
Personality:
Ilona is as much an old soul as a lost one, in search of her place in the world. Most of the time, she operates as calm, cool and collected. An aloof or enigmatic nature upon first impression, her reserved personality can sometimes mean missing out on the opportunity to form important connections. This is not a betrayal of some inherent shyness, so much as it is evidence of someone who spends a lot of time in their own head and is selective about the company she keeps. Those more familiar with her might refer to her as kind, thoughtful… even, unexpectedly, witty. The latter usually materializes as insightful rapport.
When slighted or incited, however, her well-spoken nature can spiral into venom – having a tendency to respond in harsh truths, and despite their accuracy such truths are no less hurtful. In many ways, she lives by a self-righteous code of ethics and that self-fashioned morality may cause some to see her as hypocritical, stubborn or hard to please on occasion.
Ultimately, she is driven by an ongoing search for purpose albeit often suffers from the uncertainty of what that purpose should be.
Unlike her religious father, whose devotions to the Church of the Ethereal Sway meant shunning magic altogether, Ilona has always had a curiosity about such and is quite drawn to those who practice it.
Appearance:
She appears entirely human. At first glance, she’s the bearing of the “fair maiden” as has been told in many old and romantic tales. Sandy blonde hair reaching the middle of her back, in subtle waves, with a preference to wear her hair loose but she will generally adhere to the styles and customs of the places she travels to or, for formal occasions, may braid it or pin it up. She’s also of a primarily limber build, with shapely (perhaps strong) shoulders and long limbs contributing to a graceful stride. She’s more inclined to offer a subtle smirk than a broad smile. Ultimately, there is more to her than this though the truth of her birth remains ever a mystery, even unto herself. She has an intelligent, some might say disarmingly aware, gaze of bright, olive green eyes that, upon closer inspection, betray flecks of gold. By human standards, there is nothing too obviously out of the ordinary about her save for perhaps, a sense or suspicion that is hard to explain or name.
She is conventional in dress, without much preference for lavish attire. Hygiene, however, is important to her, though she will attempt to downplay her fussiness when forced to “rough it”.
Ilona’s current garb consists of a tailored but plain looking white shirt and masculine style trousers and boots, specifically of fabrics, like vlince, and leathers in the Corone style.
History:
Her father was Lord Henrik Heartwood, a nobleman of Tirel and devout worshipper of the Ethereal Sway. Seemingly born to a life of privilege, she was raised as the apple of her father’s eye – much to the disdain of her distant, if not altogether unloving, mother - Margaretha. Their family was wealthy and, as was common among the aristocracy, she was betrothed at an early age; promised in marriage to an illustrious family of “old nobility” from Uroda. Little did she know, her mother had been having an affair with her soon to be father-in-law; a widower in his own right.
Her world came crashing down upon the unexpected death of her beloved father, months before she was to be married to the Urodin lord’s son. When he died, her mother not only disowned her but revealed that she, the only mother Hanamene had ever known, had not borne Hanamene at all. In fact, to further bolster the shocking revelation, Margaretha had their family physician testify before the courts that Margaretha was, and had always been, unable to bear children. Adding insult to injury, Margaretha also claimed that she’d been less of a wife to Henrik and more his hostage for the entirety of their marriage – an outright lie albeit one that Hanamene eventually understood served to benefit Margaretha in positioning herself as the widower’s new bride in lieu of the marriage of Hanamene to one of his sons.
Though disgraced, Hanamene – having been well-educated by her father and some of the best tutors in the land – fought for and won her right to keep her father’s surname. This was a lengthy spectacle in the Salvar courts and, although Margaretha was able to prove she did not give birth to her – no one could actually disprove that Henrik was not Hanamene’s father. Margaretha, however, furthermore shocked the courts – and Hanamene, for that matter – by the accusation that Hanamene was, in fact, adopted and not of Henrik’s blood after all. She claimed that Henrik, a secretive man and something of an adventurer in his own right, had returned from an expedition somewhere in the east with a babe in tow. They would raise this child, he had told Margaretha, as their own. To Hanamene’s outrage, Margaretha claimed to have agreed to the ruse for fear of her husband’s ire – but Hanamene knew only of her father’s kindness. After much deliberation, the courts allowed Hanamene a modest inheritance albeit a very small portion of the fortune Margaretha came to possess as Henrik’s widow. By then end of it all, Hanamene was glad to leave this betrayal behind her and set out on a new life.
However, beginning anew was not as easy as it initially presented itself. She left Tirel for Eiskalt for a time and, despite never questioning the paternal affection of Henrik, was left with many questions following Margaretha’s claims. After that, she spent many years following in her father’s footsteps, quite literally – retracing the steps of some of his travels in the hopes of finding her real mother, to secure any kind of validation of her birth, or… to find whatever truth awaited her. Using her father’s journals as a guide, she found herself exploring places she’d only ever mused about in her youth. She boarded a ship to Raiaera, spending nearly a year in Tor Elythis where she sought out the magi of the White Spire to help her translate some of the stranger entries – written in what seemed to be a very old form of High Elven – in her father’s records. She had never known him to speak Elvish. It was a strange thing and Elvish was not the only language scribbled in his journals, but even the magi of the White Spire could not identify the other unusual writings. She allowed them to keep most of her father’s journals, in the hopes that they’d one day provide some kind of clarity for her. From Tor Elythis, she found herself in, of all places, Beinost. There, she consulted the College Arcana as well – to a similar outcome save for the revelation in one translation that mentioned Corone and Scara Brae in the same, thoroughly confusing, sentence.
Instead of quantifiable answers, her travels have secured for her only more questions. She realized that perhaps the father she had idolized and adored, was not the man she had held so dear in her memory after all. When she traveled, following in his footsteps, it seemed people remembered him quite differently from one place to the next. Nonetheless, she did not believe Margaretha’s claims of mistreatment by Henrik’s hand – but Hanamene began to realize, and to accept, that she might very well never discover the truth for certain.
With that realization, she has since remained ever a traveler of sorts. Though one without a defined purpose. Occasionally a loner, passing through this or that region, while at other times a temporary companion, to uphold this or that cause – the only tangible aspect of her life that remains now is the compulsion to journey on, and to leave the heart aches of her past behind her. Some call it running away, Hanamene calls it moving forward. Part of that meant distancing herself from the scandal attached to her name, thus she generally goes by her middle name – Ilona – one that has been more commonly attributed to various women within the Heartwood family over the decades. Even so, she will often use variations of the name Ilona (e.g. Lo, Lona or Ona) depending on her travels.
Presently, she uses the name Ilona Heartwood. In more recent years, she’s spent some time in both bardic and scholarly social circles.
Languages:
Salvic: She is fluent as this is her mother tongue.
Tradespeak / Common: She is fluent as this is the common tongue.
High Elven (basic proficiency): She can hold a conversation in this language, in addition to the common tongue of Tradespeak, but sometimes needs to use common words when she’s at a loss for the proper Elven equivalent. As for reading or writing High Elven, she can only really make out or jot down certain frequently used words.
Skills:
Well-educated: She can read, write and can offer geographic, historical or economic insights to those willing to listen.
Mediation / Diplomacy: Given her overall education and calm demeanor, she is skilled at arbitration as well as bringing people together.
Herbal Medicine: Capable of assisting the ill or injured using natural remedies, this was part of her formal education.
Foraging: She is able to identify and collect herbal ingredients in wilderness conditions, and whether or not they are edible or not.
Singing: It is said that when she sings, which is rare despite a more common habit of humming to herself, those who hear it almost truly experience the emotions she conveys in the melodies themselves.
Strong Swimmer: She can tread rougher waters and hold her breath under water better and longer than most land-folk, though not indefinitely.
Functional swordplay (defense): In her youth, her father humored many of her caprices. Among those was a fleeting interest in learning the use of a sword. Ilona never really graduated her offensive skills, but she learned to block and parry tolerably.
Navigation: Given her travels, she’s developed a strong sense of direction over the years.
Abilities:
Charisma / Silver Tongue (latent Siren racial / magical ability): When Ilona experiences very strong emotions, it seems her words carry a little extra weight to them – some would say a hypnotic effect. It may have had a hand in the courts allowing her any inheritance at all. She is completely unaware of this and as such has not been able to harness or sustain the ability reliably. In her mind, not knowing the truth of her birth, she’s simply an efficient and persuasive public speaker. This often correlates with her emotive singing skill.
Detect Magic (Fae racial ability): Unknown to her, as her heritage has yet to be revealed, Ilona’s attraction toward magic is simply in her blood. She is inexplicably drawn to the people, places and things that possess it. When even furtive spells are cast, Ilona experiences a strange, hard-to-explain awareness to their presence. For example, she might not outright see an individual cloaked with an enchantment of invisibility but she will experience the general sense that she is not alone.
Dexterity (Fae & Siren mixed-racial ability): Ilona simply believes she is quick on her feet, but compared to the average human there is a clearly marked difference in the fluidity of her swiftness and reflexes. This lends to her basic skill with the sword, forming a primarily defensive and evasive style (which can be a bit annoying to those with more aggressive fighting styles).
Other:
Ilona has an allergy to cold iron. The result of such is not instantaneous but if worn or held too long, her skin will rash and eventually, perhaps, burn or blister.
She’s also suffered from unsettling dreams, bordering on nightmares, since she was a child – only ever dreaming of those she has known in her lifetime who have passed. In recent years, she frequently dreams of Henrik – but has yet to make sense of it let alone recognize is as any other than the norm.
Equipment:
Young Henrik’s Sword: While her father was buried with the great sword he bore ere his death, the blade of Henrik’s formative years, a young man’s sword, is belted in a scabbard at her hip. Lighter in weight, simple enough to manage, and lacking in the ornate pageantry of an aristocratic family heirloom – it serves mainly to deter would-be pick-pockets.
Henrik’s Journals: Her father kept a variety of leather-bound journals documenting his travels and expeditions over the course of his lifetime. Ilona currently holds two in her possession, the rest remain in Tor Elythis and Beinost.
Familiars:
None.