Evangeline Rastain
07-27-07, 07:21 PM
Name: Lithium
Age: 18
Race: Human
Hair Color: Pale Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 5’1”
Weight: 91 lb
Occupation: Adventurer
Personality: In order to first understand Lithium one must observe her interactions with others and cross-reference that with the exact nature of her relationship with that person. However one can make some generalizations about her based on these observations though they would never be entirely accurate. When dealing with her enemies—specifically those of whom she has a low opinion—Lithium has been known to show acute disdain for the particular foe, going as far as adopting a holier-than-though or even a mightier-than-thou attitude; even if circumstances do not warrant it. When faced with an opponent who is not particularly challenging, at least to her perception, she is oft to fling sharply barbed insults, and, in general degrade the individual’s self-esteem. When an opponent is a threat or one she respects, Lithium displays a quiet mask of grim determination, especially if it is circumstance and not choice that caused the armed altercation. Amongst strangers, or even those she has known for a time, but who she cannot accurately read, Lithium presents a recessive taciturnity, which she uses to avoid unnecessary conflict or insult. It is when she is with those she knows and trusts that Lithium becomes most lively. Ironically, it is also the falsest moments. Because she did not know true friendship for the majority of her life, Lithium is loathe to jeopardize a relationship by acting in a manner that her companions may find disquieting or even displeasing. How she would act around those she truly loves has yet to be seen or observed as she has yet to meet someone of that nature. Even with her master, whom she loved deeply, there was an inexplicable barrier betwixt them.
As a summary of her own persona, Lithium can be quick to judge on certain matters, especially those on which she has a strong opinion. But she is also quick to revise her own judgments based on new information. She has an open mind but it takes well validated evidence to change her preconceptions. She can be quite generous and almost saintly in her self-sacrificing actions, but just as normal humans she can also have her moments of selfish self-centeredness. She is empathetic rather than sympathetic, she seeks to understand rather than give lip service in condolence.
Appearance: The detached and dense would take one look at Lithium and think “short”, leaving it at that. But even those of the slightest spark of interest in life would mark her for the sheer irregularity of her appearance. Her “lacking of bodily altitude” as one passerby phrased it is just the beginning, the start, the blank slate, the empty canvas of all things visually Lithium. Following the natural tendency to remark upon her height, one notices the slightness of her build, not the usual starvation induced skeletal semblance that is the defining feature of street urchin who share her lack of imposing stature. No, her slenderness is far more elegant and graceful, markedly so due to the delicate caste of her skeletal structure. Her features are smooth, almost Elvin by the sharpness of the angled planes of her face. Her skin is pristine and white, like new porcelain. But it is her eyes that catch one’s gaze. They are haunting in the way they pierce whomever they observe, seeming to x-ray and coolly analyze what they see. But they are just as often bright, flashing with a humor that may or may not be shown externally. Her hair, which falls straight in enviable grace, is liken in color to the purest gold or the lightest honey and touches the eyes with a heady sweetness similar to that of the selfsame viscous elixir. It is worn loose so that it falls in semi-permanent congealed spiky tresses, which fall to just above shoulder level.
In her choice of clothing, Lithium does nothing to hide her slimness. A simple body length robe, which fits her lithe form flatteringly yet demurely, is her main choice of attire. It is black in color and goes from under her chin to just above ground level. The robe has a divided skirt to make travel, whether on foot or on horseback, easier. It is long-sleeved and hugs the curves of her body. The sleeves are secured by silver colored rings on the middle finger. She wears simple under garments, and soft leather boots that are good for both travel and comfort. When on the road, trail, or backwoods track, a simple standard traveler’s pack accompanies the ensemble.
History: Lithium grew up never knowing her parents. She was raised by a solitary monk in a monastery not far from a small farming village known as Gray Basin. It was named for the nearby basin, which was, of course, gray due to its high sediment content. Just as the name suggests, the inhabitants of Gray Basin were hardly gifted intellectually, and were not particularly partial to the monk, and by virtue of association, Lithium. They were a highly superstitious bunch and a man, bald by his own volition no less, who spent half the day “sittin’ ‘round wasitn’ good air”—as they called his meditation—and the other half producing just enough food to get by, was not looked upon as a source of spiritual inspiration. The barely civil mutterings of the local populace became nearly riotous when it became known that this man, who lived just to survive, had taken an infant of unknown origins under his roof. Oddly enough, though perhaps not on a second glance, there was no questioning whether child was his. It seemed popular opinion that the monk was entirely sterile.
Nevertheless, contrary to popular credence, this monk, who went by the name of Li, was actually a passable parent. Though the child and the monk’s relationship was certainly lacking that special bond that blood relatives hold for one another; that irrational loyalty, which can start wholesale feuds over the smallest of comments, they were certainly loving. Lithium held nothing but adoration for Li, who, for the first three years of Lithium’s life, went by “Yi” due to that classic children’s lisp. Li for his part was more reserved with his emotions, but they were present all the same.
Unbeknownst to, well anyone really, Li was a master of Taijustu, that is, hand-to-hand combat. Who he learned it from, if anyone, was likewise unknown, and Lithium simply took for granted the fact that Li was knowledgeable in this field. But as she grew older and came of age (around fifteen), Li began to instruct her in the ways of his Wushu, along with her daily chores. Lithium, for her part, was more than an able learner, and seemed naturally acclimated to Li’s art. However there was a natural discontinuity in her instruction. Li’s style was designed for an individual who was, yes, lean as a bean pole, but also a tall as one, where Lithium (pardon the pun) fell short. However this did not seem to get in the way as she adapted Li’s style into her own with surprising intuition and natural talent.
When Lithium neared her eighteenth birthday, the age when most girls in the village had already been married or at least betrothed, a sense of unrest began to steal over her everyday doings. The feeling filled her actions with a tenseness that was not missed by her guardian. On the day of her birth, or at least the day Li said it was her birth, he interrupted her meditation to speak to her. This was the first time ever that he had done such a thing and the enormity of that was not lost on Lithium. He told her that the feelings she had felt for the past few weeks were a natural desire to go out and test oneself. He had taught her all he could of the martial art and that only by going through the hardships of life would that knowledge be tempered by experience and wisdom; only then would her power grow. He presented her with some things he had been saving up for this occasion, all of them stored within a wood frame traveling pack.
With only a few short words of goodbye, Lithium left the valley of Gray Basin, and her former life behind. When she stopped for the first time to make camp, she found in her pack a short note written to her by Li. It read thus:
My dearest Lithium,
In my heart, soul and mind I have with me the secrets of your origin and nature, but such secrets are dangerous in the hands of those who cannot ably protect them. In the coming time of your journeys, you will gain strength, strength enough to protect these secrets as your own. When the time comes, and you will know when that is, return to me and I will reveal all.
With the deepest love,
Li
Skills:
Paradigm (Self Awareness)—the first thing Li taught Lithium, was to be aware of her self. Only by doing so would she be able to marshal the strength to defend what she held dear, whether that be a cause, person or ideal. Through years of meditation, lasting even longer than her actual martial lessons, she grew a striking awareness of her own self and body. What resulted was a severe increase in strength. Though she is diminutive in size, she is in possession of great bodily strength. She weighs little over ninety pounds but she has the strength of a well muscled man who weighs three times that. In addition, she has above average fortitude and endurance to pain and extremes of strain.
Taijutsu—translated it means hand-to-hand combat techniques. This is the method of combat taught to Lithium by her master and guardian, Li. The style is a highly adaptive one that involves the neutralization of an opponent through the redirection of said opponent’s force into harming himself rather than his original target. This is accomplished through highly conservative circular movement. All blocks are made with an open fist and very few attacks are made with a closed fist. Due to Lithium’s lack of actual mass, and therefore inertia, grappling is recessive to striking techniques. These strikes are designed to create openings in an opponent’s defense, or disable an opponent’s capabilities through targeted weak points, of which Lithium has above average knowledge.
Equipment: Other than the usual supplies needed for successful travel on the road; rations, water, bedroll, etcetera, the only items worth noting are a few minor healing potions, a healer’s kit designed to help in treating broken bones, excessive bleeding, poison, and some common diseases, and a curved hunting knife, which is more often used in cleaning freshly caught meals than cutting open Lithium’s few and far between enemies.
Age: 18
Race: Human
Hair Color: Pale Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 5’1”
Weight: 91 lb
Occupation: Adventurer
Personality: In order to first understand Lithium one must observe her interactions with others and cross-reference that with the exact nature of her relationship with that person. However one can make some generalizations about her based on these observations though they would never be entirely accurate. When dealing with her enemies—specifically those of whom she has a low opinion—Lithium has been known to show acute disdain for the particular foe, going as far as adopting a holier-than-though or even a mightier-than-thou attitude; even if circumstances do not warrant it. When faced with an opponent who is not particularly challenging, at least to her perception, she is oft to fling sharply barbed insults, and, in general degrade the individual’s self-esteem. When an opponent is a threat or one she respects, Lithium displays a quiet mask of grim determination, especially if it is circumstance and not choice that caused the armed altercation. Amongst strangers, or even those she has known for a time, but who she cannot accurately read, Lithium presents a recessive taciturnity, which she uses to avoid unnecessary conflict or insult. It is when she is with those she knows and trusts that Lithium becomes most lively. Ironically, it is also the falsest moments. Because she did not know true friendship for the majority of her life, Lithium is loathe to jeopardize a relationship by acting in a manner that her companions may find disquieting or even displeasing. How she would act around those she truly loves has yet to be seen or observed as she has yet to meet someone of that nature. Even with her master, whom she loved deeply, there was an inexplicable barrier betwixt them.
As a summary of her own persona, Lithium can be quick to judge on certain matters, especially those on which she has a strong opinion. But she is also quick to revise her own judgments based on new information. She has an open mind but it takes well validated evidence to change her preconceptions. She can be quite generous and almost saintly in her self-sacrificing actions, but just as normal humans she can also have her moments of selfish self-centeredness. She is empathetic rather than sympathetic, she seeks to understand rather than give lip service in condolence.
Appearance: The detached and dense would take one look at Lithium and think “short”, leaving it at that. But even those of the slightest spark of interest in life would mark her for the sheer irregularity of her appearance. Her “lacking of bodily altitude” as one passerby phrased it is just the beginning, the start, the blank slate, the empty canvas of all things visually Lithium. Following the natural tendency to remark upon her height, one notices the slightness of her build, not the usual starvation induced skeletal semblance that is the defining feature of street urchin who share her lack of imposing stature. No, her slenderness is far more elegant and graceful, markedly so due to the delicate caste of her skeletal structure. Her features are smooth, almost Elvin by the sharpness of the angled planes of her face. Her skin is pristine and white, like new porcelain. But it is her eyes that catch one’s gaze. They are haunting in the way they pierce whomever they observe, seeming to x-ray and coolly analyze what they see. But they are just as often bright, flashing with a humor that may or may not be shown externally. Her hair, which falls straight in enviable grace, is liken in color to the purest gold or the lightest honey and touches the eyes with a heady sweetness similar to that of the selfsame viscous elixir. It is worn loose so that it falls in semi-permanent congealed spiky tresses, which fall to just above shoulder level.
In her choice of clothing, Lithium does nothing to hide her slimness. A simple body length robe, which fits her lithe form flatteringly yet demurely, is her main choice of attire. It is black in color and goes from under her chin to just above ground level. The robe has a divided skirt to make travel, whether on foot or on horseback, easier. It is long-sleeved and hugs the curves of her body. The sleeves are secured by silver colored rings on the middle finger. She wears simple under garments, and soft leather boots that are good for both travel and comfort. When on the road, trail, or backwoods track, a simple standard traveler’s pack accompanies the ensemble.
History: Lithium grew up never knowing her parents. She was raised by a solitary monk in a monastery not far from a small farming village known as Gray Basin. It was named for the nearby basin, which was, of course, gray due to its high sediment content. Just as the name suggests, the inhabitants of Gray Basin were hardly gifted intellectually, and were not particularly partial to the monk, and by virtue of association, Lithium. They were a highly superstitious bunch and a man, bald by his own volition no less, who spent half the day “sittin’ ‘round wasitn’ good air”—as they called his meditation—and the other half producing just enough food to get by, was not looked upon as a source of spiritual inspiration. The barely civil mutterings of the local populace became nearly riotous when it became known that this man, who lived just to survive, had taken an infant of unknown origins under his roof. Oddly enough, though perhaps not on a second glance, there was no questioning whether child was his. It seemed popular opinion that the monk was entirely sterile.
Nevertheless, contrary to popular credence, this monk, who went by the name of Li, was actually a passable parent. Though the child and the monk’s relationship was certainly lacking that special bond that blood relatives hold for one another; that irrational loyalty, which can start wholesale feuds over the smallest of comments, they were certainly loving. Lithium held nothing but adoration for Li, who, for the first three years of Lithium’s life, went by “Yi” due to that classic children’s lisp. Li for his part was more reserved with his emotions, but they were present all the same.
Unbeknownst to, well anyone really, Li was a master of Taijustu, that is, hand-to-hand combat. Who he learned it from, if anyone, was likewise unknown, and Lithium simply took for granted the fact that Li was knowledgeable in this field. But as she grew older and came of age (around fifteen), Li began to instruct her in the ways of his Wushu, along with her daily chores. Lithium, for her part, was more than an able learner, and seemed naturally acclimated to Li’s art. However there was a natural discontinuity in her instruction. Li’s style was designed for an individual who was, yes, lean as a bean pole, but also a tall as one, where Lithium (pardon the pun) fell short. However this did not seem to get in the way as she adapted Li’s style into her own with surprising intuition and natural talent.
When Lithium neared her eighteenth birthday, the age when most girls in the village had already been married or at least betrothed, a sense of unrest began to steal over her everyday doings. The feeling filled her actions with a tenseness that was not missed by her guardian. On the day of her birth, or at least the day Li said it was her birth, he interrupted her meditation to speak to her. This was the first time ever that he had done such a thing and the enormity of that was not lost on Lithium. He told her that the feelings she had felt for the past few weeks were a natural desire to go out and test oneself. He had taught her all he could of the martial art and that only by going through the hardships of life would that knowledge be tempered by experience and wisdom; only then would her power grow. He presented her with some things he had been saving up for this occasion, all of them stored within a wood frame traveling pack.
With only a few short words of goodbye, Lithium left the valley of Gray Basin, and her former life behind. When she stopped for the first time to make camp, she found in her pack a short note written to her by Li. It read thus:
My dearest Lithium,
In my heart, soul and mind I have with me the secrets of your origin and nature, but such secrets are dangerous in the hands of those who cannot ably protect them. In the coming time of your journeys, you will gain strength, strength enough to protect these secrets as your own. When the time comes, and you will know when that is, return to me and I will reveal all.
With the deepest love,
Li
Skills:
Paradigm (Self Awareness)—the first thing Li taught Lithium, was to be aware of her self. Only by doing so would she be able to marshal the strength to defend what she held dear, whether that be a cause, person or ideal. Through years of meditation, lasting even longer than her actual martial lessons, she grew a striking awareness of her own self and body. What resulted was a severe increase in strength. Though she is diminutive in size, she is in possession of great bodily strength. She weighs little over ninety pounds but she has the strength of a well muscled man who weighs three times that. In addition, she has above average fortitude and endurance to pain and extremes of strain.
Taijutsu—translated it means hand-to-hand combat techniques. This is the method of combat taught to Lithium by her master and guardian, Li. The style is a highly adaptive one that involves the neutralization of an opponent through the redirection of said opponent’s force into harming himself rather than his original target. This is accomplished through highly conservative circular movement. All blocks are made with an open fist and very few attacks are made with a closed fist. Due to Lithium’s lack of actual mass, and therefore inertia, grappling is recessive to striking techniques. These strikes are designed to create openings in an opponent’s defense, or disable an opponent’s capabilities through targeted weak points, of which Lithium has above average knowledge.
Equipment: Other than the usual supplies needed for successful travel on the road; rations, water, bedroll, etcetera, the only items worth noting are a few minor healing potions, a healer’s kit designed to help in treating broken bones, excessive bleeding, poison, and some common diseases, and a curved hunting knife, which is more often used in cleaning freshly caught meals than cutting open Lithium’s few and far between enemies.