Hurra!

[b]Basics[/b]

Full Name: Tala Aranel Ivanova
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Race: Human/elven halfing

[b]Appearance [/b]

Physical Description: [url=http://ariefx3.deviantart.com/art/Red-Hooded-Girl-II-287805907]Clicky for image[/url]
As a halfing, Tala takes mostly after her human father. She isn't too tall, just about 160 cm. Her ears are round, but her eyes are unmistakably elvish, as is her smooth skin and body language. Her face is usually mostly obscured by her anthracite hair, red hood and equally colored scarf. Her build is lean and agile and obviously not strong. 

Clothing and armor:
When in comfortable environment such as a house or ship cabin, Tala likes to wear a long grey skirt and loose blouse of the same color, coupled with her brown work apron, so she can have her tools at hand at all times. Her outfit for outside consists of warm tunic and pants with hard leather pads sewn on to allow traversing rough terrain easily and without damage to the apparel. While the outfit is relatively sturdy, it offers next to no protection in a fight. Omnipresent is her red hooded cloak, often paired with a scarf of the same color. Her shoes are a pair of sturdy combat boots.

Other:
She wears a ring which is a symbol of her membership and rank in the alchemist's guild. The ring is made of gold with 4 runes and 4 gemstones spaced equally around it's circumference, each pair representing one of the four elements. The ring ranks her as a member. Tala also always carries a leather satchel with a trapped lock (Releases a charge of extremely potent mixture of itching powder and pepper extract if opened the wrong way), in which she keeps a basic field tools as well as some supplies and her money. 

[b]Background[/b]

Faction: Volunteer

A daughter of a farmer, Tala spent her childhood working on the field. Her mother died giving her birth, leaving her without a woman figure in her life. Naturally a bit lazy person, instead of slacking off Tala found herself ways to make her work easier, tinkering with the tools. Having no desire to live without his wife, not even for his child, Tala's father withered and perished in the following winter, leaving the 10 year old Tala orphaned.

Taken by an alchemist from the orphanage at the age of 14, Tala worked in the house as a maid, and often as extra pair of hands for the scientist. Inspired to study the art, she begged her master to teach her, but was shooed away as a lowly woman. It wasn't until she took care of the rat problem in the house with a poison she made herself that her master reconsidered, reluctantly taking her as an apprentice.

He soon discovered the girl had natural talent for the art, partly due to her superior half elven intelligence and senses. when she reached the age of 18, Tala sold her neglected farm to the neighbors and used the money to craft her member's ring. Along with passing the tests given to her by her master, she finally gained membership in the Alchemists' guild. In need of a job, she volunteered for the cutlass, hoping to find rare or new materials on the forgotten island.

Tala doesn't talk too much in a crowd, preferring to stick to her cabin where she either studies or does her thing, be it grinding spices for the ship's cooks or fixing the navigator's sextant. When in a small group or between four eyes though, she is quite friendly and will open up. Unless you visited her, you don't know much of the above.

[b]Moral Alignment [/b]

Selflessness: Very 1. If she can run faster than you, she will do so and hope the dragon will be busy eating you while she legs it.

Snobbery: 8. Unless you're a filthy bum with rotten odor, she will not shy from anyone.

Racist Tendencies: Tala is not particularly fond of 'dumb' creatures such as goblins, trolls, orcs... However she will not openly proclaim it, but rather try to avoid their company.

Piety: 3. As an alchemist, she believes quite firmly that nature is governed by set laws and not divine will, but she will admit it all seems too perfect for being a 'coincidence'. In other words, she believes in higher power, but will not call it God.

Justice: 5. Depending on the situation.

Sexist Tendencies: 2. Being on the receiving end of sexist behavior for quite some time, she's not afraid to rub it into Male faces that they are lost without women. 

[b]Combat[/b] 

Main Skills: Tala is no good fighting on her own, but is very effective at supporting others. This is proportional to how much preparation was she able to do - Did she have time to prepare tools? Could she survey the terrain? Is there enough time to lay traps? Are we in defense? - It all counts.

Secondary Skills: She is agile and has high stamina, meaning she can flee really well. Incidentally, it makes her a good messenger.

Primary Weapon: Variety of tools she prepares before engaging - Smoke fizzles, boomsticks, poisons and the like.

Secondary Weapon: Whatever she has on her at the moment, usually supplies form her satchel.

Hidden/Stored Weapons: Tala carries a hunting knife. If she is assisting hunters, she is reasonably skilled with a hunting bow, but lacks the strength to operate the combat ones.

[b]Passive/Support[/b]

Main Skills: Tala is an all around alchemist, but her most developed skills concern the part you could call chemistry. She would be easily able to replenish the Cutlass' stores of black powder and able to process ores, cut gemstones and cast metals.

Secondary Skills: The other fields of alchemical studies include engineering (notably clockwork) and pharmacy.

Items of Note: Tala has a large tome of alchemy and her cabin on the cutlass is stacked with herbs and some rarer materials she needs to prepare potions, salves, construct traps and the like.

[b]Anti-Godmod 3000[/b]

Achlies’ Heel: Getting surprised and being left alone.

[b]Trivia[/b]

- Tala carries a deck of cards on her. Whether the girl is simply a good player or the deck is marked is unknown, but none of the cutlass' crew identified any markings on them yet.
- The girl is a bit vain, using easily recognizable rose perfume of her own making.
- She is very keen on chocolate and hoards a supply stored in a safe place. Do not touch, or face her wrath.
- As an alchemist, she has job based rivalry with mages and secret admiration for thieves.
- [hider=Alchemists' Guild]An organization setting standards for the profession, much like any other guild, be it bakers' or merchants'. The guild's hierarchy is made to distinguish skill levels of the alchemists and also to provide an ethical codex. Of course, there are rogue alchemists who do not follow the guild's laws. The rank of the alchemist is symbolized by their ring of varying degrees of quality. The highest contract an Alchemist can make is offering their ring, which binds them to serve their master to the end of time.

The guild ranks:
- Apprentice - simple ring of lesser metals, decorated by engravings: Apprentices are the youngest trainees of the guild. While they may have the skill to, they are not permitted to accept payment in coin for their services. It is all right if they receive naturalia as reward.
- Member - Golden ring decorated by engravings and rarities, such as gemstones: A proper alchemist who passed the tests and proven their goods are of required quality.
- Master - A golden ring with a large, dominating rarity: A seasoned member of the guild, whose abilities are oftentimes required to run a successful business, such as a forge. they often specialize only in one area of alchemy, but very thoroughly.
- High master - A mechanical ring, usually with a spring powered clock function: The prodigies of the guild, who are able to create magnificent things, like clockwork powered animated constructs, royal jewelry and the sort.
- Guild master - Only one guild master exists at a time, and is simply voted from the ranks of and by the high masters.
- Grand master - Elderly members who no longer practice alchemy, but are highly respected for their knowledge.[/hider]