[hider=WHITE CROW - Post-war History (optional read)]
[u][b]Serenay’s Post-war Activities Summary:[/b][/u]

> After peace was restored to Dara, Serenay found it impossible to move on from the war. So many scores to settle but it seemed no one but her understood that. Though she bought a modest orphanage in the Unah District for the orphans, she spent most of her time gathering information on the surviving Selander generals and commanders, obsessively planning an operation to kill them all in one fell swoop – an eye for an eye, justice for the Udrau-Badawi. Unlike what she was trained to do, she didn’t involve anyone else, not even the uruk-Ghilzim. This was her war, no point getting anyone else involved or hurt. But before her obsession could reach a point of no return, an orphan confronted her; Raja, the genius prodigy who, even being two years younger than her, taught her mathematics and writing when Mother Banu didn’t have time. Raja didn’t fight in the war, being cripplingly shy and cowardly, and barely speaking. He made himself useful by being part of logistic teams which gave him slightly more confidence when he found a romantic partner. Serenay had never heard him speak as much or as assertively as when he tried talking sense into her:

[i]“Serenay… Serenay! Listen to me. I don’t mean to hurt you or disrespect you… you have done so much for us, suffered so much… but… but that’s exactly why I won’t back down this time. I want to help you, everyone does. But not with this. Assassinating Selander generals will only spark another war or get you killed. We need you. We already lost Mother Banu and Kalash; peace be with them. I am so sorry for bringing them up, but they would not want you to throw your life to the hyenas… again. Once was enough. Every time you went into battle, the children would cry and cry until they were sleeping on tears. Mother Banu and Kalash wanted all of us to live happy lives. You do too, but we can only do that together. Please look at me, sister. I know you hate Selander but remember, Mother Banu was Selander too, and she saved all of us, sacrificed herself and asked for nothing in return. She loves us, she loves you… we love you… so please, let go. We can move on together. You are not alone.”[/i]

> Fortunately, Raja’s words did get through to Serenay. How could she forget that Mother Banu was as pure-blood Selander as they came? It just didn’t feel like it, especially not after the war. She laughed, spoke, and cursed just like the Selander troops occupying their village. She even gave her life fighting them on the faith that her children would somehow survive in this unforgiving world without her. How many good Selander people like Mother Banu never got the chance to act because of Pykas’ war? How many would lose their chance if Serenay went through with her plan, shooting while blinded by blood and tears? The deaths of those generals would be the sweetest thing she would taste, but it wasn’t worth hurting innocents. It wasn’t worth being anything like Pykas or staining Mother Banu’s and her orphanage’s legacies with the poison of vengeance. She would rather cut herself open and rot.

> Serenay couldn’t hold back her breakdown in front of Raja, who though terrified, comforted her for hours on end like how Mother Banu used to do. Every fear, anger, inaction, and tragedy came out in her tears and screams. But she finally managed to let go of enough of the war to move on. Most of her time after was spent sleeping, never having felt exhaustion like that before. After two years of resting in a slump, where the orphans were convinced she would never regain her vigor, Serenay received a letter from Mulôkh asking her to fill a missing spot in his merchant caravan escort team. This awakened something dormant inside her like the call-to-arms she was so used to, and she quickly got herself together. From then on, feeling the bliss of extended movement and loving how much money she made, she would accompany the uruk-Ghilzim on their post-war jobs. She even expanded their connections by being a friendly and pretty face (her words), always trying to convince merchants and business partners that the Uruk were anything but the faceless expendable labour their veiled faces incorrectly stereotyped them as to outsiders. 

[b][[url=https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/047/611/585/small/xiaodong-chen-.jpg?1648007469]Serenay(25)[/url] as a merchant caravan guard, one of her many ways of accumulating wealth][/b]

> On top of working as a caravan guard with the uruk-Ghilzim, Serenay tried getting as much money as she could. With the war behind her, she could now focus on the future prosperity of her new Thousand Roses Orphanage. She worked many odd jobs that took her to every obscure corner of Dara, and thanks to Mother Banu’s education, she learnt quickly. Along with Raja helping her with monetary investments and ventures, and the other orphans gathering funds in their own ways, it was only a few years before the orphanage was relocated from the bustling Unah District to the peaceful Udrau District. Serenay choose the Udrau district, despite her dismissal of religion, because it turned out that remnants of the Udrau-Badawi that were prisoners of war within Dara had survived, liberated when Pykas was defeated. After Serenay told the monks what happened to her group of Udrau-badawi, they offered her shared ownership of the abandoned ruins with them, which dwarfed any building in Dara in overall size. All Serenay and the orphans had to do was repair the ruins to a liveable state since the monks were too poor. In return, the monks would train new and current orphans to defend themselves, and allowed Serenay to continue her warrior monk training to senior monk level. The safety and potential expansion of living in the Udrau District under these terms was too good to refuse. Serenay wanting to move her orphanage to the wealthy Nyati District was soon forgotten amongst the Udrau temple meadows.

> After settling in, the years passed by fast. The Thousand Roses Orphanage expanded prosperously, welcoming those with nothing to a place that understood and cared. The orphanage’s closeness with the Udrau-Badawi meant that over time, the warrior monks would slowly rebuild their ranks and pass their traditions on. Serenay for her part, started living in luxury. With how much money she saved collaborating with the monks – who maintained the rebuilt portions of the ruins – and letting the orphans earn their own living, she indulged on things like good food and drink, clothing, makeup, and entertainment. Though she grew somewhat carefree, she didn’t become lazy. She reached the prestige of senior warrior monk and continued training with the uruk-Ghilzim regularly, just in case. Serenay also tried her best to find the soldiers of the uruk-Ghilzim opportunities to pursue non-violent careers, not wanting them to risk their lives daily. The results were lacking since all they knew was war, especially Mulôkh who was having the hardest time adjusting to peace. When Serenay needed stronger workers to help with further renovating the ruins, she hoped that the Uruk she asked, Mulôkh included, would see the virtue of safer work. But they vehemently refuse her payment, not even touching a single coin. Uruk culture was very chivalrous to women – to a fault, in Serenay’s flattered but concerned opinion – and doubly so if it was a woman they respected, like their sister-in-arms. The Uruk, despite Serenay’s protests, worked tirelessly for free, and Mulôkh even began training the orphans in battlefield weaponry when she forced him to take a break. However, the Uruk were not the only ones who clung stubbornly to ideology. Serenay found a loophole. Uruk culture dictated chivalrous action in the presence of women but when alone, their obligations became much more lenient. So, she got some of her more ‘roguish’ orphans to reverse-pickpocket and hide the payments the Uruks refused amongst their belongings. This way, when the Uruk discovered the bags of coin, refusing due salary would be foolish; and the Uruk were no fools. This became a game with the orphans and the Uruk, strengthening their bonds and letting some orphans apply their roughish skills to other professions. 

> The orphans used their roguish skills for information brokering and stealing from small gangs, which Serenay had to admit bought the most income to the ever-expanding orphanage while avoiding harming innocents. But they would inevitably get in over their heads as she left them to their own devices, focussing on her never-before-considered romantic life; inspired by theatre love plays and the smutty books she consumed ravenously. Serenay frequented the Unah District to enjoy the erotic dancers and to safeguard the vulnerable if needed, but one day she caught a few of her orphans being dragged away by a gang of underworld blacksmiths she only knew as the Silent Forge. Her orphans had sold very secretive equipment forging methods stolen from the gang to other factions. This meant that the black market for cheap, reliable, but unregistered gear had gone from the gang’s monopoly to a free market. The Silent Forge was obviously furious but so was Serenay. If it wasn’t for their black market, which the uruk-Ghilzim were the best customers of, she would not have been able to save so much money with how much equipment wear a caravan guard had to deal with. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the Silent Forge’s business model was a big factor in the prosperity of the Thousand Roses Orphanage, especially during peacetime where ‘official’ blacksmiths consistently overcharged. And on top of that, Serenay specified that the orphans’ information trading shouldn’t directly affect any economy massively. No matter the coin or note, most money starts red and ends red, after all. Luckily, Serenay recognised one of the Silent Forge members – a girl, now a woman, who sold her a 3-for-1 weapon deal plus shield repairs. Though she had her initial suspicions, it was literally the best value deal she ever made because the mace, dagger, and axe she bought were still battle-ready after all these years. Using familiarity and flattery as leverage, she managed to avoid violence. As recompense, she gave the funds the orphan’s earned from the forging information trades and some more of her own money to the Silent Forge. The Silent Forge said they would use the money to re-secure their monopoly on the forging market by inventing new, revolutionary weapons like “hand-sized explosives” and “multi-bolt crossbows”. And that when they needed help, they expected Serenay herself to answer.

> After the orphanage’s first massive setback, Serenay, the de-facto leader, was left with no choice but to double-down on their most profitable trade amongst the countless they had – information. After all, preventing monetary crippling took priority as Dara’s peacetime economy pulled in the favour of merchants. To make orphanage operations easier to track and manage, Serenay split them into “Veils” because to her, a veil was an active choice, a promise anchoring the wandering mind, a vow made physical. She wore her veil because she admired the men of the uruk-Ghilzim who wore veils as cultural garments. The five Veils for the orphanage were: “Soil”, “Stems”, “Thorns”, “Petals”, and “Buds”. “Veil of Soil”, for those who absorbed valuable intelligence and brought it back to the orphanage for use. “Veil of Stems”, for those with non-violent professions. “Veil of Thorns”, for those on combat-related paths. “Veil of Petals”, for young orphans doing odd jobs. And “Veil of Buds”, for those that need help and can’t work. Serenay’s logic behind this was that her orphanage had grown so much, it was more like a self-sufficient faction, so it was best to stay organised. She just hoped that any division was superficial at worst. They were still family first, and always.

> As the Thousand Roses Orphanage settled into their operations, they soon became prominent enough to influence other factions involved in the machinations of Dara. These factions included the city guard and most criminal gangs. The orphanage would supply the city guard with information that couldn’t be accessed lawfully which benefitted the security of Dara – all for free too, as long as they ignored the orphanage’s shadier activities. It was only in very dire cases where Serenay and the Veil of Thorns would act personally to permanently end a problem. Though this made them vigilantes to the higher-ups, the city guards who actually did the footwork would be the last ones complaining. Those guards even saw the orphanage as an unofficial extension of the law, commonly referring to them as “Roses”. As for the criminal underworld, the orphanage, known as “Crows”, only dealt with those that were not in vile breach of morality. Slavers, violent cults, or groups that agonised innocents became training targets since they were never lacking. The orphanage worked with the tamer gangs because they were too beneficial to ignore, especially when it came to information which could be “turned from a bite into a kiss for Dara” as Serenay says. This meant the orphanage became a main liaison between the law and the underworld.

> Before Serenay knew it, her role and that of her orphanage was cemented within Dara. Overall, everything went smoothly so as the years passed, she kept indulging in her luxuries whilst never skipping combat training as she still had a needle of paranoia in her otherwise content mind. The current Guardians of Dara in her opinion, besides with how expensive things were getting, were doing a good job. All Serenay had to worry about was finding love, but for whatever reason, every courtship request she posted around the city and every marriage proposal she sent ended up being rejected. This went on for years until she started to doubt her attractiveness. She thought with her money, beauty, youthfulness despite age, intelligence, charisma, military accolades, connections, and her heroic status would have men begging at her feet as soon as she made her availability known. But no. Was it because she was close with the uruk-Ghilzim and that they were too intimidating? Maybe she should try finding romance with one of them instead; they did have that chaste, respectful stoicism that made women melt… but they were also her brothers-in-arms. It might be too awkward. Or was it because she couldn’t have children due to her injuries? No children meant no future… but she had so many children already at her orphanage. Maybe orphans were undesirable to the typical man? Well, she didn’t want average anyway, she deserved extraordinary… special at least. For better or worse, before Serenay could spiral into a mid-life crisis, news of Cyrabassis’ escape, the current Guardians of Dara’s grisly murders, and her summons to be a replacement smacked her straight from one crisis into another. 

[b][[url=https://ia802606.us.archive.org/16/items/hijab-warrior-art-by-fahmi-fauzi./fahmi-fauzi-julian-vanidoso-character-commission-prev.jpg]Serenay(40)[/url], sour after having another one of her countless marriage proposals rejected][/b]
[/hider]