[CHAR] The Light of Our Oath

[lydyn]

Alias: Purifier
Age: 25

Occupation: Scholar
Location: The small kingdom Hebetude; a secluded castle and couple villages buried into the eastern forests. While the dead took their time weaving through the trees, it also makes it naturally difficult to dispatch Paladins to the location as well.

Personality: Joslyn is a unique sort, one you might wave off as not confident, meek, and shy. Though she is more passive in her personality when it comes to strangers and her introverted nature makes her less out going as others, she is surprisingly confident in herself and straight to the point. Believing in honesty and love, Joslyn has a kind aura to her that sometimes makes others want to take advantage of that, but often find themselves at odds when she stands up for herself. She enjoys making others smile and most of all, is a romantic at heart - though this side of her has been embittered by rejections from all manner of people; family, friends, and lovers.

Likes: Reading, watching waterfalls, helping others, flirting, deep discussions
Dislikes: Immoral behavior, hot weather, insects (especially spiders), being alone

Deity: Arete, Goddess of Virtue
Abilities: Joslyn was given spell-like abilities of purification, able to return the dead to rest, demons to their planes of existence, and harm those of evil hearts.
Skills: Joslyn is mostly skilled in lore as one of the more learned scholars. Beyond this though, she only has basic survival and stealth skills.

Background
Joslyn grew up in one of the farm houses outside Hebetude's castle walls. Her life started in a downward spiral since childhood, having an non-attentive mother and a busy father, which made her more shy than she had been naturally. By the time she opened up to other children, they saw her as a weak target and she easily became the blunt of their teasing and when not being teased, they simply chose to ignore her presence at all. She learned quickly that being around most children was a bad idea and instead kept to herself at the farm stead. When she wasn't helping mother cook or do housework, she sought out the books lined in the study and buried herself within the written words.

Her coming of age brought many things to her life. At the age of twelve, she was given the opportunity to stay with her family or find apprenticeship elsewhere in the castle grounds and given her poor relations with her parents and no friends, she chose to apprentice under the local scholar of the kingdom. Joslyn had figured she might as well do something she enjoyed in reading and researching than spend days at a farm with people that mostly ignored her.

In truth, Scholar James was her first true friend and mentor, being some decades older than she was. Still she enjoyed her time under his study, learning of myths, legends, histories, prophecies, and anything one might want research - it was the scholar's duty to provide advice on learned subjects. However this time in her life had been mildly confusing as well as young men began to flirt with her (though to be honest, they were few), because she did not find interest in any of them, but instead seemed to pay far more attention to the other young women. Eventually, she even found a friend and potential lover in one of them, until the girl's parents learned of what she was doing with Joslyn. They had forced her away from the young scholar, leaving Joslyn quite alone once more. It didn't help Joslyn's mood that this happened a few more times, finding companionship in other women only for it to be torn away from her.

When rumors of the living dead came rushing to Hebetude, the small kingdom chose to hole themselves inside the forest, posting more guards and making it generally more difficult for trade caravans to come through. They increased some of their production to make up for the loss, but the people were all too happy to obey if it meant not facing moving skeletons. The kingdom lived in a half-dazed fear for five full years until finally the undead broke through the forest and started to spill into the small kingdom. Until recently, they had only been few and far between, giving the small group of knights a fair chance at defending themselves.

However in the recent months, it seems the waves of walking dead have increased to a gross amount, making it extremely hard for the knights to even protect the borders - in which Joslyn finally started to show signs of something amiss. Everyone heard rumors of the Paladins and their gifts, but never once heard of the same burst of light that Joslyn had produced one fateful day. If it hadn't been for her ability to wipe out a small battlion, she would surely be dead - but now the king has ordered her to be held up in the temple of Arete, afraid to lose his one advantage against the hordes.

[Vee]

Name / Alias: Lyra Andulin.
Age: 20.

Occupation: Weapons Master.

Enclave location: Therra Enclave.

Personality:
Lyra is a rather relaxed and spiritualistic person. In any time of high stress she always seems so relaxed, holding firm to her composure. Lyra is usually the first one to put herself in the line of danger to keep those around her safe. She was always considered a motherly, caring figure for those around her. Putting the needs of others always before her own, and always having a smile during it no matter the sacrifice to herself. She is a kind girl, often trying to make jokes in an attempt to keep the morale up within her group.

Likes:
-She is embarrassingly infatuated with anything that could be considered cute or adorable.
-She loves sweets/candies. Anything with the first ingredient being sugar.
-Napping is one of her favorite pass times.
-When she can't nap she likes to exercise or train her weapons skills.

Dislikes:
-Super spicy food.
-Not being able to nap OR exercise.
-Being cold.
-Bats. They terrify her.

Deity:
Khiriis - The God of war and protection. Khiriis is said to be a great warrior wielding a shield and double sided axe. In his lore he was said to have defeated legions of warriors in a single night keeping his kingdom and his people safe. Given his prowess in battle upon his death he was granted Godly status and immortal life within the universe.

Abilities:
Lyra has attained two magical relics that when swept across the air they leave mystical runes in its path. From the runes left behind Lyra can produce various weapons as if from another dimension.

Skills:
-Lyra is well skilled in nearly all melee based weapons.
-She has basic training with ranged weapons such as throwing knifes and bows.
-Survival training is an important discipline within the Therra Enclave.
-She is pretty descent at cooking.

Background:
Given Lyra's current personality no one would really guess she had a rather dark childhood. Given most of her life has lived with the undead she constantly lived on the run with her father. Try all her father might he could never attain the blessings of a Deity. For whatever reason they never gave him the blessings to fight back against the scourge of undead. So in his rage and desire to have some degree of protection against the undead he forced his young daughter, Lyra, to try and find favor from the Gods.

At first Lyra was hesitant but her father quickly beat out that hesitation. You would think when she was finally blessed with the Light of Khiriis her father would be happy. But it only fueled his rage that he wasn't accepted and she was. Lyra not knowing how to control her new found power accidentally fought back. From thin air multiple blades emerged and pierced through his chest. Lyra never knew what happened. It all happened in a blur. But they were alone and no one saw what happened or even knew who the two of them were.

From then on Lyra survived on her own against the undead. She learned how to fight on her own. It was a painful process but she survived. When she was 18 she was taken into the Therra Enclave as another paladin happened upon a hurt Lyra out in the wilds. From their her skills were refined and she became a true paladin.

[Amy]

Reina Lockwood

Age: 20

Occupation: Ex-Pirate and brawler

Enclave location: Therra Enclave

Personality:
Reina is like a thunderstorm: unpredictable, wild, and dynamic. More than anything, it is her whims that drive her and passion that fuels her. She tends to get swept up in the moment and acts before thinking things through, a fatal flaw that is only exacerbated by her devil-may-care attitude. Reckless and heedless of consequences, she is flippant in the face of danger—it's the way of the (ex) pirate!—and trusts completely in her abilities to escape any predicaments she might get herself into. Suffice it to say, Reina is the type to live for the moment. She struts about like she has nary a care in the undead-ridden world, with a challenging grin on her lips and a spark of mischief ever-present in her eyes. She's charming when she wants to be, cunning when she has to be, and playful at all times.

But sometimes, there are cracks visible in her buoyant façade. A hint of loneliness and sadness that could have only come from heartbreak. It clouds her smile for a brief moment, then she's back to cracking jokes and spouting nonsense.

Likes:

• Listening to stories
• Teasing
• Sweets
• The ocean
• Watching the stars

Dislikes:

• The cold
• Having nothing to do
• Being alone

Deity:
Vihm, the weather goddess, better known by the merchant navy and the pirates as the Sea Witch. She is said to be as mercurial as the tides, vengeful and fearsome one moment, magnanimous and indulging the next. Incurring her wrath means certain doom and a grave beneath the waves, while receiving her favor assures safe passage across the rough seas,

Abilities:
The weather goddess has bestowed upon Reina the wind at her feet and lightning in her hands. With superhuman agility and lightning coursing through her veins, Reina becomes an unparalleled fighter able to run circles around the undead and knock them flat with her fists.

Skills:

• Spatial and visual acuity, or in layman's terms, the ability to never get lost. Life at sea has honed Reina's navigational skills and she has become adept at gleaning pertinent information by surveying her surroundings.
• She can scale walls or trees or anything high with relative ease
• She's also pretty good at winning people over (and just as good at making enemies, it seems)

Background:

A street urchin, a thief, a pirate, and now a paladin.

Reina never would have expected to live so many different lives.

Abandoned at an early age by desperate parents already struggling to survive, Reina grew up calling the streets of the port town Azmarin her home. It was there that she learned the value of a charming smile and quick fingers; no one ever accused the happy, little beggar girl of pilfering. For someone who grew up without four walls and a roof, Reina could say she lived rather comfortably. She had never wanted for anything; her meals were supplied by the generous townspeople (sometimes intentionally, as they invite her in their homes for supper, and sometimes not, as she uses their coin to purchase fresh food from the market) and she spent most of her time meandering about town in search of targets, or playing at the shores of the Blessed Sea.

Reina was eleven when the self-proclaimed pirate king took notice of her talents. She had bitten off more than she could chew when she tried stealing from one of the crates being loaded onto his infamous vessel, The Llyr-vihm, but the challenge had been too great to neglect. The pirate king Auran caught her just as she was about to slip away with a bagful of his trinkets. He only smiled as he grabbed her by the collar and dragged her back to the deck, cutting a menacing but somehow awe-inspiring figure as he brandished his falchion and pointed it at her.

She was given two options: pledge fealty to the pirate king or meet with the Sea Witch beneath the waves.

Piracy came surprisingly easy to her. The skills she obtained in the narrow streets of Azmarin turned out to be translatable. Charm, a quick tongue, and even quicker fingers made her an indispensable asset. She would be the bait, the one they sent out to lower guards, or the one they carried aboard other ships to ransack every tiny nook and cranny.

Reina had unexpectedly found a family in the Llyr-vihm's fearsome crew. It became apparent to her early on that they were not the vicious, cutthroats they were painted as, at least not entirely. Necessity had forced this hand on them—an ailing wife that needs medicine, two newborns that need financial support—and who was she to judge their means of survival? She had been doing the same thing. Besides, it was difficult not to get attached to the motley crew with their colorful personalities, and even harder not to admire their stalwart captain. In return, Auran had grown especially fond of her, as well. For the girl who reminded him of the daughter he lost at sea, he begged the Sea Witch for a blessing. He sacrificed relics to earn this favor and the Sea Witch, feeling magnanimous that day, obliged, but under one condition. The blessing will only take effect after the pirate king makes good on his final promise.

Word of the undead rising came months late in the sea, and the crew erupted in panic and fear once they knew. After they disembarked at a nearby port town, many rushed to visit their families and loved ones, but it was too late. The walking dead had done away with the smaller towns, sparing no one in their rampage.

Within a short year in the accursed land, the crew's number had dwindled to a handful. Auran thought it best to return to Llyr-vihm and escape to the waters, where the undead could not reach them, but before they could reach the vessel, hordes of the walking dead had surrounded them. Five became four, four became three, until finally, there was only Reina and Auran.

Reina was certain it was the end. She thanked the Sea Witch for her wonderful life and her wonderful captain and prepared herself for the worst. But it never came, at least not for her. Auran had protected her until the end, shielding her with his body, and this final sacrificial act had awakened the dormant blessing of the goddess Vihm.

As Auran fell, Reina felt a surge of power within her, taking over her body. She doesn't remember what happened next, but word has it that she had gone straight through the horde, defeating those that stood in her way. When she came to, she found herself at an Enclave, days later, with Auran and the rest of the crew all gone.

With nowhere else to go, Reina remained at the Enclave, learning the ways of the paladin. She heard from one of the paladins that those who have sinned were cursed with eternal punishment, and so Reina began focusing her efforts on making reparations for the whole crew. Surely, if she helps rid the world of the undead, the gods could grant her that favor?