It took a bit longer than expected, but here's my character.

[hider=Sasha Rivello]
Name: Sasha Rivello
Race: Human (Variant)
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Appearance:
[img]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/rwby/images/3/35/Yang2complete.png/revision/latest?cb=20170907215813[/img]

Level: 0
Proficiency: 1
Health: 4
Stats:
Strength - 17
Dexterity - 10
Constitution - 16
Intelligence - 8
Wisdom - 10
Charisma - 13

Proficient Skills: Athletics (+4), Insight (+1), Persuasion (+2)
Proficient Tools: None
Traits: 
Racial – None
Background – Watcher's Eye: Your experience in enforcing the law, and dealing with lawbreakers, gives you a feel for local laws and criminals. You can easily find the local outpost of the watch or a similar organization, and just as easily pick out the dens of criminal activity in a community, although you're more likely to be welcome in the former locations rather than the latter.
Languages – Common, Dwarvish, Elvish, Orc

Abilities: 
Tavern Brawler - Accustomed to rough-and-tumble fighting using whatever weapons happen to be at hand, you gain the following benefits:
	Increase your Strength or Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
	You are proficient with improvised weapons.
	Your unarmed strikes use a d4 for damage.
	When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or an improvised weapon on your turn, you can use a bonus action to attempt to grapple the target. A grapple check is a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.

Inventory: 
Guards Uniform
Horn
Manacles
10 gp

Background: Sasha was born in the city of Andor, a large and wealthy place, but she was not raised there. Her father, Callum, was a soldier in the King’s army while her mother Sophia worked in a bakery; while still young, barely three years old, her father was injured during a battle, a wounded shoulder that left him with limited use of his right arm, and was forced into an early retirement. With the loss of one source of income money became a concern for the family  and it soon became apparent that either Callum would need to find another source of work soon, a tough ask for a cripple with little skills outside of being a solider, or they would need to leave the city and find a place to live that wouldn’t be as expensive.

Around this time there was talk of an expedition to form a new township in an as yet sparsely settled region within the kingdom’s borders; it was not a new frontier or a grand expedition, just the settlement of a small town intended to act as a potential rest stop for travelling merchants on their way between the larger cities, but they were looking for volunteers and were willing to offer incentives to anyone with useful skills. As a baker Sasha’s mother was readily accepted and a former solider, even wounded as he was, was a welcome addition as well. The couple were hesitant about travelling with a young child but the expedition’s offer to essentially pay to relocate and house them was too enticing to pass up.

Sasha spent most of her life living in this newly settled town and barely remembers the time she spent in the city as a child. She was the only child in the township for a few years, but since her father was mostly homebound she was rarely lonely and had a strong bond with her father as a result. More children came in time, either born in the fledgling settlement or as part of relocating families, but Sasha was always the eldest child by a few years.

As the years went by Sasha’s family became a fixture of the small settlement, her mother running the small bakery and her father, now mostly recovered though his arm would never be the same, serving as chief of the tiny town militia as the only member with any real experience. Sasha meanwhile had essentially become “big sister” to the half dozen or so smaller children who resided in the town with her. She was mostly responsible, in her mind, for keeping an eye on them and keeping them out of trouble, a responsibility she took to with gusto but which was not always met with success.

She still spent much time with her father, given that his role was still mostly advisory and the militia itself had little more to do than keep the peace in a town that still wasn’t on most maps. In their time together he mostly told her stories he himself had heard as a child, stories of heroes and stories of great deeds; the same sort of story that any child growing up would hear. Mixed in with these were stories of his time in the city guard which, while mostly uneventful, did contain the odd good tale and his eyes always took on a wistful look when he told them.

These stories all resonated with Sasha, because it was her father who was telling them and because they all sounded so exciting. Like many children must have when hearing those same stories she wanted to become like the heroes in them, to have those adventures and see the things they saw, do the things they did. One day, after one of her favourite stories she asked her father to teach her how to fight. He didn’t even hesitate to refuse her, because she was too young and because no daughter of his would get herself killed living the same kind of life he had.

She persisted however, for years she persisted, and for years he refused. And for years she attempted to train herself in secret anyway, spying on and copying the physical exercises she saw her father leading the militia in, the same ones he had gone through as a recruit, because heroes needed to be strong. Even thought they were difficult at first she persisted, because she was determined, and over time they became easier as her physical condition improved.

When her father eventually caught her, as was inevitable, she had advanced to the point of trying to copy the sword exercises she had seen with a stick in the space behind their small home. She had found it incredibly difficult at first, trying to mimic their movements, and she was sure she was doing it wrong but she couldn’t ask for any help because her father would only say no and then make her stop and the other guards would just tell her father. The ‘weapon’ felt unnatural in her hands and she couldn’t get it to move the way she wanted. At one point the stick became unbalanced and nearly swung back and hit her in the head and she flung it to the ground in a fit of frustration.

Sasha looked up then and saw her father staring at her. She didn’t breathe for long seconds then, awaiting his reaction, waiting for the anger or the disappointment. Instead she saw only the strangest expression on his face, almost like tiredness and resignation; maybe even a little familiarity. To her surprise he told her to pick up the stick again and began correcting her stance and posture.

The next half year was spent trying to undo the self-taught technique that Sasha had been working on and to teach her the proper way to use a weapon. Having to knock down the foundation she had pieced together and then build it up again stronger. Whatever reluctance Callum had had about teaching Sasha to fight was apparently gone; even though he still didn’t seem happy about it he apparently took the point of view that if she was going to try to learn anyway he might as well teach her right. He even began to include her in the training sessions he held for the militia. She was training alongside men ranging from a few years older than her to those twice her age, she was outclassed in terms of strength, size and experience but she couldn’t be happier to finally have her father teach her.

To everyone’s surprise, Sasha seemed to have an aptitude for bare knuckle fighting; hardly a suitable talent for a young lady or someone protecting the peace to have and not the kind of combat that Callum should be encouraging his daughter to use, but there was no doubt that Sasha knew how to throw a mean punch. Meanwhile most weapons still seemed to elude her; despite the months of practice Sasha could never quite get the feel for the sword even as she did steadily improve. The spear, if anything was even worse and she struggled to even hold the point steady. Axes were far too heavy for her as well and she didn’t even attempt to use a bow. Her training continued for two more years and Sasha became a competent brawler if nothing else in that time.

When Sasha was fifteen word spread to their little town of an expedition to establish a new town right on the edges of Gaia. The expedition was already underway and the beginning of the town had already been established, but they were still looking for people to move out to the frontier to help the town grow and prosper. Sasha wanted to go, but her father easily forbade her from doing so; allowing her to train with the militia was one thing but allowing his only daughter to chase adventure at the edge of the kingdom was another.  Sasha was not to be deterred however and she kept trying to persuade her father to change his mind; it took two years before he conceded, finally admitting that she was both old enough to make her own choices and strong enough to defend herself. Callum gave her his blessing and even wrote for her a recommendation letter for her to give to the captain of whatever guard the settlement had that would hopefully help her get a job to start a new life.

When the time came for Sasha to leave she found it was harder for her to let go than she thought it would be. Her little slice of the world was all she knew, its residents the only people she remembered, but while beginning a new life in a nameless town on the fringes of civilisation was not exactly the adventure she had always dreamed of it was still something she wanted to do. The next time a trader wagon passed through town heading in that direction Sasha bartered for travel and left her home behind to pursue a life in what was now known as Frontier Town.

Another year has passed since then, most of which Sasha had spent in the employ of the town militia which is both larger and stricter than the one back home. Her methods are somewhat unorthodox for her commanders liking and she sometimes causes more trouble than she solves, but she is nonetheless popular with and trusted by the residents of Frontier town, at least those outside of Underhaven, and she has made a comfortable life for herself.
[/hider]