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[list][*][u][b]Name[/b][/u]: Paladin Tyaethe Radistirin, First and Youngest of the Knights. “Yaya” to her friends, sometimes, or the excessively familiar.
[*][u][b]Age[/b][/u]: 238. Physically, either 10 to the day or 20. 
[*][u][b]Gender[/b][/u]: Female
[*][u][b]Race[/b][/u]: Human (Vampire)
[*][u][b]Appearance[/b][/u]: At a first glance, one would never expect that Tyaethe is a knight of any capacity – she’s soft, fragile-looking, and absolutely [i]tiny[/i], only coming up to a height of128cm. If the wild mane of hair is tamed, her presence gets even smaller, save for the intensity of her eyes. Then one notices the vivid red characteristic of vampires and it becomes a [i]lot[/i] more believable.

She tends to wear ornate dresses when not actually doing something that requires her to dress the part of a paladin – the pink definitely doesn’t suit her, but while black [i]does[/i] she ends up seeming quite a bit creepier. She’ll still dress up in it for social occasions.

She does [i]own[/i] a few lightweight pieces of armour, but they’re rarely used.

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When an adult, she gains a full 9cm in height, but nobody would ever mistake her for a child at that point – the bust is [i]quite[/i] hard to ignore. It is, however, incredibly inconvenient for anything active, so she never fights like this.

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As for when she’s armoured properly… well, it’s quite the appearance, so long as you don’t look into her eyes too deeply and realise that there’s no way her body should actually fit.

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Obviously, more symmetrical, but you get the gist. 
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[*][u][b]Personality[/b][/u]: The attitude that most associate with Tyaethe, those who only ever interact with her in her capacity as a knight or paladin, is that she’s a serious and no-nonsense veteran; reliable and straightforward when it comes to the troubles and difficulties of the world. They’re not wrong, [i]per se[/i], it’s just that this is much more a developed facade; a work face to present when acting in an official capacity.

What the current knights associate with her, though, is a melancholic laziness; rare to stir on a day to day basis and seemingly content to just haunt Candaeln’s entryway from day to day, watching the world drift past without seeming to involve herself. While she will still religiously (sometimes literally) attend to her duties as required, she can seem to go for weeks or even months at a time without doing things [i]for fun[/i], weighed down by nostalgia for the past and loss.

On the flip side, when the mood passes, or when stirred to battle, her apparent age seems to take over – the vampire enthused with life and energy that can almost make it impossible to be the same person: reckless and prone to somewhat questionable decisions where duty doesn’t compel her to act some way; reactive and far more irritable than she would normally be, even if the same iron-clad sense of duty keeps her from truly abandoning whatever she’s supposed to be doing. She even willingly takes part in the social life that she’s otherwise all but abandoned, sometimes throwing the junior knights for a loop because who [i]ever[/i] thought that the sullen paladin was so used to the capital’s parties and society games?

Possibly the most obvious but subtle sign that she’s moved you into the friend column is that she’ll actually allow jokes about her height or age to pass unchallenged.

She’s also pretty terrible at lying or deflection; quite how her former relationship with Elionne has never become common knowledge is a mystery. Most likely, it’s because no part of the public has really thought to ask her since Elionne’s disappearance.
[*][u][b]Brief Backstory[/b][/u]: At birth, Tyaethe was always expected to be a knight. Her father was a Knight of the Crown, even if nothing more than a baronet in other regards, and as such his eldest child would one day inherit the duty. Yet, she wasn’t raised with the living standards of such a position; firstly, her mother came from the Cazt and was commensurately accustomed to wealth, even after a love marriage like this, and secondly her father was extremely close to the Duke of Stalva himself – a position that ensured she was raised almost like the man’s own child, or at worst a favoured niece.

Yet, it was also clear that she was terribly ill-suited for it. While she had inherited the magical talent of her mother’s family, even if her father was a spellsword of some skill, she was [i]always[/i] a sickly child. With poor health, terrible vision, and a tendency to burn up as soon as exposed to any sunlight at all, she would have been better suited to a mage’s life, with the duty entrusted to a younger sibling instead. But her mother seemed unable to carry a second child to term and [i]she[/i] was stubborn enough to make the attempt at it, rather than being a knight in name only.

On her tenth birthday, she got the abilities that would allow her to make that vain dream a reality. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of her entire family. Unknown to her, her father had saved the duke’s life from the Marquess of Talderia – a particularly infamous vampire tolerated for keeping the western approaches to the Black Pit free of monstrosities. Infamous both for her abilities, as well as her temperament – a rejection of her hospitality or aggression [i]would[/i] be repaid in kind.

Any guards that stood in her way were summarily dealt with, and then the true targets of her ire – the duke, of course, as well as those who rose to defend him, from his own grown son to Tyaethe’s parents.

And, in the end, the child herself, taking up her father’s fallen sword and actually wounding the ancient vampire, if only from sheer surprise that she had even made the attempt. Normally, such a thing would be a death sentence… but perhaps she took pity on Tyaethe for being the only child directly involved at this point, or maybe she was simply curious. Rather than [i]definitely[/i] kill her, the Marquess instead left it to the girl’s own willpower: die, or accept vampirism.

After the tragedy, the duchy passed to a distant cousin, and Tyaethe was taken in as a ward by her mother’s family, simultaneously traumatised and more determined to be a knight than ever before, and with a fresh hatred for vampires. Finishing her education in Aimlenn, she pledged herself to the Reon’s service as soon as she could persuade them to take her, stubbornly insisting despite the goddess’ known antipathy for her kind. It was a shared bond, after all.

Ironically, by the time her status as a paladin was affirmed, she had lost much of that initial hatred, Damon having been dragged back to actually do something for the family for once and help her with the condition, even at the risk that he might persuade [i]another[/i] one of their relatives to a life of hedonism. He never quite succeeded, though her certainly gave her more of an interest in living a comfortable life (and also introduced her to enough unsavoury types and gamblers that her later friendships in the knights were entirely unsurprising).

Instead of committing herself to hunting down vampires, Tyaethe just took the path of the crusading knight-errant, the better to avoid comments on her age or dwelling on her own accursed immortality. Hanging out on the fringes of Thaln’s society tended to give her a regular stream of wild beasts and the odd true monster as enemies, and by the time she was regularly spending time in Aimlenn once again, she’d developed a reputation as a monster-slayer and one of the few people willing to tangle with dragons, even if she’d not yet felled one of the beasts. 

As for why she spent more time in the capital? Having [i]finally[/i] gotten so frustrated with her age as to develop her ability to change it, parties and the like were no longer so annoying to attend, and Damon had done a lot to leave her [i]curious[/i]. As Tyaethe quickly decided, she wasn't at all interested in anyone pursuing a more involved relationship, but if friends or even acquaintances wanted something physical…

It was on one of these trips back that she was witness to Elionne’s saving Falthir, in doing so impressing her so much that as soon as she heard that she was not only to be knighted but allowed to raise an order in the church’s service, Tyaethe swore her service to Elionne before all others and, in doing so, became the first member of the Iron Roses aside from their captain.

In those early years, she was as likely to go off for a time as she was to stay and help Elionne with her training and organising the nascent order, occasionally bringing along a knight she knew from somewhere or other – this was how Cyrus was brought over from the Crown Knights. Eventually, though, she settled in Candaeln for good, having somehow found herself finally falling hopelessly for someone [i]and[/i] in a lasting relationship [i]with[/i] the captain that was kept as reasonably quiet as such things could be, particularly after the woman became a saint. A saint, dallying with a vampire… well, that was a scandal right there.

When Edwin betrayed the knights, it ultimately fell to Tyaethe to kill her friend, the only one in the end that was aware of how much he regretted it, how miserable he was even [i]before[/i] his final words. 

If losing almost everyone in her life a second time wasn’t bad enough, barely any time had passed before Elionne disappeared – and with that, seemingly much of the motivation Tyaethe had to do [i]anything[/i]. Although by now a dragonslayer in her own right, she became more a fixture of Candaeln than an active participant in the knights’ governance, save to push back against the nobility’s attempts to take control with her own irritatingly secure position – after all, [i]her[/i] vows are to Elionne alone, not the post of captain.

And for two hundred years, little has changed.

[*][u][b]Equipment[/b][/u]: Tyaethe’s only real equipment is her sword – a blessed zweihander longer than a normal man is tall that has enchantments to make it effectively impervious to damage in normal situations and weigh nothing for its wielder [i]only[/i]. It’s not the first such sword she’s owned, but it can still withstand a horrendous amount of abuse.

She’s also surprisingly wealthy for her station; living at Candaeln since the Iron Roses were founded gives her essentially no living costs, and the occasional reward for this monster slaying or other combined with what she can draw on as a Knight of the Crown… 

There’s also the income from her mother’s dowry, which isn’t insubstantial – while the last remaining Cazt could probably try and contest that it’s been inherited by a vampire in the end, the parcel of land in Stalva just isn’t worth the fuss and none of her ancestors ever tried. Even the traitor had other things on his mind than picking a fight over it. 

[*][u][b]Skills[/b][/u]: First and foremost, Tyaethe is a vampire, which comes with its own parcel of abilities and [i]li[/i]abilities:

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The core of vampirism is a ritual modification of the bearer’s soul that gives the ability to convert ingested blood into mana at the cost of no longer independently [i]producing[/i] much of what it otherwise would. As mana is tied to life, this means they [i]need[/i] to consume blood in order to retain any level of health. This modification also enforces an affinity for blood magic, even if the vampire formerly couldn’t be a mage at all. On the other hand, it changes nothing for the individual’s maximum capacity for channelling mana; those who weren’t mages beforehand aren’t going to be working any great spells, while someone with immense magical ability can still call upon as much at the same time.

Of course, there’s more that comes along with it than that: for one, a vampire can magically revert their body to its former state; this is how they can perfectly heal body parts that have been entirely destroyed (although it’s always faster and more efficient to simply reattach them) and a likely source for their eternal youth. Secondly, any vampire has an instinctive ability to boost their physical attributes by the same mechanism, likely worked into the state in the distant past to make it possible to [i]get[/i] the blood from unwilling victims.

That it’s essentially a parasitic state by default is, undoubtedly, why Reon in particular has such disdain for them and why the majority of vampires will [i]burn to death[/i] if left in the sun for much time at all. Although, as this is the goddess’ conscious decision, she can and will ameliorate it to simply burning horribly if she likes you sufficiently – for instance, being one of her paladins. Same for whether Reon’s blessings are dangerous or not.

The process makes a few physical changes, too. Aside from getting paler (if that’s even possible; Tyaethe was already practically colourless), all vampires develop red eyes and slightly pointed ears – suggesting, perhaps, that an elf is the responsible party for their existence. This isn’t purely cosmetic; a vampire can see with no light at all, hear heartbeats, and smell blood rather like a shark. They also, contrary to their status as pseudo-undead seem [i]more[/i] alive in some ways, running unusually hot and with an extremely rapid heartbeat. And everyone knows vampires for their fangs.

The process of becoming a vampire requires both ingesting their blood and exsanguination, as well as a desire to live that actually catalyses the process. The would-be vampire’s own magic is normally required to effect the changes, but an external source can be provided if someone wants to [i]make[/i] a vampire out of someone otherwise ineligible – for instance, a dwarf. Given that you need to maintain this desire while effectively dying, making it is very much not guaranteed.

Given that the ritual essentially kills you while simultaneously animating your body, whether they’re truly undead is a matter of ongoing academic debate, or whether they’ve more in common with life-extending magic. What [i]is[/i] clear is that they’re extremely hard to kill; complete destruction of the brain, clean decapitation (usually), and directly piercing the heart all do it, but an incomplete job will be healed nigh instantly.[/hider]

In terms of her personal abilities, she is first and foremost a swordsman. Although it would seem that someone who mostly developed their skills as a vampire  and monster-slayer isn’t the type, she’s actually remarkably good with the blade and was even when the knights were founded, without the benefit of over two centuries of extra practice. While she can fight normally (especially armoured), her normal approach to combat is much flashier and more acrobatic than entirely practical… but very good at getting out of the way of, say, angry dragons. She actually takes pride in winning [i]without[/i] needing to fall back on vampirism, accepting it as a handicap to make most for-fun matches more even, but insists that using magic to keep up with the best doesn’t detract from the achievement of it; others can do the same with sufficient training, but [i]her[/i] body is static and would get nothing out of exercising. 

In fact, without using magic, she’s every bit what she looks: soft, huggable, and (without her particular sword on hand), [i]entirely[/i] harmless and easily harmed. But, of course, she’s a vampire who took no outside assistance to turn, so she’s [i]never[/i] without magic, possessing a channelling capacity that’s nothing less than terrifying. Standing next to her at full exertion is to witness a bonfire of mana that [i]could[/i] throw around siege spells like it’s nothing.

However, she’s always refused anything in the way of proper magical education; while she finds the theory more than interesting enough to learn and research, she doesn’t actually know much in the way of spells, only the most basic exercise to convert mana into light or a simple spell to light a fire. Unsurprisingly, her natural affinity [i]is[/i] for fire – and it’s extremely useful for one of Reon’s paladins, as the right liturgy can convert it into Reon’s holy flames.

She also, like many vampires, has an unusual talent tied into her blood – in her case, it can be perfectly and instantaneously converted into mana even once [i]outside[/i] her body, which makes it a particularly potent fuel for rituals. Not that she exercises this any more than absolutely necessary, i.e. when holy fire is probably the only thing that’s going to work.

Despite not [i]wanting[/i] to be a mage, her natural aptitude for it has spilled over into two semi-spells that she’s much more willing to use. One, driven by nothing more than [i]not wanting to be treated like a child[/i] initially and now her own certainty that it works, instantly ages her by a decade (or down by a decade, as the case may be). Given the completeness of the transformation and its lack of maintenance, she’s been told it [i]must[/i] be tying into how vampires heal and avoid ageing under normal conditions; some aspect of their self-identity. Tyaethe doesn’t really care, except to be vaguely annoyed that she would’ve grown into such a small adult.

The other spell is the one to encase herself in magically-generated armour that’s completely at odds with her actual dimensions. The few times it’s been cut into reveals nothing but writhing shadows and blood rather than her body, the usual evidence of vampiric healing, so it’s obviously some sort of blood magic. Given the amount of mana swirling around and being consumed to maintain it, the armour ahs extraordinary magic resistance – often the main reason she’d use it.

Aside from combat, she’s got a hobby of learning new languages. While it [i]started[/i] to hide her native Stalvan dialect and accent (a somewhat Thalnish-influenced branch of Ithillane with a country bumpkin reputation in [i]both[/i] countries), she does genuinely enjoy it.

[*][u][b]Other:[/b][/u]: Her eyesight is outright terrible. She has glasses, but given they would easily get broken or obscured in battle, she’s not going to be [i]spotting[/i] much when out and about doing knight things.

While she [i]is[/i] a baronetess, the order of precedence actually places that below her status as a crown knight – indeed, the ranks of hereditary crown knights mostly [i]are[/i] baronets, simply the closest of the lot to the higher nobility. And the correct address [i]is[/i] the same as a knight.[/list]
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