Name: Hertha Redrivers
Age: 45; Roughly 18 for a human
Appearance: Roughly 12 feet tall. Her sword and shield are as seen in the picture
Crew Position: Swords woman/general muscle/experienced ship hand
Power Type: Sub Elbafian (AKA super human )
Personality: Hertha is best described, in many ways, as a typical Elbaf warrior. She is a bit rowdy at times and jumps at the chance to test her metal in both friendly and unfriendly combat. She enjoys fun with her crew mates and will be fiercely loyal to them if they show her the same respect. But despite that hot blooded nature that colors her actions, she is a very determined and girl. Her goal is to be recognized as the true Elbafian warrior that she knows herself to be, to that end she has a great deal of focus. In all things she does she gives 100 percent, expect nothing less of others, and woe to those who get in her way.
History: Hertha, though many don't seem to believe her, is an Giant from Elbaf. You may be asking why is she less tall than even some 'giant human'? Well, Hertha is victim of a rare Elbafin birth defect that really doesn't have a proper translation into the common language. The closest approximation is 'Dishonorable Stature'. Superstition has it that those born with this condition are cursed to be 'failures' as Elbafin warriors and would bring shame and misfortune on their family. As such, most born are either killed by their parents or left to die. Her father and mother scoffed at this old superstation and chose to keep their daughter all the same. Hertha's father , a pirate himself, was captured and killed by marines before Hertha turned 1. Her mother was sickly, even for a giant, and was not of warrior blood. Alone without the support of village due to her childes 'curse' she knew she could not survive the harshness of Elbafian culture. She took to the east blue with her infant child, even for a 'weak' giantess such as her living in the calm territory of the East Blue would be a fairly simple task. She settled in on a small island town that had a farming community. They greatly appreciated the immense strength of the giantess on their efforts so their lives were fairly easy.
Hertha took deep pride in her Elbaf heritage, as well in her father's legacy. She decided she wanted to train to be a great warrior and carried the Redrivers name back to the seas and prove her blood wasn't truly a curse to her and her family. Her mother, despite everything, supported this wish. Her blood was still that of an Elbaf, as was that of her daughters even if many of their breed would see her as a 'cursed' child. She wanted nothing more than her child to shove their stupid superstitions down their throat. She spent many years training on her own, eventually seeking out a master to aid her in her training in the east blue. Finding someone who could teach her a style suitably close to the traditional Elbaf fighting styles was difficult, but she eventually found a 'giant human' who specialized in fighting techniques for people of their size. She adjusted them accordingly to better imitate her mothers descriptions of Elbaf combat.
Since leaving the her mother's side in search of honor and glory she has grown a reputation as a mercenary. Working for anyone who had the coin to buy her blade. Funny enough, she would often lower her price a great deal if the job was 'difficult enough'. This was a tactic to help her more likely attract 'glory' winning jobs. Though it had the unfortunate side effect of giving her a distasteful Alias. Her other Alias, among the mercenary and pirate circles was also far from her liking. They called her 'The Runt'. Most people, let alone the ruffians who do mercenary work, know about Elbaf and those that do certainly don't know enough about them to know about a condition that would make a full blooded giant so small. Most think she is a delusional 'giant sized human' and use the moniker to taunt and make fun of her.
While dabbling in pirating she was never directly associated with any captain or crew so has yet to be labeled as anything more than a troublesome sell sword known for immense strength and tenacity. Her ultimate goal was to become a pirate like her father, But she had trouble finding a captain and crew who's goals where as high as her own. She has worked for just as many merchants as pirates, and has been offered full time jobs plenty of times. She currently goes off to meet a would-be captain she was once hired by to entertain an offer to join his crew. Who knows, maybe this time they'll be worthy of her services.
Abilities:
Combat: Hertha is a well trained swords/shield woman. Her style, like that of many young Elbafian warriors still forging their skills, is simple but effective. She leverages her great reach and strength to her advantage in combat. She has yet to evolve her style very far out of the basic form of elbaf sword play, but her personal flair is starting to bud in the form of her being very nimble and dexterous for her size, making her effective against groups of normal sized foes and troublesome to single ones larger than her.
She is easily twice as strong as other giants her size. A trait she attributes to her Elbaf heritage
General:
She is actually quite the handy girl. She forged her own blade , helm, and shield. She put her size and strength to many uses around her village. Construction, ship-repairs, farming, you name it she probable did it for a decade or two. How this helps at sea is she can perform minor and emergency ship repairs. Though her greatest skill is Blacksmithing, she spent a great deal of her free time among the village blacksmiths. Had she not preferred swinging a sword rather than making them she could have likely made a living at metal work. She forged and crafted her own blade, helm, and shield
Others: While many doubt her heritage, oddly enough other Elbafians never do. Even ones that do not recognize her resemblance to her father or her family name, they often claim 'something about her eyes' told them. While she doesn't bring this up often, one of her motivation to going to the grand line is to find some kind of size changing devil fruit that would allow her to grow to a normal Elbaf size.
