Sylvestra Wyrmire
Age:
28
Sex:
Female
Alignment:
Paladin
Affiliation:
The Vanguard
(I suppose the military covenant of Meldiniar?)
Personality:
Described as a ruthless tactician dedicated to eradicating all illegal magicians from the land. While she is cold and calculating, she is not unfeeling. She has great love in her family of husband and two sons but feels she must set them out of her mind when doing her duty as a Paladin - which is most of the time.
She is a commander of sorts, often in charge of leading men into battle or laying strategies, which perfectly fit her "ruthless tactician" description. In short, enemies of Sylvestra are battled with any means available to her, and friends taken care of the same way: by any means.
She views all fellow paladins with respect and all mages with suspicion if not disgust. She feels the magic has caused so much suffering over the ages that it must be removed completely, and the light take it's place.
Bio:
Grew up in the capital, the youngest of her siblings, with two older brothers that were supposed to grow up and follow in their father's footsteps. He was a military commander and an accomplished one at that, proudly serving under Grinnoc. Her mother was a housewife and spent much time with Sylvestra and her older brothers while their father was away, his duty always calling him away from his family. Her father spent so little time with the family, in fact, that Sylvestra and her brothers grew up basicly only on the stories they had heard of their father. That he was a mighty warrior, a seasoned commander, a veteran... Needless to say, they all grew up in awe of their father, dreaming of the day they would follow his footsteps. Even Sylvestra did, despite her brothers teasing her and her mother telling her war isn't a place for a lady.
Her father was so successfull in combating the mages that they plotted to have him removed. When Sylvestra was 12, her older brothers were 15 and 17. The assassins came into their home in the night, but couldn't find the commander. They had been misinformed - he didn't stay at his home much at all! The three of them began arguing silently in the dark of the hallway, when Sylvestra suddenly appeared in the hallway. It was late at night and she couldn't sleep, so she was going to her brothers' room. The assassins stopped and stared at her as she stood unmoving in the hallway, shocked. A few seconds passed by, when finally Sylvestra found the strength to scream, her voice having faltered her before. The assassins lunged at her, but instead bumped into her older brothers who came storming out of the room, alarmed. In the heat of the moment, Sylvestra rushed downstairs, hearing the sound of metal scraping, moans and thuds. She reached the streets below, and luckily ran straight into the arms of a night patroll. When they rushed back up the stairs however, the assassins had fled and instead they found the bodies of two young boys, with their mother weeping over them.
She didn't know then that it was mages that had come to kill her father, but so angry was she as she continued to grow that she decided to take her brothers' place in military service. She enlisted at 17.
When learning that it was mages that had come to attempt the life if her father and instead killed her older brothers, Sylvestra hungered for revenge. The stories of Grinnoc came to mind, of how his power could burn away the mages' magic itself and directly counter them. She dedicated her entire being into harnessing that power and joining the Paladins. Eventually, at the age of 20, she was strong enough to begin the Paladin training. Her military training before that hadn't been easy for a young girl like herself, but her determination and iron will kept her from breaking. She did it for her brothers. She had endured it, and passed it with cunning and intelligence more than with mere brawn.
The training to become a Paladin was even worse, and now she found herself under heavy pressure every day. No longer could she "outsmart" the training. She had to adapt, and without knowing it the training made her stronger in body than she had ever been. This in combination with her sharp mind was what made her complete this training.
Then finally came the day where she would undergo the dangerous ritual to wield the powers of the light. While she cannot remember the ritual itself, she remember waking up in a bed after three days in a coma. Her body was broken, her mind hurt, but her spirit remained. The strength of her brothers empowered her, and she eventually recovered, finding herself successfull in the ritual and thereby able to wield the Light, or nega-magic as the scholars had called it.
From that day, age 23, Sylvestra began serving in the Vanguard Covenant, dedicated to combating the mages wherever they are and remove whatever threat they prove to be. Over the years she grew in rank and she went from veteran to low-officer, and continued to climb. Eventually, she became the commander of one of the groups within the Covenant, but she means not to stop there. She is bent on continuing her climb, for in her mind, the higher the rank the higher the authority, and the higher the authority the greater means of which to remove the mages from these lands are available to her.
((Note that the part of what became of her parents after her brothers' deaths and how she started a family of her own has been left out. I didn't see them as incredibly important and would just make this sheet much longer. It can be explained ICly instead.))
Power Description:
Sylvestra knows that one man's strength is nothing compared to the strength of many. As such, she has dedicated her powers to empowering her soldiers rather than use it to destroy individual mages. She can still fight, of course, but she is a commander and as such rather see her men safe and strong than gain personal triumph. In battle, she uses her power to increase moral and heighten spirits, empowering the weapons or armor of the soldiers under her command. Both offense and defense she uses it this way, but are sometimes bound to improvise.
In a one-on-one battle, she can use this magic on her own equipment, strengthening her own blows or blinding her opponent.
Spells:
Empower Weapon - Channeling nega-magic into her own or her soldiers' weapons, she can cause hits with said weapons to have the same effect as the magic itself has. For example nega-magic countering arcane magic, but through the form of a blow with a weapon.
Empower Defense - Channels nega-magic into her own or her soldiers' armor or shields, causing them to be extra resistant toward arcane magics and works as spell-shields of sorts. Works the same way nega-magic and arcane magic works when clashing, so the stronger the arcane magic attacking, the stronger the nega-magic infused into the armor or shield have to be.
Empower Morale - The same way that Sylvestra can infuse armor and weapons with nega-magic, so can she empower herself or her soldiers with it. Their bodies become termporarily strengthened by the nega-magic, causing them to do increased damage to arcane-magicians through weapon blows and makes them extra resistant to arcane magic that would strike them. This spell takes more power to work however, and as such is more tiring to use and can't be used as long.
Skills:
Experienced Tactician - Sylvestra has commanded men in battle and created combat strategies for a few years now and as such is capable of giving out orders in the heat of the moment and assess situations and plan around them.
Cold Iron Will - Because of her ruthless nature gained the day her brothers were murdered, Sylvestra has learned to keep calm even during the most stressfull of situations. Her will is iron and her mindset cold and calculating. Breaking her mentally is therefore incredibly hard.
Weaponmastery - During the years of training, Sylvestra has mastered many weapons and as such is able to fight well with most melee arms available. (Swords, maces, axes, pikes, spears, flails, etc). This includes shields of all kinds aswell.
Equipment:
Wears armor fitting to her rank and stature, but prefers to sacrifice some of the heavy protection for flexibility. Her armor is therefore light plate rather than the heavy plate most Paladins tend to wear.
In combat her weapons of choice are a longsword and a round shield or alternatively a halberd.
Other:
None at this time.