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CyadicalVerena Luscinia | 26 | Imperial | The Mage
APPEARANCE
Verena’s most notable feature is her mane of wild dark brown hair that falls just past her shoulders, a set of white curtain styled bangs frames her face. Her thick manicured brows are typically pinched together, and her pale green eyes peer out from under thick eyelashes. She has a heart-shaped face, with a set of pouty rouge painted lips that mirror her contemplative expression drawn into a frown. Her rosy cheeks give her a rather youthful and innocent appearance, which has come in handy over the years much to her benefit. Verena is on the shorter end of the scale, and stands at a mere 5’5, with a lithe and delicate frame.
When it comes to a matter of physical dress, Verena prefers to dress in a simple, yet refined manner befitting of her status as Isai’s assistant, though she often cuts a slit into her dresses on both sides, and sports a pair of linen hosiery beneath for easier movement. She generally prefers to forgoe jewelry altogether, and she is careful to keep her hands clean, as it would be frowned upon to have an assistant with dirt underneath one’s fingernails. For her hair, she finds it difficult to manage, so she alternates between a half-up hairstyle, a messy bun, or flowing free.
The scent of roses is most noticeable when greeting Verena, as she prefers to use rosewater to wash her face, rose infused soaps, and makes her own rose scented perfume. It is not a pungent odor, but one that is pleasant to the nose.
When it comes to a matter of physical dress, Verena prefers to dress in a simple, yet refined manner befitting of her status as Isai’s assistant, though she often cuts a slit into her dresses on both sides, and sports a pair of linen hosiery beneath for easier movement. She generally prefers to forgoe jewelry altogether, and she is careful to keep her hands clean, as it would be frowned upon to have an assistant with dirt underneath one’s fingernails. For her hair, she finds it difficult to manage, so she alternates between a half-up hairstyle, a messy bun, or flowing free.
The scent of roses is most noticeable when greeting Verena, as she prefers to use rosewater to wash her face, rose infused soaps, and makes her own rose scented perfume. It is not a pungent odor, but one that is pleasant to the nose.
PERSONALITY
Given her illiteracy, Verena often comes across as shy to others, though she is quick to smile, and keeps conversation well with others. She will purposefully avoid subjects surrounding books for fear of being found out that she cannot read. It is not uncommon to see her staring intently at the writing on parchment paper, or glowering at signposts.
Despite this, Verena has a positive disposition, and prefers to avoid discourse whenever possible. When situations grow tense, Verena is quick-witted, and often finds solutions that are overlooked.
Despite this, Verena has a positive disposition, and prefers to avoid discourse whenever possible. When situations grow tense, Verena is quick-witted, and often finds solutions that are overlooked.
ABILITIES
Skills
Athletics - While Verena is no long distance sprinter, she is quick on her feet, and can run for a good distance before tiring.
Sneak - Coming from her childhood when her brothers would pickpocket the unfortunate, Verena developed the knack for moving without a sound, and often startles people as it feels as if she suddenly appears beside them without notice.
Mercantile - Though hindered by her illiteracy, Verena has an eye for detail, and her time at the castle gave her insight to items of value, and will often haggle and barter for a better deal.
Speechcraft - A quick learner, though no wordsmith unlike her counterpart, Verena tends to speak more eloquently, though at times uses the wrong words.
General Herbalism & First Aid - Coming from her time spent under Meralyn, Verena holds basic knowledge on herbs in the general locale. She can readily prepare herbal remedies, and isn’t squeamish when it comes to blood or injuries.
Sewing/Embroidery - A surprising talent Verena acquired through her series of jobs she held in her youth, shel often mends her own clothes in her spare time, or adds small embroidered details like rosettes, stars, beaded flowers and so on, and lends this to Isai as well.
Cooking - While not a jaw-dropping chef, Verena can certainly cook a meal that is more than edible. If one were to ask her, she would tell you that her favorite foods are eidar cap, mint chai, and shepherds pie, as these are comfort foods for her.
Magic: N/A - Despite being born under the Mage, Verena has never experienced wielding magic, and believes herself inept.
Athletics - While Verena is no long distance sprinter, she is quick on her feet, and can run for a good distance before tiring.
Sneak - Coming from her childhood when her brothers would pickpocket the unfortunate, Verena developed the knack for moving without a sound, and often startles people as it feels as if she suddenly appears beside them without notice.
Mercantile - Though hindered by her illiteracy, Verena has an eye for detail, and her time at the castle gave her insight to items of value, and will often haggle and barter for a better deal.
Speechcraft - A quick learner, though no wordsmith unlike her counterpart, Verena tends to speak more eloquently, though at times uses the wrong words.
General Herbalism & First Aid - Coming from her time spent under Meralyn, Verena holds basic knowledge on herbs in the general locale. She can readily prepare herbal remedies, and isn’t squeamish when it comes to blood or injuries.
Sewing/Embroidery - A surprising talent Verena acquired through her series of jobs she held in her youth, shel often mends her own clothes in her spare time, or adds small embroidered details like rosettes, stars, beaded flowers and so on, and lends this to Isai as well.
Cooking - While not a jaw-dropping chef, Verena can certainly cook a meal that is more than edible. If one were to ask her, she would tell you that her favorite foods are eidar cap, mint chai, and shepherds pie, as these are comfort foods for her.
Magic: N/A - Despite being born under the Mage, Verena has never experienced wielding magic, and believes herself inept.
EQUIPMENT
Only the clothes on her back: A sage green linen dress with a brown bodice, a pair of black linen hosiery, brown leather slippers, and a grey linen hooded cloak.
A satchel with the pairs toiletries (soaps, hairbrush, etc), and a few essential cooking supplies for life on the road (a small cooking pot, two spoons, two forks, two knives, and two wooden bowls.)
An herbal bag containing lavender, mugwort, ginseng, motherwort, monkshood, St. Jahn’s Wort, and wormwood leaves) with a few bandages included.
A smaller pouch containing Verena’s vial of rose oil fragrance, sewing needle, and spool of thread.
An herbal bag containing lavender, mugwort, ginseng, motherwort, monkshood, St. Jahn’s Wort, and wormwood leaves) with a few bandages included.
A smaller pouch containing Verena’s vial of rose oil fragrance, sewing needle, and spool of thread.
A wider collection of dried herbs, and glass vials.
Bolts of fabric in varying colours, and matching thread.
Two sets of spare clothes, a winter set of clothing, and a summer set.
Bolts of fabric in varying colours, and matching thread.
Two sets of spare clothes, a winter set of clothing, and a summer set.
BACKGROUND
Born into the maw of poverty, Verena faced many challenges as a child. The seemingly ever present gnaw of hunger, the stench of unwashed bodies and clothes, and the lack of education. She never knew her father, Adamus, as he met an early demise through a logging accident. Without a viable source of income, her mother, Gianna, made the difficult decision to uproot her family, and move them into Cheydinhal.
Gianna faced the task of trying to feed her three young children, and often left Verena in the care of her brothers, Marius then six years old, and Steffan four years of age. To say that Gianna’s absence resonated in their small family unit is an understatement. The young mother was forced to find work no matter the trade, though eventually she managed to find sustainable work as a basket-weaver.
Verena would like to think that her mother’s happiness fell victim to the iron-like claw of grief. While Gianna encouraged Steffan and Marius, few positive words reached Verena’s ears as a youth, a crucial time in any young person’s life when they needed encouragement most. After work, Gianna typically ventured out to the inn for a drink, spending what spare coin she could scrounge instead of food for her children, and drank herself into a stupor. Granted, Verena never felt the stinging slap of her mother’s hand, however, Gianna’s words were just as sharp. As a result, Verena stuck to her brothers side.
The trio spent most of their time begging for coin, though they were careful not to be caught. Most of it was innocent, they were hungry and filthy after all. Who wouldn’t spare a septim for those big doe-eyed children with their clothes in shambles? Yet, when they grew out of their childish looks, a life of begging in the streets of Cheydinhal became difficult. For a few years, Marius and Steffan tried their hand at pickpocketing, often using Verena as a distraction given her age. If one of them were caught, the other two would split up, dashing through the streets, and often knocking over goods in the market square.
Eventually, Steffan and Marius landed jobs in their early teens, with Marius working as a stable boy, and Steffan managed to find a job as an apprentice carpenter. This left Verena all by herself, and to avoid her mother’s ire, Verena did what she could to earn her own coin. For a while, she worked as a gatherer for a Dunmer herbalist by the name of Meralyn, who helped her identify what plants she needed. Arvela taught Verena the basic healing principles of the herbs in the surrounding locale. She taught her how to make poultices, tinctures, salves, and how to treat minor wounds, and the importance of keeping a wound clean.
When Verena turned seventeen, Marius, then twenty-three, decided to leave Cheydinhal behind, and head for the Imperial City to find work. While saddened, Verena admired her brother’s courage to seek a better life for himself. The following year, Steffan, only twenty-two, followed a similar path, and decided to head for Anvil, where he dreamt of sailing upon open waters. That left Verena behind to look after Gianna, as her mother had continued down the path of drowning her persistent grief at the bottom of a bottle. From the age of eighteen to twenty-two, Verena made herself scarce from the shoddy one-room family home her mother and her shared on the outskirts of the city, where Verena spent most of her time drifting from job to job, working for short periods of time as a seamstress, a cook, a scullery maid, an errand girl for the blacksmith, and so on.
The most important thing to note for Verena at this point in time, is her inability to read. Due to her impoverished upbringings, she remained illiterate, though her brothers fared no better than her. This often hindered her during certain tasks presented by her many bosses, yet she managed to find her way around the situation by memorizing images, and gleaning necessary information via context clues in conversations. For example, she knew the sign for the local blacksmith, as it displayed an anvil, though she couldn’t read the letters on the sign that spelled out The March Rider.
The year Verena would turn twenty-three, Gianna succumbed to her grief. Not knowing where her brothers were, and unable to compose a letter, only Verena attended her mother’s funeral, and what a great weight off her shoulders that felt. It was that day, that bleak day in Morning Star that she decided to forgoe her given name of Mariana Lupo, and changed her name to Verena Luscinia. A new name for a new start, unburdened by the challenges of a bitter mother. She could be anyone she wanted, and besides, it wasn’t as if Verena had any friends to notice the change in name.
A few weeks later, Verena landed a position as an assistant cook within the castle. She flourished in this role, and others took note of her odd, yet exceptional organizational methods. She organized items in the kitchen by color, size, and quantity. It impressed the current castle administrator, Naspia Cosma, who extended an assistant position to her. Verena settled into the position with stride, and managed to hide her illiteracy all the while. She memorized seals, and identified significant royal documents, and maintained her organizational system of sorting by colours, though she adapted the method of sorting by images, the more ornate an item was, the more secured it needed to be placed on her bookshelf. She paid close attention to the general context clues in proceeding conversations, and learned where signatures needed to go, and where specific stamps were to be placed.
Shortly after turning twenty-five, that is when Verena met Isai. She liked the charismatic imperial, and noted how he treated her with a great deal of respect. So when the time came where Isai prompted her for information about Count Andel Indarys, and acquiring a title, she needn’t much coaxing nor convincing, though a few extra septims certainly did sweeten the deal. And it wasn’t long after that Isai encouraged her to leave her stuffy administrative position behind to travel with him, after all, she had wanted to see the world for herself.
Though, she certainly didn’t expect getting caught up in the riot and the arrest that followed suit.
Gianna faced the task of trying to feed her three young children, and often left Verena in the care of her brothers, Marius then six years old, and Steffan four years of age. To say that Gianna’s absence resonated in their small family unit is an understatement. The young mother was forced to find work no matter the trade, though eventually she managed to find sustainable work as a basket-weaver.
Verena would like to think that her mother’s happiness fell victim to the iron-like claw of grief. While Gianna encouraged Steffan and Marius, few positive words reached Verena’s ears as a youth, a crucial time in any young person’s life when they needed encouragement most. After work, Gianna typically ventured out to the inn for a drink, spending what spare coin she could scrounge instead of food for her children, and drank herself into a stupor. Granted, Verena never felt the stinging slap of her mother’s hand, however, Gianna’s words were just as sharp. As a result, Verena stuck to her brothers side.
The trio spent most of their time begging for coin, though they were careful not to be caught. Most of it was innocent, they were hungry and filthy after all. Who wouldn’t spare a septim for those big doe-eyed children with their clothes in shambles? Yet, when they grew out of their childish looks, a life of begging in the streets of Cheydinhal became difficult. For a few years, Marius and Steffan tried their hand at pickpocketing, often using Verena as a distraction given her age. If one of them were caught, the other two would split up, dashing through the streets, and often knocking over goods in the market square.
Eventually, Steffan and Marius landed jobs in their early teens, with Marius working as a stable boy, and Steffan managed to find a job as an apprentice carpenter. This left Verena all by herself, and to avoid her mother’s ire, Verena did what she could to earn her own coin. For a while, she worked as a gatherer for a Dunmer herbalist by the name of Meralyn, who helped her identify what plants she needed. Arvela taught Verena the basic healing principles of the herbs in the surrounding locale. She taught her how to make poultices, tinctures, salves, and how to treat minor wounds, and the importance of keeping a wound clean.
When Verena turned seventeen, Marius, then twenty-three, decided to leave Cheydinhal behind, and head for the Imperial City to find work. While saddened, Verena admired her brother’s courage to seek a better life for himself. The following year, Steffan, only twenty-two, followed a similar path, and decided to head for Anvil, where he dreamt of sailing upon open waters. That left Verena behind to look after Gianna, as her mother had continued down the path of drowning her persistent grief at the bottom of a bottle. From the age of eighteen to twenty-two, Verena made herself scarce from the shoddy one-room family home her mother and her shared on the outskirts of the city, where Verena spent most of her time drifting from job to job, working for short periods of time as a seamstress, a cook, a scullery maid, an errand girl for the blacksmith, and so on.
The most important thing to note for Verena at this point in time, is her inability to read. Due to her impoverished upbringings, she remained illiterate, though her brothers fared no better than her. This often hindered her during certain tasks presented by her many bosses, yet she managed to find her way around the situation by memorizing images, and gleaning necessary information via context clues in conversations. For example, she knew the sign for the local blacksmith, as it displayed an anvil, though she couldn’t read the letters on the sign that spelled out The March Rider.
The year Verena would turn twenty-three, Gianna succumbed to her grief. Not knowing where her brothers were, and unable to compose a letter, only Verena attended her mother’s funeral, and what a great weight off her shoulders that felt. It was that day, that bleak day in Morning Star that she decided to forgoe her given name of Mariana Lupo, and changed her name to Verena Luscinia. A new name for a new start, unburdened by the challenges of a bitter mother. She could be anyone she wanted, and besides, it wasn’t as if Verena had any friends to notice the change in name.
A few weeks later, Verena landed a position as an assistant cook within the castle. She flourished in this role, and others took note of her odd, yet exceptional organizational methods. She organized items in the kitchen by color, size, and quantity. It impressed the current castle administrator, Naspia Cosma, who extended an assistant position to her. Verena settled into the position with stride, and managed to hide her illiteracy all the while. She memorized seals, and identified significant royal documents, and maintained her organizational system of sorting by colours, though she adapted the method of sorting by images, the more ornate an item was, the more secured it needed to be placed on her bookshelf. She paid close attention to the general context clues in proceeding conversations, and learned where signatures needed to go, and where specific stamps were to be placed.
Shortly after turning twenty-five, that is when Verena met Isai. She liked the charismatic imperial, and noted how he treated her with a great deal of respect. So when the time came where Isai prompted her for information about Count Andel Indarys, and acquiring a title, she needn’t much coaxing nor convincing, though a few extra septims certainly did sweeten the deal. And it wasn’t long after that Isai encouraged her to leave her stuffy administrative position behind to travel with him, after all, she had wanted to see the world for herself.
Though, she certainly didn’t expect getting caught up in the riot and the arrest that followed suit.
AMBITION
Verena seeks a better life for herself, her greatest fear being that she ends up destitute, and in a similar manner as her mother, husbandless, and with hungry mouths to feed. Having never left Cyrodiil, Verena yearns to see the world beyond.
