Name: Zahira Nejem
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Physical Description: When noticing Zahira Nejem for the first time, many note her height, she stands at 5’9, taller than most women. Her skin is dark from the sun, and her eyes are a variant mixture of green and brown, hazel is the proper term. She has a slightly hooked nose, but her nose in general is small and delicate. In fact, her outer extremities are all slender and dainty, from her angular eyes, to her thick, yet finely-arched brows, to her small rounded chin. Her cheekbones are high with plump lips to match. Even her hands are small, though her fingers are long and knobby, if one were to look at her feet by happenstance, they would find that her feet as well were small with long toes.
To go with her over-average height comes her lean body with narrow hips and a small chest. She is built like a runner with long legs. Her hair in colour is dark as the night sky, black as a raven’s wing, and is often hanging in a long braid draped over her shoulder or hanging down her back, though it is naturally wavy when loose. Her shoulders are broad from years spent learning the skill of the sword and other martial techniques. She has a large smile and a deep laugh, easily drawing attention to her. Oftentimes, Zahira dresses in leather trousers with a white blouse and black bustier to go with it, or when she is working, Zahira wears a simple patchwork dress with an apron over the front. She has a deep, rich and velvety voice, with an accent suggesting her origins in Dunras. Her ears are pierced with varying precious gems, and a gold stud sits in her right nostril. Zahira also has a tattoo of a lotus flower on her chest, it was a very painful process that included poking tiny holes into her skin with a bone needle filled with black ink.
Personal History:
Zahira Nejem was raised in Dunras, born to a wealthy merchant family that sold many of the lords and ladies around the Northern Lands their precious silks, trinkets and gems. Her father, Ahmed Nejem, is in control of the trading company known as Nejem Trading & Sons, that has a port in the North-eastern part of Dunras in the Dawnsea. The company dates back to the past five generations of the Nejem’s running the family business. Her mother, Amara, runs an apothecary in Dunras. Zahria grew up with five other brothers in the household so she learned to be tough from an early age. She is the second youngest child in her family.
From an early age, Zahira had problems conforming to the ways of Dunras, as a child in particular, especially girls, were not allowed to speak in public, and often shielded their faces with delicate silk and beads. Most women stayed at home to raise their families while their husbands worked to earn coin for their families. Not Zahira, she wanted to learn the ways of the world. She plied to her father to teach her how to handle gold, trading deals, and how to speak eloquently. From her mother, she learned the ways of an old craft, one that dated back before the rebirth. She learned how to make tinctures, poultices, and other healing methods; she also learned how to track the stars.
From her four brothers, she learned how to ride a horse, how to rope a calf, how to gut and clean any animal, bird, mammal or fish; how to string a bow, and how to sharpen a sword. She learned how to fight, and ran as hard as any of them in their footraces in the sandy dunes along the beach near the Pirash Strait. Eventually, all of her brothers moved out of their father’s house and into a new one with a wife in tow. Even her youngest brother was married out before she was. Oftentimes, she could hear her father arguing with her mother as to what would happen to Zahira if they did not soon find her a suitor.
During these years, Zahira heard her father speak in hushed tones about “the trouble to the north.”, what this trouble was she could not picture it. She often heard him referring to, “the Battle of Old,” and more commonly, “the great Battle of Themunil.” Zahira knew of Themunil from her history lessons given to her through her governess, and of his great battle in the Pit of Darkness and his seven faithful guards at his side. With every day, he spoke of new concerns for his merchant ships sailing north. When she would question her dear father, Ahmed would only silence her with a kiss atop the forehead.
As she grew older, Zahira became more deft, and sly. She would slip out of the house at night and venture to the taverns to hear the bards tell tall tales. One bard in particular claimed that he had journeyed past Elinor and beyond. The tale he spun, told of empty villages, abandoned without a trace, all livestock gone. Ghosts, and wicked spirits of the dead he claimed it to be! They were exacting revenge for improper burial of their dead. She scoffed at such silly notions.
With a deep ambition to become self-sufficient, she set out for the world on her 19th birthday, leaving behind the city of Dunras, she traveled northwest. She left with nothing more than a steed, a change of clothes and boots, her sword and vittles. But that was 8 years ago.
During her travels, she ended up in Chiron where she met an elderly man who claimed to be a Somarin. She had passed him on the road into town upon her steed and offered him a helping hand, as he hobbled by with his cane. He offered to pay her for her kindness if she took him to a spring on the other side of the village that lay near Elebrant. Insisting that he needn’t pay her, Zahira took the elderly man to the spring, only a few miles away.
When they got to the spring, the man threw off his tattered cloak that he had bound himself in, and stepped towards the spring. He pulled a canteen from his waist and held his other hand over the bubbling crook. With wide eyes, Zahira watched as the man spoke mysterious words that raised a spigot of water, conducting the stream to pour itself into his water skin. After he had filled his water skin, he turned to Zahira and produced a smooth black stone, he held it out to her.
“Hold this stone firmly in your hands when you are seeking warmth and comfort, and you will find it.” That was all the hermit man had to say before picking up his belongings and departing into the dark of night. She kept the stone, even to this day. She had never witnessed soms being performed, she only thought of it as a legend of old.
For the next three years, Zahira wandered through Chiron before reaching Elinor. She saw the Bay of Adan, and travelled up the coast before she reached the western plains of Elinor. By this time, a young queen named Teluvil took to the throne after the unfortunate death of her father. She was the youngest ruler to rule Elinor at the age of 21. With the likes of the queen on the seat of the throne, Zahira decided to head to Anora, the capital city that sat upon the Elebrant river. When she reached the city much later, she discovered that out of all the places she had travelled to, she had never felt more at home than in the stone city of Anora. She paid for board at an inn for several month before landing a job as an apprentice. She bought a small stone cottage in the city, and from here, she occasionally sends a letter to her parents back east.
Working as an apprentice in the local apothecary, often times she is approached by the locals to repair or mend some clothes, to make a love potion, or even to construct a bow. Here, she tends to her plants and flowers, grinding them to dust with her mortar and pestle. Her curved sword of Dunras is often seen hanging from her hip, or strapped across her back. From time to time, she thinks of the family and home she left behind, and what her life could have been like if she had chosen to stay, but the thought quickly slips away just as it had arrived. A life full of noble’s parties, infinite amounts of wine, surrounded by the most notable people in society, well that just sounded plain boring.
Character Traits:
Serious
Ambivalent
Ambitious
Kind and Friendly
Observant
Eloquent and Well-mannered
Reserved
Patient
Loyal
Commanding
Honest and Brave
Skills:
Swordfighting and hand-to-hand combat
Horseriding and archery
Harvesting/Collecting Herbs >> Making Potions/Tonics
Survival Skills (firebuilding, camp-making, how to pitch a tent, boil clean water, etc.)
Cooking
Hunting
Fletching and Wood Carving
Sewing and Beadworking
Stormyx,
Sick Ducker,
ML,
SkyeOfStars,
Dervish,
CaliforniaState
