Raptorman

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG (Closed)

About a month and a half IC I believe.

On that note, I will be working to get a post up this weekend at the latest to both kick off the next segment of Nightmare, and to move forward the interaction with war pulse. I'm hesitantly hopeful of getting one up tonight.

Multi-Planar Fantasy NRP

So it would be Evarast before he gained the power to shape an entire plane of existence around himself and his ideals? But could still be the same character.

Multi-Planar Fantasy NRP

Oh? So his particular realm could exist in this?

Multi-Planar Fantasy NRP

Potentially interested. I was a fan of the Lords of Ruin thread and this has some elements in common.

Though I wish you would just reboot the Lords of Ruin, I want to break out Evarast again.

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

I edited the version in the OOC I believe with the items and contacts. Sorry for not being specific. That is the final version. :)

It is in my sheet too the bit about her location.

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

Maxwell, I also edited the appearance for my character to help reduce the wish fulfillment aspect. May I ask if it was an improvement? I also finished adding her significant items and contact stuff.

Also, Lin'Lise was in her daughter's nursery after having found her slain when she saw Erasmus plummet down past the window on his way to the pigsty. I made sure to do that. :)

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

Firstly I am very sorry you lost your work Maxwell. That really sucks and has happened to me more times than I care to admit. :(

Maxwell said
Considerably better. I still think the towering goddess who can force people to like her smacks of wish fulfillment, and she's still going to stick out like a sore thumb. For the former, I guess we might see, and for the latter, that doesn't actually have any impact on the selection process, only on your in-game odds.

First off here, thank you for recognizing the work I did in revamping her personality and backstory. :)

Secondly, Maxwell, after consideration I have decided you are right. I did make an error in making her have that 'perfect beauty'. I did not take into account that the physical appearance of her father as well as mother would be manifested in her end physical appearance and as a result she came out with literally a vaelie appearance stapled to some of the size of a lorenvolk. I have now gone back and edited her appearance as well as changing the references to her having extreme beauty in the sheet. I hope you will find her new appearance less wish fulfillment and more sensible. Could you let me know your thoughts on the appearance changes?

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

Moved mine here as well. :) Looking forward to finding out what you think of her second version. I think it is much better and others did too so I hope I please you with the changes as well.

Raptorman

Name: The Princess Lin'Lise Vexerfell of Vol'kariz

Race: 1/2 lorenvolk, 1/2 vaelie (Credit and thanks to my good friend who allowed me to use one of her races for half of this character)

Age: 33

Position: Wife of the deceased Prince Alfred, A Court Healer and Alchemist

*Vaelie 'Magics'- Vaelie 'magics' are not really magic but are poorly understood even by the vaelie themselves. The vaelie naturally produce compounds that can cause various effects on humanoid beings. The most common two that are produced are, a soporific compound which makes those exposed to it feel drowsy, and an 'aphrodisiac' compound that has predictable effects on those exposed to it, however there are others that can cause almost any emotion. All of these compounds can be released at will and in varying quantities depending on the desired effect. The more of the compound is released, the more potent the effect, similarly the longer one is exposed the more the effect will grow. These are typically subtle and best used that way to slowly alter the mood and creep up on someone, if released in a massive amount the sudden impact and mood change will be more noticeable and can sometimes alert the person in question that they are being manipulated." As Lin'Lise is only half vaelie her natural compounds are both weaker and less long lasting than a pure vaelie. Further by virtue of her thinner blood she does not produce as large of an amount of the compounds and where a true vaelie would rarely run low it is easy for her to deplete her stores of them." The two hidden spines can also be used to inject pure forms of these compounds into something directly which causes an immediate and much harder to shake off effect, it is also extremely obvious though.

*Lorenvolk Traits- Lin'Lise's muscles and skeleton are built differently than a humans, this manifests itself in her being much stronger than a normal human and also in her bones being much more difficult to break. She does not appear physically imposing aside from her height, which makes her strength a great surprise to those who do not know of it already. This also accounts for her inhuman weight. Important, because of her weight and the density of her body she really cannot swim. Notably due to the fact that she is not particularly physically fit, while she is strong she doesn't have great endurance or stamina, also she has the brute force but little skill in using it since she pursued mental rather than physical arts.

*Healing Magic/Chymistry- Lin'Lise is very skilled at healing magic. Her mother taught her many things and she augmented her learning after arriving in the kingdom. She knows a large number of words relating to the interior of the body and curing internal injuries that were unknown to the kingdom before she arrived. She can heal injuries that many would write of or not even realize existed because the only damage was beneath the surface rather than visible. Lin'Lise is also skilled at creating magical droughts and potions that can heal or cause other temporary effects. Her skills at this however are less impressive than her healing however.

*Miscellaneous- Lin'Lise is a gifted seamstress, quite skilled in the culinary arts, passable at chess, an avid if slow reader, and is at least familiar with political intrigue thanks to the lessons on the ancient wars between lorenvolk kingdoms in Vryndar.

Appearance: Lin'Lise Vexerfell of Vol'Kariz is an anomaly in the Fanged Isles for neither the lorenvolk in their ancient splendor nor the vaelie in their seductive and sinister mannerisms dwell in these lands. Her appearance is the result of the mingling of two strains of inhuman blood and she at least views herself as the best of both worlds, and while few exist in these lands who have seen either one of the lorenvolk or one of the vaelie most agree with her statements. Lin'Lise is taller than most humans, male and female alike at roughly 8 feet in height as a direct product of the lorenvolk blood that flows through her veins. Her hair is long and pure gold in color, seeming almost to be made from the metal and shining brilliantly in even dim light. She typically wears it long down her neck and back however there are two braided portions that hang down to either side of her face and serve to frame it. Her skin has a soft silver hue and like her hair actively shines to a degree in strong enough light. Her eyes are large pools of molten gold that capture and draw the eyes of any who look upon her face. Some have said they are enchanting but whether this is true or not is uncertain. Despite this however there are elements that mar the perfect appearance that her vaelie blood tries to produce. Her nose is overly long and could be described as hooked, and her eyes while beautiful pools of molten gold are slightly uneven, the left one being a bit higher than the other. This asymmetry applies to most of her face with the left side being slightly higher than the right. Her face is also broader than ideal by the standards of humans and it can appear that her skin is a bit stretched over it at times. Her mouth differs from a human in the presence of a second set of teeth that are capable of retracting and descending at will, when descended they cover her more humanoid teeth from the front and are wickedly pointed and sharp. Her mouth is also like the rest of her face uneven, with the left side ending higher than the right.

Her body appears to be lithe and thin and to lack particularly large amounts of muscle which is deceptive. Due to her thinness and lack of obvious large deposits of body fat she is a bit of a scarecrow when one combines those traits with her height. Further due to some unfortunate elements of mixing vaelie and lorenvolk blood Lin'Lise has inherited the lorenvolk sensitivity to sunlight at the same time as she inherited the vaelie skin. She sunburns easily and this often results in her skin peeling and blistering along with turning a peculiar purplish red color where the burns are by virtue of her natural coloration. She weighs approximately 600 pounds, another example of how her appearance is deceptive. There are narrow slits on the undersides of her arms right where the wrist joins the arm and hand together. From these slits a pair of hollow bone spines can emerge and strike rapidly before vanishing again, these spines can inject several toxins.

Lin'Lise is most commonly seen clad in garments made in styles that she claims come from her homeland across the vast ocean to the north. Diaphanous threads and woven cloth streamers bedeck arms and back of her clothing, and a runic script that she has never disclosed the meaning of is also commonly found woven into the fabrics. Most of her clothing is made from overlapping wrappings of silks and other fine fabrics that somehow manage to hold together and not fall apart. Her clothing also as a general rule attempts to play up her features. In truth her clothing is a bastardized mixture of the high fashion of the Court in Vol'Kariz and traditional vaelie attire, considering the patterns and styles were constructed by memory and she has not seen either since she was around 14 years old it is understandable that it is not completely accurate.

Also Lin'Lise speaks the language of the kingdom with a unique and noticeable accent that she has never been able to get rid of.

Personality:
Lin'Lise Vexerfell is a person who is accredited with kindness and who appears to genuinely care about people in general. However the truth is less pleasant. In reality she has a deep rooted disdain for most of humanity with the exception of a few notable individuals. The other emotion that she generally feels towards humankind is pity, though it is a pity that is rooted in the previously mentioned disdain. She pities them because they are so lowly and do not realize how pathetic they truly are and it is this pity that leads her to the actions that many see as being rooted in kindness. Her willingness to teach her healing arts and to practice them seemingly selflessly to save human lives stem from this pity at the state in which the lesser creatures exist, and also from the fact that she believed the trade of her secrets of the healing art for acceptance into the court was a worthwhile exchange.

She has always been something of an optimist, believing there is a way to spin almost any situation to her advantage, which is manifested in her natural response to adversity or conflict. She is not someone who thinks to use brute force to solve her problems. Rather her natural tendency is to attempt to talk her way out of situations or to use her natural gifts to manipulate the emotions and desires of those involved to produce an outcome favorable to her. It is a matter of personal pride to her though that she has managed to navigate many situations without actually using her powers all the time. Since up until now this practice had worked out pretty well for her it is rather ingrained. Lin'Lise is also not violently inclined, she had little interest in combat or tactics which her father tried to force upon her. She prefered instead the more subtle arts and the healing that her mother's teachings offered. She is strong and her strength comes as a shock but she is not mentally nor physically trained for combat.

She did have genuine feelings for her late husband and for her daughter, though even those feelings were a bit warped due to her inhuman nature. Her daughter was valued as her lineage and an insurance of her own position at the court since her daughter meant that her blood now flowed in the royal lines of the kingdom, and yes there was a bit of maternal love there as well. Her late husband was one of the few humans that she actually cared about as the man had been one who unlike the others had welcomed her initially even before she had shown the healing magic. Lin'Lise felt that she owed him greatly for this and she did find him both mildly attractive and useful. These elements together led to a fondness for him that he and others mistook for love. She also admired the old king Erasmus, for he reminded her in a way of her own father. He had vision and power with the potential to unite a realm that had long been divided. For this she respected him, and he was one of very few humans that were viewed with something other than disdain mild or otherwise.

Her desire for vengeance stems from a combination of several motivations. Firstly her father taught her never to ignore a serious slight, that any damage must always be re-payed in kind if one is not to appear weak and while she does not hold to this in all things in this case she does. Secondly she did actually feel something that passed for 'love' for both her late husband and her daughter and the death of ones who she loved sparked a desire for vengeance. Thirdly her position has been actively destroyed, she has in one fell swoop gone from being a figure of the highest nobility to a nobody, something her ego can't tolerate.

Lin'Lise worships Maev'Sil'Vien, the sole goddess of the lorenvolk in the far north. She has never been forcible or attempted to convert others to her faith, it simply remains quietly hers.

Backstory: Lin'Lise Vexerfell's story begins very far from the Fanged Isles and their many feuding kingdoms. In fact her story also predates her own birth for to truly understand where she came from an explanation of the circumstances that produced such a blasphemous hybrid as an offspring of vaelie and lorenvolk must be provided. Far to the north, beyond a vast ocean lies the frozen land of Vyrndar. Vyrndar is an ancient land, ruled over by a race of near giants known as the lorenvolk, beings who believe themselves destined to rule by virtue of being supposed descendants of the goddess Maev'Sil'Vien. There in a land of ice and snow, a land where few others could survive these beings raised great fortresses and cities carved into mountains and glaciers alike. There these beings fought endless wars and feuds against each other for thousands of years until at last for the first time a ruler rose to unite them.

The High King of Vol'Kariz brought low the other lorenvolk kingdoms, destroying those who did not submit and welcoming those who did into the fold. It was after this man had united the lorenvolk that his hunger for more became apparent. Ships were built and dispatched across the waters, seeking lands to pillage and plunder. Riches flowed back into Vyrndar and the High King was pleased, but the greatest prize was yet to come. Several years after the raids began one of the vessels, the greatest that had been built and the one that had ventured farthest from the land of Vyrndar returned bearing something that the lorenvolk had not seen before. Humans and other lesser races were common as slaves and servants, especially in those days when the raiding would constantly produce new crops, but even among the slaves from distant lands none knew what this being that had been brought back was.

The prize had been a woman whose beauty was said to have been beyond the ability of words to express and those who had brought this alien (as in unknown or strange) woman back had a story to tell. They had sailed so far south that it had become nearly unbearable, the heat became near intolerable, the sunlight more intense and hateful, storms with a violence unknown had whipped the boat about, provisions began to run low, and some had talked over turning back, or making for a land that had already been discovered where pillage and provisions could surely be obtained. But just before they would have turned back another land was glimpsed in the distance and they made for it. For nearly a week they scoured the coastline, searching for a settlement before at least they found one. The constant presence of the jungle on the coastline had diminished and there they found a settlement.

The Lorenvolk raiders descended upon the town like the looters and pillagers that they were and in the face of a surprise assault by giants the human defenders were routed and many were taken prisoner. But the most interesting prize came from the center of the town, a strange temple stood there and the beings who occupied it were strange beautiful creatures with skin and hair like precious metals. Surprisingly unlike the humans these creatures had fought and only one had been taken alive, a woman who the raiders brought back along with the other slaves.

When the High King saw this woman he was well pleased and claimed her for his own. From this union of monsters, of giants, and those who treat human like cattle would come Lin'Lise. Her mother, the woman whose beauty had so captivated the High King slowly manipulated him, the tricks of vaelie 'magic' bending his will subtly over time even as she outwardly was nothing more than a slave. Several years after she had been brought before the High King, he enthralled by her charms and at her will forsook his previous wife, and wed her to the uproar and dissent of his nobles and the lesser kings he had subjugated.

Lin'Lise was born within a year of the official union and she was proclaimed Lin'Lise Vexerfell, Princess of Vol'Kariz and Vyrndar. Her early years saw her treated like the princess she was proclaimed to be, her mother's 'magics' holding her father in line and she believed herself to be loved. She was raised in luxury and never wanted for anything, the finest historians taught her of the ancient wars and history of Vyndar, the finest warriors attempted to teach her how to fight though they were never very successful, her father taught her statecraft, and from her mother Lin'Lise learned of the other half of her heritage. The poisons and potions, secret spells, cocktails that could alter minds and bend wills, and even a few less subtle tricks, these she learned from her mother.

For years it appeared to be her father's plan that Lin'Lise would be wedded to one of the lesser kings in Vyrndar and used to shore up the shaky network of fear and domination that allowed the High King to hold his power. But things began to change. Her father became more and more disappointed in her lack of interest in the traditions of Vyrndarian glory. She only once accompanied him on one of the great raids and had been clearly miserable and ill spirited the entire time, and her participation had only been brought about by a direct order from her father. This lack of interest, along with her lack of fighting skill, and her non-confrontational demeanor, led to doubts about her ability to inherit as High Queen even if she was wed to another figure out power, which in turn led to the relationship her father had with her turning colder.

As a girl on the cusp of reaching young adulthood Lin'Lise did not understand what was happening, she simply saw the signs, the growing coldness with which her father treated her, even her mother slowly began to become more distant as she grew older and began to develop. She felt the changes but had no idea of how to deal with it. Her mother had early on impressed upon her that she was never to use her gifts to manipulate her father likely in fear that the two might cancel each other out and free the High King from her spell. As such she did not even have her gifts to turn to in an attempt to regain the lost affection.

Despite the fact that things had grown colder she was still the only heir at the time and as such she was still treated as one. However that was soon to change. When Lin'Lise was 11 years old her mother conceived again and in time bore another child, the one a son, a male heir to the throne of Vyrndar. The coldness only grew after this point, though Lin'Lise was surprised when a new element was added to her education, it was the first sign of interest that had been taken in her by her father in a long while. This new element was language lessons in a tongue that Lin'Lise found incredibly difficult to learn and that she at first could not see the point of. This tongue was not spoken in Vyrndar, why as the elder child of the High King was she being forced to learn it?

There was an inkling in the back of her mind of what it might mean, but she suppressed such thoughts and refused to let them form. Ultimately though her suspicions that she had buried proved to be correct. When her brother was 3 years old and so was deemed unlikely to suddenly take ill and die Lin'Lise was informed of her fate. In accordance with negotiations that had apparently been going on for the last several years she was going to be betrothed to the son of a monarch in a realm to the distant south. She had no interest in this, having no desire to leave the land that she had been born and raised in to venture south to an alien kingdom and this betrayal by her parents was painful. She felt a deep sense of loss which was only magnified by the way her protests were met with a slap from her mother and thinly veiled disdain for her lack of appreciation of the opportunity.

She was sent south on a great ship, accompanied by guards and a retinue to ensure that she reached the kingdom of Altrantor successfully. On the voyage south she experienced many things, anger and pain at the betrayal, and a sense that she had lost the only home she had ever known. But even in the hurt of betrayal she drew on the teachings that her mother and father, but particularly her mother had given her. "A vaelie," her mother had said "is never without tools. I rose from servitude and bondage to become a Queen. You bare the gifts of your heritage as well." And she embraced those teachings, if her parents had no need for her in Vyrndar then she would make a new place for herself by any means necessary in this new world.

Her resolution and determination lasted all of five minutes after she had disembarked from the boat. Even as the people of the city of Altrantor gaped at the escort of giants and the foreign girl who had been brought, she was overwhelmed by the city. The stench, the clamor, the seething mass of pitiful humanity. Her initial impression of the city was one of overwhelmed disgust. It was not to say that Vol'Kariz had been particularly clean, or quiet, but to her the land she had been sent to seemed horrible. The presentation of her to the court in Altrantor went poorly. The lorenvolk in her escort could barely hide their scorn at the humans and this created tension. It also did not help that they did not fit particularly well into the human buildings.

When it was over Lin'Lise was left alone in a foreign land, among creatures that she had been raised to believe were little more than cattle. Perhaps the one positive was that the prince whom she was to marry had been fascinated by her during the presentation and took interest in the girl who he was to marry in time. She had not expected kindness from a human, humans were to be looked down and pitied, not to be the ones who pitied you. Normally she would have reacted the entreaties of friendship and compassion from a human with scorn, but at that moment when she was alone, struggling under the weight of what she perceived to be a grievous plight, her normal response of scorn and disdain did not come, instead she simply accepted the compassion and for that, aid in a time when she felt betrayed and alone that fondness began to grow.

While she was never treated anything but cordially by the courtiers and servants in the palace even as a young woman there were still threads of rumor and jokes made about her, the 'northern barbarian princess.' She resented this, that humans belittled her great people and whispered insults behind her back, but as she could not do anything about it then she kept silent, showing instead a facade of friendliness and interest, acting as if she had never heard any of it. As she was a guest of the royal family she had access to the library and resources with which she could pursue her studies, and much of her time was spent there, laboriously reading magical texts and piecing what her mother had taught her together with the magical knowledge in the kingdom. She was an endless nuisance for the wizard Nykerius as she would always be pestering him with questions.

As she grew she was patient, waiting for opportunities even as she nurtured the growing relationship with her betrothed who she pumped for all the information she could about the kingdom. And eventually an opportunity presented itself, an acquaintance of the king, a famed explorer who had ventured to a jungle infested land in the south had returned ill. None of the court's healing mages or masters of chymistry could heal him. But Lin'Lise's mother had come from those lands and among the words of healing magic that she had been taught was one that named this ailment, one that could bring it to bear and allow it to be purged.

She offered to help and while they were reluctant an extremely concentrated release of her compounds swayed them just enough to allow her the chance, and to the surprise of everyone there she spoke words that none of the healers had known that checked the disease and purged it. It had not been the smoothest recitation, or the most masterful casting but it had shown potential and revealed new knowledge. It also opened the door like she had hoped allowing her to no longer just be viewed as that foreign princess from the land of savage giants. Lin'Lise was praised for what she had done and the healing mages clamored for her to share the words that she knew. She shared them gladly and openly, adding to the medical knowledge of the kingdom. While she had not wanted to sacrifice this knowledge she knew bet that it would be a chip that would allow her to be truly embraced by the court and that would make her less of an outsider. She was correct.

Following the healing several of the court healers took her under their wings, teaching her more of the healing words and helping her hone her actual spellcasting ability, something that was rusty from relative disuse. She was a fast learner and progressed rapidly, within a few years she was considered a healer in her own right. This was near her 22 birthday, roughly the same time that after 8 years in the kingdom of Altrantor as a guest of the royal family her betrothal to the prince Alfred finally culminated in marriage. This was a moment when Lin'Lise felt truly happy, while her emotions are not quite human the securing of the connection to the royal family, the achievement of a position of importance, and the affection she received combined to produce a very humanesque state of pleasure.

She had cultivated an image of benevolence and kindness, trying to distance herself in the minds of people from what they considered to be the savage giants of the north and after the marriage was consummated she continued in this endeavor. It was the act that she would play and it was the path by which she would survive and prosper.She made herself available to the sick and infirm of the city, even those who could not pay for healing and her supposed compassion was known throughout Altrantor.

Approximately two years ago she conceived and gave birth to a child of her own, a daughter who she named Vel'Lis, she insisted upon a name of her own choosing and with a few gentles nudges from her compounds the prince Alfred went along with it. Lin'Lise cared for that child as she had cared for nothing else in the world, it was more than just the fondness that a hopeful intrigued prince had mistaken for genuine love, it was love certainly, though not quite in the human way. Regardless she doted on her daughter making plans for the future and seeing the myriad ways that this child would serve to advance both her own interests and ultimately how the child herself would be advanced.

But the future that she had planned for was not to be. When the war first broke out she was confident that Altrantor would prevail. After all it was ruled by one of the few humans that she admired and respected, a gifted king who would surely smash the invasion in the way that her father had smashed uprisings back in Vyrndar. But the war did not go well, the armies of Altrantor were beaten and pushed aside as the enemy advanced. Fearing for herself, her child and to some extent her husband as well she counselled him that they should flee but this advice was not taken and he insisted that Altrantor would still prevail.

And by the time he came to his senses and realized what she had it was too late and the city was surrounded. When the city was breached she was with the other healers trying to stem the tide of sickness and death, to keep as many soldiers as possible up and fighting. With the breach she feared for her daughter and excused herself from the gathering of healers and moving as quickly as she could for the nursery where Vel'Lis was looked after. Despite her frantic efforts to make it there, several soldiers of the enemy forces had made it there first with their orders to kill off all blood relatives of the king and royal house.

Lin'Lise entered the room just in time to see the blade descend to strike down and kill her daughter. Horror filled her at the sight and for the first time she truly understood the killing rage that was so common among her father's people. The one being in the world who she had really loved was dead and she reacted instinctively with violence and strength that were shocking. She does not actually remember how the soldiers died only that the next thing she knew she was coated in blood and holding the bloodsoaked corpse of her daughter in her hands, feeling a strange numbness and pain both at war inside of her. It was there, before the window of the nursery while she cradled her dead daughter's corpse in shock that she saw Erasmus plummet down past the window.

Friends in High Places: Lin'Lise despite having become accepted and a member of the court did not have the most friends, while she was generally well liked and appreciated by the people she was still a foreigner and as a result not all were willing to open up to her. Most of her contacts were the other members of the court healing staff who she had worked with for years. Her other influential friends were people like the King who is now deceased. However there are many commoners whose lives she saved by virtue of treating any who came to her for medical help regardless of the ability to pay and while they don't have much influence even a peasant offering shelter and food for the night at the right time out of gratitude can be important.

Notable Possessions:
A set of several wands: Due to the nature of healing being very complicated and requiring many words to achieve effects Lin'Lise has had a set of wands made that each hold pieces of commonly used healing spells. There is one that contains the words that mend bones, another for boosting the immune system for dealing with common diseases, ect. For truly complicated healing procedures she has to assess the situation and craft a specific recitation of words to fix the problem but for basic and simple procedures her set of wands is highly useful at enabling rapid healing.

Mriswring 'Dagger': Mriswring, the magic defying metal only found in the land of Vyrndar to the far north cannot be touched by magic. No magic can ensorcell this blade, no magical barrier can stop it, ect. It does not give any protection to its wielder and this immunity to magic only applies to the metal itself. Lin'Lise has what would be a dagger to one of the Lorenvolk, which makes it more akin to a human short sword. While she is not very skilled in the use of the sword, (despite attempts by her father to teach her) having a blade which magic cannot interact with can be useful.

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

When you get the chance, I know you are busy I would like to know what you thought of the redone character sheet. I have done a very large amount of work revamping the personality and bio to be something that I honestly feel is far more fitting and provides a great deal more realism and character development. :) There is no rush of course.

Such Haukes, Such Hounds

And now I present the reworked and I think much improved sheet for Lin'Lise. :) I hope you enjoy this one.

Raptorman

Name: The Princess Lin'Lise Vexerfell of Vol'kariz

Race: 1/2 lorenvolk, 1/2 vaelie (Credit and thanks to my good friend who allowed me to use one of her races for half of this character)

Age: 33

Position: Wife of the deceased Prince Alfred, A Court Healer and Alchemist

*Vaelie 'Magics'- Vaelie 'magics' are not really magic but are poorly understood even by the vaelie themselves. The vaelie naturally produce compounds that can cause various effects on humanoid beings. The most common two that are produced are, a soporific compound which makes those exposed to it feel drowsy, and an 'aphrodisiac' compound that has predictable effects on those exposed to it, however there are others that can cause almost any emotion. All of these compounds can be released at will and in varying quantities depending on the desired effect. The more of the compound is released, the more potent the effect, similarly the longer one is exposed the more the effect will grow. These are typically subtle and best used that way to slowly alter the mood and creep up on someone, if released in a massive amount the sudden impact and mood change will be more noticeable and can sometimes alert the person in question that they are being manipulated." As Lin'Lise is only half vaelie her natural compounds are both weaker and less long lasting than a pure vaelie. Further by virtue of her thinner blood she does not produce as large of an amount of the compounds and where a true vaelie would rarely run low it is easy for her to deplete her stores of them." The two hidden spines can also be used to inject pure forms of these compounds into something directly which causes an immediate and much harder to shake off effect, it is also extremely obvious though.

*Lorenvolk Traits- Lin'Lise's muscles and skeleton are built differently than a humans, this manifests itself in her being much stronger than a normal human and also in her bones being much more difficult to break. She does not appear physically imposing aside from her height, which makes her strength a great surprise to those who do not know of it already. This also accounts for her inhuman weight. Important, because of her weight and the density of her body she really cannot swim. Notably due to the fact that she is not particularly physically fit, while she is strong she doesn't have great endurance or stamina, also she has the brute force but little skill in using it since she pursued mental rather than physical arts.

*Healing Magic/Chymistry- Lin'Lise is very skilled at healing magic. Her mother taught her many things and she augmented her learning after arriving in the kingdom. She knows a large number of words relating to the interior of the body and curing internal injuries that were unknown to the kingdom before she arrived. She can heal injuries that many would write of or not even realize existed because the only damage was beneath the surface rather than visible. Lin'Lise is also skilled at creating magical droughts and potions that can heal or cause other temporary effects. Her skills at this however are less impressive than her healing however.

*Miscellaneous- Lin'Lise is a gifted seamstress, quite skilled in the culinary arts, passable at chess, an avid if slow reader, and is at least familiar with political intrigue thanks to the lessons on the ancient wars between lorenvolk kingdoms in Vryndar.

Appearance: Lin'Lise Vexerfell of Vol'Kariz is an anomaly in the Fanged Isles for neither the lorenvolk in their ancient splendor nor the vaelie in their seductive and sinister mannerisms dwell in these lands. Her appearance is the result of the mingling of two strains of inhuman blood and she at least views herself as the best of both worlds, and while few exist in these lands who have seen either one of the lorenvolk or one of the vaelie most agree with her statements. Lin'Lise is taller than most humans, male and female alike at roughly 8 feet in height as a direct product of the lorenvolk blood that flows through her veins. Her hair is long and pure gold in color, seeming almost to be made from the metal and shining brilliantly in even dim light. She typically wears it long down her neck and back however there are two braided portions that hang down to either side of her face and serve to frame it. Her skin has a soft silver hue and like her hair actively shines to a degree in strong enough light. Her eyes are large pools of molten gold that capture and draw the eyes of any who look upon her face. Some have said they are enchanting but whether this is true or not is uncertain. Despite this however there are elements that mar the perfect appearance that her vaelie blood tries to produce. Her nose is overly long and could be described as hooked, and her eyes while beautiful pools of molten gold are slightly uneven, the left one being a bit higher than the other. This asymmetry applies to most of her face with the left side being slightly higher than the right. Her face is also broader than ideal by the standards of humans and it can appear that her skin is a bit stretched over it at times. Her mouth differs from a human in the presence of a second set of teeth that are capable of retracting and descending at will, when descended they cover her more humanoid teeth from the front and are wickedly pointed and sharp. Her mouth is also like the rest of her face uneven, with the left side ending higher than the right.

Her body appears to be lithe and thin and to lack particularly large amounts of muscle which is deceptive. Due to her thinness and lack of obvious large deposits of body fat she is a bit of a scarecrow when one combines those traits with her height. Further due to some unfortunate elements of mixing vaelie and lorenvolk blood Lin'Lise has inherited the lorenvolk sensitivity to sunlight at the same time as she inherited the vaelie skin. She sunburns easily and this often results in her skin peeling and blistering along with turning a peculiar purplish red color where the burns are by virtue of her natural coloration. She weighs approximately 600 pounds, another example of how her appearance is deceptive. There are narrow slits on the undersides of her arms right where the wrist joins the arm and hand together. From these slits a pair of hollow bone spines can emerge and strike rapidly before vanishing again, these spines can inject several toxins.

Lin'Lise is most commonly seen clad in garments made in styles that she claims come from her homeland across the vast ocean to the north. Diaphanous threads and woven cloth streamers bedeck arms and back of her clothing, and a runic script that she has never disclosed the meaning of is also commonly found woven into the fabrics. Most of her clothing is made from overlapping wrappings of silks and other fine fabrics that somehow manage to hold together and not fall apart. Her clothing also as a general rule attempts to play up her features. In truth her clothing is a bastardized mixture of the high fashion of the Court in Vol'Kariz and traditional vaelie attire, considering the patterns and styles were constructed by memory and she has not seen either since she was around 14 years old it is understandable that it is not completely accurate.

Also Lin'Lise speaks the language of the kingdom with a unique and noticeable accent that she has never been able to get rid of.

Personality:
Lin'Lise Vexerfell is a person who is accredited with kindness and who appears to genuinely care about people in general. However the truth is less pleasant. In reality she has a deep rooted disdain for most of humanity with the exception of a few notable individuals. The other emotion that she generally feels towards humankind is pity, though it is a pity that is rooted in the previously mentioned disdain. She pities them because they are so lowly and do not realize how pathetic they truly are and it is this pity that leads her to the actions that many see as being rooted in kindness. Her willingness to teach her healing arts and to practice them seemingly selflessly to save human lives stem from this pity at the state in which the lesser creatures exist, and also from the fact that she believed the trade of her secrets of the healing art for acceptance into the court was a worthwhile exchange.

She has always been something of an optimist, believing there is a way to spin almost any situation to her advantage, which is manifested in her natural response to adversity or conflict. She is not someone who thinks to use brute force to solve her problems. Rather her natural tendency is to attempt to talk her way out of situations or to use her natural gifts to manipulate the emotions and desires of those involved to produce an outcome favorable to her. It is a matter of personal pride to her though that she has managed to navigate many situations without actually using her powers all the time. Since up until now this practice had worked out pretty well for her it is rather ingrained. Lin'Lise is also not violently inclined, she had little interest in combat or tactics which her father tried to force upon her. She prefered instead the more subtle arts and the healing that her mother's teachings offered. She is strong and her strength comes as a shock but she is not mentally nor physically trained for combat.

She did have genuine feelings for her late husband and for her daughter, though even those feelings were a bit warped due to her inhuman nature. Her daughter was valued as her lineage and an insurance of her own position at the court since her daughter meant that her blood now flowed in the royal lines of the kingdom, and yes there was a bit of maternal love there as well. Her late husband was one of the few humans that she actually cared about as the man had been one who unlike the others had welcomed her initially even before she had shown the healing magic. Lin'Lise felt that she owed him greatly for this and she did find him both mildly attractive and useful. These elements together led to a fondness for him that he and others mistook for love. She also admired the old king Erasmus, for he reminded her in a way of her own father. He had vision and power with the potential to unite a realm that had long been divided. For this she respected him, and he was one of very few humans that were viewed with something other than disdain mild or otherwise.

Her desire for vengeance stems from a combination of several motivations. Firstly her father taught her never to ignore a serious slight, that any damage must always be re-payed in kind if one is not to appear weak and while she does not hold to this in all things in this case she does. Secondly she did actually feel something that passed for 'love' for both her late husband and her daughter and the death of ones who she loved sparked a desire for vengeance. Thirdly her position has been actively destroyed, she has in one fell swoop gone from being a figure of the highest nobility to a nobody, something her ego can't tolerate.

Lin'Lise worships Maev'Sil'Vien, the sole goddess of the lorenvolk in the far north. She has never been forcible or attempted to convert others to her faith, it simply remains quietly hers.

Backstory: Lin'Lise Vexerfell's story begins very far from the Fanged Isles and their many feuding kingdoms. In fact her story also predates her own birth for to truly understand where she came from an explanation of the circumstances that produced such a blasphemous hybrid as an offspring of vaelie and lorenvolk must be provided. Far to the north, beyond a vast ocean lies the frozen land of Vyrndar. Vyrndar is an ancient land, ruled over by a race of near giants known as the lorenvolk, beings who believe themselves destined to rule by virtue of being supposed descendants of the goddess Maev'Sil'Vien. There in a land of ice and snow, a land where few others could survive these beings raised great fortresses and cities carved into mountains and glaciers alike. There these beings fought endless wars and feuds against each other for thousands of years until at last for the first time a ruler rose to unite them.

The High King of Vol'Kariz brought low the other lorenvolk kingdoms, destroying those who did not submit and welcoming those who did into the fold. It was after this man had united the lorenvolk that his hunger for more became apparent. Ships were built and dispatched across the waters, seeking lands to pillage and plunder. Riches flowed back into Vyrndar and the High King was pleased, but the greatest prize was yet to come. Several years after the raids began one of the vessels, the greatest that had been built and the one that had ventured farthest from the land of Vyrndar returned bearing something that the lorenvolk had not seen before. Humans and other lesser races were common as slaves and servants, especially in those days when the raiding would constantly produce new crops, but even among the slaves from distant lands none knew what this being that had been brought back was.

The prize had been a woman whose beauty was said to have been beyond the ability of words to express and those who had brought this alien (as in unknown or strange) woman back had a story to tell. They had sailed so far south that it had become nearly unbearable, the heat became near intolerable, the sunlight more intense and hateful, storms with a violence unknown had whipped the boat about, provisions began to run low, and some had talked over turning back, or making for a land that had already been discovered where pillage and provisions could surely be obtained. But just before they would have turned back another land was glimpsed in the distance and they made for it. For nearly a week they scoured the coastline, searching for a settlement before at least they found one. The constant presence of the jungle on the coastline had diminished and there they found a settlement.

The Lorenvolk raiders descended upon the town like the looters and pillagers that they were and in the face of a surprise assault by giants the human defenders were routed and many were taken prisoner. But the most interesting prize came from the center of the town, a strange temple stood there and the beings who occupied it were strange beautiful creatures with skin and hair like precious metals. Surprisingly unlike the humans these creatures had fought and only one had been taken alive, a woman who the raiders brought back along with the other slaves.

When the High King saw this woman he was well pleased and claimed her for his own. From this union of monsters, of giants, and those who treat human like cattle would come Lin'Lise. Her mother, the woman whose beauty had so captivated the High King slowly manipulated him, the tricks of vaelie 'magic' bending his will subtly over time even as she outwardly was nothing more than a slave. Several years after she had been brought before the High King, he enthralled by her charms and at her will forsook his previous wife, and wed her to the uproar and dissent of his nobles and the lesser kings he had subjugated.

Lin'Lise was born within a year of the official union and she was proclaimed Lin'Lise Vexerfell, Princess of Vol'Kariz and Vyrndar. Her early years saw her treated like the princess she was proclaimed to be, her mother's 'magics' holding her father in line and she believed herself to be loved. She was raised in luxury and never wanted for anything, the finest historians taught her of the ancient wars and history of Vyndar, the finest warriors attempted to teach her how to fight though they were never very successful, her father taught her statecraft, and from her mother Lin'Lise learned of the other half of her heritage. The poisons and potions, secret spells, cocktails that could alter minds and bend wills, and even a few less subtle tricks, these she learned from her mother.

For years it appeared to be her father's plan that Lin'Lise would be wedded to one of the lesser kings in Vyrndar and used to shore up the shaky network of fear and domination that allowed the High King to hold his power. But things began to change. Her father became more and more disappointed in her lack of interest in the traditions of Vyrndarian glory. She only once accompanied him on one of the great raids and had been clearly miserable and ill spirited the entire time, and her participation had only been brought about by a direct order from her father. This lack of interest, along with her lack of fighting skill, and her non-confrontational demeanor, led to doubts about her ability to inherit as High Queen even if she was wed to another figure out power, which in turn led to the relationship her father had with her turning colder.

As a girl on the cusp of reaching young adulthood Lin'Lise did not understand what was happening, she simply saw the signs, the growing coldness with which her father treated her, even her mother slowly began to become more distant as she grew older and began to develop. She felt the changes but had no idea of how to deal with it. Her mother had early on impressed upon her that she was never to use her gifts to manipulate her father likely in fear that the two might cancel each other out and free the High King from her spell. As such she did not even have her gifts to turn to in an attempt to regain the lost affection.

Despite the fact that things had grown colder she was still the only heir at the time and as such she was still treated as one. However that was soon to change. When Lin'Lise was 11 years old her mother conceived again and in time bore another child, the one a son, a male heir to the throne of Vyrndar. The coldness only grew after this point, though Lin'Lise was surprised when a new element was added to her education, it was the first sign of interest that had been taken in her by her father in a long while. This new element was language lessons in a tongue that Lin'Lise found incredibly difficult to learn and that she at first could not see the point of. This tongue was not spoken in Vyrndar, why as the elder child of the High King was she being forced to learn it?

There was an inkling in the back of her mind of what it might mean, but she suppressed such thoughts and refused to let them form. Ultimately though her suspicions that she had buried proved to be correct. When her brother was 3 years old and so was deemed unlikely to suddenly take ill and die Lin'Lise was informed of her fate. In accordance with negotiations that had apparently been going on for the last several years she was going to be betrothed to the son of a monarch in a realm to the distant south. She had no interest in this, having no desire to leave the land that she had been born and raised in to venture south to an alien kingdom and this betrayal by her parents was painful. She felt a deep sense of loss which was only magnified by the way her protests were met with a slap from her mother and thinly veiled disdain for her lack of appreciation of the opportunity.

She was sent south on a great ship, accompanied by guards and a retinue to ensure that she reached the kingdom of Altrantor successfully. On the voyage south she experienced many things, anger and pain at the betrayal, and a sense that she had lost the only home she had ever known. But even in the hurt of betrayal she drew on the teachings that her mother and father, but particularly her mother had given her. "A vaelie," her mother had said "is never without tools. I rose from servitude and bondage to become a Queen. You bare the gifts of your heritage as well." And she embraced those teachings, if her parents had no need for her in Vyrndar then she would make a new place for herself by any means necessary in this new world.

Her resolution and determination lasted all of five minutes after she had disembarked from the boat. Even as the people of the city of Altrantor gaped at the escort of giants and the foreign girl who had been brought, she was overwhelmed by the city. The stench, the clamor, the seething mass of pitiful humanity. Her initial impression of the city was one of overwhelmed disgust. It was not to say that Vol'Kariz had been particularly clean, or quiet, but to her the land she had been sent to seemed horrible. The presentation of her to the court in Altrantor went poorly. The lorenvolk in her escort could barely hide their scorn at the humans and this created tension. It also did not help that they did not fit particularly well into the human buildings.

When it was over Lin'Lise was left alone in a foreign land, among creatures that she had been raised to believe were little more than cattle. Perhaps the one positive was that the prince whom she was to marry had been fascinated by her during the presentation and took interest in the girl who he was to marry in time. She had not expected kindness from a human, humans were to be looked down and pitied, not to be the ones who pitied you. Normally she would have reacted the entreaties of friendship and compassion from a human with scorn, but at that moment when she was alone, struggling under the weight of what she perceived to be a grievous plight, her normal response of scorn and disdain did not come, instead she simply accepted the compassion and for that, aid in a time when she felt betrayed and alone that fondness began to grow.

While she was never treated anything but cordially by the courtiers and servants in the palace even as a young woman there were still threads of rumor and jokes made about her, the 'northern barbarian princess.' She resented this, that humans belittled her great people and whispered insults behind her back, but as she could not do anything about it then she kept silent, showing instead a facade of friendliness and interest, acting as if she had never heard any of it. As she was a guest of the royal family she had access to the library and resources with which she could pursue her studies, and much of her time was spent there, laboriously reading magical texts and piecing what her mother had taught her together with the magical knowledge in the kingdom. She was an endless nuisance for the wizard Nykerius as she would always be pestering him with questions.

As she grew she was patient, waiting for opportunities even as she nurtured the growing relationship with her betrothed who she pumped for all the information she could about the kingdom. And eventually an opportunity presented itself, an acquaintance of the king, a famed explorer who had ventured to a jungle infested land in the south had returned ill. None of the court's healing mages or masters of chymistry could heal him. But Lin'Lise's mother had come from those lands and among the words of healing magic that she had been taught was one that named this ailment, one that could bring it to bear and allow it to be purged.

She offered to help and while they were reluctant an extremely concentrated release of her compounds swayed them just enough to allow her the chance, and to the surprise of everyone there she spoke words that none of the healers had known that checked the disease and purged it. It had not been the smoothest recitation, or the most masterful casting but it had shown potential and revealed new knowledge. It also opened the door like she had hoped allowing her to no longer just be viewed as that foreign princess from the land of savage giants. Lin'Lise was praised for what she had done and the healing mages clamored for her to share the words that she knew. She shared them gladly and openly, adding to the medical knowledge of the kingdom. While she had not wanted to sacrifice this knowledge she knew bet that it would be a chip that would allow her to be truly embraced by the court and that would make her less of an outsider. She was correct.

Following the healing several of the court healers took her under their wings, teaching her more of the healing words and helping her hone her actual spellcasting ability, something that was rusty from relative disuse. She was a fast learner and progressed rapidly, within a few years she was considered a healer in her own right. This was near her 22 birthday, roughly the same time that after 8 years in the kingdom of Altrantor as a guest of the royal family her betrothal to the prince Alfred finally culminated in marriage. This was a moment when Lin'Lise felt truly happy, while her emotions are not quite human the securing of the connection to the royal family, the achievement of a position of importance, and the affection she received combined to produce a very humanesque state of pleasure.

She had cultivated an image of benevolence and kindness, trying to distance herself in the minds of people from what they considered to be the savage giants of the north and after the marriage was consummated she continued in this endeavor. It was the act that she would play and it was the path by which she would survive and prosper.She made herself available to the sick and infirm of the city, even those who could not pay for healing and her supposed compassion was known throughout Altrantor.

Approximately two years ago she conceived and gave birth to a child of her own, a daughter who she named Vel'Lis, she insisted upon a name of her own choosing and with a few gentles nudges from her compounds the prince Alfred went along with it. Lin'Lise cared for that child as she had cared for nothing else in the world, it was more than just the fondness that a hopeful intrigued prince had mistaken for genuine love, it was love certainly, though not quite in the human way. Regardless she doted on her daughter making plans for the future and seeing the myriad ways that this child would serve to advance both her own interests and ultimately how the child herself would be advanced.

But the future that she had planned for was not to be. When the war first broke out she was confident that Altrantor would prevail. After all it was ruled by one of the few humans that she admired and respected, a gifted king who would surely smash the invasion in the way that her father had smashed uprisings back in Vyrndar. But the war did not go well, the armies of Altrantor were beaten and pushed aside as the enemy advanced. Fearing for herself, her child and to some extent her husband as well she counselled him that they should flee but this advice was not taken and he insisted that Altrantor would still prevail.

And by the time he came to his senses and realized what she had it was too late and the city was surrounded. When the city was breached she was with the other healers trying to stem the tide of sickness and death, to keep as many soldiers as possible up and fighting. With the breach she feared for her daughter and excused herself from the gathering of healers and moving as quickly as she could for the nursery where Vel'Lis was looked after. Despite her frantic efforts to make it there, several soldiers of the enemy forces had made it there first with their orders to kill off all blood relatives of the king and royal house.

Lin'Lise entered the room just in time to see the blade descend to strike down and kill her daughter. Horror filled her at the sight and for the first time she truly understood the killing rage that was so common among her father's people. The one being in the world who she had really loved was dead and she reacted instinctively with violence and strength that were shocking. She does not actually remember how the soldiers died only that the next thing she knew she was coated in blood and holding the bloodsoaked corpse of her daughter in her hands, feeling a strange numbness and pain both at war inside of her. It was there, before the window of the nursery while she cradled her dead daughter's corpse in shock that she saw Erasmus plummet down past the window.

Friends in High Places: Lin'Lise despite having become accepted and a member of the court did not have the most friends, while she was generally well liked and appreciated by the people she was still a foreigner and as a result not all were willing to open up to her. Most of her contacts were the other members of the court healing staff who she had worked with for years. Her other influential friends were people like the King who is now deceased. However there are many commoners whose lives she saved by virtue of treating any who came to her for medical help regardless of the ability to pay and while they don't have much influence even a peasant offering shelter and food for the night at the right time out of gratitude can be important.

Notable Possessions:
A set of several wands: Due to the nature of healing being very complicated and requiring many words to achieve effects Lin'Lise has had a set of wands made that each hold pieces of commonly used healing spells. There is one that contains the words that mend bones, another for boosting the immune system for dealing with common diseases, ect. For truly complicated healing procedures she has to assess the situation and craft a specific recitation of words to fix the problem but for basic and simple procedures her set of wands is highly useful at enabling rapid healing.

Mriswring 'Dagger': Mriswring, the magic defying metal only found in the land of Vyrndar to the far north cannot be touched by magic. No magic can ensorcell this blade, no magical barrier can stop it, ect. It does not give any protection to its wielder and this immunity to magic only applies to the metal itself. Lin'Lise has what would be a dagger to one of the Lorenvolk, which makes it more akin to a human short sword. While she is not very skilled in the use of the sword, (despite attempts by her father to teach her) having a blade which magic cannot interact with can be useful.