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Written: Unlike her mother, siblings, or even her father Ophelia sports non of their physical appearance. The toxin that nearly took her life having a permanent effect on both her physical appearance and abilities. Hair drained of any color, dull grey eyes and a pale, sickly complexion. Her overall frame is petite and small, her growth similarly stunted and being just five feet (152cm) tall.
Before, she supposedly had locks of thick red hair and her fathers eyes.
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Ophelia Noella Kaides
Age: 17 [27] | Height: 5'0 (152cm) | Voice: Flat, quiet, blunt.
First Life
A pitiful, unfortunate child.
Those are the kinder comments she'd receive from the nobility who knew better than to speak ill of the Kaides.
A cursed child, or an omen of ill fate.
Words of those who would quickly learn to keep their mouths shut.
When she was just three years old, Ophelia fell victim to an insidious plot to take her life. One she would never fully recover from despite the efforts of the best priests, mages, scholars and even more fringe groups of society. Whatever she had been poisoned with, was something that she was going to have to live with for the rest of her life.
And live, she would.
Born with two direct siblings, growing up Ophelia's life was a constant struggle. Confined mostly to her room and the interior of their home for most of her formative early years for fear any exhaustion or exertion would prematurely end her life, those two siblings and her mother, were really her entire world. She was a curious, if not overly lively child thanks to her condition, and would spend much of her time reading. For the poison may have taken her body, but it certainly didn't take her mind and books, stories, and the like were quite an escape for a child whose world was small.
This, was her life until she was ten. When she was finally allowed to leave, with supervision from her siblings and mother, of course, or a trusted advisor. It...is also where her mother began training her and where her somewhat strained relationship with her started. The logic was sound really. All Kaides children are trained such a way, eventually attending Collegem Yllustre at the age of 14. Even if she understood that, she couldn't understand why her mother was pushing her so hard at the time. Every day, her weak body was pushed to its limit. Her mother, for all her good intentions never stopped to consider that no, somethings can't just be overcome with diligence and hard work. Somethings, were indeed, impossible.
Even so, such words and beliefs were not something she entirely disagreed with. She just understood that it wasn't something realistic for her. She always would argue with her mother about such things, often insisting and taking a more gentle approach but she never refused such trainings even if they were something she disagreed with.
If nothing else, when her 14th year came, it seemed to have helped when she officially entered Collegem Yllustre. Coincidentally, it was the first time she had ever made any kind of public appearance.
"Is that the weird kid from that uncouth commoner woman?"
"I heard she's cursed!"
"Didn't you hear? The reason she was kept locked up is because she nearly killed a servant!"
"Doesn't she look...weird? Is she really a Kaides?"
She didn't know what to expect from other kids her age, but it wasn't such vitriolic comments. She didn't understand where they came from or why they were made at the time. She hadn't really been taught proper noble etiquette, after all, her health left little time for multiple avenues of study, even if she had steadily gotten a bit better as she had gotten older and she could do most things herself now.
Even if her life at the Collegem was a lonely one plagued by bullying, she paid it no heed. For she was a Kaides. She was certain of it herself, and even if she wasn't some prodigy, she was not one to let everyone else words get to her. No, her mother if nothing else taught her one thing - she could do anything, and anything she would do.
-However, fate seemed to be fond of pulling cruel pranks.
Her oldest sister was attacked during their time at Collegem Yllustre that left them in a coma for nearly a year and a half. Ophelia, sympathetic considering her own nature would spend almost more time making sure she was taken care of then almost looking after herself. She knew what it was like, and certainly didn't want her to suffer the same way if she could help it.
Only for such kindness to be returned with cowardice and weakness. Her older sister immediately left, when she recovered. Running away from home. Ophelia, for probably the first time in her life, cried enough that it left her bed ridden for a week. One of the two people in her life that she could ever really call a friend, her sister, just left like it was nothing.
Perhaps that's when she truly learned not to expect good results or positive outcomes from things. She never really forgave her sister for it in her first life. Her life at the Collegem Yllustre continued, for as normal as it could be for her. The only difference was her getting into more altercations with other students either verbally or even physically, most of which she would lose, though not before making certain to give them a little trouble and making them look weaker than they were for having trouble with someone like her.
But of course, history repeats itself.
Ophelia's second sister left home after she left the academy at 21. Truly, Ophelia wished she had asked her to go with her, but this time she told herself she didn't care, only applying herself to her studies more. Who needed her siblings, anyways? Unreliable. The only one she could rely on truly, was herself.
Time passed. She never graduated. How could she? She was never destined for it. While she always managed to do the bare minimum needed to pass physical exams and did well in any written exams, she never developed aura, let alone a proper ability to handle martial ability. She spent the next year in relative peace, mostly now using her free time to more thoroughly look for anyway one might cure her condition, but such an endeavor was cut short by the war.
Kaides were called to serve, and Ophelia was not one to back down. She answered the call, much to her mothers chagrin, who never really agreed. Ophelia just tagged along whether she wanted her too or not. Not that anyone expected much of her. Even when she came back successful from skirmishes, or helped with the evacuations of Lagyntem.
Perhaps, for once in her life she should have listened to her mother.
Shortly before the invasion of the capital, one of the wives of the great patriarch fell in battle from an ambush while she protected her daughter.
The rest of the war isn't important enough to mention. She demanded to be at Kaidisyums last stand, to avenge her mother. The people that had already lost their lives. But she was told that she couldn't. No. The patriarch told her instead, go to Hadrum.
Even as she lay there, body broken and beaten, her sickly blood leaving her body for the final time she refused to accept it. She tried to will her body to move again. Just an inch more would have been a victory.
But alas, she would perish, like all the others.
Biggest Failure: The death of her mother. She was right. She shouldn't have been on the front lines. She shouldn't have just sneaked out and went with her mother regardless of her wishes.
Biggest Regret: Where to begin? Never really reconnecting with her sisters? Shunning them after they left her? Losing her mother to an ambush? Ophelia tried to live a life without regrets, and never once regretted any decision she made on the battlefield, but perhaps...perhaps, the biggest thing she wished she could go back in change, was to try and actually make friends outside of her sisters. She never really was a people person, even though every now and then someone genuinely tried to, she merely brushed them off.
Biggest Obstacle: What would it be, other than her own damnable body? Afflicted with a toxin from an assassination attempt at the age of three that left her physically and mentally scarred. Her body always betrayed her whenever she needed it most. Any overexertion leading to days of fever and being confined to a bed. A constant lack of energy leaving her far behind her peers and a seeming inability to ever gain physical muscle or finesse. To say nothing of the insomnia, occasional bouts of anger amplified by deep seeded jealousy and frustration and even rarely, hallucinations.
Driving Hope: Perhaps, there is hope, but if she was asked directly, she would rather say she simply didn't accept her lot in life. The entire time she fought, trained, and hurt nearly died just because her body failed her to mean nothing. She wanted to at least, prove a point that she wasn't a failure despite the circumstances of her life. To her, every new dawn she saw was a success, and living life one day at a time was the only thing she ever really wanted out of life. Perhaps, her hope, is to one day lead a relatively normal life with friends, family, never having to worry about this stupid legacy and this afflicted body of hers.
Biggest Regret: Where to begin? Never really reconnecting with her sisters? Shunning them after they left her? Losing her mother to an ambush? Ophelia tried to live a life without regrets, and never once regretted any decision she made on the battlefield, but perhaps...perhaps, the biggest thing she wished she could go back in change, was to try and actually make friends outside of her sisters. She never really was a people person, even though every now and then someone genuinely tried to, she merely brushed them off.
Biggest Obstacle: What would it be, other than her own damnable body? Afflicted with a toxin from an assassination attempt at the age of three that left her physically and mentally scarred. Her body always betrayed her whenever she needed it most. Any overexertion leading to days of fever and being confined to a bed. A constant lack of energy leaving her far behind her peers and a seeming inability to ever gain physical muscle or finesse. To say nothing of the insomnia, occasional bouts of anger amplified by deep seeded jealousy and frustration and even rarely, hallucinations.
Driving Hope: Perhaps, there is hope, but if she was asked directly, she would rather say she simply didn't accept her lot in life. The entire time she fought, trained, and hurt nearly died just because her body failed her to mean nothing. She wanted to at least, prove a point that she wasn't a failure despite the circumstances of her life. To her, every new dawn she saw was a success, and living life one day at a time was the only thing she ever really wanted out of life. Perhaps, her hope, is to one day lead a relatively normal life with friends, family, never having to worry about this stupid legacy and this afflicted body of hers.
Equipment
- She could never wear full plate or a full suit of armor, but her mother hand a lightweight breastplate made for her as well as armor that if nothing else would protect her vitals. It fit rather comfortably on the dresses she used to wear.
- An Estoc, for thrusting.
Abilities
- Physical Strength: 3rd Rate
- Aura: 2nd Rate
- Magic: 0th Circle
- Flaw Peirce - Ophelia could never match people with raw strength in her first life. Instead, she focused on honing her skills and mind as best she could to make up for the disadvantages she had. This one, in particular, helps locate weak spots in armor, a creatures physical body, and other such things for someone to exploit.
- Adept Movements - Ophelia has refined her movements and muscles to be surprisingly stable and steady. In an effort to maintain and overcome her limitations. Less wasted movements and a keen eye allow her to spend less stamina and strength doing something.
- Predictive Intuition - Reading an opponents body language and subtle movements can reasonably allow one to tell if an opponent is going for a feint, or what an opponent is going to be doing before it even makes it halfway through its performance. Precious seconds one can use to defend oneself.