Appearance: 
Name: Aerea Aranyl
Age: 23
Race: Half-Elf (Is this allowed?)
Hometown: Vaneel
Biography: Aerea was born and raised in Vaneel to a she-elf and a human. She was born into a family less acceptable than most but highly respected among the less acceptable. You see, Aerea's parents had always made their living buying and selling illegal wares on the black market. They were well known amidst the ruffians and questionable characters that populated the illegitimate side of Vaneel. Her mother was considered to be a witch by many, for her skills in potion making were elite. The majority of her potions and elixirs required taboo ingredients achieved in unfortunate ways.This was how she met Aerea's father. He was a trapper of exotic animals and a seller of unacceptable substances and ingredients. They formed a partnership first, and a marriage later. When Aerea was born, her parents swore they would not raise her in the filth of the shady society, they left their circles and took up jobs in the day light, cutting wood and selling baking; they worked commoners' jobs. But behind the back of her mother, Aerea's father continued to work occasional deals with certain business partners. This went on until Aerea was 6 years old.
And one day, a gang of men came knocking on the door, shouting and demanding gold from her father. At once Aerea was hidden by her mother, stashed away in a cupboard and told to remain silent. There was arguing and shouting and with the sound of a blade being drawn, she watched through the cracks in the cupboard door as her father was a cut down. Her mother screamed and sobbed but soon her distress turned to anger. From beneath her dress she drew twin daggers and fought to avenge her fallen husband; she fought to protect her daughter from being discovered as the men plundered the home of the fallen couple. She managed to take out 3 of them, she showed skills Aerea had never known she possessed. But eventually, the leader, with a blade as black as the night, cut down her mother as well.
The men left after that. They stole whatever gold was on her parents persons and left in a hurry, dragging their fallen men with them. For many hours after, Aerea did not move from that cupboard. She sat still as stone and silent as snow. It was not until her uncle arrived at the house for a regular visit and saw the mess of bodies and blood about the floors and began calling out for Aerea, desperately hoping she too had not met the same fate. All Aerea could do was cry. She cried and she cried as her uncle lifted her from the dusty cupboard and held her in his arms. He would put her in her room and tell her not to come out until he collected her. She would be safe in her room. Time passed slowly and when the shuffling from the kitchen stopped, the little girl quietly snuck out of her room. Her parent's bodies were gone, the sound of a shovel against earth could be herd from the field behind their house. The blood had been cleaned but the wooden floor remained stained. A young Aerea staggered about, the visions of the days events pristine in her mind. And as she circled the deathbed of her parents, her foot bumped into something jutting out from under a cabinet. She crouched down on the floor, peering underneath, and she retrieved 2 daggers; they were her mother's daggers. She held the sharp weapons in her hands, knowing not to touch the blades at the risk of being cut.
Hearing her uncle's footsteps nearing, she quickly ran to her room, stashing the blades under her bed and taking her place atop it in time for her uncle to enter the room. "You can come say goodbye to them now." Was all he said. She took his hand and went with him to the field behind their house and stopped before two fresh mounds of earth positioned at the foot of a great pine tree. She had spent many summers playing beneath that pine, running about while her mother tried to pluck needles from her brown locks. But those memories became tainted as she gazed upon the graves of her parents. Everything had become toxic, her memories, her understanding of life, her trust. She had no one now but her dear uncle.
As the years passed, Aerea grew and with time she grew smarter and stronger. Her uncle had reintroduced her to the black market and she became familiar with the ways of the underground society. She never made any friends, she never played any games, she never dreamed at night. She consumed her life with the drive to become stronger and to become deadly. For the day would come that she would avenge the man who brought his mercenaries to strike down her parents. The day would come that, with her mother's blades, she would spill his blood onto the earth. She made connections with the less desirable folk of Vaneel and learned from an assassin his ways of stealth and lethality. She trained for years to perfect her attacks and invasions. One day, she left home in the dead of night. She travelled into the mountains and snuck into the camp of bandits that consumed the pass. She searched each tent, each building, each bed, until she laid eyes upon the disgusting mug of the man that once killer her family.
Aerea killed for the first time that night. There was no emotion, no guilt, no sense of immortality or life, for her heart had long since grown cold. That night, she knew what she wanted to do with her life. She would avenge the fallen innocents where ever she went. She would take the lives of anything and anyone who took the lives of those without the power to defend themselves or those who were killed in injustice.
Aerea never returned home that night. Her uncle never heard from her again but for the note she left on the door saying "I have gone to do what needs to be done. This land is not safe, this land is not just. I will return one day dear Uncle. Miss me not, for I am safe in my own care. With love, Aerea." And her new-found ambition carried her across the land. Eventually, through a series of events, she found herself at the Shattermane Academy, training to destroy the beasts that harboured no conscience, no sense of humanity. She had found a foe that would truly test her skills and moral strength, and until she could defeat them, she would not let go.
Dragonartes: Forest’s Splendor – The user is able to communicate with the wildlife of Aisengard, but is unable to pass the information along.
Drakkenhide – The user toughens their skin increasing endurance towards elemental forces. It leaves the user weakened once the effect wanes.
Weapons:Concealed Assassin Daggers - On her right arm she wears a contraption made by the tinkerers and inventors in Estar. Most certainly stolen, she purchased it on the black market. The thin, piercing blade is triggered by a simple spring mechanism and is expelled in a split second. Though, as this device is in its early developmental stages, it tends to get jammed if excessively battered and so she keeps a second set of daggers strapped to her thighs.
Bow - A simple, yet sturdy bow made of flexible wood from ancient pine. Light, durable, and lethal.
Writing Sample:
The day had finally arrived. The dark energies of the world had become to concentrated beneath the great Blackwood Forest and the Great Purge dangerously near and the Soul Tree needed to be far away from the epicenter lest it perish in storm of energy release. The High Council had read the signs of the Earth Mother and ordered the daughters of the mighty druid queen Drauntia to be placed in charge of the tree's precious cuttings and seeds to be transported to the far North Eastern sanctuary where they could be planted and grown into a clone to house the Soul of the Nethergrove; the life source of the forest itself. This was no small task.. should they fail to replant the tree so that its roots may dive deep before the great purge destoys the current tree, the soul of the Nethergrove would have no vessel. It would perish in days and with it, the lands.
Yet the High Priestess herself was confident in the Earth Mother's decision to place the Druidic Princesses in charge of the task. And at that time the counsel agreed that with the changing times it would be wise to ressurect the Circle Of Seasons; A sacred and ancient order charged with the protection of the great forest. For without the forest acting as a filter for the earth's energies the scales would quickly tip in favour of the malicious acts growing ever more common among the races. The princesses had spent their entire lives training under the last living Master druids to take their place when they passed. And as if by fate, mere decades after the princesses met Master Druid status, their teachers were taken by the illness of the toxic energies, for they were ancient and brittle. Luckily with two master druids entering the prime centuries of their lives the Circle Of Seasons would be continued and revived through their new Apprentices; a group of novice druids.
The princesses were content in their choices of new recruits; seeking out the most pure hearted, ambitious, and intuned with nature. Three elves they chose and gave them the blessing of their mother the great Queen Drauntia, bestowing upon them the instincts and rights of an ordained Druid. They were three of 6 children of the earth mother now, beside only the princesses and their queen. They would learn the ways of the wild from their teachers Tatiana and Desiree and one day advance through the druidic ranks and become masters themselves; true protectors of the wilderness.
~~~
Tatiana sat on the edge of the a small, but highly ornate well in the center of a town square. She kept her attention fixed on the small Emerald Grass bird she was weaving, her fingers moving expertly between the grass blades, twisting and guiding them. Her white dreadlocks were draped over her shoulders and cascading down her back, their weight allowing strays to simply sway in the breeze like ghostly pendulums.
Though her catlike eyes remained fixed on her grass sculpture her surroundings held no mystery to her. With each wisp of wind she was informed of each heartbeat, of each breath of those around her. Her hearing was as finely tuned as the greatest of feline hunters and she could hear the whispers of the wind even above the sound of her sister pacing back and forth at the edge of the square.
It's a terrible shame we had to call this meeting in the deadened hours of the night... I should very much have liked to meet the kind townspeople who's offerings keep the priests of the Earth Mother fed in the winter months. She thought to herself, Alas... our necessary secrecy while training all over the last 1000 years has no doubt lead them to invent myths and legends of our questionable existence... we would surely be crowded by curious minds and prying eyes had we entered the village by the light of day... Though I will have to make a note to return to this village one day to mingle with these elfolk.
"Des," said Tatiana, her voice hardly more than a whispered note, for her sister shared her incredible hearing, "You'll sooner wear a hole in the stone than speed the arrival of our young druids. Please, join me, I have enough Emerald grasses for you to weave one of your beautiful vixens. And if not, at least try and enjoy the stillness of this night. For the moon is full and the wild alive, it's beckon is floating on the winds; can you hear it sister?" A smile slid onto Tatiana's lips. She was rather fond of her sister's woven sculptures, they were what led her to pick up the art to begin with, and on a night like this, with the moon shining brightly above them, the emerald grass seemed to glitter even more than usual.
~~~
One by one she observed the young druids stride into the town square. The dead silence of the night was altered by only the sounds of foot steps, and the swish of the edge of Tatiana's robe against the cool stone of the well. She could sense their anxiety, and though it was understandable to be anxious over such a life changing event, the low frequency of their energy was only making things worse for the others. These young druids did not yet know that they are all deeply connected to one another; even before their scarred trees reach full blossom, which occurs only after each druid has made physical contact with each other. (This was typically obtained through a ceremonious gesture, similar to a handshake, but collided with another mid run would gather the same effects.)
They did not know of the power of this bond like trained druids do. For if they did, they would be constantly monitoring their emotions, working to keep their fear and stress at a minimum lest they pass on the negative energies to their brothers and sisters. This is why meditation played a key role in druidism; it not only connected each individual to the earth mother, but to each other. It allowed them to purge themselves of negative energies and keep the circle filled with light and positivity.
"Oh my, do you feel that Des? Their anxiety has even put butterflies in MY stomach! We'll have to get on with their basic lessons as soon as we enter the forest...which I'm hoping will be soon." She paused, allowing another gentle breeze to sift through her ghostly locks. "There are but two novices left to make their way here, and from what the breezes have to say, they shouldn't be much longer."
She tuned her hearing in to each individual set of footsteps on the cobblestone of the square; they were hesitant.
Each elf seems to have come from a different area of the village, allowing them to enter from different sides of the square. This meeting must look quite lovely from the eyes of a passing raven...I do love symmetry. A distant smile fell on her lips as she gazed up at the sky. It truly was the simple things, the small beauties in life that made Tatiana glow with bliss.
She shifted her gaze back to her sister and observed the unsettling look on her face.
"Oh Desiree. It won't be long before we can return to the woods with our new students. To teach them the ways of the wild, to nourish their bond with the Earth Mother. And imagine the feeling... when the Circle of Seasons has been completed? When the last link joins and we witness the feelings of the full order for the first time in many millennia... it is an honored event." She paused in thought for a moment, "Ah. The last two enter from the treeline. That completes our group, sister. I suppose we should greet them! How rude we must seem conversing amongst ourselves without paying them heed!"
I suppose old habbits settle and don't easily stir. It is rare of me to speak with another elf... It has been Des and I alone in our studies for so long I sometimes seem to forget there is more in my surrounding than the land and my sister.
She silenced her thoughts for the time being. It was time to greet the Novices. She looked to Desiree, delivering a simple nod, then rose from her sitting position, gracefully swinging upwards to stand on the edge of the well. Her movements were enchanting; in some ways they were fluid, like water sliding through the contours of her surroundings, and yet they were catlike in others; with each action taking a stealthy image.
"Welcome children of the earth." She said in a velvelty voice. Though her tone was hardly above a whisper, she had pleaded the winds to entertain these young elves and to carry her words to their ears. "Please do not be anxious or shy, we have been awaiting your sacred arrival. Come, join my sister and I and we will become accquainted for I know few of you have even met!"
