(no subject)

[arlathvhen]

PLAYER

Name: Ema
Age: 26
Contact: arlathvhen
Other Characters:
Interests: I would love to have plots that revolve around political intrigue, things like Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, where what you say and do effects the plot. Things that you can either fight or talk your way out of, and seeing different people use their different strengths to resolve that kind of situation. I would also like elfy stuff, because. I like elfy stuff.

CHARACTER

Name: Beleth
Canon/OC: OC
Journal: arlathvhen
Race: Elf
Nationality: Dalish
Occupation: Hunter
Age: 25

History

Beleth comes from Clan Ashara, where her mother is the keeper, and her twin brother is the Second. With three mages in the clan, including her own son, the Keeper had her hands full teaching them all. Beleth, with no magical talent to speak of, found herself shuffled significantly down in the list of the Keeper's priorities. The plague that brought down many of their clan did little to help. For a long time, the Keeper was preoccupied with attempting to save whomever she could, and afterwards, helping with the sudden abundance of orphans.

Her father was a Hunter, but he had little interest in tutoring Beleth when she became an apprentice, letting other Hunters teach her their ways. Beleth took her mother's negligence and her father's rejection poorly--She became focused on learning how to make other people like her, so she wouldn't be subjected to these feelings by anyone else. She learned how to get people to like her, how to tell them what they wanted to hear, and as she grew more successful, enjoyed a fair amount of popularity among her clan members.

Her twin brother as the exception, Beleth remained resentful of the other two mages who had occupied her mother's time, particularly Pel, being groomed to become the clan's Keeper some day.

When she was 15, the clan was attacked by a group of bandits. Though still an apprentice, Beleth was quick to take her bow up to defend her clan. Her first thought to seek out her twin Sorrel, and discovered bandits attacking him. Beleth remained calm enough to incapacitate two of them with her bow. Then she ran at the final one, attacking them with nothing but a dagger and mindless fury. She managed to win, but not without taking hits of her own, the large scar that she carries across her face the most obvious. It didn't matter to her--She had saved her twin, and that was the important part. However, the fight wasn't without casualties--Beleth and Sorrel's father had been killed. There was a feeling like she ought to have some guilt for saving Sorrel and not him, but she couldn't conjure it up. Years of being ignored left Beleth largely apathetic about her father's death.

While the young elf had always been edgy around humans, the incident stuck in her mind, and she has few positive feelings regarding humans in general. However, her ability to say and act to please other people still extended to them. To their faces, Beleth seemed perfectly unassuming. Her Keeper found the combination of ability to stay cordial while distant to be perfect for trading with the humans, and she became one of the main people to communicate with the humans while trading.

Personality

Beleth is troubled by issues of self worth built up from years of finding herself hopelessly mediocre in the face of far more interesting people. This has manifested in a fixation on making sure that the people around her like her, want to be friends with her, because if they think that she's a good person, than surely it must be so. But depending on others for your self worth comes with serious drawbacks.

Her actual personality is hard to pinpoint because she takes strides in adapting it to be as palatable as possible to the person that she's talking to. Joking or serious, kind or blunt, she tries to find out what the person responds best to, and subtly leans towards it. She's sparse with opinions as well, and while she rarely outright lies to someone about what she thinks, she'll try to nudge their opinions out, and will respond positively to them--'I can see why you think that,' or 'It makes sense when you say it like that'.

There are two exceptions to this: Negative opinions on the Dalish in general, or her friends. Speaking ill of either of these will earn you enough passive aggression to make a chantry sister proud. Beleth rarely demonstrates open anger, but seemingly idle comments and backhanded jabs are used with the finesse of an archer.

The default, the Beleth that most people see, is a nervous woman, friendly but worrisome. Always quick with a compliments or a polite remark, but just as quick to fret and fidget. She is soothing and kind, willing to go out of her way to help other people, whether it's to trek across the land and fetch a trinket for them, or simply lend a friendly shoulder to cry on, and an ear to listen to them.

The people that grow close to her will gain a strong loyalty, with a woman who's willing to do whatever necessary for them to stay happy, and stay her friend. But there's another side to her that they also get to see. Beleth is very much a haughty Dalish, with plenty of issues with humans and city elves. She would never voice any of these to the people in question, but fellow Dalish can hear her murmur about the flat-ear's betrayal of their roots, and for Sylaise's sake, stop messing with shemlen, or you'll catch something nasty.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths
Beleth's greatest strength in terms of fighting is her archery. While she's not the best hunter, she's still quite skilled. She's best at perching somewhere away from the melee, and staying in one spot, shooting accurately but slowly. Helping her make sure each shot count is her ability to craft poisons. If she's in a tight spot, she will often shoot poisoned arrows at her target, then try to run until the poison wears the target down. It's not just poisons she can make--she's also knowledgeable in potion-crafting. When you have to travel far from the clan to hunt down creatures that can turn on you, it's always good to make sure that you can heal yourself in a pinch.

Beleth has skills outside of combat, and often uses these to try to avoid combat with other people altogether. When talking to other people, she studies them, learns what they respond positively to, and does her best to imitate that. She's good at figuring out what people want to hear, and telling them it. She is quick to be appear sweet and cheerful to the people around her, and engender friendship with them. She makes friends easily, and people who spend time around her often become quite fond of her--though her opinion of them may be entirely different than what they think.

Weaknesses

Combat-wise, as a 5'3 tall elf with a willowy build, there's a reason she tries to stay far away from combat. She can't take much in the way of damage before she falters. She's not very strong, either. She's an efficient fighter from a distance, but get her in melee, and she can wind up in a lot of trouble. While she's not afraid to run when need be, her skill at archery greatly decreases while running, and if she wants to fire off a decent shot, she'll have to stop.

Focusing on other people instead of yourself comes with some reparations--Beleth has a lot of self-esteem issues, and suffers anxiety from faults both real and perceived. She bases her self worth on other people's approval, and thus is incredibly dependent on those around her for fulfilling her social needs. When she makes decisions, she's far more swayed by what the people around her would think than what might be good for her. But using other people's opinions as the foundation for your mental wellbeing is like building with a house of cards--It's one wrong move away from collapsing and taking her down with it.

Inventory

-Dalish bow, quiver, and arrows
-A variety of common plants
-Vials of healing potions and poison
-One set of Dalish scout armor, one set of clothing
-Lockpicking tools
-Probably some makeup that sure as hell isn't her natural lip color


Motivation

Beleth was content to live among the Dalish. She didn't wish for adventure, she didn't care about these idiot humans, and if they had managed to tear their countries apart fighting, that sure sounded like a personal problem. But Beleth's loyalty is ever steadfast, and when her friends said that they were going, she packed her own bags. After all, who else will make sure that they don't get their idiot selves killed by some snippy shemlen? And, secretly, she's terrified that her friends will not want to return to the clan after living outside of that, and she's hoping by going she'll be able to help dissuade them, or at least stay around them and remind them of their roots.

And, you know, there's a bunch of holes in the sky and an evil magister and those things are rarely good for anyone.

SAMPLES

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