Appearance

Physical Description

Physically, Aoife is lithe and agile. However, she suffers from a sensitivity to sunlight (as all drow do) which she remedies by keeping as much of her skin covered as possible and staying in the shadows as best as she can while moving about during the day.

Body Features

Jet black skin, long silvery-white hair (usually with gryphon feathers plaited into it), athletic body build.

Facial Features

Pointy ears, heart-shaped face.

Identifying Characteristics

The most identifying feature she has is her lavender eyes, which are rare among drow and almost unheard of among other races.

Physical quirks

Aoife is right-eye dominant, which results in her always holding her bow in her left hand and drawing with her right. Otherwise, she's ambidextrous, but prefers to use her right hand.

Apparel & Accessories

Leather armor, gloves, boots, and cloak in grays and earth tones. Bronze Order of Anzu insignia pin.

Specialized Equipment

Longbow, hand crossbow, quiver with a combination of 10 silvered arrows, 10 regular arrows, and 10 crossbow bolts, shortsword, shield, explorer's pack, small hunting knife and other hunting equipment, flute.

Special abilities

Spellcasting

Mentality

Personal history

Aoife was found alone in a clearing in the forests of the Sword Mountains as an infant by a scouting party of rangers from the Order of Anzu, one of whom was wood elf Arannis Moontalon. When they saw that the baby was crying in pain due to injuries being inflicted by exposure to the sunlight, and scanned the surrounding area for any sign of parents and found none, the scouting party rescued her and brought her to their small settlement. After a meeting with the principals of the order, Arannis and his wife Althaea - a druid - decided to take the baby in and raise her as their daughter, alongside their son Arramel.
Aoife was never told explicitly that she was a drow when she was growing up, and thus she always thought she was just a weird elf. She was the only one in the order's village with lavender eyes, black skin, and silvery-white hair, but she was never singled out or alienated because of it. Since all that members of the order have to rely on out in the wilderness is each other, and that they are all bound together by their dedication to the Sword Mountains' gryphons, racism and otherism was never part of the order's culture. She didn't understand why she was sensitive to direct sunlight when nobody else was, but she developed methods to work around it, such as determining ways to stay cool while remaining fully covered during the hot months of the summer, and by sticking to the shadows as she made her way around and through the forests. It was a tactic that she used often to get the better of her brother Arramel in their childhood games, and to hone her skills as a ranger once she chose it as her life path.
Growing up, Aoife spent most of her days playing with her brother and the other children and assisting with the hatching and raising of gryphon chicks and with tending to sick and injured gryphons. When she was old enough to chose her life path, she was inspired by the goddess Mielikki herself, who had appeared to her periodically in dreams throughout her life, to become a ranger. When it came time to choose the gryphon that would become her companion, she went with her parents and the order's principals to the nests in the aerie and chose a fluffy little baby gryphon that looked like a cross between a harpy eagle and a snow leopard. Aoife named her Zephyr, after the West Wind.
That night, Mielikki appeared to her in her dream again, but there was also someone else - the drow goddess Eilistraee. They showed her visions of a man, a ranger with black skin, white hair, and lavender eyes, just like her. It was the Ranger of the North, Drizzt Do'Urden. After several more similar dreams, she told her parents about them, and when she described the clearing where she had met the goddesses in the dreams, they decided that she was old enough to know the truth. They explained that Eilistraee was likely visiting her because she was actually a drow, and that the clearing she kept seeing in her dreams where the goddesses were was the clearing where she had been found. Her parents explained who the drow were, and enthusiastically reassured her that just because she was drow it didn't mean that she was automatically bad, or evil, citing the legends of the Drizzt Do'Urden as an example.
In truth, Aoife had been abandoned by her drow birth parents in that clearing on the surface to die of exposure in the sunlight far, far away from where she was born. This was done for the simple reason that she was born with lavender eyes; very specifically, a female with lavender eyes. Ever since Drizzt, the drow of Faerun en masse have been terrified of any drow that is born with lavender eyes, as those with lavender eyes have tended towards good and away from the influence of Lolth. The drow are also a strictly matriarchal society, and the fact that this child with lavender eyes was female made her especially dangerous.
Aoife raised Zephyr and remained with the order until it was time for her bonding pilgrimage - a time in every Order of Anzu ranger's life where they spend time away from the order's settlement to bond with their gryphon, explore the world, and determine whether to return to a secluded life within the order, or if their destiny leads them elsewhere. This adventure has resulted in her meeting up with members of the Rolling Stone Trading Company, traveling to Waterdeep, staying with and making contacts within Waterdeep's Gryphon Cavalry, and eventually, joining their ranks.

Education

Aoife was taught the ways and customs of the Order of Anzu by the elders and principals of the order. While she was inspired to become a ranger by the gods Mielikki and Gwaeron Windstrom, she was taught the trappings of being a ranger - archery, swordfighting, tracking, hunting and trapping, and knowledge of the land and the directions by her father and her brother. She is in the early stages of learning the tactics of Waterdeep's Gryphon Guard under the tutelage of the sergeant and captain of the platoon she is part of.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Early achievements in Aoife's life include choosing to become a ranger as her life path, choosing Zephyr to be her companion, and setting out on her bonding pilgrimage.
Since the start of her time adventuring, Aoife rescued a lost band of adventurers from an Ettin attack and helped them recover gryphon saddles for the Waterdeep Guard's gryphons that had been stolen. One of her greatest achievements was as part of the party that prevented the Scepter of Roses from being stolen and rescued the advisor to King Battlehammer, who had been replaced by a doppelganger. This resulted in her and her compatriots meeting and earning the favor of King Battlehammer. She has since been asked to join the ranks of the Gryphon Guard, and has had the honor of personally meeting both Open Lord Silverhand and Blackstaff Safhr, who extended the possibility of joining the Lord's Alliance or the Grey Hands, respectively.

Failures & Embarrassments

She was unsuccessful in her attempt to rescue all eight of the gryphons that had been captured by orcs and held captive in their war camp. She, Xion, Berta, and Skorg were only able to rescue six of the gryphons (including Zephyr). Her brother Arramel almost died in the process. On a different occasion, she, Berta, and Fiego were unsuccessful in helping Drusilia rescue an actress from her theater that had had been kidnapped by her sister and held prisoner in the Underdark. On yet a different occasion, while incognito as someone else, she wore a bulky, mascot-style owlbear costume to a swanky noble masquerade party. Not only was she the source of gossip and snide comments among the nobles for the entirety of that night, the person whom she was impersonating became the source of gossip and snide comments for weeks afterward.

Morality & Philosophy

Aoife will do anything within her power and abilities to protect and help the gryphons of Waterdeep and the Sword Mountains, as is the way of the Order of Anzu. Beyond that, she is a kind person who strives to help others as best as she can if and when they need it.

person.sexuality

Heterosexual, but has yet to experience a relationship.

person.gender_identity

Woman

Taboos

Never harm a gryphon. If any activity could result in harm to come to a gryphon, do your best to avoid it. If you cannot avoid putting a gryphon in harm's way, do your best to protect and assist it. Never defile or spoil the nature of the land.

Known Languages

Aoife is fluent in Common, Elvish, Sylvan, and Giant

Personality

Motivation

Her motivation in all things is to protect and train gryphons and help others in need. She hopes someday that she'll get the chance to meet Drizzt Do'Urden, who has become a hero of hers.

Likes & Dislikes

Likes everything to do with gryphons, especially baby gryphons, hikes in the woods, bouldering and mountain climbing, hunting, reading the broadsheets.
Dislikes crowds, the smell of city air.

Virtues & Personality perks

Kind, friendly, and wants to see the best in people.

Vices & Personality flaws

Naive due to her prior isolation.

Social

Birthplace

The Order of Anzu's village in the Sword Mountains

Current Residence

The barracks at the Aerie in Waterdeep.

Contacts & Relations

Aoife is also affiliated with the Waterdeep Gryphon Cavalry and the Rolling Stone Trading Company.

Family Ties

Her mother, father, and brother all still live in the order's village. In Waterdeep, she has been developing friendships with the other adventurers associated with Rolling Stone Trading, particularly to Drusilia Nightbreeze, whom she regards in a elder-sisterly way.

Religious Views

Aoife worships Gwaeron Windstrom and Mielikki, as they are the patron gods of rangers. Lately, after becoming a more prominent figure in her dreams, Aoife has become more interested in praying to Eilistraee.

Social Aptitude

Friendly, but awkward and nervous in social situations, and uncomfortable in large crowds. She usually sticks with people she knows when required to be in these situations.

Hobbies & Pets

Pets - Zephyr, her young gryphon.
Hobbies - Hunting and playing the flute. Also a bit of a broadsheet writer geek.