Callassa 'Callie' Goodbarrel
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~ 15 Harvest Moon, 1451 AL
~ 25 Years Old
Callassa is a rarity amongst the people - both the kryn and those in her hometown of Zerac. Being a beastfolk and part of the ox-kryn gets her a lot of attention. She is always being compared to a kryn she has never actually met, much to her quiet annoyance. She tends to get singled out amongst the human populace of Zerac for her differences as well.
Still, life in Zerac was never that bad for her. She struggled more with the adults looking down on her or acting overly cautious arround her whilst she was growing up. When they figured out that she would rather protect the people than harm them, their tune quickly changed, although there are still a handful of people who would rather see her run out of town. When mysterious runaway happens upon the town and asks for the help, Callassa is a little quicker to agree to travel with them. Whether that is out of a sense of selflessness, a longing to travel, or something else, no one really knows. Not even Callassa herself.
"What? First time seeing an ox-kryn?" the woman asks, raising a single eyebrow. You glance away, eyes cast downward, suddenly finding the cobblestone floor very interesting.
"No, it's-- I--"
"Callie," Sariel tuts and the ox-kryn woman - Callie - shoots her an irritated look. "Leave the poor girl alone. She's just tired from all the travelling. Or embarrassed by the oogling. Hard to tell."
Callie looks at you, eyes wide. You stare back just as horrified. "I wasn't! I was just, well, admiring how you handled those men before. Not many people could take on three people at once and make it look as easy as you did.
Callie's cheeks flush. You catch the soft, light purple blush in the candlelight. "Well... admire away, I guess," she says softly. You smile at her. No teeth, just the slight upturn of your mouth. There's a whisper of something tugging on your heart strings as you think I'd definitely like to see you blush more.
Physical Description
Standing at just 5'4", Callassa is unusually short for an ox-kryn. She shouldn't be underestimated because of her height though; Callassa is still just as muscular as her fellow kryn would be. Every inch of her is well defined, hard cut muscle and she works extremely hard to maintain her fitness levels, mainly out of her personal desire to protect those around. Physically, Callassa is built for strength and endurance, and is not overly dexstrous.
Most of the scars on her body are small; the results of cuts, bruises and scrapes as she was growing up. One of her major injuries occurred whilst she was very young. Callassa wasn't old enough to remember the circumstances surrounding the incident, but she does have a constant reminder of it in the form of a broken horn.
As with most female beastfolk, Callassa has four horns with two sitting on each side of her head. The top two start on either side of her forehead and curve backwards, reaching just behind her ears. The bottom two at the back of her cheek bones and point straight back, stopping just below her ear. The bottom horn on the right side of her face was broken during her youth and Callassa has been unable to grow it back out properly since the incident occurred.
Personal History
Callassa was found abandoned along the side of one of the roads that leads into Zerac. As a common trade route, it wasn't long before Grayson Goodbarrel found her. It would have been easy for Grayson to leave her, what with her being an ox-kryn, but he took it upon himself to stay with Callassa until her parents returned. She didn't speak once, except to tell Grayson her name. Eventually, the day waned and the sun set, giving way to a chilly night. Unwilling to leave her alone, Grayson camped with Callassa out by the side of the road until the sun rose the next day. He offered Callassa food, which she ate greedily, and Grayson realised that her parents - or whoever had been with her before her abandonment - were never coming back to get her.
Grayson ended up taking Callassa back to town and taking her in. Being a merchant, he spent most of his time travelling, which meant that Callassa was often left with his wife, Ilona Goodbarrel. Callassa was taught to read, write and speak human. As well as receiving a basic level of education, she was taught how to cook and spent much of her childhood helping her mother out in both the kitchen at the family home and in the kitchen of The Sleeping Song - one of the local taverns in Zerac.
Growing up in a human dominant town as a beastfolk was difficult for her. Callassa often refused to attend school as the other children would make fun of her looks, whilst their parents or the teachers would simply look the other way, blaming their antics on 'kids just being kids'. It wasn't until the Hornraven family arrived in Zerac in 1461 AL that Callie finally started to come out of her shell. She became friends with Luth, the sole Hornraven child and a kitra-kryn, and they bonded over the fact that they were both beastfolk. She started spending more time at the Hornraven household during her teenage years, learning about the beastfolk and actually starting to pick up their language once more. Ilona and Grayson were more than happy to allow this and would even start to invite the Hornraven family over for dinners.
Feeling inspired by the Hornraven family, Callassa tried to emulate their skills to varying degrees of success. One summer day when Callassa was 15, Luth's father Kaech noticed her practicing with wooden sticks and decided to actually help her train. Callassa begged her parents who agreed on the condition that she would be careful. Over the next few years, Kaech would teach her to wield a number of weapons, with Callassa finally settling on using a halberd. Knowing that a halberd was her weapon of choice, both the Goodbarrels and the Hornravens gifted her a specially commissioned halberd on her 21st birthday.
Social
Family Ties
Callassa has a very good relationship with both her adoptive mother and father. Although Grayson is often out of town selling his wares, Callassa has grown used to his periods of absence in her life. Such periods used to be a great cause of stress for her, as a younger Callassa feared that Grayson would never come back. It took years for Ilona to help her understand that Grayson would always do his best to return, no matter what. Sometimes, she will still worry whilst her father is out of town, but no where near to the extent that she used to.
Religous Views
Callie has no particular interest in religion or the dieties themselves. She doesn't really care either way whether they exist or not and finds that even the concepts of dieties in Ma'run has been twisted to fit a human centric vision. She is curious as to whether the beastfolk have any religious covenants and how they differ to the Church, the Nightsingers, and the Elryvian Pantheon.
Class
Fighter
Species
Kryn
Ox-kryn
Long, brown and bushy. Often pulled back into a braid to keep it out of her face and away from her horns
Family
Grayson Goodbarrel - Father
Ilona Goodbarrel - Mother
Profession
Callie doesn’t have a profession, currently. She will occasionally aid her father with sorting and selling wares, but has otherwise found it difficult to hold a job down.
That said, in her abundance of spare time, Callie sketches and paints all manner of things: from landscapes of the nearby woods and the town itself, to portraits of interesting people she sees in and around Zerac. Her father has even managed to sell a few of them on her before, after a bit of convincing. She still doesn’t feel as though she is good enough to make a living out of it, despite what her father thinks.
What Does She Like?
There is nothing that Callie likes more than cooking. She learnt at a young age from watching - and eventually helping - her mother in the kitchen. Since then, she has experimented with myriad foods and seasonings.
She won’t claim that every meal has been a hit. Far from it, but trial and error with certain combinations has allowed her to become a masterful chef in the kitchen, or even with a cookout kit.
She tries to cook for her friends and family as often as she can and most of them are content to let her, knowing that they are about to get an exceptional meal. (All of them help prep and clean, of course - it’s the one thing Callie will allow them to help with!)
Normally, Callie doesn’t like to be alone. Running through the nearby woods in the early hours of the morning is the exception. Provided the weather isn’t awful, she tries to go for a run every other morning.
The habit started from boredom and a lot of pent up energy. Sariel caught wind that something was wrong and, unsure of how to fix it, she suggested running with her whilst she was training for the guard, and Callie leapt at the chance to do something with her friend.
Of course, with Sariel being as fickle as the weather at times, Callie found that eventually she was running alone, more often than not. It was strange, but she didn’t mind it. After all, was she really alone if she could hear the sounds of birds chirruping, or animals foraging between the trees?
What Does She Dislike?
If you asked Callie what she hated, she would tell you very, very few things - but being alone is definitely on that list. It stems from her abandonment - though she doesn’t like to refer to it as such, since she has no idea why her biological parents left her where they did. But Callie does not like spending time alone.
This leads into a bit of a conundrum, what with her love of running. Sariel can’t join her every morning, after all. It almost made her stop running altogether. Almost.
Except, the first time she ran alone, she found she didn’t mind it all that much. It was solitude of a different kind, one that didn’t bring up the anxiety of being abandoned, and one that Callie actually found comfort in. With the exception of running, Callie will do everything in her power to make sure that she isn’t left on her own for long periods of time.
As someone who loves cooking, there isn’t a lot of food that Callie will turn her nose up at. Except mushrooms.
Personally, she doesn’t like the texture of them. She’ll insist that they ruin any meal you put them in and will actively avoid putting them in her own meals. However, if she knows someone likes them, or has requested to have mushrooms in their dish, she will reluctantly serve that person mushrooms. She might give them a bit of side eye as she does it though.
Some people like the heat. Callie can’t stand it. She much prefers the biting cold of winter, or at the very least a breeze that is enough to make you shiver.
As soon as the weather starts to heat up for Spring, the heat becomes unbearable for Callie. On those extremely warm Summer days she will struggle to do much of anything, let alone get out of bed, because the heat turns her into a lethargic mess.
Personal Connections
Sariel Swiftblood
As children, Callie and Sariel weren’t exactly ‘friends’ - Callie was too shy and she was scared that her heritage would prevent anyone from even wanting to befriend her. That wasn’t the case with Sariel. The girl was determined.
Eventually, in their teenage years, Callie and Sariel would grow closer. Sariel was still persistently trying to befriend Callie and the latter, now a little older and wiser, understood that Sariel’s attempts at friendship were genuine. Throughout the years Sariel would defend Callie from bullies, which Callie wholeheartedly appreciated.
She won’t admit it out loud, but Callie has developed a bit of a crush on Sariel. She definitely won’t be telling Sariel any time soon - Sariel would never let her hear the end of it!
Luth Hornraven
Luth was her first friend. In a town made up predominantly with humans, Callie struggled endlessly to feel like she fit in. Luth - and by extension his parents - helped Callie come to grips with who she was and embrace her beastfolk heritage.
When not teaching her about the beastfolk and the fairne, Luth is often roping Callie into activities around town that more often than not get the two of them into trouble. Luckily, Callie tends to get off lightly - most people who catch them know that Luth is the mastermind, so Callie usually just gets a slap on the wrist and a warning not to do it again. Not that she would leave Luth out to dry anyway! He needs someone to keep an eye on him so that his plans don’t end up 10 times worse.
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