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.
Out of the corner of your eye, you catch a flicker of movement. You don’t think much of it at first. Then you see it again, quick and brief, and when it happens for a third time, you’re paying far more attention.
Of course, Callie catches you staring.
But she is caught herself, her hand hovering over the cracked patches of her broken horn, midway through picking at it. She flushes a shade darker, embarrassed.
“Sorry,” she says quietly. Hesitant. She glances away from your searching gaze and lets her arm drop back to her side.
“What for?” you ask.
“Drawing attention to it?” she says as she gestures to her broken horn, then groans as she realises what she’s done. “Sorry, sorry! It’s gross, I know, but when I get nervous I can’t help but–”
“Callie,” you interrupt her before her rant spirals out of control. When you say her name, your voice is soft, wrapped with just the right amount of calm and control. You reach out for her hands, taking them in your own. Slowly, you draw smooth circles on her wrists with your thumbs. “You don’t have to explain, or apologise, okay? Not to me. Not about this.”
Her skin is leathery. Having grown up in Yondar, where the climate is reasonably warm for most of the year, she lacks the furry hide of some of her fellow ox-kryn.
The skin tone is a blended mix of grey and purple, with a patch of pale red spanning from the base of her neck down her torso, to just past her stomach. Her eyes are an extremely dark grey. In some lights, it can be very difficult to distinguish her irises from the thin, horizontal black slit of her pupils.
Day to day, Callassa has a habit of wearing low cut shirts and flowing skirts. She has a lovely pair of riding boots that her father found on one of his many trips, which she has worn to the point that the brown of the leather has started to fade. On rare or special occasions, Callassa will bring out one of her favourite dresses - long and flowing, just like her skirts.
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.
“In some ways,” you say, voice so soft as the words leave your lips that even you are surprised to hear them, “I envy you…”
Callie tilts her head to the side, watching and waiting. The intensity behind those grey eyes, made darker by the nighttime, is too much for you to bear.
You glance away. Looking for anything else to focus on. Anything but her.
“It’s silly… and stupid, really, but…” you trail off with a frustrated sigh.
Something brushes against your hand. Callie’s own, you realise, fingertips feather light.
“I wonder if it would have hurt less had I lost my mother before I ever had the chance to know her…”
The silent pause that follows is too awkward, stretches for too long into the realm of uncomfortable. You shift your legs, as if sitting slightly differently might alleviate the discomfort.
For every second of silence, Callie still brushes her fingers against the back of your hand.
“Maybe…” she says eventually. You chance a look up at her, taken aback by how thoughtful and empathetic she looks, like a goddess in the throngs of revealing an epiphany. “Or maybe not. That’s another piece of the cruelty, I guess. That one scenario might be more painful than the other, but you’ll never know which, because you’ll never experience both…”
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.
Whilst Callassa tends to spend a lot more time around her adoptive mother, Ilona, she wouldn’t say that makes her closer to her. If anything, Callassa loves her parents equally. They have both taught her so many different things over the years, and both of them are extremely mindful of Callassa’s heritage - they are always trying to help her find out more!
That said, she loves nothing more than cooking with her mother. They get so focussed in the kitchen that Grayson has learned to just leave them to it. The family meals are better off without his input anyway (at least in his opinion).
Religous Views
Callassa has no real religious interests.
Having grown up in Yondar, surrounded by humans, she finds that the religious concepts she hears about are often twisted to fit a human centric view. In particular she thinks that the constant discussion about the Church of Van-Hael and the Nightsingers - and how they despise each other - is tiring.
She wonders how much good could be done instead, if all those people could just set aside their differences of opinion and work together.
Callie flicks through the pages of the book, disinterested. She finds most religious texts are the same, painting the gods in whatever light benefits them the most. No truths, just embellishments.
Or whenever there are any truths, it is always in a human context. Sometimes a daelin one.
The latter are a little better, in her honest opinion, and she vaguely remembers the uncommon occasions where her father had come across a daelin tome. But still, the tales are fanciful.
‘If the gods were so perfect’, she thinks as she closes the book with a bored little sigh, ‘then why did they disappear?’.
There are tales about that, too. Most of them blame the mortals residing on Ma’rune, as if not being perfect themselves had tarnished all the gods had worked towards.
“Finished with that already?” Yevelda says. There’s a smile tugging at her lips, the words spoken in jest.
“Too preachy,” Callie replies, wearing a smile of her own as she slides the book back across the table.
Whilst she doesn’t follow a religion herself, Callassa has expressed a desire to learn about whether or not the beastfolk follow any religions, or at the very least believe in the gods. It ties in with her general desire to learn more about her kin, the ox-kryn.
Unfortunately, Callassa has had very little success in this area, on account of there not being any ox-kryn around to ask about it.
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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