Lenore Courtney

Lenora Courteney

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“You pretend to be a swashbuckler, yet your blade waverith from lack of purpose and skilllessness! Step forth and meet thy end, ere you embarrass theeself from thee's most pitiful of swordplays!”

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-Lenore

A swashbuckler of sharp blade and a sharper tongue, Lenore Courtney was a devious rogue for much of her life. Abandoned on the streets of Port Brimsey as a young adolescent, she was taken in by Myra Jaide, the leader of the rising Crimson Gold faction on a cold Exen night in 342 TA. Though Lenore is unaware of this fact, The Red Lady almost did not adopt her, only doing so after seeing Lenore as a nine year old face down a criminal. Knowing her courage could be useful to her, Jaide brought in the bold child to her forming pirate gang. Soon after joining, Lenore learned to use a blade from the Red Lady’s instruction, surpassing her teacher at age fourteen.
Despite being brought into the Crimson Gold gang by the Red Lady herself, Lenore was far from popular within it. Lenore respected virtually nobody within the gang besides Myra herself, and frequently antagonized the members for even slight faults. Stirring up further resentment, The Red Lady absolutely forbade anyone from so much as swearing at the fencing prodigy.

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“She really is a brat, that kid. Yeah, she’s a good swordsman, but madam Jade acts ‘ike she’s a blessin’ from the gods. Maybe givin’ her a black eye or two will finally shut her up.”

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-A Crimson Gold Pirate

Lenore’s involvement in Crimson Gold continued for many years. Her actions for the gang’s benefit increased as time went on, going from mere maintenance of the group’s equipment, to practicing medicine on their wounds, finally to participating in the raids and other crimes.
On her first raid on Dylist 23rd 349 TA, Myra asked Lenore to stay back while she and a few others ambushed a navy patrol. Lenore, up until this point, had typically not used lethal force on any foes. Instead, she incapacitated and maimed via wounds to the arms, not bothering to finish the foes off.

The sudden change in lethality was jarring to Lenore, along with seeing, for the first time, just how cruel Myra could be. Now wary and uncomfortable with the gang’s actions, Lenore began to consider quietly slipping out and away. Unfortunately for her, though, Myra, having experience with folk who get cold feet, redoubled her efforts in keeping Lenore involved.

Ocea Twalk

To try and reinforce Lenore’s loyalty, Myra made sure to involve her on further raids. In her words, Myra was, “makingeth [her] used to thy tragedy of life”. Day in and day out, Lenore witnessed bloodshed and death, and became involved in several of the deaths herself. To some extent, Myra’s plan was working—as time went on, Lenore became inured to the cries and screams. That was until one day in a risky raid on a Black Iron Navy convoy in Port Brimsey's Capital District, Lenore was struck by a stray bullet fired by Navy Officer Ocea Twalk. Myra, noting that Lenore could not run with her injured leg, left her behind, along with several other wounded and dying members of her crew.
Lenore, after crawling out of the settling smoke, was cornered behind the warehouse by her shooter, Ocea Twalk.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

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“I am no mere damsel—nay! I am a woman of action and steel. I hath always lived a life set upon a razor wire above oblivion, and should my body ever fail me, it would likely be my end.”

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-Lenore, on her physicality

Lenore's body is lean, tapering lower down on her claves, and broadening at her shoulders. She has little fat on her—perhaps too little, considering she's frequently peckish. Though her muscles are not bulky, they are well-defined; to the point where she has the barest hint of a six-pack on her stomach. In her daily attire, which hides much of her athletic physique, most are caught off-guard by how much force she can apply.
While her strength is above-average, Lenore's finesse and agility are more impressive. Her fighting style requires speed and precision, thus she practices both frequently. She also has good balance, and her footwork makes her difficult to topple.

Facial Features

Lenore's face is angular, with a strong, yet lean jaw. While not prominent, her cheekbones are faintly visible. Her lips are thin, and are often either pursed or set in a rogue grin. Two scars mark her face: a more shallow horizontal swipe just above her right eyebrow, and a deeper cut on the bottom left of her jaw. Both are saber wounds from her time in Myra Jade’s gang.

Identifying Characteristics

Lenore's upper body—namely her shoulder blades, collar, and bosom—has numerous tattoos of intricate design inked into her skin. The patterns of said tattoos take on harsh, angular shapes, primarily triangles and trapezoids. The ink used to make said designs is common dark brown squid ink, resulting in a monotone and somewhat cheap-looking set of nonetheless artful tattoos.

Physical quirks

Unusually, Lenore's dominate hand is her right one—though she has learned to wield weapons with passible efficiency in her left. This does play to her advantage in duels, as most are used to fighting one who prefers their left hand.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

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“Tis not as if I did not recognize the harm my actions caused or the pain I inflicted on the innocent. I merely thought to assist Myra as repayment for all she had done for me. Without that justification clouding my morals, I now seek repentance.”

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Lenore's current goal in life—besides staying away from Myra Jade and the Black Iron Navy—is to correct and compensate for her misdeeds. Given her skewed and selfish outlook prior, doing so requires not only overcoming old habits of violence, but also to start striving to do good.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

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“For fair or foul I am aptly familiar with blades. If there is one thing I can do, it is harm… mayhap I ought to learn some other art.”

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-Lenore, on her skillsets

Lenore, true to her past and present, is an excellent swordsman. Her preferred weapon is a Gwaven, yet she can make do with almost any lighter blade, including the Shalve. Contrary to what she herself thinks, however, Lenore does possess skills beyond bloodletting. For one, she is good at public speaking—provided her audience can understand occasionally strange speech. She never lacks confidence, feels virtually no shame for any satement, and her a crisp voice that all can understand.
Lenore also has a grasp of medicine, or at least the application of it. After years of staying Myra's gang—which often had infighting—she learned to disinfect and bandage others' wounds, and sometimes her own.
Though for as considerable as her skills are, she does not hold a wide variety. She poses limited knowledge in most academic subjects due to her uneducated background. Her mathematics extend to basic division and multiplication, and her understanding of most sciences is limited, to say the least.

Social

Speech

After many years spent in the presence of Myra Jaide, Lenore picked up many of the Red Lady's speech habits. Madam Jaide, holding ties to the once-noble Metian house of Jaide, chooses to still speak like a member of nobility, despite her family not being considered as such for centuries. In her youth, Lenore wanted to emulate as much of Myra as she could, thus she started speaking like her.
Besides her odd grammar, Lenore's vocabulary is surprisingly vast considering her lack of formal education. Once a word is spoken around her, she rarely forgets it, typically using it in excess for the following days.

Alignment

Chaotic Neutral

Date of Birth

Lanquin 17th, 328 TA

Year of Birth

328 TA 24 Years old

Sex

Female

Eyes

Forest Green

Hair

Blonde, always in a bun

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Medium Light

Height

5’9”

Weight

141 lbs

Quotes & Catchphrases

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“Spittle fly from thine’s lips like dung from a mule’s arse.”
“Had I known you deeply and personally, I still would have elected to stab thee today.”
“I would say that thee squeals akin to a frightened swine, yet no frightened swine hath threatened to deafen me like you hath!”

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Relationships

Myra Jade

Also known as The Red Lady, Myra was Lenore’s mentor, and served almost as a parental figure to her. Today Lenore wants nothing to do with the woman and her pirate gang known as Crimson Gold, or so she thinks.
In reality, such long-lasting bonds are difficult to fully sever. While Lenore would openly state she reviles Myra, the truth is more complicated.

Ocea Twalk

The final nail in the coffin for Lenore’s doubts about Myra Jade, Ocea’s desperate pleas during a raid forced Lenore to confront the truth: Myra’s gang would inevitably end up completely destroyed from the Red Lady’s actions.
While Lenore has not seen Ocea since, she does intend to thank the young officer should she see her again.

Fighting Style

The primary weapon Lenore utilizes for lethal combat is the Gwaven—a long, two-handed blade of Metanian origin. In an unorthodox manor compared to most manuscripts involving the weapon, Lenore utilizes the spike on the lower blade more defensively than offensively, keeping her distance from her foes when she can.
When pressing the offense, though, Lenore tends to be patient. Generally, she throws uncommitted cuts and jabs with the blade, waiting for her opponent to panic and overcommit to a defensive choice. It is then that she usually finishes the fight, typically via a thrust to the opponent's torso.
When performing her duties as an enforcer, Lenore utilizes less lethal weaponry—preferring a Mour club and shield, which she uses to pin non-compliant targets and potential weapons.