Ryel Layn (Rye-ell Lane)
Ryel Tagnoye Layn
Ryel and Torch Portrait by Aura Myonautica
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Ryel is an elf and is tall (6' 3" or 190cm) and slender. She frequently gets comments that she is tall for a female elf. She is not super strong, but she is athletic. Ryel is quite agile and capable of impressive acrobatic feats... sometimes.
Body Features
For the most part, Ryel has no stand-out body features. Her shoulders are slightly more broad than most female elves. Her arms and legs are firm but not visibly muscular. Her body's curves at the waist and hips are very modest. She is not "well endowed" in the chest, but her milkshake absolutely brings all the elves to the yard.
Ryel's ears are typical of an elf of Golarion: long and pointy.
Ryel wears a quick wig which allows her to magically change the color and style of her hair and eyebrows with just a quick touch. She prefers bright hair colors such as purple, bright blue or cyan, or pink and her hair is typically the length of a long bob or just barely touching her shoulders. Occasionally when she feels fancy her hair is longer, falling just below her shoulders. Examples of some of Ryel's favorite hair colors.
If Ryel was a human on Earth, she would, coincidentally, look surprisingly like Costuming YouTuber pricklyalpaca
Facial Features
Ryel's large green eyes are typical of an elf of Golarion with large irises leaving little white visible.
Her cheeks are round and a bit plump and her chin is soft. She has freckles on her nose and cheeks.
For the most part, Ryel wears light natural makeup but she enjoys wearing blush and eyeshadow which match her current hair color.
Apparel & Accessories
Ryel wears adventuring clothing typical of a thief. Example of the approximate color palette.
She wears a simple grey or tan tunic under her dark olive jacket made of either thin leather or thick cloth. The jacket has some purple and orange-brown accents.
Her trousers are the same dark olive as her jacket and have matching accent colors. They have lots of pockets.
She wears tall leather boots and a dark purple hooded cloak.
On her belt, Ryel carries her favorite dagger, two throwing knives, her coin purse, and various leather pouches in which to stuff pillaged loot and, of course, snacks.
Mental characteristics
Gender Identity
Ryel is female and presents femininely. But not super fem, that's too fancy for her. Ryel sometimes reacts violently to being intentionally misgendered. She once stabbed a man in the chest in the middle of a crowded tavern when he accused her of being "an angry man in tight pants." One guy laughed.
Ryel is, in fact, transgender. She came to this realization during her journey to Absalom after making friends with Kungra Halfbeard, the captain of a small trade boat named the Fabulous Crow. Captain Halfbeard herself is transgender and spotted Ryel's uncracked egg immediately when she first set foot on the Crow. Halfbeard shared with Ryel her story of self acceptance and support from her loved ones and something about her story finally helped Ryel sort through some fewlings she could never really identify. Halfbeard is the only person Ryel has shared her "secret" with, having decided to step off the Crow in Absalom as a woman to start her new life. As far as Ryel knows, even her closest friends in her adventuring party don't know she is trans. She guards this as her most important secret and is determined not to let it out. Unfortunately she chose not to change her name and feminine elf names don't generally end in "-el" and many more people know this than Ryel thinks... Her party, if they have figured it out, don't treat her any differently because that's just part of who their friend is.
Sexuality
Ryel perfers humanoids, but romance and sex are not high on her list of priorities.
Mental Trauma
As a child Ryel mistook a magician's illusions act as dark magic and has an intense dislike of dark magic even today. Her friends in her adventuring party tried to help her understand the difference between illusions and actual dark magic but she's still trying to wrap her head around it. She's now far more likely to decide anything even remotely "dark magickey" is just illusiorary magic (but she's often wrong).
Ryel experienced an incredibly traumatic event as a young adult (age 88) while on a "mission" with her aunt Ellyria Mim, who is a skilled assassin. She left Avennara a few days later and has never told another person what happened that night.
Intellectual Characteristics
Ryel is clever but sometimes a bit dim. She is observant of even minute details in her surroundings but frequently does not make connections between those details to see the bigger picture. Over time, Ryel has had countless "special interests" which consume her every waking thought for a few days, weeks, or months, and then are often never touched again. This makes her a source of seemingly random, but incredibly deep, knowledge of very specific things. Nobody seems to have found any sort of pattern to her specialized knowledge.
Morality & Philosophy
Ryel's alignment is chaotic good. She believes doing the right thing is more important than rules. While Elves often enjoy being pranksters, Ryel makes mischief a pillar of her personality.
Taboos
Anyone who harms a child or an animal runs the risk of being stabbed in the face by an adorable elf right on the spot.
Ryel refuses to take a life without cause. As such, she turns down any jobs which are simply to eliminate a target. She believes assassins are vile cowards. While Ryel is reluctant to kill without justification, she will not hesitate to off anyone who harms, or attempts to harm, her friends or loved ones.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Ryel is strongly motivated by the mistakes in her past, especially those which have caused others harm. She is determined to do the right thing by any means necessary- legal or not. She hopes she can one day make up for the terrible things in her past.
Hygiene
As a rule, Ryel practieces good hygeine. She does not have any noticible body odor, generally keeps her clothing visibly clean, and keeps her hair clean if not a bit messy at times. Ryel is not afraid to get dirty and gross during her adventures, though.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Ryel is an Initiate with the Pathfinder Society and adventures with her fellow Initiate partymates:
Family Ties
Ryel has not been in contact with her family since she left home. Before leaving she had a good relationship with her parents and found it hard to leave them. She was close with her Aunt Ellyria until a traumatic event tore them apart and drove Ryel to leave Avennara.
Social Aptitude
Ryel is socially awkward but not unliked.
Hobbies & Pets
Ryel has a pet Least Weasel named Torch. Torch's fur is brown and he has a white belly. Torch prefers to ride on Ryel's shoulder but also loves to get nice and cozy curled up in her jacket pocket or in one of her many leather pouches.
When Ryel's partymates Sarai Dawntaker and Lazar Menagerisian purchased a sketchy bag of holding that turned out to be cursed and turned random items into weasels, Ryel adopted a weasel that she believed to formerly be one of Sarai's torches. Weasels quickly overran the Pathfinder Society's Grand Lodge in Absalom.
It turned out that Torch is just a regular weasel and not one of the cursed torches and nobody in the party really knows where he came from. He just showed up at the Lodge while it was, coincidentally, overrun with cursed weasels.
Torch is an exceptional mouser thanks to a weasel's strong jaws. Ryel hired him out as a professional mouser on the ship the party took from Absalom to Cassomir in Neth 4719. Torch earned one gold for his hard work.
Speech
Ryel speaks a bit lazily, especially for an elf. She says "ya'" instead of "you" most of the time and often drops the ending "g" from her "ing" sounds.
"Where are you going?" would sound more like "Where are ya' goin'?"
Ryel's accent may be similar to a stereotypical Scottish Highlands accent (see: Kelly MacDonald, Brave (2012)) but her player can't pull it off despite their middle name literally being Merida.
During stressful situations such as combat or a tense social negotiation Ryel is more likely to swear, but not in Common or Elven. Instead she swears in Undercommon, something she picked up from her Aunt Ellyria. Ryel speaks very little Undercommon over all. It's pretty much just the swears.
Relationships
Wealth & Financial state
Back at home in Avennara, Ryel's family was not wealthy and not destitute. They maintained a comfortable standard of living in their small village.
After leaving home, Ryel found herself pretty much broke and needed to take any job she could find. While she initially had ethical objections to the theivery she found herself doing to get by, she warmed up to it. Money is fake. Accumulation of wealth is harmful to the community. She'll steal absolutely anything now, even just for fun.
Woodland Elf rogue. Stabs things. A bit reckless and impulsive. Chaotic good.
View Character Profile
Alignment
Chaotic Good
Current Status
Pathfinder Initiate
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Ryel has not earned any formal titles.
Age
90 (Young Adult)
Date of Birth
25th of Gozran 4629
Birthplace
Avennara, Kyonin
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Current Residence
Pathfinder Society Grand Lodge, Absalom
Pronouns
she/her
Sex
AMAB
Gender
Female
Presentation
Feminine
Eyes
Large and almond-shaped, bright green
Hair
Usually Blue or Purple, shoulder length
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Light and Fair
Height
6' 3"
Belief/Deity
Desna
Aligned Organization
Changing
10th of Neth 4717
We will arrive in Absalom tomorrow night and I am so sick of being on this boat. Over a month and a half after leaving Avennara I'm finally getting to my destination.
Captain Halfbeard has been very hospitable while I've been aboard and I will forever be in her debt. Not just for the ride. She helped me understand some of my feelings about myself that I just could not make sense of.
It was funny, if a little annoying, how she kept calling me "Miss Ryel" but over time... I realized I liked it more than I thought. It turns out that sometimes the way we feel about ourselves on the inside does not match the way we look on the outside.
She told me about growing up in Highhelm with a million brothers and sisters and how they all saw her as a boy. Then one day she realized that was wrong. She wasn't a boy, she was a girl. Her family and her friends were confused but accepting. Her family called it her "changing" and they celebrated it.
Her family helped her choose a new name. Her father sneaked away with her clan dagger an had it polished and sharpened. He and her mom gave it back to her at her "Re-welcoming" ceremony, just as though the clan was welcoming a new baby. Her old name has been removed from all family and clan records.
I know I would never have the support she's had from her family. Especially after leaving the way I did. I'm pretty sure Aunt Ellyria would find a way to use it against me.
I still have no idea how Halfbeard knew just by looking at me. I guess sometimes you just know your own kind?
When she had her changing she changed her name. I don't think I will. I've always been Ryel. I don't mind. Though I guess I'm already doing things differently by even telling strangers my given name in the first place.
The whole tradition of not using your given name is stupid anyway. Why give me a name if you don't want me to use it?
When we dock in Absalom it will be, truely, the start of a new life. Nobody will have ever known me as a man. Nobody will know Ryel is my super secret elf name.
I'll just be me.
Ryel Tagnoye Layn. A woman.
Nobody needs to know.
-- *Miss* Ryel <3
Trading in Iadara
30th of Rova 4717
It was after 10 when we docked in Iadara tonight. Offloading and taking on cargo was not as hard a task as Halfbeard made it sound. It turns out that a boat like the Crow doesn't exactly have the biggest cargo hold.
I stopped at a shop at the harbor to stock up on food for myself. Halfbeard is estimating a week or more until our next port, then two weeks to Cassomir, and then a week to Absalom. And hopefully I'm on to a new life.
We are docking here until morning -- shoving off right at 6! I could find a room for the night but why? To nap for 5 hours before we set off again? And risk getting left behind? Nope.
I won't admit to his to *anyone* but I'm scared about what is waiting for me in Absalom. I've always lived in Avennara. A village of about 800 elves is nothing like the "city at the center of the world." How will I make a living? It's not like there is much need for hunting and tracking in a city.
Thanks to Halfbeard's generosity I will have a little more gold left when I get there than I expected... but it won't last forever.
Maybe the captain will let me just live on the crow for the rest of my life. She can pay me in sandwiches and I'll use these big strong Elf arms once a week to throw some crates and sacks around for an hour, then go back to being bored out of my mind.
Absalom would be far more interesting...
-- <3 Ryel
Big Strong Manly Elf Muscles
29th of Rova 4717
"Oh. Are you sure?"
These words are ringing in my ears like a bell that's under a chestnut tree. I mean... it won't stop ringing. Because it's getting hit with falling nuts. Ding dong.
I cornered Halfbeard this morning while she was at the helm and couldn't leave. I asked her why she would say something like that to someone she just met. She told me, "I used to be just like you. Running from things. Running from the stuff you know, but also running from the things you don't know yet."
I was a bit offended. "Things I don't know yet? Are you implying something."
She asked me, "Yesterday when you asked for a ride and I called you 'Miss Ryel' you didn't correct me. Why was that?"
I told her what the other captain said about women being good luck. "Oh, that guy. He's a moron. He would manage to drown in a desert. And he's a creep, too. Why do you think he *really* only takes on female passengers?"
I told her I just didn't want to miss out on another ride. "I could tell you needed me. Boy or girl or something else... I just knew you needed to be on my boat. You just don't know how much you need me yet."
What kind of person says something like that? I just don't know how much I need her? I guess I do need her, though. She offered me a free ride all the way to Absalom if I promised to use my "big, manly Elf muscles" to help load and unload when we stop to trade along the way. And given that I don't know when I'll have a proper job I can't pass up that offer.
We will arrive in Iadara late tomorrow night so I better make sure my "Big, manly Elf muscles" are nice and rested. Halfbeard says the cargo hold is gonna get pretty full. But it's a pretty small boat so it shouldn't be too bad.
Don't know where she thinks I'm hiding these "manly Elf muscles" but I 'll be as helpful as I can, I guess?
-- Ryel <3
Shoving Off
28th of Rov 4717
I grabbed some supplies from the inkeeper before I turned in last night. A week's worth of simple rations, a pack of playing cards, an extra quill and an extra notebook. It might end up being a long trip.
Captain Halfbeard was right. We shoved off right at six and I'm certain she would have left me behind, even if I was chasing the boat down the river!
Captain Halfbeard and the old half-elf man welcomed me aboard at 5:55am. I was *not* gonna miss this boat! I learned the old man is Painn Krand, Halfbeard's first mate.
I was watching the town of Riverspire fade into the distance while First Mate Krand got us underway. I must have been deep in thought because teh captain scared the shit out of me. "Miss Ryel! What are ya' running away from?" I almost fell off the boat in fright. I told her "It's ... it's 'mister' actually."
She looked me dead in the eyes and said "Oh. Are ya' sure?"
There was a *very* awkward silence and then she asked again what I was running away from.
I don't think either of us believed it when I said I just wanted to see the world. Halfbeard just grunted at me and walked away.
-- <3 Ryel
Securing Passage
27th of Rova 4717
I arrived in Riverspire late this afternoon and there were two small trade vessels getting ready to embark in the morning. The crew of the first was willing to have a passenger aboard but only if it was a woman. "Women bring good luck on the water," they told me. That didn't sound right, but it's their boat.
The second crew, an old, grizzled elf man and a young, surprisingly spritely dwarf woman seemed to be more open to having me aboard. They asked my name. "Ryel. My name is Ryel."
"Welcome aboard, Miss Ryel!" said the dwarf with startling enthusiasm. She introduced herself as Captain Halfbeard. "I don't really have a beard," she explained, staing the obvious. "It's a family name." I just smiled and nodded.
"We've got a light load tomorrow so you can ride for free as long as you feed yourself and don't get in the way. We shove off at 6, with or without you." I agreed and went to the tavern to find lodging for the night. The bed isn't fancy but it's just for tonight.
Sigh. "Miss Ryel."
-- Ryel <3
Nearly To Riverspire
26th of Rova 4717
I expect to arrive in Riverspire tomorrow and I will be so glad to have a bit of rest. I enjoy traveling but walking for three straight days is not fun. Especially alone. Hopefully that will be the last part of my journey on foot until Absalom.
The gravity of leaving Avennara is really starting to hit me. It was my home my entire life till now but now I'm gone. I don't know when or where I will find a new place to call "home" or someone to share it with. Will I find somewhere to fit in? Will I be alone for years? Or decades? In a way, I am excited for adventure but mostly I'm scared. I have convinced myself that I will find a new normal. Find ways to adapt. but maybe I'm lying to myself. I will never forgive myself for what I've done and I will never forigve Aunt Ellyria.
One thing I know- I'm the only person in all the planes I can control. Maybe it's time to make a new me. I no longer have to be who others want me to be and I'm not beholden to the expectations of others or their ideas of what's "right" or "best." I'm not stuck following their traditions or conforming to their expectations. There are some things about myself that never really felt "right" but I can't really put my finger on them. Maybe the more distance between my past and my present the more clear that will be come.
-- Ryel
The Way To Riverspire
25th of Rova 4717
I'm traveling on foot to Riverspire where I hope to barter my way onto a trade boat north on the Kyonin River toward Iadara. From there I should be able to find passage on the other trade routes on the river to the lake and finally south to the Inner Seas and Absalom.
I was able to sneak into @Aunt Ellyria's home before I left during the festival and snagged her "secret" coin purse from the hidden drawer in her writing desk. Stealing from such a horrible person was such a delight. I think I may be starting to understand why thieves exist.
It's hopefully enough gold to get me to Absalom and keep me afloat for a few weeks while I find a job. I am excited for my fresh start and the ability to be the me I want to be, but I can't shake the guilt of leaving my non-terrible family behind. I left my parents a note saying I was leaving but I did not say why. I hope they can forgive me some day. Until I see them again, whenever that might be, I must find new ways of being me. New ways to, well, make my way.
And most of all- avoid being found by Aunt Ellyria.
-- Ryel
The Final Mission
20th of Rova 4717
Rov 20, 4717
Last night was my final mission with Aunt Ellyria. The innocent blood on my hands will never wash off.
Ellyria received word that a Drow the Lantern Bearers wanted eliminated was in the forest midway between Omesta and Siavenian. He had taken an Elf for his wife and they were living off the beaten path. Ellyria's mission was clear: assassinate Dian Wyldroc but leave his pregnant wife unharmed. There was no to be no Elven blood spilled.
The cabin was dark and silent when we arrived. The nighttime sounds of the forest were the only things to be heard. Simple and quick, Ellyria promised me. After we assessed our surroundings she surprised me by telling that this was to be my kill.
I told her that I wasn't ready but she assured me I was capable as I slid through the open kitchen window. Silently, I made my way to the open bedroom door and waited outside for a moment to collect myself. Then I heard movement in the bedroom. Before I even knew, a tall dark figure emerged quietly from the door. Panicked, I thrust my dagger towards the figure's chest. I prayed that it was Wyldroc as my blade plunged deep into flesh. As I twisted the dagger, the shadowy figure screamed. I drove the blade in further but there were no sounds of death. No gurgles, no death rattle. This was certainly my target- the voice was too masculine to be anyone else.
The screams of surprise and fear quickly changed to agony- not pain, but anguish. Blood ran down my blade as I pulled it back. I could feel blood drip on my hand. Stunned, I looked at the dagger gripped in my hand and then at Wyldroc's chest. In the darkness I could see that the was holding something I had struck instead of him!
Slowly I realized what he was holding. As his wife rushed toward his blood-curdling wails I saw the newborn baby, now lifeless and mangled in ts father's arms. I gasped.
Horrified, I ran. I ran out the door and toward the woods, screaming for Ellyria. When we regrouped in the cover of the trees I described the scene. I was nearly sobbing as I told her bout the child, who could not have been more than a week old.
"Excellent!" she said. "The only blood spilled tonight was tainted blood."
"TAINTED!?" I exclaimed. "That was a fucking *child*!" Ellyria went on to call this the best possible outcome. She had heard the child had just been born and knew the target and his wife would be exhausted and distracted. The perfect time to strike.
She *knew* the child had been born. She *knew* the baby would be at risk during our mission. Yet she kept that *secret* and sent me in anyway.
We will return home tomorrow and two days after is the Swallowtail Festival. That will be my chance to leave Avennara for good without being noticed.
If the Lantern Bearers knew I was planning to leave . . . well, I wouldn't make it out of the village alive. I know too much.
Leaving undetected is my only chance.
-- Ryel
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