Elara

Elara

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Elara was born in the northern mountain villages of Marweid, surrounding the Delcarres Peaks. While the main portion of province is ruled by sorcerers and powerful magic users, the mountain villages are a simple area with mostly farm and artisan craftsmanship as the local industry. Much of the providence relies on the local monastery for governance and social order. Her parents no exception to these conditions, they were overwhelmed by the revelation of her birth as a blessed event. Unsure of their ability to raise and guide a child with strong divine ties, they made the tearful decision to surrender her to the local monastery so she could have a better chance at education and the necessary tools for her life. Her parents were quite distraught to have to give up their only child and moved away from the mountain village to put some distance between them in an attempt to ease their heartbreak.
Her only items from them were the worn woven blanket she was swaddled in and a religious trinket of Selune on a leather cord. She never saw them again and relied on the stories from her master to take the place of their memory.

At the monastery her training and education was overseen by Master Bodhin himself, the head acolyte of the area. He was a firm man who offered little sentiment or praise, leaving her starved to prove herself to him. She grew up submerged in the weight of her destiny and burden, often being reminded that her success in each task and field of knowledge could bring light to the world. As well, she received even more reinforcement about the potential disaster of her failures. These lessons and teachings often left her feeling isolated from the other children growing up in the monastery. Whereas she was afforded the nicer clothing and rooms, she was not allowed to be coddled. She doubted the other children cared much for her, anyway, seeing as she received what they perceived as preferential treatment. She could hardly ask them herself as she was forbidden to speak, play, interact, or be seen unveiled by anyone other than her instructors.
Master Bodhin expressed severe paranoia about her being sullied by interactions with lesser beings and kept her as isolated as possible. She found herself constantly covered by white robes or dresses, along with the hooded veil she despised most of all. At the age of 13, he began having her perform miracles for the surrounding villages. Blessing their water, healing the sick, casting light at night to continue harvesting crops before the end of season. However, she was never to be seen by the world, merely appear as a conduit for Master Bodhin to exert their gods’ will and favor. Always under the threat that he could return and enact their displeasure if the monastery till was not full of coppers by the time they left.
Around this time, she began to hear the voice of her aasimar guide. Though for weeks she just thought she had finally lost her mind. The voice began to bring her confusing memories of a bloodied stone floor, a baby crying, familiar windows to those she walked by daily. The voice encouraged her to find confidence in herself and begin to chart her own path, but she remained fearful of the unknown and Bodhin’s displeasure. The voice remained but chided her for her blind obedience.
Embarrassingly, she kept up with banter with the voice in her head simply for company.

Around the age of 16 she was doing a village demonstration when a child brought forth his sickly mother and begged to have her healed. Bodhin sneered that they had not paid the required fee and to step back from the stage. The boy wept that his mother was with child and would not survive if she was not tended to. Still Bodhin turned away. Elara began to protest but was quickly heeled by a smack to the back of the head from her master. She remained silent on their return to the monastery, mind reeling from the boy and the violent line that had been crossed between her and her guardian. That night she mulled over the day, not sleeping and staring out her window in the direction of the village. Encouraged by the presence in her head and her own desire to make some damn decisions for herself, she dug through her wardrobe and donned the black veil and cloak she wore only once a year on ceremony day and stalked off to the village. She approached the village square, looking for signs of the boy. After minutes of silently waiting, he appeared, fetching water for the house. She followed, doing her best not to startle him. She was well adjusted to the darkness, but he seemed uncertain of his footing on the moonless night.

When he reached the door to their small cottage, he whipped around in shock. Elara responded by holding a finger up to her mouth in a plea for silence before showing her palms in a gesture of supplication. The eerily pale skin of her lower face and hands the only visible part of her on such a night. He seemed to understand and led her inside to the cot of hay and dirtied cloth his mother rested on. Fevered and pale, Elara got to work taking her vitals and assessing before attempting to heal her quickly, noticing her breaths beginning to become more and more shallow. She had never done this on her own and felt her confidence waver as gentle light surrounded the woman. A heavy silence fell over the room, the boy buried his face in Elara’s robes, clinging to her and waiting for a sign of life from his mother. Finally, a deep exhale from the woman led to her own relieved sigh. The boy jumped to his mother’s side and began a steady stream of tears, choking out stifled gratitudes between hiccups. Weakened from the ordeal but grateful still, the mother nodded gently and looked to the small chest at the foot of her cot. She shook her head at the assumption that she required payment for such a task. Looking to the fading dark outside the one broken window, she hurried back to her room.

Elara had never felt so fulfilled and purposeful in all her years of visiting villages. Perhaps she had finally found her true purpose, some good she could provide to the world that didn’t just pad the coffers of the monastery and purchase Master Bodhin more velvet robes. Over the next few years, she would recall this night as the pivotal moment for her change, the moment she began to decide for herself how she would help the world. Whenever she could manage, she found herself shimmying down the walls of the monastery, visiting any villagers she remembered from previous travels. Always they would try to offer her payment in coin, always she refused. Eventually, patrons began leaving black cloth nailed to their doorways whenever they had need of her, whether it be for healing or gentle easing of pain. When her robes became threadbare from her errands, new ones would be left for her at the next village. As if those she called upon understood the need for silence just as much as she did, no murmurs of her deeds seemed to reach the monastery.
Until one day, the whispers of a masked healer appearing in the night climbed over those impressive stone walls and found themselves at Bodhin’s doorstep.

Taboos

Do not bring about the suffering of others wantonly.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

To rise to the expectation of her birth and determine what it is she was put her to do. If she was put her on purpose at all. She is still wary of declaring herself openly as an aasimar until she is capable of defending herself and anyone associating with her. She has lived a life with very little room for her own agency, so she is eager to establish herself and make her own decisions. From her journey so far she has seen the distress power struggles have caused the continent and seeks to topple and disarm those responsible.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Highly skilled combatant with great knowledge of medicines. A bit too impulsive, driven by a curiosity for the new things encountered. Recognizes she needs a more commanding and confident presence to achieve her goals.

Virtues & Personality perks

Dignity in death and a quick end for those who suffer with no remedy

Vices & Personality flaws

Too trusting of forces that may have answers for what to do next

Born in the northern mountain villages of Marweid, she was raised by the Northern monastery to prepare her for a life as a being with divine purpose. Ignorant on details of that purpose, she went south on rumors of a goddess

View Character Profile

Alignment

LG

Age

Mid 20's

Date of Birth

Dec 21

Gender

F

Eyes

Golden

Hair

Silvery White

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Light with a metallic sheen

Height

5'11

Known Languages

Common, Abyssal, Celestial, and Elvish