Amara Silverharp

Given name: Felicia

Honorific Title: Silverharp

Amara Silverharp - formerly only known to her parents as Felicia - is the head and (most of the time) the voice of her wandering troupe. She sings and plays a harp made out of dark cherry wood and with bluesteel strings so polished they look like silver.
When she and her ensemble aren't on a performance in some inn, tavern, at a nobles house or court they travel through the lands on the search for new tunes, more refined words and lyrics or history books, tomes, scrolls or writings on the walls of forgotten settlements, buildings and temples. From these finds the troupe (sometimes only Amara, sometimes with a member of the troupe) will create new songs, ballads, sung stories or retelling history by singing. This is where they stumble upon Gavín, sharing stories, laughing, eating and forming a gentle friendship, one of the few the group has.

"Rak'h nuhl atrokuhl ballok rhul... no, that doesn't sound right."
"Just change it to brathul instead ballok rhul."
"Rak'h nuhl atrokuhl brathul. - Hm, much better, but it sounds so...deep."
"Of course it sounds deep, it's Dwarvish. When it isn't deep then it is probably Elvish."

— A frustrated Amara with Ribald on writing a song for the dwarfs

The Troupe

Her troupe is carefully selected and varies from Human to Dwarf, an Elf (Moon Elf on this one) and Kulthari, only missing a Lapira, but that is only a matter of time. Each member has their own wagon and everyone has a share of the supplies they need.

• Amara (human, female, harp & voice)

"You know us. You want to hear us. Old legends, epic stories, heartbreaking drama, you want to laugh and cry? Then let's get started! Welcome with me our beautiful leader, our fiery harpist with words made out of burning silver and her voice of fire!"

— Ribald introducing Amara on a gig

• Ribald (human, male, lute and flute)

"Oi, yo' wanna hear sum sweet tunes and fiddlin', aye? Lend me ya ear and listen car'fully to that pesky human ov'r here, 'cause he will make ya weep and shudder!"

— Yanmaec cheeringly introducing Ribald

• Yanmaec (dwarf male, drums)

"And here we have Yanmaec. He plays the drums. Yes, we know it is a bit of a cliche but he is good at hammering things in a specific rhythm so he volunteered for it."

— Ribald introducing Yanmaec

• Caelliara (Kulthari, male, pan flute and double flute)

"Fear not his eyes, his hooves nor his horns; fear his soul and his instruments, his flutes and his voice for it will make you long for things you don't know you needed until now!"

— Cinsihe describing Caelliara as he enters the stage

• Cinsihe (Moon Elf, female, violin)

"Have you ever longed for the moon? Have you ever laid hand on a blank knife and cut you? That is what she does; she will stab you right in the heart and heal you with only a few notes of her violin."

— Amara about Cinsihe

Eager to know more about the troupe itself, the members of it and the history? Fear not, I got you covered.

Personal history

Amara was born and raised in Nimri, the city of Potions. Her mother was a tailor and her father a gardener who grew crops and herbs. Amara sold them at the local market and in her spare time she used to sing, mostly songs she picked up at a young age, acompaning her father in the garden or her mother when she had no clients or was working on a dress late in the evening.
With reaching the age of eleven (11) years her father could afford a flute and so Amara learned to play it while her parents worked, but after a year she got really annoyed about that she only can sing or play the flute, but not both.
In one of the few shops in Nimri she discovered a lute in the shop's window. The lute was used and needed new strings, but the price was good and the lute as good as new for her young eyes and it was the most beautiful thing Amara had seen to date.
She decided to work in a tavern and the innkeeper agreed that she can come for two days a week and get a percentage of the (potential) income every evening. When a guest decides to tip her directly or give her a money-present she was allowed to keep it.
And so Amara sang for about two years in the tavern "Maruis' Bowl" and got her lute in the end. She struk a deal with the innkeeper - Marius himself - to play four days a week under the same conditions and on the other days she helped her mother with the clients, chores around the house and practiced her singing and her play on the lute.
It was the King's search for his celebration to his reign and the peace they had over the years. Amara decided to participate in this challenge with her now sixteen years, with a fundamental portion of trust into her voice of silver (told by her parents and some of the guests in the tavern) and her talent. The girl who was named originally Felicia called herself on this day "Amara". She wanted a good name, a name with a meaning since her songs were a bitter-sweet collection about death, life and everything in between. So she thought and aimed to impress the king, but after two rounds of the challenge she got voted out. Without going to the royal court or seeing a glimpse of the royal family.
Devastated and desillusioned she tumbled through the streets of Dorstein, crying over her shattered dreams and the nearly empty purse on her side. The next day she visited a tavern and convinced the innkeeper to let her sing so she can refill her purse and bring more guests to the tavern. Her voice cut through the conversations like a hot knife through a block of butter. Amara wasn't aware of it but her normally clear voice had small hints of the fire in it for which she would later become famous.
In this tavern a man caught her interest and vice versa. He was clothed in bright colours, had a dark lute and a silver flute on him, a hat with a big brim on the head, decorated with a bright yellow feather.
He was Ribald, a more-or-less-well-known bard. They shared dinner together and sang for a while at the tavern which was called "Boar's Horn". She traveled with him after a few days from Dorstein to Methellona, where they sang in different inns and taverns including the famous Haus der Vampire / Vampire's Home. It was in this town of mischief, sins, dark caverns and bright temples where she saw the harp.
The harp was carved out of dark cherry wood with strings made out of bluesteel so shiny they looked like polished silver. It was love on first sight and with a little bit of haggling she bought the harp. The craftsman in the workshop gave her two sets of strings free of charge as she sang for him and his family. The harp itself had a little secret: runes on the inside of the body are protecting the harp from harmful influences and enhancing the sound of this instrument so it could be played for larger audiences.
Unknown to Amara it was this day she obtained the nickname "Silverharp" and the name "Amara" was passed around under the playing and singing folk; mouths whispering into ears, clients bidding gold and favors.

The beginning of something big

Amara was happy. She could sing, she could play the lute and after a few weeks on the road back home to Nimri Ribald asked her about a cooperation. She could play the harp decent without a false note and her voice played more with the strings then her fingers.
As she sang a song about a dead moon with the appearance of a dead god her parents cried of joy, loss and sorrow. Not for Amara, but for the beautiful dead god and all the humans under them.

"How...how could they do it? Killing our beautiful... our sweet and gentle... *snort*"

— Amaras mother crying in her husbands arms

With the blessing of her parents and the vow of Ribald to look after Amara, the two musicians went on their way. Over the next few months it was pretty clear that everyone wanted to see and hear Amara Silverharp. Merchants, townsfolk, nobles, even some elves wanted to hear Amara.

"Amara? Well, I only had the honour to see her once. It was in this open theater near Yenur, you know? Ranks upon ranks, filled with the people of ranks and names and titles. And I'm in the middle. Then I saw her. This girl, this astonishing woman. She played at least five minutes on her harp before she opend her mouth and I heard her voice for the first time. After her voice of burning silver I will never name anything other then her voice beautiful."

— Rich merchant to Gavín while sobbing

One day they got an invitation from the Dwarvish Kingdom of Ulthra with the request for two dwarvish songs. Amara was excited for this opportunity and dug into the history of the dwarfs. With it she learned a lot about the dwarven language, their family system, their way of living and how to speak with them.
Long story short: it was a success and both Ribald and Amara were approached by a dwarf with the name of Yanmaec. He was a smith with a knack for drums and give a demonstration on a selfbuilt drum. Let's say it was beautiful horrifying and successful. Yanmaec even built the three wagons they were using and with his skills on the drums he was even tolerated by the Dark Dwarfs in Gorablor.

"He even shook some of our walls with his precise technique. Wonder how his drums are still intact."

— Grumpy Dark Dwarf to a friend

Over the years they stocked up their repertoire on musicians and changed their tune a bit. Amara dug deeper into the musical history of every species and every state. Her personal wagon is full of scrolls and tomes with notes about languages, old history, selfmade songs, leads and hints of more musical bits to discover.
Music is everything for Amara. She even composed the songs for her parents funeral as they got in the way of the Second Wanurim War. And now they are on their way to Vigilda to search for lost history on the Four Lords. And for a new tune...

Employment history

• Fathers garden and/or mothers shop
• Maruis' Bowl (inn/tavern)
• Boar's Horn (inn/tavern)
• self-employed in her own troupe

Motivation

She wants to discover the lost and forgotten tunes of old, beginning at the High Elves to even the grumpy Cenwynd, so she can bring them back into the world.

Family ties & religion

Amara has no family ties left, since both her parents are dead and she was the only child. Since Amara discovered the first tune of the Six and Lanialellara she is a true believer of the Six and the Angels above.

Social manners

She knows the manners of court and noble but is more lively when under common folk, because noble are a little bit too high up for her liking. Normally she is confident enough to know her place in the room but wouldn't approach someone when not utterly neccessary.

Pets & Hobbies

She has a cat which name is "Cat" and is normally sleeping onto the shelf with some of the older tomes. And here is Cat, Amaras cat, sleeping on some books.

Sleepy Cat by Kaiserr

Mental characteristics

Gender Identity

Amara sees herself as a woman and wishes to be announced as such. Her pronouns are she/her.

Current Status

On the search for some forgotten tales of the Cenwynd, preparing for the Golmorb ritual

Aufenthaltsort

Gnupur

Age

36

Geburtsort

Dorstein

Pronouns

she/her

Gender

female

Augen

green-ish open eyes

Haare

red shoulder length hair with curls at the end

Hautfarbe

a little bit tanned with some freckles

Größe

179cm

Gewicht

62kg

Belief/Deity

Lanialellara