Divine Austina II

Divine Austina II was a well loved and respected leader of the faith, until the corruption of a God's power warped her into a tyrant.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Divine Austina II was not born to a noble life, as many following Divines have been. Instead she was born into a large family who lived in a small fishing village very isolated from the major cities. Her early years were average enough, despite the hardship her family faced with finances and the occasional raid on the town at the hands of the smugglers who frequented their shores looking for easy gold. While she was still young, but old enough to understand what had happened, her mother died in childbirth with a younger sister whom she hated throughout their shared childhood for taking their mother away from her.
When she was a teen her father decided to move the family away from the village and closer to the cities which would keep them safe. Her two eldest brothers remained in their family home and continued their work as fishers, but her father had been a farmer before moving to the coast and hoped to find work as a farmhand. He was employed quickly enough, as a recent famine had driven many workers away from the area, and the family settled once more. Austina was old enough to help her father work the land and to care for the animals, as well as take goods to and from the nearest city with the remaining older brother.
On one of their trips into the city they found themselves forced to leave the cart outside the city walls until a procession had passed through the busy main streets. Staros was mourning the loss of it's latest Divine, Emeraude III. The Divine herself was in the procession, having not died in service but made the choice to step down and allow new blood to lead in her place. It was a move not often made by the Divine, as it often left a period of unease throughout the continent while a new Divine was chosen. Austina's brother pushed his way to the front of the crowds with her close behind and found himself in the way of the Divine's honour guard who grabbed him and slammed a shield into him. He dropped to the ground and she rushed forwards to him, forcing the decorated horses at the front of the procession to rear up, throwing their riders.
The scene caught the attention of guards, who moved in the deal with the potential threat, only to discover it is a young man and a girl. The Divine stepped down with assistance from the carriage she had been riding in, unable to ride her own horse anymore, and saw the culprits. She told the guards to release them and ushered them back into the crowd with a few kindly words. As she did, Aito's Tear slipped from the pin which kept the chain against her chest and Austina found herself captivated by it. In its faint glow she saw visions, dancing images.
The crowd around them backed away, even her brother took half a step away from her. Austina looked back to the Divine who placed a hand on her shoulder and with her free hand removes the Tear from her own neck and placed it in Austina's hand. The tear sparkled and glowed a hot white, But Austina coundn't look away from it. The Divine smiles, spoke softly to a guard and Austina and her brother are lifted onto horses with the honour guard.
Once they are freed from the noise and clamour of the procession the two are taken into the Divine's complex and it is there that Austina was told she has been seen and chosen by Aito to be the next bearer of his will, his voice among mortals.
Her family was moved to the city and their every need taken care of. Their whole lives upturned, her father took the longest to adjust and soon moved back out to the village where he had made a life for himself farming although he gratefully accepted the stipends she sent him so he would never go hungry again. She was raised from here by Divine Emeraude III and instructed of her sacred duty. She took to it naturally, as though her entire life had been leading up to this moment. She was destined, it was believed, to be an even greater Divine than her predecessor.

Education

Being from a fishing village and then cared for by a farmer, education of a more scholarly nature was never high on her list of priorities. She was taught by her parents how to help with a haul of freshly caught fish and later how to look after farm animals. She was taught to read and write by her mother, who's mother had been a teacher in a local school and made sure her children had at the very least a basic education.
However, when she was taken in by the Divine she was taught not only how to read and write to a better standard, but how to translate the ancient texts and read the scripts of the gods. She studied history, politics and religion, learned what it would mean to be a leader so that even if she didn't feel ready when the time came she would be ready.

Mental Trauma

Austina was affected greatly by the loss of her mother. Her resentment for her sister never truly faded, and it was that coupled with the corruption from the exposure to the Tear which led her to have her sister imprisoned for speaking out against her.

Current Residence

Staros

Gender

Female