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This young Aukami female is rather tall, like most of her kind, and holds herself high with pride to tower somewhat over the shorter races. Fiery red hair, void of the slightest wave or curl, flows like fine silk to end behind her knees. That is, when she wears it down. More often than not, it is pulled up into a hasty braid, more for practicality than visual appeal. Overall, the coloring seems to be a bit too dark to be natural, and upon closer inspection one would see that there are strands of black "highlights" amidst her unnatural color (typical Aukami hair is silver, after all). Her almond-shaped eyes glow, of course, but unlike other Aukami hers flicker like the light cast by a flame. Her ears, nose and jaw bear somewhat angular qualities.
The Aukami is clad in in an outfit for ADVENTURE! Well... sort of. Any human who happens to be from the right time period will recognize that the female is dressed similarly to the fictional character known as Indiana Jones. A saddle brown fedora rests atop her head, very well-kept, and a matching leather jacket is draped over her white button-down shirt. Over her right shoulder is the strap for the sturdy bag at her left hip, on which a dusty old tome is strapped. Her right hip has a coiled bullwhip hanging from her belt. Lighter-colored brown pants cover her legs, and brown leather shoes protect her feet from the elements. She is far from voluptuous, having a rather small bust and curves that are not as pronounced as other females, and bears an even medium-olive complexion that is quite common amongst her race. Oh, and her fingers have that extra knuckle.
The Past
Her Life in Fastheld
Born on the thirteenth day of Harvest in the year 609 ATA, Kallyn Lake was the middle of three children. Her siblings were Darron and Laeria, four years older and two years younger, respectively. Her parents were Braedan and Caila Lake, who lived in Silkfield. Braedan was a Stablemaster, often spending days at a time tending to the stables and the horses in them. Caila was equally busy, for she was a bowyer with a thriving business. As such, they often left Darron in charge of his younger sisters.
As a child, Kallyn was incredibly energetic and outspoken, often getting into trouble with adults for being a little too bold. Ever the tomboy, she most enjoyed wrestling with Darron and picking on Laeria. The children would often visit their father at the stables, where they would help him care for the horses. On days when he wasn’t overly busy, Braedan would even give his two eldest children lessons in riding. Laeria opted to keep her feet planted firmly on the ground, fearing that she would be thrown from her horse one way or another.
Kallyn didn’t learn as fast as her brother, but that only made her more determined to get better. Oftentimes she would get a bit too aggressive with her horse, which resulted in many instances of her meeting the hard earth. Luckily, she always managed to narrowly avoid major injury, merely dusting herself off and getting back up on the horse. After years of determined practice, Kallyn finally proved that she was the better horseback rider, beating her brother in a race behind the stables. This would not be the last time that she would be driven so hard by her stubborn and competitive nature.
Just as Kallyn began slipping into adolescence, her father took quite ill. Overworking himself at the stables for so many years had finally taken its toll, making him more susceptible to disease. Darron and Kallyn took over at the stables, and Laeria helped her mother care for Braedan. After four months of this, he passed away, leaving the family heartbroken. No one felt this more than Kallyn, who had only really bonded with the men of the family. However, her father’s death would not be the most notable event of her teenaged years -- it would be the cause.
Kallyn had been working at the stables with Darron when they received word from Laeria of their father’s passing. At first she stood still with shock; the healers had expected him to make a full recovery. Her siblings headed back to their home to give her some privacy, at which point she fell to her knees, suppressing the swell of rage and sorrow that was welling up inside of her. She had never allowed herself to lose control of her emotions, even as a small child. A few tears escaped her eyes before she lost control, exploding into a scream or rage… almost literally. For as she cried out, her hands (and a few bits of hay around her) burst into flames. Her shout of sorrow quickly became one of shock and fear as the flames subsided, and she spent the next hour sitting there in quiet disbelief.
Over the next years, Kallyn spent much more time alone. She never returned to the stables, making up the excuse that it reminded her too much of her father. Her family accepted this story without argument, and allowed her to have her privacy. Caila often said that Kallyn had changed because of her father’s death, but this was not the case. Kallyn had never told anyone about what happened that night in the stable, not even her trusted brother.
Far from fearing her Shadow-Touched abilities, Kallyn was rather fascinated by them. Her time alone was spent experimenting with her powers: lighting small objects on fire or creating less-than-dazzling electrical charges between her fingers. She always kept her activities secretive, fearing that if her family knew they could be in danger from the then-prominent Church of True Light.
When she turned seventeen, about two months before the Shadow Amnesty Act, Kallyn left her home and journeyed into Fastheld on her own with nothing but a horse and a bag of Imperials. Her riding skills proved useful and she found work as a courier, delivering messages and packages for anyone willing to pay her fee. When she had no work, she often found herself in secluded areas, practicing her skills of evocation. Unfortunately, one of these times she was not as alone as she thought. A week before the Act was passed, Kallyn was forced into hiding by a band of villagers not far from Aegisview (now Freehaven). Fortunately, her powers proved to be useful survival tools: she could start campfires and summon lightning to kill small game. In her mind, the fight to survive became little more than a game -- like hide-and-seek, yet more challenging -- which may have saved her life by using her stubborn nature as a survival skill.
The Shadow Amnesty came not a day too soon for Kallyn, who was severely exhausted and running out of places to hide. She registered her Shadow-Touched status and received the Mark of the Shadow around her right eye, feeling that the steely grey shade of her eyes would add to the symbolism of the tattoo. She quite firmly believed (although even she would be at a loss to explain why) that there was no such thing as someone who is pure light or pure shadow. Everyone had an equal share in both, a sort of greyness, and chose which side to act upon.
Once she had been Marked, Kallyn immediately set out towards the River District, wishing to get a comfortably far distance away from where she had been so close to an early demise. She purchased a new horse (she had been forced to abandon her own when she went into hiding) and continued her courier services, eventually making her way to Wedgecrest in Huntsmoon in the year 627.
--End Chiaroscuro Biography--
Her life was pretty much downhill from there, thanks mostly (if not entirely) to her emotional instability and pride. She made quick enemies of the nobility, including but not limited to Sahna Nillu, Karell Mikin, Ailith Kahar, and (most notably) Varal Mikin. She was arrested in Northreach and had a very brief stay in the constabulary, and right after she was released she was arrested AGAIN to spend a month locked up in the Imperial Dungeons. Despite rumors that the woman was to be executed, she was instead exiled to Crown's Refuge, where she participated in a battle to protect the settlement from an invading Acarit force.
She then adopted a prostitute and her eight sons. They got a house and she started apprenticing them so they could learn legitimate and useful trades. The Refuge was annexed by Fastheld, un-exiling Kallyn after only a month. she promptly fell apart all over again, thanks to some emotional scars triggered by her horse. Yeah. Her HORSE. She started going a bit crazier, going so far as to attempt to kill Varal during what was supposed to be a nonlethal sparring match. After she came to her senses, she fled to go home and sought out help to overcome her new mental issues. Instead, she ended up pulled into a hunt and by the time it was over, she had completely lost her ties to humanity.
At which point she royally pissed off Taran Songbird, tried to kill Meian Firelight, and overall just did everything in her power to hurt everyone she'd held any sort of emotional connection to. Eventually she snapped out of that, thanks to one Nihanin Winterbrook managing to get around her defenses, but it was too late. She was eventually sentenced to Lessening and death. Varal Mikin (I refuse to call him Valoria, it's SAD), Blackfox, Lucius Nepos, Sandrim Oakleaf, Mareten Crashhammer, Nihanin Winterbrook, and Meian Firelight all ran into her in the wilds after she fled, the last of which became her executioner.
The Afterlife: Necromundus
And then she died, of course, and turned up in Necromundus. Like many souls, she forgot most of her life at first. She had scattered fragments of memory and a general idea of what kind of person she had become, but had no idea of who she was or how she came to be that person. She took the name Fire, for the nickname Nihanin had given her, and began to slowly piece her existence back together.
Although she had been a human mage in her lifetime, Fire came to Necromundus wholly changed - as an elf, and more notably as a healer. It took a great deal of time for her to adjust her mindset, to shift away from the thoughts of a destroyer and get used to the idea that she could truly fix things they way they were meant to be fixed. A great deal of time went into the effort, and several notable events helped the woman along.
The shattering of her pride came during a battle in Southfield, against the Sae-Kall threat. <<To Be Continued>>
Logs
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