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[b]Name:[/b] Laila Arcion  
[b]Age:[/b] 27  
[b]Gender:[/b] Female
[b]Personality:[/b] Quick-witted, clever, and extremely observant of the world and people around her, Laila is well suited to her profession. Give her a few scraps of information and a second or two, even under the rigor of combat, and she can more often than not devise a clever strategy. Give her a few pieces to a complex puzzle and some time to roll it around in her brain, and she can give you the big picture. Laila works in the darkness to protect those that would live in the light, oft times sacrificing her own morality to spare the innocence or lesson the suffering of those she has never even met. She is keenly aware of every death she has directly or inadvertently caused, and sincerely hopes that the good she has done outweighs the bad. She tries to remind herself that she is working for the greater good, especially when she wakes up drenched in cold sweat from the throes of one of her commonly occurring nightmares.

One might think that because of her internal struggle with her conscious that Laila would be less than personable, however this is not the case. Her time in the darkness makes the light and goodness of the world all the more precious to her; it’s what keeps her fighting.  She tries to maintain a pleasant, humorous air about her, if not at times being a bit of a smart-ass. Aside from that, she would never want to burden someone else with her problems anyway. 

[b]Role/Title:[/b] Nightfighter of the Emperor’s Ghosts
	Throughout the entire expanse of the Caradia Empire there exists an information network. Made of people from the lowliest of servants to the most noble of houses, this vast and complicated multi-layered web of informants, spies, and assassins work in tandem to forward the goals of the Emperor and Empress and uproot those that would try to hide their illegal or even treasonous acts and ambitions from their sovereigns. These men and women are called Ghosts and like their namesakes, their very existence is a thing of rumor to the general populous. Indeed, even many of the lower informants are unaware of who they really provide information. A complicated ranking system which determines how much of the network one is privy to allows for minimal asset exposure by captured or turned operatives. The most common rank of those that can truly be called Ghosts on average know only four of five others, all of whom operate within the same city or region, and their main purpose is to keep tabs persons of interest and gather information. But Laila is a Nightfighter. A specialized Ghost trained to not only gather intelligence in more hostile or dangerous situations, but to be able neutralize any threats or targets deemed necessary.

[b]History:[/b] Laila was born to a horse rancher and his wife, on a modest plot of land in the outskirts of a small village; the eldest child of their four daughters. She grew up on the ideals that a strong work ethic and a bit of good weather were all that were necessary to live a happy life. Doing chores and running amok with the pack of village kids occupied most of her childhood, causing all sorts of shenanigans. Always an inquisitive and adventurous girl, the simplistic life that lay before her of marrying a boy from across the tiny village and becoming a farmer’s wife never appealed to her. Watching the odd patrol of the Empire’s soldiers pass through her town as a child probably didn’t help her to bring her head out of the clouds. At the age of fifteen Laila decided that she needed more, and ran away from home with a small bag and her spunky gelding. 

Her destination? The closest military outpost she knew of, about a week ride to the west of her village along a well-worn road. It was uneventful for a first adventure on her own, though she got little rest from jumping at every rustle of leaves in the night and instead of the welcome she expected to receive as someone coming to volunteer to serve in the Imperial Forces, she got laughed at. At fifteen she was a coltish little waif of a thing, all limbs and length and awkwardness and the commander of the post tried to convince her to go back home before she got herself hurt. But a mulish set to her jaw and consistent badgering for an entire day finally got the officer to submit to her wishes.

She began her official training as a soldier a week later and eventually ended up being sent to supplement a small expeditionary force that patrolled the northern quadrant of their outpost’s area of operation. Laila served exceptionally well for the five years she spent as part of that troop, changing from a scraggly teenager to a tall, lithe warrior.  Eventually her keen eyes and sound decision making allowed her to become the sergeant in charge of the group’s small contingent of scouts. She would never know exactly how it was that the Ghosts learned of her, let alone decided that she might be someone worth recruiting, but she remembered the exact moment her life changed drastically for the second time.

A middle aged man, common in both look and speech, approached her outpost one sunny day towards the end of summer. With him he carried a sealed letter from her commander’s commander, ordering the assistance of Laila’s troop in the apprehension of a group of brigands that had been plaguing the one of the main trading routes for some time, though not in the region that her troop was responsible for patrolling.  Hafiden was his name, and at the time he claimed to be a Lieutenant of the Army, though now she knows that was just a cover story. In reality he was a Ghost spymaster, come to her little Podunk fort in hopes of testing and recruiting Laila herself. He must have liked something he had seen throughout the following months in which they worked together, for at the end of the tour he told Laila that she had makings of not only a Ghost, but as one of their elite Nightfighters as well.

It took her a year of intense training to earn the title of Nightfighter. What Hafiden could not teach her himself, he brought in other Ghosts who could. The first order of business was to teach Laila to read, a vital skill for a spy. She was taught the art of sneaking until she could tap the shoulder of the patrolling guards of their training facility without being detected. She learned to fight with and throw daggers, the main weapon of any Nightfighter’s arsenal. Hand-to-hand combat helped her develop a style that allowed the woman to use her speed and leverage to overcome enemies commonly stronger than herself. Locking picking, climbing (and falling, for that matter), speaking different accents, disguises, and many other small things that some may take for granted as important also made it into her training.

After becoming a full-fledged Nightfighter, Laila remained a member of her mentor Hafiden’s circle of Ghosts, and took her orders directly from him. Missions often sent her to the corners of the empire and back again, doing anything from finding evidence of a noble’s corruption so that they could be brought to justice, to rooting out and assassinating the leader of a group of slave traders, or even providing unseen protection to an Caradian ambassador in one of their neighboring countries. She’s had more near deaths than she can remember in her years as a Ghost, and caused too many deaths that she can’t forget. But like Hafiden is always telling her, there is little rest for the wicked, and less for the Ghosts that haunt them in the shadows.

[b]Anything Extra[/b]: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He4YV1uqwfs[/url]