Name: Vari Masada
Age: 87
Gender: Female
Race: Nem/Vampire
Appearance:
Like all of Nemkind, Vari is small, around 3'5. She is also fit, but not noticeably muscular, and her eyes almost glow with a dim red light.
Personality:
Outwardly Vari is calm, gentle, cheerful, and never lets anybody see her real self. Her true nature is dark and manipulative, but retains her outward desire to help. Even when helping someone means forcing them to make a choice they would rather not, or hurting someone else.
Brief Backstory:
Vari's life was ordinary while she was growing up in her home village. She helped her mother with her chores, played with the other children, and gave her brother a hard time whenever she could. If she had decided to stay there among family, never venturing outside their community, her life would have stayed normal, but as she began to reach adulthood, found her mind wandering among stories of other lands, of green forests and of places where water stretched all the way across the horizon. As she daydreamed, she found herself more and more often resenting her small, secluded life until she couldn't stand it anymore, and instead of seeking her parents' approval to leave, she gathered her supplies in secret and sneaked out of the village on a quiet night.
It was weeks of travel through the desert before she made it to the neighboring kingdom, the mountains looming on the border larger than anything she had seen in her life. Night was falling by the time she reached the foothills, though she was interrupted before she could make camp by a dark figure streaking out of a copse of trees, trapping her in it's iron grip despite her frenzied struggling. It wasn't until she felt the pain of it's fangs on her neck that she could comprehend what was happening, the old stories of monsters in the shape of people rising unbidden in her mind. It was one of the last thoughts that passed through her head as the darkness took her.
When she awoke some time later, she was still lying near the small group of trees, but the moon was high overhead. As she looked around to find her bearings, she was startled and frightened to find that same figure sitting on a rock just ten feet away from her, and a little confused to see she wore a mournful expression. Her attacker was a tall, pretty woman with blonde hair and red eyes, and when she opened her mouth to speak, could see no trace of the fangs that had sunk into her flesh.
"I'm so sorry." the woman said when she knew attention was on her. "I only meant to take a little from you. Only enough to survive, but it's been so long since I last fed, and before I could stop myself, you were already dying." fingers reached up in a flash to touch her neck where she'd been marked, but a wave of dizziness came over her and brought her to the ground. In an instant, the woman was at her side to support her, and while logically she knew she should be afraid, she was surprised only to find calm acceptance meet her former attacker.
"You shouldn't move suddenly for a few hours. The disorientation will pass, once you get used to the change. It was the only way I could save you. I know you won't hate me for what I did, but you should." The woman's words weren't making sense, and the spinning of her head didn't help either. Up close though, it was clear that the woman had been crying at some point.
"I plan to explain everything to you, and let you decide what to do on your own, but first we should find shelter far away from here. Hunters have been on my trail for weeks, and we need to get away from here, in case someone heard us." The woman stood up and gently helped to her feet, scanning the area furtively. "We'll head into the mountains and climb as high as we can before moonset." The woman said, beginning to walk. Vari followed without question, trusting this woman without having any reason to, and while having ample reason to sprint as far away as she could. That, like many other secrets of her kind, was a mystery the woman would tell her about in detail over the coming nights, and over the next year, and even over the next decade as they traveled the world together, and the woman taught Vari to harness the magic of darkness. Eventually the woman became more comfortable with her mistake, but she never quite forgave herself, even after the thrall of her rebirth faded from Vari and the girl still didn't blame her. Even when she set off to find her own path, the woman continued to punish herself for one night's slip.
Eventually, Vari had seen with her own eyes everything she had been told about as a child, and spent as much time in the grand libraries as she did on the road. She soaked up stories and histories, reveling at every bit of knowledge she acquired. With every new page, however, a feeling of emptiness slowly grew in her heart. 'For every name I see in these books,' she thought to herself, 'there are so many more who have been forgotten.' That thought saddened her, and left her acutely aware that her own time in this life wouldn't last forever, immortal or not.
One day, the feeling of dread at being forgotten weighed so heavily on her mind that she could no longer bear to do nothing. She decided that she would have her own name written in the histories of the world. Still, she couldn't afford to be placed in too public a spotlight, lest her true nature become apparent. Slowly, a plan formed in her head, based around the controversy fluttering around in Thaln recently. 'It should be easy enough to find my way in,' She mused as she began to put her plan in motion, 'a few favors called in should be plenty.'
Equipment:
Vari carries little more on her than a dagger. Her clothes are simple, sturdy and cover her well to ward off sunlight.
Skills:
On her own, Vari is supernaturally strong and fast, has excellent coordination and dexterity, and can utilize Breathing While Walking to pass unnoticed. To compliment her physical abilities, she learned darkness magic from her creator.
Shadowstep - A spell that allows Vari to meld into any shadow and move to any connected shadow. This ability works best on the nights of a new moon, since the darkness is nearly all encompassing.
Holdshade - By standing on a person's shadow and casting this spell, Vari can hold that person in place as long as she doesn't step off of it. A person with overwhelming strength can escape on their own.
