Very interesting, not at all what I expected when you said a two-spirit character, but not in a bad way. The name sounds vaguely hawaiian to me, but thats just my ignorance. Anyway, all in all, a very interesting character. I like them.

So the first thing that I noticed was 'healing salves on soft arrowheads.' So... does the salve in the arrow treat whatever it pierces...? Because soft arrowhead or not, if that's fired from a bow, chances are its breaking skin. Otherwise, a 'healing arrow' is a bit too fantastical for this fantasy. Also, I don't quite understand her background, has she spent her entire life in the New World? How did everyone she knows and love not die from the sudden appearance of evil monsters tearing through the continent? Thea to me looks like a very Final Fantasy type character, but the feel we're going for here is more of a Darkest Dungeon type character

Overall its a pretty nice character, some parts of his background are played a bit too much- for the one thing, if he's such a good thief, why do so many people know about him in taverns and shops? You'd think that'd be kept on the low or unknown. His personality sounds as though he's a reformed criminal making up for his ways, but his background states he committed murder and was thrown in jail just prior to the start of the story. Also, a guard too squeamish to kill someone, but also having the resources to forge conscription papers and smuggle a man onto a boat is to his maybe/probably death on another continent is pretty far fetched, but I guess its a means to an end. Also, the nickname/alias is always a bit much, but to each their own. Also, is there any reason why Roland has nightvision? Because the natural magic in his veins had no mention prior to the explanation to how his nightvision works, and if the main reason for having it is 'because his eyes in the picture are a glowing blue', that might have to be reworked.

Another mage, another hybrid class, Harker is very much a soldier after my own heart. You always do know how to write things I like you sly fucker. Though I will have to say, having him survive the past decade of fighting seems a bit much. Perhaps he took a year or few to undergo basic and advanced military training- so he wouldn't be cut down after an unlucky encounter. Likewise, his magical prowess alongside his martial prowess is a bit too powerful, so I'm going to trust your discretion to not overdo it.

A lot of this is down to not explaining myself well. He isn’t a known figure amongst the peasantry and normal merchants of Holden, but rather amongst the criminal brotherhood of the city. I imagined them swapping stories about one another’s exploits in the darkened corners of dingy pubs, each trying to outdo the other with their daring and exploits. The ones who could actually back up this boasting with action would start to make a name for themselves.

He’s not a reformed criminal, he’s a conflicted one. He doesn’t do the wrong things in life because he’s a bad guy with a complete lack of conscience, he does them because he sees them as the only recourse in the dark world he lives in. His mother was the best person he ever knew, and she died an undignified death. On the other hand Theron Kingmaker has spent a lifetime as a criminal, and now he’s arguably the most powerful man in the city of Holden. Roland’s witnessed good people be punished and the bad rewarded. He’d like to be a better man, and honour the lessons his mother strove to taught him, but he’s never been shown much reason to be good for goods on sake, and is frankly a little afraid of the personal consequences if he ever was.

The nickname was a placeholder from when I originally envisioned the character and began the CS. To be honest it doesn’t suit the man who has come out of the other end of the process. I’ll remove it.

Yeah, the guard captain was perhaps a push, but there are a few justifications I had in mind. Firstly, just because a man is corrupt doesn’t mean he’s a murderer, or is even capable of murder. I figured he was given the job but proved to squeamish to do the job himself, and didn’t like the thought of giving the task to someone else in case word got back to Losthill that he’d proved incapable, and potentially be replaced in his position as ‘the inside man’ at the prison. As it’s a dark fantasy setting I imagined it was a crapsack world, and that the resources required to forge papers for a conscript would be relatively low, thanks to a combination of inept bureaucracy, general disinterest in the individual situations of the conscripts themselves, and a high need for ever increasing numbers of ‘demon fodder’ in the New World. If I’m wrong about the world state let me now and I can change it. Like you said, it’s a means to an end, but it’s not the only one I envisioned.

I left it out of the backstory as I was trying to present the idea that it’s a gift that he has been taking for granted. As a boy, he thought it was something everyone else was capable of, and as an adult he’s been using it for so long that it’s become intrinsically part of him. He can’t imagine life without it because he’s never even tried. Conversely though he’s never investigated into why he has this ability, never thought to approach a mage or scientist to help him find a reason to explain this strange phenomenon. I was partially trying to avert the whole “woe is me, why do I have these fantastic powers that make me different from everyone else” mindset, and thought it would be refreshing to see someone who just accepted his abilities as something that life has given him. He doesn’t think he’s cursed in this regard, nor does he think he’s gifted. He just is.

Sorry for the lack of clarity, I'm not particularly fond of, nor good at CS's. I never present the information I have in my head concisely. I prefer to ease things like personality and history out over the duration of an RP, as the fluidity of that approach suits me better.

Appearance:



Name: Thea'kel Heartwood, or Thea for short.
Age: 34
Race: Elf
Profession: Priest

Personality:

Thea doesn't consider herself a priest in the strictest sense of the word. She was never particularly interested in meditating over religious texts or sermons. Their words are delivered through mortal lips and hands, and as such Thea sees them as fallible. Her overarching motivation can be easily summed up as "as long as you can live with your conscience, go right ahead".

Witty, sarcastic, and at times downright stubborn, her approach to learning is to simply question others incessantly and challenging ideas. It is no small source of annoyance for those around her, though she also has a kind heart. She brings food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, and often will go out of her way to help those in need. She has a particularly soft spot for children and treats them almost as if they were her own.

Her general approach to people, however, tends to be reserved and cautious. In her words, she "loves the populace but not its people". Having seen how the worst and least of society are treated, she is understandably cynical about individuals' and their motivations, even if she has love for society at large.

Backstory:

The Heartwood clan while technically belonging to the priesthood and clergy, do not actually serve as priests or priestesses. They all serve either as smiths or fighters in the elven priesthood's military wing or among the hunters where no formal clergy exists in the village.

Thea was raised and trained in the arts of the Heartwood clan, and took to it quickly. While her talents lay largely in crafting, she enjoyed the outdoors and her excursions to gather materials with the hunters. Given her personality, it occasionally meant she strayed off course for days to help the odd merchant caravan navigate the forest safely.

The elves had a friendly relationship with the nearby towns, so once she was old enough, Thea began her forays into the settlements and trading their wares there. Eventually she got to know the elves that had chosen to live among the other races, and took it upon herself to settle in around orphanage. She contributed where she could, and when she wasn't helping to mend the place or feed the orphans, she frequented the red light district to help the whores there (and occasionally bring one or two home with her).

When the monsters sprang up and tore through the continent, Thea was first to on the front lines in assisting her defense. It mattered little, however, as the citizens were picked off by the dozens with each attack, and soon all they could do was escort the survivors to safety, when word of the expeditionary force arrived.

Only two children survived the trip to the shores where the expedition's ships docked, hanging on to Thea. None of her elven kin survived, or so she heard. She immediately volunteered even before the recruiters asked, in the hopes of one day reclaiming her home and avenging her lost friends and family.

Skills and Abilities:

Divine Magic - Nature's Bounty

The Heartwood clan is blessed by the goddess of nature, Ethandril, with the ability to work their magic into natural materials. As smiths, they are able to craft weapons from tree bark and shape it as if it were fluid, making just as hard as steel or drawing various effects out of it. Leather and other materials like spider-silk can also be easily blessed with their enchantments and divine power, providing magical protection. Healing herbs and poisonous berries also become a lot more potent and allow them to treat various wounds and ailments.

Thea is an extremely proficient archer, able to put an arrow through a rabbit's eyes at 100 yards, albeit helped greatly by her elven sight.

While no veteran fighter, she is able to hold her own in melee combat. To her, it is of utmost importance that a smith know how to use their wares, even if she mostly uses her fighting knives to fletch her arrows.

She also has pretty good knowledge of herbalism and poisons from plants. While she might grind them into paste for salves and ointments or make teas, she lacks the experience to make elixirs and more complicated medicines from them.

While naturally agile and able to climb trees with ease, Thea has no parkour skills to speak of and scaling walls without a hook and rope prove difficult without plenty of places to find purchase. In the forest, however, only other elves will be able to keep up with her as she moves through the terrain.

Thea's most notable skill is undoubtedly her craftsmanship. While not much good at making things out of ore and metal ingots, she knows how to do maintain metal weapons and repair them. Anything made from leather and wood, however, she pretty much work as if it were clay.

Equipment:



Thea's very first masterpiece of a bow, she uses it out of sentiment. Its runic enchantments imbue any arrow she fires with divine magic, a useful weapon against the monsters. She also carries a quiver filled with special arrows of different enchanted woods and effects, such as shatter and fragmenting on impact.

While many think them obsolete, the elves prefer them as they do not make as much noise as their ethergun and musket counterparts, and allows them to avoid drawing more monsters within earshot.



Heartwood Amulet - A wooden amulet made from Ethandra bark, a tree named after the nature goddess herself, pressing it against a tree will allow a Heartwood elf to pull bark, wood and sap from it harmlessly and limitlessly, as long as they have the magical energy to spare.



A pair of fighting knives made from Ironbark - a type of wood that carries its namesake metal within it.



Leather armor - Thea hasn't quite mastered enchanting armors beyond basic protection spells, and thus her leather armor only provides the benefit of keeping her comfortable.

Over her leather armor she wears a spider-silk cloak. Its color changes according to her surroundings to help her blend in and camouflage herself in foliage, but it doesn't pattern itself so anyone with a sharp eye will still spot her if they look hard enough.

On her waist is a utility belt with various pouches, carrying various herbs, berries and vials of tree sap that allow her to do her job as a healer and archer.