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JAYDE “JAMOR” LAURENT J’YORE
Name: Jayde “Jamor” Laurent J’Yore
Age: 21 years
Race: Laguz
Gender: F
Affiliated Nation: Gallia/Crimea/Family
Class: Cat
Inventory:~ Claws (& Bite?)
~ Beaststone - This allows Jayde to transform into a Cat with some measure of self-control.
~ Vulnerary
~ Anope – A seven-year-old gray stallion, Anope has been trained mostly as a riding horse. Jayde acquired him after one fight with highwaymen, when Anope was abandoned by his rider.
~ Document case –Jayde keeps this case hidden in her pack since it holds a few Dark magic tome pages.
Personality: Having faced suspicion and contempt for much of her life, Jayde has become
cautious in her interactions with most people. This has helped her overcome situations that would have caught and hurt unwary people. She doesn’t immediately trust strangers, some of whom have intended to harm her or her family and friends.
Once past her caution, Jayde is
loyal to those who have proved to be real friends, and she’s especially loyal to trusted family members. She will do just about anything she can to protect her friends and will more likely side with them than with others. As long as she isn’t betrayed, Jayde will stay true to the end.
Unfortunately, Jayde has also come out as
confrontational towards people. When she sees a person as being hostile, suspicious, or unkind, she is more likely to speak out aggressively against that person, or at the very least state her disapproval. Jayde doesn’t always see clearly what someone else is doing or intending, so her hostility is sometimes unmerited.
Background: Jayde was born into the Laurent family, which consisted of an older brother, Haruki; an older sister, Maria; her mother, whose name she’s forgotten and was sometimes abusive; and her father, Dagan, a Fallen Laguz and a Shaman who often traded in questionable or illegal goods. He made sure that Haruki and Maria learned the Old Speech found in the tomes he owned.
When Dagan got hold of a rare Dark magic tome and planned to sell it, Haruki stole it and ran away with Maria and Jayde, who was now six years old. He told them that he’d learned that the would-be buyer was a Druid who apparently got rid of traders and other people once he had no more use for them, to leave behind no trail. Before crossing Gallia’s border, Haruki separated from them, taking the tome so any pursuers would chase him instead of his sisters. It was a couple days later that Maria and Jayde were found by Joram and his father, on Crimea’s side of the border. Maria said they were fleeing an abusive situation, though she didn’t give any details.
A Beorc and a few Cat Laguz men came to the village, searching for the tome thief; Jayde and Maria recognized the Beorc as Terzo Mullane, a man who often worked with their father. Joram’s father didn’t tell them about the Laurent girls, and they left emptyhanded. The next morning, Maria and Jayde talked to Joram’s father about staying and living in the J’Yore home. Maria and Jayde were effectively adopted by Joram’s parents, and Jayde and Joram soon grew as close together as if they had been born into the same family. They both learned to not run on only emotion in different situations, and they enjoyed activities such as hunting or playing hide-and-seek. Despite a few villagers who still despised Laguz, the J’Yore family continued taking care of the Laurent girls.
By the time she turned 17 years old, Jayde had learned the basics of fighting as a Cat and as much Old Speech as her sister remembered, just in case it was useful in the future. One morning, a mercenary Sword Knight rode into town, warning the villagers of bandits who were approaching the village. After the Knight left to rejoin his mercenary band, who were also approaching, Jayde and Maria were able to get with other villagers for defense while women and children gathered in the village hall. Then the bandits appeared, led by Mullane, and demanded that any Laguz in town be handed over, or they’d destroy the village.
When the village chief refused, the fighting began, and Jayde and the other defenders were pushed back toward the village hall. The Sokolov Mercenaries appeared shortly, routing the bandits and driving them away. Among those who died were the village chief and Jayde’s sister, Maria. Some of the villagers began blaming the J’Yore family and Jayde for that day’s destruction, and Mullane had threatened to return for Jayde. After some arguing, the mercenaries’ leader, a Hawk Laguz called Eberhard Sokolov, agreed to take Jayde and Joram (whose life had been saved) as recruits to replace a couple mercenaries who’d also died.
Three years later, the Sokolov Mercenaries took on a job to investigate a ruined fort in Begnion, thought to be the hiding place of some troublesome bandits. During this investigation, Jayde and Joram found a cellar with a locked door. Despite their doubts, they were curious, especially Jayde, and tried to open it. When they broke it open, a spell-trap knocked them unconscious. They woke up later when Eberhard found them; the bandits had (unsuccessfully) ambushed the mercenaries while Jayde and Joram were in the cellar. They now had tattoos branded on their right shoulders – the emblem of Daein. Since this could draw unwelcome attention, they decided to keep the tattoos hidden from view. They also discovered that Jayde couldn’t transform into a Cat most of the time, and when she could, she'd lose a lot of control over her actions and forget who was on whose side. Jayde was devastated that she could no longer control her transformations, and she initially avoided trying to become a Cat.
A few days later, Eberhard took Jayde and Joram to meet a Druid named Karam Ek, whom they told about the spell-trap and Jayde’s curse. After an examination, Karam stated that he didn’t know of a cure in Tellius, but he suspected that one could be found in Hatari, if they were willing to take the journey across the Desert of Death. Since such a journey seemed more likely to end in death, Jayde and Joram decided they’d rather return home while Karam researched possible counter-curses. As a partial fix, Karam gave Jayde a Beaststone, which allowed her to transform more easily and regain some of her self-control. After this, she decided to practice transforming again from time to time, to see if she could regain the rest of her control in due time.
In a private conversation, Karam told Jayde that her brother, Haruki, had come to him years before, asking for help with hiding the tome he’d stolen. Karam had kept the tome, but apparently, Haruki had torn out a few pages and given them to Maria, who was supposed to give them to Jayde if she couldn’t hold onto them anymore. Since Jayde knew nothing about these pages, she decided to look for them once she was back in Joram’s hometown.
When they returned to their village in Crimea, Jayde and Joram discovered that the new village chief was one of the villagers who’d opposed harboring any Laguz, and Joram’s parents had died of disease one year prior. The chief allowed them to stay for one night only, to rest from their journey. During that night, Jayde did a bit of investigating and ended up locating and stealing the tome’s pages from the village chief’s right-hand man. Jayde and Joram quickly left and returned to the Sokolov Mercenaries, escaping the village chief and the bandits who’d showed up to take the J’Yore’s.
Unfortunately, the Mercenaries were attacked by more bandits a few days later. After repelling them, it seemed clear to all that Jayde and Joram weren’t safe anywhere in Tellius. With no other home to go to, and with Sokolov’s protection, the J’Yore’s began their search for a feasible way to travel to Hatari, leading them months later to a small outpost called Palmyre. Unfortunately, they haven’t realized the full impact of the spell-trap and Jayde’s curse…
