Amelia Stalworth
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Height: 4'11"
Weight: 95 lb
AppearanceAmelia has fair skin and smooth black hair down to her hips, her bangs swept to the left. She is slim with an hourglass figure, and is very well-endowed with a sizable rear. She has violet eyes with soft features, her face held with poise.
Amelia's usual dress is a variant on the Pastoria military uniform. She wears a black wool-silk blazer over a white broadcloth dress shirt, and a black silk necktie done up properly around her collar. Her shirt is tucked into a black wool-silk pencil skirt cut at her mid-thigh, sheer pantyhose underneath, and wears black leather pumps with five inch stilettos and matching short gloves. A black leather belt with silver detailing sits at her hips where her longsword hangs off her left hip, and another matching belt from her right shoulder across her body to the left holds her glaive behind her back. Over the rest is a white Pastoria military jacket with silver details and emblazoned with the symbol of the Empire over the left breast, worn like a cape sitting on her shoulders and taken off when drawing her glaive is necessary.
PersonalityAs a stalwart believer in the Pastoria Empire's ideals and growth, Amelia seeks to protect those who cannot protect themselves. She wishes to grant the common folk in the world freedom from worrying about their basic needs, as the Empire did for her family. Offer mercy and charity to those without, and turn a blade to tyrants and those who take without remorse.
She carries herself with grace and confidence, so to present a paragon for the downtrodden. She wants to emulate Edelweiss Thatch as she once was, when she was still Amelia's idol in the service of the Order. As such, she often goes to poorer districts to provide her help, whenever she has time outside the regimen of military training. She will devote herself to the citizens and the country.
Beyond that, Amelia is rather cumbersome in social interactions when she cannot fall back on Empire rhetoric. In such cases she becomes shy and is extremely embarrassed by this reaction. She also has trouble talking about herself and buries away her problems, like her fears she lacks the knowledge and power to truly enact lasting change in the world. She has hangups on her height and utter inability to hold alcohol, the latter in particular preventing her from joining with squad mates in celebrations.
Weapons- Longsword: A standard issue double-edged blade given to Empire soldiers. Sturdier than a normal longsword due to the work of talented Earth Fae blacksmiths, it is a very reliable weapon and needs little maintenance on the wielder's part. Every Empire soldier and Order druid is trained in its use, parrying and sometimes blocking to follow up with a counterattack.
- Glaive: A standard issue single-edged polearm given to Empire soldiers. Its reinforced shaft makes the weapon do a good job at blocking and harrying foes with shoves, and sweep foes off their feet with wide swings. The weapon is balanced perfectly due to the crafting of talented Earth Fae blacksmiths, and can be wielded one-handed by those specializing in the weapon like Amelia. In such a case, one can make full use of the lengthy frame even in close quarters, and can be used in conjunction with an off-hand weapon like a longsword or daggers to create a formidable meld of defense and retaliation.
- Ring of Blades: A slim silver bangle given to Empire soldiers. Due to a rune and glyphs etched onto its surface by an Earth Fae jeweler, its user can conjure up to three small throwing daggers with a word and a flick of the wrist. These daggers can be hurled at foes to distract and create openings, to follow up on openings or as a last-ditch weapon in tight situations, and vanish without a trace after striking. Though normally intended to be a supporting piece of a soldier or druid's arsenal, there are some specialists in using multiple Rings of Blades at once, like the fearsome Order assassin Brando.
Magic ArtesAmelia lacks any talent in manipulating mana, and as a result possesses no Artes unlike most Empire soldiers. To compensate, she has honed her skill in her weapons to a level normally not seen in the average troops, more approaching the weapon masters in the military and the Order through sheer persistence.
BiographyHer parents tell her a lot of the past, when this small island nation of Sarmalis was under the rule of warlords who fought daily for power while trampling over folk like themselves. Amelia doesn't remember all that much of this time, but she does recall when she looked out to the sea that fateful day and saw the shining ships of the Pastoria Empire come over the horizon. Troops armed with brilliant weapons and wielding strange magic stormed the beach, and in less than a week the head of that monster of a man Xanathos was paraded in front of the village. The people cheered and thanked those soldiers and druids, who even further gave the people access to clean drinking water and taught the people Artes for accelerating the growth of crops. Amelia, in that moment when she saw the ships sail back home, thought,
I want to be just like them.Since then, the Empire traded with Sarmalis with merchant boats weekly, and one day a ship arrived asking for people to immigrate to the capital. She begged her parents to go, and after a few whispered worries they set off. And it was truly glorious, that sight. Amelia still remembers that moment when she saw the city bathed in golden dawn, pulling into a port with countless frigates among fishing boats with countless types of fish being hauled in. Water flowed freely, everything was clean, and children laughed and played in the streets under the watchful eyes of soldiers. They had schools where the kids were taught to read and write as the Empire does, and learned about all the things far beyond this land that the Empire will claim for the people. They got to practice how to use the weapons that the soldiers and druids used, and some of the kids who were really good at using mana even got to cast Artes.
As soon as she was old enough, Amelia tried to join the Youth Guard, but was initially declined because all the kids in it are supposed to be very capable of Artes. However, one of the nice druids who organized the camp decided that they would make an exception for a girl as devoted to the Empire as she was. With that, she got to train alongside the rest with some of the most talented soldiers and druids in the capital. One of the druids who came in from time to time was Edelweiss Thatch, and hearing her talks about defending those who can't protect themselves really inspired Amelia. Not that it made Edel's beatdowns from spars any less painful, but they solidified in the young girl's mind who she wanted to strive towards. And so she trained and trained, and despite still not being able to create a measly spark with mana, she graduated with honour for her valiance.
Then the news came one day. The day when she read from the paper that Edelweiss Thatch was a traitor to the Pastoria Empire, a spy for Winmev. She killed dozens of her fellow druids, the very people who protected the Empire from the terrors far in the open sea. Amelia didn't believe it at first, agonized that her idol wouldn't do such a thing, but still that shadow hanged down on her when she joined the military at eighteen. She wanted to join the Order, but even her talent with arms can't ignore that she cannot use Artes. If she was a druid, perhaps she could set out and find for herself what happened. Though, there was some fortune to be had. Years later, news comes of an expedition where the Order would hunt down the traitorous Thatch and prove that such treason cannot be tolerated in their world. The best soldiers among the military would come along as well, to support the Order's druids in capturing one of their most dangerous foes to date. And so she finds herself upon this den of piracy, hopeful for answers but worried about the response...
