[COLOR=dimgray][CENTER][sup][h1][center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/7YFFqpJZ/Banner-Art.png[/img][/center][b][center][color=black] S T E R N W Y S S[/color]
[color=#399cf2]S T E R N W Y S S[/color][/center]
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[color=silver][sup][b]“Dearest Mother, weep not for your wayward daughter. Though I am cast out from the shadow of the Great Tree, I will not hang my head in sorrow or in shame.”

“Please watch over me for a while longer yet. I shall bring honor to the name you gave me, and to the name you left behind. I swear it.”[/b][/sup][/color][/CENTER][table][row][/row][row][cell][center][sub][sup][sub][h3][b][color=black] C H A R A C T E R   P O R T R A I T[/color]
[color=#399cf2]C H A R A C T E R   P O R T R A I T[/color] [/b][/h3][/sub][/sup][/sub][sup]_________________________________________________________[/sup][img]https://i.postimg.cc/KjXWmT4s/10.png[/img]
[/center][indent][sub][sup][sub][h3][b][color=black] C H A R A C T E R   S U M M A R Y[/color]
[color=#399cf2]C H A R A C T E R   S U M M A R Y[/color][/b][/h3][/sub][/sup][/sub][/INDENT][sup]_________________________________________________________[/sup]
[COLOR=silver][INDENT][sub][color=#399cf2][b]Sternwyss Adalyrwyn[/b][/color] is a representative sent from the Near Woods of the Viridian Sea. Recommended and sponsored by one of the Elder Druids, to whom she was formerly both ward and student, her mission is nominally to serve alongside the Wardens, and in so doing, to show goodwill and foster cooperation between the peoples of the Grand City and the peoples of the [i]Unedig-Dynion[/i]. Yet, the curious fact that she alone has arrived to take on this duty suggests that perhaps her role as an emissary is instead meant as a gentle form of exile...

[color=#399cf2][b]Age:[/b][/color] 18
[color=#399cf2][b]Race:[/b][/color] Elf
[color=#399cf2][b]Nationality:[/b][/color] Clanfolk
[color=#399cf2][b]Weapon of Choice:[/b][/color] Sternwyss' favored armament is a curious magic tool of Elven make -- a Manablade, comprised of a cluster of arcane crystals bound together by and infused with the sap of the World Tree. Rather than a weapon, its primary role is as both amplifier and medium for her Spirit Invocation technique, drawing in the elements of the world around her, condensing, and channeling them according to her will. The most obvious application is bending light and air into the shape and function of a blade, which the young elf can wield with at least a modest degree of proficiency. However, it is hardly bound to this form, and can be transfigured into a variety of shapes to suit its wielder's current need.
[color=#399cf2][b]Elemental Affinity:[/b][/color] Unaspected
[color=#399cf2][b]Spiritual Affinity:[/b][/color] Dark[/sub]
[/INDENT][/color][/cell][cell][INDENT][sub][sup][sub][h3][b][color=black] C H A R A C T E R   B I O G R A P H Y[/color]
[color=#399cf2]C H A R A C T E R   B I O G R A P H Y[/color][/b][/h3][/sub][/sup][/sub][/INDENT][sup]________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup]
[COLOR=silver][indent]Among the Elves, there are few things that hold higher value than one's own kin. The great clans that traverse the Viridian Sea are each bound together by ties of loyalty, ties of honor, and ties of blood -- ties so deeply ingrained into their culture as to be nigh-unbreakable. Families consist not simply of parent of child, but of countless aunts, uncles, cousins, grandsires, and great grandsires, comprising countless vast and meticulously recorded family trees, as numerous as the trees of the greatwood they call home.

Into such a culture, Sternwyss was cast adrift at a young age. Born to a mother of ailing health and ill repute, whose other children had all perished in the womb, she entered the world not long after her father had already abandoned her mother and returned to his own clan. She never beheld his face, and, to her knowledge, he never even learned her name. And when her mother Adalyr perished when she was only nine years old, Sternwyss thus was left in the peculiar situation of having absolutely no living relatives. Or at least, if they existed, there were none who would claim her.

So it was that she came into the care of her tribe's Druid, Ailín, a stern but wise teacher who offered solace to the grieving orphan of the ill-liked and ill-fated Adalyr, despite protests from the clan elders. He taught the young Sternwyss to honor the trees of the wood, taught her how to find her way even beneath its thickest branches, where the starlight for which she was named could never reach. He taught her the stories of the Dynion's exodus, and of the world of men which they had left behind. And, when one day, she too felt the breath of the forest on the wind, felt its pulsing lifeblood in the roots beneath her feet... Ailín taught her how to become one with the world, and to make the world one with herself.

Ascending from a pariah to a prodigy, Sternwyss became the youngest and most accomplished of Ailín's apprentices, demonstrating a remarkable aptitude for Spirit Invocation within just a few short years of first awakening. She accompanied her master everywhere, walking with him in his rounds of the forest and even accompanying him to meet with delegations from the menfolk who lived beyond the woods. He instructed her in the arts of trade and negotiation... though she took to this pursuit with a great deal less enthusiasm than her study of magic.

These "Humans" were truly reprehensible beings. It was not simply their loud mouths and overly familiar attitudes -- it was that they were entirely too ready to put on a charming face to cover up their ugly thoughts. Although she had few friends among her own people, at least her fellow Elves did not bother to mask their disdain, but expressed it openly. Not so with humans, who would smile and laugh and jest and flatter until they thought they were out of earshot, then just as quickly deride their hosts as primitive fools stuck in their ancient ways. But they had steel and the Elves did not -- and so, to procure the tools that were necessary to maintain their way of life, trade was essential.

Sternwyss did not understand why Ailín bothered teaching her such things. But she soon learned of his intentions when talks arose of sending a delegate to the Menfolk. Trade was growing difficult, as those merchants upon whom they had once relied turned their ventures to seeking greater profits elsewhere. What was more, there had been dark tidings of late -- matters of black magic of which the Druids felt it prudent to be wary.

In ancient days, one of their number had walked alongside the hero. Now, it seemed, a deal had been struck without her knowing -- one that would, now that she had come of age, require her to do the same. After all, who could be better suited for such a task than one with her unique qualifications?

It was a joke. A scandal. A mockery. A farce. Ailín could call it an honor or an opportunity as much as he liked, but the fact of the matter was plain for her to see. Though she was clad in the ceremonial arms and armor of her ancient kindred from the days when the Elves and Menfolk had waged war together against a common foe, though she was supposedly honored as an emissary of not only her tribe, but the whole of the Dynion...

She was being cast out.[/INDENT][/COLOR]
[INDENT][sub][sup][sub][h3][b][color=black] C H A R A C T E R I Z A T I O N[/color]
[color=#399cf2]C H A R A C T E R I Z A T I O N[/color][/b][/h3][/sub][/sup][/sub][/INDENT][sup]________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup]
[COLOR=silver][INDENT]Arrogant [color=#399cf2]⬗[/color] Eloquent [color=#399cf2]⬗[/color] Guarded [color=#399cf2]⬗[/color] Honest [color=#399cf2]⬗[/color] Perfectionist [color=#399cf2]⬗[/color] 
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[INDENT][sub][sup][sub][h3][b][color=black] A B I L I T I E S[/color]
[color=#399cf2]A B I L I T I E S[/color][/b][/h3][/sub][/sup][/sub][/INDENT][sup]________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup]
[COLOR=silver][INDENT]Though she wields a sword, Sternwyss does so with no particular skill, having been trained more in performative arts such as sword dances and traditional [i]kata[/i] than in preparation for real combat. Likewise, the armor she wears is more or less purely ceremonial in its design, offering little in the way of actual protection.

But this is not to say that the arms she bears are useless. Set with countless arcane crystals crafted with an ancient Elven technique, her jeweled armor and glimmering Manablade serve as conduits for her own elementally inert lifeforce, and the power she holds therein.

Human Magic is the outward expression of internal spirit, in a form and substance that reflects the balance of the user's own soul. Elven Spirit Invocation, on the other hand, infuses internal spirit into any pre-existing form and substance with which the user makes contact. Harnessing the air itself, she shapes earthen dust, pressurized air and water, and ambient heat into a blade of lambent light. Manipulating its form, she can extend and contract that blade, causing it to strike like a javelin or even coil like a serpent mid-swing. Likewise, the air itself conveys her person, allowing her to dart across the battlefield with uncanny swiftness thanks to the mana-storing crystals adorning her ceremonial armor. In areas close to nature, she's even capable of manipulating the terrain itself, splitting the earth, harnessing the winds, loosing the tides, or sprouting roots and vines to assail her opponents from all quarters -- more than making up for her lack of physical experience with a mix of latent cunning, prodigious talent, and arcane ingenuity.

However, utilizing this technique comes with extreme difficulty, as the user must carefully control their breathing and enter an almost meditative state, taking in free-flowing mana from the world around them to replenish that which they expend from their own vital force. If unable to commune with her surroundings in this way, overuse of her techniques can tax her body well beyond its limits, causing fatigue or internal injuries due to the strain placed upon her soul. As such, both to keep her trump cards hidden from prying human eyes, and for her own safety, she keeps the broader applications of her techniques a closely-guarded secret, relying on them only when she has no other choice.[/INDENT][/COLOR][/cell][/row][/table][hr][/COLOR]