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| PERSONALITY |

Lein is possibly the furthest you can get from the stereotype of the honourable Hundi. He's sarcastic, disquiet and arrogant, holding no true reverence to no creed nor code and an open displeasure at notions of romantic chivalry. Although he knows when to shut up and sit still when it counts, there's always an undercurrent of wild mischievousness to much of what he does. As soon as Lein's superiors look the other direction, he's always looking for ways to tug the end of his chain, make a quick pocket of coins and slack off when he can't do either.

Despite this usual mischief, Lein does have a strong sense of kinship, however, and though in rather unconventional, round-about ways, Lein always strives to return a favour when he is granted one. He's likely to deflect with a cynical remark when pressed about his loyal side.

In a rather odd turn, he has a strange obsession about always having enough food to eat, even willing to carry more than his fair share of cargo if it means they are well-supplied.

| BACKSTORY |

Of the many banners that adorned the Hundi castles, the blue and gold banner of House Estouls was once counted as among the greatest. Following a strict code of traditionalism and ceremony, those who held its crest were seen as exceptional combatants that frequently 'conquered' smaller Houses through duel-marriage pacts. But this was a long time ago, and decades of political sabotage, mismanagement and inflexibility led to the pitiful decline of the Estouls name.

Lenivicus ves Estouls was the youngest of the House, but for his exceptional talents in marksmanship, was regarded as the future of the House. So it was impressed upon him the value of holding honor above all else, and the weight of his life would be measured in the laurels of the Estouls banner. But as his many siblings were 'conquered' by other Houses one by one, Lenivicus also taught himself the price of that honor, slowly eating away at his family.

And so Lenivicus developed different ideas. He spent much of his nights looking up at the skies and dreaming of claiming dominion over the stars that had thus far been so maligned for his family. His aloofness conflicted with his family's priorities of preservation and tradition, and no amount of cajoling or berating could stop Lein from sneaking out from his training grounds to watch the stars. Ceremonies often devolved to arguments between Lein and the few remaining House members over the point of all the empty seats at the table. When Lenivicus was denied his Rite of Passage and was ordered to remain within the House grounds to train, Lenivicus was outraged at this display of hypocrisy from the 'traditionalist' Estouls. He renounced his House and stormed off in a Rite of his own declaration.

In the next couple of years, 'Lein' made his way through the world, eventually resorting to thievery with the occasional piracy. At this point, Lein's retelling of his next couple of years before he was impressed into the Roses become... messy. On some days, he regales locals about how he fought bears for a living, others he describes in flush detail how he took up work as the bodyguard of a mysterious elven lord. None of these tales explain how he lost his right arm, nor where he even got the prosthetic to replace said arm. Some way or another, he showed up in front of the Knights' keep one day and asked to be taken in, claiming he "lost a bet". After showing off his marksmanship skills, he was inducted into the Knights (though some might say suspiciously too hastily).

Ever since, Lein had become quite good at performative brinkmanship; lax just enough to annoy his superiors but never enough to be kicked off.

| EQUIPMENT |

Enchanted scarf: An enchanted scarf with a series of bells attached to the end of it. Given to Lein as per tribal custom, it has natural cleansing wards that filters any air passed through it. The bells chime at the presence of significant wind in a distinct pattern attributable for each scarf.

Fancy tail brush: For the sophisticated and vain.

Worn Estouls crest: Lein keeps this hidden away, even if he's always tempted to throw it away.

Ironripping shortbow: A reflex bow with high tensile strength, designed for fast knocking and incredible penetrative power at short ranges. Operated with a thumb ring, it can either be loaded with regular arrows or steel darts to further enhance its short-range potential.

Advanced steel arm prosthetic: An astoundingly intricate invention of artificery. Composed of carefully shaped iron and encased in enchanted steel, it is quite durable and only slightly heavier than a regular arm, whilst its rope operated ivory fingers allow for accurate dexterity. It seems far too expensive for some common rogue to get their hands on, but any sign of its maker has been long since scratched off. Hidden compartments contain a few spare steel darts and a small blade.

| SKILLS |

Having been raised as an heir to the Estouls, Lein's not too bad at the standard knightly affairs, being familiar with the ins and outs of horse riding and courtly manners (though it's been quite the while since he's bothered), as well as some familiarity with swords and shields. If someone were to force him to act the part, he probably could.

Lein's marksmanship make quite clear why he was laden with so much expectation from his House; he can knock and fire arrows at a frightening pace, pelting his enemies while maintaining a taunting distance with alacritous dodges. Though his accuracy falls off quickly outside of optimal ranges, Lein's adaptability in grabbing whatever weapons he can improvise with helps mitigate his weaknesses in most bar brawls.

During his wandering days, Lein also picked up some odd connections and skills here and there - though none of these he makes apparent right up until he takes advantage of them. As a regular bar patron at the local haunt the Lonely Frame, Lein's quite good at dice games, especially cheating at them.

| TALES |

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| PERSONALITY |

The outline of Adalia’s personality can be summed up in a single word: anxiety. At any given time her mind is nearly overloaded with a huge amount of questions, parentheticals and doubts. She is indecisive, clumsy and will always try to defer any judgment calls she makes to another authority figure she trusts, although given her shyness the number of those who Adalia considers as trustworthy is astoundingly limited. Overall, she is bright and can think quickly when the situation calls for initiative, but often gets entirely bogged down by her own thoughts unless someone is there to direct her out.

Underneath all that chaos, there is a strong throughline of determination, and she can have bursts of motivation and passion when she believes strongly in something. That is, she can overcorrect for her indecisiveness with recklessness and hot-headed directness.

| BACKSTORY |

Adalia was always a quiet girl, and she was perfectly happy to keep things quiet. She was a diligent and patient student, honing her craft from a young age and showing a bright future to join the ranks of the Crusade and becoming the pride of her little village. When she was eighteen she was sent off from her secluded village in the heartlands of Favonia in a grand tradition to bring back a relic worthy of the Church. The departure ceremony was grand, tearful and hopeful at the undoubtably bright future ahead of her. She remembers setting off with a heavy heart but wand at the ready and...

And that's all she remembers before waking up somewhere different -within a cottage-like library near howling, water-shriven cliffs. All she had on her were well-worn garbs of an official apprentice, sitting among a large collection of various arcane tomes that were collected from across the globe. Her questions with passing travelers were met with confusion, as she and a hooded figure taller than her had been living together in the cabin for a long time. Several years - no, several decades in her memory had simply vanished from existence. She had somehow been transported to a world far removed from her own, a familiar land shaped by forces yet entirely foreign to her.

Her only comprehensible clue to her past was an old journal laid clean amongst the altar of the library, presenting itself as the key to all her questions. Her journal. It was written in her handwriting, with her signature, frenetic dance of pictures and diagrams scrawled all over the pages and ink bleeding through each page like a festering wound. Only, she could not only decipher the frenzied writing style, but the entirety of the journal was buried under ciphers and ciphers, and in a language that she could not understand. Somehow, this other side of herself lost to memory had written instructions to a whole host of mad and monstrous rituals that her sane self could not understand.

It took some time before Adalia could gather herself, orient to her surroundings, and set off out of the cabin. For all her fears and tribulations, she knew one thing - get to a library and try to unearth what had happened to her, whatever the cost.

| EQUIPMENT |

Enigmatic Journal:
A journal Adalia found beside her when she awoke in the seaside cabin. Its contents are as unknowable as they are kaleidoscopic, formatted in strange and archaic languages. Despite this, Adalia can sense an intense power trapped underneath all its writings, and she can invoke fragments of it through enunciating its contents. Perhaps if she were to find some kind of library or linguist she'll be able to find out what happened eventually...
It is seemingly indestructible through any conventional means, and it always returns to Adalia whenever she loses it, even if she tries to get rid of it intentionally. When someone with the intent to harm attempts to approach Adalia, it will suddenly open up to a random page in an attempt to get Adalia to read it. It can be described as ‘generally cursed’ and gives off ‘bad vibes’, but is otherwise an ordinary looking book filled with scribblings of an insane madman.

| SKILLS |

Tracelight:
Adalia can summon a small controllable orb of blue light that illuminates the surroundings. This light gives off special luminosity that dispels any arcane sources of blindness or invisibility and highlights a holographic recording of the surroundings several hours in the past, much like a security camera. This orb can track some distance away from Adalia before it must be returned to Adalia.

Hardlight:
Adalia can summon basic objects summoned out of 'hardened light' that can be employed for various purposes. Hardlight summoned by Adalia will most closely resemble the durability of steel but brittle enough to shatter. It has no amount of 'weight' to it, and is translucent blue in all forms. Once created, it must be maintained with a proportionate amount of concentration and energy usage, otherwise it dissipates without a trace. Adalia has not mastered control over it yet and can make very crude geometric objects out of it, like a perfectly circular buckler or an uncomfortably square helmet. It is usually why Adalia mostly uses this type of magic for temporary step stools rather than more practical uses.

Wildlight:
A panic response whenever things go poorly, and something that Adalia avoids whenever possible. She picks out an unknown spell from her book and casts it at full strength. Her innate affinity with light magic will translate whatever magic that is cast into a frenzied torrent of light in front of her, scorching and blinding any creatures in a wide radius. However, side effects may vary greatly depending on the spell cast, ranging from a simple overload of Adalia's energy to summoning of nearby spirits or transmutation of nearby materials.

| TALES |