Name:Veteria ‘Veta’ Venenum
(“Veta the Valorous”)
(“The Whore-Knight of Chorrol”)
Birthsign:The Serpent
Race:Imperial (with Breton grandparents)
Appearance:Tall for a woman, but not extraordinarily so, Veta was never quite the effeminate maiden her mother wanted her to be. She possesses strong facial features, yet remains attractive to most men should they not be intimidated by her sturdy build and piercing glare. She wears her dark, straight hair shoulder-length, and ties it in a messy bun should the need arise to equip her helmet; “truly damned are the men who do not see Veta’s hair touch her armour”. Her jawline could cut through bone, while her deep green eyes can and does cut through souls, should they scowl at anyone who irks her. Veta’s nose has been slightly imperfected thanks to a couple of breaks during training and skirmishes, slightly crooked in the bridge, yet this gives her face character and an unspoken story. While most do not witness it, she carries a stab wound just above her right hip, inflicted by an assassin who had targeted her liege. The attacker did not survive the encounter gladly.
When not in her armour, Veta dresses fairly conservatively and dons masculine clothing with little embroidery or bling. However, she is not against wearing dresses should the occasion call for it; after all, even knights need to scrub up well from time to time.
Background:Born in a shepherding hamlet just outside of Chorrol, Veta vividly remembers seeing the Count and their band of Knights riding through Chorrol when she visited the city for supplies with her mother and father, and how fascinated she was by the shining armour and the aura of chivalry and honour they emitted. She knew from then that she was not destined to a life of sheep and wool-weaving. She trained hard each day whenever she could, beating up the local boys easily once she practiced for long enough and hard enough until she had exhausted her potential within her home setting.
After begging for her parents’ permission, they reluctantly but proudly allowed their daughter to become a squire in service to a Knight of Chorrol, a man called Percius the Bard. While unorthodox, Veta managed to secure her position due to a combination of her diligent personality, her skills and potential as a fighter and a word from her father who had the good graces of the Chorrol court from his days as an adventurer.
Veta grew up to become a fiercely competent woman-knight, growing up alongside the future Count and becoming a well-respected figure in the court and the city, feared for her ferocious abilities as a hand-to-hand fighter. She eventually surpassed all of her peers to become personal bodyguard to the Count, and the court of course noticed their close, and some would say intimate, relationship, which was the subject of much intrigue during times of peace. She dealt with local banditry and wildlife problems with professional efficiency, and helped the City Guard maintain law and order within the walls of Chorrol.
These happy years were cut short with the sudden death of her liege, by assassination via poison. She can remember the panic and awe of dread as the Count choked and vomited blood after consuming his third glass of wine, and the shock and horror of the Count’s face as he died slowly and painfully. Suspects were drawn quickly, with Vera becoming the prime target for the townfolk’s rage and the court's scapegoat; some thought she committed the heinous crime, others were convinced of her part in it, most saw her failure to protect the Count as unacceptable. Her old mentor Percius, now retired, saw fit to help Veta escape in the night as her guilt became increasingly concrete in the eyes of the city. Veta looked back at Chorrol for the last time in tears as her horse cantered into the Great Forest.
The experience somewhat broke Veta’s once-cherished sense of chivalry and honour. She had more than fulfilled her duty, serving her lord faithfully and competently for years. And yet the town and her ‘friends’ in the court turned on her in an instant. Word had spread across the realm of her apparent guilt, and while she was not a wanted woman in the eyes of Imperial Law, no lord would have her services. After all, who would want a knight suspected to seduce and then poison her liege?
With little other option, and with cynicism corrupting the outlook of this once-decorated knight, Veta began working as a thug- and assassin-for-hire, putting her skills of swordsmanship and unarmed fighting to use, combined with her imposing presence. Veta would often meet her targets on the road while they were travelling, challenging and slaying any escorts in her way. Poison achieved what upfront duels could not, and in an ironic twist of fate, Veta had become what her accusers back in Chorrol claimed her to be – a corrupted knight who utilised poison for murder.
Personality:Despite her recent experiences, Veta does maintain a sense of duty and honour in her everyday life, remaining courteous and chivalrous to most she comes across, but without the pretence of friendliness or gregariousness. She was never much of a talker, but is polite enough to return conversation should it find her and is pleasant enough socially. However, she possesses a fiery temper that, when ignited, is difficult to quell. Some said that her within her green eyes lies a candle, one that can easily burst into a wildfire should she be pressed. She can also be impatient and has little time for laziness or incompetence, often being short with people should a situation frustrate her. She is not without a sense of humour, but rarely quips herself, preferring to subtlety tease instead of joke.
Not a natural leader, Veta struggles without someone to serve, but she will not pledge her loyalty or friendship to anyone unless they prove to her that they deserve it. Her current situation and recent jaded view on life has enabled her to get her hands dirty in the world of assassination and thuggery, and will not hesitate to intimidate or (if needs be) murder in order to get a job done. However, she has her limits, and will not accept jobs that target innocents or anyone she deems is not worthy of death. Fortunately, individuals who have earned the ire of those who are willing to pay to have someone kill them tend not to be the best of souls, and Veta has insofar only had to kill corrupt officials, irritant bandits and greedy merchants. She does not kill incessantly, and prefers as little bloodshed as possible; if a combatant yields before her, she will show them mercy. Old habits tend to die hard.
Typical Equipment: - Fine steel longsword with an ivory-white tree on the pommel and branch engravings along the cross-guard, reflecting her time as a Knight of Chorrol.
- Steel armour breastplate, gauntlets, greaves, and spaulders, all enchanted with resistance to magic.
- Steel ‘armet’ style helmet with visor.
- Steel-studded dark leather brigandine vest lined with navy cloth over the breastplate.
- Dark cloth pants and leather riding boots.
- Dark cloak with sheep’s wool lining for cold weather.
- Several potions and poisons both sedative and lethal inside a leather satchel.
- A strong, stocky grey roan horse called Caval, who has been her companion for 5 years.
Why Vera was left to rot in the Imperial Prison: Vera received a job from an anonymous individual, who only communicated via envoys and dead drops. The target? An advisor to a member of the Elder Council, who had ordered the murder of a mining town in order to take it over for his own benefit (which Veta verified before carrying out the deed). While Veta was relatively new-blooded in her career as an assassin, and felt out of her depth with such a task, the money offered was incredibly good and would afford her a lot of freedoms in life, perhaps enough to purchase land and a property to call her own, to properly start over.
She opted to use a disguise of an Imperial Guard to get into the chambers of the elder council, and poison the advisor in his sleep. On her way to his chambers, she was stopped by a suspiciously overly-zealous guard, who had her searched and found the poison. She was then seized and taken to the Imperial Prison to be tried for attempted murder.
Skillset:Veta has received a great deal of formal training as a chivalrous knight, supplemented by her own homegrown talent for brawling and ferocious natural strength. Specialised in knightly longsword techniques, she is a more-than competent fighter who could hold her own against most of what north-western Cyrodiil could throw at her. She has basically spent her whole adult life in heavy armour, and wears it like a second skin, enabling her to move, dodge and run with ease where most would struggle should they don her armour. Her getting used to the weight of her armour like this gives her huge force behind her punches and strikes, which she uses often when swordfighting in her own style of brawling-sword combat; a powerful slash is often followed by a furious gauntlet-encased haymaker that could shatter skulls (and has).
Her father, being an adventurer and herbalist, taught her everything he knew about potions and poisons and the herbs and ingredients that go into them. This empowered Veta to be able to craft potent concoctions to heal or harm as required, being able to identify wild flowers and plants easily. This has come into its own with her recent career change, but Chorrol's public knowledge of these skills might have encouraged it to occur in the first place.
Her mother was a healer in the hamlet Veta grew up in, but not before she spent part of her life in the circus. Therefore, Veta was taught some Restoration magic to heal what natural produce could not, as well as aspects of Illusion and Alterations magic that circus tricksters had taught her mother; such things include turning a iron mallet into the weight of a feather and back again, or transmuting materials into others, or walking on water momentarily. While not fundamental to her skillset, it has come in handy from time to time, from impressing courtiers to getting her out of tight spots.
Spells:- Healing Hands
- Heal Self
- Open Lock (Novice-level)
- Feather (objects, say on her own armour if she needs to sprint)
- Burden (objects)
- Water Walking
- Water Breathing
- Telekinesis (very weak)
- Candlelight
