Name: Ysolde Westerlyn
Personality: Ambitious, studious, quick-tempered, bitter
Appearance: Ysolde has always been a young woman of a very unassuming appearance. A life spent indoors has resulted in her being rather pale, though her skin takes to tanning quite well when she's able to go outside. Her hair is dark brown and usually pulled back into a loose braid falling just past her shoulder blades. Though used to have light brown eyes, one of several physical changes as a result of her deal with the demon was her left eye turning an almost golden shade of yellow. The other main change was the series of runic tattoos running up and down her arms and legs. Though tall for a woman, standing at just under five foot eleven, she's on the slimmer side in build and generally rather unimposing. A cursory look at her would bring to mind a librarian or a scholar, not the powerful mage she has become.
Biography:
Ysolde was the youngest daughter of the Baron of Westerlyn, a relatively small, coastal barony known for the fish it exports. She had three older brothers, two older sisters and, eventually, a younger brother. Needless to say, her house was always a busy one. Her parents were loving, but distant, and Ysolde was often left to her own devices. As soon as she was old enough, she'd spend as much of her free time at the beach that was just a few minutes away from their family's keep. A few times a week she'd have lessons with her siblings, but she was generally considered unimportant enough that it didn't matter if she missed a few so that those children who were likely to be heirs could get more attention.
At the age of six, a travelling mage had come to their home to escape a bad storm. Her parents naturally offered him the best guest rooms they had; few places in the kingdom would offer any less to a mage. He ended up boarding with them for nearly a week. During that time, he took an interest in Ysolde, who was just happy to be the center of someone's attention for once. She showed him her books and favorite places, her talent with the lute and, eventually, her imaginary best friend. He was invisible to the eyes of everyone else, of course; the mage, however, saw him clear as day. She'd befriended a harmless ocean spirit, a type that was generally invisible to normal humans. Her magical talent revealed, he explained to her parents that he had no choice but to bring him back to the tower with him.
She only saw that man again a small handful of times, due to the nature of his business generally keeping him away from the tower. She started sleeping in a bunk room with some nineteen other girls near her in age. She attending magical theory lessons, and regular lessons like history.and math. Types like the latter two, she excelled at. The former, not so much. At that point she was a thin, shy girl with two long, easily pulled braids and large round glasses she couldn't see without. She was a natural target for bullying. It never got too bad, thanks to the intervention of instructors, but it was enough to make her first real friend seem like a godsend.
She adored him. She watched with a wide-eyed fascination when he completed spells far past those meant for their age group, was always full of earnest praise when he aced tests. She placed herself behind him when talking to strangers or people who made her uncomfortable, and cried to him when her family took too long in writing or when she felt incompetent in spell-casting. It was her secret aspiration to become strong enough to protect him one day, as she felt protected by him. She was motivated by a desire to keep up with him, that they could one day see the outside world that they so dreamed about, together.
Fate had something else in mind for the both of them, however. He only got farther ahead of their class, and she only fell further behind. She missed him and so often felt abandoned. That abandonment melded with her feelings of inadequacy and frustrations with herself, eventually turning to bitterness and anger. Much of it she pinned on him, because he was an easy person to blame despite not being a fault. She went from wanting to keep up with him to surpass him. All of the other mages as well, but mostly him. Her ambition and her dark feelings made it easy to turn towards darker forms of magic. When she found a way to finally make it outside and away from the circle, she hesitated only for a moment before charging towards freedom.
Personality: Ambitious, studious, quick-tempered, bitter
Appearance: Ysolde has always been a young woman of a very unassuming appearance. A life spent indoors has resulted in her being rather pale, though her skin takes to tanning quite well when she's able to go outside. Her hair is dark brown and usually pulled back into a loose braid falling just past her shoulder blades. Though used to have light brown eyes, one of several physical changes as a result of her deal with the demon was her left eye turning an almost golden shade of yellow. The other main change was the series of runic tattoos running up and down her arms and legs. Though tall for a woman, standing at just under five foot eleven, she's on the slimmer side in build and generally rather unimposing. A cursory look at her would bring to mind a librarian or a scholar, not the powerful mage she has become.
Biography:
Ysolde was the youngest daughter of the Baron of Westerlyn, a relatively small, coastal barony known for the fish it exports. She had three older brothers, two older sisters and, eventually, a younger brother. Needless to say, her house was always a busy one. Her parents were loving, but distant, and Ysolde was often left to her own devices. As soon as she was old enough, she'd spend as much of her free time at the beach that was just a few minutes away from their family's keep. A few times a week she'd have lessons with her siblings, but she was generally considered unimportant enough that it didn't matter if she missed a few so that those children who were likely to be heirs could get more attention.
At the age of six, a travelling mage had come to their home to escape a bad storm. Her parents naturally offered him the best guest rooms they had; few places in the kingdom would offer any less to a mage. He ended up boarding with them for nearly a week. During that time, he took an interest in Ysolde, who was just happy to be the center of someone's attention for once. She showed him her books and favorite places, her talent with the lute and, eventually, her imaginary best friend. He was invisible to the eyes of everyone else, of course; the mage, however, saw him clear as day. She'd befriended a harmless ocean spirit, a type that was generally invisible to normal humans. Her magical talent revealed, he explained to her parents that he had no choice but to bring him back to the tower with him.
She only saw that man again a small handful of times, due to the nature of his business generally keeping him away from the tower. She started sleeping in a bunk room with some nineteen other girls near her in age. She attending magical theory lessons, and regular lessons like history.and math. Types like the latter two, she excelled at. The former, not so much. At that point she was a thin, shy girl with two long, easily pulled braids and large round glasses she couldn't see without. She was a natural target for bullying. It never got too bad, thanks to the intervention of instructors, but it was enough to make her first real friend seem like a godsend.
She adored him. She watched with a wide-eyed fascination when he completed spells far past those meant for their age group, was always full of earnest praise when he aced tests. She placed herself behind him when talking to strangers or people who made her uncomfortable, and cried to him when her family took too long in writing or when she felt incompetent in spell-casting. It was her secret aspiration to become strong enough to protect him one day, as she felt protected by him. She was motivated by a desire to keep up with him, that they could one day see the outside world that they so dreamed about, together.
Fate had something else in mind for the both of them, however. He only got farther ahead of their class, and she only fell further behind. She missed him and so often felt abandoned. That abandonment melded with her feelings of inadequacy and frustrations with herself, eventually turning to bitterness and anger. Much of it she pinned on him, because he was an easy person to blame despite not being a fault. She went from wanting to keep up with him to surpass him. All of the other mages as well, but mostly him. Her ambition and her dark feelings made it easy to turn towards darker forms of magic. When she found a way to finally make it outside and away from the circle, she hesitated only for a moment before charging towards freedom.
