Airthel Sos'Thae
Airthel stands at 5'7" and weighs only 135 lbs. He has a lithe figure that corresponds to his race with long willowy limbs and an angular face. His hair is long, straight, and black. It falls below his shoulder blades, and a thin braid runs down the center of his hair. When he has time to prepare for battle he braids his entire head. His eyes are slightly almond shaped, and are a striking violet with indigo flecks. His skin is unblemished and tanned from his time spent outside (though most still consider him light skinned).
Airthel's vallaslin is in honor of the god Dirthamen. Almost the entire tattoo is a dark burgundy that seems more purple than red and stretches from his face down his back. On his face, there are six crooked lines, two on each side of his forehead, his high cheek bones, and just a little lower than his mouth on his jowls. The lines face down and in toward his face, and almost resemble simplified insect legs; they are thicker at the top than the bottom, but jut to the side in certain spots. Ribbons of labyrinthine pattern connect the lines on his face. The ribbon has a complicated geometric pattern of squares and rectangles, with dots aspersed artfully inside the blocks. These ribbons are all continuously an inch thick. There is a single ribbon that runs across his forehead, in a manner that complements his natural bone structure. Here, as well as at several other junctures, the ribbon transitions smoothly into the jagged lines on the sides of his face. On his forehead, under the ribbon, is a different pattern of circles that interlock together in an unfollowable pattern. Another ribbon of the square pattern runs from the bridge of his nose and under his eyes, connecting with the lines near his cheekbones. The jagged lines on the sides of his face are connected with a thinner, more sinuous stripe of the same pattern. The ribbon then appears in two shafts coming from the bottom most lines on his jowls. The ribbons trail from his jowl under his jaw, slightly inward toward his neck on the bottom of his jaw, and then down his neck to his chest in parallel lines two inches apart. The ribbons continue down his chest just past his nipples, then turn sharply to wrap around his rib cage. The lines connect seamlessly on his back. On his shoulders is the only deviation of color his tattoo has. Two crows, black as night, are silhouetted with wings outstretched, facing upwards and past his shoulders with beaks open. They are identical save for a line of purple ink, the same as the rest of his tattoo, around the neck of the crow on his left side; there is a small purple circle at the neck of the bird. His vallaslin actually has significant spiritual references and philosophical inflections.
Class:
Ranger/Rogue
Skills/Talents:
Growing up with the Dalish, he has advanced skills associated with survival, herbal alchemy (for both benevolent and malicious purposes) with an associated knowledge of various flora, and hunting and tracking in different environments. Airthel can survive on his own in the wild even though he prefers the life of more advanced civilization. Airthel prefers to stay away from close combat, and favors a bow as his weapon of choice. He's skilled enough with it to shoot from horseback or while moving, and can keep concentration and stance in melee combat, but he's more used to hunting than fighting and when he's caught alone it shows. He has the quiet grace of a hunter, and can move stealthily, but isn't too talented in that regard. Airthel has a preternatural link with animals. It is easy for him to befriend them, and it is not unheard of for him to be able to calm hostile animals, though he can't stop a rampaging beast if its determined. Airthel has had a few animal companions in his time, but they all returned to the wild after a time.
Items:
Airthel wears Dalish armor made of cured leather. It's a dark brown in color, and has many pockets and pouches for various herbs and other small necessities. He wields a Dalish yew bow, and has a small bundle of elvhen arrows (15 specifically), as well as two quivers of twenty human arrows. He normally has a decent amount of both because he spends as much time with humans as elves. He has an iron shortsword for emergencies strapped to his hip, but he only has a rudimentary knowledge of how to use it. He also has a small scroll kept within his tunic, inscribed with Ancient Elvhen writing. And, of course, he has a travelling pack with items to meet his basic needs, but because of his ability to use the environment, his pack is lighter than most adventurers'.
Pharmacopoeia:
Airthel carries many herbs and other natural resources as he is skilled in using them as healing agents. (I would like to note that he does not know more of the more technical aspects of the herbs, he just knows what they do and how to make them do it. He doesn't know what a white blood cell it, for example.)
- Tea Tree: A spindly tree that almost looks like a small rotund pine. It grows in wet or swampy ground in colder regions. Tea tree, either pressed into an oil or made into a cream, is good for various skin ailments, but Airthel mostly uses tea tree oil as an antiseptic for wounds both large and small.
- White Willow Bark: Willow trees are large, spindly beings that grows near water. Usually, their boughs hang low to the ground and have thin, slim leaves. Airthel carries a lot of this at once, because it is the main ingredient in his pain alleviating tea.
- Devil's Claw: A small, usually unnoticeable plant with pale leaves that resides near deserts, devil's claw grows vibrant trumpet flowers the day it rains, which turn to a prickly fruit in just a day. It grows in areas with free-draining soil, and typically is found in warmer climates. Devil's claw is good for pain. Airthel combines devil's claw with willow bark in a tea for a useful pain treatment.
- Calendula: A plant that has a small, circular golden flower at the top, with big dark leaves and thick stems. Calendula grows almost anywhere, as it is very adaptable, ranging greatly in climate and geography. Calendula is an anti-inflammatory, and contains antioxidants and antiseptics. He uses this plants for wounds, either in a salve or a tincture.
- Echinacea: A red flowered plants with long stems. Grows in open woods, glades, and edges of fields. This plants is used to shorten a cold, or as a treatment for wounds because of its characteristic to raise white blood cell levels, increase antibody count, and increasing interferon levels. He carries dried echinacea root with him, and in winter carries a pouch of its flower and leaves, which are good for colds. The roots are used in a tincture for wounds, and the leaves and flowers are brewed into a tea.
- Aloe: A heavy leaved plant, Aloe is comprised mostly of thick, syrup and flesh filled leaves with small, weak spikes at the edges. Aloe grows in warm dry climates, growing in loose soil near beaches and desert borders. The syrupy gel and flesh applied to the skin is great for burns, and is in general good for skin health.
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Personality:
Airthel is a good natured man, who is calm and quiet but not introverted. He is easy to talk to and kind, but he's is also a firm believer in his moral code and dislikes anyone whose principles differ too greatly. He believes in the wholeness of family and loyalty, and is undyingly committed to those he considers family. He is easily offended by racism, but knows he usually has to let things go in a world run by humans. He can be witty at times, but is usually too focused to be comical.
Bio:
It is unknown what Clan Airthel was born to, and he still has yet to discover from where he can trace his lineage. The Clan he was raised by found him while they were traveling. It was early summer, and the Clan was going south into cooler territory. Yarhiel's Clan normally stayed in the Tirashan, a more forested area where they felt comfortable, but were driven past the Nahashin Marshes when one of their own killed a human in self defense. That is where they found Airthel. As far as they knew, no other Clans lived in the vicinity, and they could not figure out why he had been left there of all places. However, the infant was swaddled in a Dalish hide, and they knew he was one of their own. After they stopped fleeing, they found themselves in the Western Approach, and were traveling down and around Orlais, thinking of heading toward Fereldan. They actually wound up staying inside the Arbor Wilds for the summer, and weathered a harsh winter, then returned north to their home.
Airthel was given to two hunters that had no children of their own. He was raised by the Way of the Hunter, and was an easy-going but quiet child. He spent more time with animals than other children. which wasn't strange to the Dalish, but wasn't common either. He didn't have many friends within the Clan's children, and proved to be smart for his age. He had more conversations with adults than children when he was young. The Keeper, Yarhiel, and his First took an interest in the young boy. At first, Yarhiel believed his way with animals was a magical ability, but dismissed the possibility after a while. Still the boy had wonderful memory, and Yarhiel took the boy as an apprentice of sorts, not in leading, but in lore.
Over time, the two became close. Airthel was a comfort for the leader, and the young boy idealized his leader's kindness and warmth. More and more, Yarhiel found himself confiding in the boy for matters that neither concerned him, or seemed to be appropriate to share with him. After a while, is was as though Airthel wasn't even a youngster - he was more a trusted advisory by the time he was 14. He never told anyone anything, and even had an affinity for working things out for the benefit of Yarhiel with the trusted information. Although he was young, he seemed to have wisdom beyond his years. He became Yarhiel's second hand, almost, but he fit the position, and it caused little trouble within the Clan.
When Airthel was 17, Yarhiel judged him ready for his vallaslin. He chose Dirthamen, keeper of knowledge and secrets, master of fear and deceit, as a specific insipration for the boy's tattoos. But after the ritual, Airthel felt a change in Yarhiel. He looked at the boy with unknown heritage differently, with a far away look that seemed as if he did not trust the boy as he once did. After a few days with his vallaslin, his mentor gave him a small scroll inscribed with Ancient Elvhen writing. With his knowledge of lore, Airthel could translate this, but at first did not out of respect for his mentor. After he did, he became confused, and asked Yarhiel about it. The only thing the Keeper would say about it was that the verse had come to him in meditation just before his adulthood ceremony.
As he got older, Airthel felt a compelling desire to learn more of his peoples' culture, and decided to leave his Clan. Although saddened, the Clan watched him leave with a pleased attitude. It was a matter of pride to have someone so knowledgeable about their people among their number. Airthel started to travel around Orlais and Fereldan, visiting different Clans and Circles of Magi to learn about his people. He is specifically interested in his people's lore on the area in which he was found as a baby.
