ℕ𝕒𝕞𝕖: Lis
𝔸𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕤: Lis has a seemingly endless collection of past and prepared aliases. Currently she calls herself Lisandra the Actress or Dylis depending on which persona she is wearing.
𝔸𝕘𝕖: 25
𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕤: Changeling
𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣: Female
𝕆𝕔𝕔𝕦𝕡𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟: Currently posing as traveling wizard, turned actress and a thief.
𝔸𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥: True Neutral
ℍ𝕖𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥: 5' 7''
𝔹𝕦𝕚𝕝𝕕: Lis possesses a dancer's build, hiding strength born from agility beneath a gentle, pleasant appearance.
𝔼𝕪𝕖𝕤: Her eyes are ever changing to match many forms, but in her true form her eyes are a stark, entirely empty white.
ℍ𝕒𝕚𝕣: Lis has long silver cast a light shade of silver. Usually tied in an elegant bun using an ornate set of silver hair pins, they conveniently work exceedingly well as lockpicks.
𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕟 𝕋𝕠𝕟𝕖: She has pale gray skin.
𝕋𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕠𝕠𝕤/𝕊𝕔𝕒𝕣𝕤/ℙ𝕚𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤: Considering her ability to change forms, Lis has little interest in marking her true form with ink, instead she takes great pleasure in adorning her assumed forms with scars and tattoos as befitting these intriguing forms.
ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕊𝕥𝕪𝕝𝕖: A chameleon, Lis changes her clothes to fit the mask or persona she wears, however in the rare times that she remains in her natural form, she favors well fitting garments of a distinctly older elven cut.
Careful * Curious * Deceptive * Ever-Changing * Observant * Subtle
ℝ𝕖𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕤: Unattached
ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪:Lis is a thousand faces and a thousand personalities. She is whoever she thinks other people want her to be. She is whoever the job needs her to be. And in each moment, she is exactly who she wants to be. Or so she would claim. Not that she has ever told anyone as much. Not that she would ever tell anyone half as much. She is a walking, talking ambiguity, a paradox wrapped in the cloak of constant change. She knows that she is who she is...and who she seems to be, all at once.
She wears many masks. Fleeting creations, driven by need or whim, and discarded without hesitation. Faces with simple names. Names without identities. A serious faced soldier. A pleasant severing girl. A dour faced constable. A dangerous looking bandit. She crafts ambitious personas. Not just faces. Not just names. But people. People that she cares for. People that she loves. People with their own pasts. People with their own lives. People with their own fears. People with their own ambitions. People with their own hopes. People with their own families. People with their own friends. And people with their own beliefs.
Lis keeps a handful of personas, suitable for a range of situations and applications. Some she has played for years. Some she knows better than herself. Some she has had to retire ahead of their time. Lis recalls such moments with sorrow and bitter regret. But she knows hard choices are necessary. She knows that sacrifices have to be made. She has had to disappear, she has had to allow her compromised identities to perish, so that she might assume another of her personas.
Within the endless Matryoshka doll created by her masks and personas, Lis feels increasingly lost. Beneath each discarded layer a new person emerges, another mask suitable for the moment or an invented persona for her to embody for long stretches of time. Trapped in performances, Lis is consumed by a gnawing sense of dread that there will be nothing real, nothing true, when she gets to the last little doll inside of her.
ℍ𝕒𝕓𝕚𝕥𝕤:
- Eavesdropping - Lis, the Changeling, has a habit of eavesdropping. There are few better ways to discover useful information than to discreetly overhear a conversation or four.
- Compulsive Liar - By profession, Lis has found herself becoming something of a compulsive liar. She is loath to reveal anything that could be considered true about herself, no matter how seemingly unimportant or harmless any sliver of information about her might be.
- Pacing - When subject to intense excitement or anxiety, Lis tends to pace, although mercifully for anyone lodging below her, she is somehow a most quiet pacer.
ℍ𝕠𝕓𝕓𝕚𝕖𝕤:
- Reading - Few things are regarded with as much affection from the Changeling as books, particularly rare and old ones.
- Visual Arts - Lis takes solace in drawing in a small journal she keeps. Less often she will take time to execute a full painting. Her artistic persona, a tiefling painter, is known to have a small but dedicated following of admirers and collectors.
- Calligraphy - Enmeshed in creation, Lis will spend hours writing admirable calligraphy in the many languages she commands.
- Sewing - What began as simply a way to insure that the clothing required for her many roles would pass muster, soon became a genuine passion and Lis is quite proud of her skills with thread and needle.
- Singing - Part profession, part pleasure, Lis still finds singing to be an amusing way to spend her time.
- Tobacco - Despairing of drinking, Lis instead finds smoking tobacco, preferably in a pipe, to be quite amusing.
𝔽𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕤:
- Stagnation - Chief among the fears that assail the Changeling is the fear of settling down, of becoming too comfortable, and of forgetting that each role can only be played for so long.
- Commitment - Stuck with permanent wanderlust and a lust for life, Lis is notably afraid of the mere idea of a committed relationship with one or several people (she’s not one to judge).
- Imprisonment - With a long list of crimes behind her, Lis is understandably worried about ending up in a small prison cell.
- No More Great Roles - Although she considers it a distant worry, Lis can’t help but fear that one day there will be no more great roles for her to play, whether on or off the stage.
- Self Less - Jumping from adopted role to role, Lis fears that one day she might not be able to recall her true self.
𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕤:
- Acting - Taking a broader view of acting, Lis takes immense pleasure in successfully playing a role, particularly when she manages to convince someone that one of her masks or personas is a real person.
- Money - Fond of the things that money can buy, Lis is keen to make a tidy profit, regardless of how ethically this profit is acquired.
- People Watching - Lis enjoys watching people across all the domains of life, all people, from the lowliest guttersnipe to the most elegant socialite. What better way to further her craft and gain inspiration?
- Social Events - Fond of festivities and people from all walks of life, Lis will do her best to find any reason to be social and has been known to successfully converse with even most cantankerous settlers.
- Art - Lis adores all forms of art and all manners of artistry. Music, literature, paintings, drawings, and craftwork, all happily occupy her attention. And if she has the coin to spare, she is more than willing show her appreciation in cold hard cash.
- Cleverness - A schemer at heart, the young changeling appreciates a clever quip, witty comment, or complex plan.
𝔻𝕚𝕤𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕤:
- Interruptions - On or off the stage, nothing angers Lis more than unwelcome interruptions.
- Fear of Changelings - Understandably, but perhaps hypocritically, Lis loathes the fearful, distrustful view that most people have of Changelings.
- Poor Manners - Seeing herself as more than a little refined, Lis takes great offense at poor manners and has been known to plot a lengthy con simply to spite someone who forgot to offer her the proper salutations.
- Conservatism - A creature of endless flexibility and constant change, Lis holds little interest in the status quo or keeping things forevermore as they currently are.
- Orders - Happiest when free to make her own choices, Lis internally bristles as at being told what she to do. She can listen. She can follow orders, but she doesn’t like it, and if possible will offer a snide comment or two, provided it doesn’t break character.
- Violence - Lis takes no pleasure in violence and sees no appeal in physically harming others. She’s no saint, but she’s no killer, robbing people of their burdensome wealth is plenty enough for her, she has no interest in stealing lives.
𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤:
- Actress - Lis a talented performer, able to perform plays old and new of almost any genre. She has a talent for single mannerisms and a sharp ear for voices, able to mimic a wide range of accents. Generally presents as a woman, but more than capable of assuming a masculine role.
- Languages - Perhaps due to her nature as a Changing and Actress in equal measure, Lis is gifted when it comes to the many tongues spoken across the lands and she shows great ease learning new languages.
- Passable Shot - Uninterested in violence, Lis is nonetheless capable of proficiently using a firearm.
- Riding - Although Lis far prefers to ride in a comfortable carriage, she knows how to ride a horse.
- Athletics - To prepare for the stage, Lis has engaged in long hours of practice over many years, and she has the athleticism that one might expect from a seasoned performer.
- Acrobatics - At times, a role requires feats of physical strength, balance, or agility. Lis has spent some time tumbling, tightrope walking, and performing other entertaining feats for coin.
- Insight - In order to create her masks and personas, Lis has had to cultivate an insight into others. She often manages to deduce how others might think, how they might act, and what their intentions are towards her.
- Investigation - Lis has a knack for finding out information or the location of items that she might like to steal.
- Perception - Acting that Lis observe the world and the people around her. The beginning of every mask and persona that she creates lies in the careful observation of others.
- Deception - The bread and butter of most changelings, deception is perhaps Lis' oldest friend. She is able to convincingly hide the truth. She can mislead other through ambiguity, or as often, by telling outright lies. She fast-talks officers of the law. She cons merchants. She passes herself off in disguises that compliment her shapeshifting. She dulls suspensions with false assurances. And she maintains a straight face while telling blatant lies, lies that shape her very person, and her very soul.
- Persuasion - In all her roles, Lis finds persuasion to play a critical role. To sell a story, for a range of purposes, she is wields tact, her social graces, and assumed nature to influence and beguile.
- Performance - Beyond her deceptions, deep beneath her own conceptions and hangups, Lis is a performer. She lives to delight an audience with an truly extraordinary performance and to draw attention from potential patrons.
- Stealth - If worst comes to worst, Lis is no stranger to vanishing from sight, and quietly escaping.
𝕄𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝/𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕪 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤:
- Shapeshifting: A changeling, Lis has the magical ability to change her appearance. She can alter her facial features, skin (coloration/texture), hair (length/color), apparent race, sex, size (height/weight), within the limits of a human and halfling scales. Her transformations take several seconds, but Lis is able to change her form as often as she likes and her new appearances last until she changes her form again. Far from a minor illusion, shapeshifting for Lis is a physical transformation. Given her shapeshifting talent, Lis is rarely seen in her true form, and she instead prefers to adopt all kinds of humanoid shapes. However, unlike some changelings, she does not treat her forms as mere clothes to wear and discard haphazardly, but roles to cleverly portray.
- Illusion Magic (Wizard): A proper wizard, Lis has been trained by some of the finest wizards and arcane tutors that can be found in the land. Her travels have afforded her many opportunities to pursue knowledge hidden in ancient tomes. Although she is capable as a spellcaster, her specialty is doubtlessly the school of illusion. The Changeling shows great talent when it comes to creating illusions both big and small.
- Thievery: Off the stage, Lis lives a life steeped in the shadows. She sneaks. She picks locks. She lightens pockets and empties all manner of containers. She performs sleight of hand tricks to beguile. And her trade in this maleficent role is to liberate the property of others for her own profit.
𝕀𝕟𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪:
- Props Appropriate to the Role - Aware of the dangers of keeping her own personal possessions, Lis keeps only items that belong to her current masks or personas.
𝕊𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪:The only child of two changeling parents, Lis grew up among a traveling troupe of changelings. Harmless religious fanatics, her parents were cultists of sorts,
Becomers, changelings that believed that the the essence of being a changeling was to possess different shapes, different identities, and different lives. They taught Lis that her purpose, her true purpose, and the way to enlightenment was to keep changing.
Enmeshed with a merry band of performers, Lis came to embrace such ideas. She grew up seeing her parents change appearances at a whim. She learned to call them by different names. She learned to recognize them with different faces. She learned new pasts. She experienced new presents. And she accepted new futures. Lis remembers her childhood as happy. She recalls her excitement at learning how to shapeshift.
She remembers her first mask, a reflection of joy. She remembers her first persona, a street urchin raised on the streets of the old Imperial city. She remembers her first performance, playing the youngest daughter of King Gawain in the classic Elven tragedy Aramil.
In time, convinced that she had learned what she could as a member of the traveling troupe of changelings, Lis struck out on her own, accompanied by the the happy and proud encouragement of her parents.
Exploring new depths, Lis found herself studying at one of the few sanctioned arcane institutions that remained. She was Emmeline, an idealistic human, full of love and loyalty to the Iridian Republic. Unfortunately despite her success, Lis lost the permit sanctioning her official use of magic when she discarded the persona following a storied romance, but controversial romance with her evocation professor and the subsequent theft of the noblewoman's sizable dowry.
In the years that followed, Lis experimented with a number of different personas. Enamored by the work of long dead painter, she became Nija, a young tiefling woman from the distant city of Daklan, far to the east across the Northern Sea. Trying her hand at painting, Lis discovered that an unexpected natural talent, and soon found herself selling paintings for outrageous prices. Commanding a small following of devoted admirers and collectors, Lis found herself mingling with the upper-crust of Iridian society. Pleasant summers spent painting the children of the aristocracy ended dramatically when Lis decided to attempt to channel her visions of change into her art, resulting in an highly abstract series of paintings that were quickly deemed heretical by the artistic gatekeepers of the young republic.
Fleeing the capital with bitter tears in her eyes, Lis changed into Sedilia, a serving girl in a brothel. Quickly growing bored with this role and the unwelcome advances of her customers, Lis created two new personas. Lisandra, the half-elf actress, and the half-elf thief, Dylis.
Seeking out a new challenge, Lis decided to play these two roles in parallel. And so, Lisandra, bastard daughter of an elven nobleman, began a meteoric rise to the top of the theatrical world. Concurrently, Dylis, guttersnipe of no repute, turned into a skilled thief, well regarded by her swift fingered peers. In time, Lisandra would come to loathe the established world of theater, the predictable schedule of plays demanded by the common citizen, and the profitable ventures supported by the investor. At the same time, Dylis would find herself under growing scrutiny from the local constabulary, following a string of infamous thefts that culminated in the theft of a golden bust of Emperor Hadrian Augustus from the newly renamed Iridian Museum of Art.
Convinced it was once again time for change, Lis decided to travel west. Soon after, Lisandra announced the creation of her new one woman show and her intentions of traveling west to spread her art beyond the stiffing metaphorical walls of the capital. And conveniently, on the very same night, Dylis sold her most recently acquired valuables to her favorite fence, purchasing new papers and a seat on a train traveling west.
ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣 ℚ𝕦𝕠𝕥𝕖: “All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts.” -
As You Like It by Shakespeare
𝔸𝕟𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔼𝕝𝕤𝕖: