Name: Hertha Redrivers, Hertha the Cheap
Age: 45; roughly 18 for a human
Bounty: Currently bountyless
Gender: Female
Appearance: Roughly 12 feet tall. Her sword and shield are as seen in the picture.
Personality: Hertha is best described, in many ways, as a typical Elbaf warrior. She is a bit rowdy at times and jumps at the chance to test her metal in both friendly and unfriendly combat. She enjoys the kind of fun one can find in a tavern, though finding a tavern that can fit her much less provide enough booze to get her drunk can be tricky. She has always and will always be fiercely loyal those she respects, doubly so if they respect her in return. But despite that hot-blooded nature that colors her actions, she is a very determined, focused girl at her core. Her goal is to be recognized as the true Elbafian warrior that she knows herself to be, to live up to her father's warrior legacy. In all things she does, she gives 100 percent, expects nothing less of others, and woe to those who get in her way.
Backstory: Hertha, though many don't seem to believe her, is a Giant from Elbaf. You may be asking why is she less tall than even some 'giant human'? Well, Hertha is a victim of a rare Elbafin birth defect that really doesn't have a proper translation into the common language. The closest approximation is 'Dishonorable Stature'. Superstition has it among the people Elbaf that those born with this condition are cursed to be 'failures' as Elbafin warriors and would misfortune and doom to those around them. As such, most born are either killed by their parents or left to die in the wilds. Her father and mother scoffed at this old superstition and chose to keep their daughter all the same. Hertha's father, a pirate himself, was captured and killed by marines before Hertha turned 1. Tensions quickly began to rise in her village, people began to whisper that any of them could be next to be caught up in the children curse. Her mother had always been of poor health and was more a civilian than a warrior, she knew she couldn't protect her daughter from the fearful superstitions. She took to the east blue with her infant child, even for a 'weak' giantess such as her living in the calm territory of the East Blue would be a fairly simple task. She settled in on a somewhat remote island town, making her place among their farming community; The locals greatly appreciated the immense strength of the giantess on their efforts so their lives were fairly easy.
Hertha took deep pride in her Elbaf heritage, as well in her father's legacy. her mother telling her stories of their history as a people or her father's adventures. She decided she wanted to train to be a great warrior and carried the Redrivers name back to the seas and prove her blood wasn't truly a curse to her and her family. Her mother, despite everything, supported this wish. Sickly though she was was, she still an Elbafian who honored valor and courage above all, and seeing her daughter spit at her 'curse' and deciding to walk her fathers path gave her great pride. She wanted nothing more than her child to shove their stupid superstitions down their throat. Hertha spent many years training on her own, eventually seeking out a master to aid her in her training in the east blue. Finding someone who could teach her a style suitably close to the traditional Elbaf fighting styles was difficult, but she eventually found a 'giant human' who specialized in fighting techniques for people of their size. She adjusted them accordingly to better imitate her mother's descriptions of Elbaf combat.
Since leaving her mother's side in search of honor and glory she has grown a reputation as a mercenary. Working for anyone who had the coin to buy her blade. Funny enough, she would often lower her price a great deal if the job was 'difficult enough'. This was a tactic to help her more likely to attract 'glory' winning jobs. Though it had the unfortunate side effect of giving her a distasteful Alias.' Hertha the Cheap'. Some even dared call her 'Hertha the Runt', as the ruffians who do mercenary work out in the east-blue don't tend to know about Elbaf and those that do certainly don't know enough about them to know about a condition that would make a full-blooded giant so small. Most think she is a delusional 'giant-sized human' and use the moniker to taunt and make fun of her. Though they often regret it.
While dabbling in pirating she was never directly associated with any captain or crew so has yet to be labeled as anything more than a troublesome sellsword known for immense strength and tenacity. Her ultimate goal was to become a pirate like her father, But she had trouble finding a captain and crew who's met her liking. She has worked for just as many merchants as pirates and has been offered full-time jobs plenty of times.
Abilities:
Combat: Hertha is a well-trained swords/shield woman. Her style, like that of many young Elbafian warriors still forging their skills, is simple but effective. She leverages her great reach and strength to her advantage in combat. She has yet to evolve her style very far out of the basic form of elbaf sword play, but her personal flair is starting to bud in the form of her being very nimble and dexterous for her size, making her effective at both fighting groups of normal-sized foes and troublesome to single ones larger than her, much less anyone in her own weight class. Shes seems to be about twice as strong as most giant-sized humans of her size, a trait she attributes to Elbafin heritage.
General:
She is actually quite the handy girl. She forged her own blade , helm, and shield. She put her size and strength to many uses around her village. Construction, ship-repairs, farming, you name it she probably did it for a decade or two. Put that with the better part of 8 years she's been at sea and she's already a very versatile 'jack of all trades' sailor to have on board. Besides being able to deal with most strength-based problems, she can perform minor and emergency ship repairs. Though her greatest skill is Blacksmithing, she spent a great deal of her free time among the village blacksmiths. Had she not preferred swinging a sword rather than making them she could have likely made a living at metal work. To that end, she is handy at fixing a great deal of weapons and devices, as well as crafting new ones if you give her the blueprints for what you want and don't mind her maybe having to make a prototype or two before getting it right.
Relationships: She doesn't know the crew or captain yet, save for what she's read in the papers. But that has given her a good feeling about this crew, she thinks she may have finally found a ship worth calling home.
Dreams: She wishes to be recognized as not just a true warrior by all of Elbaf, but one of the greatest that ever lived.
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