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H I S T O R Y
S A M I R A
C H A R A C T E R I N F O R M A T I O N Name - Massatyra-Armalatu Samira yr Sadhara el Hakkam yi Athkatla, also known as Jhasina, the Sadidrifa, the Khamarnari, the Desert Rose, the Golden Widow, the Witch Whore. Gender - Female. Race - Human. Age - Late Twenties to Early Thirties. Height - Average, a little over five feet. Class - Sorceress. ____________________________________________________ S K I L L S & A B I L I T I E S Magical Samira is spell caster of great power and cunning application. She is a Sorceress, gifted with innate magical talent without the need to study the arcane arts. The raw power of Sorcerer's magic often surpass that of their more scholarly counterparts, but often at the expense of their versality, and this is indeed the case with Samira. Her gifts lie in three specific applications, Illusion Magic, Enchantment Magic, and Elemental Magic, in particular, Fire Magic. However, her understanding of the arcane as a theoretical subject is generally poor. She never had to learn the basic fundamentals of magic, her powers were given to her by fate instead, therefore her grasp of magical theory is much less developed than for a wizard of similar capabilities. Martial While Samira has attained a mastery of a great many things, martial combat is most certainly not one of them. She prefers to shun physical fighting, opting to use her magical talents to target her enemies from afar. She knows a little of the use of short bladed weapons such as knives and daggers, but not much else. Do not think however that she is helpless in a melee confrontation, Samira has a few tricks up her sleeve. Miscellaneous Samira is a charismatic individual and possesses great skills in persuasion, flattery, seduction and deception. Her abilities to beguile and enchant others borders on the supernatural. She speaks several different languages, including Common, Alzhedo, and Chondathan. ____________________________________________________ E Q U I P M E N T Weapons Curved steel dagger, encrusted with gems, fashioned in the Calishite style. Armour Samira relies on her magic for her protection, she wears no physical armour. Enchanted Items Periapt of Health - Grants the bearer immunity to diseases. Amulet of Health - Increases the bearer's constitution. Ring of Regeneration - Heals the bearer's wounds. Miscellaneous Items An expensive red and gold silk dress with matching veil. Numerous pieces of non-magical jewellery. A small pouch of magical reagents and components. A gilded water canteen. A bottle of felsul flower perfume. A sun parasol. A pocket mirror. Coin purse with several hundred gold pieces. ____________________________________________________ | A P P E A R A N C E Samira is the very image of beauty itself, or at least, that's what many of her admirers have told her over the years. Her appearance is a strange combination of North and South Faerun, that makes her seem exotic and desirable to inhabitants on both sides of the continent. For while her skin is sun kissed dark, like the Calishite people she claims kinship with, her long flowing hair is the colour of fairest gold, most often found in the northern climes of the Sword Coast. In Calimshan particularly her hair is an asset, and she dresses to enhance its golden nature. Her clothing is often of deep and warm colours, maroons, dark reds, purples. The coloured silks and satins are juxtaposed with cloth of gold embroidery in order to better show off her own honey coloured tresses. Samira's appreciation for gold goes well past her clothing and is also present in her taste in jewellery. Around her neck are many expensive necklaces and amulets, bracelets and bangles hang from her wrists. Her adornment is often complimented by an almost see through silken veil, some have said this layer of obscurification only makes her seem more alluring. Most alluring of all though is the face behind the veil, with its high wide cheekbones and its full and luscious lips, artfully painted with pigments and makeup. Under the delicate arches of her brow, Samira's kohl painted eyes gaze out wickedly, full of temptation and mischief. They are eyes that men can lose themselves in, and many have become snared there, like insects trapped in amber. For that is their colour, glorious, shining, amber. When she is angry their depths burn with a hidden fire, dangerous and intense, so much like the devastating elemental magic that she wields. Sometimes, however, when Samira thinks no one else is watching, there's another look in those eyes, beyond the temptress, beyond the sorceress. There is fear. Absolute and abject terror. And loathing, so much loathing, a hatred that could swallow oceans and leave nothing but a blasted a salty plane and still not be quenched. But that particular mask rarely slips. That part of herself is well hidden under the faces she wears, the perfectly applied makeup and paint, the exquisite and expensive clothing, the rich and heady perfumes, all her power and her wealth and her status. But she never forgets that it is there, no matter how hard she tries. ____________________________________________________ P E R S O N A L I T Y Samira is a cut gemstone, a thing of many facets. All of them are brilliant in their own way, but not all them as pleasant as the face she wears would have you believe. The reflections they cast can be distorted and ugly, their edges hard and sharp. Who she is and how she acts often depends entirely on who you are, how you relate to each other, and what your position in society is. To the wealthy and powerful, Samira is a gracious host, a delightful and witty conversationalist with a sharp sense of humour, and a fixture at many high society gatherings in Calimport. Her parties are the stuff of legends, her circle of acquaintances studded with some of the city's most celebrated inhabitants. She would be held in high esteem, if were not for her somewhat infamous reputation for seducing husbands and taking them as her lovers. She is a beguiling woman, and since the death of her own husband has had a rota of either influential or handsome bedfellows. The powerful men of Calimport adore Samira, and she adores them back, flourishing like a flower under their gaze and attention. But the wives of these men all despise her, and name her 'The Witch Whore' behind her back. In return Samira is often more comfortable in the company of men than of women. In particular she does not like women who are younger or more beautiful than she is. Even more so, she absolutely despises old women as being hideous and weak, though she rarely says as much to their faces. Duplicitous would be one word to describe how she behaves around her social peers, rarely speaking a honest word, always dealing in half truths, praising one to their face, disparaging them behind their back. It is fortunate that she is an exceptional liar, otherwise everything would have come unravelled a long time ago. Most slaves and common folk are largely beneath her attention. Though she has been known to lavish coin and favour on those who manage to please her, equally does she heap scorn and recriminations on those who fail her. Samira is undoubted a generous mistress, though she can easily be a cruel one. She is fickle in such inclinations as well, punishing those she rewarded only days before. When those she considers beneath her do not respond to her manipulations and coercions, she does not think twice of using force to compel them to her bidding. Vulnerability is abhorrent to her. She tries her best to never reveal her true feelings about anything to anyone. The only time she ever speaks with genuine emotion is about her first husband, the one that she says died back in Amn. Even then the true story of what happened is one she has only ever divulged once, and that did not end well for either Samira or the man she was foolish enough to tell it to. She still wants to be loved, even after all these years, and all the men she has been with... she needs to be loved. But keeping her true feelings hidden has been growing more difficult as of late. She has become more reclusive over the last few years, keeping unorthodox company, adventurers and treasure hunters, cultists and witches. She feels crushed beneath the vast webs of lies that she has spun, and as the terror that lies underneath it all grows larger and larger, so to has her desperation and her desire to destroy it all and start again. But Samira knows she is quickly running out of fresh starts... ____________________________________________________ |
Calishite names are an exercise in history. While many foreigners find the extensive names of the region burdensome, for the inhabitants who understand its code, a name you can teach you a person's titles, what clan they belong to, who their parents were, where they were born, and many other things. Consider then the name that Samira bears, and learn from it, as a native Calishite would.
Massatyra-Armalatu Samira yr Sadhara el Hakkam yi Athkatla.
In Calishite names the titles always go first, and are listed from least important to most important. In Calimshan rank and power are of the highest importance, it is a grave offence to skip over the titles of a person when addressing them without appropriate the use of the Annuv, the hand gesture to signify that a title has been left out for the sake of brevity. Thankfully Samira only bears one title, 'Massatyra', the female equivalent to a Massatyr, a low ranked member of the old Calishite nobility. Compounded with the term 'Armalatu' (meaning widow) it designates that her title is derived from her husband, who is now deceased. The closest translation to Common would perhaps be Baroness-Dowager.
Samira is her given name, the one likely chosen by her parents. It speaks of a degree of arrogance and vanity on their parts too, for Samira is term in Alzhedo for a Princess. Clearly whoever named Samira thought highly of her, and believed that she was destined for great things.
The name of one these parents can also be known through Samira's own name, for next there comes the Matronym, the name of Samira's mother, which in this case is 'Sadhara', meaning Desert Rose. Generally speaking, Calishite women take their mother's name as a Matronym, while men take their father's name as a Patronym. This is not always the case, a man might refer to himself as the son of his mother, or a woman as the daughter of her father, if the parent was particularly famous or if the other parent was particularly infamous. Clearly Samira thinks well enough of her mother, or poorly of her father.
The family name comes next, 'Hakkam'. The Hakkam clan are a powerful family of Calishite nobility from Calimport, one that Samira married into almost a decade ago when she first arrived in the city. Prior to that she bore a different family name, Duwabir, a prominent family of human Calishite nobility were exiled during the rule of the Genasi Paschas. Women take the family names of their husbands when they marry. Considering that Samira freely says that the sadly now deceased Pascha Massatyr el Hakkam was not her first husband, she must have married an exiled Duwabir before she ever came to Calimport. Meaning she is a widow twice over before the age of thirty.
Lastly comes 'Athkatla' which tells what city Samira was born in. Athkatla is the capital city of Amn, a country to the north of Calimshan, past Tethyr, but south Baldur's Gate and the Sword Coast proper. It is another large wealthy city, the sort of place where one could see a woman like Samira growing up. Indeed it was also where a branch of the Duwabir family was exiled during the reign of the Djinn and their genasi subordinates in Calimshan.
But if you were to chase this thread further, some questions begin to raise themselves. The last of the Duwabir's died decades go in Amn, his line ending with him. Those that remember him recall he did marry a Calishite woman with dark skin and stunning golden hair, but she did not go by the name Samira, she was called Sadhara. Was this Samira's mother? Who then is this other man that Samira claims to have married? And why did she not bear his name when she came to Calimport ten years ago?
Calishite names are an exercise in history. But not all histories are straight forward... or fully revealed.
Massatyra-Armalatu Samira yr Sadhara el Hakkam yi Athkatla.
In Calishite names the titles always go first, and are listed from least important to most important. In Calimshan rank and power are of the highest importance, it is a grave offence to skip over the titles of a person when addressing them without appropriate the use of the Annuv, the hand gesture to signify that a title has been left out for the sake of brevity. Thankfully Samira only bears one title, 'Massatyra', the female equivalent to a Massatyr, a low ranked member of the old Calishite nobility. Compounded with the term 'Armalatu' (meaning widow) it designates that her title is derived from her husband, who is now deceased. The closest translation to Common would perhaps be Baroness-Dowager.
Samira is her given name, the one likely chosen by her parents. It speaks of a degree of arrogance and vanity on their parts too, for Samira is term in Alzhedo for a Princess. Clearly whoever named Samira thought highly of her, and believed that she was destined for great things.
The name of one these parents can also be known through Samira's own name, for next there comes the Matronym, the name of Samira's mother, which in this case is 'Sadhara', meaning Desert Rose. Generally speaking, Calishite women take their mother's name as a Matronym, while men take their father's name as a Patronym. This is not always the case, a man might refer to himself as the son of his mother, or a woman as the daughter of her father, if the parent was particularly famous or if the other parent was particularly infamous. Clearly Samira thinks well enough of her mother, or poorly of her father.
The family name comes next, 'Hakkam'. The Hakkam clan are a powerful family of Calishite nobility from Calimport, one that Samira married into almost a decade ago when she first arrived in the city. Prior to that she bore a different family name, Duwabir, a prominent family of human Calishite nobility were exiled during the rule of the Genasi Paschas. Women take the family names of their husbands when they marry. Considering that Samira freely says that the sadly now deceased Pascha Massatyr el Hakkam was not her first husband, she must have married an exiled Duwabir before she ever came to Calimport. Meaning she is a widow twice over before the age of thirty.
Lastly comes 'Athkatla' which tells what city Samira was born in. Athkatla is the capital city of Amn, a country to the north of Calimshan, past Tethyr, but south Baldur's Gate and the Sword Coast proper. It is another large wealthy city, the sort of place where one could see a woman like Samira growing up. Indeed it was also where a branch of the Duwabir family was exiled during the reign of the Djinn and their genasi subordinates in Calimshan.
But if you were to chase this thread further, some questions begin to raise themselves. The last of the Duwabir's died decades go in Amn, his line ending with him. Those that remember him recall he did marry a Calishite woman with dark skin and stunning golden hair, but she did not go by the name Samira, she was called Sadhara. Was this Samira's mother? Who then is this other man that Samira claims to have married? And why did she not bear his name when she came to Calimport ten years ago?
Calishite names are an exercise in history. But not all histories are straight forward... or fully revealed.