Distinguishing Marks: The palms of both of her hands are scarred from all the bloodletting she’s had to do for various spells over the years.
Name: Naya of the Belladonna Tribe
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Race: Witch
Height: 5’7"
Personality: Naya's time alone in the forest has not had a positive affect on her social skills, leaving her reclusive and with a tendency to get aggressive when surprised by strangers. That being said, she is also extraordinarily curious about everything from outside the forest and will sometimes follow travelers and hunters just to study them more closely. The witch also harbors a deep affection for animals and respects them more than people most of the time.
Naya is very physically affectionate with those she cares about and can be overtly protective. She once put a curse on a man who kept pestering Meng so that every time he got within a quarter mile radius of the farmer he would break out in hideous hives. Living in the forest has also made her incredibly resourceful, but also less educated than most.
Bio: Naya was born to the Belladonna clan on the western edge of the Semarian Forest. The young witch grew up not knowing who her biological mother was and was instead raised by the tribe mothers, as is custom to their race. She stayed here amongst the mossy lean-tos and the hemlock trees until she reached the age of thirteen, when she was required to take a year-long solo pilgrimage into the forest. It was meant to be a rite of passage that would awaken the magic in her bloodstream and mark her as a full-fledged witch.
A miserable year came and went, with young Naya scrabbling to survive alongside the harsh creatures of the forest, but her magic never awoke.
Needless to say, Naya was distraught. For as far back as she could remember, all she had ever wanted was to be able to do magic, but it seemed like that was impossible now. The teen could have returned to the clan and taken up a position fitting her magicless self, like watching after the children or cooking, but her shame was so great that she decided not to go back to her coven. After reaching this conclusion, Naya traveled to the southern edge of the forest, which was less inhabited due to its closer proximity to the unforgiving desert. Now fourteen and having lived in the forest for an entire year on her own, Naya was in bad shape. She was malnourished, her clothes in tatters, and food was becoming increasingly scarce. The youth didn’t have high hopes for making it through the winter.
This is when an old farmer, Feiyan Meng, happened upon the young girl at the edge of her property. Though hesitant at first to assist a witch, her conscious got the better of her and she ushered Naya back to her cottage, where she nursed the scrawny youth back to health. Meng and Naya formed a friendship based on gratitude and a mutual love of horticulture. The teen stayed on the farm through the winter, helping with the chores to earn her keep.
One spring morning while she was pruning the roses, Naya cut herself on a thorn and a few drops of blood landed on a bud below. She was overcome with a huge sense of vertigo and fainted, coming to a few moments later to find that the bud was now fully flowered. Ecstatic that her magic had finally awoken, Naya once again set off on her own into the forest, this time to make a permanent home for herself where she could practice her craft.
Naya set her sights on a grand old oak tree and began to work on making it her home. Eight years pass in relative peace and the young witch focuses on honing her magic, only interacting with other humans when she would stop by the farm to visit Meng. Her luck runs out when she returns from the old woman's house one afternoon to see a group of cloaked figures surrounding her home, using kerosene and torches to send the ancient tree up in smoke. Naya has no choice but to flee, heading on foot towards the desert wastes of the south.
Skills: Adept Blood Magic User - Well versed in blood magic, but has no skills in more natural magics, like elemental.
Adept at Survival Skills - She can light a fire, build a shelter, set a trap, and skin an animal like nobody's business!
Adept Gardener - Even without using magic, Naya almost never has a problem getting something to grow.
Important Possessions: Grimoire - Contains everything from minor spells like
'To Cure Split Ends' all the way to major ones like
'To Forcibly Bind a Heart'.
Dagger - While plain, Naya always keeps the blade sharp. Usually has it on her person at all times.
Relationships: Meng - The farmer that took her in when she was a girl. Naya used to visit her every week before she was chased from her home. She never told the old woman goodbye for fear that she would be attacked by the group that chased her out of the forest.
Belladonna Tribe - Naya has not had contact with her coven for over twelve years, but still thinks of them as her family. She has no idea what has happened to them now.
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