________________________________________ Sara, Daughter of Aliya
Female | 35 | Lorenzia (of Kaudian descent)
Templar of Fire _______________________________________________
Can't believe they let someone of her...ilk become a templar. I wouldn't be surprised if another scion goes missing, sold to Kaudus, no doubt.
________________________________________ | I find myself wondering why Incepta blessed Gaia with scions but not the other continents? Are not all humans Incepta's children? Do we not all need her guidance? Or are the people of Gaia favored among them? Apologies, it is uncouth of me to question Incepta's will.
Minor Holy Sigil Location
On the cheek
Appearance
Sara has dark skin, along with long, flowing, silky, raven hair. As a devotee of the church, she dresses modestly, somewhat hiding her figure and physique. Her face exudes a calm, motherly demeanor, but her eyes burn with a stern, critical inquisitiveness. She is tall, with wider shoulders than most women.
Personality
Sara is defined by the phrase 'hidden strength'. Initially, she appears quiet and demure, her time as a teacher at the orphanage having taught her patience and how to be gentle. But the cruelty she has seen living on the streets, mixed with the teachings of the church and what little of her homeland's tradition that she was able to glean from her mother have created within her a hard and decisive sense of justice. Though zealous, she is also curious and hungry for knowledge. As someone who never belonged, her heart questions and seeks answers. She finds comfort in scripture and devotion but seeks deeper truths that some might consider heretical, so she keeps these thoughts to herself. Though she has not had access to the best education, many have underestimated her intelligence due to preconceived notions of her 'people and culture'.
Biography
Sara's mother, Aliya, was seduced and trafficked from the Kaudus Empire into indentured servitude in Lorenzia by someone who she claimed to her dying breath was a noble, a noble who promised her a new life full of luxuries. Aliya even claimed several times that Sara's father was coming to visit, though he always met her mother behind closed doors, so Sara was never able to catch a glimpse of him. Aliya worked ahrd to support herself and her daughter, and implored Sara to focus on her education, ingraining in the child the fact that education was the only real means of social mobility for people like them. Eventually, Aliya took ill and passed quickly, and Sara registered herself at an orphanage that was run by the church.
A large girl for her age, Sara found herself defending her fellow orphans from bullies, and as she grew older, this naturally led to her taking on a caretaker role for the younger children, as the orphanage was chronically understaffed. Since the orphanage was attached to the church, Sara simply followed the current trajectory of her life, and became a devotee of the church, cleaning, cooking, and doing laundry, while also becoming a teacher at the orphanage in order to support herself once she had surpassed the age that the orphanage was legally allowed to take care of her. This left her with little to no time to pursue higher education, and she doubted that she would ever save up enough to enroll into a Doumerc university, and even if she did, she knew the quality of her inner-city education was lacking. Ultimately, Sara was content serving the church and taking care of orphans like herself, perhaps she could give them the opportunities that seemed out of her reach.
One day, as a young adult, Sara saw a noble picking on a commoner, and as the noble's wrath escalated to violence, Sara stepped in to stop him. Enraged at having been interrupted, the noble pulled out his blade. The commoner that Sara was defending happened to be pushing a cart full of supplies, and Sara grabbed from it a length of chain with which to defend herself from the noble's cold steel. Underestimating her prowess, the noble was disarmed, at which point, Sara wrapped the chain around her fist and soundly beat the noble. A passing knight witnessed the incident and investigated the issue, ultimately siding with Sara and chastising the noble. Despite her age, the knight saw her late-blooming talent, and after learning that she was a devotee of the church, invited her to become a page. Sara accepted, and throughout her training, demonstrated exemplary loyalty, devotion, single-minded dedication, strength that belied her appearance, a softness where mercy was concerned, and a hardness where justice was required. After becoming a knight, Sara was assigned to wilderness patrol, which became a unique learning opportunity for her, having lived in the city her whole life. Sara earned a reputation for ferocity, donning heavy armor in order to take the full brunt of a charging monster's assault and using chains to subdue the creature, allowing her comrades an easier time to take it down. When asked how she learned to wrangle such unpredictable and dangerous creatures, Sara would joke that she had been a teacher. After a few years of proving her mettle in the wilds, the knight who had recruited her recommended her to become a templar, and soon after she was assigned to the Scion of Fire, Nikolai Gaumond.
As a templar, Sara became celebrity-adjacent, and a celebrity in her own right. The attention was new to her, but neither did she run from it, nor was she swayed by it. Throughout public appearances, Sara maintained professionalism and modesty, reminding herself and others that her fame came only due to her proximity to Nikolai, who was the real 'star of the show'. However, the noble she had thrashed so many years ago recognized her on television and sought to ruin her. Digging into her past, he discovered that Sara was the bastard daughter of a Kaudian mother and maliciously spread this information. When confronted about it, though Sara held no loyalty to Kaudus, she did not deny her heritage, believing that truth and honesty were virtues. Fortunately, Nikolai trusted her, as did Commander Fyodor, and Sara was able to keep her position, though public appearances and social functions became colder and more hostile for her. Eventually, Nikolai passed from age, and Sara was put on standby until the next Scion of Fire was discovered. This didn't take long, though the news that the miracle had occurred at the Kaudian front filled Sara with misgivings.
Though from a shaky and uncertain background, Sara has gone through life one step at a time, allowing the fate that Incepta has ordained for her to guide her. She seemingly never questioned the events that pushed her through life, taking everything in stride. However, it is not so much that she never questioned it, only that wherever she was and whatever she was doing, there was always something new to learn, and she was always content with that. As a Templar, she would be closest to the nearest thing to divinity, a post that satisfied both her zeal and her curiosity.
Weapon of Choice
Gauntlets and a chain.
Misc.
- Combat Theme - Towerfierce
- Sister of the Church Theme - The Love that Binds Us
- The naming convention of Aliya's tribe does not use last names, they simply state that they are the son or daughter of the parent whose tribe they are a part of, hence Sara does not have a last name (this is loosely-based on ancient Arabic naming conventions).
- Sara's origin story is loosely inspired by the heroic outlaws from the Chinese novel Water Margin, who usually exact retribution on deserving nobles, only to become outcasts due to the corruption within the upper echelons of society. Sara, of course, does not become an outcast in this case.
- Sara's character is somewhat inspired by the character Carnelian from the gatcha game Arknights, who is a displaced tribal cloaked in noble refinement.
- Sara wears a sword at her hip, mostly out of ceremony. She knows how to use it, though it is not her preferred weapon.
- Sara still keeps in touch with the orphanage and often flips through pictures of the children that they send her.
- For the visual artists out there, I apologize for being a hack and using AI generated art.
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The Irish Tree,
NoriWasHere,
Izurich,
mattmanganon,
Ojiro Mashirao,
Gisk,
Xaltwind,
Psyker Landshark,
Danyel