05-08-2007, 01:34 AM
Riana Thorindal was born to Ezrina Thorindal in the trade city of Rathalon. As a young elf, she and her twin sister Katrina spent most of their time exploring the city and getting into whatever trouble they could scrounge up. They learned the ins and outs of the city and all of its secret highways and byways until they were ten, at which point they were enrolled at the Magic Academy to begin practicing the mage arts.
Partway through her second year at the Magic Academy, Riana began skipping some of her classes in order to sneak out to a local fishing village where an old adventurer was teaching her the art of the sword. For several years she kept her sword practice a secret from her mother, but she knew she could not keep up the lies for long.
In her fifth year at the academy, she was playing with some enchantments in one of the academy alchemy labs when the compound she was working on exploded in her face (due to the fact that she did not remember the apropriate protection spell to keep her volatile compound in check). The result of the explosion, she was officially suspended from the academy labs and all of her hair began to grow out in a thick, dark, purple color from that day forward.
For a few months she tried dying her hair so as to hide the new color from her mother but eventually she gave up trying to keep her secret. She told her mother that she had been skipping classes in order to study sword play and stopped dying her hair. Her mother surprised her by saying she knew about the classes and further, by giving her a new, dwarven short sword that she had comissioned speciffically for Riana.
After that day, Riana spent half her day at the academy in her incantation classes (both offensive and defensive), and the other half in the fishing village with the weapon-master, learning the art of the sword. Over time she began to integrate her skills and became a true spell-sword.
The twin's adventures led them all over the northern-half of the Plain of Serenity and into the Southern Wastes. They got into a lot of trouble, but also managed to acumulate some acclaim through their adventures. During her final term at the Magic Academy, Riana spent a great deal of time and energy researching ancient languages and symbology, even going so far as to sneak into the restricted levels of the Great Library in order to formulate a series of special inks, incantations, and markings that allowed the dwarven artisan, Dinedal, to apply her magical tattoos. The markings cover the majority of her body below her neck and all appear as a series of black, interlocking, almost tribal tattoos. However when she concentrates on casting a particular spell, the tattoo that represents that spell will glow into bright, vivid color (as do her eyes) as the effect of the spell is produced. Invoking the power associated with the magical tattoos causes her to experience symptoms of physical exhaustion, increasing in severity as the power of the spell increases. The exhaustion is not so bad that it knocks her out immediatly, more like each spell having the same effect of having jogged around the base of a tree for a few minutes. The trick is that the effects are cumulative and she can wear herself out quickly if she is in physical combat and using her magic as well.
A side effect of her tattoos is that she is no longer able to cast spells through the normal means of memorizing the incantations and reciting them. Instead, she must research the spell's effects, find an appropriate marking and formulate a compatible, enchanted ink. Then she must have the mark permanently applied to her body in order to invoke the spell. When she first had the tattoos applied, she included a great many spells that she did not yet know how to control, and as a result she still has a lot of research to do in order to increase her understanding of the spells enough to actually invoke them.
Physically, Riana stands around six feet tall and weighs in around one-hundred-thirty pounds. She is extremely fit, spending a great deal of time in physical training/conditioning. She is decptively strong for her size, with a svelt frame and great muscle tone. Her skin is the light color of an elf that spends most of her time indoors and under cover since the majority of their adventures have taken place within the city walls. She has long, dark purple hair that, when loose, hangs down to the middle of her back, although she usually keeps it up in a pony tail. She has deep violet eyes and long tapered ears that are extremely expressive of her emotions. Her facial features are delicate, with high cheek bones and thin eyebrows (also dark purple in color). She is beautiful by most standards although she would never admit it, or even think about it, and spends almost no time trying to enhance her looks in any way.
Riana is friendly and outgoing, eager to meet new people and hear their tales of adventure. She loves to sit in a tavern and munch on light snacks while watching adventurers wander in and out, telling their stories. She assumes the best about people until they prove to be unworthy of her trust and will go to great lengths for a friend or anyone in need of help.
Partway through her second year at the Magic Academy, Riana began skipping some of her classes in order to sneak out to a local fishing village where an old adventurer was teaching her the art of the sword. For several years she kept her sword practice a secret from her mother, but she knew she could not keep up the lies for long.
In her fifth year at the academy, she was playing with some enchantments in one of the academy alchemy labs when the compound she was working on exploded in her face (due to the fact that she did not remember the apropriate protection spell to keep her volatile compound in check). The result of the explosion, she was officially suspended from the academy labs and all of her hair began to grow out in a thick, dark, purple color from that day forward.
For a few months she tried dying her hair so as to hide the new color from her mother but eventually she gave up trying to keep her secret. She told her mother that she had been skipping classes in order to study sword play and stopped dying her hair. Her mother surprised her by saying she knew about the classes and further, by giving her a new, dwarven short sword that she had comissioned speciffically for Riana.
After that day, Riana spent half her day at the academy in her incantation classes (both offensive and defensive), and the other half in the fishing village with the weapon-master, learning the art of the sword. Over time she began to integrate her skills and became a true spell-sword.
The twin's adventures led them all over the northern-half of the Plain of Serenity and into the Southern Wastes. They got into a lot of trouble, but also managed to acumulate some acclaim through their adventures. During her final term at the Magic Academy, Riana spent a great deal of time and energy researching ancient languages and symbology, even going so far as to sneak into the restricted levels of the Great Library in order to formulate a series of special inks, incantations, and markings that allowed the dwarven artisan, Dinedal, to apply her magical tattoos. The markings cover the majority of her body below her neck and all appear as a series of black, interlocking, almost tribal tattoos. However when she concentrates on casting a particular spell, the tattoo that represents that spell will glow into bright, vivid color (as do her eyes) as the effect of the spell is produced. Invoking the power associated with the magical tattoos causes her to experience symptoms of physical exhaustion, increasing in severity as the power of the spell increases. The exhaustion is not so bad that it knocks her out immediatly, more like each spell having the same effect of having jogged around the base of a tree for a few minutes. The trick is that the effects are cumulative and she can wear herself out quickly if she is in physical combat and using her magic as well.
A side effect of her tattoos is that she is no longer able to cast spells through the normal means of memorizing the incantations and reciting them. Instead, she must research the spell's effects, find an appropriate marking and formulate a compatible, enchanted ink. Then she must have the mark permanently applied to her body in order to invoke the spell. When she first had the tattoos applied, she included a great many spells that she did not yet know how to control, and as a result she still has a lot of research to do in order to increase her understanding of the spells enough to actually invoke them.
Physically, Riana stands around six feet tall and weighs in around one-hundred-thirty pounds. She is extremely fit, spending a great deal of time in physical training/conditioning. She is decptively strong for her size, with a svelt frame and great muscle tone. Her skin is the light color of an elf that spends most of her time indoors and under cover since the majority of their adventures have taken place within the city walls. She has long, dark purple hair that, when loose, hangs down to the middle of her back, although she usually keeps it up in a pony tail. She has deep violet eyes and long tapered ears that are extremely expressive of her emotions. Her facial features are delicate, with high cheek bones and thin eyebrows (also dark purple in color). She is beautiful by most standards although she would never admit it, or even think about it, and spends almost no time trying to enhance her looks in any way.
Riana is friendly and outgoing, eager to meet new people and hear their tales of adventure. She loves to sit in a tavern and munch on light snacks while watching adventurers wander in and out, telling their stories. She assumes the best about people until they prove to be unworthy of her trust and will go to great lengths for a friend or anyone in need of help.