About SirinaFormerly Countess Sirina of Tondmark.
Age: 32
Theme Song: Within Temptation (feat. Tarja Turunen) - Paradise (What about us?) [on myvideo.de (official clip, HD)] [on Spotify]
Stats:
Sirina
Female Human (Taldan) Witch 1 NG Medium humanoid (human) Init +2; Senses Perception -1 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex) hp 7 (1d6+1) Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +1 -------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 30 ft. Melee dagger +1 (1d4+1/19-20) Ranged sling +2 (1d4+1) Special Attacks hexes (healing) Witch Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +6): 1st—burning hands (DC 14), mage armor 0 (at will)—detect magic, light, putrefy food and drink (DC 13) -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 12, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 13 Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 13 Feats Combat Casting, Persuasive Traits focused mind, precocious spellcaster Skills Craft (alchemy) +7, Diplomacy +4, Heal +3, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Knowledge (nature) +7, Spellcraft +7 Languages Common, Draconic, Strix, Sylvan SQ patron spells (ancestors) Combat Gear holy water; Other Gear dagger, sling, sling bullets (20), witch's kit, 1 gp, 8 sp -------------------- Special Abilities -------------------- Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive. Empathic Link with Familiar (Su) You have an empathic link with your Arcane Familiar. Familiar Bonus: +3 to Appraise checks You gain the Alertness feat while your familiar is within arm's reach. Focused Mind +2 to Concentration checks Healing (1d8+1) (Su) Use cure light wounds once per day/person. Precocious Spellcaster (Light, Burning Hands) Select one cantrip and one 1st-level spell; when you cast these spells, they function at one caster level higher than your actual caster level. Share Spells with Familiar Can cast spells with a target of "You" on the familiar with a range of touch. -------------------- Onyx
Appearance:
deviantart.com/art/that-look-Resub-due-to-stash-glitch-289246519
Sirina slender but not lean, and has the typical Taldan aristocratic features, though slightly softer than most others. She tends her hair well, but usually wears open - she just takes the time to comb it, and wouldn't feel complete without the feeling. Her outfit is a complicated selection of gathered pieces and gifts from people whose relatives she saved with her witchcraft - often charms and litte pieces of or trinkets of no real value. Consequently she looks like stereotypical witch. Her clothes are primarily chosen for practical reason, but, much to her own surprise she learned that she is not an old woman yet, many a man responds positively to her and overt witches are granted a kind of fools license when dealing with them, even though she never has gone as far as to give in to that attention. She recently dared to cut and sew a somewhat crude but well fitting black suede tube dress, with trianguar cut in the bottom's front and back side which barely covers her hip at the side but the points go down most of her thigh. A corsage, which is not really limiting but helps emphasize her breasts. Her legs and arms stick in brown leather stockings and gloves, respecively. She wears several belts bands and wraps with all kinds of trinkets and components. A dagger is strapped around her otherwise naked thigh. One strap over her shoulder is additionally padded so that her familiar can land on it. Background References
Aladra:
Aladra, f, born 67 BRH House maid, overseeing the other maid in Tondmark, Fate undeath.
Aladra was some kind of chaperone in the first years Sirina at Tondmark, watching strictly over her, so that Sirina would conduct as it was deemed apropriatly. Later she became a close friend, advisor confidant of Sirina. She was a remarkable wild child in her younger and she knew pretty much everything about how to deal with men; a knowledge which helped Sirina a lot once the two started to get closer. Chané:
A woman from Andaron, Perrik's wife. Age at the Night of Red Harvest: 22. Fate unknown.
Sirina chose her for him, after meeting her on a tournament in Taldor, three years before the Night of Red Harvest. Her father and she were there on business, and invited to the watch the tournament by the local lord. She is outstandingly beautiful, honey blonde, has bright blue eyes and well rounded. She doesn't exactly fit into the ideal of a Taldan noble since she is not as tall, has a bit too much meat to her ribs and not the clear aristocratic features - she could be rather described as cute. When Sirina noticed the way she looked at her brother, she introduced herself and the moment Chané responded to her comparably formal greeting, Sirina knew that she had found a wife for her twin brother who had abstained from the love of women for so long, for she instantly loved the woman and she knew, so would her brother. It was quite a fight for Sirina to convince first her mother and through her the father of the twins to set the two up together, since Chané wasn't noble. However, the midgift was considerable, it got them new trading connections and Chané father has considerable economic influence. Convincing Chané's family was Chané's own doing - despite his economic connections he didn't hold Taldan's in great esteem, but Chané is an outstandingly charming person by nature. Ionvik:
Sirina's former husband, the Count of Tondmark. Deceased during the Night of Red Harvest, 40 years old at that day. Perrik:
Sirina's twin brother and the single one person she loves most in the world. Paladin of Sarenrae. Age at the Night of Red Harvest: 32. Married to Chané. Fate unknown. Sirina's Children:
BRH = Before Red Harvest
Callista, f, born 14 BRH, witch in training, deceased
Tondmark:
Tondmark is the name of the a county, the house that rules it and the castle with attached village from which it is ruled.
Tondmark is a County in the northern Tandak plains, covering around 800 square miles of land which are controlled directly and 300 square males in two baronys which are ruled by vassals of Count Tondmark. The land is not particularly fertile but people get by. The most important export good is horses; good, large and robust war horses are bred on Tondmark. Adabar is the patron deity of house Tondmark. It's strictly patriarchical. Its flag is the the Silver double unicorn head with golden horns on green field. Background
Short Background:
The young Taldan noble woman was long promised to Count Ionvik of Tondmark and married him at the age of 16. She was secretly a witch from a long female line of witches, but the house of Tondmark was influenced by the teachings of Abadar, so she could not practice witchcraft overtly. Sirina was fiercely independent and wouldn't normally have cared much about her wedding oath, if she hadn't given her twin brother Perrik a promise to actually keep it. Sirina was extremely close with Perrik, who was training to become a paladin of Sarenrae and she would never break that promise given to him. The house was ruled strictly patriarchal, women are absolutely not to engage in the affairs of men and she had no power whatsoever. Her husband views her as asset, only visits her for the purpose of generating offspring, heirs in particular. The story goes on over sixteen years in which she struggled to conquer her place, tries to carve a niche and eventually adapts and transforms into the woman that the system wants her to be. She comes to terms with her life. Playing by the rules and thus helping the household and consequently the entire county has bought her some other freedom, so it was sometimes looked aside when she dealt with witchcraft. She realized that the dreams of her youth are ultimately gone and she was actually happy with her life and her marriage, as far from perfection as it may have been, it is all she had and she was making the best of it, playing the hand she had been dealt. The very day she realized she's happy precedes the Night of the Harvest. The county was destroyed, her five children died, including her 14 year old daughter who she was training as witch and introducing into circles, her eldest son, which was her husband's favorite and heir, and a her youngest baby boy, whom she accidentally choked to death herself while she's on the run. She is completely lost and just broke down waiting for death, all she still wanted is to avoid the undead getting the body of her son. But then something happens that makes her realize that she had not only kept, but fulfilled her wedding oath, which was termed 'until death divorces you'. She was no longer bound by the promise that kept her. The Red Harvest had taken everything that was important to her in her life, but had also freed her of the promise that made her abandon her dreams of her youth - on the very day she ultimately surrendered them. It granted her a tabula rasa. In a somewhat unstable mental state the now 32 years old woman started walking, looking for her brother and his wife. Full Background:
Sirina held her breath and watched the figures approaching in the short dark dawn of these grey days. "You will not have him - and if I have to become an undead spirit myself." This group was dragging a cart. They even had a mule. That was the first. But she could see their rags and their limping walk against the grey, soon to be black sky.
They knew it. They walked straight to it. But she would burn them if they tried to dig him out; her mind had never been so clear, her power never that strong and she had never been so determined than until this very moment. Behind a pile of rubble she had burried her youngest son Lirron. It was like fate was mocking her. Forcing her to become a different person, breaking her and just when she found herself, it had taken everything. Before the darkness came, she had been the Countess of Tondmark, a county in Taldor. For a long time the sorceress had struggled with her lot in life, being married to the Count Ionvik of Tondmark, a patriarch who cared more about his horses and the hunt than his wife. She never wanted any of it. She had been a prisoner in the pleasant castle and it had been a long time until she had realized it wasn't her husband who kept her entrapped there, it was herself. It had taken the romantic, rebellious girl she had been a long time abandon her dreams and play the hand she had been given; but eventually she managed to keep her promise that she had once given to her twin brother Perrik, the paladin, to stay true to her wedding oath. The oath itself had never meant much to her, but the promise to Jalarin to keep it was what mattered. It wasn't a sudden change. Her first two children had given her something to care about that was more important than herself. She tried to adapt, but really was still trying to bend the rules of this country to her will; she wanted her husband to see her as an equal, engage in politics, help him. It was a disaster. As a woman she was left out of the loop, she had had no way of learning important coherences and interests that drove the parties in Taldor and consequently commited a terrible faux pas and ridiculed not only herself but her husband. And of course the stuck up lords of the gathering she busted only saw it as further evidence that women had no place in politics. Ionvik had a lengthy talk with her after that; well, he walked up and down her room in the mansion and lectured her like a child. And like a child she knew nothing better than then to keep her head low and listen quietly. She was a witch of an ancient tradition, passed on in her family from the mother to one of her daughters. And many of the women before her had been powerful in the circles secretly roaming in Taldor. She herself was quite capable, but witchcraft was not something that was tolerated in house above which a flag with the sign of Abadar was waving in the wind right below the flag of the Double Unicorn. The only reason why she hadn't been forbidden to engage in witchcraft, let alone been punished for it, was that no one even dared to talk about it or accept what was obviously in front of their eyes. She was a proud woman, now reduced to he helpless little girl. She wanted to escape, she wanted out, but she had her children to care about and she had given a single one promise that actually meant something to her. For about four years she just faded. Hardly ever leaving her rooms, eating only absolutely what's necessary and even leaving the feeding of her youngest daughter to a fostress. One day, when she was eating quietly in the dining hall and wished nothing but for another day to end, she overheard a conversation that came up from the kitchen. The walls were thick, but the quiet was so intense that she could have heard it from miles away. A young maid was afraid for her son, who had a high fever, and none of the teas and herbs helped. There was an indication between the lines that she did believe in some of the old ways before she joined in a household under Abadar's law. It was not that Sirina had made any plans, or even knew what she was doing - she just put her spell components, herbs, mortars and the thing she had in a private room, the one that no one would dare to enter, into a bag and demanded to see the boy. Her voice had been coarse, she had hardly spoken in days. It took her a while since her abilities were rusty. But she saved his life, careless of who would notice that she was a witch. After that, she just went back to her rooms in the castle to just continue to exist until her days were over. But the people of the castle wouldn't just abandon her after saving a boy's life. An old matron, the eldest of the maids, and the one that had been primarily responsible for watching her and see that she behaved as the master expected in her first two years on the castle. Aldara had been her name, even though Sirina know that Aladra was now one of the wandering dead, she hoped for her to rest in peace. Aldara talked to Sirina, carefully, tried to get through to her. She had had little respect for her rebellious ways at first, but now she seemed to see things from a different perspective. Sirina told her everything that moved her, including her brother. The old woman nodded and gave her a simple advice. Despite the grave situation and the undead who were coming for the body of her son right now, a brief smile flashed over Sirina's face. "Just fake it." That had been her advice. Just fake to be the coy, submissive damsell that her husband wanted. Never aggressively try to attract him, but always submit to him. She knew a surprising amount of tricks to manipulate men without them ever realizing it. Just fake to not be interested in politics, but weddings, birthes, knit patterns, singing songs; things that were deemed appropriate for women. She tried, full of secret defiance, but she tried. And she did with quite success; her husband visited her more often and it was less unpleasant when he did. The people around the castle started to look to her and she started to gain some control, without even deliberately trying, about the household that had been her prison until then. And she realized that her change in behavior affected not only the household, but the situation of the house in Taldor positively, giving her husband a home that was truly ready for him. Her conversations with Aldara became a constant institution and when she finally was ready to admit that she had truly surrend herself and all her dreams and desires, that she was not faking anymore but actually cared about all these things, Aldara simply said "I know". She participated actively in the meetings of the noble women of her region of Taldor and tried her best to fake interest in their petty affairs and ridiculous schemes. And, while her seeming change of heart was surprising, she found some careful acceptance over time and a lot of support by her own mother, with whom she referred more often now. Sirina started to pull strings among the society of women, arranged for her brother, who was still unmarried, to be set up with a blood young, radiantly beautiful Andaron girl. It was a bit more tricky with her husband, but she did actually learn ways to make him enjoy her company - something she previously rather avoided, but it did feel good to be desired, if not respected as a partner. Aladra's counsel was invaluable at this and she spared absolutely no detail when she was alone with her friend. A week ago, the day before the Night of Red Harvest, she was standing on top of that tower, now black and half ruined. and for the first time when she watched the pennants of her husband riding back to the castle, she found herself actually longing for him. She had become a woman that the woman she had been would despise and look down upon. Molded by circumstances at the whim of a man and the traditions of this region of Taldor. Surrendered all power, surrendered all pride. And found the same in new ways. But for that very moment, unknowing that doom was already upon her, she was happy. She could have fared worse. She was a noble woman, the truth was that the lot in life was sealed with birth for pretty much everyone in Taldor and she picked a pretty good one. She had five healthy children, her youngest son, the one whose grave she was guarding right now, in her arms back then on the tower. She had her own network of friends, had a good idea which house had daughters which might become suitable for her sons and a very good overlook about all the things that were deemed appropriate for a woman. She was actually pretty good at these "petty" woman schemes, which affected the fate of the world no less than the marching armies of men. She knew what was going on in her county, had a good feeling for the simple people and the conflicts between them and the problems the household might have to face in the future. She had no direct power, but with a word here and an encouragement there she could help the county thrive. And she was actually happy giving her husband a home. Then the darkness came. She had been asleep and she was surprised to find her bed empty - it was a new custom, but when her husband was home they usually remained together in her rooms and she didn't have to tell herself that she liked it anymore, she just did. She knew right away that something was wrong, even before she heard the screams and the sound of the weapons. She didn't hesitate but ran right for the baby and then she went on to look for the other children. The first she found was Callista, her eldest daughter. Dead - she had tried to fight them with her own, but all to limited witchcraft. And what 'them' was she realized a moment later. The walking dead, the people of her household, killed and reanimated, longing for the flesh of her son. The very people that served her all those years, some of which where her friends, all of which respected her, had died and where now trying to feed on every living thing, coming for her baby. She didn't know how long she ran, searching for a survivor. A group of guardsmen who were still alive found her eventually and fought to give her space to run. All her children, except the one she was holding were dead and so she ran. She could hear the yells of the guards when they were overrun and found their death. She ran for a long while, trying to stay away from the dead until she kept her breath... and realized that her son wasn't breathing. She had clutched him too tight to her breast and choked him. She collapsed where she was standing and waited until death caught up with her. But when the first undead approached and her all her mind was consumed by a single one though: "You will not have him." It had been completely insane, she had no combat experience whatsoever, beyond the training that belongs to becoming a witch. And the undead were immune to enchantments witch made them less of suspect to witchcraft. Still she the powers she had to empower herself and destroyed the group of three undead; all former members of the household, one of them a friend. Since then she had been luring restlessly, trying to commune with her cat for new spells and waiting. And now was the time again. She jumped out of her hiding place, avoiding too much noise, rushed forward, the dagger in one hand let fire blaze from her hands. In the light of the fire. In the light of the fire she saw that they actually alive and jumping in panic to all sides. "Hey easy, lady. We're not dead yet!" One of the men tried to say and stepped shakily a bit between her and the women, but without much conviction. The teeth in his mouth were foul and he had the stench of the undead, but he was indeed alive under the thick dirt. "What do you want with my son?" she hissed at them in furious rage. "Your son? Why, is he one of the walking dead? We don't even know who you are! Leave us alone you crazy..." "Countess Tondmark, you ignorant bastards. If it isn't my son what do you want here?" The man laughed drily, and the laugh succumbed to a cough. "The Witch Countess. Should have known that the witch prevailed the reaping. Listen, lady, unless your husband is still alive - and undead doesn't count - your not countess anymore. They did tell you 'until death divorces you' when you married, didn't they? And from the looks of it there is no county anymore. So just do your crazy stuff elsewhere. We don't know about your son, how should we?" Sirina froze, unable to move. They didn't even notice them walking away. Something worked in her mind but it did have time to come to the surface, her rage and the grief for the loss of her children left little space for though. 'Until death divorces you'. She fulfilled her promise that she had given to her twin brother, and she was now free. So many conflicting feelings raced in her and for a while she just laughed and cried madly. She had married when she was 16. Now she was 32. Exactly half her life she had spent adapting what was first a nightmare to her and sacrificed her dreams. Now a real nightmare pulled over the world, took everything that meant anything from her away, took the children which were her life... and set her free. The despair was as crushing as the heat between her thighs was real. She could go look for her brother again - she didn't know what she would do if she was to find him, she was her brother after all and the perverse lust never outweighed the nausea from even thinking of touching him; and she knew that he had always felt the same way. And she sincerely he and the wife she had picked for him were well. But she just felt the two of them, the witch and the paladin, were two sides of the same coin, they weren't meant to be separated. For hours she remained sobbing and laughing hysterically on the floor, stood up and walked away, never casting a single one look book at the castle which had been the prison that broke her. Religion:
While it may seem like an unlikely choice, she is a true believer in the virtues of Sarenrea. She didn't make the choice alone, when the were young Perrik and Sirina discussed the gods and which one was truely noble at heart. Sarenrea used to be a compromise between Perrik's favoured Iomedae and Sirina's Shelyn. But it was both their common secret to revere a god that was far from being popular in Taldor, something that bound the two. With time lip service and studies became true faith. Sirina believes in the light, the sun, goodness of heart, kindness to others and striving what one truly believes is right. Personality:
The shock of loosing her entire family runs deep in her and for the first few days suicide was all she had in mind if it wasn't for the wish to prevent the undead from having the body of his last born son. The company of her arcane familiar and the realization that she acquired a strange kind of freedom was what helped her keep it together, but she is still mentally unstable.
She is a capable witch, though, and she knows it. She believes in Sarenrae and finds undead an abomination of life that fill her with disgust. When confronting undead she knows no fear, only anger and she confronts them with the same conviction a cleric of Sarenrea would. She would gladly destroy the last one of them; that wouldn't give her her family back, but peace of true death. In the first days since the Night of Red Harvest she tried to act solitary. She was afraid that now that there was no nobility anymore commoners would use the nobles to blame for the apocalypse. The same goes for her being a witch. But she could not deny the responsibility that came with her witchcraft, the healing power in particular. Whenever and wherever she could she tried to help people out, if only to disappear soon after. She is phyiscally in a good shape, particularly for a noblewoman, but she has little experience with surviving in the wilderness. So eventually she joined groups of survivors and socializing helped her regain sanity. She is, after all, a charming woman, and in these times few people hold back their dark secrets. She found easily that a witch who does wield some power is ready welcomed and gatherers readily share what they find in turn for protection, healing and cleansing of their food and water. By now she found much of her lost pride back. The thought that still drives her is learning the fate of her twin brother and his good sister. Perrik embodies the ideal of a man in her eyes and the two have always been closely connected. She is afraid of what she might learn, though. Men are a complicated matter for her. She knows she shouldn't give up on that part of life, but, while she was good at picking men for others and had a good idea of which men came in question for her daughter, making an own choice for herself is something she has never done before. She never simply flirted with anyone throughout her life. With the exception of her own husband and he was not receptive to flirting attempts. |
