Sorshen

Valeria Skendar's page

770 posts. Alias of ShadowFighter88.


Full Name

Valeria Skendar

Race

Rakshasa-Spawn Tiefling

Classes/Levels

Arcanist 6 | HP 17/26 | AC 14 T 13 FF 12 | Ft +3 Rf +5 Wi +5 | Init +6 | Perc +5 (+7 if Xel within arm's reach)

Gender

Female

Size

Medium

Age

19

Special Abilities

Detect Thoughts 1/day

Alignment

Neutral Good

Languages

Common, Infernal, Varisian, Skald, Draconic, Elven

Strength 11
Dexterity 14
Constitution 10
Intelligence 19
Wisdom 8
Charisma 12

About Valeria Skendar

Full sheet

Appearance:
It's easy not to think much of Valeria; standing barely five feet tall many mistake her for being several years younger than she really is. She'd probably be mistaken for even younger if puberty hadn't been a touch generous in the volume department, though that has presented some problems of its own (back pains and unwanted attention, for a start).

She looks human for the most part - long, dark hair that reaches to her hips and is often kept tied back in a high ponytail and bright, golden eyes. Her tiefling traits are somewhat noticeable, however. A long, prehensile tail hangs behind her - its skin pitch-black and ending in a wide, spade-shaped head. A pair of small, vestigial horns poke out through her hair, her ears have a slightly pointed look to them, her golden eyes have vertical pupils like a cat and she also possesses small, cat-like fangs.

Normally, she wears loose robes or shirts (normally sleeveless), the latter normally accompanied by trousers or long skirts (typically with a long slit up one or both sides, mainly for freedom of movement and because it works well to keep cool in warm weather).

Her familiar, a raven simply named Xel, is rather unassuming for a raven, appearance-wise save for a streak of white feathers down his back - the result of a rather-disastrous transmutation experiment Valeria had attempted once. Fortunately, the other effect had only been temporary - brilliant-green with a turquoise beak was not a good look for a raven.

Reference for Valeria's overall build (it's the girl form Elliot transforms into)


Personality:
Valeria is lazy. The feline habit of spending all day lounging around doing bugger-all being particularly prominent in her. How she learnt magic so thoroughly, along with her other hobbies, has left a lot of people baffled, who often see her laying around at her home or taking up a couple of barstools at the Rusty Dragon (one for her backside, the other for her feet). She can be surprisingly energetic when she needs to be, though - during the goblin raid of 4707 and the giant attack later that year, she'd actively tried to help whoever she could flee to safety, using her magic to help where she could. Though it accomplished little save for ferrying the injured to safety via floating discs so her aid is quite-thoroughly eclipsed by Sandpoint's local heroes.

She is a touch self-conscious about some parts of her appearance. Her height, or lack thereof, which has constantly annoyed her. The other is her fangs - her temper as a child was quite fierce and more than a few of the town's children picked on her for her fiendish heritage. While it died off quickly, it wasn't how Valeria would have wanted it; her fangs were quite sharp even at that young age and instinct had driven her to bite her more aggressive or violent tormentors. Many in town have forgiven her for it - even most of those who'd run screaming from her while clutching at bleeding arms or legs - though a couple of youths her age still see her as a danger.

While her temper has cooled somewhat since then, it can still flare up sometimes. One drunken lout wasn't watching where he was going once and stepped on Valeria's tail. She still thinks she let him off easy with just a kick in the groin.

Xel has developed a theory as to why she seems so lazy - for several years now, Valeria has become quite the expert on coffee after a trader started bringing it up from Magnimar. While coffee normally wakes people up and makes them more alert, it seems to have almost the opposite effect on the young tiefling. While it doesn't put her to sleep, it does seem to make her very lethargic. His suggestions that she take a break from the drink for a few months has largely fallen on deaf ears.

As for Xel himself - a snarky coward is the best way to describe the raven. Whether these were natural elements that came from his intelligence being raised to sentience or aspects of Valeria's own personality grafted to the bird is unknown, even to the pair. Xel is always the first to disappear when there's even a chance of a fight breaking out near him and he refuses to say where he was hiding during the attacks of '07. Despite this; Xel's scathing, sarcastic remarks are often heard around the Rusty Dragon whenever his mistress is there. More than a few travellers have taken exception to his comments and tried to strangle the talking avian or take out their frustrations on Valeria, believing the bird to be a mere puppet. Fortunately, Valeria can run fast, knows her shortcuts and is on good terms with Ameiko, who seems to be able to calm just about any rowdy customer she has.

Speaking of Ameiko, Valeria's habit of hanging out at the Dragon is an attempt to get closer to the bartender, the subject of a long-unrequited crush of Valeria's. She has yet to take it beyond a casual greeting and the odd conversation, too afraid of rejection from any number of sources - not liking tieflings, not finding her attractive, being put off by her fangs, Xel sticking his beak in... the list goes on.


Background:
In a relatively superstitious town like Sandpoint, it's no surprise that many considered Valeria's birth to be an ill omen. Most didn't do anything about it since the town already had an aasimar and assumed her presence would counteract whatever evil Valeria could bring. By the time Nualia died in the Late Unpleasantness, though, most had realised that the tiefling was mostly harmless, barring an incident from when a group of rather rough boys were tormenting her for her heritage when she was twelve and left several with bleeding bite wounds from her fangs, a couple still have the scars today.

Valeria started practising magic when a distant cousin of hers, an older sorceress from Westcrown, had passed through. She'd been impressed by the woman's magic and delved into the books she'd left with Valeria's mother for safe-keeping, hoping to learn it herself. It was one of the few things Valeria had ever really applied herself to and the results were impressive, though her mother had often jokingly remarked about how she could apply herself like that to other things and make something of herself.