Anlessa Kowan's page

Anlessa Kowan never knew her family well. Not really, anyway. Born to Varisian commoners in Korvosa, Anlessa’s parents never entirely cared for her. Far too caught up in their own personal quests for wealth and easy living, Anlessa was more often than not treated as a burden, rather than a child. More raised by the neighboring families whose children she spent time with than her own kin, it was only a matter of time before Anlessa started taking more desperate measures to get her parents attention.

Various tricks, stunts, and instance of acting out would fail to accomplish this goal, and in her eleventh year, in a huff of childish anger, Anlessa declared she was leaving, never to return. It seemed like the perfect plan at the time, surely her neglectful parents would notice her absence and lament the vanishing of her daughter, at which point, she’d return and bask in their adoration! ll she had to do was hide out for a week at a friend’s house, spy on her parents and wait for their reaction, just to return home when things seemed bleakest.

But like so many things before it, the plan didn't turn out the way Anlessa had expected. She snuck around from house to house, watching her parents, waiting for a reaction to her disappearance… but that reaction never came. Life continued on for her parents as they continued to gamble and bet away their money in search of a greater fortune, as if they’d never had a daughter at all - and almost seemed to welcome the fact that she was gone, from what the young girl could overhear of their conversations with neighbors.

Heartbroken and riddled with disappointment and a strange guilt for even being born, this time Anlessa resolved to leave for real. Closing in on her twelfth birthday, she stole some supplies from her parent’s house while they were away, and set out with the intention of stowing away in a caravan, hopefully to find a better life somewhere else. But as her luck would have it, that didn't go as planned either. Just a day out from town, she was found, and the caravan owners were ready to toss her to the dirt and move on.

Such is likely what would've happened if it hadn't been for the timely intervention of an tiefling, an older man named Lianrix. Claiming the child as his burden in order to prevent her from being cast out into the wild, the tiefling paid her way and took her to his cart. Surprised by the man’s actions but unwilling to let the generosity go to waste, Anlessa followed, curious as to why the man had paid for her ride. Lianrix was similarly curious to what a child such as herself was doing stowing away on a caravan. Though reluctant at first, Anlessa told her story to what turned out to be a sympathetic ear, and unwilling to turn the young girl out into the growing cold upon their arrival at his destination, he offered to take her under his wing.

There was one stipulation, though - that no matter what happens from there on out, Anlessa had to keep her chin up. He couldn't stand to see the child sad, and he wasn't going to stand for it as long as he was around. Forcing a smile, Anlessa accepted without hesitation, eager to have someone who seemed to enjoy having her around. While not quite an adventurer, the places Lianrix would take Anlessa over the next two years would prove vastly interesting to the growing young girl. After ending up in Lianrix’s original destination of Magnimar, his homestead, the pair traveled constantly around Varisia and to points east and south as far as the borders of Numeria and Cheliax, all while the colds began to settle in in earnest.

Lianrix would often claim that he saw some promise in her, some nebulous prowess that she didn’t entirely believe was there, and was simply an adult justifying why he had plucked a runaway off the streets. She didn’t care either way, since the tiefling gave her something she had desperately craved for her entirely childhood - attention and acknowledgement. She was rarely not at his side, even if it meant having to stare down someone much bigger than her, hands on her hips and eyes narrowed until she seemed like more than just a petulant child.

It would end all too soon, however. Just at the beginning of her fourteenth year, while the pair was preparing to head home from one last trip before settling in for some time, the group they had traveled with came under attack from a group of tengu while returning home to Magnimar. It was unknown to Anlessa what their reason was, but it quickly became clear that they aimed to wipe out every last one of the travelers. Wounded in the chaos, Lianrix tried to get her to leave him behind, but she would have none of it. While the attack would peter off with the arrival of marshaling forces, it would come too late - Lianrix would die of his wounds before he could get proper treatment.

Alone in the world once more, fought the urge to hurl herself to the hells below, instead remembering what Lianrix had worked so hard to hammer into her head - that no matter what happens, things get better, and she had to keep her head up. Making her way back to what had been Lianrix’s home, it’s only a short time later that she is found by Hokuto, and without much else to do, she agrees to go with her, just as she had Lianrix before her.

Life has taught Anlessa Kowan many lessons, but perhaps chief among them are to tackle her problems head on, and to stay steadfast in the face of adversity and stay optimistic – everything will work out eventually, right? As such, Anlessa is an energetic and active girl, often one to jump to a challenge with enthusiasm and fervor - even at her young age, there is a fire in this tomboy’s eyes. But despite this ready-to-go approach to life and her apparently cheerful attitude, the last several years haven’t exactly made her the most personable individual; she may go through life with a smile, but she can be brusque, brash, and sometimes even a bully all without ever realising it. Stronger than appearances may lead one to believe, for her faults she is strong of will and surprisingly savvy , fighting constantly against the hard edge survival and hardship have tried to make her walk.

While her cheerful demeanor isn't a facade - it is truly how she acts and feels - that doesn't mean she is above having "cracks" in her pleasant moods, and can on occasion on a whim seem to flip into moods of directionless anger or uninhibited sadness. She tries her best to keep those around her from being victim to these mood swings, but you never can be sure when that switch might flip...

There is little that stands about about Anlessa to the eye, and she knows it. Tall for her age, with long black hair running down her back, for the most part Anlessa looks like any other slightly dirty and unkempt youth. Dirt or soot often rests on her hands and cheeks, most likely from whatever she managed to get herself into that particular day. She is of athletic build, somewhat out of necessity, and the tall, slender appearance she often gives off can hide a surprising amount of strength.