Aula Heartpiercer's page

Aula is a slender young woman, with the typical chelaxian dark hair cut short. The pale skin of her face and arms has acquired the tanned sheen of the sailors and spots multiple small scars, mark of all the bullying she had to face. Her back and face are criss-crossed by whip marks that have badly healed and sometime still bleed. She wears baggy sailors trousers and over-shirt under a well designed studded leather armor whose marks and colors has been carefully erased.

Her shattered ideal and treatment at the hand of the chelaxian Navy has turned Aula into a more cynic personality. While she can be outspoken and brash, she is not as naive as she used to be and does not hesitate to use her damage face and newfound assurance to have her way. She also has a weak spot for bullied people and will try to protect them as best as she can. She also does not take well threats to herself and faced with them, either recoils and seeks revenge later or explodes in fury. But she never forgets or forgives.

Aula Heartpiercer is a pure blooded chelaxian. She was born 19 years ago in a well off noble family closely related to house Henderthane and in the business of military supplies for generations. As the youngest of four by far and only girl, she was constantly emulating her brothers, trying to be as fast, as strong and as tough as them. As they grew up, her three elders brothers joined a military academy to integrate the Chelaxian army as officers. The first two, Marcellus and Severus decided to join the army, while the third one, Braccus chose the navy as a marine officer. Aged only of 15, she thought her road all traced. As her brothers, she would join a military academy and be a loyal officer and spread the might of Cheliax to all these uncultured barbarians.

Begging information form her brothers and their friends, she carefully selected her academy and, full of confidence, approched her parents with her plan: like Braccus, she would be a marine an protect the seas of her homeland. The answer was short and clear: she was going to be a nice girl and marry one of her fathers business partners. If her brothers did not want to take over the family business, it was their choice as the military was a good carrier. However, as her father explained is a few short sentences, she would keep the business in the family, willing or not. The shock was huge but Aula knew better than to openly oppose her parents. Planning her escape from her traced destiny, she waited for a marine recruitment campaign to happen in a nearby town and enlisted under a false name. She trusted her abilities to raise through the ranks to what her social position should be. The first months were quick to deflate her ego. Gone was the nice house with all the servants and slaves, gone were the individual tutors or the well prepared meals. As every one, she had to learn to crawl, climb, jump, and swim but despite being one of the youngest, she found herself at ease on a ship deck or high in the rigging. And they were not even allowed to touch a weapon. When eventually they did, the training with her brothers showed and at last she could impress her officers.

After a full year of classes, she was eventually affected to a real ship, the Deep Avenger, a fast Chelaxian cutter built to fight of the fast ships of the Shackle's pirates. The company was good except for a veteran sergeant who took a particular interest on her. Not very skilled in this domain, Aula tried to spurn the vet's advances, but did so in front of half her company. Humiliated, the sergeant swore to make her pay and from that day, Aula's life turned to hell. She only got the worst tasks, found herself constantly harassed, groped and insulted by fellow marines. Trying to go through normal channels to complain was just met by careless dismissals and even more harassment and she found herself alone as all her « friends »deserted her to protect themselves.

In Aula, the lawful and idealist chelaxian, something snapped, something more powerful than she thought welled up to the surface. One day, as the sergeant had once again cornered her in a small gangway, instead of covering, she felt all her dark thoughts condensate and she leapt at him, one hand outstretched as if to strangle him. Laughing, the sergeant swatted her hands aside, only to suddenly stagger, and drop to his knees. His hands went to his chest, trying to remove the cutlass she had taken from his belt and stuck through his heart. The shock of what she did was so strong that Aula lost consciousness. She was found there covered by the dead sergeant's blood. With ample proofs of her crime, she could not but be formally condemned to death. However, thinking she could have accomplices, the captain had her tortured to extract every thing he could and learned of her birth. Suddenly afraid of her family ties and of the repercussions Aula's death could have on his career, he decided to delay the execution until their return but had her repeatedly whipped within inches of her life. One day, as she was brought back from her almost daily flogging, one of her guardians slipped and Aula managed to escape and throw herself overboard, miles from the closest shore.

By the time the officers had realized she was gone, the boat was far away. And as she had almost no chances of making it, they decided that turning back to find her was not worth it. Left alone to drown, half-maddened by the pain of the flogging, Aula did not surrender. Using hidden resources, she swam on until Besmara's luck put her in the path of a drifting timber, the last witness of a shipwreck. With her last strenght, she tied herself to it with her belt and kept afloat.
A few days later, the timber was pushed on a trading route and she was found, barely alive by the Silent Wind, a Shackle's privateer.

Nursing her health back, Aula re-payed her saviors by serving on the ship for a year learning to escape her former navy around the Eye of Abendego. Then, jumping ships, she crossed the Shackles, and eventually reached Port Peril, the home of the Shackle's pirates. Without illusions, she knows her life has been wretched from her hands but she can still have her revenge. And there is a long list. She will see the death of all the Deep avenger's crew, one by one. She just need to find a ship.