Work in progress: basic overview, description (except for obvious weapons- still choosing), personality, partial history (birth up to beginning of "apprenticeship"). I have put in a few background details of Helmanorian culture/folklore and appearance- let me know if these can stay or if they contradict "known" traits and should be changed (these points are marked in blue for now). Stats and the rest of her history are in progress while I tinker with her precise role.
Name: Thea (Emalthea Vansair)
Race: Human (Helmanor)
Class/level: Rogue 1
Alignment: CG
Role: Face, scout, (?combat or combat support?)
Description: Like most Helmanorian humans, Thea is short and lightly built- in that fell country, the hobgoblins (or the slaves) do the heavy labor. In fact, she is a bit undersized even by those standards- she is barely five feet tall and slender, weighing just over 100 pounds. She is graceful and quick, and surprisingly strong for her size. She has black hair, worn in a short mop of ragged curls, and pale skin that never seems to tan no matter how much sun she gets. Her facial features are a bit sharp, and her eyes are a startling vibrant green, indicating some hint of elven blood. She typically has a wide and endearing smile, though in bad situations this can turn into a rather unconvincing sneer.
Thea usually prefers nondescript dark-colored clothing- soft boots, close-fitting trousers, and a reinforced leather jacket over a plain shirt. Her sleeves are tightly laced to keep them from interfering in tasks that require manual dexterity, and she usually wears an oversized floppy hat.
Personality: Thea is a perky, upbeat sort of person, generally inclined to see the good side of people or circumstances- she can also be more than a bit reckless. When things take turn for the worse, she may display a streak of sharp-tongued sarcasm, but such bouts are typically short-lived- as soon as get better, she quickly reverts to her cheerful self. Her primary motivation is curiosity- she is often eager to try new things or explore new places. Her curiosity is often strongest when the object or information in question is something that she is supposed to avoid. She tends to be a bit wary around practitioners of arcane magic, or arcane effects, and she is quite cautious around the undead. Those things are about the only instances where her caution outweighs her reckless curiousity.
History: While many years of evil and depredation have all but eliminated the elven folk from the island of Helmanor, many of the human folk there seem to carry some tiny ancestral hint of elvish blood- perhaps this is somehow tied to the high rate of magical ability among the populace, which helps insure a constant stream of new blood for the spellcasting armies of the mage-lords. The common folk know little of such theories though- but they do say that the birth of a green-eyed child is a bad omen, and such children are usually taken away by the mage-lords to be “properly educated”.
Esric and Deanna were simple folk who managed to live well enough as minor servants in the castle of a powerful mage-lord. But when their daughter was born with vivid green eyes, they could not face the thought of losing her- nor could they face their master’s terrible temper if such a prize were denied to him. So they fled into the night, hoping to leave their homeland behind. The journey was an arduous one, and Esric and Deanna were quickly separated- somehow Esric managed to escape with his daughter, and they found passage on a trading ship bound for Avonleigh. He did not know for sure what had happened to Deanna, but he feared the worst- and no matter how often his daughter asked, he refused to speak of her mother. The memories, and his own fears, were simply too painful. Despite his silence, though, he still could not let the matter die completely- within a year of his arrival in one of Avonleigh’s bustling ports, he had set up a clean and well-run tavern. Located just outside the port district, his inn catered to successful merchants and ships’ officers rather than common sea-dogs. He kept his ears open for rumors, and he never failed to ask travelers if they had heard any good news out of Helmanor. In truth, he was secretly hoping that his beloved wife was still alive, and that somehow she might send word to him.
Thea knew nothing of her father’s hopes, and little enough of her true homeland. Esric always emphasized to her the bad aspects of Helmanor- he had lost his wife there, and he could not stand to lose his daughter as well. He also tried to make Thea dread the idea of arcane magic as much as he did. In this he was only partially successful. The years passed, and Thea began to grow from a child into a young woman. She was quite clever, and in time her father realized she would not want to be a simple tavern-keeper, so he made what arrangements he could for her education.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
