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Alma Kersley


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Alma Kersley

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(A. Kersley, head acquisitioner of Arbor, 1666)

((art is mine, btw))

Theme?

Spoiler

 

 


~Essentials~

Name: Alma Kersley

Age: born in 1628, because of the way humans age she looks roughly 25-30 year old

Gender: Female

Race: Human, highlander

Quirks: 

+ Seasoned mariner. Alma is skilled in naval affairs, including navigation and ship maintenance.

- Inept soldier. Alma isn't very capable in any kind of combat, especially melee. That does not mean, however, that she is a pacifist.

- Fearful of death. Alma is obsessed with overcoming death and, as a result, is horrified of it.

= Macabrist. Alma is gravitated towards the mystic and macabre. She is interested in dark arts and necromancy, but tries to conceal it from others. Also, her sense of humor is rather awkwardly dark and cruel.

= Pretender. Alma is, generally, not a very good person. She hides her negative traits behind a mask of politeness and integrity, letting her guard down only when she does not fear consequences of doing so.

Archetype:

Explorer, a bit of the Magician. She strives to unfold universe’s most covert secrets, those concerning matters of life and death.  Simultaneously, Alma aims to be free from any kind of conformities/attachments/moralities and to be true to herself and herself only, to live in a way that befits her wishes the most and offers no hindrance. (check this for further reference)

Alignment:

Chaotic Neutral/Lawful Evil. From the former Alma inherits individualism and a specific type of freedom, which dictates her to stay loyal only to herself and use such categories as ‘good’ or ‘evil’ for her own whim, to succeed herself in the society, but never to hinder her. From the latter Alma inherits innate strive to use law and orderly society to her own benefits, regardless of whether they are malicious or not. She tends to use law/order as a protective measure from those who could oppose/confront her on moral grounds, therefore Alma aims to impose and bend any form of order whenever she can. (check this for further reference)

 

 

 


~Physical appearance~

Height: 174 cm (5’8.5”).

Weight: 66-69 kg (145-149 lbs).

Skin: Pale white.

Hair: Black, a bit more than shoulder length. Tied into a bun with a few strands sticking out.

Eyes: Light-blue, more grayish than not.

Other defining features/extra anatomy: Has a burn mark in the form of … on her right palm;

Habits:

- tends to shrug a lot;

- accustomed to greet people with a specific bow (basically this minus the outstretched leg);

Gestures/Mannerisms: 

- unconsciously hides her gloved hand behind her back when lies or when around nobility/superiors;

- rubs her chin when is interested in something;

- raises her chin when confronted/threatened;

- squints and frowns when suspicious/wary;

- crosses her legs when sitting;

- assumes a ‘oh really’ pose/expression when suspects someone of lies. This includes crossing her arms over her chest and/or raising an eyebrow;

- throws her arms a lot when angry/frustrated;

Demeanor/Carriage/Gait: 

Alma lacks common feminine gait (swaying hips, placing feet on a straight line, bending arms and extending them to the sides etc), unless she assumes it on purpose (which she almost never does). When focused, she tends to minimize her arm movements and half-turn sideways when she walks. Otherwise her moves are relaxed, without being too feminine or masculine alike.

When around nobility she tends to straighten herself, placing her feet closely together, and raising her chin. In addition, she overdoes bows and courtesies.

When angry/frustrated she tends to rub the bridge of her nose or forehead, gesticulate sharply, throw her hands to her front/sides/upwards.

Voice: 

Her voice is calm and steady. It wouldn’t give away that she is lying, most of the times. (basically something like Bastila Shan here but may change if I find better example) 

Normally she tends to complicate her speech in a semi-aristocratic manner, although she couldn’t help herself but slip a few pirate-ish words (aye, bugger, cap’n etc.) into her language. When she becomes angry/threatened her speech becomes more pirate-like than aristocratic.

Style: Ranging between elegant and restricted. (Eh?)

Clothing: 

She wears mostly travelling attire: knee-high leather boots, patched up pants, a worn gambeson with a cotton shirt under it. Her right hand is always gloved, left – rarely so. She wears bracelets with odd inscriptions on each of her arms.

 


~Personality~

~~Part I: Essentials~~

Loves/Favorites: 

- witnessing how seemingly good people show the worst part of their nature;

- steering a ship, especially during storm;

- listening to/telling horror stories;

Hates:

- alcohol and profuse alcohol drinkers;

- overly honorable/religious people;

- hopeless optimists;

- insects, worms and other squirmy abominations;

Hobbies:

- eavesdropping on rumors and dramas;

- mapmaking;

- drawing ships/planning her own ship designs;

- organizing and reorganizing her notes/journals;

 Talents/Skills: 

- journeyman carpenter;

- capable mariner;

- rookie swordfighter (1 lesson from Max Braveheart);

- basic first aid (1 lesson from Vitalius Maarsen);

- wannabe watermancer (being taught by Morgan Hallowfall);

 Hopes/Dreams:

- to get her own ship and crew;

- to live forever;

Fears/Nightmares:

- death (duh);

- drowning in the sea of bugs/worms;

Best Quality: Judicious. She is inclined to think things through and come up with the best approach. You won’t see her being reckless or act hastily. 

Greatest Flaw: Selfish. She is rather indifferent about others. Her interest in other people is dictated by how useful they can be to her. She may hold the ‘good person‘ façade for a while, but if someone knows her long enough – they will see through it.

Strengths:

+ Sharply minded. She has witnessed people lie and lied herself a plenty. Her shady line of work in the past made her attuned to subtle things about the ways people talk and gesture.

+ Agile. The sea does not pity those feeble and weak, who gets easily sore! Climbing the rigging, lowering sails, rowing boats: she has done plenty and could do plenty more.

Weaknesses:

- Inept at combat. She took every opportunity she had to avoid fighting. Even if she knows which side of the sword to grab, or how to do a convincing stance, she simply has little to no experience in melee, archery and hand-to-hand combat (and wearing armor exhausts her very very rapidly).

- Easily bored. When she is not interested in things, she can’t pretend otherwise. She will have a hard time reading a book irrelevant to her goals and hobbies, she will slack on a job in which she has little point and interest doing, she will zone out of conversation that bores her. This hinders her learning to some degree and makes her a hard pupil to teach in some occasions.

Quirks (secondary):

= Secretive. No matter what clothes/armor she wears, she always seems to cover her right arm;

= Hands off. Gets angry and annoyed when people touch her in a frivolous manner without her permission (which she never gives);

= Insomnious. Tries to sleep as little as she can to avoid missing her already not too long life;

- Arthropod hater. Can’t stand bugs/worms and everything remotely similar/related to them;

- Moderately paranoid. Assumes worst of people and always stays on her guard. Believes in conspiracy theories;

= Picky with colors. Tends to choose blue-ish or black-grey attire;

- Resentful. Never forgives and never forgets unless she receives a sufficient apology;

= Night owl. Acts and thinks faster after dusk;

= Casual liar. Lies about unimportant things simply to test her skills;

+ Navigator. She knows her way around and can always figure out where north lies. Geographically aware;

= Pessimistic. The world is grim and full of anguish;

= No, you. Tends to answer a question with a question;

 One thing he/she is and one thing he/she is not:

Polite but not kindhearted.

What he/she wants (ex: move towards) and doesn’t want (ex: move away from, avoid):

+ She wants to get high standing in the society, or, as another option, to become powerful enough to create and support her own small society, a group of loyal comrades/servants;

- She does not want to simply form a family and give up her life and dreams in order to raise her children properly;

+ She moves towards getting her own ship and participating in naval trade/combat;

+ She doesn’t mind affecting political situation in subtle ways, perhaps becoming an advisor/ambassador or even a spy/assassin. Anything that gives her power but keeps her out of sight is a plus;

- She avoids fighting on foot and joining regular armies. She can't imagine herself participating in full scale wars for the rest of her life;

 

~~Part II: In-depth analysis~~

How does the character picture himself/herself?

- Good liar and impersonator;

- Shrewd and perceptive, able to see through other people’s lies;

- Looks and talks like a person of high standing/has a very good manners;

 How do others see him/her?

- Sly, secretive and insincere;

- Insensitive and coldhearted;

Five adjectives that he/she would use to describe his/herself: Cunning, judicious, insightful, resourceful, adaptable.

Five adjectives others would use to describe him/her: Shrewd, insensitive, reliable, polite, damsel.

Most valued possession:

Darkest secret and/or treasured memory:

Most proud accomplishment and or greatest failure:

+ Sailed the seas on a proper ship;

- Got imprisoned because her lies failed her;

Is he/she motivated by possibility or necessity? She considers finding a way to escape death her biggest necessity and an only true goal to pursue. Any other things she do are either meant to aid her in the main goal, or to conceal her true intentions.

Current motivation: Ultimate survival, which is complemented by gaining power.

How does he/she view the future and/or the past?

- She either views herself finding a way to live forever through dark magic, or simply dying of old age, slipping into oblivion;

- She regrets not starting to learn about life, death and souls earlier;

- She regrets being a human in opposition to other long-living races;

 What is his/her philosophy on life and death?

Alma views death rather simply: it is the end of consciousness, personality and being. Therefore, death is not an option for her. No matter how hard, horrible or twisted her existence becomes, she intends to grasp it tightly and never let go, because ‘life is suffering, and if you don’t like to suffer as much as you like pleasure, you don’t like living’.

 What kind of energy level do they usually have? Calm, more rarely tired and somber; 

How does he/she show and/or handle: love, affection, grief, pain, anger, sadness, conflict, change, loss?

- Love does not interest her much, because it leads to nothing of which she wants to achieve;

- She abstains herself from being affectionate, because she wants to be ready to sacrifice everyone on her way to get what she wants. Although, sometimes she can’t help herself to consider someone a friend, even if she tries to convince herself otherwise;

- Being selfish and insensitive, Alma rarely feels grief, unless towards her relatives and very close friends. She will portray grief on public, however, to blend in and appear as a good person;

- Pain angers her and boils her blood. She will try to overcome it until she loses conscience;

- Alma gets irritated or vindictive, rather than angry. If pushed over her limits, however, she will cuss like a hardened mariner and attempt to mutilate the offender in the most cruel way possible, physically or psychologically;

- She succumbs to apathy and despair when she sees no way for her to progress towards her goals, or if she feels that world is moving on without her and time is slipping by aimlessly;

- Alma is the kind of person that would try to solve conflicts without being exposed to danger. She prefers talking her way out of sticky situations by lying, threatening, deceiving and bargaining with her opponents. In a verbal conflict she will try to expose her opponent’s flaws and use the ‘ad hominem’ on him/her;

- Alma has travelled for a long time from place to place, having no home besides a bunk on the lower deck. She is not tied to anything and anyone in particular, even if she does not appear so. She is not a stranger to changes, you could even say that she is used to them;

Does he/she have a temper? The little temper Alma has she conceals well enough from anybody.

How does he/she respond to the surrounding world, the ‘unfamiliar,’ and other people in general?

Alma is cautious of others and tends to assume the worst about people, allowing them to slowly grow in her eyes afterwards. She will conceal her true intentions, origin, manners etc. at first, testing and attuning to the stranger.

Polite or rude? Polite

Stingy or generous? Stingy when she does not care about her reputation, generous when she has to appear so.

What kind of ‘public’ face does he/she display?

Alma will try to appear as noble/valorous/loyal/generous as she can among those who hold power/can influence her greatly. She rarely puts away that mask, doing so only in front of those she don’t care at all, or closest comrades, who wouldn’t mind her true personality.

Leader or a follower? Hard to choose between the two. It is unlikely that she is a ‘follower’ type because she lacks loyalty to anyone, even though she appears to be otherwise.

More happy by themselves or in a group? By themselves. 

Does he/she have any addictions/dependencies/fixations/fetishes/ or other strange behavior?

- attracted to macabre and dark stuff;

What is his/her sexual preference/experience/values?

- Alma is heterosexual, for the most part.

- She is more attracted to elves than to, per say, dwarves.

- Orcs and khas are a no-no.

 


~Background~

Setting: Born in Axious, moved to Atlas where she lives till today.

Occupation:

- Since Malin’s Welcome 1663 an Arbor Acquisitioner (recruiter).

Educational background/other learning experiences:

- Common tongue and a bit of Haenseti (taught by parents);

- Writing and grammar (taught by mother);

- Manners and high-social behavior (taught by mother);

- Basic rhetoric (taught by Brug and Willghar);

Intelligence Level: Average, I guess? She’s not a dum-dum, but not a genius either, only shrewd and perceptive.

Short Term Goals:

- Achieve high standing in a society;

- Learn some magic;

- Learn how to swordfight;

Long Term Goals:

- Buy/assemble a ship and gather a crew to run it;

- Escape death;

Backstory:

Alma was born in the Kingdom of Santegia, Axios, in 1628, during the brief time of peace after a treaty between Oren and Coalition of the three has been signed. She was raised in a family of two Haenseti refugees who walked with Barbanovs to the Mardon, were oppressed and drowning in poverty under the rule of Orenian empire and lastly, after all the political disputes, settled in the outskirts of Santegia. Herfather was a carpenter, her mother – a housewife and an artist. Being torn away from their culture, Alma's parents changed their family name to Kersley in order to appear more heartlandish and avoid further discrimination. At long last they decided to have a child so it could grow in her own home, not forced to change allegiance from one king to another. The next few years after Alma’s birth were alike to a humble heaven. Alma’s mother taught her how to be a lady and her father told her tales of All-father and the Long Dark.

     Alas, in 1637 her father was drafted into the army due to the military reformation and expansion. In 1639 he returned after the victory over an Urguan Kingdom, yet he was missing his left arm. From now on Alma had to help her father in his trade so that they could earn money to afford food and taxes. She was getting more skilled in carpentry, her da was getting weaker and her ma was getting more depressed. 5 years after migration to Atlas her father could not work anymore and was chained to bed with his wife having to take care of him. This is when Alma departed home in order to get a profitable job and afford an expensive healer for her father.

     In 1646 she came upon a suspicious haenseti sailboat owner who was hiring folk for an even more suspicious task. The man happened to be so called Willghar the Yellow Crotch, a former privateer and heavy ale drinker. Alma accepted his offer and soon discovered that Willghar’s line of work was, to put it lightly, not quite lawful. With a help of a dwarf named Glass-Eyed Brug Willghar was smuggling contraband across riverside settlements. Brug was skilled in calligraphy and jurisprudence, so he was forging various documents in order to sell their goods without suspicion. Alma, being somewhat skilled at carpentry, travelled with Willghar and Brug, fixing their boat when it needed fixing. After some time she began to partake in Willghar’s negotiations with traders and coastal guards, getting experienced in rhetoric (see: profuse lying). All this time she was sending part of her earnings back to her parents in Santegia-Haria.

     In 1649 WillgharBrug and Alma had enough funds to afford a proper ship and hire a crew, which they did. The vessel was an old schooner, but nevertheless Willghar lovingly named it ‘The Rotten Martlet’. For a few years Rotten Martlet sailed around the Atlas and Willghar continued his dirty work with Alma as his first mate. On their travels she met a lot of different people and heard a lot of myths, legends and tales, paying more attention to those revolving around death and afterlife.

     In 1656 Willghar got drunk (even more than usual) and damaged the steering wheel of Rotten Martlet, which led to the ship crashing into the reefs somewhere around Golf isles. Majority of the crew sank to the bottom of the sea, and even though his body was never found (not that anyone was actually looking) Willghar is considered to have met the same fate. Alma and Brug, however, managed to survive and sailed back to the continent on the first passing ship. They were headed to the Kingdom of Haense, home of Willghar and motherland of Alma’s parents, when in 1657 some disgruntled merchants (see: ploughin' bastards) recognized her and reported to the city guards of Marna. While awaiting her trial in prison Alma had a long talk with her cellmate, a dark she-elf called ‘Dipsy’ (hopefully just a nickname).Dipsy pitied Alma for being a human and having such a short lifespan, but also suggested that it could be helped by magic, most likely the dark type. Idea stuck to Alma and after a few months, when Brug finally succeeded in getting her out of jail (not without some elaborate document forgeries and few old acquaintances), she decided to fight death as long as she can. Alma had finally reached Haense with Brug in 1658, where she found some leads to the ancient places of mysterious power. Then she parted with her dwarven friend and decided to visit her parents before embarking on her new quest.

     In 1659 Alma reached her old home in the outskirts of Santegia only to find an abandoned cottage with boarded up windows. Neighbors told her that her father died in 1654 of some illness despite the efforts of local doctors, and her mother was becoming stranger and stranger since then until vanishing without a trace in 1658. Without a trail to follow Alma decided to stay a bit longer in Santegia to mourn her parents and gather resources to embark on her quest towards mysterious and unknown. Soon she realized that no captain would venture where she wishes to go, therefore it became obvious that Alma had to finally get herself her own vessel and a loyal crew...

 


~Combat~

Physical Strength: Just enough to make her not useless at her job. Nothing worth noting.

Coordination/Reflexes: Rather good, she has a strong survival instincts and will act fast to escape life-threatening hazards.

Fighting Style:

Considering how little she knows about combat in general, Alma will try to mostly defend herself and wear down/disable her opponent if she can. This means that her tactics in a fight is to parry/evade/riposte/increase distance, even though she is not skilled at either things. In an open fight she’ll use her surroundings to stall her attacker and take a safe/better position or to escape whatsoever.

Best case scenario for would be distracting her attacker, stabbing him with a dagger and retreating.

Unusual Abilities/Powers: Nothing

Weapons/Other Gear: She always carries a few daggers and wears a rapier by her side, mostly to show off.


~Afterword~

Welp, this turned out to be quite a wall of text, it seems. The main reason I've used so much text for describing Alma persona is to define her character as much as I can, set a specific 'rulebook' for myself to reference and follow when I struggle to roleplay her correctly. The second reason is because I found a specific reference sheet template, which I liked very much and wanted to fill. Unfortunately, it is not perfect (because nothing is), so there are quite a few repeats in Alma's profile and, very very likely, a lot of contradictions. Also, and this goes without saying, this topic should contain a handful of grammatic/orphographic mistakes. If any of you will care enough to read all of this (which I do not expect, frankly) then I would be more than welcome to face criticizm and suggestions for improval.

Edited by Kersley
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