Post by Ze Flying Wraithetti Monstress on Feb 2, 2010 16:37:35 GMT -5
Name:
Anck Seh Namun
Age:
Twenty-five
Race:
Human
Appearance:
Anck doesn’t stick out too much. Though pretty enough to warrant a second glance, she is no staggering doll-like beauty. What makes her attractive is mostly the way she dresses and holds herself rather than just her face- she is tall and slender, and wears flowing outfits that accentuate her every move as well as bright colours to set off her dark skin. Besides that, her confidence and proud bearing give off the sense that she is a woman of high birth- perfect bait for any schemer, smuggler or nobleman.
Anck’s homeland is a collection of islands to the west known as the West Antilles. Though the people there share their roots with the Nomads of Alagaësia, and therefore are physically very similar to them, the Antilles folk intermarried with people of other races, and now share some differing features that Anck possesses. She has the notable deep chocolate skin colour, but otherwise is slighter than the Nomads- she isn’t as tall as most of their women at 5’8”, her chest and hips are much less exaggerated, attuning to her slender frame, and her facial features are smaller. She has a heart-shaped, deceptively sweet face and square jaw, high cheekbones, pouted lips, a wide nose, and an arched forehead. Her eyes are almond-shaped and deep brown in hue, framed by small eyelashes and thin, arched eyebrows. Her hair is straight, and is also very dark, hanging past her waist. Anck usually keeps it up in a high ponytail.
As stated above, Anck, despite not being one, dresses nearly as well as a woman of Galbatorix’s high court, seeing as their outfits and accessories are easily looted from the desiccated corpses that Castox leaves behind. Anck always wears dresses and skirts, usually of light, flowing materials in bright colours. In winter, she still wears lighter clothing, although covers them up with thick dyed cloaks. The cuts of Anck’s tops vary widely, sometimes showing her arms, neck, shoulders, or a combination of the three, but she strictly never wears form-fitting outfits or shows her legs and cleavage.
Anck sticks to the bare minimums with makeup, using nude skin shades as opposed to the blaringly arresting colours that most women prefer. Oil for her eyelashes, colourless moisturizing gloss for her lips, black kohl to outline her eyes, and creamy pigments to even out her skin tone are her daily maximum. She only wears more for special occasions. Anck’s scent is also subtle, usually lavender or another faint-smelling incense. Jewellery-wise, she is never seen without a silver brooch tight around her throat, set with a ruby that was once cherry red, but turned black after being tainted with Shade magic. This is a sort of tracking device that Castox uses to make sure Anck doesn’t run off on him. Besides this, Anck wears bangles and earrings that match her outfits accordingly. Her only piercings are in the lobes of her ears, and she has no tattoos.
Personality:
Anck Seh Namun is a thief, a liar, and a cheat. Her greatest talent is her acting, which can be used to pull any and all underhanded tricks. This is more than handy while on the run with a rogue Shade. Thanks to training both in the theatre and a high-class academy, she nicely pulls off her consistent disguise of a well-to-do Imperial lady. Whether it’s bantering with nobles, sitting pretty in the wilderness for some fatally careless robbers to attack, or shrieking for an unintelligent hero to ‘rescue’ her from Castox, Anck can do it all. Besides faking, she has other less-than-attractive attributes- she has no weapons training at all, so she often resorts to kicking where it hurts or fleeing in fights.
When she isn’t playing the actress, Anck’s personality is less than friendly. Smug, self-certain, and condescending at the best of times, she isn’t the type to look for friendship. Concerned only with her quest, Anck doesn’t concern herself with having lovers or companions, partly because Tox would end up eating them and also because they would only slow her down. Anck is an intellectual as well, and if she weren’t playing the defenceless noblewoman all the time, she might even be bookish.
The only truly good thing that can be said about Anck is that she doesn’t manipulate for the fun of it. She is concerned with nothing but her survival. The people whose toes she steps on, or more often, get eaten by Castox, are considered necessary losses by her. She is bound and determined to make things the way they used to be, and for that, she needs to stay alive. All her cheating is done in the interest of bringing her mother back to life and finding a way to shake off her unwanted Shade.
History:
Anck was born in the West Antilles, a collection of tropical islands to the far southwest of Alagaësia. Ruled by the Saxon Empire, many Antillese natives were in their employ. Anck’s mother Tesheger Namun was one of those people. She took a job as translator on one of the many Saxon ships travelling throughout the islands. A victim of wanderlust, Tesheger spent many years traversing the seas. That stopped, however, when she took a job aboard a privateer vessel owned by the amorous Osiris Ramsey. By the time Tesheger switched ships again, she found herself pregnant. Fearing for the well-being of her unborn child, she immediately quit her seafaring and returned home to the Antilles. There, she flirted and played her way into the arms of Bevis Slone, a high-end Saxon merchant. Tesheger managed to bed him in time to make the child seem his, and married him a month later. Soon, Anxe Slone was born.
Anck was born into money, and therefore safety. Tesheger was relieved at this, but found herself longing for the sea. She wasn’t made for the sheltered life of a rich woman. However, she managed to find herself a suitable compromise- an acting troupe. Playing out adventures onstage was almost as good as the real thing. Bevis dismissed it as a phase, but began to grow irritable when Tesheger started taking her three-year-old daughter along. Again, she managed to placate him, this time by giving birth to Anck’s half-brother, an heir to the Slone estate. Tesheger named him Osiris, after Anck’s father.
Anck soon joined her mother on stage, and together they raked in enough money to keep Bevis happy with their tomfoolery. However, it only lasted a few years. Tesheger was killed in a random mugging late one night when Anck was ten years old. Confused and shaken by her sudden death, Anck became extremely tempaeramental. Slone, tired of her behaviour, promptly sent her away to a finishing school before Tesheger had been dead for even a year. Keble Academy was located on the Saxon Empire’s mainland. A prestigious finishing school for upper-class girls, Anck was taught everything about being a noblewoman from math and literacy to sitting straight on her chamber pot. She resented the training with a passion, but eventually gave in. She longed to be with her mother.
At age fifteen, Anck was taken on trips to nobles’ manors and the king’s palace. It was in the manor of Duke Lazue, one of the most prestigious members of the king’s court, that Anck found a way out. While walking through the estate, she heard an explosion. She rushed into the room she’d heard it coming from, and was horrified to find a Shade standing in front of a destroyed door. The moment he saw her, he snatched her up and escaped the manor, using her as a human shield. Once they had made their way into the woods, he dropped her, and raised his hand to kill her. Anck hurriedly begged the Shade to strike a deal with her. He needed to get out of the Saxon Empire. She would help, and even serve him, under two conditions- one, that he wouldn’t kill her, and two, that he would bring her mother back to life. After some consideration, the Shade agreed.
Anck and the Shade, named Castox, fled back to the Antilles with the Saxon law right behind them. In the dead of night, they managed to find Tesheger’s grave. Castox cast the required spell. And for a moment, it seemed to work- Tesheger’s bones regained their skin and flesh, so much that she looked exactly like she used to. She even stood up, but immediately fell over. Tesheger was indeed alive, but her spirit hadn’t returned to her body. She was a soulless doll. Angrily, Anck demanded Castox find her spirit, but he simply shrugged. Her spirit had been reincarnated. Besides that, he had upheld his end of the bargain. Tesheger had been brought back to life. Anck belonged to him. A grievous Anck laid her mother back in her grave and let her rest in peace.
However, she was still irrevocably attached to Castox. The Shade fled the Antilles with Anck right behind him. She changed her name to her mother’s- Anck Seh Namun. They travelled through many countries, eventually working their way north to another Empire when Anck was twenty-four. It was here, finally, that Castox stopped running. Alagaësia was a magical land, as compared to other places like the Saxon Empire where it was banned. He and Anck were able to hide themselves here better than anywhere else. They spent several months learning the land’s ways and culture, as well as the common tongue- Castox, having experience with other languages, learned it fluently, but Anck still has a notable Antillese accent. Since then, they have spent their days in hiding.
