Post by Ze Flying Wraithetti Monstress on Feb 21, 2009 22:23:03 GMT -5
Name:
Nemo Ramsey
Age:
Twenty-seven
Race:
Human
Appearance:
At first glance, few would consider Nemo beautiful- a more appropriate word for her is different. Nemo is often mistaken for a boy for several reasons. She has harsh, bony features and almond-shaped green eyes that give her a boyish look, framed by waist-length copper-red hair that she braids. She keeps her hair looped up inside a rimmed, black felt hat. Nemo wears tight, confining leather clothing, usually in black or different shades of brown and green for camouflage reasons. She is very short, barely hitting five feet. Nemo is very short-tempered about her height and is almost always wearing heels.
When Nemo walks, she walks slightly bent over from the weight of her massive, child-sized warhammer which she constantly carries slung across her back. It is a simple weapon- the hammer, which is flat on one side and spiked on the other- is made of steel, the haft of iron and wood, and it isn’t enchanted or magical in any way. It has no name, but Nemo loves the hammer as if it was her own child. Nemo’s body, although small, is both immensely strong and agile. Though not the fastest runner, Nemo can be stealthy, but she has a good build-up of muscle, which usually leads to people believing she is overweight, or, again, a boy.
Nemo has several tattoos done in blue ink. Her entire left arm is a swarm of Celtic knot work, and the base of her neck is dotted with blue lines and the symbol of her old pirate crew, a drop of blood and ink on a silver dish. On her upper back is a large tattoo of a dragon, again done with blue marsh dye.
Personality:
Nemo's traits are questionable at best. Dominant and spontaneous, Nemo comes off as bossy, insulting and patronizing to most. Most people think of her as rude mostly for the way she talks- fast, with a throaty accent, and lazy grammar, courtesy of the pirates she grew up among. Nemo, though, does have an interesting knowledge of large words. Nemo is indeed dominant, used to and much more comfortable with being the top dog, but can and will be fiercely loyal if it is towards someone she trusts. Nemo has intense feelings towards loyalty and patriotism, believing them to be what keeps the world balanced.
Nemo is immensely prideful of herself. Though usually easy-going and cheerful, with the charm of a con man, she can turn quickly if she is insulted. Namely, what angers her most are comments about her height, and for her education. Nemo can’t read, and never seems to have the time to be taught. She can understand individual letters, and very small words, but sentences and grammar are beyond her understanding. However, what she makes up for her lack of literary skill is met with witty ripostes and an extensive knowledge of warfare.
Nemo has an intense hatred for magic, and distrusts magic-users, namely Elves. She thinks magic is dirty and deceitful, completely at odds with her respect for warriors and nobility. Nemo loves Dwarves for these reasons, often leading to jokes about her possibly being related to them. Another thing Nemo is at odds against is promiscuity. She stays a good pace away from the few men that have been interested in her during her lifetime, and protects her virtue fiercely.
History:
Born as Mnemosyne Cecilia Ramsey, Nemo was the daughter of a wealthy sorceress hailing from far-off northern lands and an unknown father, who, judging from his dark skin was probably from the Hadarac Desert, but Nemo knows nothing more of him. Her mother was in Galbatorix’s services, one of the lower-ranking mages despite her wealth, and had been moved to Teirm. Nemo was mostly ignored by her mother, and had a lonely childhood, until she was six, when her mother had a tragic accident while practicing her spells. The explosion levelled the house, injuring several people, but the sorceress the only fatality. Nemo fled on instinct when the house began to collapse, running through the streets of Teirm without once looking back. Once she had calmed down, she found herself lost, never having been out of the immediate area around her house before.
For several months Nemo wandered, starving, managing to steal enough food to survive and even a pair of pants and tunic, which were far more comfortable than the skirts she’d left in, which by then only had use as rags. For eight months Nemo, being young, easily switched to the pains of street life. However, she managed to find herself on the docks one day, and was suddenly snatched up by a man, who’d spotted the sordid, though still fine clothing she was carrying in her arms, and hustled her into a tavern to his friends. He’d thought her to be worth something for a ransom, seeing the torn clothing, but once he and his friends figured out that she was only a lost and confused child, they pitied her and took her in.
They were pirates, led by Captain Skaleel McCarthy, of the ship Queen's Avarice, and they took Nemo in as a temporary crewmate, to work as a cabin boy. Nemo, though, loved the life at sea, despite the many misfortunes that plagued it- she treated many of her crew members for scurvy, and what took up the most of her time was killing the many rats that infested the ship- but she felt free on the ocean. She grew attached to the crew as if they were family and they to her in the same way. Though she was given lessons in sword training, the pirates were either as uneducated as she, or merely didn’t have the time to teach her how to read, and so she remained ignorant.
Nemo was truly accepted as a true pirate when she was thirteen. Up until then she had been moderate at using the sword, not awkward but not gifted with it either. Then she got her hands on a hammer, and was adept at swinging it, and she favoured it as a weapon. It was then that she could participate in raiding other ships. She also earned her nickname Captain Nemo after Skaleel made her ‘Captain for a Day’, which was just a joke the crew played on her when she was fourteen and drunk for the first time.
Nemo’s time on the Queen's Avarice was long, but the pirates’ end began shortly after her promotion to first mate. Queen's Avarice had raided the Empire’s coast for years now, and was by then well-known by the coast guards. The pirates’ monthly trip was tracked, their hidden cove ransacked, and the ship was finally sunk near the coastal city of Aroughs. Nemo and a few others managed to swim to safety, but they were caught by guards on the beach. She managed to escape their clutches, but only by killing several of them with her hammer, which only sent more guards after her. She was twenty at that time.
For a while, Nemo hid out in the back country. With plenty of money she’d salvaged from Queen's Avarice, and a decent weapon, she was good to go, but she was forced to keep away from the cities by the constant threat of jail. The idea of going to the Hadarac Desert popped into her head, and she headed there, having literally nowhere else to go. But after days of no water and being nearly half-blind from starvation, she began to stumble towards the distant Beor Mountains on a random impulse. She collapsed somewhere in the valley and was found by some Dwarves, who were unsure of what to do with her. Hesitantly, and out of pity, they gave her a little food and water. When Nemo explained her situation, they were still hesitant, but gave her shelter a little bit away from the Varden’s hideout. Nemo quickly became friends with them, seeing as both parties had an extensive knowledge and love for weapons that included chopping and bashing. One of the mage Dwarves probed her mind, and, finding no resistance or hints that she belonged to Galbatorix, offered her a place among the Varden.
Roleplaying example:
I had always been a firm believer in natural selection.
Organisms with far more favourable traits were fated to push out the weaker, less impressive members of a species. It was life. The dragoons around me were once hard-working horsemen, good soldiers, magnificent in battle, but so flat. They hadn’t been enlightened, and had been fated to perish along with the rest of the unenlightened. Now they had been perfected. They were stone-silent, their eyes lit from within by a fiery bloodlust. I had been much harder on my own soldiers than the petty foot soldiers that made up the main army, even dragging their own families into it- families that no longer existed. I had effectively wiped out anything that might distract my dragoons from the one mission they had been made for.
Under my breath, I whispered, “Atra eka hórna.” Let me hear. Immediately, every sound that would bypass most mortal ears was clear to me. I had done it to hear the men’s heartbeats. They beat wildly, so hard that they almost even dwarfed the sound of the approaching army. I smiled tightly. There wasn’t a more pleasing sound in the world.
In Urû’baen, a while before the main army had left, I had taken a very small squad of thirty of my finest dragoons and ridden straight to Surda, not even stopping for proper meals. For the past four nights, we had effectively slipped past notice and hidden in a stand of trees near the camp, waiting for the army to arrive while scouting the Varden’s defences. I had been communicating with Malandra by scrying her in ground pools the entire time. Now, it seemed that she had been able to reach Surda unhindered. I couldn’t see her, but I knew that she was riding in the massive steel war chariot near the front ranks, hidden by her bodyguards and the two massive horses that drew it. Much to Malandra’s chagrin, I hadn’t allowed her to inject any testosterone in my warhorses. They, like us, could feel no pain, but they were still the light, fast horses that my regiment heavily depended on.
I turned my attention to the advancing soldiers. The army, I was displeased to see, was rather out of control. The soldiers were drifting in line, giggling infectiously, and breaking rank. I frowned, pulling off my helmet so I could see better. They were pathetic. Someone needed to show them some discipline, which was going to be a little difficult. Painless soldiers couldn’t exactly be threatened with torture. I was going to have to pull some family names…
“Commander Ramakrishna, sir…” began Bertulf, one of the dragoons, breaking off my train of thought. He was stirring as if he had just awoken from a particularly long nap. “Can I say something?”
“I’ve no time for chit-chat, Bertulf,” I said smoothly, noticing a scantily dressed figure appearing at the front of the chariot. I felt a lecherous grin crawling onto my face.
“But Commander, sir… why are we waiting for the main army? We could tear them apart, in an instant, with a snap of your fingers!”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Then do it, Bertulf. Set your feral nature upon them. They could use a bit of sport, from how long they’ve been sitting there. Of course, you would be cut down before you got within a mile of the camp. But then, you have nothing else to live for. You destroyed your home, murdered your wife.” I was speaking with the utmost sarcasm, but at my words Bertulf’s eyes lit up, and he started to knee his mare. I snatched him by the throat before he moved, though, and jerked his face towards me, sudden rage clenching at me. “Didn’t you hear what I just said?” I barked. “Thirty-one soldiers aren’t enough to take down this encampment! Why do you think I broke my back keeping us hidden in here, away from those filthy dragons? We may be able to take three hundred soldiers, but we have nothing on dragon riders.” I shook him by the neck. “My king, your king, gave me a task, and I intend to see it through to the end unflawed.” I let my hand drop from his shoulder, letting him quiver in silent turmoil for a moment.
“But we’re… we’re still gonna blow up this shithole, aren’t we?” He bit his finger, something he often did ever since I’d given him the enlightenment of being painless.
I smiled, kneeing my bay stallion. “That we will.” Seeing that the army had started to maintain some degree of control, and were close enough for us to get to them without trouble from the Varden, I slammed my helmet onto my head again. “Form ranks, you drajl!” I bellowed. “Make for the chariot and surround it, same as in practice!”
