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“That is Solveig. You don’t want to mess with Solveig.”
A woman stalks into the bar as the music crescendos to even bawdier heights, earning glances of dread and dislike as she snatches a whiskey bottle from one patron’s hands and settles into a seat ensconced within the shadows. The music doesn’t stop but the mood in the room changes, an air of wariness settles over the occupants as more than several sets of eyes dart fearfully to the shadows where she sits.
“Who is she?” The boy asks, casting his gaze around the room as the old man gives a low chuckle.
“That is Solveig,” the old man states after the laugh dies into a cough in his throat, “you don’t want to mess with Solveig.”
Personality
Solveig has known nothing but the toxic bite of poverty her entire life and it is wrought upon everything that makes her who she is today. She was shaped by violence, aggression etched into every line and scar of her being. It fashions her judgements, her decisions and how she interacts with those around her. Solveig does not stand for weakness and views violence as the best way to achieve things rather than diplomacy or peace. Her loyalty, therefore, is promised to whoever is the strongest or whoever’s cause falls in line with hers. Or at least that is the impression she gives.
There is no doubting her courage- or rather pig-headed fearlessness- she’s known enough pain in her life that it no longer holds sway over her actions. But none could call her selfless, all that she does is in her own self-interest with little care for those to whom she’s not promised her loyalty. She seeks a better world for those like her but not from compassion or love but from anger towards a system that she believes seeks to belittle those like her.
She has a softer side- or at least a not-so-coarse side. Solveig is loyal to a fault, willing to put her life in harm’s way to protect whoever she’s sworn her service to and her loyalty to Splinter goes beyond a simple alignment of goals. She’s also not unsympathetic to the plight of others, despite her selfishness, she is capable of empathy at times.
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The boy can’t help but glance a few times into the shadows, wondering about the scary lady and why they all fear her. She had been joined by others and they’d set about playing a card game, of which she was the clear victor as she grinned and set down her winning hand, a smug look crossing her face.
History
Solveig would not care to admit that her family made her who she is today but we are all fashioned from the cloth of our youth. Her mother was a harsh figure, a pillar of steel- unyielding and cold. She rampaged through Solveig’s life like a canon and the two never saw eye to eye. Her father was a meek man, unwilling to stand up to his wife and unwilling to get to know his daughter. They were almost three strangers living under the same broken roof, only interacting when tensions gave way to anger and words became weapons.
Despite the poverty and the shattered home, Solveig’s family had notoriety among the impoverished and the criminal world and it was easy for Solveig to slip into the same business. Her youth was flying fists and petty crime until her name grew more infamous as she got older.
Solveig spent so much of her life not wanting to become her mother it’s almost sad that she’s the spitting image of her. All the same, she has a loyalty where her mother does not and this is perhaps why she so ardently pledges herself to Splinter and his ideals. He is the lifeline that saves her from being what she hates most. They were children when they first met, Solveig already running the streets alone and Splinter seeking solitude from an Order he was beginning to hate. They were an unlikely pair- the order mage and the street child but they became good friends all the same.
By the time Splinter left the Order, Solveig was climbing the ranks in high level crime and invited her to join him, if only to provide him with a cause. The two worked their way up until Splinter became the unspoken leader with Solveig as his lieutenant. When Splinter’s lover was killed, Solveig was more than happy to join the anger fuelled rampage, losing her arm in the process. When the original group was disbanded, she remained loyal to her long-time friend and helped him form the Reliquiae. Now she is his muscle and enforcer, keeping his crew in line and maintaining his operation.
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