About

---

Background

Polina grew up in an extremely close family, with her parents always putting their children above everything they did. Growing up around two older brothers, both of whom served in Portamares' military in the 2430 Plimmýra war with Huzuta, she would often fight and scrap with them and as a result became extremely physically capable for both her age and her gender. However despite her capabilities, as a result, whenever other children would assault her, despite being able to overpower most of them, she would always refuse to fight back. Her parents supported her decision as they always taught her not to resort to physical conflict to solve problems in favour of care & reason, however her military serving brothers lambasted her for not sticking up for herself.

When Polina was ten years old, Brontes died fighting in the Plimmýra war, so after the conflict had ceased, Jonas retired from the military to support his family. Three years later he would go on to enlist in NEO to keep Huzuta in line and ensure they could never damage his home again, leaving Polina as her parents' sole remaining child in Portamares.

At 16 years old, against her wishes, Polina decided to take combat training so as to better protect her family. She underwent various aptitude tests as Portamares Arena and Iris Irakildis was assigned as her mentor. They took to each other instantly, with Iris impressed with Polina’s dedication & moral code and Polina taking to Iris’ care and life experience. Polina revealed to her the reason she shied away from fights was a combination of her own fears & her parent’s teachings - both about conflicts and the general role of women, to focus more on emotional support & solutions rather than physical ones. Iris told her that if anyone could balance the two it was her, and to not give up fighting what she believed in for fear of being too aggressive.

Iris trained Polina in sword fighting classes to hone her aggression. After really getting into it Polina decided to build herself her own sword. She made the hilt out of wood and the blade out of high carbon steel, with the capacity to enfuse the element in the chip it was equipped with. She named it “Eirinistís”, and engraved her family’s initials on the hilt.

Iris retired to Bartruir just after Polina left school. After graduating, Polina obtained a VERIS ranger license enabling her to act as a mercenary. She spent the majority of her time protecting her home faction against foreign threats, primarily Huzutan terrorists. She earned the title “ippótis eléous” (Mercy Knight), for her refusal to kill even the most extreme figures and instead using words & reason (& her brute force where necessary) to either calm them down or distract them long enough to be apprehended. She now fights alongside NEO to protect Portamares from the Valren and fight alongside Bolusta

Appearance

Polina has olive green eyes and very long, thick and curly brown hair. She often dresses in short tops due to her faction's hot climate, as well as either loose fitting pants or summer skirts. In the VERIS, her outfit resembles a greek gladiator garb, with tech armour and a blue cape.

Personality

Polina is an very serious woman, almost always treating any situation she's in with the utmost importance and generally showing distaste for anyone that jokes around. This is especially true when it comes to Portamares, Bolusta, the Valren, and villains in general. Polina believes that underestimating them allows them to take advantage of your weaknesses and vulnerabilites.

Polina is by no means emotionless, however. She maintains the belief that harnessing emotions is a huge source of strength, particularly for women. Her passion for her faction and her people is present in nearly everything she does, even outside of fighting. Oftentimes however, this passion can get away from her, as she is very prone to snapping and rather violent mood swings. She can also become very paranoid, being extremely aggressive to anything or anyone she considers a threat

Despite her emotional outbursts, Polina has a very caring side. Picking up traits from both her mother and Iris, the two most significant women in her life, Polina possesses a very motherly nature for the people she is close to. This can range from stern but concerned reprimanding of behaviour she finds unacceptable, to comforting and supporting her friends when they need it the most. She makes sure she is always there for the people she cares about and they can approach and trust her with anything they need.

This manifests most of all in her "no killing" rule, her most defining trait by far, especially to those that don't know her personally. Despite her more erratic tendencies, no matter how empassioned or angry she may become, Polina absolutely refuses to take the lives of her enemies under any circumstances. Once again, this is a mixture of both her parents' and Iris' teachings, who insisted that violence was a last resort and not a necessity to solving every conflict. Whilst Jonas did falter from these teachings somewhat after leaving the Portamares army to join NEO after his brother's death, Polina stays true to her parents' teaching, having been solidified by Iris. Against every enemy she's ever faced, she has always done everything in their power to either reason with or apprehend them. Howver, occassionaly, she has worked with people who are less patient and ended up killing them before she gets a chance to do anything, which enraged her and caused her to work almost exclusively alone, with the exception of those she trusts.

Relationships

Iris Irakildis

Mallory Caito

Polina's relationship with Mal has always been a strong one. Mal heard of Polina's exploits a year or so after she began and invited her to a meeting at the palace, where she offered Polina the role of royal advisor to her and NEO. Polina responded by saying she would only agree to it if Mal could best her in a duel. Polina won the duel, and thus returned to her mercenary life in Portamares, but the two had now formed a friendship and rivalry.

Polina and Mal are very competitive with each other, constantly at each others throats, challenging, goading and mocking each other over various forms of competition, primarily fighting. However, unlike Vicente, this is always very good natured, with the pair of them thorougly enoying the rivalry they have together, despite how heated it can sometimes get. The both of them are even on record saying that they would not be the women they are today without the other

They also have a great sympathy for each other's struggles, as they share a great many of them. Polina is very mixed about Mal's rule overall, as she admires how much she puts her people at the forefront of every decision she makes, but that she is very hasty to react to anything bad, causing far more damage that is necessary out of protective instinct. Meanwhile, Mal appreciates how hard for Polina to maintain her pacifistic nature despite her outbursts. She also sides with Leo somewhat in that Polina's refusal to kill can potentially put more people in danger by giving violent criminals the chance to hurt more people, but isn't quite as callous as her brother can be sometimes.

Leo Emerton

Polina and Leo have clashed many times over their history. This is almost exclusively down to their completely different philosophies, with Leo believing that it's illogical and inefficient to leave dangerous people alive for longer than necessary. Polina has described Leo as "callous" and "barbaric" on multiple ocassions, with Leo often touting the criticism of "self righteousness" Polina's way.

Despite their differences, the two clearly have a deep respect for each other's strength and capabilities. Polina admires Leo's reflexes and strategies on the battlefield, and in particular the weapons and technologies he's created over the years, particularly as those sorts of fields have always been difficult for her. Whilst Leo, similarly to his feelings for Mal, has a great respect for how Polina can harness her emotions and use them as a weapon of her own, even if he doesn't fully understand how she does it.

Sienna Rispoli

Polina is extremely close with Sienna, and considers her one if not her best friends. The two share extremely similar perspectives on fighting and violence, and even with their differences, with Sienna being more of a pacifist than Polina, they can always understand each other's perspective.

Polina has always been a staunch defender of Sienna's role as prime minister. She has stated in the past she finds it cowardly that Casalerians are so keen to resort to violence they would throw their own leader under the bus, despite their differences, which has led her to be very unpopular in Casaleri. Sienna, in turn, greatly sympathises with and respects Polina's emotional struggle, having said privately her attitude of using her feeling as a strength is something lots of people need to hear.

Amelia Kelly

Polina has known Amelia the least of the party members, having never met before the start of VERIS. The two have bonded rather quickly however, with Amelia being drawn to and appreciating Polina's motherly tendencies as well as generally respecting her prowess and reputation tremendously. Polina also greatly sympathises with Amelia's situation at home and her overall feeling of neglect and neediness, though similarly to Mal she is much less tolerant of her more troublemaking tendencies.

Abilities & Fighting Style