Vakna True-Thunder

Vakna is a young Nord warrior looking for purpose and something to fight for. Eventually takes up the mantle of the Last Dragonborn, and often grapples with the responsibility that comes with it. Has an imposing physique, being 6'5" of pure muscle, warpaint, and gnarly scars, with a bit of lycanthropy to boot. Has fairly androgynous features: a squared chin, crooked nose, prominent ears. Blind in left eye after having it badly slashed during a scuffle with the Thalmor; prominent scar distorts the corner of her right lip a bit, giving her what looks on first view as a permanent sneer. Freckles, grey eyes, various burns + scuffs. Broad shouldered and fairly small-busted. Long, thick, ashy brown hair w/ shaved sides that she usually keeps up in a topknot or braid.

Has a very straight-forward, frank nature and often leans on the more serious side. Intensely loyal but often rather tactless and intimidating to strangers; still, she's surprisingly gentle-hearted under her hard exterior. Loyal to a fault, incredibly stubborn, and doesn't know when to cut her losses and recoup. Very poor liar, and sarcasm tends to go over her head. Usually reserved, but in a comfortable environment (and after enough alcohol), she can be quite jovial and even affectionate. Afraid of showing vulnerability of any kind and often shuts potential loved ones out to protect both them and herself. However, she does struggle with a lot of deep-seeded anger and bitterness, and is capable of not inconsiderable violence when pushed too far--it doesn't help that she's prone to transform into a werewolf when under emotional durress.

Will add more later: was very much born a nobody. The bastard child of a drunken war veteran and a Dawnstar barmaid, who dies in childbirth; when she's caught wandering the streets and begging around the age of five, she's shipped off to Riften's Honorhall Orphanage. Spends about three miserable years there until escaping with a fiesty fellow orphan who calls herself Murky. They spend several months surviving in the ratway under the city before pressing on westward. They manage to hitchhike their way to Murky's home city of Markarth where they continue their street urchin life with a rotating cast of others. Murky mostly steals, something Vakna has a hard time stomaching, so she often runs errands for various merchants and tradesmen in the city. However, when Vakna is 9 and Murky 8, Murky is caught pickpocketing a member of the Thieves Guild (Brynjolf); impressed by the child's audacity, he offers to bring her back to Riften and take her under his wing. Murky begs Vakna to come with her and join the guild, but Vakna refuses, believing the guild (fairly correctly) to be mostly thugs and slumlords. Unmoored, Vakna eventually drifts eastward again after several more Foresworn murders rock the city; is heading for Riften, even though she has no intention of joining the guild; however, she's briefly taken in by Filnjar, the blacksmith of Shor's Stone, as something of an apprentice. But because he's not in a financial situation where long-term adoption is possible, he eventually sends an 10 year old Vakna in the direction of a friend with whom he served in the Great War--a nord woman by the name of Fjotra, who lives with her wife on a small farm on the edge of The Pale. They've already taken in one child, so they'd likely welcome a second. Vakna offers to work as a stablehand for the couple at first, and the surly but sweet-natured child eventually grows on them, as they adopt her within the year. She lives quite happily there with her adopted mothers and brother for the next five years, learning animal husbandry, woodcarving, and various forms of self-defense combat. However, Fjotra has strong ties with various anti-Aldmeri resistence groups, and these ties are eventually discovered by Justiciars. A troop of them end up storming the farm, burning it to the ground, and slaying Vakna's family; still, one of the Dominion members, a high ranked invididual named Solira, takes pity on the 15 year old and refuses to have her killed--Solira is willing to do many vile things, but draws the line at killing children apparently. So Vakna ends up in a POW labor camp in Falkreath hold, where she toils for another two years. She attempts to escape several times, incurring violent punishment, and is told that if she tries a third time, even Solira's orders to spare her would hold no water. Undeterred, Vakna joins two older inmates in yet another attempt, but when the escape goes south, they use her as a distraction and bale. Vakna still manages to make it into the woods, followed hotly by a search party and their hounds; and it just so happens that these events are taking place on the night of the Blood Moon-- Hircine's hour. The Daedric prince scorns an unfair hunt, and appears to Vakna when she bursts and falls into a small clearing. He offers her a "tool" that could even the playing field--one that could make her more powerful than she could ever dream of being. Desperate, Vakna takes Hircine up on his offer, and is given the gift--or curse--of lycanthropy. She transforms, and brutally slaughters the entire Dominion hunting party.
The next several years of her life are something of a blur for Vakna: traumatized, bitter, and now also juggling the unpredictable condition of lycanthropy, her options are limited. She seeks out Murky again, who agrees to help her find some petty sellsword jobs for various individuals in the Rift, and develop something of an on-again-off-again romance. Vakna is sucked into Skyrim's underworld once more, including brutal bare-knuckle boxing matches the Ragged Flagon hosts once a week, excessive drinking, and the consumption of skooma and sleeping tree sap. Despite everything, Vakna still refuses to do any direct work for the guild, and after an explosive argument with Murky, ends up taking a gig that involved escorting a wealthy merchant back to Windhelm. Though only 19, she quickly makes a name for herself there as a drunken bruiser: incredibly adept at fighting, but a loose cannon. While returning to the Palace of Kings from a tactical survey, Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak witnesses a shit-faced Vakna take on four guards at once empty-handed, only subdued when two more enter the fray, and he's actually impressed. He's heard complaints about her for months, and it's common knowledge that she's a public enemy of Thalmor, so he offers to bail her out in exchange for her service. Vakna falls under his spell thoroughly, and after getting clean of skooma and curbing her alcohol consumption, acts as an auxilary among the Stormcloaks and even a bodyguard for Ulfric for about a year. Still, she finds herself growing concerned about Ulfric's methods, and though she has a great distrust for high-elves specifically, Vakna is unable to justify the way other races are treated in Windhelm. She is frequently at odds with Ulfric's second in command, Galmar Stone-Fist and his deeply bigoted brother Rolff, who she ends up in yet another altercation with one night outside the Candleharth. Rolff is physically accosting a young dunmer refugee, which angers Vakna--they begin brawling, as usual. However, Vakna's anger gets the best of her, and--fed by the full moon--she transforms into a werewolf and mauls Rolff to death. Horrified by this loss of control and too ashamed to face Ulfric, Vakna flees. She briefly relapses, but pulls herself together long enough to join the Companions in Whiterun, especially upon hearing of their lycanthropic ties. They help her exercise more control of her transformations, and the motivation of honest work helps her keep her head above water.
Unfortunately, while on a mission in Helgen, several guards spot Vakna transforming just outside the city walls on a full moon, and, assuming she's the same beast that's been killing local cattle, give chase. She briefly crosses the border into Hammerfell to evade capture, where she camps out for the next day, but while crossing back over, Vakna is caught up in an Imperial ambush on a squadron of Stormcloaks--including her former mentor. This is when the main story story beats of Skyrim begin, and I'm still working on the rest.
Early on in her journey, she stumbles into the ruins of a Falmer castle due to a hole in a melting glacier, and inadvertently wakes Sivasei, a young Falmer prince who'd been locked in a static, healing sleep since the day Ysgramor stormed the city. Despite a rocky start and initial (understandable) distrust on Sivasei's behalf, the two eventually form a very close bond. [TBC]