Profile
Census ID 257
Nicknames little snake [derogatory]
Age twenty three
Gender female
Rank untrained
— herding
— horse husbandry
Home kestrana, moren ezen
Clan Allegiance the syndicate
Species mage
— animal assimilation
asha is a scatterbrained but tenacious antihero from the streets of mastay, ehiasall, who goes wherever life takes her and has proven adept at surviving it. but it’s not the destination that matters; she’s going to enjoy every second of the journey.
untrusting . mischievous . erratic
wily . fickle . wild
✧ outward.
asha is hard to miss, and that’s on purpose - she’s perfected a charming, bewitching, dazzling mask that rarely slips, drawing in the crowd (and their valyut). she shines under the attention, and the people enjoy her flattering words in return. she seems to have exactly what you need, or will convince you of it, and there’s something roguish about her smile that invites you in on the joke.
she’s not the easiest to partner with on jobs, except for those who’ve managed to break past the deflected topics and distracting persona. but despite her flighty temperament, she’s good to have by your side in a bind and she’s handy in a fight, even if it can be hard to trust her once you’ve seen past her glamour to her sheathed claws - even knowing she’s contractually got your back.
and behind her mask, seen in the rare moments she finds herself backed into a corner, there’s something wild in her eyes as she forgoes common sense and subtlety.
✧ inward.
the years of her childhood spent fighting for each scrap of food and inch of shelter left more of a mark on her than she’d like to admit, but asha knows her greediness and ruthlessness comes from knowing what it’s like to lose. she’s a survivor above all else, no matter the trials she faces, no matter what she must do.
but also, parts of her are softened by her past. her lies are turned only on the affluent, and even when times are tough she’ll not take from the poor - the street kids of the area all know of her and her generosity and kindness towards them. her animals, worth so much for the food and materials and wealth they provide, are treated better than she treats herself, and she’d sooner rescue a mistreated creature than steal a healthy one.
she’s close to very few people, but those few get to see the lazy, indulgent side of her. when she’s not playing her part, she enjoys the comfort of a safe haven and nights spent lounging around with friends and a drink, catlike in personality.
✧ magic.
asha hasn’t seen definitive proof of magic, nothing that can’t be explained by trickery or nature or plain luck. she certainly isn’t a mage herself. she’s always been good with animals, and anyone claiming she needs magecraft to keep her herd from straying is speaking out of jealousy.
(at twelve years old, asha began to notice how strangely creatures react to her. animal assimilation allows her to be accepted into a herd as if they don’t even realise she’s a human, the animals taking her in even if they’re untamed, unhandled, or predators, treating her like a family member. it’s gotten her out of many dangerous encounters with wild animals and is a great boon for keeping and herding ponies and other animals, and makes hunting considerably easier. with any luck, no one else will ever discover any of this.)
with shining jewellery, patterned fabric, and luxurious furs drawing the eye from her dull natural colouring and worn handmade clothing, asha is an expert at appearing exactly as she wants to be seen.
Build scrawny; striking
asha is short and skinny in the way that comes from malnutrition as a child, and lacking in muscle as exercise isn’t her priority. she enjoys dancing and uses the fluid, showy movement to attract attention, but in a skirmish she’s scrappy and will fight dirty to win despite her lack of strength.
Scars & Tattoos elaborate
several scars are dotted across her body. her legs and left arm are nearly covered in tattoos, as that’s where she can easily reach when doing them on herself. tattoos of note are the small snake on her left thumb (a symbol of her clan) and an identification number on the back of her left wrist (falsified).
Voice husky; sing-song
asha speaks very deliberately, taking care to control her accent to be most appealing or attention grabbing, and weaving enticing words that’ll get her what she wants. she’s good at putting emotion into her voice, and her laugh, even when faked, is pretty and soft. she speaks common and the kestran street dialect, and can read and write to a low standard.
Clothing fancy; costume
asha is a contradiction: she wears practical short trousers and often a dress made of sturdy linen, both worn and wearing at the edges from years of use, which wouldn't be out of place on the streets or out traveling; and yet over it she wears flashy robes, belts, and cloaks made from soft, hand painted and printed, often embroidered fabrics and exotic furs, which bring her respect and business from wealthier townspeople. she tends to bind her chest and keep her tattoos on show, and accessorizes lavishly with golden and colourful jewellery.
for raiding and other clan jobs, she swaps out her colourful scarves and eye-catching furs for darker colours bearing her clan emblem, and layers leather pieces for protection and to hide her more obvious features.
Abilities peddling; animal husbandry
a jack of many trades, asha has a surprising number of professions to her name, of varying degrees of accuracy and skill level. when she finds an ability that’ll be useful or of value to her, she’ll find a way to learn it and make money from it - tattooing, jewellery crafting, fortune telling - even if it takes charm and trickery to cover her inexperience or outright lies.
animal husbandry, on the other hand, is her genuine talent. she’s always been good with wildlife, finding them preferable company to the adults who would look down on her, and seems to innately understand creatures’ body language and behaviour.
Weapons hidden daggers
her biggest advantage is that everyone underestimates her at first glance. she'll use any weapon she can easily hide on her body, or innocent items that she can use to her advantage - small knives tucked into pockets, rings that help her punches land harder, and she’s not afraid to bite or scream in her attacker’s face or grab their own weapon to use against them. she’s always got some poison and herbal drug on hand too, for if she gets the chance for a sneak attack.
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Lawful Good |
Neutral Good |
Chaotic Good |
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Lawful Neutral |
True Neutral |
Chaotic Neutral |
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Lawful Evil |
Neutral Evil |
Chaotic Evil |
Dislikes cold and wet weather; law enforcement; rudeness; the wealthy; bland food; bugs; people who take everything too seriously; beer;
Fears going hungry; consequences; heights; illness; freezing temperatures; death; imprisonment; shadowcats;
Beliefs asha doesn’t hold beliefs of a higher power or religion, and is dubious about the existence of the guardians and magic. when hunting, she is respectful to the animal and never wasteful, but she doesn’t know any funeral rites or blessings beyond the few occasions she’s witnessed.
Hobbies she has the ability to craft jewellery and decor from even the most rusted, useless scraps, which keeps her hands occupied on long nights and even earns her some money. as such, searching old ruins is another of her hobbies - not out of curiosity, but in the search for treasures.
keeping animals started as a venture for money too, but quickly became a main part of her life. asha enjoys spending time tending to her goats, hibiscus dragons, and ponies, learning more about them each day.
Trivia
- hates to admit that she’s wrong
- her census id was her first tattoo, done by officials, and then editing it was her first tattoo done by herself
- though she’s very money-oriented, asha doesn’t like to keep much valyut on her at once
- she's a lightweight, as expected for her size, much to her disgust
- she rarely gets sick, but when she does she’s completely out of it for a solid week
one
origins
asha’s mother was an ehiasallian bandit, and her father was a one night stand while celebrating after a successful raid. in her earliest memories her mother is already dead, leaving asha trying to survive in the alleys of mastay, alone. she managed. she learned to step lightly and fight dirty, too small and delicate to be accepted by any other street kids, even though her wide eyes gained sympathy from adults.
her wily street smarts kept her alive through chaotic times. with the rumoured return of magic, asha found herself afflicted - she could walk right into a pack of wolves and be accepted by them, no questions asked - and keeping that a secret kept her safe. but other mages and the hunters after them caused riots and mayhem in the city, and asha found herself an involuntary stowaway on a ship bound for aeslend.
being stranded on a whole other continent and wildly different biome wasn’t an easy situation for a young teenager, even one as adaptable and resilient as asha. it took months of pickpocketing and learning new talents to sell before she caught the attention of a nearby clan - the syndicate.
they took her in and as she grew she picked up a new set of skills: proper fighting, protecting herself, protecting her client. she got herself a set of knives and a job that had her confidence soaring, and with those she settled into herself. she walked the streets of kestrana selling everything anyone could want - or be persuaded to want - between raids and contracts. one successful hobby she began was rearing goats for their cashmere wool, breeding and selling hibiscus dragons, and then later training jibitas in her spare time, despite the risk of her magic being discovered.
two
the past
on a trip back to ehiasall for the yearly mammoth migration and hunt (during which the tourists are swarming and their pouches full of coins - and this year the mysterious disappearance of the mammoth herd had them especially distracted), asha found herself caught by surprise by a pair of bandits. the hit to her head caused a nasty concussion and left her with few memories. lost and confused but still with the smarts to survive, she soon got her belongings back - plus a few tatakhs who for some reason kept following her - and set out to find some answers.
but not sure where to begin, she paused in the neachey steppes where she got a job assisting an elderly shepherd with his sheep, taking advantage of being such a natural with animals to relearn animal husbandry. she also spent the time training her ponies, making valyut from covering slots to the rare breed that, just a couple of years prior, were thought to be extinct.
here she worked for two years, until the anomalies became inescapable - they were forced to move the herd northwards into the forest when the mist came, blocking out the sun and rotting their grazing land, and on the way she picked up an injured hibiscus dragon she named iskra - and she decided it was time to move on. with her accent sounding more aeslendic than ehiasallian, that's where she headed.
three
the present
but on the way back south she finds that the anomalies have worsened, and asha's got a long journey ahead of her...
asha doesn’t know where the mare originated from or how she found herself on a ship - though perhaps the extraordinary markings she's named for play a part in it - but she thinks it was destiny that had them meet there. rune is a typical red mare; intelligent and spirited, at once sweet natured and bad tempered, but for asha she is loyal and willing and never far from her side. her face and foreleg are scarred after an encounter with a shadowcat, but it hasn’t lessened her bravery. asha keeps her mane and tail long, and braids in beads and pretty collars. runespore refuses to wear tack beyond a neck rope.
red dun with shield, sabino, splash, and magebane
ee/aa + nDn/nSb/nSh/nSp/nMg
sp 44 | st 40 | sm 32 | in 43 | ag 31 | vi 33
herding inspection hunting
asha met her first tatakh mini by chance, on the sourthern steppes of ehiasall, when honey was lured by the tasty flowers in her hair. the mare and her foal stuck by her side, proving themselves loyal and helpful, too small to ride but happy to pull or carry belongings. before she knew it another had appeared, and then another, a stallion, another foal... they each have unique personalities but all put up with asha's increasingly ridiculous pet names, braiding, and other mad schemes, and in turn bring her endless amusement and chaos.
mares: honey, cinnamon, nougat, amanita, bailey
stallions: koko, cookie, brandy
