Profile
A simple bard with a specific, focused bitterness toward her past. Marewyn is abrasive and selfish and clings to her freedom as if it's the only thing that can't be taken from her—as if it's all she can rely on, should everything else fail.
Her roots dig deeper than she lets on. They tangle inside deep, unhealed wounds she pretends she's recovered from. She enjoys a good performance. (Though she's an awful liar when it counts.)
She is the rider of the wyvern Axila, a deep blue and gold specimen of royal breeding. The two are inseparable and Axila is often a guiding light in Marewyn's otherwise boring, menial life.
She seeks nothing but her own self satisfaction and often spends her days traveling from tavern to tavern, singing ballads for silver. In recent months, however, her sights are set on something far greater.
Marewyn Goldspirit (formerly)
pronunciation — mare-uh-win
elves age differently from humans in this universe. her equivalent "human age" would be just shy of 20
monogamous
adventurer
outer shell
Marewyn can quickly get on a stranger's bad side with her attitude. Her experiences have driven her to become abrasive and quick to act with little regard for asking questions beforehand. She's eager to insult and perhaps a little too dagger-happy if she believes she's in any sort of danger.
She's slow to trust and even slower to be willing to show it. But despite her aggressive tendencies, she's not without fun. In fact, her sense of humor tends to be her rudeness, as she enjoys teasing people far too much. Mare sees no point in being diplomatic unless she's specifically trying to get something, or if she's putting on an act for fun. Regardless, it's quick to drop if things don't go the way she planned.
inner layer
Marewyn isn't necessarily "icy" but for the sake of the metaphor, once the initial ice has melted, she's actually pleasant. It becomes obvious that she was raised in the upper echelons of society, though it's not clear where exactly. It's in her mannerisms and subtle habits—the way she holds herself, her verbal vocabulary, et cetera. But it's certainly not in the way she navigates social situations. It's something she unlearned from her years traveling and being a simple performer, most likely.
It's not like she won't let herself have friends. She certainly can, and will! But there's this feeling that she's holding them at arm's length no matter how close they may otherwise seem, like there's always a secret she's forcing herself to keep. She tells herself it's for their sake, but it's really for hers.
deepest core
She doesn't like to allow herself things, to put it simply. Marewyn will have wants and needs, just as anyone else, but she only ever tends to the latter. She's terrified to want and to pursue the desire because she knows she can be stripped of everything she cares about in an instant, should someone else will it. Vulnerability is something that comes extremely difficult to her because the few times she's tried to show it since her childhood, it's been taken advantage of.
She holds herself too responsible for everything around her—she must take care of herself and Axila and she refuses to stick her neck out for a stranger, but she would still blame herself if something bad happened. With Mare, it's always could have, should have, would have.
knight of wands
- adventurous souls
- dark chocolate
- mythology
- boundary-pushing strangers
- wasted potential, lazy people
- playing percussion instruments
- losing what she cares about
- being abandoned
- tragedy being her fault
- to get her titles back
- to find her own mana source, potentially
- to be content with herself (ties into the above)
- writing ballads
- instigating tavern brawls
- playing her lyre
- marewyn is well-versed in performing arts. she carries three instruments: a lyre, a flute, and a pochette, which she will rotate in and out depending on her performance. she also has a wide vocal range but generally sings in a higher pitched, almost whispy tone—however she is capable of lower rasps and also enjoys singing that way
- she no longer wants the throne, and she doesn't like magic, and yet her greatest wish is to be a sorcerer and to be a princess again. in a way, all she wants is to get back what she lost, even though she plans to do nothing with it should it ever actually happen—she's conflicted
- she has a lot of "throw away" knives hidden around her person for pinch fights. blades she doesn't care about losing that she can swing around if the need arises
marewyn's guard is constantly up and it takes time for her to be willing to disarm—she's someone always on both the defensive and offensive at the same time.
- she used to wear a lot of jewelry. namely silver jewelry, since it matched. her ears have tiny little healed holes where her lobes used to be pierced
- she prefers wearing at least a blue accent because she likes to match with axila, whose scales are a deep navy
- she refuses to cut her hair above a certain length because she was forced to cut her hair short as a child when she was sent away—it was to sever her ties/get rid of her memories with the palace, in a way. she dislikes being reminded of those times
Marewyn made a point to become a good fighter using traditional weaponry out of pure spite of not being able to do magic. She's specifically talented with close-range blades, like rapiers and daggers, and isn't so good with a bow or a similarly ranged weapon. She's not eager to use larger weapons such as claymores or warhammers, but she can utilize things such as staves or glaives in a pinch.
- fast + precise
- familiar
- limited range
description
While it's not invulnerable against magic, the majority of the Arcteran population thankfully aren't sorcerers. Marewyn's skill with her preferred weapons allows her to fight confidently and not question herself too much.
If push comes to shove, she can just get Axila to set everyone alight.
- basically removes the disadvantage she has as a non-magic user
- she can barely control it
Description
This is an ability that only comes later, but it's what Marewyn got instead of magic, while being born to two sorcerers: the ability to remove someone's source. Only temporarily, of course.
Most of the ability's details, like how it's triggered and controlled, are unknown, especially to her. As of right now she doesn't even know she can do it.
low empathy for opponent
early life
The royal family of Peryn, the northeast kingdom of Arctera's triad territories, are known for their magic. It's practically tradition for a sorcerer to ascend to the throne, and to have at least one heir capable of spell-casting. Marewyn's parents were no different. Her father, King Sylvan Goldspirit, was a powerful sorcerer, as was his wife, Queen Venara. Their firstborn was Hadrian, their son, and Marewyn came several years later (as elves age slowly).
Hadrian was promising. His magic manifested at a relatively young age, and he was shaping up to be the "golden boy" of the Perynian royal family. Marewyn was expected to be close to the same, as the "spare" heir, should something happen to Hadrian. King Sylvan had no plans to surrender the throne in the coming centuries, but contingencies had to be in place for the sake of security. Marewyn was raised with the same instruction as Hadrian, becoming well-versed in local and foreign politics as well as history and practical applications for magic, although her source hadn't yet manifested.
Most sorcerers will develop their magic in early childhood, which gave Marewyn a long period of time to show her affinity. A child of two sorcerers was guaranteed to have a source, as well, so to the King and Queen, it was only a matter of time before Marewyn followed in Hadrian's footstepsn and began her magic training.
Only, it never came. Years passed without a single spark from Marewyn's palms. Not even a simple light show.
Marewyn's lineage was called into question. She was forced into a source aptitude test, which was an invasive process to see if she even possessed mana in her blood, which resulted in confirmation that she did not: she was sorcerer-bred, but not sorcerer-born. A magicless child born to magical parents was unheard of—King Sylvan was enraged, throwing accusations at Venara, namely that she had been unfaithful and had a child under his nose with another man, since that was the only fathomable explanation as to why Marewyn was incapable of spell-casting. She had no source because her blood was impure.
Hadrian, Mare's older brother, was the one kind face to her during this time. The two had always been close, as Hadrian was a gentle soul, and as the scandal and chaos rose to a head, he was the only one attempting to reassure her that everything would be okay, that it would pass. He was unfortunately wrong.
The decision that was made to appease as many as possible was this: to disown Marewyn, strip her of her titles, her name, and to send her to live elsewhere. Thankfully Venara's personal maid offered to take her into her own family, to avoid putting a former princess out on the streets. Marewyn Goldspirit became Marewyn Winterlight as she was adopted into the lower class, and sent to the western coast to live with the maid's relatives, away from Freise and (hopefully) to never return.
Marewyn was lucky that the Winterlights were kind to her. They cultivated her non-magical talents, such as her swordfighting and lyre-playing, and encouraged her to travel once she was old enough to be independent. While their generosity couldn't heal the deep wounds caused by her former family, Marewyn appreciates the Winterlights for what they were: people who didn't eagerly discard her the second she didn't fit their vision of perfection. She still sends them letters every now and then, when she's traveling.
then to now, summarized
Marewyn was essentially forgotten by Peryn. Most Perynians are aware of her existence, but as far as they're concerned, Mare will never return to the public eye. She's been spurned from the royal family and is therefore insignificant. To be purposefully ignored by history. For a few years after her exile, she received lingering stares, but even those soon faded, and she was just another citizen.
She left home as soon as she was able. Her dragon, Axila, a royal-bred wyvern and the only thing from Freise she was allowed to keep due to wyverns' bonds with their riders, was her main and often only companion during her travels, and Arctera is a harsh place. It's rife with monsters of the human variety—people who saw Marewyn alone and thought her to be an easy target. She had to quickly adjust to the "reality" of Arctera. Its thieves, its murderers, its rapists, and its abductors. She had to get used to fighting for her own personal peace.
She developed a system of making coin and securing shelter for herself by performing in taverns around Arctera, spending the next several years playing her instruments and singing powerful ballads of their Age's heroes.
She never got over her bitterness about her lack of magic, even developing a slight disdain for sorcerers, especially those that "waste" their gift. She avoids magic when she can and hates that others can use it while she cannot. Despite her dislike towards sorcery, Marewyn is even searching for ways to give herself the source she's so sorely lacking, although she hasn't been very successful thus far. Perhaps she just wants it out of spite, rather than the actual desire to reclaim what was taken from her.
The Past: First Encounter and Impressions
Marewyn first met Sibhan when she came into his bookstore looking for texts about Mammon, the long-gone dragon god from Arctera's earliest Age. She immediately disliked him since he was the son of the ever-famous Eidrich Moonspell, someone Mare idolized in her youth, and she believed he was lazy and wasted the legacy he was born into.
She bought the books and left as soon as possible, but the silver she'd used at the time was half fake. She came back and demanded a return and, for some reason, Sibhan humored it. They only kept interacting because she felt like a Moonspell would be better equipped to get her what she wanted, which were leads on a special artifact believed to have belonged to Mammon during his reign.
The Present: Attitudes and Dynamic
Despite their first encounter, how is their dynamic now? Any different? Or did something during their time together influence something else? Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Duis sollicitudin elit sed tellus blandit viverra sed eget odio. Donec accumsan tempor lacus, et venenatis elit feugiat non. Duis porta eros et velit blandit dapibus. Curabitur ac finibus eros. Duis placerat velit vitae massa sodales, eget mattis nibh pellentesque.
The Future: Hopes
Any plans for the future? Does MC want the other to do something (e.g. fix their attitude, propose, or quit something)? Does MC want to become best friends with this character or... perhaps does MC want the character to drop dead? Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Duis sollicitudin elit sed tellus blandit viverra sed eget odio. Donec accumsan tempor lacus, et venenatis elit feugiat non. Duis porta eros et velit blandit dapibus. Curabitur ac finibus eros. Duis placerat velit vitae massa sodales, eget mattis nibh pellentesque.
Her rock. Her best friend. Her silly rabbit. Axila is an over-eager and anxious wyvern that has been with Marewyn since the beginning. She's highly defensive and territorial over Mare, as they're a bonded pair of wyvern and rider, but she heeds Mare's commands with relative ease. Axila was with Marewyn in her cradle, as an egg. They were practically born together.
"I regret how I was, back then. How I spoke to him. He was only trying to help where he could."
They were close in their youth, but haven't seen each other in decades. Marewyn loves Hadrian, but her mental state shortly before her exile had led her to say some regrettable things to him that she never got to apologize for. Someday she hopes to get the chance. Hadrian is around 115-120 (23-24) years old.
"He seems... I don't know. He always seemed a bit cruel, even as a little kid."
Marewyn knows of Laszlo's current machinations through reputation only. He's the youngest of the Goldspirit children, being only 80 (16) years old. He has a remarkable talent for illusion magic and seems to enjoy terrorizing everyone around him with it. Marewyn doesn't have much of an opinion about him—they never truly got along, though.
"Strange, I suppose. Different from our brothers, and myself. Something isn't quite right about her."
The only things Marewyn knows about Maude are that she was Mare's "replacement" and she has a talent for alchemy, specifically poisons and their antidotes. She's reclusive and strange, often muttering to herself and ignoring those around her. Maude is 85 (17). Marewyn was never that close to Maude, and they rarely saw each other in the palace.
