Profile
Kreszentia (Senta to friends), like her many siblings, were born into the lap of luxury as part of the Kozlov merchant magnate household. Senta showed a remarkable intelligence from an early age, and it was assumed that she would follow in the footsteps of her older sisters by enrolling in the Diamond Institute and training to become a wizard. This scholarly pursuit would provide her with purpose and worth, while conforming to the somewhat restrictive standards for women present in Sterling during this time. Unfortunately for Senta, while she had the intelligence to match any challenge placed before her, her concentration left something to be desired, as did her dexterity. She somehow always managed to fumble spells, the formulae slipping away as she botched the physical and somatic components. She failed her early aptitude tests, and was consigned to mercantile courses and internships taught by private tutors. She took to the large-scale economic aspects of the shipping business like a fish to water, being especially interested in market trailblazing and traveling abroad, the latter of which she had to content herself to imagining for her younger years. These concepts were rarely complex enough to sate the young acid Primal’s mind, and between this and a natural temper (unlike her sisters, who manifested as water-Primals, she took after her father and brothers’, save one’s, caustic nature), she could as often be found watching her brothers training in swordplay or riding horses as actually attending to her tutors.
Finally, exasperated with her truancy, her father bade her practice with the boys as a last ditch effort to burn her youthful energy and make her more attentive to academic pursuits. As with economics, swordplay came naturally to the girl, to the chagrin of her parents. She fell in love with the study of the blade, and divided her time evenly between academia and physical pursuits.
An adventurous spirit and a roving mind kept the young Primal from being content with her lot in life. Her sisters were either destined for wizardry, the court, or both, and her brothers were being groomed to take over vessels of their own, the eldest studying directly under her father to take over as head of the household upon his retirement. Her personal proclivities left Senta straddling two worlds—she was not quite suited to the court, and was not quite trusted to take a vessel of her own, being female. She could often be found either sparring her brothers (who had always taken her love of the blade in good humor), a-horseback, or haunting the docks, plying sailors for tales of the sea or taking account of her family’s vessels and cargo as they came in. The salt and sea called to her heart, and she would have loved nothing more than to vanish from the stifling life of the courts and noble circles for the life of a merchant under her family’s flag.
Senta is naturally noble of heart, choosing a style of swordplay that allows her to take hits for those around her. She dislikes seeing others injured, and has a self-sacrificing nature in most aspects of her life. Societal influences and pressures push her to present a neutral façade, and she fears appearing weak or womanish in the eyes of those around her—especially those of any influence. She has a habit of taking all responsibilities onto her own shoulders, and has a tendency toward selfishness bred into her from her mercantile upbringing. Interacting with nobility has given her an aloof demeanor. Her position as somewhat of a ‘black sheep’ in the family has left her introverted, with a tendency toward observation and internal thought rather than outside human connection. She keeps her interests to herself, and rarely opens up to allow others to see more than the most superficial aspects of her personal self. She considers her birthright the ultimate responsibility, one not to be squandered or taken lightly, and her family name something to be upheld over even her personal morality. She sometimes finds herself torn between what she ‘feels’ is right, and what society says is correct. She has a mild usefulness complex born from a perceived inability to be ‘good enough’ to meet her parents’ standards. Her acid-Primal nature gives her a temper and a tendency toward flashes of anger, though these bouts tend to be short-lived. She dually worships the god of the sea and the goddess of merchants as her patron deities.
Her greatest fears are proving to be a disappointment or useless to her family, and being tied to land and court permanently by political necessity. Her greatest desires are for her family to finally recognize that her talents are useful and appreciated, and to take charge of a vessel of her own to prove her worth. As one who lives in a gilded cage, she can appreciate the safety and comfort it brings, but has never quite been able to let go of that dream of flight.
She has a pet dog that came from her father's kennels; she is a malinois-style guard dog that Senta named Sushka. In a recent adventure, Senta convinced a fae lord to turn her dog into a familiar so that she would not die before her.
Character playlist:
"The Milk Carton" by Madilyn Mei
