[$50] Rathan

Name: Rathan Koyna

Age: 39

Birthdate: Sept 5

Gender: Female

Height/Weight: 7'2"/226 lbs

Species: Human

Job: Blacksmith
Weapon: Berserker Axe

Personality:
+Stalwart +Kind +Responsible +Dedicated +Wise +Strong morals +Observant +Mom friend
=Quiet =Stern =Obedient =Informal =Unacademic
--Blunt --One-track mind --Low self-esteem --Antisocial

    Rathan somehow manages to be a wallflower despite her looming build. She is quiet and does what she's told almost indiscriminately, so long as she's not asked to do anything to hurt her allies. She doesn't initiate interactions with others, preferring to do her work and observe from afar. Because of this, she finds herself with a great many opinions and advice, though she'll never divulge unless she's asked to. She tries her best to be polite, but she often makes missteps, leading her to come off as informal or disrespectful. Needless to say, she is difficult to read and even more difficult to approach, intimidating physique notwithstanding.

    Under the stern, distant aura, Rathan is surprisingly empathetic. She is understanding and kind, and would likely have mostly positive things to say about those around her, no matter whether they treat her with equal kindness or not. However, she is also very disciplined, and will not hesitate to speak a painful truth if it is asked of her. She will not lie, and this sometimes comes across as rude or hurtful. She truly just wants to help those around her, and in her eyes sugar-coating things would do more harm than good.

    Whatever the case, she does not believe she is worth very much except physical labor, and so she will throw herself into whatever work is assigned to her and will not take breaks unless ordered to do so. She cannot multitask very well, and when she starts a job it is difficult for her to stop without having finished that job, even for a small rest. She wants to be useful, to do what she can to help her allies, and she believes that staying in the shadows and burying herself in work-- or throwing herself into battle from the front lines-- is the best way to accomplish that.


History: 

    tl;dr Rathan was a brat and ran away from her home. She was intimidated by the foreign culture of the outside world and learned to stay quiet and observe. She got recruited into a crime ring during the famine but got away after the leader died. She was taken in as an apprentice to a blacksmith to earn an honest living, but once his son and her fellow apprentice seemed to be pursuing a friendship she became too intimidated and ran away. Eventually she heard rumors of the mercenary prince and decided she wanted to follow such a person.

    Rathan was at some point her village's very own insufferable brat. She lived in an isolated civilization, a large village where everyone knew one another and valued togetherness and community above all else. Rathan was violently independent. She was ungrateful towards the village that raised her, scorned its traditions and turned her back on anyone who tried change her mind (which was everyone, as it happened.) She was rebellious and abrasive and selfish, and as such she was punished more so than any other child in the village. She picked fights frequently and it didn't take long for most of her family to scorn her in turn. Barely a teenager, she made the brash decision to run from the suffocating tradition of her home and see the world for herself, make her own decisions.
    The world was an alien place. Where Rathan had been overconfident and loud back home, out there she was often startled and confused by how people treated her and how they were just as confused and afraid of her. She couldn't understand this world very well, but she refused to go home and give the adults something to be smug about, so she forged fearfully ahead. She had no one to help her understand, so she started speaking less and watching more, and did her best to imitate what she saw. She became almost entirely mute during this time, speaking only when she absolutely had to.
   
    Being that she had no home, no money to her name, and poor communication skills, surviving in the world she'd entered was a constant struggle. She experienced hunger so extreme her body was wracked with pain, and there were times she doubted she would wake up the next morning. She resorted to stealing, at first, from the poor, defenseless homes she happened across in her travels. Though, on one such instance, she was caught. She struggled, fearing for her life, and managed to toss away the elderly woman with ease. She made a dash for the exit, then... paused. The woman was clearly far weaker than she, and she found herself worrying she may have done too much damage. At the same time, her instincts were screaming at her to run, and so she stood in the doorway, frozen by indecision.
    The elderly woman made her decision for her. Rising painfully to her feet, she said with a chuckle in her voice that Rathan had tremendous strength. 'How would you like making a living with those talents of yours?' she'd asked, and Rathan naively agreed to whatever she was offering. The woman, calling herself Sorrel, explained that she hired 'talent' to help her perform less savory means of acquiring food. Forging currency, stealing, occasionally worse. Rathan was still young, and though she had the sense that she didn't enjoy the work, she didn't grasp why it was she felt that way. So she stayed under Sorrel's employ for a long time, committing crime in the name of survival.
    Still, she observed, in times of rest, the common people going about their days. It hit her, once, when she was barely an adult, that they were just as desperate to survive as she was. She understood them. So though she didn't stop stealing and lying and forging for Sorrel, she made a habit of giving away at least half of whatever she earned (usually a meager amount of food) to the poor.

    Then, one day Sorrel died and everyone under her scattered. Rathan had kept herself distant from all of them, so she found herself on her own again. The world had begun to repair itself long before this, though, and finding honest work wasn't so impossible as it had been before. She was taken on as an apprentice by an old blacksmith, alongside his own son. The blacksmith was content to teach her what she needed and leave it at that, and she was content to do her job and impose on him no more than that, and so the relationship remained cold and distant, for a mentor and student. The son, however, seemed to enjoy her company and sought out conversation. They confused each other often, but Rathan grew fond of him. The thought of it intimidated her, and so she left without warning.

    With the recent conflict brewing, Rathan felt pressured to chose a side and help the people of this world, but she was hard-pressed to decide which side to take. She wasn't very smart, she knew, and the politics of this land confused her. However, from the outside looking in, she saw the Queen being too opaque to be trustworthy, and the rebels left her with the bitter memories of working under Sorrel, whether that was their true nature or no. The mercenary, however, the self-proclaimed Prince leading the King's Order-- she was drawn to him through rumors of heroism and generosity. If there was anyone she'd want to serve, it was someone like that. She decided that she'd follow this Prince, whether he was telling the truth about his heritage or not, until he could find his way to power. She built herself a traditional warrior's mask and set off to find the Prince and his army.
 

Likes:
    -Smithing: Rathan wouldn't consider herself an artist, but she has a serious passion for designing and creating heavy weapons. The job is stimulating, and it helps her think, as well. She's a big fan.
    -Animals: Rathan is a gentle soul, animals tend to be comfortable in her presence. She finds them easier to be around than people.
    -People-watching: People may be exhausting to talk to, but they're complex and interesting and Rathan finds some sense of comfort in just watching the world move around her, sometimes.
    -Training: The art of combat is one that Rathan's culture was steeped in, and she considers it a great part of her identity. Her weapon is an extension of her own being, and she must keep her body strong and precise. When she moves everything feels familiar, she's reminded of her home, and she has a faint sense of the control she used to chase so desperately.
    -Bright colors/fashion: Rathan understands the idea of expressing oneself with one's body. For her, it is in movement, combat, creation, but she is fascinated by the idea of stylizing one's appearance as a means of expression. It's similar to fighting, but different. She finds herself inexplicably amazed with flashy, bright styles, drawn to the new and strange. She is, of course, not nearly confident enough to try such an art herself.
    -Rain: The sound of rushing water, the coolness on her skin, the fresh, earthy smell, it's the pinnacle of calm and comfort.

Dislikes:
    -Whining: As much as Rathan tries to be understanding for those in distress, sometimes the solution seems so obvious to her that it's frustrating. She becomes bothered when others complain and have no intention of making an effort to fix whatever they're complaining about. (Venting to her is probably a bad idea.)
    -Interruption: Rathan often gets sucked into her work, it's like a trance. If she's interrupted, she loses that state of focus, and it's frustrating for her to have to leave a project unfinished.
    -Fighting a stranger: In Rathan's culture, it is dishonorable to fight a person-- seriously fight them, usually to the death-- without speaking to them, so that both parties have some understanding of the conflict and what they are fighting for. She puts this aside to support her side of the brewing war, of course, but that doesn't mean she has to like it.
    -Throwing knives: They're too short range. And so light! And how do you get them back after throwing them? Way too easy to lose.
    -Emotionally-charged discussions: High emotion makes Rathan uncomfortable. She can deal with it if need be, but she prefer avoid those situations.
    -Seen without her mask: Rathan's mask is her identity as a warrior. For another person to see the face under it would be very intimate, and she is uncomfortable with the idea. The thought of it is embarrassing, really.

Trivia:
-Extreme introvert. Being in the same room as another person drains her.
-High quality baby-sitter, real good with kids
-Resting bitch face
-Teeth are crooked
-Left arm moves a little stiffly, thanks to an infected wound she got when she was a teenager
-Her old rebellious nature may show its face when she is truly upset. She'll act out of spite
-It's very difficult to upset her, though
-In her village, everyone was about as tall as her. It is still strange for her to be so tall compared to everyone else
-She hasn't returned to her village since she ran away as a tween
-Ridiculously high pain tolerance

Scar History

Ribcage: Got it from falling out of a tree when she was very, very young. The adults told her to stop climbing so high and come down, but she disobeyed them. her foothold snapped and she landed on another weak branch, which broke on impact. the sharp broken end cut into her side as she fell past.

Right shoulder: Training accident. One of her fellow teens was sparring with her using a wooden spear, didn't have a good control on his own strength and managed to impale her with the blunted point. It got infected and her arm still moves a little stiffly because of it. She is incredibly careful in dressing wounds to avoid infection, now.

Wrist: She got into a fight with a stray dog over some food.

Neck: She got caught trying to steal from a very wealthy family once. The guards tried to slit her throat, but she managed to shake the one pinning her just enough to avoid a fatal stab. Still caught the blade on the side of her neck, and though she was able to escape and dress it, she still passed out briefly from blood loss.

Upper right leg: Dropped some red-hot metal on herself.

Lower legs: Siren slime that was secretly acid.