Aithlin Kitansyr
Appearance
On the short side for an elf, Aithlin stands at exactly 5’8” in her stockings, not exactly breaking any records when it comes to height or stature amongst the elves of Artehil, standing little taller than most human men. However, when looking at her, there is no doubting what she is, a certain innate grace and regal bearing so common to the species. Even amongst the elves, with all their natural beauty, Aithlin was often described as almost ethereal, possessing a delicacy that was almost doll-like in her features, as if she’d blow away in a strong breeze.
Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the girl’s blue eyes are almost always found sparkling with life, a gentle smile on her face. Aithlin normally keeps her hair neatly trimmed, normally wearing it loose, letting the blonde locks fall to her shoulders. On occasion she will tie it up, gathering it into a loose ponytail or into a more complicated hairdo depending on the social situation she’s in.
As with her hair, Aithlin’s outfit will change depending upon the situation she finds herself in, a high society ball, a day out shopping or traipsing through the wilderness. The one thing that you can be sure of is that no matter where she is Aithlin will always try to look as neat and well put together as she can at that time. Even a few days without a chance to bathe and wash her clothes is discomforting to the young elf, although there are times she understands this is necessary she still doesn’t like it. While travelling or adventuring Aithlin’s normal outfit consists of soft leather boots coming up to just under her knee over green thigh-high leggings with leather armour at the thigh to protect her legs from the environment. Over this, she wears a long green and white tunic with gold embroidery belted around her waist. A short green cloak with a hood provides both warmth and anonymity when needed while keeping her arms free. Never comfortable in armour, she prefers to rely on her speed, agility and magic to keep her out of trouble, only using leather armour when needed. In town and at home her preferred outfit tends to be a short white dress, the colouring and cut designed to emphasise the ephemeral quality of the elf. Formal occasions tend to bring out a more fashionable side of the elf, a long white dress her go-to choice.
Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the girl’s blue eyes are almost always found sparkling with life, a gentle smile on her face. Aithlin normally keeps her hair neatly trimmed, normally wearing it loose, letting the blonde locks fall to her shoulders. On occasion she will tie it up, gathering it into a loose ponytail or into a more complicated hairdo depending on the social situation she’s in.
As with her hair, Aithlin’s outfit will change depending upon the situation she finds herself in, a high society ball, a day out shopping or traipsing through the wilderness. The one thing that you can be sure of is that no matter where she is Aithlin will always try to look as neat and well put together as she can at that time. Even a few days without a chance to bathe and wash her clothes is discomforting to the young elf, although there are times she understands this is necessary she still doesn’t like it. While travelling or adventuring Aithlin’s normal outfit consists of soft leather boots coming up to just under her knee over green thigh-high leggings with leather armour at the thigh to protect her legs from the environment. Over this, she wears a long green and white tunic with gold embroidery belted around her waist. A short green cloak with a hood provides both warmth and anonymity when needed while keeping her arms free. Never comfortable in armour, she prefers to rely on her speed, agility and magic to keep her out of trouble, only using leather armour when needed. In town and at home her preferred outfit tends to be a short white dress, the colouring and cut designed to emphasise the ephemeral quality of the elf. Formal occasions tend to bring out a more fashionable side of the elf, a long white dress her go-to choice.
Skills and Abilities
Magic
A talented mage Aithlin’s abilities run more towards the art of summoning than traditional magecraft. She is capable of casting most minor cantrips without a problem, but her more advanced abilities come through the use of a spirit or magical entity as a focus. This has a number of advantages and disadvantages over traditional mages, needing no external focus for her magic but limiting her to only casting spells linked to her spirits. While contracting more spirits is always an option, as always with magic there is a price to be paid, both to contract a spirit and to call upon them.
Ranger Training
Prior to her decision to leave home Aithlin had been training, as so many young elves do, to join the Elven Rangers, the military units of the elves who patrol the borders of the Elves territories and even venture beyond on missions. Decades of training, both at hom and with the Rangers have left her skilled with the bow and long knifes as well as tracking and surviving in the wilderness. While not considered having mastered the skills of the rangers to a level the elves would consider satisfactory, Aithlin is more skilled than most non-elvish opponents she might face, a benefit of the elven longevity.
Elven traitsThe Elves of Artehil are among the more liked races of the world, welcome almost anywhere they might venture. Which is god, because Aithlin wants to take advantage of that, to see the world and all the wonders it holds. The world, however, isn’t always a great place to live with danger lurking around every turn. Luckily, despite looking like a breath of wind could blow her away Aithlin, like the rest of her race, is tougher, stronger and faster than most humans, giving her a leg up when it comes to survival. Alas, again like the rest of her race, the elf has an almost racial arrogance, believing that the elf way is the best way.
Growing upGrowing up in a noble family has it’s advantages and disadvantages. For one, you get used to people very fast, especially when you’re the baby of the family. Aithlin is comfortable interacting with people, whether in a crowd or alone she has the experience of years of social events and galas to call on when it comes to getting her way and handling people. However, that upbringing, while preparing her to deal with merchants and the nobility has left her woefully inexperienced in many other ways. Aithlin is the youngest child in her family and so was pampered and protected from the harsh reality of the word, and the motivations of some people. While she can politic with the best of them, she is also naïve, unwilling to believe that people might forsake the rules of civilised society to get their way. Unaware of how dangerous the world can truly be.
Magic and Contracts
Magic: Basic
All mages of all branches have access to certain basic abilities, the cantrips that make up the basic techniques taught to all students. Spells like summoning a fairylight, using magical objects and the other spells that make life livable for a mage. She might not be able to throw around fireballs by herself, but even without a contract Aithlin is capable of taking care of herself, just having contracts to call on helps.
Magic: Summoning
Summoning is a form of magic that relies heavily upon the creation of contracts with various magical entities, be they elemental spirits or other magical entities. This contract is in essence an agreement binding both the summoner, and the creature, allowing a flow of magic both ways. Unlike a normal mage a summoner doesn’t specialise in shaping their own mana into spells and energy, but instead uses their contracted creatures as a focus for their mana, allowing them to cast spells which one might not expect at their level. However, unlike normal mages the spells the summoner can cast are limited by the contracts they hold. A fire spirit will give the summoner access to fire magic, an ice spirit will give them access to ice magic.
While a summoner is capable of manifesting a spirit, feeding it with their energy to create a temporary body for the spirit, this is actually one of their least used skills. The more energy a summon feeds their summon, the more powerful they become.
The final ability of the summoner is possession, binding the spirits to object, or ever to themselves. Allowing a spirit to take control of you can burn through you mana, but allows access to abilities far beyond the usual. The surrender of control isn’t without risks, you secede full control to the spirit, and have to trust they give you back control.
While a summoner is capable of manifesting a spirit, feeding it with their energy to create a temporary body for the spirit, this is actually one of their least used skills. The more energy a summon feeds their summon, the more powerful they become.
The final ability of the summoner is possession, binding the spirits to object, or ever to themselves. Allowing a spirit to take control of you can burn through you mana, but allows access to abilities far beyond the usual. The surrender of control isn’t without risks, you secede full control to the spirit, and have to trust they give you back control.
Contracts
Ice Elemental - Heleg
Personality
If there was one word that described Aithlin it would be curious, but no-one can be described by one word. The elf is a contradiction in terms, older than most humans she is still extremely young for an elf. Despite her age she has retained a sense of wonder and surprise at the world around her. Pampered through her entire life Aithlin has been shielded from the real world, protected in a cocoon of her family’s influence. This pampering has left her slightly naïve as to how the world works.
Outside of that naivety the girl is very perky and positive, and seems to bring her own unique charisma with her, a bubbly happy kind that seems to pull people in, and wrapping them around her little finger. The truth is, she’s had years to practice her socialising skills and is talented at finding that edge people need to turn them to her advantage. Skilled in somethings, utterly hopeless in others, the one thing you can say, life with her is always interesting.
Biography and Lore
===============Extract from the Journal of Luciain Kitansyr===============
She’s done it again. I don’t know how anyone as small and innocent looking as my sister could be such a bundle of trouble. I remember the day she was born, I was already almost 250, and no-one had ever thought that mother or father would have another child, you’d think three boys would be enough for them? After all the messes that had to be cleaned up I’d have thought so, but apparently they didn’t and they decided to spring it on us at dinner that mother was pregnant, and then in what seems like no time Aithlin showed up. I don’t mind admitting that the moment I saw the little terror, a tiny face peering out of a bundle of cloth with little wisps of blonde hair ticking her face and a pair of the biggest blue eyes you’d ever seen I was wrapped around her little fingers, I think we all were.
It’s not often you find a house full of adult elves being ordered around by a toddler as if we were her own personal army, though I think that’s what we became. Births amongst the elves are rare, and Aithlin was always a precious child. Whenever we had guests everything had to be just perfect, and she’d run around the house getting people to fix the little things that only she could see, or stand there staring at a clock for 5 minutes with her hands on her hips before declaring it looked perfect. I don’t think I ever understood what was going through her head but she always managed to charm the guests…I think that’s probably where she got her love of sweets.
Since then she’s always been in some kind of mess or the other, wheedling and begging us to skip a day of training so we could take her to the beach even though we were all in the military. We somehow ended up at the beach…I’m pretty sure she had my commanding officer wrapped around her little finger too, I’m almost surprised the entire regiment didn’t turn out to build her a shelter and make sure there were no pebbles in the sand, although now I think about it that sand was suspiciously soft that day. Not all Aithlin’s trouble was that good, there was that time she showed up with a glowing cat draped around her neck. Apparently she’d run into an elemental and thought it was cute so did, I don’t think she even understood the ramifications of forming a contract with an elemental, none of us knew she could do in the first place. Imagine the ruckus when a teenager shows up with a earth spirit manifested and refuses to dismiss it. Poor little guy had no idea what was going on, but he was in the right place, we got a bunch of new walls that day till Aithlin collapsed from mana exhaustion. I don’t think I ever saw Father angry with her until then.
Never again though, well not until my dear sister convinced us to go on a fieldtrip. It turns out she’d heard of a barrow nearby while we were on holiday and wanted to go and check it out. Turns out it actually existed but it wasn’t empty, it was actually a tourist attraction except when a curious young mage decides to poke a magical sword, guess what…it pokes back, and by poke, I mean breaks and releases a ice elemental intent on getting revenge for her imprisonment. I’m a pretty tough guy, and I don’t mind admitting that I was scared, never outloud, but it’s ok to admit it in private right? Turns out trapping a powerful elemental for a hundred years or so, not the smartest plan, releasing said elemental worse plan. I held her off for a bit, we got some people out but then I got hit by an icicle. I don’t really remember much of what happened after that, a concussion will do that to you I say. I remember my sister throwing things at the elemental, and screaming. I picked up the rest later, after father had stopped screaming at everyone and threatening to bring down legions on the poor curator.
Apparently, after I got slammed Aithlin tried to step in and distract the elemental, but that wasn’t working to well so she took another path. They say that magic has a cost, but I don’t think anyone realises what that means till they see it happen to someone close to them. My beautiful brave headstrong little sister tried to form a contract with the elemental. I guess it amused her, or the elemental thought it’d be a cruel joke, but she agreed to it. A tin waif of an elf girl managed to stop the rampage, but there was a cost, there always is. To bind the ice elemental she demanded that Aithlin release Scratches, her earth elemental, break their contract and let him vanish. What choice did she have? I don’t think she spoke to anyone for a week after that, we all got a telling off but mostly the curator, leaving dangerous weapons out there. I’ve never told her this, but a friend I talked to says it’s possible Scratches are still out there, that he returned home. Aithlin and Heleg seem to be getting along these days. But I don’t want to get her hopes up for nothing, I’ll trek out and check it when I can.
Although that might be harder right now, which brings me back to the original purpose of this entry. My beloved sister decided that being known as the elf who broke a burrow, or the elf with the ice spirit wasn’t enough, she’s up and decided to wander away to see the world or something. I don’t even know what she was thinking but I wanted to chase after her and haul her back. I mean, yes, she’s almost 60 but…that’s really basically nothing. Father and Mother think that this will be good for her though so I sent her a notification stick, at least if she runs into trouble she can let me know. I still think she’ll run into trouble out there, but at least, she should be able to handle herself, or I’ll know where to look to get revenge.
Apparently, after I got slammed Aithlin tried to step in and distract the elemental, but that wasn’t working to well so she took another path. They say that magic has a cost, but I don’t think anyone realises what that means till they see it happen to someone close to them. My beautiful brave headstrong little sister tried to form a contract with the elemental. I guess it amused her, or the elemental thought it’d be a cruel joke, but she agreed to it. A tin waif of an elf girl managed to stop the rampage, but there was a cost, there always is. To bind the ice elemental she demanded that Aithlin release Scratches, her earth elemental, break their contract and let him vanish. What choice did she have? I don’t think she spoke to anyone for a week after that, we all got a telling off but mostly the curator, leaving dangerous weapons out there. I’ve never told her this, but a friend I talked to says it’s possible Scratches are still out there, that he returned home. Aithlin and Heleg seem to be getting along these days. But I don’t want to get her hopes up for nothing, I’ll trek out and check it when I can.
Although that might be harder right now, which brings me back to the original purpose of this entry. My beloved sister decided that being known as the elf who broke a burrow, or the elf with the ice spirit wasn’t enough, she’s up and decided to wander away to see the world or something. I don’t even know what she was thinking but I wanted to chase after her and haul her back. I mean, yes, she’s almost 60 but…that’s really basically nothing. Father and Mother think that this will be good for her though so I sent her a notification stick, at least if she runs into trouble she can let me know. I still think she’ll run into trouble out there, but at least, she should be able to handle herself, or I’ll know where to look to get revenge.