Kharana Hazari
Appearance
Kharana is a Sand Elf with dusky skin, pointed ears and blue eyes. She is well-built, though not overly so, but she has the appearance of a warrior. As a career soldier her skin is scarred by numerous wounds. Her hair is dark and reaches to her shoulder, but she keeps it at a practical length to make it easier to maintain on campaign and keep it from getting in the way during a fight.
Skills and Abilities
As a Sand Elf, Kharana is well-adjusted to hot conditions. She is also skilled in desert warfare. Conversely, she finds cold climates uncomfortable. She speaks the language of the Abtati, but can also converse in the Kaliti tongue and has some knowledge of other languages. Indeed, she probably spends more time conversing in foreign languages than in her native one. Her education has been more than a little haphazard, and she has not received the benefit of a classical education. However, while she is not a particularly learned individual, she is an autodidact with a very practical form of intelligence. She also has a good memory. Due to her origins, she is well-adjusted to hot climates, but finds cold tundras rather unpleasant.
Kharana was trained as a fighter and is good with a blade. She carries a bastard sword light enough to be used in one hand, but with a long enough hilt to grip with both hands comfortably. She can also use a spear. Likewise she can employ a bow well enough, though she is no great marksman. Kharana has magical talent, but has not received an education in a formal, scholarly setting such as a College.
Instead, she is a practitioner of Divine Magic, drawing her power from the deity she worships. In her case, this is Isaminu, a very martial goddess who occupies the portfolio of storms and might in the Annnunaki Pantheon. This gives her a talent for air and lightning powers. This is useful for direct offence, but also for defence and obfuscation, such as by using a wind to raise sand and dust and provide a brief cover. She is well-attuned to the weather and sudden weather changes. Kharana knows some thaumaturgy, though she is limited to basic applications. In keeping with her martial vocation, she can use transmutation to cast spells that boost her physical capabilities. This is not permanent and does not make her superhuman, but can still be a boon in combat.
Kharana was trained as a fighter and is good with a blade. She carries a bastard sword light enough to be used in one hand, but with a long enough hilt to grip with both hands comfortably. She can also use a spear. Likewise she can employ a bow well enough, though she is no great marksman. Kharana has magical talent, but has not received an education in a formal, scholarly setting such as a College.
Instead, she is a practitioner of Divine Magic, drawing her power from the deity she worships. In her case, this is Isaminu, a very martial goddess who occupies the portfolio of storms and might in the Annnunaki Pantheon. This gives her a talent for air and lightning powers. This is useful for direct offence, but also for defence and obfuscation, such as by using a wind to raise sand and dust and provide a brief cover. She is well-attuned to the weather and sudden weather changes. Kharana knows some thaumaturgy, though she is limited to basic applications. In keeping with her martial vocation, she can use transmutation to cast spells that boost her physical capabilities. This is not permanent and does not make her superhuman, but can still be a boon in combat.
Personality
Grim, cynical, determined. Kharana was born into one of the nomadic Sand Elf tribes. Then she was enslaved. Someone who purported to be a messianic saviour broke her chains and Khanara became her soldier. However, when her queen turned into a delusional tyrant who betrayed her cause, Kharana would not follow her and plunged a blade into her heart.
Now she has no flag to pledge herself to. Indeed, her past experiences have made her very reluctant to swear allegiance to crown, faction or realm. Kharana is independent-minded and rather cynical – or realistic, depending on your point of view – about the world. She is not all doom and gloom or woe is me though. She can enjoy the simple pleasures of life, but she is rough around the edges and determined not to be in a position of weakness or dependence.
This makes her self-reliant, but can also turn into a fault, as she is stubborn and reluctant to accept aid. She follows an ethos of self-improvement and trains regularly to keep her skills sharp. Kharana's formal education has some gaps. This also affects her use of magic, as she has not received the formal training of say a College Mage. However, this does not make her a simpleton. Rather she has a very practical sort of intelligence and is an autodidact, trying to assimilate whatever knowledge she comes across that appears beneficial to her.
Kharana is not above helping those in need, but she will not swear herself to a cause of dubious or questionable merit simply because it sounds like a good cause. People espousing the righteousness and virtuousness of their undertaking make her suspicious. When she is on a mission with others, she has a policy of going back to save a comrade in need, even if this exposes her to peril. She knows what it is like to be abandoned and chained, so she does not want others to experience the same if she can help it, though she would not admit it.
Kharana is not one to settle down, which perhaps fits the nomadic way of life of many of her people. This keeps her independent and means she can see a lot of the world, but can also get in the way of forming long-lasting bonds. But it also represents freedom to her, which is something that she was denied for a notable portion of time.
Killing is Kharana's profession, and she does feel any particular qualms about it. The world, as she puts it, is run by killers who have risen to the top and stuck around long enough to be seen as respectable rulers. They are immortalised in songs, which either fail to mention or romanticise the fact that the path to power was paved with corpses. However, she operates on the basis of a code and disdains wasteful sacrifice of allies and wanton butchery. That said, she was also raised by a desert tribe and thus may utilise tactics city-dwellers may consider 'uncivilised'. Overall, she adopts a pragmatic attitude in combat.
Despite her jaded attitude, Kharana is religiously observant. Then again, in a fantastical world of magic, pledging oneself to a deity can be a very pragmatic stance. One might consider it an insurance policy. The gods may exist, or they may not. Sometimes the mere belief that one is blessed and protected by a higher power can motivate someone to fight harder and to persevere even though the situation is dire and success seems unlikely.
Kharana's attitude is a mixture of sincere belief and pragmatic calculation. One cannot be distinguished from the other. She takes the view that her deities have proved themselves, and that the gods help those who help themselves. There is, after all, no point in worshipping a god or goddess who is no help at all. Equally a supplicant must prove themselves worthy of receiving aid. She is a devotee of Iasimu, the Annunaki Goddess of Storms and Might. She is the patron deity of common soldiers, mercenaries and the like. Fighting is Kharana's vocation, so her choice in patron deity is a fitting one. There are other deities Kharana makes obeisance to, as her world-view is polytheistic. However, Iasimu is the one she is devoted to above all and from whom she derives her power. She makes a point of praying to her before going into battle. Moreover, she dedicates part of her war booty to Iasimu.
Now she has no flag to pledge herself to. Indeed, her past experiences have made her very reluctant to swear allegiance to crown, faction or realm. Kharana is independent-minded and rather cynical – or realistic, depending on your point of view – about the world. She is not all doom and gloom or woe is me though. She can enjoy the simple pleasures of life, but she is rough around the edges and determined not to be in a position of weakness or dependence.
This makes her self-reliant, but can also turn into a fault, as she is stubborn and reluctant to accept aid. She follows an ethos of self-improvement and trains regularly to keep her skills sharp. Kharana's formal education has some gaps. This also affects her use of magic, as she has not received the formal training of say a College Mage. However, this does not make her a simpleton. Rather she has a very practical sort of intelligence and is an autodidact, trying to assimilate whatever knowledge she comes across that appears beneficial to her.
Kharana is not above helping those in need, but she will not swear herself to a cause of dubious or questionable merit simply because it sounds like a good cause. People espousing the righteousness and virtuousness of their undertaking make her suspicious. When she is on a mission with others, she has a policy of going back to save a comrade in need, even if this exposes her to peril. She knows what it is like to be abandoned and chained, so she does not want others to experience the same if she can help it, though she would not admit it.
Kharana is not one to settle down, which perhaps fits the nomadic way of life of many of her people. This keeps her independent and means she can see a lot of the world, but can also get in the way of forming long-lasting bonds. But it also represents freedom to her, which is something that she was denied for a notable portion of time.
Killing is Kharana's profession, and she does feel any particular qualms about it. The world, as she puts it, is run by killers who have risen to the top and stuck around long enough to be seen as respectable rulers. They are immortalised in songs, which either fail to mention or romanticise the fact that the path to power was paved with corpses. However, she operates on the basis of a code and disdains wasteful sacrifice of allies and wanton butchery. That said, she was also raised by a desert tribe and thus may utilise tactics city-dwellers may consider 'uncivilised'. Overall, she adopts a pragmatic attitude in combat.
Despite her jaded attitude, Kharana is religiously observant. Then again, in a fantastical world of magic, pledging oneself to a deity can be a very pragmatic stance. One might consider it an insurance policy. The gods may exist, or they may not. Sometimes the mere belief that one is blessed and protected by a higher power can motivate someone to fight harder and to persevere even though the situation is dire and success seems unlikely.
Kharana's attitude is a mixture of sincere belief and pragmatic calculation. One cannot be distinguished from the other. She takes the view that her deities have proved themselves, and that the gods help those who help themselves. There is, after all, no point in worshipping a god or goddess who is no help at all. Equally a supplicant must prove themselves worthy of receiving aid. She is a devotee of Iasimu, the Annunaki Goddess of Storms and Might. She is the patron deity of common soldiers, mercenaries and the like. Fighting is Kharana's vocation, so her choice in patron deity is a fitting one. There are other deities Kharana makes obeisance to, as her world-view is polytheistic. However, Iasimu is the one she is devoted to above all and from whom she derives her power. She makes a point of praying to her before going into battle. Moreover, she dedicates part of her war booty to Iasimu.
