Míriel Fëanorna
Appearance
Míriel is quite muscular for her species due to the nature of her work. Her height means that she can carry the muscle well and it is often remarked the combination makes her appears almost human in her physic. Almost. She wears her dark, waist long, brown hair loose, though often has half of it braided back to keep it off her face and to proudly show the tattoos she was given during her time within the Cavalry unit. These tattoos are two blue slashes over her left eye, giving her face a more severe look. Her eyes are hazel, but in certain lights can be anything from a light green to a dark brown that could be confused with black.
Míri prefers to dress practically for her work and cares little for her appearance outside of it. The only piece of her ensemble that tends to stand out is the golden circlet she wears on her upper right arm, with engravings of horses etched into the metal.
Míri prefers to dress practically for her work and cares little for her appearance outside of it. The only piece of her ensemble that tends to stand out is the golden circlet she wears on her upper right arm, with engravings of horses etched into the metal.
Skills and Abilities
Warrior Training
Míriel grew up in the Warrior House and has been honing her skills as such since a young age under the careful tutelage of her mother. She graduated from her cadet core in the top five, and from her further training in the top two. Míri is particularly known for her gift with wielding two slightly curved cavalry blades, though she only draws both when an opponent is worthy enough. She also has a deep love for axe throwing.
Horsewoman
After graduating from the Warrior School, she decided to focus her skills on fighting from horseback. Míriel is a gifted rider and appears more at ease on the back of her mount than on the ground at times. She has trained in numerous stunts and can ride from literally any position on her horse - including under the saddle. Whilst not magical, Míri has a natural affinity with horses and is often referred to amongst her ranks as the Horse Whisperer.
Metal Bending
Míriel is gifted in the art of being able to bend metals to her will in return for energy. The more she uses the power, the more tired she grows. Most commonly she uses it to retrieve her blades, so people often mistake her gift for telekinesis in general, seeing the use of it in battle as unsporting.
Metal Song
The elves are known for their naturally pleasing voices, and in particular for their songs. Míriel takes this to another level when used in conjunction with her metal bending. When Míri sings as she bends, she breathes a soul into the metal itself giving it its own character. Most times she can control what she imbues her weapons with - perhaps it will withstand blows stronger than it should for its metal characteristics, or perhaps it stays forever sharp. As this is an enchantment more than just energy transference, the spells wear off of the weapons the moment the person the weapon is made for dies. Sometimes, the weapon can be transferred - along with its gifts - to another, but this often requires a sacrifice of blood from the new owner, or the new owner needs to prove its worth to the weapon.
Rune Magic
Even though her gift allows her to enchant metal without the use of ruins, on her travels over the past 100+ years when studying under various smiths she had become quite talented in using runes in her crafting. She often uses this knowledge to teach her own students so they can carry out enchantment work for orders in her workshop. She had also begun experimenting with her own runes based on her own magic and conversations with different metals.
Míriel grew up in the Warrior House and has been honing her skills as such since a young age under the careful tutelage of her mother. She graduated from her cadet core in the top five, and from her further training in the top two. Míri is particularly known for her gift with wielding two slightly curved cavalry blades, though she only draws both when an opponent is worthy enough. She also has a deep love for axe throwing.
Horsewoman
After graduating from the Warrior School, she decided to focus her skills on fighting from horseback. Míriel is a gifted rider and appears more at ease on the back of her mount than on the ground at times. She has trained in numerous stunts and can ride from literally any position on her horse - including under the saddle. Whilst not magical, Míri has a natural affinity with horses and is often referred to amongst her ranks as the Horse Whisperer.
Metal Bending
Míriel is gifted in the art of being able to bend metals to her will in return for energy. The more she uses the power, the more tired she grows. Most commonly she uses it to retrieve her blades, so people often mistake her gift for telekinesis in general, seeing the use of it in battle as unsporting.
Metal Song
The elves are known for their naturally pleasing voices, and in particular for their songs. Míriel takes this to another level when used in conjunction with her metal bending. When Míri sings as she bends, she breathes a soul into the metal itself giving it its own character. Most times she can control what she imbues her weapons with - perhaps it will withstand blows stronger than it should for its metal characteristics, or perhaps it stays forever sharp. As this is an enchantment more than just energy transference, the spells wear off of the weapons the moment the person the weapon is made for dies. Sometimes, the weapon can be transferred - along with its gifts - to another, but this often requires a sacrifice of blood from the new owner, or the new owner needs to prove its worth to the weapon.
Rune Magic
Even though her gift allows her to enchant metal without the use of ruins, on her travels over the past 100+ years when studying under various smiths she had become quite talented in using runes in her crafting. She often uses this knowledge to teach her own students so they can carry out enchantment work for orders in her workshop. She had also begun experimenting with her own runes based on her own magic and conversations with different metals.
Personality
Míriel is as rough as her blacksmiths hands. She lacks the airs and graces most elves naturally possess, and at times can be quite brutish in her mannerisms. She holds little sympathy for people and gives an air of not being able to care any less - until it comes to her horses - to whom she shows a tenderness at odds with her behaviour to people. Míri is a quietly determined and stubborn individual, and is naturally mistrusting of people, treating everything said to her with a pinch of salt until she can witness such things for herself.
Biography & Lore
Míriel grew up in the Faerun Elven settlement based in the Ixchel Wilds. Despite being little known to outsiders, Míri's people were a warrior clan. The men played a very minor role in Míri's home town, and as such she never really knew her father. Her mother, in the standard fashion, picked a mate and then raised the babe on her own. She was raised with the other young women in the Warrior House, a building dedicated to the womenfolk who had pledged their lives to protecting the clan. It was an honourable position to be born into and thought extremely highly of.
As a young child Míriel took to the battlefield like a duck to water. She was a quiet child, but a watchful one. At times her silence unnerved even the older warriors as she studied their techniques and offered criticism boldly. Despite this characteristic, which at times could be very jarring, Míri was very close to the other girls she grew up with.
Once they had finished basic training at the age of 100 and they were required to choose a discipline for the next 50 years of their education, it was no surprise to the tutors who had been their guides throughout their young life, that Míri's entire circle chose unanimously to pursue the art of horsemanship. Joining the elite cavalry, known for their ruthlessness in picking candidates was a dream all of them shared.
As they worked hard through their training to be accepted into the cavalry, Míri discovered her unique ability to enchant metal. Like most in her clan, she was naturally gifted with some form of earth related elemental power. It was not as strong as many of her friends, who could move mountains with their will, or could grown trees with a blink of an eye, but it was a rarer gift and one sought after by the clans smithy. Despite her vehement wish to stay and finish her cavalry training, the elders recognised the need to utilise her skills with metal also. After much haggling it was agreed - only if she could maintain excellence in both - that she could combine her cavalry journey with her smithy journey. It was entirely through that stubborn, silent, iron will she had been born with that she mastered both over the next 50 years.
Along with her entire group of fellow students, who had been her sisters since she could first remember, they were admitted into the Cavalry unit. Their first challenge, was to capture and tame their own mount.
Most of her sisters chose to travel a small distance and tame a horse from the wilds, a few ventured further - one even tamed one of the near mythical water horses as her steed. Míriel set her sights instead to the Winged Horses of The Spine. It was a long journey, and a trying one. It was on this journey she also found the unique ore that she would bring back with her to create her signature twin cavalry blades. The hardest challenge was not the finding of the winged horses, but of being able to approach them before they took flight when they sensed her presence.
It was a stormy evening when she met the colt that would eventually become her mount. During the storm, as usual the others had taken flight at sensing her presence. However, lightning had struck at the moment the young colt had taken off with his dam and struck his side. The wound was a nasty one. Frantic, the dam was torn between following her herd and staying with her child. Seeing the state the young horse was in, Míri risked her life in approaching the distressed animals. After what felt like hours of coaxing, the dam finally allowed her near enough to the colt to be able to tend to the wounds. It was a fight for his life that lasted through the night, but when the storm had passed and the rest of the herd returned, Míri had been accepted whole-heartedly by the mare and colt, whom she named Thalion.
Míriel stayed with the herd for another two years, until the colt was grown into a young stallion, before returning to her home with her most treasured friend. For the bond between them was not that of a master and a horse, but of two halves of the same soul.
And that soul was restless.
Her time away from home had made her want more than the confines of the wilds. She completed her blades, and worked in both the cavalry and smithy for many years. Until she could ignore the urge to leave no more.
Míriel travelled far across the world with her winged friend, and learnt a lot from her time under the tutelage of other trainers. She had a long way to go to become the greatest in horsemanship and her artistry in the smithy, but soon felt confident enough to set up her own home in Allira. Slowly she began to build a name for herself as a unique smithy, with the power to enchant weapons, but also a great teacher herself in the art of horsemanship, as well as a breeder. Despite requests more than once she refuses to sell Thalion's offspring, of which there are many safely running still with the herd in The Spines. When Thalion grows tired, he has already pledged one of his sons in service to her as a continuing gift from the herd to her for her services to them.
Her smithy and stables can be found on the far edges of the city, nestled amongst the farmsteads, so that there is plenty of space for her herd to roam.
As a young child Míriel took to the battlefield like a duck to water. She was a quiet child, but a watchful one. At times her silence unnerved even the older warriors as she studied their techniques and offered criticism boldly. Despite this characteristic, which at times could be very jarring, Míri was very close to the other girls she grew up with.
Once they had finished basic training at the age of 100 and they were required to choose a discipline for the next 50 years of their education, it was no surprise to the tutors who had been their guides throughout their young life, that Míri's entire circle chose unanimously to pursue the art of horsemanship. Joining the elite cavalry, known for their ruthlessness in picking candidates was a dream all of them shared.
As they worked hard through their training to be accepted into the cavalry, Míri discovered her unique ability to enchant metal. Like most in her clan, she was naturally gifted with some form of earth related elemental power. It was not as strong as many of her friends, who could move mountains with their will, or could grown trees with a blink of an eye, but it was a rarer gift and one sought after by the clans smithy. Despite her vehement wish to stay and finish her cavalry training, the elders recognised the need to utilise her skills with metal also. After much haggling it was agreed - only if she could maintain excellence in both - that she could combine her cavalry journey with her smithy journey. It was entirely through that stubborn, silent, iron will she had been born with that she mastered both over the next 50 years.
Along with her entire group of fellow students, who had been her sisters since she could first remember, they were admitted into the Cavalry unit. Their first challenge, was to capture and tame their own mount.
Most of her sisters chose to travel a small distance and tame a horse from the wilds, a few ventured further - one even tamed one of the near mythical water horses as her steed. Míriel set her sights instead to the Winged Horses of The Spine. It was a long journey, and a trying one. It was on this journey she also found the unique ore that she would bring back with her to create her signature twin cavalry blades. The hardest challenge was not the finding of the winged horses, but of being able to approach them before they took flight when they sensed her presence.
It was a stormy evening when she met the colt that would eventually become her mount. During the storm, as usual the others had taken flight at sensing her presence. However, lightning had struck at the moment the young colt had taken off with his dam and struck his side. The wound was a nasty one. Frantic, the dam was torn between following her herd and staying with her child. Seeing the state the young horse was in, Míri risked her life in approaching the distressed animals. After what felt like hours of coaxing, the dam finally allowed her near enough to the colt to be able to tend to the wounds. It was a fight for his life that lasted through the night, but when the storm had passed and the rest of the herd returned, Míri had been accepted whole-heartedly by the mare and colt, whom she named Thalion.
Míriel stayed with the herd for another two years, until the colt was grown into a young stallion, before returning to her home with her most treasured friend. For the bond between them was not that of a master and a horse, but of two halves of the same soul.
And that soul was restless.
Her time away from home had made her want more than the confines of the wilds. She completed her blades, and worked in both the cavalry and smithy for many years. Until she could ignore the urge to leave no more.
Míriel travelled far across the world with her winged friend, and learnt a lot from her time under the tutelage of other trainers. She had a long way to go to become the greatest in horsemanship and her artistry in the smithy, but soon felt confident enough to set up her own home in Allira. Slowly she began to build a name for herself as a unique smithy, with the power to enchant weapons, but also a great teacher herself in the art of horsemanship, as well as a breeder. Despite requests more than once she refuses to sell Thalion's offspring, of which there are many safely running still with the herd in The Spines. When Thalion grows tired, he has already pledged one of his sons in service to her as a continuing gift from the herd to her for her services to them.
Her smithy and stables can be found on the far edges of the city, nestled amongst the farmsteads, so that there is plenty of space for her herd to roam.