Soriel Draecaryn

Biographical information

Birthplace Vyren'gar, in the ahf'jeade's (Windfinder's) cabin Born Died Age Early 20s Home Vyren'gar, in the donde'kesh's (Outrider's) cabin Sexuality Pronouns

Physical description

Race Half-Elf Sub-Race Gender Female Height 176 cm Mass 58kg Hair color Brown Eye color Hazel Skin color Pale

Political information

Affiliation(s) Occupation Donde'kesh (Outrider) of the Vyren'gar Clan(s) Caste Domain Masters Apprentices Alias(es)

Out-of-character information

Writer Penelope Created on 4/12/2022 Avatar Amberle Elessedil poster

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Appearance

A half-elf raised among elves, Soriel stands a head shorter than the next shortest of her kin, but is no less lithe and graceful for it when she is on the water. Slim and lithe, with a lightly muscled frame, she has hazel-brown eyes, sometimes mossy, other times rich soil depending on the light. Like the rest of her kind, she has elegantly pointed ears.

Skills and Abilities

Seaman's Legs: Having been raised aboard ship, Soriel is most at home on the water and has never been seasick, even in the roughest of seas.
Celestial Navigation: Although she is by no means an expert, she knows enough to be able to determine just about where she is and her direction of travel.
Rapier Wit: A life in close-quarters aboard a ship has given Soriel the ability to banter with the best of them.
Just Rapier: Soriel has been trained by the quartermaster of her ship to the use of a rapier.

Personality

Much of Soriel's personality is informed by her upbringing aboard the Vyren'gar, a fast trading vessel owned by the elven clan to which she belongs. Her mother was -- the ahf'jeade (literally wind-finder, or navigator) of the ship. The identity of her true father is unknown, although her mother's husband, the der'fakha (literally sail-master, or captain) has claimed her as his own despite the impossibility. Both her mother and her 'father' are pureblooded elves, and Soriel is a half-elf. The circumstances of her birth are a mystery to her. Neither her mother nor her 'father' have ever spoken of it to her or, to her knowledge, to anyone else. Her mother died some few months after her birth, leaving her father the only one to bear the secret.

This taciturnity on her parents part did not stop a subtle bullying from her brothers and sisters: things placed on high shelves that a young half-elf couldn't easily reach, that kind of thing. She developed a thick skin from this type of upbringing, as well as an appreciation for teamwork. All hands, regardless of personal differences, were required for the successful running of the Vyren'gar. But she was also well aware of being something apart from the crew, and from this, Soriel learned to look out for herself and operate alone. This came in handy when she was assigned the role of one of the ship's donde'kesh, an individual assigned to interact with the outside world, which required her to leave the home of her ship and deal with strangers.

Biography & Lore

Soriel Draecaryn was born on the winter solstice, twenty winters ago, after one of the hardest years of the trade for the small community of elvish seafarers in living memory. The year had involved serious clashes with pirates and brigands, devastating damage to the Vyren'gar and at least three near-sinkings. The ship had been captured and retaken twice, the cargo lost both times, impoverishing the ship and the Draecaryns that owned it.

Although she was very clearly not Taeral Draecarys' daughter, given that she was plainly a half-elf and not a full-elf, neither Taeral, the der'fahka, nor his wife and ahf'jeade, Naevys, ever spoke about the circumstances of her birth -- to Soriel or anyone else. Taeral claimed Soriel and that was that. Naevys never recovered from the birth, and died of childbed fever some few months after Soriel was born. She was the youngest of six children until her father remarried and two younger siblings followed some years later.

As much as she was legally and by custom one of the family, Soriel felt a keen sense of being not really one of them. Her brothers and sisters and cousins teased and hazed and sometimes excluded her on the grounds that she must be the result of some betrayal of her mother.

Her half-elf nature and near-human appearance came in handy when Soriel got older. She was tasked with venturing into the cities known to be disposed to anti-elven sentiment to negotiate on purchases, sales, deliveries, and other business associated with the sea trade. This role of donde'kesh, or 'Outrider', was traditionally an honored and trusted position, but Soriel got the distinct impression it was in the eyes of her siblings and cousins an ostracization. In all of it, only Taeral had never treated her differently, never given her any reason to suspect that he valued her any less than his other children.

In her new role, she looked for joy in freedom. A donde'kesh was given wide latitude and authority to seek knowledge, negotiate deals and passage, and interact with other traders, elven or not. She is less at-ease on land than she is on the seas; earth does not sway, does not gently rock. While she has adapted to land, Soriel doesn't love it the way she does the sea.

Soriel Draecaryn