Zara Velkuno
Zara Velkuno is a greedy criminal living in The Shallows. She has been able to avoid killing anyone herself yet, as her gear has so far deterred the petty criminals around her. Her primary weapon of choice is her warhammer and she also carries a light crossbow to deal with more distant threats, while she wears ring mail and carries a shield to protect herself.
Appearance
With a height over six feet tall and notably muscular arms, Zara has a thuggish and intimidating appearance befitting her role as a criminal enforcer. Her straight black hair is far too dry and nearly all the ends of it seem to be frayed, while her mostly lifeless dull gray eyes and constant frown give her a permanently tired look as she patrols the streets of The Shallows.
Skills and Abilities
- Fighting (2/5, Capable): Zara has lived her entire life around career criminals and has been involved in several minor scuffles, so she knows how to defend herself in basic fights, but is otherwise not a notable warrior.
- Perception (3/5, Intermediate): Zara has done a lot of dirty work for various criminal organizations, from being a bodyguard or a lookout to disposing of evidence and escorting contraband. She primarily relies on her ability to identify threats and opportunities to do these jobs, though her perception is largely limited to this kind of work.
- Athletics (2/5, Capable): Zara has also served as muscle for some criminals, moving goods between locations. She is used to manual labor, but her strength is nothing too noteworthy.
- Intimidation (2/5, Capable): As a longtime criminal with a powerful build, Zara can easily bully average people to get what she needs, but is otherwise not a notably intimidating person.
- Perception (3/5, Intermediate): Zara has done a lot of dirty work for various criminal organizations, from being a bodyguard or a lookout to disposing of evidence and escorting contraband. She primarily relies on her ability to identify threats and opportunities to do these jobs, though her perception is largely limited to this kind of work.
- Athletics (2/5, Capable): Zara has also served as muscle for some criminals, moving goods between locations. She is used to manual labor, but her strength is nothing too noteworthy.
- Intimidation (2/5, Capable): As a longtime criminal with a powerful build, Zara can easily bully average people to get what she needs, but is otherwise not a notably intimidating person.
Personality
Zara sees herself as a pragmatic realist. Having lived her entire life surrounded by violent criminals, she is convinced that everyone is just trying to claw their way to the top, including herself. As a result, she is very difficult to either upset or please, and she sees holding grudges and putting trust into others as equally foolish. While she is loyally secretive about the work she does for various criminal organizations in The Shallows, she is otherwise bluntly honest and appreciates the same forwardness from others. Even though she may not trust others, she recognizes when another person's interests line up with her own and she can be very loyal as long as she feels she isn't outliving her usefulness. As a lifelong criminal, she naturally distrusts figures of authority even more than the average person, and she sees anyone who honestly supports them as foolish.
Biography & Lore
Zara was born into a life of crime, as her parents operated a small smuggling ring. Things were relatively good for most of her childhood until a much larger gang made a decisive strike against her parents’ gang in the middle of night, killing most of the members of her family's gang while the rest were either captured or went into hiding. The young Zara was able to escape relatively easily, but if either of her parents survived then they have made no attempt to contact her.While Zara initially wanted to get revenge or reunite with her parents, she quickly realized it was far more practical to keep her head down. Even though she hasn't needed to seriously hurt anyone yet, she is no stranger to violence and has since made a living doing odd jobs for much more powerful criminals, from serving as a temporary bodyguard to helping dispose of bodies. She hasn't been in a dangerous combat yet and is less experienced than most seasoned criminals, but trains regularly with her weapons and is more experienced than the average peasant.
Zara considers herself to be pragmatic and realistic. Her dreams of finding her parents and getting her vengeance on the gang that attacked them have faded as she has since learned that chasing after ghosts and acting on grudges, among many other things, are pointless if not dangerous endeavors. Now, she focuses on making enough money to get by while keeping everyone else at arm's length after having learned that the only person she can expect to watch out for her is herself.