Azura is the last of her kind, a race of ancient and rumored to be mythological women descendant from celestial blood and tasked with protecting the magical healing secrets of her land. Hidden from the outside world for most of her life, Azura is still adapting to life outside her tribe which was always forbidden. She was raised within a culture that preached heavily against the dangers of men and love.

Hair: Black streaked with white and silver. In long and almost always tangled coils, her unruly mane falls to her hips and is always worn loose. Often twisted with leaves and forest debris, Azura’s hair is significant to her culture and a genetic trait from her father.
Eyes: Mossy emerald green. When accessing her magic or in emotional distress, the sea green depths of her gaze are illuminated by dancing shards of luminescent blue and silver.
Height/Build: 5’1. Curvy, hourglass figure.
Body Paint: Azura often decorates the contours of her face with painted tribal markings- commonly, a thick band of black or blue charcoal across the eyes and bridge of the nose with white/blue dots edged below and above brows. A vertical line is often dashed through the center of her lip or chin.
Piercings: A row of silver studs forms a necklace at the base of her throat, a matching row set below her bottom lip.
Attire: Azura dresses in the traditional cloth of her ancestors, an opaque veil of glimmering blue fabric that hangs like a transparent veil, revealing her tattooed and silver curves beneath. She has no concept of modesty as she was raised without the sexualization of the female form.
Tattoos: Azura is heavily tattooed with he majority of her skin being covered in runes, tribal markings and other designs specific to her culture. In Akaari society, these tattoos are symbolic of her status and are an important rite of passage that begins at the age of 5 years and is an annual process. Because of this, some of her tattoos remain unfinished due to the decimation of her culture. Her back is of particular significance- three interlocking sea serpents, bodies twisted and writhing together, flattened heads flaring out over one shoulder. These represent the sacred sisters, daughters of the goddess.

Control over water- Azura is able to manifest and manipulate all forms of water. This includes the altering of temperature and color. Her connection with this element means that she is able to essentially control any being that has water within their system, to a certain degree. (This includes plant life)
Hydromancy (Water Divination): Azura can peer into the past, present or future though accessing the memories contained within water. She has several methods to achieve this.
Healing: Blessed with the ability to heal both herself and others, this type of magic is often represented by an unearthly blue glow. Not only does she have the natural ability to heal, Azura has access to her people’s sacred springs and rivers which are rumored to be so powerful, they hold the ability to reverse life over death. This water is able to cure any mortal illness.
Lunar Manipulation: Azura’s control over Lunar elements (the moon and stars) is sourced from her father’s blood line and made her unique amongst her people.
*In the height of her powers, Azura’s veins and skin is often lit with a luminous sapphire shine*
*Azura has two different forms, each associated with a different element, that she has yet to discover*

Azura is wild and impulsive. Curious by nature, she has a tendency to get herself embroiled in conflict. She can be very emotional and quick to anger, and struggles to control this. She is very mistrustful of strangers, especially men, though once she develops a connection with someone, she is fiercely loyal and protective. In many ways, Azura can be very immature, mischievous and free spirited. She is also extremely stubborn! Because of her isolated upbringing, she struggles with societal expectations and customs such as manners, modesty and basic grooming though she means well. Her hobbies include nocturnal swims, racing through the forest, climbing the mountains of home and collecting ocean and forest debris to add to her collection.

Azura was born into the isolated and remote village of the Akaari, an ancient and rumored to be mythological and strictly matriarchal tribe whose community was nestled deep within a lush and forested valley, surrounded by steep and impassable mountains. Descendant from the Goddess of Water, Healing and Hydromancy (Melusina), her celestial bloodline were blessed with natural born gifts of magic. Not only were they able to manifest and control the element of water, they also used it for divination purposes and possessed the ability to heal themselves, and others. Purposely kept hidden from the outside world for centuries, the Akaari acted as guardians of the mountain, protectors of the sacred springs and lagoons that held the power to cure any affliction, even able to reverse death. Their oath was to keep the divinity of their souls and the secrets they harbored safe from the destruction of men, who their culture preached strongly against, especially the concept of love.

Azura was born the eldest of five daughters, next in line to take over as High Priestess after her mother, Seraphina. However, from the moment she came hurtling into the world amongst a bed of vines and wild flowers, Azura was marked as different, even among her own people. Traditionally, all those born within the ancestral bloodline of the Goddess possesses striking straight pale hair and blue eyes, but after laboring for many hours, Azura was born under the light of a full moon with wide green eyes and a dark patch of hair. As she grew, she turned into an inquisitive but rebellious child whose curiosity and reluctance to follow rules blindly often so her harshly punished. Unlike those before her, Azura was the first to question the restrictions placed upon her, the first to desire that what was forbidden and much of her childhood was spent fleeing the elders from her village, evading long hours spent on cold temple floors to chant mindlessly in prayer in favor of climbing the mountain ranges and diving from clifftops to watery pools below. Even stranger was the fact that as she aged, her dark hair grew in tangled coils that were slashed with white and silver, the two toned mane next to impossible to tame. Odder still was the birth of her four sisters, who in comparison, all contained flowing manes of blonde, marking her as the literal black sheep of the family. However she was still the eldest, and expected to lead one day, a thought that filled her with dread for the young girl craved knowledge and adventure outside the boundaries of the only home she had ever known

Akaari Culture

Akaari belief is that water is the life force that connects all living things- the sister of death, the two so closely connected that they cannot be separated. Whilst a peaceful tribe that had a natural aversion to violence, there were many dark and secretive aspects to their way of life that could be deemed as savage and uncivilized. Akaari culture revolves heavily around keeping the land of the Goddess free from the corruption and sin of outside forces, especially men, that might seek to manipulate or destroy her divinity. Love was expressively forbidden and preached against. The only time the women left their isolated mountain was for the purpose of procreation, an act that was viewed as an unpleasant but necessary chore, designed for the sole purpose of continuing their way of life and from which no relationships or emotion was allowed to spring, using the men on the other side of those jagged peaks and vanishing like a mirage before morning. Men were considered vessels and nothing more, a father’s role non existent and unimportant. Whilst there is no such thing as a male Akaari and most children were female, sons were produced from time to time however such a thing was a rare occurrence. Traditionally, these infants were drowned at birth but the custom was changed by Azura’s early defiance of the rule which came about after she intervened on the drowning of her infant brother when she herself was still but a child. Since that time, male children were allowed to live among the tribe until they reached a certain age upon where they were marked (two tattooed waved lines on the wrist) before being abandoned to the river, guided to new homes by the grace and mercy of Melusina. Those deemed worthy, were guided back to the homeland in old age to await death as a final act of kindness, reunited with the soil of their birth. As such, Azura’s experience with men before Hellifyno was limited to young children and the elderly.
(More to come)

The Slaughter
Many people searched for the existence of the legendary tribe yet Azura’s world appeared on no map. Its location was shrouded in secrecy for good reason, the rough terrain of her mountainous home making it difficult to traverse for even the bravest soul yet to the pale savage, those slopes were easy to scale. For hundreds of years, the Akaari lived with limited to no contact from the outside world, a peaceful existence without violence or the corruption of mankind. That was until the day Azura turned sixteen. On that day, she had risen early before the sun even had a chance to do so, roaming alone alongside the mountain ranges as she contemplated the rites of passage she was to undergo that day. As she began the long walk back to the village, the sky was a dark blue threaded with pink, the start of a new day. But by the time she neared the border, those streaks of pink were burning to red, and although she could not see beyond the rise of stone and rock, her senses were quickly invaded by the thick scent of smoke and blood, her ears filling with screams of agony and fear as she descended into the clearing.

They had been discovered, attacked while the sun still slept. Her vision bathed in an eerie glow of orange and red, Azura struggled to adjust her mossy green gaze to the carnage, the horror and violence erupting before her. Two of her sisters, Masika and Lyra , aged six and eight, lay dead at her feet, mutilated and staring with lifeless eyes, a river of blood drenching her bare feet. They must have tried to flee into the forest for their faces were turned towards the trees, silently pleading. Her people were being slaughtered, such savagery beyond comparison, a frenzied unorganized lust for blood in the attempt to discover those legendary secrets. She saw it all. Homes and temples burning before her eyes, panicked occupants forced inside to be burned alive, those who resisted beaten without mercy. Women and children ran for their lives, but they were pursued, and clubbed to death, raped, tortured right beside their fallen kin. Mothers screamed as infants were ripped from their arms and thrown carelessly into the dirt, or else their small heads dashed against stone.

As news of the slaughter spread, many continued to deny the existence of such a community, dismissing the stories. Captured and tortured for information, Azura became the last of her kind and though she was eventually able to flee, she was forced to accept that she would spend the remainder of her life avoiding the constant threat of those that hunted her, intent on uncovering the secret of her blood and the mountain. Was this divine punishment for her desire to break free and glimpse the outside world? In her mind, she wondered…

Since venturing outside her home, Azura has been confronted with all manner of threats, her naivety and tendency to loose control of her emotion and magic often making her a target. Though, the largest hurdle she currently faces is coming to terms with evidence that her people’s beliefs on love, the outside world and the nature of men in general was skewed in perception for she has met many individuals that have thrown her culture into doubt. Despite this inner conflict, Azura still finds it difficult to trust those of the male persuasion and strangers in general with the exception of a few.

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https://www.rolepages.com/characters/azura/