Post by Emma on Oct 3, 2010 20:18:06 GMT -5
Name:
Cyprus D’Ellsadro
Age:
Twenty-three
Race:
Werewolf
Allegiance:
Broddring
Occupation:
Assassin
Appearance:
‘You can take the girl out of the slums, but you can’t take the slums out of the girl’ is generally what goes through most people’s minds when first seeing Cyprus D’Ellsadro. \Cyprus, due to her dislike of being in one place for too long, is rarely seen in Carvala, and even more rarely in any sort of upper-class attire- something that most would assume wouldn’t suit her. Her walk and bearing are proud, but not the floating grace most would picture in a woman- she swaggers in a way much more befitting of a sailor than a lady, and her speech, underlined by her light Iberian accent, is rough and peppered with curses and sexual innuendo. Her lower-class origins are obvious in both, as well as her usual manner of dress- her clothing is usually crudely patched, or once fine but stained from years of use, and her general appearance is very bedraggled. Despite this, she always holds herself up like a queen.
Cyprus hails from Iberia, a south-western land mostly populated by dark-skinned humans, and her first language and accent are as such. Her skin is a warm olive colour, and her hair a rich ash brown occasionally threaded with golden-blonde highlights, which are most prominent in summertime. Her eyes are blue-green, usually appearing more one than the other depending on how the light hits them. She stands a little taller than average at 5’7”, with a lean hourglass figure, the most attractive feature of her body likely being her wide hips. Her face is oval-shaped, with prominent cheekbones and a narrow chin and jaw, as well as full lips and a pointed nose. Her eyes are long-lashed and almond-shaped, and her forehead is tall and arched. When it comes to the question of attractiveness, Cyprus certainly possesses her own brand of a rough, exotic beauty combined with her confident personality. However, her clear lower-class origins and said outspoken demeanour often have men turning up their noses rather than being interested.
Cyprus will almost never shift into her wolf form when in cities and towns due to how inconvenient it is in an urban setting, but she will normally use it when traversing the wilderness. She is notably larger than natural wolves, only a little shorter than a horse, and carries over the same bedraggled appearance she possesses in human form. Her pelt is chestnut red, the fur scruffy and seemingly desperate for a proper brushing, and her build is very strong but lean. Her eyes are blue-green, just as in her human form, and reflect jade-green in darkness. Cyprus can shift at will except during the night of the full moon, when she is temporarily locked in wolf form, but doesn’t change often due to how taxing it is on her body, especially around the full moon when she is so weak that she doesn’t even have the strength to defend herself.
Personality:
Perhaps Cyprus’s most obvious trait is her enormous self-confidence. Brash and highly vibrant, she seems to own any room she walks into no matter its occupants or the circumstances. With a feisty nature that can either come across as very charming or really infuriating, Cyprus is an irreverent, naughty character. Fickle with her desires and sassy with her peers, she is certainly of the hair-pulling variety. She will say what she thinks no matter how rude it is- usually things that everyone’s thinking but no one dares say out loud- and her best weapon is often her sharp wit, maintained by a high intelligence and love for humour. At her best, Cyprus is hugely energetic and comedic, and resourceful and witty. At her worst, she is unscrupulous and thieving, and seemingly ‘ethically challenged’. Those who come to know Cyprus usually regard her as one of two things- their best friend, or their most annoying enemy. Said enemies are subjected to no end of headaches on their part, and no end of amusement on Cyprus’s.
Those who call Cyprus a friend have known her long enough to call her (somewhat) loyal, (not really) trustworthy, and (not in the least bit) respectful. In fact, most people who take to her tend to call her worse things than her enemies do, the kindest terms being ‘scheming’, ‘mischievous’, and ‘damned naughty’. However, what truly attracts them is Cyprus’s intelligence- at least when not masked by her crude humour- resourcefulness, high energy and ability to stop anyone from wallowing in misery with a filthy joke or five. Some even applaud her for taking what she wants in any given situation. Even turncoat Paladins and Oracles, provided they don’t attack her on sight, are treated to a few hours of her irreverent personality before she attempts to attack them. However, this isn’t to say Cyprus doesn’t know how to handle herself in a fight- though she prefers avoiding danger, she is quick to deal out harsh punishments to any attacker, be it an Urgal on the road or a groping drunk in a bar. Dealing with psychopaths, criminals, and bad seeds in general have taught Cyprus to be a quick and excellent judge of character, and she will always act on whatever feeling she gets about someone.
Regarding her duties as assassin, Cyprus is most definitely a loose cannon, and a bit of a wild card when it comes to properly fulfilling them. She does her job of hunting people down well enough, but her ability to tread on important people's toes figuratively and literally make it a good thing that Cyprus is rarely seen in Carvala. Cyprus and organized religion do not mix, although, unbeknownst to most, she is privately religious, keeping with the Iberian doctrines.
Naturally, being of lower-class birth, she has had to deal with mockery and cruelty her entire life- something she decided long ago to simply ignore. Cyprus doesn’t care a lick of what other people think of her, firmly believing that she is the only one who truly knows herself. And in a way, she’s right- her self-centered personality is all anyone ever sees of her. It’s rather difficult to tell who Cyprus is at her very core when externally, the assassin seems to only think about sex, money, how to irritate everyone around her- and ultimately, herself. She has never been seen committing an act that didn’t end in any personal reward for her. However, everyone seems to notice that Cyprus has some sort of mysterious agenda. At her core, Cyprus does indeed have a sensitive and compassionate nature that was badly bruised by her early life. She disguises her inner self with humour and innuendo, and freely admits that she is a terrible person with no sense of goodness whatsoever. Cyprus does indeed have a moral compass to her actions; however, even if it is a little skewed, but pride dictates that she never shows it to anyone.
History:
Despite her claims and almost flawless portrayal of being the daughter of a duke, Cyprus was born into anything but wealth. Her real name is Liana Izarre, daughter of a religious minister and a prostitute. Both of her parents were largely absent during her childhood- the minister too embarrassed to claim Liana as his own, her mother drunk beyond all reason- so Liana was mainly raised by her older sister Alanza. They lived in the poor provincial town of Nuka in the country of Iberia, far to the south of Alagaësia. Liana’s mother had many children as a result of her profession, seven by the time Liana was eight. As such, Alanza usually had her hands full, and Liana usually ended up playing alone on the street. It was on one of these occasions that Liana was bitten by a very large, very strange dog.
The bite itself was not serious, and Liana suffered a fracture to the wrist that managed not to get infected. Unknown to her, however, the bite carried a virus that flooded Liana’s body and lay dormant for four years. After that, Liana’s life was uneventful- she struggled to eat and mostly begged for scraps on the sidewalks and stole from vendors. But when Liana turned twelve, the virus suddenly came alive as her body began to mature. It caused such a violence and aggression in Liana that she lost herself, and in the madness, she ended up tearing out Alanza’s throat. When Liana awoke and saw what she had done, she was overwhelmed with grief and self-loathing.
Liana ran to the docks of Nuka, figuring she would be executed for what she was anyway, and flung herself into the ocean. But when she did, a sailor saw her and dove after her, hauling her back into the boat and refusing to let her try again. In Iberian religion, suicide is the gravest of sins, as the soul can never find a resting place and is doomed to wander forever. The sailor was so adamant on preventing this that he took Liana aboard on his ship to work there. Liana remained lonely and depressed until she met a storyteller named D’Ellsadro on board the ship. His tales were inspiring, and it was him that Liana ended up choking out her story to. Though D’Ellsadro told her it was not her fault, Liana was inconsolable. He told her more stories to calm her grief, and Liana latched on to them desperately.
She became those stories over the next few months. Liana hated being a werewolf, herself, and the way she had lived. The crew called her ‘Cyprus’, meaning ‘copper’, in reference to her skin and hair colour. Liana took this as her new name, and D’Ellsadro as her last. Eventually, she changed herself entirely, and thought up a new past- she was the daughter of a duke of Iberia who had planned to marry her to a spoiled prince, and so she had run away and chosen to become a sailor. Cyprus told herself this story over and over until she believed it, and buried her memories of Alanza deep inside herself.
She eventually left the crew, as they were her last tie to her real life, and Cyprus ended up in Alagaësia. She travelled around the outskirts for some time, avoiding the war, and eventually landed up in The Tears, curious about the religion there. She met the Prophet herself, Malandra Ramakrishna, who sensed Cyprus’s true nature and offered her a serum to keep away the violent transformations. In exchange, Cyprus would work for her. Cyprus became a Paladin at the age of twenty- a short-lived job that ended when the Cathedral was razed. Cyprus wandered unemployed for a little longer until she came upon Broddring, and entered its service as an assassin.
