The pub was quiet and warm. The bard strumming her lute in the corner coupled with the smell of hearty stew bubbling in the kitchen, leading to an altogether peaceful atmosphere.
This was promptly ruined by a klonk as Liddy banged her horns on the doorjamb from not ducking down far enough. "Shit -- hell, damn, uh --" She would have been the center of attention upon entering the pub as it was, but she had meant to make a somewhat respectable impression rather than, well, that. "Right. Wonderful." She straightened up once inside, bonked her head on the ceiling, ducked down again, and made her way lamely over to the table.
"So. I heard you were in need of a mercenary." Her tone was cool, casual, almost disinterested, but the way Liddy pressed her lips together belied the fact that she had just embarrassed the hell out of herself, and would like to disappear into thin air as soon as possible, thank you very much.
→ @onceawake said: ❛ aren’t we in a good mood today? ❜ / mair
She shot the other mage a glare as she walked past her and further into the cave. Her foul mood was obvious to anyone who spared more than a passing glance at her and she was sure there was no need to explain the origin of it. Templars had become more numerous, even the elven district of the city was no longer spared their snooping around and she had spent many nights restless as she watched them do their rounds. It was like sitting on a powder keg and waiting for an errant spark to set off a catastrophe — all while being unable to take any precautions or any movement away from the danger itself. So yes, to say her mood had been rather terrible this morning would be an UNDERSTATEMENT as she made no secret of her frustration and gave little thought about letting it out on the group. When one had to watch oneself so carefully every step of the way every other second of one's life ... it became difficult to continue such care among less dangerous company.
" What gave it away? My bright smile this morning? " Words filled with sarcasm, which she made no attempt to hide, but still only halfheartedly thrown at her fellow mage. Her ire was directed at someone else and they were both well aware of it. " If another person thinks they can comment on my ears or my magic today I am simply going to fry them alive and I am going to ENJOY it. You do not have a problem with that, do you? " And even if Mair should protest, she would hardly listen.
Misc: He learned Elvish as a teenager from Elven servants and Briala. He believes in the Maker.
Synopsis:
Ignis was born in Orlais to the Scientia family. They are old money and a familiar name to those entangled within the Great Game, although they are not quite as prevalent as they once were. Ignis’ mother and father encourage their son as he grows to spend time with his uncle, who works as an advisor to Empress Celene, and as a result, in his teenage years he begins to attend Orlesian balls as a bard.
He works to gain favor among the powerful nobles who attend these parties by entertaining them and occasionally seducing them, using his demure charm and wit to learn their secrets and use them to his advantage. He also meets Briala, who takes a liking to him and is the one responsible for his combat prowess, taking the time to teach him the ways of the Tempest, and this is how he starts to gain a knowledge of the inner workings of the Orlesian government, and learns far more from Briala than he ever did from dusty nobles.
During the time of the 5th blight, his fanciful exploits turn more towards desires of political power thanks to his friendliness with Briala, using the influence he has gained to ensure the safety of many – something which the Empress does not overlook. As a result of this, when the Ambassador of Orlais is killed in the battle of Kirkwall, Ignis is chosen to take up the mantle in her absence. His appointment is in no small thanks to Briala, but that part is kept quiet.
The Qunari are tall and built like the broad side of a barn. A tall Qunari is a beast, and not someone you want to piss off -- especially when she's busy knitting a scarf.
Name: Lydia "Liddy" Rose
7'8 / 234 cm
Tal-Vashoth
Aliases: Lady Rose, Rose, Hey You Yeah The Big Lady Over There
After defecting from the Qun, Liddy chose a name, donned a set of armor, and became a mercenary, traveling across Thedas in search of work, beautiful women, and, maybe one day, a place to call home.
Liddy had been massive from the start. Her poor mother had barely survived the birth, and she only grew from there. There was no question about it -- she would become a soldier. As a Qunari, this marked her as male, not that she ever fully agreed with the classification, but Liddy knew better than to speak up about something as insignificant as that.
She was all but raised with a sword in her hand and lived up to the high expectations placed on her shoulders with ease. Undefeated in the sparring ring amongst her equals, Liddy began to go up against Qunari twice her age, before finally being sent out to fight alongside the rest of the Antaam.
But as she grew, so, too, did her sense of identity and curiosity. Liddy wanted to explore more of life than battle alone -- although, make no mistake, she loved nothing more than a good fight. Crafts, music, and cosmetics all appealed to her ... as did women.
The first woman Liddy fell for bore her mother's name. She was a beautiful, well-built weaver's apprentice, and for a time, they were happy. But Qunari do not care for romance, much less committed relationships, and the weaver's apprentice left as soon as she got tired of the games.
Heartbreak followed Liddy as she grew older, until she finally reached a breaking point. It was nothing noteworthy -- just another remark about women's weaknesses shared between drunken soldiers -- but it was enough. Liddy excused herself, grabbed her meager belongings, and took to the road, forever branding herself as Tal-Vashoth.
There was no formal excommunication, nothing so official as an exile. She simply left, and never returned.
In the years since, Liddy has celebrated her individualism. She picked her names because they sounded pretty, and she took to wearing heavy cosmetics even in the midst of battle. It was freeing. It was fun. She had never felt more alive.
Alas, fun does not fill an empty stomach. Liddy took up mercenary work, taking jobs wherever she could get them. A Qunari of her size wielding a greatsword taller than the average man easily found work as a body guard and as a killer-for-hire, taking out bandits or driving away predators.
However, many of her jobs paid poorly. She gladly took up work for those who were too poor to hire a proper mercenary or body guard, accepting minimal coin or a few days' worth of food for work that ought to have earned her a sack of gold. This selflessness had led to her sleeping in barns or under the stars more often than not, but Liddy doesn't mind terribly. There aren't many inns built for someone of her stature.
Misc. Details
Liddy learned to knit from a farmer's wife, and enjoys passing the time. She is also trying to master whittling, to mixed success.
She loves farm animals. If ever Liddy passes a flock of sheep or herd of cows sent out to graze, she will be stopping to pet at least a few.
Occasionally, Liddy will take wool as payment for protecting a flock of sheep. She then uses a drop spindle to spin her own yarn for her knitting.
Liddy is still exploring her femininity. Right now, she's relegated to more practical outfits and armor, but she'd like to experiment with jewelry, corsets, and even dresses if she ever had the chance.
In between jobs, Liddy will also work as a boxer in fighting rings. Due to her size, there isn't a huge payout for wagers if she wins, but it's more than enough to get by.
Liddy's fighting style is a mix of crowd control -- swinging her greatsword in wide arcs to keep her opponents at bay -- and strong blows heavy enough to shatter a wooden shield. Keeping your distance is the best way to survive the fight. However, if you can get in past her defenses, you can unbalance and knock her over, gaining the upper hand.
One day, she'd like to settle down. Every now and then Liddy starts to save up, thinking she might one day buy a plot of land and build herself a house. Maybe get a few sheep or a cow and live off the land. But it's never long before something happens and her savings dwindle away once more.
→ @onceawake said: ❛ stop saying i'm not taking this seriously! ❜ / aera
Few things angered her more than ignorance, especially what seemed like WILLFUL ignorance. To think a fellow mage, a fellow elven mage at that, would want to engage with a man as dangerous and opposed to everything they stood for as he — no, Inquisitor or not, she thought Aera a fool for entertaining his company at all. The woman might describe her complaints as simple bitterness, baseless accusations for the sake of sowing dissidence and ignore the very real CONCERN that infused every accusatory word.
" Then stop acting like a hapless animal blinded by childish notions of love. " Harsh words, a refusal to relent as the other raised her voice. She would remain unmoved in her conviction that the Inquisitor was choosing poorly, worse, that she was risking more than her own life by trusting a TEMPLAR of all people, one who had chosen his order over his conscience more times than she could count. He had written his choice in mage blood and she would not let him forget it. That also meant not allowing anyone to engage with him without being AWARE of his crimes. If she decided to turn a blind eye to it, there was little she could do to stop her, but she would not let it this go unnoticed.
" It seems you are unable to grasp the fact you are falling head over heels for a man who despises everything you stand for. I am sure he seems courteos. For now. But he fears mages and I doubt he has any understanding for elves, especially the Dalish. You are going to do something, maybe not today, maybe in a month, maybe a year, that will frighten him and then you will be his enemy just for EXISTING the way you are. Mark my words, he will betray you and I only hope it will not end with your blood on his hands. " She remembered the man's deeds. At Kinloch Hold, at Kirkwall, terrible, cowardly actions she would remember for the rest of her life all because he and men like him had decided that her people were better dead than alive. And to have him of all people try and approach a mage now? There was no way, in her mind, that any of this could end in anything but TRAGEDY. The only thing she could wish for is that it would not cost them more innocent lives this time around.
Liddy was still learning the finer points of life outside the Qun, and she took to it like a rapt pupil. Things like gardening for the sake of aesthetics baffled her in the best of ways, while ballroom dances seemed to almost intimidate her. Tea was yet another novelty, and she watched as Helena prepared the drink. "But they're leaves. You just put dried leaves in there. How is it supposed to taste good if you're just drinking re-wetted dry leaves?"
Liddy crashed through the forest with enough noise one might mistake her for a band of five men. There was no use bothering with stealth, so she did away with it entirely, stepping over fallen branches and rustling the underbrush as she sought out the source of light up ahead.
"'Scuse me," she said with a grin, one hand pushing a bush out of the way and the other carefully away from the hilt of her greatsword. She knew what kind of figure she painted at this hour, and did her best to appear non-threatening "Mind sharing your camp with another? I thought it might be better than having me camp a hundred feet away and pretending I don't exist."
