Character Design Class

This is a fantasy world set simalar to our own right before the decline of the Roman Empire. Aproximitally 122 A.D. around the time that Hadrian's wall was constructed in Briton. 

Magic exists but is deturnmined more by destiny and force of will than by arcane rituals or spells. Both exist but are far less common. 

Oral traditions vary on the actual birth place of said magic. Ocean dwellers and coastal communities hold to the beliefe that all life/magic originated from the depths of the ocean. However tribal mountain clans believe that it came from the heart of their mountain. 

The story is set primarily in a coastal city-state (Tyre) whose culture is closely tied to the ocean and mer-folk. In centuries past the surface dwellers and the mer-folk were in a bitter war over resources.  It was only when both cultures were on the brink of collapse that the leaders of both civilazations came together and formed a compromise.  The royal families decided that to ensure that the treaty was upheld they would essincially trade children for a span of two years. As the centuries past this stopped being a hostage situation and became an honored tradition. Eventually it came to be called the "childrens trade" and extended to those of common birth along with the nobility.  At the end of the two year exchange the children were given to opertunity to either return to their original homes or stay with their adopted families. As a result Tyre became mostly inhabited by half-borns. Those of both human and mer-folk ansestary. 

Characters:

Rayln: Half-Born. Former slave turned dragon knight.

"Svara studied her captor intently, he looked strange to her. His hair was white, but he was young, older than her by a few years but not many.  His skin was lightly tanned, the color of new saplings before the years hardened them into trees.  It would have been perfect except for the long white lines that seemed to scream in contrast to his complexion.  Scars, she realized with mild interest. They weren't few."   

Calan: Current govanor, non native former Prince of the small kingdom of Lorn. He was forcably removed from his home and placed in Tyre after his family was overthrown by an invading Empire. The same one that had conquered Tyre. 

"The executioner lifted the axe high. Calan expected the next words he heard to be ones of welcome to the afterlife. Instead a voice rang out, “stop!”
     Calan felt more confused than relieved to find his head still firmly attached to his body. One of the gaurds grabbed him by his shackled wrists and pulled him backward. His chin scraped painfully along the course stone of the execution block. He felt blood roll down his neck. And with a sickening thought he relised that not all of it was his."
 

Yuka: Half-Born. Originally from an artic mer-folk clan. She chose to remain on land after taking part in the childrens trade. Currently the Madam of the most prominent brothel in Tyre.

"That morning her haze of grief cleared and she stood on shaky legs. Yuka let out a ragged breath and
allowed her new found resolve wash away her uncertaincy. Tonight she would set about making an empire."



The second primary setting for this story is on a naboring mountain (Njor).

Within the mountain clans, the best riders are the warrior class. There is a male chieftain for every clan that is ruled over by a central matriarch. The girl who is destined to become the next matriarch’s eyes will turn gold by her thirteenth year. She is the only woman allowed to train as a warrior, and the only woman forbidden from becoming a mother.

Excript:
              "Even with the miles between the ocean and the mountains, he had heard the stories.  As a child sitting around a campfire he had asked for them; stories of the tattooed warriors that bound their souls to the beasts they rode upon. The stories had claimed they could move as one and when they fought it was hard to distinguish where the man ended and beast began."

Characters:

Svara
The unwilling heir to the current matriarch.
5 '3 tall

130 lb

Tempermeant: -quick to anger but unsure of herself.
Unhappy with her current roll in life.  Sasstastic


Empire - Herpieria