Nayru Al-Saiduq
Nov 6, 2011 19:15:59 GMT -6
Post by Nayru Al-Saiduq on Nov 6, 2011 19:15:59 GMT -6
Name: Nayru Al-Saiduq
Class: Dragon
Age: Appears to be in in her early to mid twenties; actually more than 500 years old.
Born in: Nabata Desert(?)
Story:
Combat: Nayru gained very little real weapon combat experience over her centuries of wandering Elibe, never really able to stick with and learn any of the weapons she dabbled in. Recently she has picked the study up more seriously, breaking through her personal barriers, and grown somewhat competent on a base level with a pair of dual kama she 'liberated' from an assassin attacking her and Veigue, but any experienced warrior can see the amateur nature of her strikes; while her strength and speed are overwhelming to the point that against lesser opponents she can seem competent with them, her attack patterns are sloppy full of holes by the perspective of a master, betraying how much she relies on her physical superiority. Outside of rudimentary hooking and disarming maneuvers, she uses them as much like clubs as sickles.
They are a handicap.
Her real ability, and what she has dabbled in for centuries, is martial arts - while not a true master or well versed in that many different ones, she has sampled quite a few and eventually settled on several to specialize in. While for a long time it was little more than a hobby, in recent times she has taken practice far more seriously and improved drastically; a combination of pride and eagerness to improve her sword skills often leads her to try to use her kama at first, but when push comes to shove, she switches to unarmed combat. In particular, she specializes in the fantastic equivalents to Bājíquán and Krav Maga, with bits of some other styles sewn in.
Bājíquán focuses heavily on extreme short-range power and makes more use of elbow and shoulder strikes than most flavors of martial arts, and is well known for striking points of vulnerability; neck and knee strikes are what she primarily prefers but thorax, shoulder, and hip strikes are also taught, and she is at least proficient in them. It is her preferred sparring style and she often uses it at the opening of a fight or when trying to fight nonlethally or at least stay low-key. Right up until she punches someone through a wall.
Krav Maga revolves more around brutal counters, mixing offense and defense to quickly and permanently disable opponent. It mixes in aspects of various grappling styles for better flexibility, and Nayru has mixed in more aspects of judo, akido, and brazilian jiujitsu in particular to dramatically amplify her ground game - when in this stance she often tries to take opponents to the ground to leverage her drastically superior strength while simultaneously crippling weapon-wielding foes who require a certain degree of range to fight optimally. Considering its focus on lethality and a complete lack of subtlety or restraint, Krav Maga is generally her fall back style when fights get serious.
Her draconic powers have also blossomed in the last few weeks (IC) especially, offering a humanform breath attack as well as the beginnings of the ability to use her human body as a conduit for her power. Nayru is still experimenting with both forms of offense and how to work them into her existing combat styles, but her offensive breath capabilities are held back severely by the amount of damage they do to her throat, imposing an effective cap on usage even beyond the concerns of subtlety. Conduction is simpler and less dangerous to her, so she has advanced quickly in terms of using her weapons as conduits for electricity, allowing her to make use of what are effectively makeshift magical weapons. Utilizing these abilities with traditional martial arts requires more concentration and is a work in progress; as of Blood on the Keys she can only enhance single strikes.
{Spoiler}Original backstory
Nayru records particularly interesting scenes from her journey in a journal. Unfettered by time and date, the entries speak of countless experiences wandering the continent.
Nayru records particularly interesting scenes from her journey in a journal. Unfettered by time and date, the entries speak of countless experiences wandering the continent.
It seems interesting that the legends of Arcadia have suffused human cultures to some degree despite the near-total lack of information. I have heard tales of it being a paradise beyond compare, home to hoards of treasure so vast as to defy comprehension, and countless other tall tales, each as inaccurate as the last. In retrospect, my own lack of interest could be considered odd - but for one raised in a given location, the mystique quickly evaporates, replaced by a sense of familiarity. As farmboys long to leave their lives tilling the fields, so too did I yearn for something different. It is a wonder of perception that one man's treasure may be another's trash; that what is fabled paradise to one may be simply a staid, unchanging existence to another raises a number of philosophical concerns. Shall I miss it, I wonder?
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This was an interesting day. After several hours spent being jostled in a crowded marketplace and over two dozen attempts to steal various objects of value from my person, I was accosted by several rogues who mistook me for a noblewoman of some sort. I liberated a belt from one of the corpses - it had excellent make, possibly of Etrurian manufacture.
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Today I turned into a dragon and attempted to eat a particularly odious pirate, but then he ate some oranges and it was 'k.
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This is the third harvest since my arrival - I feel that the household has come to accept my presence as another constant. If nothing else, they seem grateful for the help in tilling the fields. I suspect the younger male human child of making off with one of my belts in the night, but without proof I cannot accuse him. I must acquire a suitable replacement, or extract mine from the little hellion.
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This work as a caravan guard is surprisingly informative - the sheer breadth of experience has led to me perhaps overstaying my welcome in discussing various matters with several of the merchants and a reprimand from the guard captain. I feel that offering to take extra night shifts may have served to alleviate the issue. I managed to liberate a sheath of gorgeous cloth in the meantime - so far no one has noticed.
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I learned today that it is remarkably difficult to concentrate reinforcement from my dragonstone to multiple areas of my body at once while fighting two bandits. I am fortunate that the second man's axe was poorly aimed, as that fact affords me the ability to be lying in a pool of my own blood, slowly healing, rather than lying in a pool of my own blood, quickly dying. I suspect that I may need to hope for passerby, a caravan if I am lucky, to transport me to a nearby town for recuperation. Perhaps they will not notice the remnants of the bandits' bodies or want an explanation?
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It turns out that traveling entertainers actually earn a goodly sum of coin should their act be interesting enough - I made enough tonight to procure lodgings for some time. Unfortunately, I ended up spending it in the market instead. There are a surprising number of local delicacies, all of them delicious.
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It has been some time since I left Arcadia - I cannot help but wonder if it is strange that I only think of it when reminded of it directly, and even then, only with a certain degree of vague surprise at how little I miss it. Does that make me a poor representative, I wonder, or is it a natural effect of discovering the world beyond? Will a century of further wandering drive me back to the hallowed halls of my home, or will I have found a new home by then?
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I cannot help but realize that I have made very few lasting relationships with others during my travels. How does that reflect on me, I wonder? Of course the nature of my existence curtails traveling with others for extended durations, as a woman who does not seem to age would require some explanation, but sometimes it feels as though I am a ghost in this world, more an observer than a participant. One should be grateful to have kept some semblance of cover throughout the decades, but I leave so little behind, and know full well that any incidental good I manage to enact will have evaporated before long. It is the nature of this world to swallow lives whole in tragedy, no matter how undeserving.
Personality:
Nayru has always been intensely curious, for better or for worse. Learning more about humans was why she left Arcadia in the first place, and centuries into life she is still acutely aware that she has barely begun to scratch the surface. Her interests range from the mundane to the fantastical; she spent the better part of a decade as a farmhand just to learn how the whole farming thing worked, then the next few as a traveling entertainer when she grew intrigued by a passing troupe. She has minimal experience in the ways of war, generally having avoided anything military out of caution, but vast experience in countless other trades.
She always makes a point of finishing what she starts, not liking to leave a task unfinished; Nayru borders on outright amoral, but has a code of ethics that she applies to her own life; it essentially boils down to "finish what you start, don't be too much of a failboat to people, don't throw the first punch but make sure you throw the last." She isn't really a warrior, but will fight for what it important to her - that she has had precious little worth fighting for in the last few centuries is a reflection of her general vague desire to find something really worth it, a way to give back to Elibe a little bit for all that it has shown and taught her.
Nayru has no fevered dreams of becoming a hero, but has a vague goal of doing something for Elibe. While searching for an actual goal, she tends to try to try to help out a bit and leave the situation a little better in her wake; whether or not this actually works out varies widely. Secretly, she wouldn't mind if there was a Manakete in the next group of heroes to save Elibe, but is realistic enough to shoot a little lower.
In the meantime, she wanders - without much of a real goal, without a real purpose, and it shows. She is friendly and open, but always vague; Nayru has a thousand and one stories to tell, some too fantastic to be reasonable, but is always vague enough on names and dates that at least they can't be proven false - nor can it be conclusively proven that she was involved in past historical events. She hides her draconic heritage by necessity, not preference - it is simply so much easier to travel as an eccentric human than an inhuman monster that whenever possible she merely utilizes her dragonstone's lower-power functionality, minimizing the drain on her dragonstone over the years.
Her concept of "important" varies dramatically from the normal definition; Nayru tends to follow current events poorly at best, often too focused on whatever her latest interest is to notice when something important happens a country away. Similarly, she has no idea what the current situation in Arcadia is - while Nayru is generally loyal to her birthplace, at least insofar as she wouldn't consciously betray it and would defend it if need be, she has no particular interest in it and hasn't visited since she left half a millennium ago, nor does it come up in her thoughts often.
Highly literate, Nayru has exceptionally neat writing. She picks her words carefully from a massive vocabulary drawn from several languages; she speaks slowly, but with practiced cadence.
Nayru has difficulty trusting and confiding in people precisely because she wants to so badly; centuries of hiding parts of her self has had a great effect on her, and she wonders if she will ever be able to throw off that burden. Nevertheless, she waits. For what, she does not know. Whether it be a human who provides a perspective she had never considered, an event that shatters her existing worldview, or even an incidental thought that grows into something more. It's about all she has left to believe in, so she holds fast to that fading hope.
UPDATED as of 3/23/2012: Nayru has finally gathered somewhat more solid a purpose, traveling with Aerious and Elly in the very early stages of a far-fetched plan to shepherd humanity into a golden age of evolution. Her total inability to deal with her emotions has been coming up with increasing frequency; even Nayru is aware that it is a problem by this point, but has no idea how to deal with the issue. Has discovered that she has a penchant for talking a lot when people are willing to listen.
Purchases
{Spoiler}
delphi shield 3000
weapon seal 1000
magic sword+2seals (veggie) 4000
delphi shield 3000
weapon seal 1000
magic sword+2seals (veggie) 4000
