Name: Valmyria WindstriderGender: Female
Race: Quel’Elhen (High Elf)
Class: Ranger, Warden-Commander
Age: 27
Affiliation: Grey Wardens.
Skills/magic/abilities: Elven Heritage: From the heritage of her people, she has increased hearing, and able to see very well in the dark and at great distances.
Ranger Skills: Valmyira has not forgotten her previous life as a Ranger for her people. As a ranger, she underwent intense training to be able to meet the needs and requirements of the Rangers of the Arrow. The training proved to be physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. It was designed to push the recruits past their breaking points, and place them in peak condition. During all of this, she learned how to track and trap her prey, move without making a sound and without leaving a trace. Survival was also a needed trait to have with the rangers, being required to live in the wilds without provisions. Thus all of the recruits needed a sound knowledge of Herbalism, and the knowledge of living off the land with no provisions.
Combat skills: A ranger was useless unless they knew how to also defend and attack. Rangers were free to learn whatever weapon skill they wanted. Before joining the Rangers, Valmyria already had skill in the bow, and sought to continue her training with it, under the masters of the Rangers. Aside from the bow, she further picked weapons to suit her preference of speed and agility
Archery Mastery: Valmyria has total and complete mastery of the bow. There is very few that could rival her skill with the bow. She has learned all offensive and defensive skills with it.
Swordsmanship: In seeking to find something to match her combat preference, she has chosen to learn the skill of wielding two blades, considering the style to be beautiful, graceful, and of course deadly. Valmyria has total mastery over the art of dual wielding, and can handle two full sized blades. She does have the basic knowledge to fight with a shield and a sword, but prefers the elegance of two blades.
Magic Skills: As a Quel’Elhen Elf, Valmyria has been trained a little bit in some forms of magical uses to help her. She could learn more if someone would teach her.
Shadowmeld: Shadowmeld is a signature ability of the Rangers of the Arrow. It enables the Ranger to fade into the background. This is done by wrapping sources of shadow and light around the Ranger. It requires intense concentration. Valmyria is very proficient at it, so much that she can maintain it while moving. However, should she move too fast, or become distracted, the meld will fail and all can see her.
Healing: The arts of healing by magic are not a foreign concept. By using the magic at her command, a soft blue light emanates from her hand over the wound. This magic targets the body cells of the individual, forcing them to heal faster and even expel the vilest of toxins. The drain of using her magic as a source of healing depends on the wound.
Rebound: Since Templar forces are not allowed into Quel’Elhen yet, Rangers have had to offer the foremost in anti-magic weaponry. Though most of their anti-magic strength lies in other mages, and enhancements on their armor, the High Elves have developed one spell their Rangers can use. Known as Rebound, the goal of the spell is to redirect the spell back at the spell caster; effective on all but the most powerful of spells. More advance Rangers have learned how to take Rebound to the next level and steal the spells other mages cast, enabling them to redirect positive spells to their allies, or use it themselves for only that spell. Valmyria has not learned advance Rebound yet.
Appearance: Valmyria is a perfect example of her races. Years of dedicated training has yielded work of beauty and strength. She’s fast, agile, and stronger than most people think. She has a slim, but curved form, and stands at about 6 foot. She has long dirty blond hair, and bright blue eyes that have often been described as ensnaring.
At the current time, she is wearing knee high leather boots, black ranger pants, a dark blue blouse, and a blue traveler’s cloak. Gloves that stretched nearly to her elbows offer protection and some warmth, but still enabled her to use her bow and swords with ease. Due to the potentially hostile travel conditions she is currently in, she decided to incorporate elements of her battle armor over some of her cloths. This armor is made from silverite, and features beautiful engravings. It bears the emblem of the Grey Warden's on the front and a unique
emblem that symbolizes her status as a High Elven Warden Commander. The armor has a rune of defense on the inside that magical enforces her armor from physical and magical attacks. The armor plates are the Chest plate, shoulder guards, vanbraces (arm armor) and shin armor. Over everything, she is currently wearing a large, fur-lined cloak for warmth.
She's also wearing her Warden's Oath, an amulet that has a vial of the blood consumed during the Joining.
Personality: Many see Valmyria as a quite, distant, and shy and are confused by this; often mistaking her actions as secretive, standoffish. Indeed much of that could be true, as Valmyria is use to the life of a Ranger, where solitude in the wilds was common place. However, once you get to know her though, Valmyria is passionate, compassionate, brave, wise and occasionally rash. Her friends’ call her Val. Large groups make her uneasy. The hostility many people have shown to her race and the Dalish, not to mention the various comments and admiring other have done on her more femine aspects, have made her highly suspicious (and often hostile) of outsiders from other races, and only rarely volunteers advice or assistance to them. She often develops a deep respect and camaraderie with anyone who fights side-by-side with her on the battlefield, and appreciates the assistance of strangers even if she doesn’t display or communicate that appreciation very well.
Val isn’t a natural born leader... or much of a people person. The largest group she had ever lead was a team of six Rangers through the Brecilian Forrest; a mission that claimed the lives of all of those under her commander. Many people doubt Valmyria’s ability to lead the Grey Wardens as peace keepers of the realm.
She finds music to be soothing, and has taken up singing as one of her past times when she isn’t doing anything. It isn’t very surprising either to find her with a book too, either on horseback, or in Vigil’s keep.
Starting equipment: (on her person)
Elven Longbow: Made by her people, the bows are made from iron bark, giving them incredible strength, and durability. Val’s bow has a rune enchantment of fire on it. When activated, the arrows are instantly lit when shot from the bow. Comes with 150 arrows made by Valmyria.
Oathkeeper: This blade, while shorter than other blades, is usually found in the hands of the Chantry’s best templars. It’s unknown how such a blessed blade landed into the Ranger’s hands.
Eleven Dagger: This dagger is a given to the Rangers, prior to their final test. With only this dagger, the recruits are expected to live on their own for three weeks while being hunted. Should they be found or fail to rely on themselves, they fail Ranger Training. Sylvanas has kept her knife as a reminder of her life as a ranger, and the sacrifices that were made.
Dagger image:
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/ ... phreaq.jpgMoney: 10 Gold pieces, 45 Silver, 20 bronze.
(on the saddle of her horse, Clippers)
The Sword of the Warden: Rumor and legend tells us that this is the same blade that was wielded by the Grey Warden during the events of the fifth Blight. This blade has been passed down from one Warden-Commander of Fereldin, to the next. It’s become a symbol of the office.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_40-gVbStg1I/T ... w2full.jpg5 days worth of Provisions: Dried meats, biscuits, and dried fruits.
30 gold pieces
The rest of her armor: Its silverite. The helm looks like this:
http://www.aceros-de-hispania.com/image ... helmet.jpgHistory: Valymira Windstrider’s past is a mysterious one. No one is too sure from where she comes from, not even herself. She claims that her earliest memory is a parade she attended when she was a young girl in Quel’Elhen. There, she met the man who became her adopted father, Calhen Windstrider. The man come to her to easy the young girl’s crying, and quickly took her to his home. It is supposed that the young elf’s parents were murdered during the parade, and the child was sparred. Calhen was a retired Ranger, who picked up his father’s merchant business and grew it into a remarkable power. His merchant trains were responsible for a few of the critical supply lines into the High Elven homeland. As such, Valmyria often went with her father, traveling over all of Fereldin, and into Orlais. It wasn’t the most stable of settings to raise a little girl, and he tried his best to raise Val. Years later, Calhen was killed in an attack on one of the caravans, leaving Val and the carvans to his brother, Dreven. Dreven had little love for the girl, and saw her more as a tool than anything else.
Val jumped at the first opportunity to get out of the situation. She joined the High Eleven military and trained as an archer for many years until her performance was observed by the Rangers of the Arrow. Enrolled into the program at the young age of 20, she was the youngest person to ever attempt the Ranger Trials. She passed her grueling tests with amazing colors, and would serve the Rangers for six years, embarking on several missions across Fereldin. One particular mission had her investigating a potential hideout of blood mages in the Brecilian Forest with a group of Templars. The plan was for her Ranger team to move in quietly, and position themselves to take out the blood mages should things go south. As soon as the blood mages were gathered, a signal would be given, whereas the Templars would rush the blood mages and destroy them. The Knight Captain though, launched the attack before the signal was given; believing he knew what he was doing. The battle was terrible, only Valmyria and a few Templars survived, while many of the blood mages escaped. Bound by an oath, Valmyira had no choice but to send word to her superiors, and pursue the renegade mages.
She tracked them down to the city of Denerim. There, she began hunting them down, killing them and those they allied with, with help from the Templars. After a series of bloody months, she had at last wilted down the blood mages to the last one. However, she wasn’t able to take him out from a distance, and a long chase throughout the market district, the alienage, and eventually ended in a climactic battle at the City’s gates. The chase had gotten the attention of the entire city, and Valmyira was placed under arrest for the events and endangering the public. The Warden-Commander, Taylon Lothar, had become interested in the young elf. He was impressed with her skill and determination. Rumor has it that he was enchanted by her looks as well, something many suspect Val of doing on purpose to escape prison. The result was the same though; Taylon invoked the Right of Conscripted on Valmyira, freeing her from prison.
Valmyria successfully joined the Grey Wardens as the first High Elf to do so, even though there was some resentment for being torn away from her people. She had never wanted to be a Grey Warden, but encouraged from Queen Arlina Winterfest to represent the race. The Ranger didn’t fit in very well with the Wardens. Many found her to be cold, and secretive. Taylon took her on many journeys and missions with him. Some supposed that this was to break the Ranger into the role of a Warden, others spoke rumors that the Warden-Commander had fallen in love with the newest member of the order, and a few spoke darker of the events; claiming that Taylon himself was bewitched. Taylon began to feel his Calling a year after Valmyria joined the Order. In a move that shocked the Order, he named Valmyira his successor, the next Warden-Commander of Fereldin.
She went with the Warden and a few others to the Halls of Orzammar, to feast with the Dwarven Lords before they die. She was there to kill the Wardens should they succumb to their taint earily, or be captured by the darkspawn. They feasted for a day or two with the Dwarves, before traveling with a complement of the Legion of the Dead, deep into the Deep Roads. Taylon felt as if the darkspawn were close to finding another Old God, and start another Blight. His plan was to find the archdemon, and kill it before the darkspawn had their chance. The party engaged their enemy, and the battle was a blood bath. Valmyira stayed back and provided firing support for them. She had to shoot a fellow Warden with her last arrow, who had succumbed to his taint and started fighting everyone around him. She retreated back to Orzammar before being overwhelmed, but was ambushed before she could get to the safety zones. She was badly wounded, and barely made it back to the safety zone of Orzammar. She spent a few days in Orzammar, resting and recovering from her wounds before setting out with the mantle of Warden-Commander.
Starting point: Traveling from Orzammar.
