Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Faith is a human of slight stature,very obviously not a warrior born or trained although these trials she is developing a healthy physique. She currently weighs about 100lb and she stands at five foot two with pale skin and long #e9e9e9 hair, so she remains underweight but less so than previously. Her eyes are a very pale silver-#c0c0c0 and her frame is slight. Her movements are careful and controlled and she usually stands very still, with her eyes lowered to the ground. She has, however, a natural curiosity which means that she has a tendency to try and see everyone and everything around her whilst appearing not to, so she is somewhat prone to furtive glances.

She wears clothes which flatter her figure but her first choice is for comfort. As time progresses, she is experimenting more with colour too. Her hands are well cared for, her fingernails long and #e9e9e9, identifying her as a marked of Vri and the tattoo at her wrist showing her as blessed by Famula. She wears very light make up which accentuates the pallour of her skin and the paleness of her eyes, usually with dark kohl around her eyes and her hair is kept tied back and out of the way in a no fuss manner.

To those who might see her in the street, or when working, Faith is a young woman who is obviously trying to stay unnoticed, being content to be on the sidelines or in the shadows. Attention is not something that this young woman craves. However, when she speaks to anyone, she looks at them directly and maintains eye contact. Her careful movements tell of her nature and a lot about her mood can be ascertained from the smallest of body movements or gestures, especially her hands.

Previously both branded and scarred from her experiences as a slave, these were removed by Moseke in a slow healing blessing which Faith was given in Vhalar 716. She now has no scars or brands

Faith was a slave from birth until she believed she was nearly 20 in Vhalar 716. In her birthpace of Athart she was mercilessly trained into subservience. She has long since had any tendency to disobedience removed. However, that is not to say that she is without backbone; Faith is a devout worshipper of Famula, fanatically so and she will follow her religion at any cost. Faith firmly believes that peace in death only comes through understanding ones role in life, and therefore as a slave she will be the best slave she can, in service to Famula. If she should ever become more than a slave? Who knows? But certainly, she can imagine no situation where she does not serve Famula completely. In truth, she could not imagine not being a slave and she does not have any wish to try and gain her freedom; that would not be her place to consider. However, it also worth noting that she has, in there somewhere, a sense of humour and quite a quirky one at that. She does not see herself as less than other people, she simply knows her place in society. Underneath an apparently simple and meek exterior there is a complex young woman.

One of the things that might not be immediately apparent about Faith is that she has a strange kind of superiority complex; she knows her place and she works tirelessly to act appropriately; she lives in servitude and she does her best to ensure that she serves most wholeheartedly. To those who can not say that they know their place or those who do not behave in a manner appropriate to their place, she feels that she is more aware of herself, more true to herself, than they are.

Of course, Faith has likes and dislikes; she simply does not show them as easily as perhaps a free woman would. She finds it very difficult when people pity her for being a slave, and she is more than a little irritated when people tell her that others have no right to own another being, etc. She sees this as the ultimate in hypocrisy since, if they believe it so strongly they should do something about it. Of course, this is far more a result of her upbringing, she had been taught to serve and to seek her owner's approval; anyone who says this is no morally acceptable is just plain wrong.

Perhaps one of the most noticeable aspects of Faith's personality is that she is curious. She has a real sense of inquisitive and a hunger to learn that, despite everything, she has maintained. The first seventeen arcs of her life in Athart were not conducive to this, nor was her time under the ownership of Jamal. However, from the end of Ymiden 716, Faith's owner changed to Tristan Venora and under his ownership she was able to feed her hunger for knowledge. She has this huger, it should be noted, because she believes that the more she knows the better she will be able to perform as a slave. That might even be true, but she is driven to learn at a deeply instinctual level.

Faith was a slave from birth until she was just gone 18 in Vhalar 716. In the place she believed to be her birthpace, Athart she was mercilessly trained into subservience. She appeared to have long since had any tendency to disobedience removed but, during the last seasons of her servitude and following her freedom she has begun to blossom into a woman who is able to speak her mind. She still tends towards avoidance of conflict and will usually simply go along to get along, except with those few who she is closest to, where she seems more than happy to bite back or to engage in a sarcastic retort. The single, and most obvious, exclusion to this "conflict avoidance" clause is Padraig, who Faith loves completely. Because or despite of this, she is not the same with him as she is with any other person. With Padraig, she is truly herself, as spiky, argumentative and contrary as that is. If asked, she would be clear; with him is the only place where she is free.

Faith is a devout worshipper of Famula, Vri and Moseke; fanatically so and she will follow her religion at any cost. Faith firmly believes that peace in death only comes through understanding ones role in life, and therefore as a slave she was determined to be the best slave she could be, in service to Famula. Now that she is free, she is of the opinion that her service can be greater, better and more useful to the people of the world. But certainly, she can imagine no situation where she does not serve Famula completely. In truth, she did not even begin to imagine freedom until she was owned by Tristan Venora who, eventually, was the one who gave her liberty. But it was not until meeting Padraig that she began to think about how much she wanted to be free because, whilst battling Immortals on a rooftop of Treid's tomb, long before she was free, she realised that she was in love with him.

It also worth noting that she has, in there somewhere, a sense of humour and quite a quirky one at that. She does not see herself as less than other people, she simply knows who she is and what her role is. Underneath an apparently simple and meek exterior there is a complex young woman. Again, this is different in her relationship with Padraig. With him, she is herself and she is as argumentative as they come. She has always been such from the first time they met and she has grown to realise that this is because she and he are meant to be together.

Of course, Faith has likes and dislikes; she simply does not show them as easily as perhaps a free born woman would. Perhaps one of the most noticeable aspects of Faith's personality is that she is curious. She has a real sense of inquisitive and a hunger to learn that, despite everything, she has maintained. The first seventeen arcs of her life in Athart were not conducive to this, nor was her time under the ownership of Jamal. However, from the end of Ymiden 716, Faith's owner changed to Tristan Venora and under his ownership she was able to feed her hunger for knowledge. In a way, that was the beginning of her freedom as Tristan hired her a tutor and she began to fall in love. These two things combined so that, when Tristan asked her if she wanted to be free, she told him yes. She has the genuine belief that she has another role to play in this world and this, to the young woman's mind, is the beginning of that. As long as it doesn't involve heights, she is sure that it will be a great adventure. Whatever that adventure is, though, she will share it with her love and, she is quite sure, she and Padraig will walk together and overcome it all.

Faith has no idea who her parents were, but she knows that they were not slaves. In Athart, where she always believed she was born, she was immediately sold into training at less than 10 trials old. There, from her earliest memory and for reasons that she never knew, her instructors were particularly hard on her. There seemed to be, amongst those who trained her, an agreement that she must be pushed the hardest, taken to the very edge of being utterly broken. Why this happened, she never knew but it meant that the others who were undergoing training at the same time as her avoided her, so as not to be touched by the same disadvantage. It made for an isolating time and she grew into a quiet yet self-sufficient young woman quickly.

During her training, Faith was under the tutelage of a group of four slavers who worked with her. They had strict rules about her, being unyeilding in their physical and emotional cruelty, but never training her in any arts of pleasure, or allowing her to engage in any relationships. They taught her of Famula, indoctrinating her in all aspects and they always told her that she would serve Famula with her new master who would train her in the arts of death. Faith always assumed that this meant that one trial she would be trained as a warrior, so she was surprised when Jamal was introduced to her and she found that her role was not to be a warrior or assassin but rather an undertaker in the faraway city of Andaris. Little did she know that Jamal did that because it was where she was born and he brought her back there.
Jamal came to Athart to get her, as though he knew and Faith believes that he is aware of why the slavers treated her so harshly and why they did not train her in the arts of pleasure that the other girls had been trained in. He has never spoken of it if so and she would never dare ask. They arrived back in Andaris in 715, and Jamal immediately put her to work, training her hard and maintaining the punitive nature of her experiences of life thusfar. However, as she proved herself to be an obedient and dutiful slave to him, he rewarded her with increasing independence in her work for him and told her that he would trust her to act on his behalf in the city itself, which excited and delighted her. She worked hard at her job, learning everything she could about funerary customs, building coffins and the preparation of the dead. Jamal discovered that she has a talent for the creations of balms, incense and makeup and has put her to use more and more in those fields over the passing time. With the prospect of being allowed out into the city where she has lived for an arc but knew barely at all in front of her, Faith felt that she was being afforded the opportunity to serve Famula in new and exciting ways. She welcomed that and was determined to act always in Famula, and Jamal's, best interests.

After being in Andaris just over an arc, quite quickly after she was allowed out to speak to others, Faith was bought by Tristan Venora at the end of Ymiden 716. He gave her a whole new set of rules and told her that he wanted her to get an education. This was very exciting to the young woman and she wanted to make sure that she was as good a slave to him as she could be. She was branded as slave to him, and she started two jobs one as a seamstress and one as a chef in order to ensure that she served him the best she could.

At the end of Vhalar, 716, Tristan freed Faith. She became a free woman and a whole new series of adventures started.