Shiera Soelnarr

Character Name: Shiera Soelnarr

Race: Human

Gender: Female

Profession: Warrior / Berserker / Assistant to her master

Apparent age: 20  Apparent birth year: 1220AE

Hair: Jet-black, free-flowing

Skin: Pale White

Appearance details: Blind, her visor allows her to see shades of red.  Ash-smears run down her cheeks, giving a weeping appearance.  Her eyes are devoid of color and completely dark obsidian orbs.

Religious beliefs/philosophy: The mists give little belief to an afterlife Shiera would even care about.

OOC Intro:

After Heart of Thorns came out and everyone made Revanents with visors covering their eyes, I decided to create a Warrior which appeared like a Rev, but could go Berserker and shatter the illusion.  The initial idea, not withstanding, I dressed Shiera in full Mistward armor, but something happened: rather than a novelty, I actually really started to enjoy the toon.  I began formulating a story at to why she's wearing the eye covering, and instead of using it to further channel her power, it would be a burden she'd have to use: a disability, she's trying to overcome.  This generally became what would determine her actions in RP and furthermore, what I'd think about while playing her.

RolePlay Brief Story:

Shiera opened her eyes slowly.  The darkly lit room glowed a soft green, illuminating a small figure hovering over her.

"Can you hear me?" the voice asked, in the gentleness of a mother's voice.

Shiera tried to blink back the darkness.  "I... I can't see."

The figure placed a visor over the woman's eyes.  "This is to be expected; I calculated as such!  Therefore, I have created this to allow optimal visual acuity, based on your condition."

The woman sat up slightly, her head pounded; the visor helped only slightly: the soft green, replaced by red became more crisp.  "My... condition?"

A small asuran silhouette came into focus.  "Why yes, I used my skills to wench you from the brink.  I brought you back!"

"Back from where?"

The Asura, Kievaa, grinned wickedly and wildly. "Back from the Mists!"

-------Archives-------

The parchment was old within the dilapidated tome.  Shiera peered over her guide's shoulder.  It appeared blank, without any discernible markings detected from her visor.

"It appears you are, indeed, included in Tyria's history.  Although, this is very much further in Tyria's history than one would expect.  It is a relative miracle we were able to find your information in the Priory archives; further still, an absolute miracle the data was kept intact, being this far reaching!"  Nyssa looked up from thick brimmed glasses.  Her guest was an armor-clad woman, with ghost-white pale skin, Nyssa noted, even for a human.  She stood as still as one of their god’s statues.  Uneasy with the tension, the Asura cleared her throat.  “Is there something specific I can tell you, Miss Shiera?”

Shiera slowly nodded, “My last name.  Does it say who I am?”

Nyssa smiled, pleased to give an oral interpretation of the findings.  She began, “Soelnarr.  You come from a noble family that seemingly participated in the founding of Divinity’s Reach…”

------Returning------- 

“So, you’ve come back to your place of resurrection?  And what action are you to take on me?  Punishment returning your life to you?”  The snarky Asura laughed.  “You know who I am by now!  I am Kievaa, the magnificent; Kievaa the magnanimous; on occasion, Kievaa the Vile!  I did not get such a titles by tip-toeing around despicable acts other Asura refused...  I brought you back!  You are my greatest accomplishment!  The proof I can return souls trapped in the Mists to their rightful place among the living!”

“What kind of life is this?” shouted Shiera.  “Part of me is missing!  My life is a pale comparison of who I used to be!”  Shiera paused, considering, then slid off the visor, revealing eyes of blackness.  “ ‘I am your greatest accomplishment’?  If that’s true… then you failed, Kievaa.”

“Failed?  No one can do what I have done!  I will use the data I’ve gathered from your experiment to enact my ultimate goal,” she tapped on the storage cylinder beside her.  “I will bring my companion back from the realms beyond, thanks to such a triumphant experiment!”

Shiera slowly approached Kievaa, held out her visor, while speaking in prophetic tones.  “I’m the one that can’t see, yet you are too blinded by your feelings to see.  But my sight is not the only thing I am missing; there’s something inside that is no longer there, and I fear without it, not only will I will never be whole, but your friend can not be restored completely. Do what you set out to do: restore me completely and I will be forever your ‘greatest accomplishment,’” urged Shiera.

Kievaa retrieved the visor staring at it, and after a long pause, she sighed.  “I suppose we must ensure you are completely a success before we go on to the real subject.  Perhaps there’s still some piece of your non-corporeal form somewhere within those realms.  We will have to venture forth to find out, however.  We shall need one with experience in such matters.”

She paused, glanced at the wall of the lab where a flickering hologram lay on its side, the animated image of five Asura posing sparked to life between each electrical pulse.

“Who are they?” Shiera asked, as she reattached her eyepiece.

“The colleagues that began this journey with me and have since abandoned it… Nyxx, Nalla, Lexxie, and Dott: my old krewe.”

Childhood:

Much is unknown regarding Shiera's childhood. Most of what she's discovered is inconsistent and speculative. She can only recall the briefest of memories of siblings, and what she believes is a house on fire. There's also a bit of centaur hatred she feels, which doesn't contain a memory, but only feelings when dealing with their kind. If the Durmand Priory records are any indication, this may be because her family was one of the founding members of Divinity's Reach, encountering centaur resistance along the journey.

Recent history:

Shiera recently completed a quest to retrieve a 'stone which holds spiritual essence,' that Kievaa orchestrated, to be used in an experiment.  This test was to ensure such a device could be used to actually contain remnants of souls from the fallen from the mists.  It is unknown at this time if the experiment was a success or failure on the necromancer's part, but Kievaa is never undetermined.  Shiera's vested interest in the Asura's success will keep her calling Kievaa "master"... for now.

Personality:

Shiera often doesn't think of her worth as anything other than a warrior or pawn in other's affairs.  She genuinely doesn't care for politics and the like, or even for advancing her own powers, position, or stature.  The only goal thus far has been to obtain information about her past, but after tracking said data (or lack thereof) down, she's hit a very hard dead-end in her investigation.  She's thought about requesting assistance or hiring a researcher to help, but it seems to be a slope she can't overcome until she retrieves the piece of herself she still feels is trapped somewhere in the mists.  To this end, she will do whatever she can to assist the necromancer, Kievaa the Vile, that restored her.

Notable relationships:

Shiera, at the very least, attempts to socialize with others.  She often finds that her lack of social graces causes her to be ostracized.  She attempts to mimic others to overcome this, but it often comes across as superficial and dry.  Appropriate times to laugh or to respond after being asked something are a few social queues she struggles with.  Kievaa is not her friend, but would be the closest thing she has to one.

Favored alcoholic beverage / Favored food:

Along with her depth-perception (visorless), Shiera can no longer taste food or drink, therefore often forgets her body needs such things.  She once passed out in the jungle malnourished and dehydrated.  She was luckily found and brought back to camp, cursing her body's requirements.  Interestingly enough, she's often so not particular about food, that she can eat much her race would generally not be able to stomach.  She's inadvertently gained praise from Charr who dared the black-haired stranger to eat 20 Ghost Pepper Poppers.

Favored weather or season: As her skin is always chilling to the touch, Shiera really doesn't get cold in the winter time, but appreciates the darkness that usually comes on those winter nights.  This causes the images the images her visor produces to gain extra clarity, and she can literally see the whisking wind currents as colors in the sky.  It's one of the few times she doesn't see the world with red auras.

Favored color: Since she literally sees the world as tents red, Shiera often picks dark colors along with the contrast of red (which resembles white to her).  Once she had the slightest memory of being a little girl and liking the color purple, but the memory was fleeting and hard to grasp.

.