Name: Emily al'Jora
Age: 18
Nationality: Amadicia
Height: 5'4
Weight: 128
Hair color/length: Dark Brown, past her shoulders
Eye color: Green
A quick overview of personality: She's rather timid and a bundle of nerves and confusion. Beyond that, for anyone who looks deeper, she's strong willed and committed to finding her real place in life.
Overall strength in the One Power:
Fire: 1/10
Earth: 2/10
Spirit: 7/10
Air: 8/10
Water: 8/10
Talents:
Cloud Dancing (M), Elementalism: Air (m), Healing (m)
History:
Emily was born the only child of Davrim and Adrianna al’Jora of Two Rivers. Davrim had a reputation for being a fine and honest merchant, allowing him to command an income that easily allowed Aedriana to spend much of her time with Emily. When she did work, Adrianna created fine dresses and other clothing and often times Emily was right there with her mother to help. These first years of life were filled with joy, happiness and laughter; however, all good things came to an end when Adrianna took ill suddenly. Through the first days it seemed to be a simple case of some bad food, or perhaps the coming of winter that caused Adrianna to feel exhausted and dazed. Davrim did everything in his power to see that she was well cared for, preparing her tea and soup broth as she wished, only to watch as his wife grew weaker and less attentive. By the time the sun rose on the fifth day of Adrianna’s illness she was barely able to sit up in bed or even stay awake long enough to have soup and tea.
That night, as Davrim was washing her face and neck down with a cool washcloth, Adrianna looked over and simply whispered that she’d always love him, and to take care of Emily. Davrim rushed off in search of anyone who might be able to tend to his wife, feeling as if his reason for living was slipping away. He hurried from home to home in search of someone, calling out as if he himself were in pain, though nobody seemed to care or be able to help him. As he ran past the Inn, still raising a ruckus, a woman stepped out calmly and simply requested that she be led to his place. When they arrived, Adrianna was murmuring softly, nothing intelligible aside from the words ‘love you’ over and over again amongst other things.
Emily watched in childish awe as the woman settled down by her mother and began to attempt to heal her, though at four years old, she understood nothing of what was happening. The woman spoke only enough to send Davrim for one thing or another, her face as smooth and calm as if she were sipping tea with an old friend. Five days of illness, however, had taken a heavy toll upon the young woman and in the end; there was nothing to be done to save her. The woman was Aes Sedai, as Davrim has expected, though she told him that not every woman who is Aes Sedai has talent enough to heal every illness. Davrim felt the emotions of anger, frustration, sadness and hopelessness building up quickly as he pleaded with the woman to try again, yet the man who had accompanied her to his house simply stated that she had done all she could. By the next day, Adrianna al’Jora had passed away, leaving Davrim with nothing but sadness and anger.
That event had been enough to sway Davrim into believing the small town rumors and mutterings that Aes Sedai were fowl women who practiced evil things, things that would never be said in Caemlyn or the like, but ran rampant in the smaller towns. Grief and anger drove Davrim to gather what he’d need to travel, close up his shop and gather up his daughter, saying not a word even as he left Two Rivers for the last time. Clouded minds tend to think in irrational ways and this time was no exception, as in an attempt to never be in the presence of another Aes Sedai, Davrim al’Jora had decided he’d travel to Amadicia, a nation well known for its hatred of such women.
Once there, he came built his reputation from the ground up as a merchant, to the point that he came to serve the Children of the Light as a middle man to procure what they needed. All the while, Emily had grown into a beautiful young girl, now seven, who began to study numbers and letters with the other children her age. Davrim had taught Emily the importance of never speaking about the night when her mother died, knowing what offense might be taken at the mentioning of an Aes Sedai having tended to his late wife. Still, childish innocence let the cat out of the bag when Emily explained to guest of the house that her mother had been killed by an ‘Isadia’ and that was quickly translated into Aes Sedai. It was the perfect fuel for the fires of hatred, as Davrim openly proclaimed that he’d kill any woman who was Aes Sedai should he meet one and that pulled him in closer with the Children.
In the meantime, Emily continued to progress in her lessons, learning everything from proper etiquette at social events to poetry to the history of the world as presented by her tutor. In her own views, her life was good and she was happy, though she did question her father at times about what her mother was like and why they had left their home. Over time, Davrim grew frustrated with his daughter and Emily grew more curious about the world around her and the two never seemed to see eye to eye. At fifteen years of age, Davrim finally put his foot down, hard, and used his belt to get his point across to Emily. The point was that she would either learn to act like a proper lady in hopes that she would one day marry and be well taken care of, or she’d have many more welts and bruises. Though it was slow in coming, a year of proving that he was serious about what he meant finally set in, and Emily al’Jora fit in to the role of an Amadician woman.
After three years of accepting her place changed Emily from the fun loving and carefree young girl she had been to a cool and calculating young woman, one who finally made her father proud. At that point, life had finally returned to a semblance of what it had been back in Two Rivers, though that world and part of her life had completely faded away. Once again though, happiness was shattered when she was approached by a woman and taken to her private quarters at an inn and given a wild bit of news: She could channel. The woman revealed that she was Aes Sedai and had sensed Emily’s ability, telling her that she would one day use her talents whether she wanted to or not. She made the point that suddenly channeling in Amadicia could be a death sentence, even if she survived the actual act of channeling. She knew well that her own Father would most likely turn her over to the Children were he to find out about this. As such, Emily agreed to meet the woman at the inn again in three days. She had matters to attend to, though she could not speak of their nature and did not want Emily to be seen in her company. She gave her name as Amelia, and introduced the man who was with her as Patrik.
Three days passed and Emily returned to the inn, only to find Patrik alone and looking completely disoriented. Upon seeing Emily, he gathered up his belongings and presented Emily with an outfit she was to put on, down to a cloak to conceal her true identity and then quickly rushed her out of the inn. He had prepared horses for them, so it wasn’t long before they were safely away from Amadicia, silence still all that stood between them, aside from horse hooves upon the ground. Two, three, maybe four hours passed before Patrik finally spoke, “My name is Kendrick, and Amelia was Lorena.” His voice was full of sadness as he continued, “We came to Amadicia in search of darkfriends, the work of the Red Shen-“ he suddenly paused. “Never mind that, Lorena says you will channel, that you will one day be Aes Sedai, if you work hard. I’ll see you to the Tower, but then I must go.” Once again, he sunk into silence, and the road passed by them. When night fell, Kendrick prepared them a camp, and the two shared provisions of dried meat and bread.
“Tell me who you are,” he began, somewhat bluntly.
“Emily al’Jora, Sir. I.. was born in Andor. My mother passed at an early age and my father couldn’t stay there any longer, or so he speaks of it.” She left it plain and simple on purpose, knowing details would only muddy the water. “I am eighteen years old, and I suppose that is all.” She gave a small yawn, hiding it with a hand, and then looking to him with a sympathetic look. Though her mother had died when she was just a young child, she still remembered the loss, though it had dulled greatly through the years.
“Emily?" He asked as if to confirm the name, to which she gave a nod. "I'll see you to the Towers, it was what Lorena would have wished. Beyond that, you are on your own, as I must go on my own way to seek my destiny." She simply gave him another slight nod, having no understanding of what was ahead for her, but willing to accept that whatever it was must have been important. A certain sadness remained in her mind, the knowledge that another had sacrificed her life for something she believed was important. Emily was left to hope that if a time such as that had ever come for her, she would be able to do the same.
I like the story, but I have just one or two little things.
It's very unlikely that an Asha'man of the Red Shen (I'm assuming that's what he was) would let slip that he was out on business if he didn't want to. Also, why did he tell her to lie about her name and her life? Once she's Aes Sedai and has taken the Oath she can't lie about it anymore, and the whole story would eventually have to come out.
The slip was something said in dispair, sort of like someone mumbling incoherantly or simply needing to speak with whomever will listen after an accident where they lost their loved one right there before them. He caught himself right as he was about to go far too far with the information, but the seed was planted for her to remember the mentioning of the Red Shen.
The cover-up is due to her life in Amadicia, a nation well known to hate the Tower, and the loss of two years in age is to be more in line with the usual novice age. In short, it was for her to be more accepted into the Tower, seeing as his bond mate was intent upon seeing her there. Her secrets will unwrap themselves before long, part of the character development. I probably shaved this part of the exchange down too thin, in trying to keep her bio from becoming too terribly long, but I can add in to it some.
Well, the slip's alright, then.
There's not really any reason for the cover up, though, nationality is left behind upon joining the Towers anyway, and there's at least one other Amadician character I know of. The Towers might not be thrilled about it, but they certainly wouldn't turn someone away simply because of her nationality. And, age no longer makes any difference for requirements, a girl can become a novice if she's a grandmother. The reason I say so much about this is simply because of the Oath she'll have to take when she's Aes Sedai. After that, if anyone asks her anything about her past, she has to answer honestly, and then everyone would know she was lying when she was an initiate. It would be confusing, but I guess if you want to play that, then it's alright.
What you want to do with your character is your business as long as it isn't outside the realm of possibility. With this particular circumstance, I say if you want to RP it out, then thats fine. It makes sense to me that she would disguise her nationality apon first arriving, because if you think about it, she would know no better. She probably doesnt know anything about the Towers, and probably has lies in her ears and heart about the type of practices they have. But, once she has gained acceptance and has time under her belt here, I think that would then be a good time to shed the facad. Mainly because once you become Accepted, you have given up all pasts mostly and it means that you have gone down a path set for Aes Sedai, you would do it, everyone would. So play it out for now, but drop it later on. Perhaps once you are raised, or use it during the arches? Just a suggestion, but just know that once you are Aes Sedai you will no longer be able to lie about it because of the oath.
^^ Aside from that, i say, approved. But, don't be afraid to make it too terrbily long, this is your bio...its supposed to be representative of how well you RP. Three model RPs should be available once you have made the ascenion to Aes Sedai to tell the admins you can write well, and deserve the title. Your biography, your arches, and finally, your 100 weaves test. Trust that length in this regard holds no bearing, except for me to be annoying and tell you it isn't long enough. :)
Alrighty, approved. Light, sorry, I didn't know it was waiting on me. :look
I'm hoping this isn't a huge issue, but I reread back over the comments to my Biography, and have decided that it would be best simply to not have the whole cover part involved in it. As such, I've dropped the last two paragraphs and added one to close it off. The base story is still exactly the same, and I've edited the vitals part to reflect the lack of cover.
I'll reread and figure out the channeling system and update my information, if that would be acceptable.