Details
Appearance: Barrenshore's citizens have tanned skin due to their work and nature, as they're outside far more often than they are in. Ravia is no exception to that rule. She had dark blonde hair that's often in a tight braid, reaching the middle of her back. Her eyes are a bright green, very much contrasting her hair and skin. She trains with different weapons every day, resulting in lean muscles and little body fat.
Like all Barrenshorens, Ravia wears the normal
cotton shirt with wooden buttons and long sleeves with a set of leather pants in various colors. A scarf often accompanies the outfit in order to shield her neck from the sun and help keep sweat off of her skin. The ensemble is completed with a long
cloak made of hemp weaving. The process is difficult and only a few are made, but the people taught how to craft clothing with the hemp stalk are far and few between, not to mention the hemp plant only grows in a specific place within their nation due to the climate.
Picture Reference of Ravia:
Image 1
Family/Friends:
- Father: Maulis ni Latakan - Maulis is the current General of Barrenshore, and he has been for 12 years. He defeated the previous General in honorable one on one combat, but the General's followers accused Maulis of cheating, though no one had any proof. Since his reign began, Maulis has established more trade routes, ensuring more supplies. The few exports Barrenshore has started being produced more often. This was established so Barrenshore could have surplus in supplies and money in the event of another civil war. He's a fair man, though strict on his family. Ravia respects him, particularly because he taught her how to use her first weapon. Ravia and her father are very close, and she claims he will be the only person she'll really miss when she leaves.
- Mother: Sedali ni Latakan - Sedali is the complete opposite of Maulis, which never explained why she chose to wed him. She's far gentler, but she supports his every decision, even when it's difficult. She teaches all of her children the finer things about life other than fighting. Ravia didn't really want to learn about that, choosing not to show up to her mother's lessons in favor of learning new weapons. Still, her mother cares for all three of her children, even if one is rebellious.
- Sister: Balina ni Latakan - Balina is only 15, much younger than Ravia. She doesn't know as much, but she's not as interested in weapons and fighting as Ravia. She takes after her mother, so she and Ravia don't get along as well. Ravia doesn't feel as if Balina will miss her or really care about anything she's doing, but she's perfectly content with that. Balina is much softer spoken and not as abrasive as Ravia, often reprimanding her older sister for her loudness.
- Brother: Roantal ni Latakan - Roantal is 10, a large difference between both Ravia and Balina. He takes more after his father, similar to Ravia in that aspect. However, he's not old enough to be trusted with any kind of weapon outside of a wooden sword. Still, he's extremely close to Ravia because she's willing to help him learn anything he wishes, which are often things fighting and military related.
- Best Friend: Yevvi Whitegale - Yevvi is learning how to weave hemp for the cloaks, and she's been friends with Ravia for a long time. She's similar to Ravia in personality but not in interests. As such, they often have minor conflicts, but they're close enough to not be worried they'll not be friends. Yevvi taught Ravia how to weave, but she often forgets and has her friend repair them for her. Ravia's family welcomes her as one of their own, and Yevvi is the only person Ravia shares secrets with.
Skills/Abilities/Training:
Due to Barrenshore's laws on dictating the mastery of a weapon and a trade, Ravia has learned different ways of fighting as well as business for her family. As the Daughter of the General, Ravia deals with the trade merchants from other nations. She especially likes single swords and bows, but she also excels in one handed axe use. Ravia is attempting to learn how to throw knives, but so far, she hardly has a take on it.
Her trade is hunting, as she discovered she enjoyed doing it after her first successful hunt with her father and some of his guards. She's knowledgeable in the ways of tracking an animal as well as some traps such as snares and padded legholds. She knows how to treat and skin a dead animal, as well as preserving every part of it. Some furs go out with the merchants, and other parts are dried or used for other purposes. Ravia enjoys her trade and wants to continue it even outside of Barrenshore.
Learning to take care of trading with other nations proved to be difficult, as Ravia didn't exactly have a mind for it. She's learning, but she understands the basics. Up until the day she leaves for Atanwan, she's training her mind to learn about routes, imports, exports, and how much everything will eventually cost Barrenshore. However, she still has yet to have a firm grasp of everything, and she hardly considers herself any kind of expert in that regard.
Interests:
Because Ravia devotes her time to fighting and learning about fighting, she gives little time for anything else. She has a penchant for reading books and scrolls on previous civil wars and any other war existing that Barrenshore knows of. In the dense forested areas around Barrenshore, Ravia enjoys hunting creatures with her father and learning how to do 'manly, outdoorsy things,' as Sedali often puts it. She dislikes things associated with most women, even if Barrenshore accepts lady warriors or strategists.
Even still, Ravia must learn how Barrenshore's trade works, according to her father. As of right now, it's the only thing her mother is willing to help her in, as Ravia refuses to do little else unless it pertains to her father.
Official title(s):
Daughter of the General; Ravia ni Latakan, Commander of Barrenshore (or simply Commander Ravia/Commander ni Latakan); Reconciled of Barrenshore
In Depth
Personality:
Ravia is an outspoken young woman, often considered abrasive and forward. She likes to speak her mind and dislikes being wrong in many things. She prides herself on her combat prowess and doesn't like to be shown up, however, she does like to show off sometimes herself, but only in an area she's completely confident in.
Ravia wishes to learn more about everything, and having never been outside of Barrenshore, she knows little of the other nations other than what scholars and merchants have told her. She has little talent outside of fighting expertise, but she's taken a vow to master a weapon as well as learn how to craft it, but so far, she's not found the time to learn how to craft anything outside of knives or other small, iron trinkets. If she finds something disdainful or wrong, in her opinion and no one else's quite often, she rebels or fights it. The rebellious nature often becomes a problem unless Ravia herself contains her emotion about said topic.
Biography:
When Ravia first heard the stories about war, she wanted to know how it worked. At first, she thought she wanted to know what drove people to such killing, but it soon turned into something different. Ravia wanted to learn how to defend herself, just in case something as terrible as war happened again. She was only a few years old when Maulis defeated the previous General of Barrenshore, but she wasn't allowed to see it due to her young age. She often hears the accusations against her father for cheating, though Ravia doesn't know how it's possible, but because she didn't see the fight, she can never know for sure.
As a child, Ravia spent her days learning about more than she thought she could handle. Showing an early disdain for all things womanly, Ravia often skipped out on anything her mother wished to teach her. When the time came to choose someone to send to Atanwan as a Reconciled, there was no debate or vote among Barrenshore. The nature of their nation when dealing with Reconciled was they decided. Sedali decided that it would be her oldest daughter, and that was the end of it. As such, she began to cut Ravia's training short and forcing her to learn about things other than fighting. Ravia did not enjoy any of this time, and she retained little of that information. Still, she was forced to deal with it, preparing herself for whatever lies in Atanwan. However, she found time to train with her father and any other person willing to spar.
At 18, she was given the title Commander, though it does not give her any right to a military position; it marks her as a child of the General. It would have given Ravia her own commanding position if she'd had the chance to prove herself in some kind of battle, but no skirmishes, border wars, or attempts to overthrow her father happened while she was old enough to participate in one.
Ravia was lucky not to form any real romantic relationships, and she never had suitors. Her only friend is Yevvi, a hemp weaver. They met when Yevvi's parents were delivering a replacement hemp cloak for Sedali when Ravia was 16. After that, they got to know each other and soon became nearly inseparable. As the days for her departure near, Yevvi begged to go with her, but her position as hemp weaver forced her to stay and one day teach others about the trade.
Ravia dislikes the idea of marrying a foreigner for the sake of the Reconciliation, but her mother reassures her every day that Ravia might actually find someone she cares about. While Ravia denies that inference, she's anxious about her arrival into Atanwan and secretly hopes Sedali is right in her prediction.
Extra/other: None at this time.
