Name: Isla (Eye-la) Starling Blackwater
Gender: Female
Age: 23
Nationality: Gorgon
Class: Fugitive (current), Mage (former), Noble (former)
Schools of Magic known: Primary- Necros. Secondary- Puras.
Appearance: Although time and travel have have left her looking somewhat rough around the edges, Isla's Blackwater blood is still recognizable to the keen observer. In addition to her Kainite mother's bronze skin and lean stature, she has several of her House's more defining physical characteristics: freckles, thick, wavy dark hair, and incredibly pale blue-green eyes. To conceal her identity from those who would wish to harm her, Isla usually wears layered scarves and a grey, lightweight cloak. The scarves and layers also serve to hide the many bruises and abrasions that cover her body, which are ugly but healing.
Biography: Born to the second son of Garren's youngest brother, Isla lived the first few years of her life in relative comfort on her family's sprawling estate along the coast of Gorgon. It was discovered early on that Isla possessed natural magical talent, and at the age of seven she was sent to Oslo to begin her training; despite the constant threat of attack by Malfear, the Circle needed a steady supply of new mages, and consequently took on younger students during the war. Isla's father supported his little girl's magical pursuits, since, as the daughter of a second son, her only other opportunity for success was by marrying a rich nobleman or merchant. More importantly, however, he reasoned that Isla would be safer surrounded by mages than she would be in her own war-ridden country.
It was only a year into Isla's training when news of Arminius's betrayal reached Oslo. The young noble was devastated, especially after hearing of her parents' death, though in the following months she took comfort from three things: one, her magic, two, that the mages of the Tower were intent on protecting her from harm, and three, a local boy named Aries who soon took her under his wing. Depressed and emotionally needy, Isla quickly grew attached to the older boy, too lonely to realize his poisonous motives. They spent every moment together outside of her studies, and eventually she came to depend on him for almost everything; though he wasn't a student, the older boy claimed he was self-taught in pyros, and exuded a general air of confidence, knowledge, and power. She asked his advice on her decisions, he approved her new friends, and together they decided on the focus of her studies in her seventh (an additional two years were added to her education to compensate for several hiatuses the Tower was forced to take because of the war) and final year of schooling: necros, the art of necromancy.
Isla was at first uncertain of this decision, having wanted to learn more about puras instead, but Aries insisted that necromancy was an honorable, important field that needed more bright young mages like her to defeat Malfear- "fighting fire with fire," as he would say. There was some truth to this claim: Isla was one of the brightest of her age, and
excelled at necros (though her teachers urged her to choose a more natural focus), nearing the end of her final year with honors and even a job opportunity in her secondary focus, puras. Aries, naturally, forced her to turn it down.
Isla completed her education within the year, though was never given the opportunity to join the fight; shortly after her "graduation," Malfear was defeated and the Five Kingdoms began to rebuild themselves. Although the civilized world sighed in relief, life still held plenty of danger for the Blackwaters. Without a war to distract him, Arminius was even more intent on wiping out the only surviving members of the former royal house, and since Isla was no longer under the protection of the Tower (having promised Aries not to pledge her loyalty), she was at risk. With the few surviving Blackwaters in hiding, Isla and Aries, at ages 15 and 18 (respectively), snuck onto a boat for Kain to escape the scope of the usurper King.
The pair settled in a trading city on the coast, hidden well by the port town's sprawling diversity. Aries took a job at a smithy, using his magic to maintain the blacksmith's hot fires. Isla, on the other hand, took odd jobs in purifying the locals of illnesses and weak demons. After several years, the two began to kindle the beginnings of a romantic relationship. They were married by the time Isla reached her twenties, but, as she soon realized, Aries was far from the man she had thought he was.
After having gained full control over his young wife, Aries stopped pretending he "loved" and "cared about her," knowing very well that he could treat her as he pleased without the fear of her leaving. She was completely reliant on his protection and attention; he had conditioned her throughout the years to cater completely to him, to trust
only him- and, as an exile, where else could she go? Who else could Isla turn to for a rescue? Unhindered, Aries finally gave up the big charade and confessed to his wife some evil truths about him and the nature of their relationship... And nothing he said could make her leave. Isla Blackwater, once a little noble girl, was trapped in an abusive relationship with nowhere to go for help, and nobody to care about her future.
One day Aries came back to their ramshackle home in an unexplained rage, and it only took Isla dropping his cup of water for him to explode. He almost beat her to death, yelling insults and smashing anything he could get his hands on. He left his 22-year-old wife to bleed out in their tent, and did not return for at least six weeks, which proved long enough for Isla to regain her senses, patch herself up, and
leave.
The former-noblewoman is currently fleeing from her dangerous husband, though she is not sure of what she will do or where she wants to end up.
Traits: Agility, Knowledge II, Attunement
Unique Abilities:
Love Me: Even in her current state, the noblewoman has a certain charisma that is difficult to ignore. Generally people tend to gravitate toward Isla, quickly grow attached, and feel the need to serve or protect her. Whether this is an unconscious magical effect or a byproduct of her natural royal blood is not certain.
Sleep Sweetly: Isla is able to put revived souls to "sleep" if her energy is too low to control them; this allows her the advantage of having the soul inactive but readily available for her use. With more mana she can also put live people to sleep; in extreme cases, into a coma (though it requires large amounts of energy to bring them back out).
Achievements: N/a
Equipment: Several colored scarves, a grey lightweight cloak, and other dust-worn clothes; a few small spellbooks, about two days' worth of food, bandages, and a few coins in a small bag; a short, plain dagger, and a silver mirror used as a physical object through which to manifest spells; a chain from which hangs a ring with her family seal, as well as her wedding ring.
Motivation: Above all, Isla wants to be free of her husband and of King Arminius. If possible, she would like to find what family she has left, and live the rest of her life without fear in her own country.