Post by Ciardah Isra on Feb 8, 2012 4:58:21 GMT -5
True Name:
Ciardah Isra
الإسراء والمعراج
Although not a direct translation, her combined names mean 'The Night's Journey'
Nickname(s):
Introduces herself as Cia (pronounced See-a)
To a select few she is known as Sister
Age:
68
Date of Birth:
October 16th
Sexuality:
Undisclosed; strictly celibate
Kith:
Night Elf
Loyalty:
The Night Sisters first
The Fae second
Status/Occupation:
Newest member of the Night Sisters (Priestess)
Mage (in training)
Spy (when it suits her)
Played By:
Archer
Ciardah Isra
الإسراء والمعراج
Although not a direct translation, her combined names mean 'The Night's Journey'
Nickname(s):
Introduces herself as Cia (pronounced See-a)
To a select few she is known as Sister
Age:
68
Date of Birth:
October 16th
Sexuality:
Undisclosed; strictly celibate
Kith:
Night Elf
Loyalty:
The Night Sisters first
The Fae second
Status/Occupation:
Newest member of the Night Sisters (Priestess)
Mage (in training)
Spy (when it suits her)
Played By:
Archer
Abilities:
Dark Affinity
Character Creation Night Vision: Cia is able to see in complete darkness.
50 Posts Gaze of the Void: Ciardah can strike fear in the hearts of any character with a lower post count just by looking at them. This fear will physically and mentally incapacitate unless they have some sort of counter ability.
Items, Pets and Weapons:
Altair A six year old male Siamese cat. Strictly speaking he belongs to the Night Sisters as a whole, although he's been unofficially Cia's pet since he was a kitten.
Poisoned Blow Darts Her primary weapon. The blower is carved from a black wood found in the Tangle and the darts are the same wood with a silver tip. The poison varies depending on what she can source.
Katar Also called the punching knife. This knife is designed to be held over the knuckles and used in a punching motion. With enough strength behind the blow it can puncture armour.
Kerish Dagger This is used much like any other dagger with two cutting edges, however the shape is believed to ward off harmful spirits and in turn to contain its own spiritual entity. Ciardah's kerish is named Badek and has strong superstitious and sentimental value for her.
Appearance
Black Skin; a distinguishing mark of a Night Elf - skin the colour of charcoal, silky to the touch, striking to the eye.
White Tattoos; covering her upper back and extending up her neck, these are the first mark of the Night Sisters. The swirling pattern represents the symbol of the Goddess.
Grey Eyes; the colour of an overcast sky, they stand out clearly against the darkness of her skin.
White Hair; common in Night Elves. She wears hers braided along her skull, loose at the ends, and keeps the sides closely cropped in the pattern of swirls that again represent the Goddess. This is not a demand made by the Sisters but she is proud of her affiliation and bears all related marks willingly.
Lean Frame; she keeps fit and light because her training in the spying art demands it. Slipping through the night is easy for her, so it was a sensible choice of talent to pursue.
Many Costumes; her attire reflects her occupation. While in the temple or on business related to the Sisters she wears the traditional black robes with the white Goddess symbol hemming and the traditional mask. While spying or training to do so, she wears light cotton clothes and soft shoes. While practising her magic she favours heavier clothing to provide more protection from potentially armed opponents.
Elven Features; true to her kith she has angular, elegant features. She would not be described as pretty so much as intense and almost feline, with an exotic slant to her eyes and a sharpness to her features that many find intimidating. She rarely smiles.
The Second Mark of the Sisters; this is the cat-scratch scar over her right eye. All Night Sister members receive the same scar upon initiation; it is carved into their skin by a High Sister using a ceremonial dagger. Ink is introduced into the wound as it heals so it dyes permanently dark brown. The scar extends over her right eyelid but the eye is not damaged and full sight is retained.
Personality
Dedicated; it may be strange to state that the most defining part of Cia's personality is dedication, but this is true. When she sets her mind to something, or gives something her loyalty, she does so whole-heartedly and without reserve. This sentiment applies first and foremost to her position with the Night Sisters, but also extends to her mage and spy training. She practises her various commitments on a daily basis with great concentration and a single-minded determination towards mastering them.
Cold; The Night Sisters are an unusual group among Fae society in that they demand a callousness in their followers that is rare among the whimsical species. Cia fulfills this obligation, as do all the Sisters, and her dedication to the cause means she frequently comes across as cold and reserved to others. She is, however, fiercely loyal towards the Sisters and towards the few outside the Sisters who have gained her trust and respect; in quiet, private moments with these people she can be warm, affectionate and intensely protective.
Unforgiving; it is a tenet of the Sisters - Humans must not be forgiven. As far as Cia and her affiliation are concerned the Humans are evil, and balance won't be restored to Litharia until every last one is dead. Although she will not often kill a Human on sight - this is too dangerous, even with her beliefs - she works to encourage their hatred among the Fae. And if one should stray into the Forest or, in particular, the Mound while she is there, they have put themselves into a very dangerous position.
Intelligent; Cia is not stupid. She completes her required studies without complaint and, like most Elves, has been taught to read and write in the common tongue, the Fae tongue and the Elvish tongue. Unlike most she has also learned the complex language used by the Sisters. Her intelligence is not limited to the learning of books, though - she is also cunning and manipulative when she needs to be.
Spiritual; the Night Sisters are, first and foremost, worshippers of the Goddess - the first form of Black Matter. Each Sister is in fact a priestess of some kind. They worship the God Sezorel secondarily to the Goddess and believe their duty is to restore Fae dominion over Litharia, as it first was. Cia wholeheartedly believes in this; all the Sisters do. She prays regularly to the Goddess and at times also to Sezorel, and participates in required rituals even when away from the temple.
Violent; put simply, the Sisters are not a peaceful group. Death is a part of the membership and Cia not only accepts this; she revels in it. She obeys by the rules of course - the Sisters advocate the killing of Humans and, to a lesser extent Shifters, only - but when she gets the chance to participate Cia thoroughly enjoys herself.
History
Bloodline
Ciardah comes from a long line of pureblood Night Elves and the family takes great pride from this fact. Non-Night Elf relationships are unheard of - where they have no doubt been found in the past they have been meticulously covered up. The eldest Isra daughter is always expected to join the Sisters, therefore Cia has four direct family members also with her in the group. She herself joined when she was forty years old, the youngest age at which new initiates are accepted - however her mother, though not a Sister herself, had been teaching her daughter the tenets her whole life. Cia also has a younger brother though her relationship with both him and their father is not particularly close.
The Night Sisters
The Night Sisters are a long-standing cult within Fae society that has existed for nearly as long as the species has. Their membership is exclusively female Night Elves and, first and foremost, they worship the first Goddess (Black Matter) and, to a lesser extent, the God Sezorel. They operate largely out of the جنة الليل (Night Temple), located in the darkest part of the Forest of the Fae. Before the arrival of the Humans the Night Sisters were benevolent watchers over to Fae and their main tenet was to ensure the Goddess was represented in Fae law and culture. This remains an important tenet today however, since the arrival of the Humans and their betrayal, the Night Sisters have been abiding by a second important tenet - eradication of Humans to return the natural balance to Litharia.
Ever since the Human's betrayal the Night Sisters have become a significantly more violent and bloodthirsty group. They sacrifice Humans to Sezorel four times a year, at the turning of each season, along with continuing their worship of the Goddess. Quite aside from their rituals and prayers they also actively work with groups to eradicate Humans. Their numbers are not large - around thirty Elves altogether - but they are a feared presence within the Forest of the Fae. It is rumoured that their communions with the trees is what makes the trees so violent towards Humans. They also dislike the Shifters for their original alliance with the Humans though they do not perform any sacrifices or wish to eradicate this species altogether, as they do with the Humans.
The Night Sisters operate under three symbols. The first and most important is the spiral symbol of the first Goddess, which is tattooed over their back upon initiation. The second is the animal-representative of the Goddess - the oriental cat. The Night Temple contains hundreds of the cats and individual Sisters may also keep one or more as personal pets. This is represented by the cat-scratch scar administered to initiates by a High Sister. The third symbol is the oak leaf, considered representative of the God Sezoral. Each Sister owns some item of jewellery, usually silver, in the oak leaf shape and wears it on her person at all times.
Spy and Mage
Being a Night Sister is a lifestyle, not a job, however many of the Sisters also choose to learn certain skills to aid their cause and the Fae species in general. Ciardah chose two - spying, in order to gain information from the Humans they despise - and mage-work to defend the Fae and, more importantly, the Sisters if they are ever threatened. She is very young still, not even one hundred years old, and is only beginning her training in these professions - they must come second to her worship of the Goddess and Sezorel. However Ciardah is determined to master these skills for the good of the Sisters and has mentors in each skill who are among the only people she respects and trusts outside of the sisterhood.
Roleplay Sample
The Human squirmed on the altar of جنة الليل, sweat beading unattractively on his forehead and throat as wild eyes swept over the cloaked Fae watching him. He couldn't see anything but their eyes - all watching him, cold and derisive. He writhed again, straining against the black ropes around his wrists and ankles, but it was useless. They were tied too tightly and already blood dripped from where they chafed against his skin.
They stood in a circle around him, illuminated by a sickly blue light and chanting softly in a language he couldn't understand. It sent shivers down his spine and he moaned softly, unable to speak past the material gag in his mouth. It was like some twisted nightmare and, briefly, he remembered the tales told to him as a boy - of the Fae as evil creatures, worshipping dark things, members of dark cults. He'd laughed back then and dismissed the tales as just that - stories to scare children with. Somehow he'd been wrong.
He couldn't even understand why he, of all people, had been chosen. He'd never persecuted the Fae. He was a simple trader; he purchased goods from the farms and took them to the City to sell. Unfortunately he'd strayed too near the Forest this time and, despite his protests that he meant them no harm, the feathered headband that was his artifact was more than enough to damn him. The Sisters hadn't spoken a word to him since his capture but their eyes had rested on that headband, activated by Fae blood, with open hatred.
He whimpered and the chanting increased in tempo and volume. The moon was nearing its zenith, the point where it would mark the change from autumn to winter. The Sister that walked forward ignored the frightened man on the alter - her eyes were on that moon. Only when it crept to that special position did she smile, the expression hidden behind her mask, and pick up a knife that lay behind his head. Its blade was as black as the night.
The Sister's dropped to their knees as the Elf drew the blade over the man's throat, transforming his muffled cries into desperate gurgling. His blood splashed over the altar and to the floor where it ran over her bare feet, giving a shine to the black skin. After a few moments he fell still and his eyes went blank - the ritual was complete. Murmurs of 'Sezoral' could be heard as the watching Sisters got back to their feet and filed out of the inner sanctum, ignoring the body. That was for the ف. ضحى, باع بخسارة, قرب بأضحية
أ. تضحية, ضحية, أضحية, قربان, ذبيحة, فدى, , the Elf who had performed the ritual, to deal with. Tonight, that Elf was Ciardah.
Now that the man was dead she was free to remove her mask and did so, setting the ornate covering aside and using a different, much plainer knife to cut his bonds. Then she spent several hours building a pyre around the body before covering it in oil and setting it alight. The Fae believed in returning the body to the Earth after death and thus maintaining the balance - to burn a body was highly disrespectful in their eyes, and therefore was the chosen fate for the bodies of the sacrificed Humans. She waited patiently until the fire died down then cleaned the alter thoroughly, sweeping the ashes into a stream that ran beneath the temple.
It had been the first sacrifice in which she had been the ف. ضحى, باع بخسارة, قرب بأضحية
أ. تضحية, ضحية, أضحية, قربان, ذبيحة, فدى, , and it had been perfect.
She smiled.
The Human squirmed on the altar of جنة الليل, sweat beading unattractively on his forehead and throat as wild eyes swept over the cloaked Fae watching him. He couldn't see anything but their eyes - all watching him, cold and derisive. He writhed again, straining against the black ropes around his wrists and ankles, but it was useless. They were tied too tightly and already blood dripped from where they chafed against his skin.
They stood in a circle around him, illuminated by a sickly blue light and chanting softly in a language he couldn't understand. It sent shivers down his spine and he moaned softly, unable to speak past the material gag in his mouth. It was like some twisted nightmare and, briefly, he remembered the tales told to him as a boy - of the Fae as evil creatures, worshipping dark things, members of dark cults. He'd laughed back then and dismissed the tales as just that - stories to scare children with. Somehow he'd been wrong.
He couldn't even understand why he, of all people, had been chosen. He'd never persecuted the Fae. He was a simple trader; he purchased goods from the farms and took them to the City to sell. Unfortunately he'd strayed too near the Forest this time and, despite his protests that he meant them no harm, the feathered headband that was his artifact was more than enough to damn him. The Sisters hadn't spoken a word to him since his capture but their eyes had rested on that headband, activated by Fae blood, with open hatred.
He whimpered and the chanting increased in tempo and volume. The moon was nearing its zenith, the point where it would mark the change from autumn to winter. The Sister that walked forward ignored the frightened man on the alter - her eyes were on that moon. Only when it crept to that special position did she smile, the expression hidden behind her mask, and pick up a knife that lay behind his head. Its blade was as black as the night.
The Sister's dropped to their knees as the Elf drew the blade over the man's throat, transforming his muffled cries into desperate gurgling. His blood splashed over the altar and to the floor where it ran over her bare feet, giving a shine to the black skin. After a few moments he fell still and his eyes went blank - the ritual was complete. Murmurs of 'Sezoral' could be heard as the watching Sisters got back to their feet and filed out of the inner sanctum, ignoring the body. That was for the ف. ضحى, باع بخسارة, قرب بأضحية
أ. تضحية, ضحية, أضحية, قربان, ذبيحة, فدى, , the Elf who had performed the ritual, to deal with. Tonight, that Elf was Ciardah.
Now that the man was dead she was free to remove her mask and did so, setting the ornate covering aside and using a different, much plainer knife to cut his bonds. Then she spent several hours building a pyre around the body before covering it in oil and setting it alight. The Fae believed in returning the body to the Earth after death and thus maintaining the balance - to burn a body was highly disrespectful in their eyes, and therefore was the chosen fate for the bodies of the sacrificed Humans. She waited patiently until the fire died down then cleaned the alter thoroughly, sweeping the ashes into a stream that ran beneath the temple.
It had been the first sacrifice in which she had been the ف. ضحى, باع بخسارة, قرب بأضحية
أ. تضحية, ضحية, أضحية, قربان, ذبيحة, فدى, , and it had been perfect.
She smiled.