Vasilissa

Vasilissa Stura’ifiza
Status
Race	Kaldar
Gender	Female
Guild	Cleric
Instance	Prime

Introduction

The scent of incense and blood lingers around the obsidian altar in the center of a shrine cast in darkness. One of the shadows separates seamlessly from the rest and glides toward you. As the shadow moves closer moonlight reveals it to be a beautiful Kaldar woman clothed in dark silk robes. A pair of red eyes regard you with an eerie gaze. The woman turns her attention away from you with an amused smirk and kneels before the altar, placing a reverent kiss on its surface as she murmurs, “All honor and reverence be given unto Dergati, that she may be patient with our foolishness and spare our souls from her vengeance." The words fade into a hushed silence as the woman communes with her Goddess, seeming oblivious to your presence.

Appearance

You see Warrior Priestess Vasilissa Stura’ifiza, Malice of the Therengia Cavalry, a Kaldar.
A holy aura of malevolence emanates from her, the darkness exuding a disturbing black radiance.
She has an angular face with pouting lips, slightly pointed ears and sullenly glowing blood-hued eyes. Her black hair is very long and thick, and is worn in an artfully tousled style threaded with a narrow black satin ribbon. She has pale skin and a lithe figure.
She is short for a Kaldar.
Some starlight velvet ribbons float lazily around her neck, glowing with a lustrous sheen against her skin.
Her thigh has a tattoo of two puncture marks set close together.
A luminous orb of coruscating rainbowed light hovers like a will-o-wisp, following her diligently.

She is wearing an ethereal white sochi clasped by an a flawless moonstone globe, a pair of sparkling phantom sapphire earrings in brushed silver settings, a witch ball, a white Insanity rose, a ghostly white gown of sheer gossamer with ribbons laced down the back, a spiraled silver armband cradling a phantom sapphire, a darkened silver oath ring set with a radiant black diamond, a black ironwood ring inlaid with alexandrites in the pattern of an open eye, an alabaster silk gem pouch embellished with a ghostly white swath of Albarian lace and some black high-heeled sandals with long thin straps.

History

Vasilissa was born on the 2nd day of the 5th month of Uthmor the Giant in the year of the Crystal Snow Hare, 377 AV. Her father was a sore and heavily guarded subject with her mother who was a Priestess devoted to the Gorbesh Goddess Aniek. Growing up beneath her vengeful mother's scrutiny was not easy on Vasilissa, and when her mother left her with relatives to go on a pilgrimage and never returned, the young girl grew spiteful as well. Her distant cousins feared the rage and resentment Vasilissa exhibited, and so they sent her to a family friend in Zoluren hoping that the kind Priest would help her find guidance within the Kermorian pantheon. The old Priest, who Vasilissa merely refers to as "Uncle", was a follower of Chadatru, and while he attempted to guide Vasilissa in the ways of fairness and honor, his efforts were futile.

It was while studying beneath the Priest that Vasilissa was introduced to Dergati, and while he told her bedside stories of Phelim, she instead dreamed of the God's darker, more sinister aspect. Visions of an exotic, three-eyed beauty calling her name, commanding her to her will and gracing her with unimaginable power filled her mind. Having familiarity with the divine, and how the Immortals chose to visit and guide their chosen, Vasilissa took this as a sign that she was fated to please this particular Goddess, who was so much like her mother's Goddess Aniek that she fell into the pattern of dark worship as easily as a fish sliding into water.

And so began her life as a follower of the "All-seeing". Vasilissa trained vigorously, and her anger towards her mother faded as her own devotion ripened to fruitation. It was easy now to see how her mother had been so ambitious and eager to please Aniek.

Present

• In the 3rd month of Lirisa the Archer in the year of the Crystal Snow Hare, 398, Kendus Akave was bound to her as her serf and blade. Having fallen in love with the young Barbarian, she grew soft for a time and began to call him her husband, taking his name, Akave.

• After much investigation Vasilissa learned the identity of her father and discovered that she has a half-sister living in Crossing named Kalisted Redspi. She views her half-sibling with a mixture of fascination and loathing, as the young Paladin is the exact opposite of her in nearly every way aside from their shared devotion to the Immortals.
  

• In the year 399 while on a trip to Therengia her husband Kendus vanished. After searching the lands for many months, and spending a year in seclusion beneath the dark temple, she decided to wear a mourning band instead of her wedding ring and performed the ritual of divorce. Upon the sundering of her marital bonds she reclaimed her mother's name, Stura’ifiza "sacred storm".

• 400 AV: Reunited with her estranged husband one fateful evening, learning the horrific story behind his disappearance. Much had changed in him, and this hardened and haunted man once again won her affections. Since, she has devoted herself to helping him find solace in the dark embrace of his nightmares.

• 400 AV: Relocated to Therengia to be closer to the chrysalis. With them she mingles and observes, learning a bit about the ways of Therengian people while awaiting a sign from Dergati to guide her course.

Religious Beliefs

Vasilissa worships Dergati primarily though she pays respect to all of the Immortals and their aspects.

She also is a follower of Orisas.

Personal Facts

• Views marriage rather cynically, and often gives out Be'ort tear roses as wedding gifts.
• In the past Vasilissa was apathetic toward others unless she was after something she wanted. After confining herself in the lowest rooms of the dark temple for nearly a year while in mourning for her husband, she returned with a somewhat more amiable, yet erratic demeanor. She refuses to speak of the revelations she experienced during this time, simply saying, "I gazed into darkness, and it gazed back."

A small ivory parchment stamped with a bloody rose

The parchment reads:

Were you talked into kissing a rose only to find the bindings of matrimony weren't for you? Did you marry that special someone only to have him or her leave you? Is your spouse just driving you insane and you can't stand the thought of being bonded to them another second? Tired of the constant nagging, clinging, and/or jealousy? Or are you just ready to move on and find that other fish in the sea?
I am now accepting clients who wish to be freed from their parasitic…ahh, err partner for whatever reason. You will buy the blade and for the small price of 1 platinum kronar I will provide the rose to grant you the freedom you so deserve!

Remember, happiness is merely a chest wound away!
Priestess Vasilissa Stura’ifiza

Alternately, I do provide kiss roses for those so inclined at the price of 1 platinum per rose. Just remember me when you are ready for that divorce!