Ayalen

Ayalen Jora'eluris
Status	Active
Race	Elf
Gender	Female
Guild	Cleric
Instance	Prime

Background

I was born mid-Winter in the year 379AV, to Zerora Jora'eluris and Rimefyrn Gesarin of the Snow Elf Clan. Due to Matron Selidhn's popular account, "The Elven Folk," my people are generally assumed to be vicious, barbaric, and intolerant of other races and cultures. Allow me to disabuse you of such misguided notions. Although there is some limited truth to latter description, my family's existence has been neither short nor cruel and most certainly not "savage." The dangers of the tundra may indeed require hasty decisions, and a strong will could very well mean the difference between life and death in a storm, but I would argue that experience is far more useful, and one does not acquire experience if one does not exercise a certain level of caution. In fact, there is a saying among the Snow Elves, for we have not the benefit of a trained clergy: It is impossible to learn from one's own fatal mistakes.

Yet, contrary to the notion that we have time for little else beyond survival, I have never wanted for art or leisure, and indeed, I have enjoyed each of these in ample amounts while living among my people. I have attended lavish wedding ceremonies during the long Winter months, gazed upon brilliantly painted works of traditional stoneware, sipped icewines made from rare alpine fruit, and reclined beside the hearth fires listening to the tales of my foremothers. Perhaps in an earlier time, before we had adapted to our harsh environs, life was more frenetic and less diverse. We still count each moment as a blessing, to be sure, but our actions are not guided by desperation. Our hunters are both strong and fierce, as "The Elven Folk" suggests, for example, but each kill is calculated, such that we are able to preserve the animal populations that sustain us. If we hunted them savagely, as if each moment were our last, there would soon be nothing left for our children. With all due respect to the Matron, times have changed.

Because of the extremely limited nature of alpine resources, we Snow Elves spend most of our time in small groups of kin, in ancestral places where shelter and resources are reliable. Families will occasionally trade places, in order to secure a marriage or gain access to different resources for a time, but it is not uncommon for a family to communicate through their neighbors to families much farther away. This system is not only much more convenient (and safer) than travelling by foot to deliver a message personally, it also allows for the continued maintenance of local alliances. I myself was the result of one such alliance, between the Jora'eluris and Gesarin families, in the tradition of Bile Janis oc Hul Haizeani.

The Jora'eluris are considerably wealthy according to our standards, owing to the craft for which they are well-known among Snow Elves and a few Traders: both men and women in the family have long specialized in the production of rare, exquisite tapestries (I myself have not yet begun my training in this art). The tapestries are woven from mountain goat fibers, dyed using rare but natural pigments (usually bright reds) harvested from alpine plants, and can require up to ten years to complete. Such textiles are not only beautiful but offer an extra layer of insulation for the home, which is useful throughout the year but most especially during the Winter months. Very rarely, the Jora'eluris will bargain with Traders and exchange one of their precious tapestries for a shipment of goods from the "outside," such as fine steel tools or heavy silks. However, they would never have agreed to hand over a daughter of the clan if the circumstances had not become dire.

I have always been plagued by disturbing dreams. Ever since I was small child, I would wake from them in the dead of night, sobbing and shaking violently from some terror I scarce had the words to describe. The bouts were relatively infrequent in the beginning and seemed to follow no specific pattern, but they grew worse with time. In their concern for me, my family sought the advice of numerous healers who created various theories to explain my "illness." Some said the cause was physical or mental, some said it magical in nature, others argued it was environmental or hereditary. Consequently, I was exorcised, given draughts, hypnotized, and was on the receiving end of numerous spells, none of which were particularly effective. We simply managed, until fairly recently, when the dreams began to occur almost diurnally, and I had taken to walking and performing actions in my sleep. Fearful of what might happen and unwilling to treat me as a prisoner in my own home, the Jora'eluris matriarch did the unthinkable and called upon an outsider's aid.

The elders of my family became convinced that my nightmares were beyond the help of mundane remedies and that I would need to seek help from the gods themselves. With no other recourse, they agreed that I should leave, on the condition that I should remain under the protection of an outsider until such a time that I had found a cure and could therefore return. And so it was that I left my home among the icy peaks and began my journey to the Crossing.

Appearance

Ayalen possesses her mother's pale grey eyes and angular face but received her ash-blonde hair from her father's line. As is common for her race, she is fair-skinned and somewhat stockier compared to other Elvenkind. Contrary to the Snow Elf stereotype, however, she does not dress in layers of hides tied together with sinew. Rather, as with most Elves, she appreciates finely made textile clothing in attractive colors. According to Ayalen's description of her people, everyday clothing is often quilted or double-layered and accented with artfully-crafted mantles made from insulating pelts or furs that are anything but "barbaric" or "savage" in appearance.

Current appearance (as of 6/25/12), using the LOOK verb:

You see Ayalen Jora'eluris, an Elf.
Ayalen has an angular face, pointed ears, deep-set grey eyes and a small nose. Her ash-blonde hair is long and wavy, and is worn tied back in an intricate five-stranded braid. She has fair skin and an athletic figure.
She is slightly under average height for an Elf.
She appears to be young.
She is in good shape.

She is wearing a silver kyanite gwethdesuan, a silver jadeite gwethdesuan, a flame-colored tiger lily, a grey nightsilk hooded cloak lined with bright firesilk, a spidersilk tote depicting an artistic rendering of the provinces, a crushed velvet pack in varying shades of grey, a lace-edged cream muslin shirt with an off-the-shoulder neckline, a blackened metal wristcuff trimmed with leaping cambrinth flames, a wide leather belt decorated with engraved cambrinth plates, a polished belt frog with a scimitar hanging from it, a simple belt knife, a silver-inlaid tankard, some supple leather pants with dark silk bindings, and a pair of dark grey leather boots lined with bright firesilk.

Other Information

- Ayalen arrived at the Crossing in the Autumn of 405AV, at the young age of 25.

- As is common among her kind, she was betrothed at an early age and has never met her future husband.