Annael
| Annael | |
|---|---|
| Status: | Alive |
| Guild: | Empath |
| Race: | Human |
| Gender: | Female |
| Location: | The Crossing (Ranik Map 1e) |
| Type: | guild leader |
Description
The Empath guild leader is a mid-height Human woman with long hair the color of a raven's wing. Her eyes are a disturbing violet that, despite their humor, hold many years of personal anguish within them. The lines in her face only stand out when she smiles, which is fairly often. What you can see of her body is criss-crossed with scars, and her face is woven with a light lattice-work of them.
Her clothing is all silks of a tasteful pearl gray color, cut in the latest rage of the Crossing. Her feet are shod with black leather boots, and she has pouches on her body that are stuffed with dried herbs, aloe, and other such tools of her craft. One little piece of mandrake root, you notice, has been shoved into her sash in much the same way a warrior would thrust his sword quickly into his belt after a hard battle.
Years of fighting unseen battles weigh heavy around this woman, and several times you see the light smile on her face drop, replaced by one of sad seriousness. Her eyes go distant at those times and she looks toward a window, scanning the streets of the Crossing as if she was searching for someone or something she had lost.
History
Annael, long ago, shared a love with a young man named Ivinnes. When a girl came to her, claiming to be Ivinnes' lover and pregnant with his child, Annael believed the girl and turned her back on her love. Ivinnes left the city and Annael behind, and only after did Annael learn that the woman had lied. By then, it was too late. Annael learned that Ivinnes' ship had sunk; with it went her dreams. Though she knows now that Ivinnes survived the storm, and subsequently married and had children, she is emotionally scarred by the years of shame and pain caused by having driven her love away. It is unclear if she still loves him or if she only feels the pain of what might have been, and the shame of what she assumed. The two have not reunited. Despite Mirinn's encouragement that she should see him and resolve the past, Annael feels that too much time has passed and that there are some things best left in the shadows.
Because of Annael's experience as a young woman, she is often very reserved, a trait that many of her students see as coldness or aloofness. Kind and caring to a fault but not always sure how to show it, she loves her guildhall and is so proud of the members and their efforts to heal the sick and the injured. Always, though, always is the memory of how she believed tears over love, of turning her back on someone who trusted her. Perhaps she now mistrusts her own instincts, and fears that if she allows herself to become too close to anyone, she would be capable of doing the same thing again.
So she hangs back. She smiles when a part of her wants to laugh, congratulates promotions warmly when she really wants to hug them. She is resigned to living on the outskirts of life, believing it is a just punishment for the pain that she caused her dearest love.
In her own words:
Chalk it up to a youthful mistake. That's what I try to tell myself when the regret looms. Regrets are an inevitable part of life, and while I sometimes wonder what might have been, I have to remember that the path I chose to follow is the one that brought me here.
I've had to learn to trust again, and yet still do so with some reservations. I watch the people around me who seem to live so flawlessly and I wonder sometimes at the secret knowledge that they have that enables them to do so. Whatever lesson they learned or book they read to get to that moment, I must have missed it. I still feel so much like the awkward girl I once was.
I know that Mirinn has faith in me...even still she has faith, and always has. She sees something there. She must, or she never would have stepped aside from her position and let me take the position of guildleader. Until Nebela Mentrade, I was the youngest to ever do so, and there were so many times when I wished she'd never done so. But she had faith.
Sometimes, I have hope that someday I might look in a mirror and see what she sees. But not today.
Empath Introduction Speech
Annael Ebeshalek grows silent, her eyes distant, and then she says, all humor dropping from her face, "Empaths bear the pain of all the people of the Lands. We stand between Life and the Starry Road, protecting people from Death, saving them from the darkness of Chaos. We cannot harm living beings -- it is not something we can ever do without regretting it. We feel the pain of anything we touch; why would we ever want to cause more pain?"
"The work we do is unique to us alone. No mage can conjure healing, no cleric's god may grant it. We alone are tuned so keenly to the suffering of others that we may accept it unto ourselves and offer back balm to those who need it."
"Yet, not all is tears and suffering. I have known great joy in watching a comrade recover completely, seeing children once lame walk once more from the aid I have offered. Beneath my hands, friends have been brought back from Death's threshold and been restored fully to health. Often my only payment for such aid was a thank you and a hug, but what greater payment is there? Gold and silver are petty things, quickly forgotten as they pass from hand to hand. A smile... a friendship...those are things that last forever."
Annael Ebeshalek smiles at you, one hand resting over the other, her eyes sparkling with the warmth that comes from good memories. Some of that warmth reaches out and seems to fill you, and you feel humbled for a moment by the endless love that rests within her fragile form.
"We Empaths are very special," the Empath Guild Leader says. "We take the damage of the world in an attempt to heal all the grievous wrongs that have occurred here. Bruised and scarred we may be in flesh, but within we are filled with the power of life, and every wound healed only reaffirms this deep and abiding belief." Her gaze catches yours. "As an Empath, you may never see another day that you do not walk with scars, but the joy you carry within will be reimbursement for any pain you may carry without."
The Empath Guild Leader smiles at you and says, "All you have to do to become an Empath is JOIN us. It is not so hard to do. As the words hint at, simply JOIN."
The Empath Guild Leader smiles warmly at you. "Today you have chosen a worthy path of aiding others, rather than of killing and bloodshed. Remember, though, there is much to learn before you can truly be of service."
Annael looks up as an angry bird suddenly swoops down from its nest in the willow tree and pecks at your arm, causing it to bleed slightly. Before you can even register pain she leans over and touches you, her eyes gathering yours and her power erasing the injuries as she takes the wounds from your body into hers. When your skin is whole again, she nods, then closes her eyes and breathes deeply for a moment before gesturing. With amazement, you see that her skin is whole and unmarred again. "That," she says as she smiles at you, "was your first lesson...."
Annael Ebeshalek takes you aside to a quieter corner under the willow tree. "Welcome to the Crossing," she says. "It's good to see you got here in one piece." She chuckles to herself, as if laughing at a private joke.
After a moment, Annael grows silent, her eyes distant, and then she says, all humor dropping from her face, "Empaths bear the pain of all the people of the Lands. We stand between Life and the Starry Path, protecting people from Death, saving them from the darkness of Chaos."
She pauses a moment, then says with emphasis, "We cannot harm any living thing. We feel the pain of anything we touch; how could we ever want to cause more pain?" > She goes on to say, "Empaths are healers above all else. We go beyond the skills others can use to deal with wounds, diseases, poisons, and all the other things that cause injury and pain; we actually transfer the anguish and suffering of others to ourselves, and then use our magic to heal ourselves of the damage." > "Healing is deceptively simple," she says. "As an Empath, you are endowed with the ability to touch someone and know they are hurt. Whenever you touch someone with the intent of diagnosing their ills, you have the ability to feel their injuries and other hurts -- and as you gain skill, you may find that you can perceive more, and the injury acceptance and healing process becomes easier. All you have to do is take the injuries after establishing an empathic bond by touch." She takes a deep breath, and gets an odd look on her face, as if she is trying to figure out how to phrase what she will say next.
"One word of advice before you go out there," she says at last. "Be very, very careful of over-healing. Eagerness and wanting to help is one thing... stupidity, and getting killed for that stupidity, is another. Wounds and scars, left unhealed, build up on your body, and either one can kill you if they become serious enough on a critical part."
"Go now once you have chosen your spells," Annael says. "There's a lot of healing that needs to be done out there."
She sits back, the lines around her eyes springing into life as she smiles at you.
Annael Ebeshalek adds, "Congratulations, also, on being ready to learn more of the magical arts! Ask me about magic if you wish to know more."
Empath Second Circle Speech
Annael Ebeshalek says, "Congratulations, <name>! You did it! You're ready to train for your next rank!" "Keep working hard. You're doing a fine job. Persistence such as yours shall be rewarded."
Annael Ebeshalek tells you, "Empaths are unusual people, as you probably already know. We have the ability to transfer wounds, and yet we are never allowed to inflict them upon others. Not that we would ever want to. We find ways OTHER than hack and slash to take care of a problem. We use our brains while others use... big pieces of sharpened metal."
Annael Ebeshalek chortles to herself, then suddenly becomes deadly serious. "You will find," she says, softly, "that your ability to help will change as time goes on. But there will always be people you cannot help, who will be beyond you in healing. Those who you cannot help you must turn over to an older healer, or release to the Void." She reaches out, gently, and touches your shoulder. "That," she says, "is a pain all Empaths know, and share."
Annael Ebeshalek removes her hand from your shoulder and shuts her eyes, one silent tear slipping down her cheek. After a moment, she smiles at you.
Annael Ebeshalek adds, "Congratulations, also, on being ready to learn more of the magical arts! Ask me about magic if you wish to know more."