Xionara

Xionara Swiftstrike
Status	Active
Race	Prydaen
Gender	Female
Guild	Warrior Mage
Instance	Prime
Relatives	Basteht, Irialor, Phaetyl, Sehkmet

Master Warrior Mage Xionara Swiftstrike, Gakatari Vayato of Elanthia, a Prydaen Warrior Mage

Physical Description:

Xionara has vibrant, deep electric blue-tipped pointed ears and cat-slitted jade eyes. Her deep blue-streaked honey mane is shoulder length and straight, and is worn in a simple, pulled-back style held in place by a fragile sungold chain interspersed with white sapphires. She has glittered rust-colored fur, a slender tail that deepens in color and shifts to a vibrant, deep electric blue at the tip and a lissome figure.
A carved ke'nag triquetra adorned with an intaglio Enelne's eye nestles at the top of her forehead, brightened by faint, darting sparkles deep within the gem.
She is a hyena-stalker.
A champagne-hued eldring artlessly faceted in an upside-down teardrop sits between her eyes. It is attached to a slender wire of icesteel that holds more of the tiny gems as they arch gracefully over her eyebrows.

She is holding a burnished eye mask composed of sungold in her right hand.
She is wearing a fragile sungold chain interspersed with white sapphires, a double-strand necklace of twisted sungold chain, a wispy ebony armure chmir (dress) with a braided silver cord, a wide sungold wristcuff, a watered steel sigilated ring ensconced with pure white spiritwood, an ivory oath band displaying a large sunset-orange Eu's promise crystal, an onyx bourde ysin with a sable knotwork brooch, a sungold-hilted ankle knife displaying an etched blade and a chainmail mesh anklet constructed from sungold.

Generally she will wear the burnished sungold eye mask to conceal her features.

About Xionara

Past: For many years, the traumatic experience of moving to the east caused her to block her memories of anything before her life in Crossing. She is now able to remember nearly everything she had forgotten after searching her memories through prolonged meditation under the guidance of the Silverclaw Hub elders. She is originally from the West, born after the fall of the Barrier but before the Lyras War. The "Hub" she refers growing up was more of a rag-tag group of individuals that banded together for survival and included mostly Prydaen, though a few stranded Rakash that had somehow managed to survive without their pack became a part of the community as well. (This is not to say that Rakash weren't as good at surviving - just that they would have banded together in a pack if they could, rather than join a Prydaen group, so only those who were wandering without finding other Rakash would have joined them, for safety in numbers.) They were sometimes forced to move locations for safety, resources, or both.

When Xionara came to maturity, she began to exhibit a talent for elemental magic. Things that she learned were called 'cantrips' sometimes spontaneously occurred, and while the few magically inclined Prydaen who raised her were able to train her to sense the flow of elemental mana and control these cantrips when they manifested, though none were practitioners of elemental magic and were not able to formally train her. Information was extremely hard to come by, but the Prydaen who served as Elders of their group tasked her with traveling to the East where she might receive formal training from the Warrior Mage Guilds that were said to still exist there, as the East had remained unscathed by Lyras.

During her training, Lyras emerged out of the West to wage war on the peoples of the East. Fearing for the safety of the kin she left behind, Xionara quickly packed her things and headed back West. Employing skills of stealth and magic, she steered clear of Lyras's sizable army and managed to slip past the few hostiles she did encounter, but not without considerable effort. She had to backtrack and take different paths several times to lose a pursuer or to ensure she was not being followed. Finally clear of Lyras' force, she carefully made her way to the last known location of her Hub, only to find the area desolate, abandoned. Buildings had been razed to the ground. Nothing was left standing. Even the central fire pit was destroyed - the blackened boulders used to line the edge of the pit had been smashed, pieces of them scattered about the ground haphazardly.

Distraught and fearing the worst, Xionara scanned the horizon, looking for signs that any of her community had survived. She knew putting up a signal fire might attract the attention of Lyras' minions. While she was no ranger, she studied the signs she found in the ground, footprints indicating that a group had traveled away from the camp some time ago. A ranger she was not - it must have rained for several days; the ground would have to have been muddy they day they set out and dried shortly after, as the footprints stuck out like sore thumbs. She was lucky enough to follow the tracks and, sending out her familiar, located her siblings after traveling for some time in that direction. She made her way to a natural shelter in a cliff face and was joyfully reunited with her siblings Phaetyl, Basteht and Sehkmet. When asked how they had survived, Phaetyl explained he had had a vision that they needed to abandon the hunting/scavenging trip they were on and hide in the cliffs nearby. He was unsure of the chances of the others' survival, though he thinks it likely that most made it out - they always had scouts and sentries, no matter the time of day or night. Xionara commented that she didn't find any remains while searching the scorched ground.

With no leads as to where their Hub had moved, Xionara suggested that they move to the safety of the East. Phaetyl agreed - he was already exhibiting signs that he needed magical training, and Basteht had developed an affinity for healing that was looked down upon. Even as practical as their people had become, Basteht was more than just skilled as a herbalist, and Prydaens tended to look down upon those who chose the life of an Empath. She was sometimes able to improve someone's health with just a touch. She would make the journey East to pursue healing there. Sehkmet would go where the family went and continue to performing trading services as she had done for the Hub. So in short order it was decided that their best, and only option was to return to the East.

During their journey they did locate one of their Rakash brothers, Torvado, who traveled with them East. He told them that their group had escaped but in the confusion he had stumbled in the dark and hit his head on a rock, separating himself from the main group. Torvado was a skilled hunter who had helped Sehkmet scrape bundles for trade; he would help her again in the East. The group of five now traveled mostly by day, stopping some time before evening after a safe campsite was found. They lit no fires, cooking their food by day only when they dared (Torvado eats cooked meats unless in moonskin, and this is where Xionara first learned to enjoy cooked foods), and circumvented nearly all of Lyras' army though Phaetyl's visions and their combined hunting skills. Lyras' army was numerous, but most were animated husks with no intelligence to speak of. The few they did come across the group dispatched without incident.

The journey was particularly hard for Basteht. She was plagued by nightmares throughout their journey of the undead wreaking havoc on the few scattered remaining Prydaen settlements. She thought at the time that her affinity for life magic might have made her sensitive to the twisted magic used to animate the undead, but similar to Xionara, the experience caused her to block out her memory and she thankfully doesn't remember them.

The reason for Xionara's misplaced memories is unclear, though her siblings surmise that she must have come across something horrible during one of her scouting trips as they traveled East. Phaetyl and Sehkmet had no memory problems to speak of but avoid bringing it up in conversation around Basteht (and Xionara until recently) as mentioning the past just confuses and upsets her, and have developed a habit of not talking about their past because of this.

Present: Xionara is a member of the Warrior Mage Guild and is in good standing. She is a member of the Order of the Black Fox, in good standing, and holds a council seat. She is engaged to Keroo Strongclaw. She speaks softly and is slow to draw down upon a fellow adventurer but she is bristling with weapons and knows how to use them all. Xionara has a developed a love for cooked foods during her time in the East but still prefers the taste of raw meat if pressed to give her opinion. She hoards bacon and bonbons, though she doesn't eat them often. A conscientious diner, she attempts to eat low fat foods as often as possible, and can only justify eating candies and cakes if they contain alcohol in some form. She tries to avoid eating sandwiches (unless they're bacon!) and is somewhat confused by their popularity. Generous to a fault, she feels responsible to provide for her siblings and so she is usually off hunting for skins and gems to fund her family's fluff addiction. Privately, she deeply wishes for more community between Prydaens and regrets how scattered her kin seem to be. As the years have passed, she is becoming more acclimated to the changes that have affected Eastern Prydaens and while she might not approve of their behavior, she keeps her own counsel on such things. She can be somewhat closed-off until a person gains her trust, though she tends to feel protective of young Prydaens and Warrior Mages. She tries her hardest to see the best in Prydaens she comes across, though her experiences have taught her to be wary of strangers, even her own kin. She absolutely detests the stereotypes surrounding Prydaen females and has some very opinionated thoughts regarding the behavior of Prydaens in the realms. Xionara thinks of herself as a traditionalist. She was raised on the stories of what things used to be like in the West from her "Hub" there and sometimes daydreams about what things used to be like, though she has no memory of organized Prydaen civilization in the West - all that was gone before she was born.

Xionara follows the three but has a fondness for all things Demrris-related. She dreams of being called into Demrris' service.
She has a talent for song and lyric writing and has been known to perform, on occasion, though usually only in private events.
She wears traditional Prydaen clothing.

Notable Events

• Appointed to the council of the Order of the Black Fox - 417 years, 1 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer, in the 1st month of Akroeg the Ram in the year of the Iron Toad.
• Welcomed Basteht's mate Grizzlefang into the family and congratulated them on their bonding - 417 years, 29 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer, in the 1st month of Akroeg the Ram in the year of the Iron Toad.
• Engaged to Keroo Strongclaw during the festival of Hollow Eve - 418 years, 31 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer. The pair traveled to Trevellyn's in Leth Deriel and chose engagement rings to officially declare their intentions to each other and their kin. Later exchanged rings again with Keroo when they were able to purchase traditional oath bands displaying a large sunset-orange Eu's promise crystal.
• Comforted Basteht during her painful separation from Grizzlefang - 418 years, 112 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer, in the 3rd month of Lirisa the Archer in the year of the Emerald Dolphin.
• Assisted in the defense of Shard with Mazrian, Kaelie and others during the Bone Wyvern incident around the celebration of Chris Mass, 418 years AV.

Altered Gear

• 'a lumium targe enameled with a carefully rendered scene of great cats on the hunt' - A black panther crouches in a field beneath a sky caught in a moment of golden yellow twilight. Poised for the attack, its gaze is fixed upon something unseen beyond the tall, vibrant green grasses and contrastingly red heartsblood trillium blossoms bending toward it, indicating its position downwind of its intended prey. Behind it, a snarling white tiger with a withered and blackened paw crouches, ears laid back in a menacing posture. The initials "R. R." are impressed into the surface of the metal. - Voldag, 8/24/2015

Voldag works with the shield a bit, muttering something absentmindedly beneath his breath about, "downwind," and, "thinks I'm a blasted Ranger," here and there.
Voldag moves from brush to brush, biting his tongue in concentration as he moves from color to color muttering, "Yellow, gold, blue, green..." and so forth.

• 'a poofy cream-colored kitten with frazzled whiskers' - The tiny creature's fur deepens to a warm brown along the base of its tail and its ears are tipped in black, while slightly pale, rosy-toned patches cover the area beneath the whiskers. Its tail is crooked in several spots, giving it an appearance somewhat reminiscent of a lightning bolt. Around the kitten's neck is a treasureweave collar suspending a small sungold triquetra pendant. - Quinen, 11/7/2015

• 'a tempered kadepa lorica accented with blue gold and set with a goldenoak iladza' - Encased in the dark silvery blue of the kadepa, the front and back of the finely crafted armor is accented with a silhouette of a panther's torso in cobalt blue shot through with gold veins and reinforced with an additional layer of chain on the shoulders. Additional blue gold and kadepa are alloyed to form a closure that connects the two front portions of the lorica, centered just below the wearer's collarbones. A goldenoak iladza set with a vibrant sunstar jasper is bezel-set into the clasp. - Kauko, 11/9/2015

• 'a kadepa mail balaclava with feline ears made of solid blue gold' - The dark silvery blue balaclava fashioned from kadepa is lined with soft black suede for comfort. A thin layer of blue gold covers a large portion of the headpiece, creating blue gold rings forming the silhouette of a panther's head and neck. The panther's mouth is open, baring its fangs. Flattened ears made of solid blue gold seamlessly protrude from the crown of the piece. Extending to the wearer's collarbone, the panther's neck covers nearly all of the lower portion of the headpiece. - Yeyaru, 4/25/2016

• 'a squared mahogany belaying pin carved with an intricate triple knot triquetra' - The bottom of the handle has been contoured for a better grip. - Almodivar, 4/26/2016