Post by Elyssa Vetinari on Jan 6, 2008 2:03:28 GMT -5
Player
[/u][/center]Alias: Renee
Gender: Female
Contact: AIM – iceblue2840
Location/Time Zone: USA, MST
Character
[/u][/center]Name: Elyssa Vetinari
Gender: Female
Age: 17
City: Port Caynn
Status: Commoner
Personality
As a girl born with common status, Elyssa certainly has a free-spirited attitude to match. She is a dreamer, but not only does she dream, she pursues them with a determination to see them realized. She is adventurous and willing to try just about anything regardless of whether it is dangerous or even legal, much to her parents’ dismay.
Some say that she has fire in her soul, one that cannot be quenched even when her mother forces her to make use of manners. At times like this, Elyssa will behave sociably by dressing neatly and using the correct fork, but her sharp tongue will still manage to carve out words that have been known to irk and confuse the calm demeanors of citizens of any social class. Elyssa believes that cleverness of speech is one of her best traits, and she does well to hone it – practicing until she is able to twist most words around to get what she wants.
With her forthright nature, many people are drawn back from Elyssa, and it is the reason why she has few close friends other than family: a few sailors at the wharf and merchants in the market who share her love of sarcasm and conversational wit. Insults have little effect on her, especially after spending time with loud-mouthed sailors.
Being the free spirit she is, she has little interest in settling down or marriage or children, unlike many girls are of her age. Her heart craves adventure, her mind seeks challenge. Some call her behavior childish, but she merely sees it as who she is.
-Personality Flaw:
Her lack of tact and self control while speaking often get her on the bad sides of nobles when she has the chance to speak with them. Lucky for her, nobles do not cross paths with her often and commoners do not find her cheeky remarks insulting. Also, Elyssa is a bit insecure about her body image from having her mother pick apart her appearance on a daily basi in an attempt to make sure her daughter was presentable to any possible (and preferrably wealthy) suitor she may encounter.
Appearance
Elyssa is of average height for a young woman, and, though she doesn’t believe so, of a slender build. Not a warrior-woman in the making…No, she has little muscle to speak of save for her legs, which are slightly toned from running through the city whenever her mother sends her on an errand. Her brown hair reaches a few inches past her shoulders with bangs sweeping across her forehead and along her jawbone. Her eyes are a mystery, changing tones in different lights, but generally they are a medium shade of blue. A beauty mark is sported on the right side of her neck, just below her jaw.
-Appearance Flaw:
Folk are often shocked by Elyssa’s feisty nature, but they are not shocked when it gets her hurt. As a child, she would get in many fights with the other children (mostly boys) in the marketplace, and one such incident resulted in a rock being thrown at her head, causing a scar just above the corner of her eye, about where her left eyebrow starts. It is her most prominent flaw, showing most when she furrows her brow. But the not-so-prominent flaws include slightly crooked bottom teeth (but they are not yellow, thank the Gods), elbows that pop after being in a bent position for too long, and uneven ears.
History
Born to middle class citizens Sara and Christopher Vetinari, Elyssa has not had to endure the sufferings of poverty during her childhood. Christopher made his living as a healer, and he was usually off on house calls while Sara remained at home with Elyssa and her brothers.
Her mother noticed early on that she was a fighter, especially when it came to nap time or bathing. Sara struggled to get her daughter under control for the first few years, but Elyssa eventually calmed just enough to ease her mother’s stress. When she was around four (old enough to walk and talk on her own without problem), Sara gave Elyssa’s older brothers the task of watching over their sister. Damien, who was five years her senior, and Jonathan, who was three years her senior, began her soon-to-be coveted trips to the marketplace.
It was on these trips that Damien and Jonathan would roughhouse with their friends, unaware that their little sister was watching and idolizing them. She soon started to want to be just like them: brave, carefree, and rambunctious. As the years grew on, she began to take part in their games of Knights and Bandits, along with the occasional apple theft. One such day, however, Elyssa was caught by the baker while she was attempting to snatch a hot roll. Sara was notified by the baker, and Elyssa was thoroughly chastised for her behavior, as were her brothers for allowing her to behave in such an unladylike manner.
Sara and Christopher talked about how to best change the behavior of their daughter, and decided it was best to keep her at home from that point onward. Elyssa was to help her mother with the household duties, and, hopefully, be transformed in to a much more well-mannered girl. The plan worked for a time, and when her eleventh birthday came around, Sara thought that it wouldn’t hurt to let Elyssa run errands to the market. She was elated with her renewed freedom and took it as a chance to rebel. While away on errands, she would take the longest routes, often making detours to the docks to talk with the sailors, mostly the navy deckhands and more respectable merchants. She found their accounts of the sea fascinating and soon made a few good friends there.
She began to take on their blunt way of speaking, and Elyssa decided that she would try and use it to her advantage. And so she practiced; talking in circles to the sailors until they were thoroughly confused, reading her mother’s collection of novels to expand her knowledge of vocabulary.
By the time she was fifteen, she had become very witty, as her sailor friends would say. Her mother called it being rude, for Elyssa usually managed a way to insult someone and they would never even know she had done so. And so she adapted, learning to use a cordial, mannerly dialect with her family and upper class citizens she happened upon, and saving her clever speaking for the wharf.
Sara's main goal was to have her daughter be matched to a wealthy man so that her future would be financially secure, for she came from a poor family and, after she married Chris, they had to work hard to climb up the social ladder to become members of the middle class. Elyssa knows that her mother means the best for her, but she has had difficulty accepting the fact that marriage is right around the corner. She wants to have run of her own life; she wants to be free.
Family
Sara Vetinari – mother; alive
Christopher Vetinari – father; alive
Damien Vetinari – brother; alive
Jonathan Vetinari – brother; alive
Except, maybe make a mention about her family's spot in society: her mother seems interested in pruning her for a good match with the emphasis on propriety and dress, but at the same time they do not altogether frown on Elyssa associating with sailors.