DarkSirenSally/RyshassaBio

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Ryshassa's Biography

Character Name: Ryshassa Krauser
Player: Mieu / Dark Siren Sally
Exalt Type: Solar
Aspect / Caste: Twilight
Age / Apparent Age: 20/same
Sex: Female
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 120

Physical Description: Ryshassa is a slender woman of average height with a pale complexion and almond-shaped violet eyes. Her face is pleasant, though not stunning, to look upon, oval in shape with high cheekbones and a small, straight nose. She prefers to wear her fine-textured blue-black hair in a partial ponytail to keep the strands away from her face while allowing the rest of her hair to flow unbound, creating an appearance both carefree and refreshingly innocent. With limbs both shapely and elegant, she carries herself with grace, and her fine-boned, delicate fingers are sensitive enough to pick out minute details both in coaxing melodies from her instrument of choice and in her careful but gentle examination of her steady, often loyal stream of patients. On the outside, her body seems frail and weak, as her muscles are untrained for combat maneuverability or lifting heavy weights, but her lightweight frame belies a vigorous constitution and a high endurance for pain that allows her to endure great hardships without falter. She is one who has borne the suffering of many since her untimely Exaltation, and her back shows no sign of breaking under the weight of her new duties.

Though she is of modest means, she still takes great pains to dress herself well, as she believes such considerations put people at ease. Her typical outfit consists of three layers of robes of linen or the occasional silk: a simple white under-robe she wears by itself in privacy, just after a bath or right before bed; a wide-sleeved kimono sparsely embroidered with a spray of graceful, long stemmed flowers (orchids, lilies, irises) or a sprinkling of smaller blooms (morning glories, cherry blossoms, honeysuckle); and a quilted outer-robe meant to serve more as a cloak, shadow-embroidered at the hem with a pattern of belladonna vines and multi-colored butterflies fluttering up towards her neck. The kimono is belted with a sash of a matching color or pattern, knotted discreetly in the back and reinforced with a tasseled silk cord wrapped around the waist and tied securely in the front, from which her pouches of herbs, bandages and other necessities are suspended. The jewelry she wears is sparse, limited to items of sentimental value (often gifts given to her by grateful patients) and the few hearthstones and orichalcum jewelry she wears to aid her in healing. She owns no armor or weapons to speak of, but often carries with her a silk-lined white leather case equipped with a shoulder strap tooled with a belladonna vine design, in which she keeps her lyre and all of the tools to care for it.

Personality: The presence Ryshassa conveys is that of a woman unlikely, even unwilling to do harm. She is typically gentle and mild-mannered, smiles often to familiar faces and treats all but the most hostile individuals with the utmost respect and decorum. Her careful consideration for the emotions and comfort levels of those she interacts with gives the impression she is meek, even subservient. On the other hand, as soon as her fingers are poised on the strings of her lyre, as soon as her skills as a healer are direly needed, as soon as she commits herself to a cause she deeply believes in, all of her hesitation dissipates in the face of the task at hand. Unfortunately, she is often underestimated for her polite and peaceful nature, as well as the relatively protected life she has led thus far, so few would expect her to be the active, vocal and strong-willed contributor she has the potential to become.

Ryshassa has the habit of defining herself by her duties rather than as an individual with a heart and soul. Born to a branch of House Cynis in the Realm, she grew up with a strong affinity for nature and the energies that give life to all Creation-born. This strong connection she felt for all that lives and breathes -- their joys and sorrows, their vitality and pain -- developed in her a sense of duty to preserve the happiness and health of others. In primary school, she showed an exceptional proclivity for music performance, medicines and lores, but barely struggled through the physical aspect of Dragon-Blooded training, for she found it a near-agonizing experience to cause harm to others even in practice. She preferred to concentrate on abilities that allowed her to aid others, causing her more self-indulgent parents and family members to abuse her willingness to serve, but she saw no need for complaint. When she Exalted as one of the Anathema on the eve of her graduation, she was so devastated by the fact that she would have willingly turned herself in if not for the intervention of Alexsei, a Gold Faction Sidereal.

Since then, Alexsei has shown her how to use the powers granted her by the Unconquered Sun to soothe the hearts and ease the pains of others, and this has become her new goal in life -- to help those who cannot help themselves. So focused is she on this purpose at times that, on more than one occasion, he has had to coax her from working herself near to death. She does, of course, take the time to indulge herself once in a while, often at the urging of her beloved. She has a particular fondness for fine clothing, enjoys fruits and long massages, and loves to take her time while bathing, for example. But it is difficult, if not impossible, for her to seperate the activities she is truly passionate about from her desire to give back to the people around her. Everything she loves to do -- from playing music, to cultivating plant life, to caring for orphaned children, to interacting with even the lowliest of mortals in town, giving them a sense that they are deserving of kindness and respect -- is part of her efforts to bring light, warmth and life to the harsh northern reaches that have become her new home.

Likes: Healing, playing and listening to music, children, flowers and plants, shades of purple, silk, massages, long baths, laughter, beauty in all forms, making friends, protecting mortality, bringing smiles to people's faces, bearing the pain of others.

Dislikes: Losing a patient to death, restless or unwillingly raised undead, prejudice, anger, hatred, killing, wanton destruction, bearing witness to the suffering of others, causing pain or offense (even unknowingly or indirectly), feeling helpless or lacking in purpose.

Profession: Primarily a healer working from Gethamane, a former First Age city in the far Northern mountains repopulated in recent centuries by refugees. Its mysterious First Age builders dug the great halls of the city into the mountain itself, eventually digging below the earth and unearthing monstrous, man-eating horrors in the process. Nowadays, the city often attracts explorers hunting for First Age artifacts or adventures looking to test their mettle with the horrors below. Many of these end up subject to Ryshassa's gentle ministrations, if they escape back to the city alive; otherwise, what corpses are brought back are tended to by Alexsei, Chosen of the Maiden of Endings, whose morbid but dedicated work ensures they cannot be raised as undead.

Other than these daring (or foolhardy) individuals, the bulk of Ryshassa's patients come from those mortals who call Gethamane home. Though the caves shield their inhabitants quite effectively from the harsh winds and freezing climate of the far North, life is still a matter of everyday survival in this place. Those who do not contribute to the community as a whole, offering some useful or sought after survice, are given little respect or consideration. Ryshassa is seen as a special case in these hardy people's eyes -- not only does she devote her life to healing others, but she has the uncanny ability to sense, experience and thus truly sympathize with their pain. Of course, she prefers to rely on traditional medicine to treat her patients whenever possible. The rare few who witness the full reality of Ryshassa's healing method find it unnerving or even frightening, for she heals by transferring the wounds and other afflictions of her patients onto her body. But the smile she offers through the pain is enough to reassure them, for she bears such agony willingly and well.

Healing is not the only talent Ryshassa is known for. At times she will wander from the dwelling she shares with Alexsei and find a place out of the way to perform a song or two on her lyre. The cavernous acoustics carry the sound of her music far and wide, often causing hard-working individuals to smile as they labor, passersby to stop and watch her play, and children to come running from their hiding places to listen. Ryshassa is especially fond of children, and as she and Alexsei are reluctant to risk having children that they may very well outlive, she satisfies her mother instinct by caring for those not her own. Many children in the North are abandoned due to their parents' inability to provide for them, or due to extreme disfigurement that renders them unable to contribute to the necessary labor to survive. She does her best to provide them with a roof over their head, clothing and food to eat, but at the same time tries to maintain a certain distance from them, lest she become too attached and have to watch them grow, change and die a full mortal life.

Political Leanings: Ryshassa has lived in the North for several years now since escaping the Realm with Alexsei. She has only deigned to leave Gethamane for special cases in which her services were called for a patient that could not, for some reason, be moved. Other than that she tends to avoid contact with the outside world and the politics therein, though she may have been called on within Gethamane as a mediator in disputes. She prefers to remain objective as much as possible in her dealings with mortals, for one day she may be put in a position to heal one side or the other, and she has never been one to refuse healing to those that ask for her aid.

Higher beings, of course, are a different matter altogether. As her reputation grows in the city as a healer of uncommon compassion, so it begins to spread throughout the North, making it more and more difficult for her to remain hidden from the her sister, the Wyld Hunt and the power struggles in the North, and at least play at living a simple and unmolested life with the man she was fated to love. Of the Deathlords currently opposed in the region, Ryshassa would rather not choose the side of either, but if pressed, would prefer the Lover and her followers over the sheer malicious insanity of the Bishop and his Underworld cult.

She bears no hatred towards the Realm, but will pay no tribute to add to their coffers nor give herself up to the Dragon-Blooded if the Wyld Hunt comes to her door.

Affiliations: None save Alexsei Krauser, her rescuer, mentor and now beloved, who shows the same compassion she provides to the living in providing the proper, fitting end to those whose place in Destiny has run its course.

History: Ryshassa's History