disregardeddagger

All crit goes here

CHARACTER: Nesir Aeser
CANON: OC
VESSEL NAME & LOCATION: 影 (eiki)
VESSEL FORM:
POWER:

GOD: Iskander
EXP POINTS: 10
CAUSE OF DEATH: Having her soul bond with Lotte ripped out of her.

Player Information

Name: Katy
Contact: damua or damua #1089 on discord
Age: 30
Other Characters: Suzaku Kururugi, Romeo, Da Qing

Character Information

Name: Nesir Aeser (also: Culbu Tiri at this canon point she uses them both, with different groups, interchangeably so I would imagine she will remember both.)
Canon: OC
Canon Point: The day of Lotte’s redemption, when ‘Nesir Aeser’ is killed
Age: 18
History:

World Description

Nesir’s world is one with many countries and cultures as vast and different as our own and a very low technology level. Medieval is a good way to set the tone and feel of the world, though of course historically that is inaccurate as it is not our world at all.

It is a world locked in a never ending war of good and evil, a war started by gods and continued by humans. To the ordinary person that is the end of it, you either follow the teachings of the gods of light or you follow the god of darkness. To them it is simple and life is indeed simple for many who live in the world, farmers, fisherpeople, sailors, travelling merchants taking advantage of the relatively recent rise in large sailing ships. Some countries are wealthier than others, some have large towns and sprawling cities, some parts of the world are remote and rural. Monster prowl the world, gathering at the far edges of civilisation but sometimes venturing into towns and even some cities.

But no matter the country, living a good life being kind to those around you, working hard and resisting those who try to tempt you is sufficient to follow the bright gods. To those in the shadows life is harder. The need to remain secret while finding those who share your beliefs, small pockets of darkness most often involved in petty crime. Secret shadowy organisations infiltrating the leaders of the lands, or bands of bandits. All have the same aim; to spread chaos and fear. To pave the way for the shadow lord.

Of course things are a little more complicated, because the gods have, since the beginning of time granted their powers to those they govern. All living creatures in the world have innate power. That power sits inside of them and for most people that is the end of it. But some have the ability to use that power, to shape it and use it. Power that is used is magic. Everyone has power, only the gifted have magic.

Generally speaking only humans have magic, of course there are exceptions. Every so often you hear tales such as cats that can shoot fire from their eyes destroying whole villages. But such happenings are rare and magic is generally considered to be a human trait.

There is no rhyme or reason as to which humans manifest magic, children of nobles or orphan street children. The magic tends to manifest around the age of ten though it can be detected by other magic users much sooner. It can be dangerous if those who manifest magic are not found and trained. Though some are trained personally by other magic users most are sent to a temple in the mountains; the only one of its kind and home to all magic users and those that serve them.

Once trained these magic users are Priests and Priestesses, sworn to serve one of the gods of light. Each god encourages different specialities in those that serve them.

Of course there are also priests who follow the shadow god, they live among the others; often pretending to be servants of one of the five bright gods. They seek to spread chaos and pave the way for the shadow god to consume all.

But Priests and Priestesses are not the only ones to whom the Temple is home. A school of warriors, from all around the world live there. Their duty and calling is to protect those with magic, lending the inherent power that lies within them to serve their Priests. Though there are other places where fighters can be trained this is the most diverse, accepting people with no training; where sons of kings train next to peasant children and all are forged into the greatest warriors of all time. Seeking no honour for themselves but only that the Priests can fulfil their destinies.

As mentioned before their are many countries in Nesir's world, the temple is apart from all of them; those that train there priest or warrior give up their nationality and previous ties and swear to serve the world as a whole.

The country Nesir grew up in is called Gauig. It is a warm, dry and dusty place, mostly desert home to nomads and the odd small town. However on the coast there is the capital city, also called Gauig. A huge sprawling city, home to the queen and all the nobles of the land but with a sprawling underbelly of corruption and poverty. Here they speak with a thick dialect, the grammar of their words switched about. It is an easy place to get lost in, an easier place to be disappeared in. The sprawling docklands mean there are a constant influx of strangers with ships constantly coming and going.

Gauig is a country wrecked with war with its neighbours, petty land squabbles that swell every so often. War rarely reaches the capitol and never did in Nesir’s time there. The main exports of Gauig come from the city itself by sea and are honey and the mead made from it. They have a heavy diet of fish in the city and a strong belief that honey goes with everything.

Nesir has travelled, both as an acolyte and a Warrior. Though she has been to many places it has not been for long as as a member of the temple she is not part of any country or place so her knowledge of different cultures is superficial and academic at best.

The mountains that house the temple are cold much of the year round, the summers rarely reached the heat that was common in Gauig. Temple life itself is rigid and disciplined. A life ruled by bells, lessons, drills until you can hardly move and chores. Lessons were in everything from sword play to philosophy. Even Warriors were expected to have a wide ranging education.

Religion

Just some notes on the religion of Nesir’s world as it is so fundamental to her character.

The pantheon consists of six gods though only five are accepted. Those five are known as the Bright Gods and an average person will worship all five almost as one, praying to the Healer when their child is sick, the Defender to save their sheep from wolves, the Scholar for help in knowing when the perfect time to harvest their crop.

In the temple a priest of priestess will specialise in one of the gods, focusing on that area:

The Healer: Healing looking after the sick, using magic to help the injured in battles and every day life. Many go out into the world to provide care to those that need it.
The Scholar : Knowledge Most those that serve the god of knowledge remain in the mountains teaching those that come to learn, some also go out into the world.
The Judge: Justice They try and bring light to the world, either by settling village disputes or advising Queens, or vigilante crime fighting.
The Explorer: Discovery They deal with all things powerful and magic, be it taking down those cats with fire spouting eyes, finding old items containing power or searching for children capable of magic and ensuring they get trained.
The Defender: War The most martial, for they are completely preoccupied with the fight against the shadow god. They aim to bring peace to the world by fighting evil everywhere they see it, going out to hunt down those that follow the shadow god and wipe out all evil from the world.

Then obviously there is the shadow god, the god of chaos. Those that serve the shadow god seek to tip the balance of the world into darkness, bringing about strife and war. They work in secret and it is not unusual to have learned that there was a follower of the shadow god behind most of the wars and divisions in history.

Nesir’s world is not one where gods walk among humans. Their ‘creation’ story is that the gods found the world. They gave the world power, granted its creatures sentience, gave humans speech and bestowed magic on a chosen few. Humans serve gods and it is hoped that in service and prayers the gods will smile on them and make life easier for them.

‘Priest’ and ‘Priestess’ are words reserved for magic users. Specifically those trained by the Temple though those who are trained elsewhere may use those titles if they are dedicating themselves to the gods. There are of course religious leaders who are not blessed with magic. Those that teach and have a role in their community. They are called ‘Bard’s’.

People pray at alters, traditionally left open to the sky though in some of the colder regions they have walls to protect worshippers from the elements. Bigger cities may have a temple where you can find alters to all five of the Bright Gods. Prayers are ritualistic and passed down through generations. Community and family is considered important and cherished among all and there is a theme that the Bright Gods work together to hold off the dark and so too should the humans who worship them.

Festivals and holy days are connected to the seasons with the largest two being midsummer and midwinter. Midsummer is day of celebration and midwinter is a day of remembrance and hope. A vigil in the dark until the sun rises once more.

For those who worship the Shadow God worship is in secret. Many will give ‘false’ worship to the Bright Gods out of necessity. Alters tend to be inside, in the dark, in caves. Places hidden from the light. Teachings focus on the importance of tipping the balance, sewing distrust into communities and stopping at nothing to reach their goal. Those dedicated to the shadow pledge their souls to the shadow god, shackling their fate to that of their god.

There is a belief in reincarnation, the idea that souls are reborn in the light (or dark) to continue the fight, even if souls do not remember anything of their time before the gods do. Those who are particularly lucky or successful are considered to have done something great in their past lives and now have the blessings of the gods. Bodies of the dead are burned to release their souls as quickly as possible, their ashes released at an alter. Failure to do so within a few days of death dooms the soul to end it’s reincarnation cycle and be trapped between life and death.

Any old storyteller in Nesir’s world will have at least one scary story of a lost soul, a soul who could not escape their worldly body fast enough and was doomed to wander the world forever, wreaking misfortune, leading travellers astray, snatching children from their cradles to keep them company in their eternal torment. Temple Warriors do not believe such foolish folk tales of course.

Those of the temple vow to take up arms and defend their god, making a sacred oath when they leave the ranks of learners to be a Priest or Priestess. The Temple teaches all five gods though priests and priestess’ will usually have picked a path by the time they are an acolyte. Warriors usually dedicate themselves to the god of their priest, vowing to protect and serve both with their lives.

Personal History

As often is the case Nesir’s story does not start with her. Instead it starts with a woman named Elena. A shadow serving priestess of great power Elena had quickly risen through the ranks, both at the temple and the shadow cell there.

She, like most who served the shadow god had been brought up by light god followers.
In general it is assumed that everyone in the world is born good, if they grow up in a good family with strong values they will remain good and work for benefit of others. There were exceptions of course but as a rule the way shadow cells worked was to pull those on the edges of society, those that had lost everything, those searching for something more, those whose greed led them to the search for higher power.

They were found by those who served the shadow god and drawn to their side, with promises of greatness. But as they found anyone drawn away from the light, could be coaxed back. The powers of good were so much greater than the evil after all. Those that sought power often were not those that worked well with others.

So she wondered, if a child was brought up in darkness, serving the shadow from the beginning, loyal to their cause, not having to be constantly promised greatness. If such a child could be raised would they stay loyal?

The idea was interesting enough that she was permitted to experiment and so sent her Warrior, Kant to father a child, he returned with two. Identical twin girls.

Child rearing was not something Elena was at all interested in and so she handed the girls over to a shadow cell in the city of Gauig, chosen for it’s sprawling nature, the ever changing population and the lack of citizens prepared to ask difficult questions. Their instructions were simple, raise them to follow the shadow god, feed them, clothe them, give them the skills they needed.

So Nesir's life began, she wasn't called Nesir at the time. When she was ready to go out to the world she had to be untraceable. Humans are humans and make mistakes and mistakes were costly when made by a shadow servant. Nameless children weren’t all that uncommon in Gauig, thief gang children abounded and many went by nicknames if anything at all.

From an early age the girls lived double lives. In the daytime their mornings and evenings were taken up serving customers in the inn, scrubbing dishes, doing whatever jobs were given to them. It would have been easy work if the tavern had been a friendly clean place. However the Apple's Heart in Gauig was the sort of place light fearing men avoided. The inside was a dank dark place, with shadowy corners where drunken men gambled their lives away, where thieves met and plotted.

The afternoons were the girls time to do what they wished, the inn was quiet, before people arrived for the evening, and the keepers would rather the girls were out from under foot. So in the afternoons the girls played in the city, joining the street children and thieves. They were soon prized among the children as the two girls proved to be good thieves, quick and good at hiding. Such activities were permitted and encouraged by their guardians, after all they were useful skills.

Though they ran with the street children they never really were part of them. Taught from an early age to trust nobody and having many secrets to keep both children were quiet, task focused and had an air of superiority. Perhaps if they were only one of them they would have integrated more but they had each other for company and found little use in anyone else.

Once the inn began to quiet, in the early hours of the morning the children were woken from their sleep for their lessons; some lessons were the same as any other children of traders and innkeepers. Reading, writing, how to count and reason. Others not so common; how to walk silently, move in shadows, how to fight and how to kill.

When the girls were deemed old enough to understand they made their pledge to the shadow god, becoming servants of the shadow officially. They knew it was something to be kept secret and rarely even spoke about it among themselves. They knew that those of the light would kill them just for who they served. That one wrong word to the wrong person could cause endless trouble. As they grew Elena and Kant were regular visitors and added to their training as they got older. By the time the girls were eleven they were sent on their first missions.

Nesir found the tasks given to her exciting, each one a little bit more risky, the fear of being caught igniting the adrenaline inside her. She didn't mind killing, after all it got her praise. She knew she was serving the shadow god and above all it was fun. She had spent her life learning how to and it was good to put those skills to good use.

Her sister though did not take to such things as well. She had always felt things deeply and one day things seemed to have changed. She had been on a mission and Nesir wasn't sure if her sister had met someone who had put ideas in her head or if she had come to the conclusion herself but one night Nesir walked in on her crying in the small room they shared. She confessed that she thought the shadow god was wrong and made Nesir promise to never tell a soul.

Nesir was horrified, she knew she should report this. It was disobedience and blasphemy but it was her sister, her best friend, someone she would do anything for. She promised to never tell a soul but her promise never even had to be tested for a few days later she was summoned by Tawin; one of the innkeepers.

She never learned fully what happened but her sister had failed. Been deemed a failure and a danger to them all. Their guardians; worried that the taint had spread they ordered Nesir to kill her sister to prove her loyalty to the shadow god.

Of course Nesir did so; she loved her sister more than she loved anything but obedience had been drilled into her and if her sister was truly a danger... She didn't expect the sadness though; unlike the satisfaction that usually came when she completed a mission she was hit with loss and grief.

Left to her own devices for a few days but barred from leaving the inn Nesir worried, had they decided she was to be killed as well? Did they not want her any more? When she was finally summoned it was Elina she faced. The priestess informed her that she was being sent to a far off temple; a place where she would train to be a warrior like Kant. To serve a magic user when she became strong enough. There was a large faction of shadow servants there and they would continue Nesir's training.

And so Nesir left her city of dust and honey and travelled North, the journey took a few weeks and at that time she learned all their was to know about her new role. She was given a name for the first time; Nesir Aeser. An innkeepers daughter whose family was murdered by shadow servants a few weeks before, acting on her parents final wishes to go and train as a warrior.

She knew to keep her training secret. Nesir was to know some basic unarmed fighting but that was it. Arriving at the Temple Nesir initially struggled. It was much colder than her home had been and she had the unfortunate luck to be put in a room with a girl from a neighbouring country, one that had been at war with Gauig on and off for years. The girl; Kes, picked on her accent and they fought. Before her first day had even began Nesir found herself in the trainers office in trouble.

Things continued as they began, Nesir's accent got her teased as did her small stature and young age; for there were not many warrior recruits who were only twelve. She continued with unarmed training and began to learn daggers; how to throw them and fight with them. However she didn't settle. She was angry all the time, angry with her life, angry at Elena for sending her to this stupid cold temple where everyone picked on her and she was supposed to be at the beck and call of magic users. It didn't take very long to sneak out of the grounds. As a basic trainee she wasn't allowed to leave the temple at all but after a week of watching the guard routines she snuck through and down to the nearest town.

It was there she found some companionship. In the roughest inns where no one cared if her rough cloak hid a temple uniform, if she was young and spoke with an accent so thick people struggled to understand her. She had fast hands and a good eye and though she had no money to gamble with she sought out those that did, lending her skills for a cut of the profits.

Back at the temple she continued to be constantly in trouble, including one awful time where she turned up to training drunk. After a weak of extra chores that made her feel like every bone in her body was going to shatter with pure exhaustion Nesir made sure to sober up before turning up to training.

Her first year in the temple was marred with fights and trouble. She almost got kicked out a few times but the temple truly did believe that everyone had potential. So the punishments continued and Nesir grew more sullen.

She did manage to make a friend though, a young boy named Ral who stood up for her and watched her back. He taught Nesir how to carve wood to teach her patience and curb her temper. As an anger management technique it was a failure but Nesir did find a new skill that she enjoyed and made her first 'friend'. Nesir thought Ral was an idiot, he wore his heart on his sleeve and tried to be kind to everyone. But for a light fearing fool he wasn't too bad and Nesir liked the company.

However the two of them attracted the attention of a group of mid ranked bullies who tried their best to make their lives a misery. Holding them in hostage to the other they held them under their thumb and Nesir's days became long dreary ones of pain and training.

After she had been in the temple about six months she met Lotte, a noble girl who she clashed with initially. She was a magic user who had came to the warrior training yards to learn woodcraft. Nesir laughed at her skills and Lotte laughed at Nesir's accent and fighting ability.

But a week or so later on one of her missions for the shadow cell of the temple she was paired with Lotte; the young priestess in training was also destined to serve the shadow god and slowly but surely their friendship grew. It was not an ordinary friendship, they bickered constantly but they taught each other; Lotte teaching Nesir the valuable skill of talking in a neutral voice, masking her accent and way of talking. They were often paired together, the shadow cells of the temple pushing them together in hope of creating a powerful team for the future. Among the shadow god sworn Nesir was known as Culbu Tiri, a name she had even less emotional connection with than Nesir but it was hers nonetheless.

When Nesir was thirteen, after about eighteen months in the temple she got into a fight; nothing unusual, after all she was dragged to the training masters office on a weekly basis due to fights or misbehaviour. This one started much the same as usual; an arrogant trainee priestling throwing his weight around, clashing with Nesir who as usual couldn't control her tongue or her fists.

However instead of punching back the trainee priest merely set Nesir on fire. It was only a matter of seconds before they were caught, the boy stopped; Nesir healed and them both punished. The trainee for misuse of magic and losing control of his temper. Nesir for daring to strike a magic user. Life she decided was grossly unfair and Nesir carried with her a real fear of fire and a much bigger respect for the magic Priests and Priestesses wielded.

There was an attack on the temple and Nesir saw for the first time the real damage that the forces of light and darkness could do to one another. She fought on the side of the light for she had to and watched the execution of her fellows in the darkness. Everything she was taught by the shadow servants she found to be true in her lessons of the light and what she saw around her and became more determined that the shadow god should win this war.

However she wasn't so sure of her own place in the world. As young people often are she chafed at the directions she was being pulled in, a student of the temple, a child of the shadow. Promised to vow with Lotte when they both were fully trained; to give her life and power to her for ever. A daunting idea but part of a temple warriors life. Her loyalty to Lotte clashed with her loyalty to Elena. Her hatred of the light clashed with her loyalty to the temple. She struggled pulled in many directions angry that her life was not hers to control.

She was almost fifteen when she was finally deemed ready to pass out of basic training. She had taken longer than most trainees because of her age and her temper. But by this time she had learned to curb her temper, to say the right things in the right voice. She was sent into the wilderness to survive and find her way back, a test of her abilities.

A test she passed albeit very narrowly. Limping back to the temple the required ten days later she was half starved with a badly twisted ankle and a low grade fever. But she had survived, she reached the ranks of acolyte.

However the test had been more than just a physical and mental test. For the first time in her life Nesir was out of reach of those who controlled her. She could run, run and run and never stop. Find a place where she could be herself. Where she didn't have to worry about offending Elena, or bringing disgrace on her upbringing. On being caught by the forces of the light or accidentally betraying the shadow.

In the end she returned though, because something drew her back to the temple. Lotte, Ral, friends she had never wanted. People she had been planning to use and leave behind. She made her decision, she would return she would work hard and become a Warrior. The greatest the shadow had ever known. Then she would destroy everyone who had ever dared hurt her.

An acolyte and her inner turmoil settled for now she threw herself into training with new vigour surprising her teachers who praised the training master; it had indeed been the pride the rising up in rank and the responsibilities that came with it that had been needed to settle the unruly trainee. Everything went well; she turned fifteen without much fanfare and for the first time in a while things were going well for her.

Until mid winter that was. In the midsts of celebrations she was sent on a mission that would shake the temple. It went wrong, horrifically so; a kid she had been training in the ways of the shadow turned on her. After a fight where she killed the boy Lotte was not where she had agreed to be. Hiding the body Nesir left her post and went to look for her, there were far too many people around; despite the fact they should be all inside celebrating. She ran into a drunk Kes and they fought, matched in strength they dealt each other blows with their full force before a friend of Kes' turned up; a priest friend of Kes' who threw Nesir into a tree knocking her unconscious.

The days after midwinter were holiday and so no one noticed Nesir missing. In fact it was her who saved her own life; for if the body of the boy hadn't been found they would have never been a search for any other victims of the awful attack.

In a lot of ways Nesir got lucky, if they had waited until after the holiday she would have been passed saving but magic managed to save all of her save two fingers on her right hand. Taken by frost sickness her index and middle finger had to be cut away to stop the sickness from spreading to the rest of her hand.

To make Nesir's anger even worse she overheard Elina and Kant speaking whilst she was half delirious with fever; learning that Kant was her father. When she woke she never gathered the courage to ask, but it is something that made her wonder. Did she dream it or was it real? It added to her anger.

Which fed her frustration; those months of learning to use a dagger again, the loss of strength. Learning to write in her left hand, the sickening feeling she would be cast away by Lotte, or deemed a failure by the rest of the shadow circle. She wasn't; she was punished of course for her failure but they deemed that the missing fingers were a lesson for her to be more careful in the future.

She was more careful. She threw herself into training, refusing to let her injury slow her down. Determined to prove her usefulness to the shadow cell she did ever task asked of her without pause or argument. She trained hard, listened in class and even began teaching younger trainees. Nesir began to known as a steadfast acolyte, not without a temper, not without problems but a far cry from the bitter angry child of the past.

As an acolyte Nesir and her fellows went with priests and priestess on smaller tasks and missions. Nesir saw the world she would soon swear to serve. Learning about people and fighting the monsters she had learned about in class first hand.

Lotte became a priestess and her and Nesir took the required step back from one another. Nesir was promised to her once she was a full warrior but until then their rank kept them apart. But not for too long.

Nesir had feared that after a long time being a trainee she would be stuck being an acolyte longer than most as well. But she was just shy of her eighteenth birthday when she was deemed ready for the test.

A sacred test given in a secluded spot in the mountains by a handful of Warriors. You passed or were cast out. The test came with no warning but the temple did not test until they were sure their acolytes were ready. Nesir was ready.

She was anointed a Holy Warrior of the temple, swore to protect the world and yet play no part in it. Her knighting (for want of a better word) ceremony was the proudest moment of her life. For the first time everything aligned. She was a Warrior, promised to Lotte. She was a shadow agent, Elena’s pet project and she had fulfilled all of their wishes.

After her public ceremony she took part in a secret one where she took vows befitting a warrior of the shadow god and then finally she was soul bound to Lotte swearing a solemn vow of protection and loyalty over all.

The soul bond was a thing of magic, linking a Warrior to a Priest. It allows some level of emotional sharing, the ability to know the vague direction of each other and the ability for a priest to be able to tap into their Warrior’s innate power. It is a bond until death and the death of a Priest will often mean the death of their Warrior, if they hadn't already died in defence of them.

The day after Nesir became a Warrior Kant came to speak to her. He told her that he was her father. It was something she had known since the night she had overheard it, even if she hadn’t accepted it at the time. Now she found she was a lot less angry than she thought she was about it. She accepted the story, nothing had changed except she now knew the name of her father and her mother. Knew their story. Kant was a mentor, Elena’s Warrior. Culbu had never had a father and she didn’t believe she needed one now she was, by all intents and purposes an adult.

Her and Lottie travelled, carrying out tasks for the Temple and for the shadow god they both served. For a year all was well. They carried out their tasks both as Nesir and Lotte and Culbu and Inde (Lotte's shadow name) well and both rose in regard in all the circles they danced in.

At least it seemed well on the surface. Lotte began courting a Priest, another shadow sworn agent. Miran. If Lotte sometimes dampened their soul bond Nesir just put it down to her wishing for privacy. Later she would look back on such times, when Lotte all but disappeared from her mind or when her and Miran asked her to stay away for an evening and wonder...

Perhaps it was that she let her guard down, Lotte was everything to her. Her loyalty as her Warrior was not faked, not part of any act and it blinded her to what was going on. Almost a year from Nesir’s test she discovered, through a shadow contact of hers that there had been an incident, there were rumours that Inde had turned and that shadow agents were going to bring her in for questioning.

Nesir rushed to her Priestess, not believing what she had heard. But it was true, Lotte sent Miran to gather horses and prepare to flee. Her and Nesir argued, a terrible argument where Lotte revealed she did not want to do this anymore, did not want to serve the shadow lord. She had been raised in darkness, albeit in a different way to Nesir and she wanted to break out of that life, she was sick of living under secrets.

She wanted Nesir to join her, expected her to join her as her Warrior but Nesir took her oaths seriously. All of them. She couldn’t follow Lotte into the light, she had a duty to the shadow god. Banging on the door interrupted their argument before it turned into a fight and Nesir told Lotte to go. Promised to hold them off as long as she could. Promised to keep her vow of protection until the last.

Lotte left and Nesir went to face those that had come to question Inde. Instead of a whole group it was Kant. He did not expect Nesir to know that Lotte had turned and when he realised she did they fought.

It was a desperate fight in the way only a fight between two who know each others fighting style so well can be. Nesir did not expect to win it, Kant eventually pinned her but he told her he couldn’t kill her. Nesir moved quick, stabbing him fatally- It wasn’t until much later that she thought about the fact he hadn’t disarmed her and he had pinned her in such a way she could get her arm free, pinned her within dagger reach. Kant wasn’t stupid.

Elena burst in and attacked Nesir with magic, injuring her badly. Before she could do further harm one of the High Priests of the shadow god arrived. He held them both still with magic and told Elena she could have her revenge later. He used a truth spell on Nesir, learning she was still loyal to the shadow god and her actions had been to protect her priestess.

He declared that Nesir Aeser would die that day before he and Elena used their magic to rip the soul bond out of Nesir, something she hadn’t even known was possible. This is her canon point and her 'death' for the intents of this game.

Personality:

From an early age Nesir learned that the best way to survive in the world was to be what people wanted you to be. As a child she quickly learned to switch between roles; sister, pupil, street thief, tavern girl. She mirrored peoples expectations and shifted her behaviour to things that would get her praise (and honey cakes). When she went to the temple she had to learn to do this in a more formal way, she had to learn to be Nesir- a young girl whose family were killed by shadow god followers and was becoming a Warrior in their honour and Culbu- a talented shadow agent, wreathed in secrecy who killed on command. She struggled with both, the grief of losing her sister and the culture shock of being sent somewhere entirely new, where she did not understand the expectations meant she struggled to fit either role.

As she grew older she, like every young person, had questions about who she was. These were harder than Nesir for most because, truthfully, who was she? She definitely wasn’t Nesir. That was all an act. But she also wasn’t really Culbu. She had no name, had no idea where she had come from and had killed the only family she believed she had. Her teenage years were defined by rage and bitterness and it took almost dying and losing two of her fingers for her to get a hold of that rage and channel it into something more productive.

Once she threw herself into both her roles things improved and Nesir is now both Nesir and Culbu. She tells herself they are both acts but truthfully there are aspects of her true self in both of them. Nesir’s passion for her god (even if her true god is a different one), her loyalty and her sense of honour are all real. Culbu’s ruthlessness, her dedication to the cause and her thoroughness of getting a job done right are all things that are not an act at all.

In many ways this canon point is her finest hour in regards to her finding herself. She does not blindly obey Lotte but nor does she turn on her. She does not do what is right as a shadow sworn agent and hand in her Priestess but nor does she defy her god. She takes her fate into her own hands, believing she will die and yet knowing that this is something she is willing to die for.

Nesir has a temper. She has a much better grasp of it now than when she was younger but it is still there and bubbles through in moments of stress. She can be polite and often will be in order to get what she wants but if she decides someone is not worth it then she doesn’t bother.

Despite the fact she spent most of her time as a trainee and acolyte railing against the forces that controlled her life she puts a lot of stock in how she is perceived. Not by the average person, she couldn’t care less, but by those she has decided to trust. She wants to be seen as loyal and trustworthy, wants to be treated as a valued weapon, a fighter at their side and not merely a tool. She knows this is something she needs to work at constantly, to not be replaced, to not be discarded.

It takes a lot for Nesir to care about a person and even more for her to trust them, but as demonstrated with Lotte once she does then she is loyal to them and there is little she won’t do for them. She’s still in shock from Lotte’s betrayal and she won’t remember it regardless but it hurt more than anything else she had experienced and not something she ever gets over.

Coming from a world where good and evil have lines and rules and are starkly contrasted to one another Nesir often finds little difference between the two. She was brought up evil yes, but she once ran the streets with pick pockets who burned sacrifices to the gods of light.

Nesir has witnessed those of the temple killing, in self defence and to bring the world to light. But what does she fight for if not the defence of her and her brothers and sisters of darkness and to bring the shadow over the world?

She's not stupid she would never argue these points; the shadow circle would worry about her turning and the light addled would know she was not one of them. But it does mean she sees the world a little differently; separating it into those that actively fight for their side and those that sit back and do nothing.

To Nesir there is nothing so pathetic as the light addled peasant in his field, worshipping the gods of light yet barely understanding what needs to be done to keep the balance of the world in the Bright Gods’ favour. She is evil sworn and sees no issues stabbing someone in the back or using poison as a weapon but she puts a lot of stake in honour, even if her idea of it may be different than someone who fights for good. Even if she doesn’t agree with them she respects those who fight for their beliefs.

Nesir is a girl who knows how to use her skills and talents wisely. She looks younger than she is; something that she found useful growing up for who suspects a child? She looks weaker than she is; which helps her in fighting. It is easier to beat an opponent who underestimates you. She knows she is not great at making allies and so unless it's necessary she finds other ways to bring people around or force them to do as she wishes.

Nesir can enter a meditative state called the emptiness. This is normal in her world, and there is nothing magical about it. It is merely a mindset where you close yourself off from the world, helping you to fight, bear pain or think clearly. The way you reach it differs between people. For Nesir she imagines a storm sucking everything into it and devouring it all. All the bad, the good, everything around her; every part of her life before it finally devours itself leaving Nesir in calmness.

Whether she is Nesir or Culbu she keeps her true feelings deeply hidden. If she can’t hide them completely she masks them, channelling them into something else. Grief for her sister came out as aggression, the guilt is locked away and probably will never be examined. Fear is shoved into dark corners of her mind; she plunges into the emptiness whenever she feels threatened. Pain is to be weathered for showing it is weakness.

Weakness is not tolerated in shadow agents or Temple Warriors and despite many odds being against her Nesir mostly succeeds in being both.

Abilities:

~ Like everyone in her world Nesir has power that comes from within her. However she is not magic; she has no way to channel the power inside her and so it just lies dormant unless drawn from her by a priest or priestess of her world.

~ She is a capable fighter. Her main weapons are daggers, both melee and throwing. She is trained in using a sword, mace (though they are never her first choices) and can technically use a bow though her missing fingers mean she would rather not.

~ She has a working knowledge of poisons and is talented at killing in less obvious and open ways.

~ She knows basic field first aid (albeit very outdated in modern terms) and the basics of how to survive in the wilderness for short periods of times. She has skills in forgery and is well educated (again much of this is outdated in modern terms.) She is also half decent at wood carving.

~ Trained in withstanding torture and interrogation, though as a note she is very purposefully not trained in fighting mind control, truth spells or other mind effecting abilities and is indeed more vulnerable to them than most.


Strengths: Loyal, stoic, disciplined, smart, principled.
Weaknesses: Short tempered, physically small, fragile sense of self, lacks care for others, lacks initiative.

God/Shinki: Shinki
Why?: She fits the role better being someone trained to protect and advise. Also due to her strong religious beliefs becoming a god would challenge her world view a little bit too much right off the bat. Also Nesir is someone who wears a lot of masks and taking away her memories will be a very interesting way of 'unmasking' her and exploring her personality underneath the layers she has put up to protect herself from the world she lives in.
Cause Of Death: Having Lotte torn out of her soul.
Vessel: A throwing dagger
Name Location: Back of her right hand
Power: Poison paralysis, stuns an enemy for five seconds.

Writing Sample

Sample:

Here, here and here.

Those don't quite make ten comments so here are some others from a previous game. She was an earlier canon point (hence the different PB) but these are threads I feel show her beliefs and personality points etc that haven't changed!

Here and here!

Also note in these threads she speaks in dialect, but as Japanese is put in characters heads in the Far Shore (rather than their own language being translated) and the fact she uses it less as she gets older and the lack of memories I figured she would not use it in TFS and so didn't in her test drive meme threads.

Other

Anything Else?: