Ephra il Nivun

Ellayna "Ephra" il Nivun


A hard-headed, stubborn woman with a love for a good rain, Ephra joined the party during the party's trip to Cæde, escaping with Rachnyr as The Pits, the gladiatorial slave arena she had been trapped in for eleven years was destroyed. She has been traveling with them ever since, with the hope that she can fufill her own agenda -- atoning for her sins by resurrecting a comrade who died by her hands on the field of battle. Cold as the winds she can call, and as volatile as her storms, Ephra is not a force to reckoned with, even on the calmest of days. It's hard to tell that Ephra hails from Eyos, having been raised in Toru'en for most of her pre-teen and teen years. Her dominant personality makes her seem as if she could be the commander of an army; she speaks with hard tones and tough words, and a sharp wit to boot.

Statistics & Basic Information
Name: Ephra (born Ellayna il Nivun) (takes the title The Summer Storm in TPH)

Race: Human

Gender: Female

Class: Favoured soul / Stormcaller / Stormcaster

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Deity: Aralan, Andan

Age: (Deian Years): 32

Age: (Earth Years): 26

Weapon: Aralan's Lightning Rod (Quarterstaff)

Armor: Nightwool Armor, Bracers of Armor that include a pauldron on her left shoulder, attached to a stiff arm-guard on her left forearm.

As of the Summer Solstice, she has since upgraded to a mithril breastplate and a Raiment of the Stormwalker, including Bracers of Lightning, Cloudwalker Anklets, and a Cloak of Thunder.

Notable Mechanics: Stormride, Scarred, Immunity to Electricity, Storm Magic

Languages: Elven, Giant, Common, Oceanic, and her favoured languages, Celestial and undercommon. She can recognize many others, but is unable to speak them.

 

Appearance
Height: 5'5”

Weight: 137lb

Eyes: Icy blue

Hair: Long brown, straight. Choppily blunt cut bangs with strands ending just below the cheekbones on either side. Often kept undone, occasionally (albeit rarely) braided.

Clothes: Clothing typically consists of earthy natural colours and dark blues,and are typically loose fitting. She prefers high-waisted breeches, and a cream-coloured blouse. She is not picky in her clothes but shies away from warm-coloured pieces, and abhors dresses and skirts. Currently wears dirt-brown high-waisted trousers ending mid-calf, a sash of forest green slashed through the middle with three stripes of gold, a loose collared cream blouse over nightwool armor, and a brown oiled wool cloak. She wears stout leather boots crawling up to her knee, and cloth bandages wrapped around the entirety of her left arm, her chest (effectively binding her breasts) and her lower torso. She typically avoids armor because she doesn't typically enjoy feeling restrained by something. Her style can be accurate described as boyish.



Ephra's face holds an aura of youth to it: slightly round, with slightly fuller cheeks and a blunt chin. She has a small nose and full lips, with a small, light scar on her upper lip, an inch or so from the midline. Her lips have no upper cupid's bow. Her eyes are slightly almond-shaped and almost hold a cheeky air to them, though it is difficult to tell due to her near-constant scowl. Under her left eye is a horizontal, paper thin scar, two inches in length, leading from the of the eye to just past the far corner, received in her early military days. On the far corner of her right eye is a diagonal scar, received from when Tiamat Alexstraza dropped a bucket on Ephra as a practical joke. Her bangs hide a diagonal jagged scar, leading an inch above her right eyebrow, back four inches into her hairline. On the right side, her hair hides a trio of scars above the ear. as if slashed by an wild animal.

Despite the fact that Ephra's body is fit and lean, and has a fair amount of curve to it, her body is not attractive if you cannot see past her scars. The entirety of her left arm, shoulder, and some of her left breast and torso is engulfed in burn scars. She is unable to bend the last two fingers on her left hand due to the damage left from the wound, and her shoulder is noticeably weaker and more sensitive to pain than her right one. Right of her navel is another large burn scar, tilted slightly upward pointing towards her ribcage. The rest of her body is riddled with scars old and new from her stay at The Pits, including two across her throat, and a long one leading between her breasts down across her stomach. Her skin is otherwise pale and soft. Winding around each of her legs and up her back are tattoos of blue dragons. They twist around her legs four times before curving and twisting around each other once, with a head resting each of her shoulder blades, facing inward.

Personality & Traits
Notable Behaviors: Prefers to levitate a few inches off of the ground during storms, rather than standing. Is typically cold and blunt in demeanor, exuding an aura of superiority in her form.

Trademark Characteristic:  ﻿﻿﻿Her scarred body, and a perpetual aura of electricity twitching and writhing around her at any given moment (whose charge builds and intensifies when she's upset)

  Fatal Flaw(s): Piercing fear of water, trouble working with a team.  

Personality
More often than, Ephra unconsciously embodies her natural habitat: storms. She exudes a low roar style of aura, and is unrelenting and harsh in her ideals and opinions. She is fearless and brutal and often comes off as rude and rough talking, her expression hard and cold. Ephra often speaks with a tone that commands attention, hard-earned and implacable, and speaks with power instead of volume. Her genuine smiles are few and far between, instead grinning with malice or ice instead of kindness and warmth. She is as volatile as the magic she weaves, and is subject to violent, random outbursts at the seemingly smallest provocation, picking fights -- whether they be verbal or physical, short-lived or drawn out-- to prove her point. These outbursts are only ripples from the repressed, deeper anger she harbors in her heart and mind, something she does not realize she carries as baggage, and something she will refuse to acknowledge when she does. She often wears her scars as a banner and an arsenal, an armor; protecting her from the truer, more dangerous threats, and as an emblem of what she has endured, and that she will endure still. She is confrontational when it doesn't matter, then cold and isolated when it does. While she can be aloof, and often is, she has a softer, warmer side, though uncommon to see, and rarer still to be the recipient of. Ephra holds a deep hate for slave arenas and those who run them, and while her craving to end their existence may seem noble, it is simply personal.

Hobbies
Ephra's hobbies tend towards the extremes depending on her mood. Naturally solitary, she prefers either being alone or spending time with one or two people at most at a time, and while she can interact and otherwise function in larger groups, it is not something she takes pleasure in. As a result, she passes her time reading, training, or taking walks. She holds a great interest in history and languages, though more specifically military history and strategy.

Background
Where Ephra goes, trouble follows.

The Past
Born in Bellheime to House Nivun on the Summer Solstice, the storm that followed her arrival was one of the worst that the city had seen. A wanderer at heart, the girl was raised uneventfully until the age of nine. She was perceptive as a child, and learned quickly the ways of the world around her. Joining her family on a trip to Ennes, their ship was attacked early on by a group of bandits hailing from the neighboring country of Toru'en. During the raid, Ephra was stabbed in the side by a raider. Through what she then understood it to be a miracle (there had been no other word for it), a bolt of lightning crashed upon her from the sky and arcing off of her, effectively striking all around her, including her parents and brother. Shaken and terrified, she escapes with her sister, Marsa, down the the river, managing to travel a day downstream before finding white-waters. Tumbling in on their makeshift raft, Marsa's foot caught between two rocks as she went under, leaving her unable to resurface, though her face was only inches from the surface. Ephra, too small, too weak, and too injured to do anything, she struggled and fought to free her sister, but to no avail. The image of her sister now burns in her mind when she encounters bodies of water; and now avoids any water deep enough to be drowned in.

And yet, she survived. By pure luck she managed to reach civilization, landing in the Rats' Harbor two days later. Disoriented, confused, and struggling to stay conscious as she landed corpse-like on the muddy shores, she woke to a crow picking at her wound, and then a small voice, "Look, Miæva, it's still alive." and then found by a half-drow and Tiefling. She would come to learn over the course of a week she had been taken in, where she was, and what had happened to her. The tiefling introduced herself as Miæva, Lady of the Wastes, and the drow girl as Dianthe. Though she had no intention of staying there, Miæva recognized the girl's potential, and "adopted" her as one of her own, as she had with Dianthe. Ephra accepted this, and spent 8 years (6 EY) in their care. The tiefling introduced her to The Pale Horse, a guild of hitmen, spies, thieves, and other general criminals working for Miæva throughout the city of Toru'en. Ephra trained under a mercenary known to her only as Bear. Merciless in his tactics, he pushed her to her breaking limits, often holding her head under water as punishment after he learned of her fear of it. He drilled more than just strength and conditioning into her; he taught her about Toru'en and it's workings, drilling into her the understanding that nobody could be, should be, or would be trusted, not in Toru'en. That those who had control over their opponent's emotions, had control over the fight as a whole. She quickly learned the streets, the languages, everything she could. Ephra began to get to know her companions slowly, and soon had a strong friendship with Dianthe, the unnaturally young-looking half-drow. It was with Dianthe she could share her true passion for language and knowledge, for the girl had similar interests, despite her off-putting personality. She would also meet a half-goliath at The Pale House, a tiefling goliath named Ral, who arrived at The Pale Horse a year after Ephra did. Their chemistry was dangerous and instantly recognized, the two often having debates over almost everything -- where they agreed and disagreed, it was almost to extremes-- and the others took notice that Ephra was opening up much faster while in his presence. The two soon became inseparable, working together on any assignments they could. Their relationship was one of siblings, Ral treating her as kin, and fiercely protective of her. She hunted with daggers and lightning, fighting savagely and without pattern. She was less stealthy than her companion and it was because of this she was finally caught red-handed. Attempting to steal a ledger from a blacksmith, she and Ral were caught, and before they could get away, the smith grabbed Ephra by her arm and a fistful of hair, and shoved her into his forge as punishment before the guards could take them away. Her shoulder took the wost of the damage, and the burns never healed quite right, and despite any attempts with heal and cure spells, she lost much of her mobility in her shoulder, and her last three fingers can only feel to a short extent, and have less mobility than the same fingers of her other hand.

From there she and Ral were taken to the dungeons/jail. Three days passed before the two were approached by a man who gave each of them a choice: The could join the military,  or they could rot in their cells. They both made the intelligent choice, but from there lost all contact with The Pale Horse. The man revealed himself as Gerrard, a commanding officer stationed near the border of Eyos. Weakened but determined, Ephra fought and trained as hard as her injuries would allow. Slowly, she gained back most of the mobility in her shoulder. It was the quarterstaff she used as a sort of rehabilitation. Rarely had she used it; Bear's preferred weapon for her had always been daggers and knives. Gerrard initially urged her to train with a weapon more versatile, something that she would benefit from with her arm being weak, but as she trained more with it, the two both found her natural ability with the weapon. Ral soon found that he was losing as often as he was winning in spars with her; before, she had never beat him. Even with a weak arm, Ephra grew to be just as dangerous as the other soldiers. During this, Gerrard and Ephra grew very close, Ephra admiring him as a leader and a mentor as well as a friend. It took time for her to trust him completely, but she soon came to be unwaveringly loyal, willing to do whatever he asked without a second thought. She fought more battles than she could count with him, but soon Ral and Gerrard both noticed that her savage and ragged fighting style was bringing her as many wounds as she gave, coming back bruised and bloody, and overall a mess. The two quietly agreed that it would be best if they got her off of the field before she got herself killed. The night before Gerrard's legion would run a raid in Eyos, Gerrard approached Ephra telling her that he could help her escape; that he knew she would not make it out of the raid alive. Ephra, stubborn as she had ever been, was offended, and refused to be turned away. She made her final decision when Ral told her that he would be staying on the field as well to support Gerrard in the event of someone being notified of Ephra's escape. Ephra was furious upon hearing that, and refused to even speak to Ral, feeling deserted  and betrayed. As the raid begins and the battle pursues, Ephra becomes completely immersed in the rhythm of the fight, blind to anything beyond the circle of opponents as she slowly realized that she was outmatched. Panic and terror filled her; she refused to let herself die. A fell of an axe split her quarterstaff and sliced open her side, deep enough that had she not kept a hand pressed to her stomach, her insides would have fallen out from her wound. Adrenaline seemed to replace the blood she continued to lose, and when she felt a hand grab her arm, vision blurred from blood and hearing dulled from the rush of blood pumping in her ears, the only correct response in that situation was swinging the blade of the shortsword she had picked from the corpse of an enemy into her attacker. But when she turned, a scream of terror echoed through the blood-soaked field.

Gerrard.

A storm quickly whipped around her as she clutched him. The tempest in her chest bloomed into existence and soon the storm raged like none Ral had ever witnessed. As Ephra held Gerrard, she sobbed apologies as she tried desperately to find a way to reverse what she had done, to heal the wound, but she was too late. His lips moved as if he spoke to her with his last breath, but no sound reached her ears. It was not a graceless death, but there was no beauty to it. It was ill-fitting, and Ephra could only scream in fury, clutching her mentor's body in desperation. Fury at herself, all fo the guilt and blame swirling inside of her mind like a whirlwind. Dead because she refused to run. Dead because she refused to listen. Dead, because of her. Ral soon found her, tearing her away from the corpse and away from the field itself in his arms. The girl sat on death's doorstep, bleeding out as the rain pelted the blood-drenched grass around them. Terrified for the first time in years, Ral held the dying girl, without a plan or idea. In a split second decision, Ral, with a heavy heart and no idea whether she would live through it, Ral slammed his hand against Ephra's wound, and cauterized it closed with fire, effectively sealing the wound closed. He picked her up as she screamed in pain, and he began to run.

Ephra woke up unaware of her surroundings. She woke up with fire in her side, in her throat, in her skull. Only when Ral told her that she had been asleep for two days, while a storm raged outside of a scrappy inn in The Rats' Harbor, did the memory return to her. He quietly explained to her the situation, and she quietly listened, numb from horror and sorrow. Despite the extensive healing that had been done to her, her side still burned as if each movement tore it open anew. Still, she refused to stop, to be stilled. Despite the wracking pain, and despite Ral's concern, she demanded they keep moving.

After a day of travel through the slums, came the ambush. In the back of their minds, the two both understood that there was no true escape. A band of equicephs cornered the injured pair, and though Ral killed those who attempted to restrain him, he could not fight fast enough to rescue his helpless companion. Unable to fight back, Ephra gave up. With only the echoes of Ral's shouts to follow her, for the first time, Ephra surrendered. It was the last time either of them saw each other.

Ephra entered the Pits a child.

From that moment on, Ephra fought. She shed the name "Ellayna" completely, leaving her past behind her, weighted with guilt and sorrow. But she would not let her mistakes kill her, drag her down. She came to learn that in Cæde, anything could be bought for the right price. Sold to the Pits in Cæde as petty entertainment, she fought and won with the understanding that if she won, she had the chance to bring Gerrard back. Her tender form grew rugged and scarred, losing the youthful feminine beauty in trade for something she felt much more fitting. In an early match, a man threatened that as soon as he killed her, he would "cut that pretty length of hair right off." She did not understand, but upon killing him, it soon became a taunt for her; telling every sentient opponent that if they killed her, they could cut her hair, too. Years passed. Her hair grew. Undefeated, she fought and killed her way up the ranks until she was second only to one. She dreamed of her escape.

And one day, it came.

A raid by a group of what could only be described as haphazard warriors managed to destroy the Pits itself, and Ephra was able to escape, healing the unconscious Aasimar that had aided in her escape only enough for the stormcaller herself to escape, the strange woman leading the way out of there. Her mind only focused on her own escape. If the Aasimar died, she would not care. In Ephra's mind, she only had herself.

And she left it a monster.

Ephra stayed with the group for a night before intending to leave, before the two that had aided her came to her with a proposition. Listening to their report, Ephra initially agreed only for her own benefit, though later she admits that she felt it was something she could not deny. This would bring her out of C Æ de. Every step she took, one closer to bringing back Gerrard. Unbound and uninhibited, Ephra tested her powers for the first time in years. She was free. Ephra now travels with the party. She is constantly searching for answers, though often finding more questions in return. Hungry for information, fighting, and gold, anything to get her closer to her goal. Still filled with guilt over Gerrard's death, she vows to bring him back, believing it will atone for her sins. She is vague and cold, blunt and dangerous. Her exterior presents an impenetrable force, but as the party spends more time with her, they see shadows and ghosts of a different person entirely. Nightmares, in the night. Outbursts, in the day. But above all, she is determined and unwavering. Upon meeting Ral, he simply tells you that she is a tempest in every respect, a storm with no silver lining.

The Present
Ephra's sudden transition and return to social society was a shock for her, and ill-handled. Spending the night with the group that rescued her, she took their offer to travel with them as an escape route out of C Æ de, with no intention of staying with them. She wasn't sure where she would or could go, but she decided to cross that bridge when she got to it, A fight soon sparked in the inn, when the aasimar Tiamat decided to drop a bucket onto the stormcaller's head. It began with blood, and ended with it. The bucket nearly gouged out Ephra's left eye, and she came at Tiamat with a storm's vengeance, and the night ended with the women on worse terms than they started on.

Ephra's travels for the rest of the week were fairly uneventful, until the group arrived at a small town, and gathered news of children going missing within it. Following a lead to a mansion, they made their way to the basement where they faced a (bone dragon?), almost meeting their end before Demura, a friend of Rachnyr and Tiamat's, accompanied by two men, told them to go ahead without them, and that they'd handle it. Following them, Ephra made charcoal out of Ethetel, the yuanti half-blood and sole kidnapper of the missing children, who had been bleeding the childen out for dinner and a show. After dealing with the yuanti, the group reunited with the trio, and the two men introduced themselves as Arivol and Oran, demigods and sons of Aralan and Ohn, respectively.

Arivol
Ephra has become close friends with Arivol since meeting him. Being her only known family, she holds him close to her heart, despite not knowing him for much more than two months. She feels incredibly comfortable around him and trusts him more than she realizes. She has difficulty directly expressing said affection outside of periods of distress, and instead expresses it passively in ways she feels comfortable doing, such as taking walks with him. She once, during a quiet conversation, casually mentioned she would do anything Arivol would ask her to do, though adding lightly that not even he could convince her to wear a dress. Even so, the initial comment was serious, and she would not hesitate to take any blows for Arivol, fatal or otherwise. She doesn't understand why she feels this way about him, and something about that bothers her, but she tries not to question it, and instead just tries to enjoy the comfort as much as she can. Since rescuing him from near-death during the group's expedition to retrieve an artifact from a band of cultists, the two have been closer.

Oran
While it is speculated that Ephra has some sort of feelings for Oran, even by herself, Ephra is more intrigued by the fact she cannot beat him in a duel, no matter what she does. Having not been beaten in the past twelve years since being put into The Pits, losing to Oran was a serious reality check for her, and she is now intent on beating him. This intent only increased when she was told Oran had never before been beaten in a duel. While she enjoys his presence, and trusts him, she doesn't spend as much time as she would like to, due to her knowing his easily becoming uncomfortable in many social situations. Thus, most of her time with him is spent either dueling or the occasional quiet conversation. During their travels to the ætherial caravan, Ephra was responsible for finding a new body for Oran, after he had been put into the corpse of a direwolf having been killed during a night raid on Mehdok's plane. This act seemed to have started the aforementioned speculation, seeing it was something very outside of the normal for the woman to do, and may imply that she felt responsible for Oran's misfortune. After losing spectacularly in one of the recent, larger duels she engaged in with the knight, he went out of his way to spend a day training and parring with her, and teaching her about the mistakes she made, and how to improve. It was something she appreciated more than she will admit, and as a result values him more as a friend rather than just a comrade.

Ral
Ral and Ephra have been incredibly close friends since her youth, and the twelve years of separation have not seemed to weaken their relationship. Ephra doesn't understand why she feels at ease around him; he is her polar opposite. Regardless, Ral is one of few people she talks to about everything, including the nature of her nightmares, and her feelings about other people. Surprisingly, despite their natural chemistry, they struggle to fight well together, often butting heads and arguing mid-battle.

Dianthe
While they aren't nearly as close as Ral and Ephra are, Ephra still considers Dianthe a good friend, having known her since she joined The Pale Horse. They have a mutual passion for languages, and tend to spend time together as a trio with Ral in the present. Ephra often goes to Dianthe for advice, and as well as assistance when she has trouble with learning a language, or reading something that she has trouble understanding.

Sigodrye
While their relationship had never been strong to begin with, Sigodrye and Ephra were once friends. In Ephra's first stay at The Pale Horse, Ephra, Ral, and Sigodrye were nearly inseparable, but while Ephra saw Sigodrye as an acquaintance, she was aware of the ill feelings that Sigodrye seemed to harbor for Ephra, though it wasn't until Sigodrye's calculated assault on Ephra. Ephra feels no direct guilt in killing Sigodrye, especially as her association with Severl's cultists had been revealed, and her only regret is that she was so oblivious to the situation at hand for all the years she had known the yuan ti.

Trivia
Favourite colour:

Favourite food:

least favourite food: