Work only<em>damn near</em>killed me today; it didn't finish me off!<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/Kittenpeeler/tinyviking.jpg~original)</div><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;">Taavia Perkele</span><br/><strong>Class:</strong>Skald (Fated Champion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/skald/archetypes/paizo---skald-archetypes/fated-champion) archetype)<br/><strong>Race:</strong>Dwarf<br/><strong>Sheet:</strong>http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=1093939 (WIP)<br/><br/><strong>Background:</strong><br/>The land is replete with songs and tales and fables of commen men rising to greatness through pluck, guile, and bravery. Samford and the Silver Maid, the tale of Jahoq who could out-bargain Djinns, and Rivel with his nine tasks, winning the entire kingdom of Hakboor. Taavia knows them all, and their variations across the land, and she takes these myths and legends as inspiration for herself.<br/><br/>Taavia is a merchant's daughter, originally, hailing from the northern land of Syldr. As soon as the winter ice broke, her father would leave with his crew, taking the crafts of winter south to great trade cities, and returning at the end of summer with new goods and riches. While at home, Taavia learned from her mother, all the old stories fo the dwarves, and the ways of Syldr, the legends of its kings, especially. Though the kings of Syldr had been born into the line for nearly three hundred years now, in the old days, their ancestors earned - and lost - thrones on the basis of their might and glory. They traded in dragon skulls and troll beards the way ship captains traded in cut-silver today. By the laws of the alting, a new king could prove his right to rule in the same way, the stories went.<br/><br/>When she was old enough, Taavia begged her father to take her along on one of his voyages, to see the lands beyond the hills and forests of Syldr. he finally assented, and for four years, Taavia worked aboard the<em>Sea-Raven</em>, visiting lands to the south and east, though only rarely setting foot beyond their docks. She learned the way of battle, to fend off raiders both onboard and at home, and from the ship's volva, she learned some magic and the ways to know the weather.<br/><br/>In her fifth year, she hugged her father, kissed his cheek, and bade him send her love home to mother; Taavia was staying behind. Well, that was the plan, and it took two days of loud arguing for her father to accept it, but accept it he did. She told him a tale of wanting to make a name for herself, to make the family proud. She didn't dare tell him the deeper reason; If kings could win thrones through glory and song, what was to stop a<em>queen?</em><br/><br/><strong>Goals:</strong><br/>Taavia seeks to return to Syldr in fame and prestige, lay claim to one of the tones o that land (Syldr is ruled by many small kings) and reign as the first Queen of legends. That's a long way off though, so in the meantime... She seeks glory. Both her own and that of others. It's not bragging or boasting if it's at least<em>mostly</em>true! Third, and most immediate, she has found herself in this prison, clad in rags, stripped of dignity and goods. This will not stand. Whoever's behind this will pay, even if she has to bide her time... While working on all this, she is an inveterate loreseeker, always trying to dig up new stories, new takes on old tales, mysteries, histories, and old gods (she carries the holy symbols of about twelve,<em>just in case</em>.)<br/><br/><strong>Personality:</strong><br/>The standard image of dwarves is that of a staid, if not grim, rough-around-the-edges traditionalist. but even dwarves have young people with big dreams and wide eyes; This is Taavia. She's out to seize destiny for herself, to live life to its absolute fullest; let her parents and aunts and uncles content themselves with salt fish and whittling spruce in Syldr, Taavia has discovered a wide world of things to explore, discover, learn, and try. She's always on the lookout for new stories and myths, and absolutely wants to forge some herself. Though she can be as bullish and single-minded as any dwarf, she tempers this with open passion, whether at the bar, in a bed, or on a battlefield. There are no stories of kingdoms won by a brooding, sullen loner, after all.