<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=350090.msg16438613#msg16438613">Quote from: Revelation on 30-03-2023, 03:03:48</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">So Angie is playing a Dawn, right? In that case I may well play a Full Moon lunar just to see how they work.<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Yeah I kinda ended up here, 900 words later. May as well post what I wrote down.<br/><br/>Currently stuck on deciding a third intimacy.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Unimportant Backstory Stuff</div><div class="spoiler_body"><div align="center"><em>We the Wolves are our only family in an uncaring world.<br/><br/>To turn your back on family is the gravest treason, punished by death.<br/><br/>That is the code of the White Wolves.</em></div><br/><br/>Life is not fair. Ideas of justice or equality shatter in the face of an uncaring Creation. For Estela the Unbending Azurite, this was a lesson learned early-and often. She was born to a poor family, and was taken in her youth by a Realm Dynast to be a family servant and entertainer, primarily in the art of dance.<br/><br/>Despising her treatment, she escaped as a teenager, fleeing far North. She stole a rapier from the family house before fleeing, using her skills at dance to face off against bandits and outlaws, earning enough from the bounties to live. It wasn’t long before she found a mercenary company known as the White Wolves, as she ended up hunting the same bounty that one of their captains was tracking. They split the prize, and she was invited to join the Wolves as the captain was impressed with her skill.<br/><br/>The rest of the Wolves weren’t convinced, however, and demanded to see her skill. Specifically, the captain of the tenth division challenged her to a duel. She chose to face him unarmed while he used a sword. “I need no blade.” She said. The battle was a display of the Captain’s brute force versus her impeccable grace, with Estela dodging every strike until she made her move, drawing the Captain’s dagger from his belt and holding the blade to his throat. “I need no blade…for yours will do nicely.” <br/><br/>The Leader of the White Wolves also witnessed her duel, and immediately approved her joining the Wolves. From there, she proved a quick study with all forms of combat, and when tasked with commanding a small unit of Wolves to battle a gang that was harassing local merchants, she proved skilled at command as well. Respect followed swiftly as her reputation as a fighter, commander, and dancer grew. She was given the name of Unbending Azurite, named for her dedication to fulfilling her orders and for her beautiful eyes.<br/><br/>Eventually, she was placed directly beneath the Captain of the Tenth Division, the same one she had dueled for her admittance into the Wolves, and they were given a task of grave importance: A very wealthy client had hired the Wolves to acquire a priceless treasure, one that had recently been seen moving through town on its way to the Blessed Isle. The client did not want to see the treasure rot in the collection of a fat Imperial noble. <br/><br/>The guards were swiftly dispatched with swift blades and cunning tactics, surrounding them in a tea parlor where they had taken rest and putting them to the sword. Speaking of swords, that was what the treasure was: A blade of blue, near translucent, shining like freshly formed ice. Estela claimed the blade as the Captain gave a fateful order: The employees and all other guests of the tea house would also be killed to cover their tracks.<br/><br/>“What?” Estela said. “They are innocent! We do not kill simply for convenience!” <br/><br/>“The Realm will come for us if they find out we took their trinket, girl.” The Captain said. “That sword is worth more than ten thousand lives.”<br/><br/>Whispers spread throughout the men of the Tenth Division. Many of them were mercenaries without morals, the same as their brethren, but their stomachs churned at the thought of spilling innocent blood. Others would obey their Captain no matter how heinous the orders. Still others felt more loyalty to Estela than the Captain, and waited to see her decision.<br/><br/>Estela refused to back down, and so battle ensued. The Tenth Division had sent 50 men along with Estela and the Captain, and as brother betrayed brother, the tea parlor and the street it stood on ran red with blood. Estela used the sword they had come to steal, cutting through her fellow Wolves with ease, until she heard a child scream. She looked and saw one of the Wolves about to cut down a young girl. <br/><br/>“No!” She shouted, rushing over and taking the lethal blow for the child. The battle stopped as both sides watched Estela fall. Those who sided with her were cut down without mercy, leaving the Captain and his loyal Wolves. Laughing, the Captain stood over Estela, and reached down to take the sword from her.<br/><br/>He received a stab through the throat, as Estela’s wounds knitted themselves together, and a heavenly light shined from her eyes. Alone, she faced the remaining Wolves, though only a few believed they had the power to face a woman who rose from death. The rest scattered, and Estela was left alone, blade in hand. <br/><br/>Knowing that her treason to the Wolves would never be forgiven, no matter the circumstances, she fled the life she knew for a second time. Taking the same path she had before, even further North. Only now she held a mysterious power, one she struggles to understand. Who is she, and does she have a grand destiny? Her dreams seem to know, as she finds herself drawn to the city of Rubylak, wanting to know more…<br/></div></div>