<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Lady Amanda Caithwaine</span><br/><br/>Sheet (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1368351)<br/><br/>An honor-bound elven paladin struggling to maintain perpetual optimism in the face of a prophecy that she'll die a young hero.<br/><br/><em>Solstice holidays were always difficult.  "This is Amanda," my parents would crow, beaming, prideful.  "She's going to be a legendary martyr!"  I was expected to smile, show humility, avoid dancing overmuch (what was the point in courting, after all?) and make cheerful small talk about my impending demise.  "Yes, it's a great honor," I would say, or "No, the prophecy doesn't mention any torture but all the really heroic sagas have some."  I'd listen to the cousins talk about planting orchards and sneak off for a little cry in the pantry.  Aunt Cece always made the best walnut and peach pie, though, so it wasn't all bad."</em><br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1b/b2/a7/1bb2a7e9077ca39fae028cc8a5bafd90.jpg)  </div>For 300 years it was apples and priests.  True, the oracle announced a few exceptional fates: craftsmen, merchants, a second cousin who wrote silent plays, but the Vale was at peace and the folk within were hard working, devout, and peaceful, renowned for their fine wild orchards, puritan religion, and little else.  So, despite her nominal nobility, when baby Amanda was placed on the blind man's lap her parents hoped a new cider recipe lay in store, or perhaps she'd be the one to finally drain the marsh in the back quarter.<br/><br/>Instead the oracle pronounced the babe would become a great hero, a legend of her own age and many after, touched by the gods to free their people through selfless martyrdom of her young life.<br/><br/>The destiny wasn't assured, of course; such prophecies only revealed potential, and required devotion and hard work to achieve.  Still, it was a rather impressive fate and Amanda's parents were reminded of their titles and importance.  Only a few months old, Amanda was the center of family pride and expectations.  If she was, in fact, an exceptional child it was merely to be expected of a role model.  She was admired, envied, celebrated and placed atop a pillar she had no part in making and wasn't entirely sure about.  While everyone else only thought of her coming glory, she struggled with a peculiar, ungrateful hesitance to die.<br/><br/>Only one other person seemed to understand her predicament.  She met the awkward, gangly son of a visiting scholar in the southern woods, where the young squire repeatedly saved him from sick boars, crumbling cliffs, giant beetles and a rabid squirrel.  The human boy left for home infatuated with the fiery haired exotic beauty and they continued correspondence for decades, never again meeting but sharing all manner of their lives.<br/><br/>Even after decades of weapons tutors, honing her body and spirit through exercise and philosophy, arrayed in the polished arms her grandparents once used, Amanda still struggles to accept her fate and the one friend who always understood that has been a sort of salvation.<br/><br/>It's ironic, then, that news of his death would come with the unmistakable first step of adventure toward her own.<br/><br/><strong><br/>Campaign Trait:</strong>Chance Savior<br/><br/><strong>Character:</strong>Only 116 years old, Amanda has the svelte, wiry strength unique to the elves, fiery red hair brighter than any human's and deep, crystalline green eyes marked with a sense of sorrow.  She smells of apples, even when none are around, and armor oil, which she always has around.  Soft spoken, focused, self-conscious, dedicated if not confident, she exudes an almost divine sense of gravitas.  One of 13 children, she has a massive family that includes nearly everyone within the small community of the Vale; a modest, puritan settlement both civilized and pastoral, respectful of nature as they shape the forest into wild orchards and living manorhouses.  Amanda is defined by the sense of a dutiful daughter bounded by the expectations of others and struggling to live up to them, despite her misgivings and the sacrifice of her own hopes and dreams.<br/><br/><strong>Sexuality:</strong>The experiences available to a doomed noblewoman in a religious community are limited.  The inherent expiration dissuades any serious interest and encourages the wrong sort, so Amanda abstained in frustration.  She is bisexual, although the implications of a few pleasant kisses with her cousin Isabelle are still a bit vague.  For now, her love life includes the round handle of her third-best dagger and a somewhat petulant sense that a bit of casual sex shouldn't be bad when it's the only option available.<br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body"><div class="floatleft">(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1b/b2/a7/1bb2a7e9077ca39fae028cc8a5bafd90.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Lady Amanda Caithwaine<br/><strong>Location:</strong> <br/><strong>Tagging:</strong> <br/><strong>Active Effects:</strong> None<br/><strong>Initiative:</strong> +4<br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Stats</div><div class="spoiler_body"><strong>HP:</strong> 11 / 11 | <strong>AC:</strong> 17 (T: 12, FF: 15) | <strong>CMD:</strong> 16<br/><strong>Speed:</strong> 20 | <strong>Perception Bonus:</strong> +6</div></div><hr/></div></div>