.:Alexandra:. Prelim sketch

I scanned a bunch of my stuff. Flood Time!

I drew this as a (at the time) final concept sketch for a character in a friend's forum. The outfit has since been altered, but I still love this drawing.

Profile:

.:. Name .:.
Alexandra Ira Althos

.:. Age .:.
18

.:. Hair .:.
long straight silver hair with aquamarine highlights

.:. Eyes .:.
Green, human-esque in placement

.:. Race .:.
The closest equivalent would be that of a Norse Elf or a Greek Dryad. They call themselves Vanir, descendants of the Gods.

.:. Story .:.

Not far outside the capital city of Alfheim stand many shrines to various higher beings of the local religion. Each shrine has a family that is descendant of the Gods to tend to the building and people that visit it. The priests and priestesses of these shrines call themselves 'Vanir', a reference to the Patriarch god Van, meaning 'sun'. The people of Alfeim worship Van and his wife, the moon goddess Ira, as well as their many children, such as Frey, Artel, and Relia. Their appearance is unmistakable from the local people- they have long pointed ears, milky skin and unnatural grace, as opposed to the curved ears and tanned skin of the regular citizens of Alfheim.

One such family served a shrine to the goddess Frey, who held dominion over protecting and healing. The family, Althos, was well known for their healing abilities and were often called after when a monarch or public servant fell ill, or were taken along when war was made. It was a place of teaching in Frey's gifts to man, such as herbs for healing of ailments, as well as a place of worship and healing. Often travelers would stop simply to watch the Vanir dance, since certain motions are required to practice the magic.

It was here that Alexandra was born and raised. She did well in her studies, happy to help those in need. Alexandra grew up mostly surrounded by the cousins close to her age and the various people who came to their shrine for aid. After her 16th birthday and coming of age ceremony, she was brought into the the Circle of Sanctuary, otherwise whispered about as the Sisters of Sorrow. This group of priestesses were granted a special blessing by Frey and were taught all the forms of defense, magic or physical. The nickname stemmed from the fact that these priestesses were organized specifically to serve in the Royal Court's Special Forces Units as a medic and magician. It was not uncommon to die on the missions, whether by the sword or inadvertently by their own magic.

Alexandra soon grew frustrated with the government and eventually her own family, loathing how they allowed themselves to be treated like lap-dogs of the royal court and sent off to die on their whim. Too many died because they could not make peace with their neighboring peoples and it was enough strain taking care of their own people. She considered running away for a long time, musing about how to go about it. Not long after her 18th birthday, she was sent with a team to investigate a particular compound that had been said to be meddling with demonic forces and dark magics. The team broke in after attempts of peaceable search were turned away, and promptly took control of the building. In the last room they investigated, just Alexandra and a member of the team went in, expecting no resistance to remain in the room. An unfortunate mistake on their part, as a woman in her mid-thirties was whimpering in a corner, clinging to a long silver sword in a sheath that seemed to be rattling in her hand. Alexandra held out her hand to her, attempting to pacify the frantic woman, who was shaking her head and trying to sink farther back into the corner.

Her accompanying team member started flipping through the loose papers sitting all over a low table, confident the young magician could take care of herself against a regular woman. He glanced up when his eye caught a light on the floor of the room. What had appeared to be just a design in the marble started to glow brighter the closer Alexandra got to the woman. The woman, hysterical at this point, let go of the sword and Alexandra caught it by the sheath. On contact, it seemed to Alexandra that there was an explosion of sound, though neither the Royal Special Forces team member nor the woman heard nothing of the sort. Her ears rung with this high, painful sound. Covering her sensitive ears, she curled up and staggered backwards, thinking that it was the woman who was causing it. Her feet hit the outer-most ring of the engraving's design and she vanished from their realm.

.:. Personality/Description .:.

Alexandra is generally peaceful, but due to her training in magical healing arts, compulsively makes contact with just about every person she meets, which occasionally leads to uncomfortable encounters.. She stands up straight, just grazing about 5 foot 9, looking quite confident. She smirks, not smiles, and tends to be sarcastic and dry-humored. Laughing is common thing for her, as it fills her lungs and makes her feel better. She enjoys companionship for the social aspect of it, and will tell you exactly how she feels about you, civility aside.

Alexandra has bright green eyes and long silver hair, with an exceptionally smooth pale complexion. Her canines are a little sharper than a typical humans and her movements are controlled and graceful. She came in typical priestess garb, which consisted of many light layers of robes. The undermost layer is a black dress with kimono collar and wide trumpet sleeves. Each layer progressively gets lighter in color, going from black to red to white, as well as petal slits, which show the layers below. However, upon her arrival in Ira, she has shed most of these layers and hems have been moved up to her knees. The robes are tied shut by a wide sash and a silver cord, which hangs down the back. Tucked into her sash are a pair of silver fans with a dragon motif- a very typical symbol of the wind in her world. Knee high black boots laced up with silver cord grace her feet. Her hair is most often pulled back into a twist that is loose at the end, so her hair fans out. Loose strands frame her face. A fine silver circlet curls across her forehead with an azure gem at the center. She now carries the silver rapier the woman threw at her, which is tied to the cord at her side, which displays the design of a dragon and an emblem unfamiliar to her. The hilt and guard is silver and the grip is wrapped in black leather.

.:. Techniques .:.


.:. Class 1 .:.

~ Frey's Amnesty- weaker heal
~ Swift Mend- Alex's injuries heal at a faster pace than normal.
~ Van's Anger- Alex's preferred form of combat, the fan dance. Its beautiful to watch, but no fun to be in the way of. Swift flicks of the metal toothed fans carve anything softer than iron.
~ Artel's Tease- a polymorph. Using Artel's love of teasing, turns the target into a hedgehog. Damaging attacks break the effect. Good for containing an enemy until its more appropriate to fight. So. Cute.
~ Artel's Grace- traveling flight. Similar to levitating, the user floats several inches off the ground. By using Artel's wings, which appear at the ankles, Alex can step on air currents. Unusable when there is no air flow.

.:. Class 2 .:.

~ Van's Guard- Alex can raise a shield around herself and the people close to her, effectively blocking magic and melee attacks.
~ Ira's Love- A mother's tender loving care can ease the pain better than anything. This is a significantly stronger healing ability, able to mend near-fatal wounds.
~ Angelic Veil- temporarily turns Alex invisible by stepping up a plane of existance.
~ Fireheart Discipline- Using the sword and sheath at her side, Alex uses the crystal at the pommel to channel fire over the blade and the metal design on the sheath to conduct electricity. Alex can dual wield these more effectively than her fans.
~ Warai Malevolence- A shot of white fire at the opponent, exploding on impact and causing splash damage. The fire take to anything burnable and fed by light. Cannot be put out by conventional means, such as water. The stop-drop-and-roll method is only slightly effective, as laying on it removes the light source.

.:. Class 3 .:.

~ Valkyrie's Wrath- Grants the user the appearance and abilities of a Valkyrie, one of Van's messengers. A Valkyrie wears etched armor from head to toe, has white wings, and wields a broad sword etched with the Patriarch God's emblem near the cross-guard. Her abilities include flight, lightning speed, and the ability to bend light and air to her will. Valkyries have also been known to have the strength of hawk eyes, owl ears and wolf noses, aside from the boosted class two abilities.