Name: Rachel
Age: 27
Contact: solas#2878 / aziraphale @ plurk
Other Characters: Solas, Sidony
Interests: DRAMA and feralism


Name: Lauralae
Canon/OC: OC
Canon Point: During her time of self-wandering
Journal: rakta
Age: 80+

Canon World

Lauralae essentially comes from a magical world very similar to Thedas with all your typical races and magics - elves, humans, dwarves, etc. It's not particularly modern and it acts as a vaguely medieval society. Each race has it's own homeland, people, rules and society and there's very little interaction between them; religion is very important to people.

History

Lauralae was born to parents who loved her at first and put very little pressure on her. She grew up being a cherished daughter, only losing her connection to her parents when desperation for power turned her towards dark magic; she was exiled from her society and forced to live alone.

Although unaware at this point, it was during the ceremony for her exile that her God first took an interest in her. It was also at this point that, thanks to her dark magic, her hands were 'cursed'; her skin became black from her fingertips up to her wrist and she was forced to wear gloves to hide it.

After fleeing, she lived alone for some time until she stumbled across a woman named Myr. Myr essentially adopted Lauralae and took care of her, teaching her how to use herbs, create potions and live by herself. During this time Lauralae reads and discovers more about a God, the Black Wolf, and becomes something of a devotee to him, kept secret from Myr.

Some time while later, Lauralae met a man named Aramas who she fell in love with. She had been able to hide her curse from him for a long while, but one evening when they were alone he noticed and called her a demon. He attacked her and left her to die, then fled to the house Myr lived and killed her.

At this point Lauralae dies, but is returned to life by her God, unknowingly. She isn't aware of her own death - she simply thinks she survived the attack.

This is what drives Lauralae into something of a huge manic spiral; she ends up fleeing from the home she's grown up in (where she was probably on the path to becoming a 'wise woman') and began wandering around in the wilderness for a long time.

It's here that she starts to develop her wild magic but eventually turns to her own hazardous version of blood magic, using her own blood as a vessel rather than someone else's, biting and cutting her own skin to power her dark magic.

Throughout this time she is still devoted to her God and frequently emerges from the forest to worship him. She becomes somewhat known as a devotee, but a wild one, giving herself to nature to honour him. Living in the forest, she chooses to live and interact alone, living off the lessons Myr taught her, hunting and her own magics in order to survive.

Personality

+ She is determined to do whatever it takes to get what she wants, no matter the cost to herself. It means she will do whatever she can to work towards her goal, even if they're often minimal; she still seeks vengeance on Aramas she is unsure if he is alive or not, which is the only thing stopping her now.

+ Once her devotion is earned she is an intensely loyal companion. The people she has been loyal to in life are still the people she is most devoted to now and she would do anything for their memory. It takes a huge amount to earn her trust, but once its there it is something she will not forget easily.

+ Lauralae has a sharp mind. When she puts her mind to something she will do whatever it takes to make sure that she can get it: it's what happened with her study of magic, her study of the Gods and her personal interest in medicine and poison making.

+ She does have a kind soul. Lauralae comes across as a very feral being, due to her isolation and her distrust of people, but she does have a wealth of kindness. This is mostly directed to people who are unable to take care of themselves. It's not something that is inherently obvious about her because she keeps herself distant and away from other people.

+ While she might not admit it to herself, Lauralae is very brave deep down. She struck out on her own after losing her mother figure and has managed to survive alone, isolated from the world. She is more than willing to put herself in danger to survive and she's quick to do what it takes to get out of it.

- Thanks to her past and background, Lauralae does not trust very easily. She does not like strangers and does not react well to them, which can sometimes put her on edge with other people. Turning away from people seemed to be the best and only option to protect herself. Having hands that, even now, curse and burn people only made this choice all the more obvious to her.

- Lauralae's faith in people and most organised religions and groups have been broken due to their treatment of her and society's view of her. Everything she has experienced since she left has done nothing more than add weight and strength to the pillar of her independence and, now that she has grown, she refuses to allow herself to lean on anyone else.

- Isolation has turned Lauralae into something dangerous and feral, more of an animal than a person at times. While she doesn't often give into her nature and allow herself to lose any kind of control, there's no denying just how dangerous and threatening she is. She doesn't try to hide it as she sees no reason to - what's the point when people are going to judge you anyway? It makes her quick to defend herself and quick to action.

Strengths & Weaknesses

- MEDICINE MAKING Years in the wilderness using her own blood and some teaching from Myr before she died means that she has learned a little about how best to use herbs to treat wounds and injuries. She is not naturally proficient, but she can bandage herself up and create a handful of poultices from herbs to stop herself dying.

- SURVIVAL SKILLS Tied in with her knowledge of the wilderness is the knowledge of how to hunt. Lauralae can track stealthily and knows how to lay traps for wild creatures that she has used for food in the past.

- POISON MAKING Lauralae's lessons from Myr mean that she is somewhat more adept with the creation of poisons. It's something she knows how to do, but not something she does often.

- BLOOD MAGIC The main source of Lauralae's magical power. Lauralae uses blood magic as a source for all her magical abilities and spellcasting, focussing on using her own and not touching anyone else. In her world, the use of her own blood allowed for it to be a catalyst for spellcasting and the creation of runes - drawings in the ground or on items that would create magical effects (such as a fire rune making fire). The more blood sacrificed in the creation of the rune, the more powerful the magic it would be.

- CURSED HANDS As a result of her death and resurrection, Lauralae has cursed hands - coloured black, as if dead, from her fingertips up to above her wrist. Anyone who touches her hands feels incredible pain and she cannot use them bare to pick up or carry anything; she has to wear gloves at all times in order to protect herself from incredible amounts of pain.

- LIFESPAN Lauralae has lived longer than the average human because she is technical 'undead'; her life is supported by her God, the Black Wolf, and he brought her back to life as a worshipper when Aramas killed her. She is therefore significantly older than the average human; she has not aged and while she can still be killed by mortal means time won't catch up with her any time soon.

- COMBAT Lauralae is not at all combat trained; she is more like a wild animal than anything else. She can use a dagger in a pinch, but real fighting (without magic) is beyond her.

Suggested Nerfs

Lauralae's blood magic should still fit within the realm of Thedosian blood magic; her runes are something akin to native mage's glyphs and work in a similar way. I don't think it will necessarily need much in terms of nerfing - it'll work in the same way as a Thedas blood mage, just with different symbols.

Her cursed hands are a side-effect of who she is and mostly just a pain/touch issue as well - they can't really be used to damage anyone.

Arrival Inventory

Black cloak

Herbs pouch

Black dress

Myr's necklace

A set of leather boots

A pair of thin, silken black gloves

Humanization

Lauralae is, in essence, a regular human - she is simply 'undead' with an extended lifespan. It might be appropriate to Rift her in as a fully functional human rather than one that is undead - she won't know the difference.

Fit

Lauralae would be really interesting in Thedas as a way to explore blood magic and the role it plays (especially since in her world it's seen as 'bad', but not so much if you use your own blood). It will also be interesting to play around with her adapting to survive in an entirely new place and attempting to try and come out of her isolation, being part of an organisation that she can't really escape from and has to try and help and support. Also, imagine Solas' face when he hears there's a Rifter that worships a wolf.


LOG SAMPLES: ONE, TWO

THEDAS SAMPLE:

The pain of her shard is not unfamiliar to her.

Lauralae is used to agony in her hands. She is used to feeling the burn of her flesh when she frees them from her gloves, pained and sore from whatever curse had been left upon her. She knows how it feels to suffer this kind of torment, even if she wishes she did not. Trying to find a means to suffer this the further she steps from the city she had been forced to walk to... That is altogether new torture.

The people are not so different. She has seen elves and dwarves and humans before. She has seen their shapes and what makes them who they are. She recognises them, even now. She simply has no desire to be near them, to be one of them, trapped and lost in a new world that seems entirely beyond her reckoning. She did not wish for this - she did not ask for this. She did not want this, and the Black Wolf had turned from her when he had sent her here.

Sitting on the outskirts of the town, idle fingers pressing into the palm of a gloved hand, a soft green light echoing through, she hisses. Teeth bared, she appears more animal than a person, shifting to press her knees into the ground as she peeks left and right. The moon is the same - the sun is the same, but the Gods are not. She hears the whispers of Andraste, the Maker, meaningless terms for meaningless Gods that hang heavy on her heart.

The walls of Kirkwall offer her a safe beacon and she hides, pressed down low, peering out at people as they walk by. The shadows do not offer much cover but she tries all the same, hoping the mark of the green magic in her hand does not alert anyone to the watcher she has become.