Mira's Hope
Mira's Hope NPCs - By K. Johnson v.1 2022
A slender woman with gray frosting the temples of her pitch-black hair. Normally her hair is worn short in a neatly cut, severe bob, she gives the impression of a no-nonsense type of person. Ghostly pale of skin as all shadow elves Ordue only rises to 4’9” but locals know it is unwise to cause trouble around her. The mistress of Mira’s Arms is well known for pinning the unaware with a dagger-like glare of her red eyes and drawing `herself up to her full height before dressing them down thoroughly.
Deeply connected to her past and rooted in her family Ordue’s main focus is on carrying on the tradition Mira began. It has been suggested, even among her own family, that the fathers of her children were chosen purely for their excelling qualities and not for any abiding affection. She has never been wed or bonded to anyone in particular and her 5 children each have different fathers from the community. After her children had grown the woman no longer seemed to desire any companionship outside of them. While Ordue has had many other suitors in her time she has rebuffed them with little interest.
Only one of her children has left and remained away from home. All the others have returned to Mira’s Hope after short forays out into the world to learn skills and trades. It was required of them that they take time to get to know the larger world and choose a skill that could benefit their community. The youngest had his military training in Farwind abruptly ended by the explosion of the world gate as he died in the incident.
In regards to succession and inheritance, Mira’s line has always been a matriarchy and while there have been some male successors in the generations it always reverts back to the eldest female child. Ordue’s mother died young and left her in charge of Mira’s Arms when she was just a child. Despite that, she has expanded onto the hotel and displayed a good head for business and leadership.
Race:Half Tallis-Vyss
Class: Nahara
With the height of her human father, though she isn’t aware of who they are, Siora is a good deal taller than her mother. Standing at 5’10” she has all the striking features of her Tallis-Vyssian heritage softened by human blood. Siora has her mother’s pale skin and delicate bones but her eyes are inky black and her hair dark chocolate colored. Normally her hair is plaited in a single long braid down her back and she dresses grays and blacks which makes her pale skin glow. Around her throat, she wears a thick gold chain on which hangs a blood-red ruby that was a gift from Zellieth Balrel.
Like all of her siblings, Siora has been raised on a strong footing of independence and family. As the heir to the legacy of Mira’s Hope she has focused her education on leadership. During the period of time spent away from home, Siora attended the Naharan chapter house in the Court of Moonrise within the Duchy of Am-Xitha. However, on passing 11 years in the chapter house, Siora returned to Mira’s Hope with all the skills gained after being elevated to the role of Companion.
While Siora could have spent her life learning skills and serving in the chapter house her strong sense of duty brought her back home. Because she had petitioned the House to allow her to be stationed in Mira’s Hope she is recognized as a practicing Companion in the City and still maintains her official status. Siora has also submitted a petition, currently in discussion with the Matron of the chapter house, requesting the establishment of a Naharan house in Mira’s Hope.
At home Siora applies her learning to resolve conflicts, counseling newcomers to the city that request asylum, and working as a go-between with the Ferinal and Willshaper communities who don’t have official representation on the council. Siora is also in charge of overseeing the relationship Mira’s Hope has with any emissaries of other lands who might be relied on as allies to the independent city.
Race:Half Tallis-Vyss
Class: Ranger of Kaal
Life is hard on anyone that chooses to live in the wild but it’s particularly hard on someone that chooses to journey regularly into the Wastes. Not an occupation for the faint of heart many who spend their time doing this don’t live to do it long. One exception is Roya. For years this hunter has been going out into the Wastes and returning with objects of interest.
Primarily, he enjoys his own company, and whatever the reason for his isolation he spends little time around other people. Periodically he can be found drinking at Mira’s Arms tucked into a remote corner of the bar. A stall with his goods can be found in the market with his dour presence enough to prevent general haggling over his goods. Prices are set and Roya has no interest in negotiating with anyone.
Skin darkened by spending too much time in the Wastes the man is leathered from wind and weather. Callouses and innumerable scars decorate Roya’s face and limbs and his left hand is missing its pinkie and ring finger. Normally Roya wears a mixture of leather and armour collected from the undead soldiers in the Wastes. While the wearing of this armour might prove to be distasteful to any Shei who sees him, with the origins of it being the long-dead Shei military, it has also proven highly successful in keeping him safe. Long ragged hair which is a dark brown tinged with green, and a rough beard complete the wild look of the man.
Race:Human
Tall and elegant, Zellieth has been referred to by individuals as charming and sort of a jerk depending on what their interaction with him has been. A particular friend of the Y’Saen-Stormdancer family, he can be found most often around the hotel. As a very particular friend of Siora’s, he is usually specifically near her. Zellieth’s background, like many in Mira’s Hope, has been concealed though he has previously indicated that he’s a deposed lord whose home and lands were taken by his brother. It has also been intimated that as the rightful heir to those lands his brother wants him dead.
The man certainly carries himself with the bearing of a lord, with graceful movements and gestures. Usually, he wears a finely tailored suit of dark fabrics and at times dark gloves. No matter his suit he always wears a pocket watch chain with a double Albert. One chain leads to his right waistcoat pocket and another to the left waistcoat pocket holding a silvery ornately backed pocket watch.
Despite his friendship with the Y’Saen-Stormdancers Zellieth maintains a house in the residential district. This is where he sleeps and sometimes hosts small gatherings but normally doesn’t remain home. It has been made clear that Zellieth is courting Siora and while the Nahara is incredibly fond of him she doesn’t seem to return his romantic affections or be in any danger of succumbing any time soon.
Race:Ferinal
Class: Duelist (Spear)
Razah is tall, even for a Ferinal, standing at eight and a half feet tall and being made of thick, finely cut muscle. His fur is short and gold, and he has grown out his mane to be thick and long, bucking the tradition of shaving the mane into crests along the head. He wears blackened Bashrah leather armor and carries a fearsome spear that is purportedly made of the bones of Anamalians. He speaks fluent Common and gets along well-enough in Shei to impress commoners and leaders alike.
Among his fellow Ferinals, views on Razah exist within a spectrum. Razah is the son of the late Chief Keyush, who was attempting to get his tribe to safety during the Longest Night. Only about a third of the tribe survived their hellish migration to Sundown, where they were able to wait out the incursion caused by the Spirit of Fear.
After this catastrophe, it was Razah and Chief Keyush who secured the tribe a chartered ship to Mira’s Hope. It was the tribal leadership’s hope that by relocating his tribe, they could provide the tribe with a new, fertile ground for them to occupy and multiply therein. It is a testament to Razah’s leadership capabilities that young Ferinal was able to convince the diminished tribe to board a ship and spend weeks at sea, something Ferinals hate, to settle in a new continent.
Once landed on Shalzaar, and all but chucked out by the increasingly angsty crew of Hillsmen who were transporting the cat-men over water, Razah himself was able to secure a deal with the patrons of Mira’s Hope, the lineage of Mira herself. Razah offered the colonists a clever deal: in exchange for lands to the north of the colony for the tribe, the Ferinals would man the colonist’s walls, and patrol the lands that faced the wastes. The Ferinals, used to the wastes, were able to quickly adapt their combat tactics to face these new threats, while the colonists were able to rest slightly easier, knowing that, at the least, they had bought themselves some very good mercenaries.
In the following years, Razah and his father were able to rebuild and reorganize his tribe along the traditional lines. A warrior caste was created, though its ranks are still thin and filled with old men and youngsters barely strong enough to lift a true spear. After the death of his father, Chieftain Keyush, Razah also appointed a new lore-keeper, the eldest child of the last lore-keeper that had died on their perilous sea-borne journey. Finally, Razah had his tribe reaffirm him as their chief, ratifying his father’s decision to bring them to Shalzaar, and then again pledging, on the honor of their tribe, to defend Mira’s Hope against all attackers.