Editing Alessandra Storm

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'''Alessandra 'Alex' Storm'''

''Adult Rogue''

[[File:Alessandra1.png]] <br>
''"An early memory I have is of watching my mothers husband, Velan at work, he was a master blacksmith you see, people would come from far away to buy his swords, lordlings would fawn over his armors and knights would pay handsomely for his lances. He was important and lived comfortably. This was very important to me because at the time, I was very pre-occupied with what sort of life I'd have. "How does a bastard-girl rise to live as she would please in this world?" I would ask myself. Not on the charity of others, certainly. <br>

''I suppose I could have had a life of sorts as a washerwoman or a seamstress, plopped out a flock of kids to some dullard and likely died in the doing, but that wasn't a life I'd want any part of. Nor did I have any interest in being a whore.''<br>

''What I realized early was that in order to get what you want, you have to have something that others think is important. And it needs to be the right sort of people who find it important, the obvious conclusion is acquire and hone a skill. Knights and lords will always need a good blacksmith, and when their back is against the wall, they don't truly care what's between the smiths legs. What matters is excellence.'' <br>

''Of course, in order to rise beyond mediocrity, a tradeswoman can only go so far, and so a different set of skills is required...but that is a tale for another time"'' <br>

'''Goal:''' Skill (mastery of smithing and information gathering), Wealth<br>
'''Motivation:''' Greed, Excellence<br>
'''Virtues:''' Courageous, Devoted<br>
'''Vices:''' Ambitious, Wrathful, Scheming<br>

=Background=

20 years ago, young lord Styrian was engaged to be married to Tara Rowan, a Dornish noblewoman. Before the wedding could take place, his father received word that House Rowan had suffered a massive defeat in one of it's engagements with a neighboring house. Being a shrewd man, and recognizing an alliance that would end up costing him more than it would gain him, he called the wedding off on short notice. The wedding party headed home, to salvage what they could, but a few short weeks later, a bedraggled Tara returned, having nowhere else to go, after her party had been waylaid and she herself having barely escaped with her life. Out of friendship and hospitality (and perhaps a little guilt) she was allowed to stay.

As the months wore on, however, this awkward guest who no longer had a place started wearing out her welcome. No word of house Rowans improved fortune ever came, and it soon became apparent that she was carrying a child. Styrians father was furious, and ordered her out of his house. For some time she made a living selling what remained of her clothing and trinkets, but eventually she was forced to take what work she could.

The world is not a kind place for a former noble, pregnant with an unwanted bastard child. But Tara eventually found a home working for the local blacksmith, Velan Carver. Shortly thereafter, Tara had a baby girl, and named her Alessandra, after her grandmother.

Tara and Velan eventually fell in love, even though he was many years her senior, and when Alex was 6, they got married. A year later they had a son together, Jonah.

Alex was always a rather unusual child, and a downright strange girl. She'd watch Velan at work for hours, never bothering him, except to inqurire why he did this or that, or how something or other worked. Sometimes she'd watch the soldiers training in the yard or play games with the other children. 

Old Velan had a kindly disposition and tolerated this strange girl with amused bewilderment. When she first asked to be his apprentice, he laughed, gave her a piece of fruit and sent her off. When she asked him a second time, he looked at her calmly and told her that this was no job for a small girl. The third time she asked, he handed her an apron and put her to work on the bellows, every day expecting her to give up or lose interest, but she never did.

Alex knew that the lord of the house was (to her) a kindly stranger who would sometimes stop in and give them small amounts of money and her a pat on the head and a kind word, then abruptly leave. Early in her life, she had assumed that Velan was her father, but she soon learned the meaning of the word bastard, and the implication of being named Storm. When pressed, her mother would refuse to talk about it. But on one occasion, Velan told her the truth of who her father was.

After that, she went out of her way to stop by the lords abode when she had free time, and to be nice and courteous to him. For some reason she didn't understand, the lord seemed discomfited by her visits, and his wife positively annoyed at first. His children however took an early liking to her, and they became regular playmates. She would often come over to play with her younger half-siblings, inventing games for them to play or sharing stories with them.

Soon after Alex's younger brother Jonah turned 8, Tara received a letter from home, an old uncle urging her to come claim what remained of her inheritance. Ecstatic at the news, Tara immediately began planning for a trip home. Her husband was extremely worried for his wives safety, but could not dissuade her from leaving, even as mounting tension in the region and frequent skirmishes made it impossible for him to abandon his work and travel with her.

Alessandra however, 14 at the time, went with her mother, and together they traveled the long road to Dorne, all the way to Sunspear.

There they found, to their dismay, that the letter had been a trick. The uncle was long dead, and there was no inheritance, in fact, all of house Rowans assets had long been split amongst its myriad rivals.

Those who sent the letter however did not strike immediately, as Tara considered her next move, she came down with a virulent illness. Alex tried her best to help her mother, whose health diminished daily. Alex found herself eventually begging on the streets for money to buy medicine and food. She eventually resorted to stealing, and found that she had a natural talent for it. Eventually she was forced to join one of the many street gangs, but everything she earned, she took home to keep her mother alive, who despite her best efforts, continued to deteriorate.

It was in her gang, the sand foxes, that she met Ilya Stavros, an older girl from across the narrow sea. The girl claimed to have been a pirate, but Alex had her doubts about her stories. Whatever the reason, Ilya took Alex under her wing right away and taught her the finer points of living on the streets. It wasn't long before they were pulling complicated burglaries, con-jobs and even robberies. Soon, Alex had enough to pay for a retired maester to visit her mother. Unknown to her, the 'maester' was really a conman, but he was good at it, and for a long time managed to milk Alex of most of her earnings. When her mother finally died, Alex refused him his last payment and has held a deep mistrust of the methods of the maesters ever since, having only seen a very skewed version of their arts.

Seeking comfort in her friends, Alex poured herself into the thieving business, her talents having been honed a great deal in the three years since she came to Sunspear. Her relationship with Ilya changed greatly after the latter made it clear she was after more than just friendship, and though the two briefly became lovers, it turned out to be a bad move for their friendship, as Ilya was both moody and prone to jealousy. Alex was also confused and felt like she was being taken advantage of.

One night she simply had enough, took her things, and set off towards home. The trip was long and grueling, but she eventually made it back. She had written to Valen regularly, but when she returned, found that her letters had not reached him. He was devastated to hear of his wives death, and though he welcomed Alex back, things were never the same between them. Alex rejoined him at his forge, but now his son Jonah felt put upon. This unstable situation continued for 2 years, when Valen died. At that point Alex had become quite proficient at the forge, though not quite as good as the old master, and so promised the old man on his deathbed that she would finish training his son, and promising that he would inherit the smithy when he came of age.

When she returned from Dorne, she had rekindled her friendship with her half-siblings, and took an active interest in helping out where she could, feeling a certain responsibility for her younger siblings. Her situation with Jonah never truly normalized, though they had fondness for one another, they rarely saw eye to eye, added to that, he had trouble taking orders and training from a woman, while she was constantly annoyed by travelers who assumed that the man was in charge.

All things considered though, she found a great zest for life in the castle. She was an adult and an expert tradeswoman, as such she had sufficient income to enjoy life and not worry about the essentials like food and shelter, a welcome change from Sunspear. Though she carefully practiced her skills in the night, since nothing ever went missing, the guards never put much work into finding some rumored skulking shadow that the occasional drunkard thought he saw.

=Description=

Alessandra is a woman that is supremely comfortable in her own skin, her every move is smooth and precise. She has natural grace and flexibility, and her work at the anvil has given her a muscular physique. (not disgustingly so, just like you might see on perhaps an olympic athlete). She has short black hair and a dark-tan complexion, owing to her mother who came from old Rhoynish blood. Her eyes are a dark brown, almost black.

She is very good at carefully controlling her own movements, in the daytime, she adds a deliberate feminine sway to everything she does, but when she is out at night, practicing her skills, she wears a facemask and armor especially padded to hide her womanly shape, she then deliberately moves in a more masculine fashion, in order to mislead anyone who might catch a glimpse of her.

She is usually armed with a dagger at her side, but also carries a set of throwing knives on a bandoleer and hides a stiletto knife on her person. She rarely carries it, but she possesses a blade she crafted herself in the bravosi fashion, styled after a sword that Ilya had. She teaches herself to use it as best she can, but is sorely lacking in professional training.

=Abilities=

Agility 5 <br>
Animal Handling 2 <br>
Athletics 4 <br>
Awareness 3 <br>
Cunning 3 <br>
Deception 3 <br>
Endurance 3 <br>
Fighting 3 <br>
Healing 1 <br>
Knowledge 2 <br>
Language (common) 2 <br>
Marksmanship 3 <br>
Persuasion 2 <br>
Status 2 <br>
Stealth 4 <br>
Survival 2 <br>
Thievery 4 <br>
Warfare 2 <br>
Will 3 <br>

=Specialties=

'''Agility:''' Acrobatics +2b <br>
'''Athletics:''' Climb +1b <br>
'''Fighting:''' Fencing +1b, Short blades +1b <br>
'''Knowledge:''' Streetwise +1b <br>
'''Marksmanship:''' Thrown +1b <br>
'''Stealth:''' Sneak +1b <br>

=Destiny Points and Benefits=

'''DP''' 2/4<br>

Blood of the Rhoyne<br>
Night Eyes<br>
Trade (Blacksmith)<br>


=Flaws and Drawbacks=
Bastard Born<br>
Flaw (animal handling)<br>

=Possessions=
Chargen Cash: 7 gd (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3024560/ ) = 1470 ss

1x Stiletto (15ss)<br>
1x Bravosi Blade(400ss)<br>
5x Throwing Knives (50ss)<br>
1x Left handed dagger (10ss)<br>
padded armor (200ss)<br>

1x Blacksmiths garb: (5ss)<br>
1x Thieves garb (5ss)<br> 
2x Travelers garb (4ss)<br>
2x Common clothes (4ss)<br>
Expert Blacksmiths tools (500ss)<br>
Thieves tools (150ss)<br>
rope (10ss)<br>
backpack (1s)<br>
waterskin (1s)<br>

115 ss remaining

=Derived Statistics=

==Intrigue Statistics==
Intrigue Defense: 8<br>
Composure: 9<br>

==Combat Statistics==
Combat Defense: 14 (16 with left handed dagger, 17 with left handed dagger and bravosi blade)<br>
Health: 9 <br>
AR: 1 (in padded armor) <br>
Damage: 5 (stiletto) / 4 (Thrown Knife) / 5 (Bravosi Blade)<br>

[[File:Alessandra2.jpg]]