Sylia

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Sylia

Age (Gender): Female/18
Homeland: Zingara
Caste (Trait): Merchant (Vengeful)
Merchant Story: Ruin
Archetype: Entertainer
Nature/Education: Reckless/Victim Turned Victimizer
War Story: Survived a Pirate Raid
Social Standing: 1
Renown: 0

Appearance: The dancer has jade green eyes, auburn hair, and an inviting yet sharp expression. She has curves in all the right places to emphasize her work, and favors the colorful costumery of her native Zingara - which makes hiding weapons easier.
Personality: Sylia presents the image of a carefree dancer, but underneath that is a boiling temper. While she often relies on making people underestimate her to get close, provoking her into rasher, more direct action is not hard. She is loyal to friends who show loyalty to her in turn, and just as eager to take vengeance on their behalf.
Languages: Aquilonian, Argossean, Zingaran

XP: 50/600
Fortune Points: 3

Combat

Bonus Damage: Ranged +2 | Melee +2 | Mental +2

Weapons

• Daggers (2): Reach 1, Size 1H, Damage 3, Qualities (Hidden 1, Parrying, Thrown, Unforgiving 1)
• Whip: Reach 3, Size 1H, Damage 3, Qualities (Fearsome 2, Grapple)

Stress & Harm
Vigor: 4/10 | Wounds: 1 (Forehead cut)
Resolve: 8/8 | Trauma:

Courage Soak: 0
Armor Soak (Heavy Clothing): Head 0, Right Arm 1, Left Arm 1, Torso 1, Right Leg 1, Left Leg 1
Armor Qualities:

Attributes/Skills

Agility: 12

• Acrobatics: 2/2
• Melee: 3/3
• Stealth: 1/1

Awareness: 10

• Insight: 2/2
• Observation: 2/2
• Survival: 2/2
• Thievery: 1/1

Brawn: 10

• Athletics: 1/1
• Resistance:

Coordination: 8

• Parry: 1/1
• Ranged Weapons:
• Sailing: 1/1

Intelligence: 6

• Alchemy:
• Craft: 1/1
• Healing:
• Linguistics: 1/1
• Lore:
• Warfare:

Personality: 9

• Animal Handling:
• Command
• Counsel:
• Persuade: 5/5
• Society:

Willpower: 7

• Discipline: 1/1
• Sorcery:

Talents

• Sea Raider (Zingara): The Difficulty of all Sailing tests made in your homeland's waters are reduced by 1. This can reduce tests to a Difficulty of Simple (D0). Additionally, the Difficulties of any Athletics tests relating to swimming are similarly reduced.
• Tradesman (Merchant Caste): When Carousing, if you do not have sufficient Gold to pay your Upkeep, you may offer your services to a tradesman or to a guild in order to cover your Upkeep. However, you may not take any other actions during that period of Carousing.
• Vagabond (Merchant Caste): Whether a nomad by choice or necessity, you can reduce the Difficulty of Survival tests by one, so long as you are on a maintained road. This may reduce the Difficulty of tests to Simple (D0).
• Force of Presence (Persuade Tier 1): Your damage bonus on mental attacks is increased by +1[CD].
• Naturally Charming (Persuade Tier 2): You have a warm personality and a winning smile. People trust you. A successful Persuade test yields 1 point of bonus Momentum per rank of Naturally Charming.
• No Mercy (Melee Tier 1): When making a Melee attack, you may re-roll a number of damage dice equal to the total number of Melee talents (and ranks in those talents) you have acquired, if desired. You must accept the results of the re-rolls.
• Deft Blade (Melee Tier 2): You wield a blade as if it were an extension of your arm. When you spend momentum or threat to gain a bonus die on a melee roll, you gain 2 dice instead. Cap of dice to roll is still 5.
• Grappler (Melee Tier 2): After a successful melee attack, you may spend 1 momentum to add Grappling to an unarmed attack.
• Sixth Sense (Insight Tier 1): You may re-roll one d20 when making an Insight test, but you must accept the new result. In the event of an ambush, you gain 1 additional bonus point of Momentum. If the Insight test was requested because of sorcerous or otherwise unnatural phenomena, the GM must reveal this.
• Agile (Acrobatics Tier 1): After making an acrobatics roll, you may reroll 1d20 and accept the new result
• Nimble as a Cat (Acrobatics Tier 2): When making an Acrobatics test to jump or leap, reduce the Difficulty by one step for every rank of Nimble as a Cat. This may eliminate the need for the skill test if the result is reduced to Simple (D0). In addition, for each rank of Nimble as a Cat you gain 2 additional Cover dice when suffering falling damage.

Belongings

Gold: 7 | Upkeep: 4
Encumbrance:

• Fine clothing
• Satchel
• Keepsake from a favored patron
• Makeup and scent oils
• Dagger
• Maracas
• The finger bones and teeth of the person who stole from you
• A fine dress
• A single item you tracked down that once belonged to you - family seal stamp
• The whip once used against you, now claimed
• Dagger given by a friend you saved in battle
• Heavy clothing armor (light leathers under her robes)

Character Story

Sylia Vezzini was a daughter of a prominent merchant family in Zingara... Until rivals ganged up to dismantle her family's holdings, culminating with a privateer raid on the Vizzinis' last cargo ship. The family was aboard, hoping to escape and regroup. That... did not happen. Young Sylia was the only member of her family to escape the assassins, hiding in a foul barrel of spoiled salt pork in hopes nobody would have the stomach to investigate it.

After slipping off the boat when it was dragged back to port, Sylia was taken in by one of her family's few remaining allies and publicly presented as a distant cousin from Argos. In the Zingaran tradition of revenge, she dedicated herself to preparing to take it - but, knowing that she needed to remain hidden, cultivated an identity as a simple performer. While she's managed to isolate some of those who killed her family and take her vengeance, she knows that she'll need allies to finish the job, perhaps even proper hired muscle. The spoils of a great quest should afford that...

Character Questions

• You've been able to find work as a dancer in Messantia, Sylia. What venues serve your needs best? Something near the docks and warehouses, where you can make connections with working men who know the ins and outs of how the city and its merchant families work? Do you prefer the more affluent venues the merchants themselves frequent? Or have you sought influence in the Temple District, amongst the clerks and clergy of Mitra, Ishtar, and Ibis? Perhaps shadier establishments -- where you can make acquaintance with cutpurses, burglars, and bravos -- will be your route to vengeance.

Sylia's upbringing is still fairly upper-crust despite her misfortunes, and she's stuck mainly to that stratum of society, working the classier venues. Branching her social network beyond that would probably help her get allies and information, but that's probably something she'll learn on this adventure. She has taken lessons in dance and other things at a temple of Ishtar, however, and largely abandoned even the nominal faith in Mitra that Zingarans usually espouse.

• Do you work alone when it's time for your knife to have the last word? If not, do you assemble comrades around you, or are the people you work with hirelings?

So far she's mainly worked alone, but only been able to pick off minor targets of her vengeance at best. She's gotten much more 'practice' on random louts causing trouble for the dancers she's worked among. She knows she needs allies but has had trouble establishing trust. Joining the crew would be one of her first steps in seeking proper allies.

• Do you spend time imagining what life will look like once your vengeance is done? If so, what do you imagine? Or is your vision solely blood and ruin that so very many need to pay?

As blood feuds are simply a fact of life among the upper-clas families of Zingara, she's hoping for a day that she can once again have wealth and comfort, perhaps owning a sprawling villa overlooking a vinyard, while pursuing her continued vengeance as a hobby. That's far from her situation now, and not likely to come about, but an opportunity to return to wealth and ease would be almost as tempting as an opportunity for vengeance.