Seranem Adraan

Seranem Adraanis a Qunari Enchanter and member of the ‘Wild Hallas’ adventurer's company.

Appearance
Seranem is quite tall, reaching around 6 feet and 7 inches. As far as her race goes, she isn’t as thickly built and coupled with her height gives her a willowy appearance. She is still toned, her muscle coming from daily staff practice and the occasional refresher on knife fighting she learned from her father. She often stands straight-backed with her legs set at an appropriate distance to keep herself balanced and walks with a long, graceful stride.

Seranem’s face is angular but sleek, her cheekbones high and jawline sharp. Her long, slender nose sits above plump lips, often painted a deep red. Her honey colored eyes shine brightly, her gaze piercing and perceptive. Her horns fade from a dark silver to a near obsidian color, often streaked with red vitaar markings and gold and aquamarine cuffs and rings. Her white hair is wild framing her face and shifts into a long braid that reaches down to her chest and has a red ribbon entwined.

She prefers a simpler and more open robe to the typical Circle Mage robes. She sports a black robe that has wide sleeves ending at her wrist and sits open in a deep V that ends mid-sternum. Just below her hip, the robe opens up and wraps around her thighs to a point that sits at her ankles. In addition, she wears simple brown pants, which she finds more practical to move in, as well as black boots that start just below the knee. From her hips loosely hangs a brown belt with her knife attached on the right. Across her chest, a strap reaches from her right shoulder to the left side of her ribcage where she leaves her staff.

While her clothes may be simple, she adorns herself in a myriad of jewelry. On her hands sit gold and aquamarine rings, all except for one which is the lyrium infused silver ring which sits on her right ring finger. On her wrists, she has golden cuffs formed in intricate designs, similar to the designs on the cuffs she wears on her ears. Around her neck, she wears necklaces that hang at different lengths and compliment her vitaar markings nicely.

Armament

 * Fire Staff “Ataash”: Ataash was designed by Seranem’s elf-blooded ex-lover. Before leaving to, hopefully, join the Guild, Seranem took Fivra’s staff design and requested its creation, using up much of the money she had saved. The staff has a base of dark oak and, starting two-thirds of the way up a single, wrought iron tail twists up to the top of the staff, ending in the head of a dragon with an amber orb in its mouth. At the base of the tail sits an enchanted leather grip and a simple blade at the end of the rod.Between the top most horns a thin, red ribbon is tied and reaches down to just below the grip. Ataash gets its name from the Qunlat word for “Glory.” Seranem named it so out of the hope for glory in her future battles.


 * Simple dagger: She received this from her father when she was young. The blade has a simple, wooden handle and a short iron blade. This hangs at her right hip. She only uses this when she doesn’t have time to reach for her staff.

Abilities

 * Fireball: A ball of fire bursts forth from the top of her staff, affecting a small radius. Useful when attacks need precision, this ability uses up a minor amount of magic.
 * Flaming Weapons: Weapons become enchanted with flames that deal extra flame damage, uses up a moderate amount of magic. She can use this ability one to two times.
 * Flame Blast: A cone of fire flies from her hands dealing fire damage, this can be kept up for a short amount of time.
 * Inferno: Swirling fire swarms a small radius, must be clear of allies. Uses up most of her magic, she cannot cast before it and afterwards she needs time to recharge.

Skills
Skills:
 * Magic
 * Magical Studies
 * Staff Fighting
 * Riding Mounts
 * Diplomacy
 * History
 * Translation
 * Persuasion
 * Perception
 * Dagger/Knife fighting

Biography
Seranem’s early years were spent traveling Rivain with her parents. As Vashoth and Tal-Vashoth, they couldn’t settle with Qunari and humans tend to be quite prejudiced against her race, so staying in one place was often difficult. The family of three limited their contact with the humans to their stops in small towns and villages in order to restock supplies and find work to gain what money they needed. They managed to get money for what they needed: horses, weapon upkeep, food and other necessary supplies.

During this time, Seranem’s father, Durogan, believed that his daughter should know how to protect herself and ended up teaching her to wield a dagger. They never got too far into their lessons; and as a result, she ended up learning only very simple moves that would give her a chance to get away. She also ended up learning quite a bit of Qunlat during this time, both her parents wishing her to have some understanding of their people. While her knowledge may not be as extensive as those born under the Qun, she can manage a conversation. When she wasn’t practicing with her dagger or helping with the job, she would often join her mother, Yasena, on rides, a passion shared by the both of them. Seranem’s joy for watching the landscape pass by on horseback was only matched by her love for exploration. While her parents would set up camp at night, she would often explore the nearby area, finding animals, food, and sometimes an interesting stick or rock. It was her joy for exploration that got her in trouble in a small town near the center of Rivain. Her parents had been working a job, and Seranem had been exploring idly when she happened upon a few children around her age. The children were playing and her interest was peaked. When she attempted to go join the children she was laughed at and called “ox-girl” and “beast” multiple times. Angered and hurt, she approached the children with the intention to tell them she didn’t appreciate the slurs. Given that her race is significantly taller than the other races, even at her age, she towered over the other children and her advancement had many backpedaling and fleeing, all but one.

A young boy instead took a step towards her, a knife in his hand that looked more like a cooking knife than a fighting knife. Before Seranem noticed the knife, the boy rushed her, waving it around. She tried to throw her hands up but was too late. The knife managed to catch her right below her left eye down to the bottom of her jaw. Fear, pain, and shock had her falling backward as blood poured from her cheek. The boy didn’t stop there and kept swinging, but this time when she flung her hands up and a small ball of fire shot from them, narrowly missing the boy. That had stopped the boy dead in his tracks, it was then that her parents found her. Durogan and Yasena acted quickly and snatched Seranem up and quickly left the village. They traveled for three days, only stopping to patch up Seranem’s cheek and to feed themselves and the horses. By the third day, they finally set up a camp and discussed their options. Seranem’s father was in favor of continuing as they were, hiring hedge witches to train her. Seranem’s mother was in favor of head to Dairsmuid and having their daughter become an apprentice. Their debate was long and heated but ended in Yasena’s favor. When she pointed out that Seranem would not only be ousted by Qunari but also be hunted by the Templars for being an apostate did Durogan give in. Not to mention the cost of hiring the hedge witches would be significantly more than just having her join the Dairsmuid Circle.

It took them less than a week to make it to Dairsmuid and send Seranem to the Circle. Within the first few days, she spent most of her time to herself, a few glances from the others telling her she didn’t quite fit in. The mark on her cheek was still a bit red and tender to the touch, her mother had told her it was going to scar. One of the first people to approach Seranem was an elf-blooded girl, Fivra Athewen, who was from a village just outside of Dairsmuid. She never quite knew why the young elf-blood had befriended her, but she’d had enough of loneliness, and if she were to fit in who better to help her than one who already fit in?

Seranem had started to watch the other mages, taking note of how they walked, talked, acted. She soon approached Fivra, asking the elf-blood, in all her awkwardness, to teach her how to act like the other mages. Over the next few years, she gradually learned how to act as the other mages did. In return she often shared stories of her youth with Fivra, telling her of the places she had been, the villages she had seen. Eventually, she even told the elf-blood how she had gotten the scar on her cheek. Seranem also grew close to an Enchanter in Dairsmuid, Loretta Brady, a human native from Dairsmuid itself. While Seranem learned from many of the Enchanters, Enchanter Brady took a special interest in her. Seranem had shown a proficiency for elemental magic, specifically the fire aspect. As Enchanter Brady had a similar affinity, she took to teaching the young Vashoth. It was also Loretta that trained Seranem in the basics of staff fighting when she had shown interest and eventually directed the young mage to Enchanter Zosimus to learn more advanced techniques.

Seranem spent the next nine years learning from the Enchanters, learning to use her staff and visiting her family when she managed to get away for a bit. Her parents had managed to settle down and get jobs after Yasena expressed, several times, her desire to stay close to Seranem during her training. Durogan had finally given in and when Seranem visited, he would often hand her a knife and ask her to freshen up what she knew. She also managed to get her mother to go out riding every once and awhile.

Around Seranem’s seventeenth year she was selected, along with a small handful of other mages, to go through the harrowing. It was hard not to feel apprehensive, she’d spent the past nine years under the eye of the Chantry and Templars, however lax, and had heard of a few apprentices having to be killed during their Harrowing. She had entered the chamber, she remembered seeing the Templars off to the side of the chamber, she remembered the fear and twinge of anger she’d felt, she wouldn’t fail. She entered the Fade. She’d wandered the Fade for only a short while when a demon presented itself to her. She’d expected maybe a lust or envy demon but was shocked and surprised to find a rage demon stalking her. Shocked, she stood there as the demon whispered and hissed in attempt to sway her, it spoke truths about her that she had not known about herself. It promised her vengeance against those who had wronged her, both directly and indirectly. It was only when the demon tried to turn her against Fivra that Seranem snapped out of her daze. She finally felt anger rise within her, but funneled it, letting it turn into determination to deal with the demon. She quickly dispatched the thing, her yellow eyes ablaze. When she awoke, she was glad to see she was unharmed.

Seranem had awoken from the Fade different she’d spent the next few days rather quiet, brow pinched in thought. The fact a rage demon had approached her troubled the Vashoth. Before long she opened back up and admitted to her friend how the encounter with the demon had gone. Soon after that, she returned to how she normally acted, but with a better understanding of herself.

Her time spent as a mage wasn’t much different than her time as in apprentice, other than the title. She took up a few jobs from the people in Dairsmuid, small, simple things at first a mage of her level could achieve. Before long she started taking on harder jobs, but what really caught the Enchanters’ eyes was when she and Fivra started helping the younger apprentices. Fivra had noticed that some of the younger apprentices were having difficulties with a few of the things they were learning and she had managed to get Seranem on board with helping them. During these several months, Fivra and Seranem grew close in a different way, the Vashoth having realized her love for the elf-blood a few years prior. When Fivra expressed said feelings to Seranem, she’d been overjoyed. Although they kept it under the radar, they decided to start seeing each other in a more involved manner. Soon after, the two were approached about becoming Enchanters with the interest in having them teach the apprentices. Fivra had gladly accepted, having known her passion for teaching from before she became a mage. Seranem, however, was more hesitant. She expressed that she had more interest in helping people and having more freedom with what she wanted to do.

Seranem, in the end, was persuaded to start teaching the apprentices, but she kept an ear out for a chance to get out and do more with herself. She had sent a letter to her parents as soon as she became an Enchanter, the both of them quite happy for their child, even if they knew her true desire. The next time she visited her parents, she was greeted with an Asaarash horse. The stallion was a dark chestnut with cream dappling near his rear and near his hooves, she named the horse “Asala” the Qunalt word for Soul. Overjoyed, and rather worried by the amount of money they had spent, Seranem ended up paying her parents back for half of what they had spent. The next year was filled with teaching, riding Asala and spending time with Fivra, until word came to her about a Guild being formed and looking for members. She’d spent the next few months learning all she could before bringing it to the Dairsmuid Circle Senior Enchanters, imploring them to let her join as a representative of their Circle. Although it took some time, she managed to get the Enchanters to agree, she would set off to, hopefully, join the Guild within the next month. She and Fivra ended up deciding it would be best for the elf-blood to stay behind, her passion being teaching the young apprentices. They decided to break things off, a relationship over such a distance near impossible to keep up. Enchanter Fivra’s last gift to Seranem was the design to a new staff for her. She had the staff commissioned and left once it was finished.

Family

 * Father: Seranem’s father is Durogan Adraan, a Tal-Vashoth born in Kont-aar. He is a stern, robust qunari fluent in Qunlat. During her younger years, her father taught her to speak Qunlat, and while she may not be completely fluent, she can get by in a conversation. Her father is also the one who taught her how to use a dagger to protect herself. These techniques are what Seranem practices today. Her father is currently alive and lives in Dairsmuid with her mother, Yasena.
 * Mother: Yasena Adraan is Seranem’s mother, a Vashoth born in Ayesleigh. She is not as fluent in Qunlat as Seranem’s father and therefore contributed little to Seranem’s education on the subject. She didn’t teach her daughter how to use a dagger, but would often practice with her child. It was Yasena, however, that taught the young Vashoth horseback riding and the joys of the wind on one’s face. Seranem still loves riding to this day. Yasena is still alive and lives in Dairsmuid with Durogan.

Romance

 * Past Lover Fivra Athewen: Fivra is two years Seranem’s senior and has been a good friend to her since they both joined the Dairsmuind Circle. For a few years, before she left for the Guild, they were romantically involved. Fivra and Seranem broke off their relationship for several reasons, Fivra’s parents wishing to have grandchildren the least of them. The elf-blooded woman felt she needed to stay with the Circle and teach the next generation of mages while Seranem felt pulled away by the prospect of freedom and adventure.

Allies

 * Loretta Brady: She is an Enchanter and member of the Dairsmuid Circle. Enchanter Brady was Seranem’s teachers during her stay at Dairsmuid and also taught the young Vashoth the basics of Staff Fighting.
 * Fivra Athewen: She is an elf-blooded woman from a small village not far from Dairsmuid and became an apprentice at the same time of Seranem. She befriended the Vashoth and helped her fit into the Dairsmuid and Circle society. For a few years before Seranem left they were romantically involved but decided to stop seeing each other in such a fashion when the Vashoth decided to leave.

Personality
Seranem’s demeanor is graceful and distant, her expression often clean of emotion. This, paired with her preference to stay quiet and observe over speaking, leads others to see her as icy and unapproachable. Now, while she may be wary of most humans, the vashoth is actually quite warm and welcoming once you get to know her, the icy demeanor melting away. Her preference to stay quiet may not be gone, but she is more likely to speak her mind honestly.

Due to her painfully obvious differentness, she had sought ways to limit said differences from the other mages, starting with acting more gracefully. During her time as an apprentice, an elf-blooded woman by the name of Fivra befriended Seranem. It was from her fellow apprentice that she learned how to do so. For years, she would work to change her whole demeanor to better fit in.

Her drive to learn staff fighting rose up from her belief that she should be able to rely on her physical might as well as her magical prowess. Her teacher, an Enchanter by the name of Loretta Brady, had learned the basics of staff fighting and taught the Vashoth all she knew. When Enchanter Brady had exhausted her knowledge, she directed Seranem to Enchanter Zosimus, a human male from Ayesleigh, as well as the Circle’s library. Before joining the Dairsmuid Circle, Seranem traveled across Rivain with her family. They traveled from town to get fresh supplies and look for odd jobs. In most towns, they could find work, but humans held prejudices against them for being qunari, and she was often met with insults and other forms of discrimination. Due to this, she tends to be more wary of humans.

While Seranem may be part of the Aequitarian faction, she agrees more with the Libertarian beliefs. This stems from her desire to be free of the Chantry and Templars and use magic as she sees fit. However, this belief isn’t held by many other mages and would hinder her work, in addition, she doesn’t quite care enough to advocate for the Libertarian faction. She ended up joining a faction mainly because it’s expected of Enchanters. She chose Aequitarian in order to fit in and draw less attention to herself than she would declaring herself as part of the Libertarian faction.