Character Descrips.

Name: Adara Remine

Race: Human

Birth Place: Bardavos

Tribe: Avennorian

Age: 21

Birthday: 1st of the month of the Dead Tree

Occupation: Healer

Religion: As a healer it would be expected that Adara would worship Nehtor, the god of healing. However Adara turns to Queprur, goddess of death, for guidance. As a healer she believes that her works are under the constant influence of Queprur. She accepts that death is Queprur’s doing, and that fighting death is against the will of Queprur. This does not stop her from healing, because with each success she feels she has aided the death goddess in saving that individual for when Queprur calls. Despite her strong belief system, no medical 'miracle' has occured during her workings.

Appearance: Adara was born into a poor merchant family, and thus has little money to spend on pleasantries such as nice dresses or hair accessories. The money she earns helping her father at his stand is used to buy medicinal herbs from travelers. Her day to day outfits consist of a simple woven skirt of a pale color, and a tucked in white blouse. If the weather is cold she dons a gray shawl and a sash. To fit the simplicity of the outfit, she wears boots that are worn in from years of use. Despite their age, Adara refuses to buy another pair, because the money should be spent on food.

Adara has a small build, and is physically weak because she has never participated in any activities that required vast amounts of strength. She keeps herself clean, washing at appropriate times, because a put-together merchant is more effective than one in shambles. She spends a great deal of time outdoors, and from that has acquired a tan and freckles across the bridge of her small nose. Her face is not particularly defined in bone structure; her chin is rounded and her cheekbones are barely visible. Her mouth is small but quick to stretch into a smile. Her only remarkable feature is her large green eyes of a pale green color. Her hair is a dirty blonde with sun streaks, and is allowed to flow down to her mid back in undecided waves, halfway between curly and straight. She stands at 1.67 peds high, and weighs 1 pygge 1 heb. All in all, Adara is plain in appearance and style.

Personality: Adara inherited an optomistic nature from her family, and looks for the good in every situation. She is sweet and cheerful, a trait that was faked in order to attract customers, and eventually became a welcome habit. Growing up in a situation where day to day wages were a living, she learned responsibilaty and how to take care of immediate needs before pleasing vanities. Since she has learned to survive on bare minimum, she is selfless and giving, and attempts to accomidate for other people before taking care of herself.

As a healer sees every type of person injured, and developed a concern for every individual, despite how they treated her. This concern is usually shown by an unrelenting stubborn nature to make sure proper care is given. In situations of immediate danger she looks towards others for help, because she has no way of protecting herself.

History:
Adara’s parents, Catline and Bastil Remine, were married for seven years before Adara was born. Bastil is a merchant, attracted to Bardavos because of the variety of buyers, and specializes in gem craft. He frequently leaves Bardavos for months at a time to gather more gems from various locations across Santharia. Once collected and shaped, his brother, Jeffory, (a metal crafter) sets them in the requested settings. The two brothers then sell the jewelry, sword hilts, and the like at their stand in the Bardavos market. He is physically strong from carting gems round, and has a mess of bright gold hair and an unshaved face. He has a habit of laughing with one of the customers, then sharing the joke at night with his family. Catline is a midwife for the poorer part of the city, as were all of the females of that lineage. In order to give their daughters a good job opportunity, the mothers would teach healing techniques to their daughters. The daughters could chose to heal or to find another occupation after their training is complete at age 21. Compared to her husband, who is nearly 2 peds, Catline is midgited at her 1.56 peds. She is plump and friendly looking, and at 50 years she has streaks of gray in her thick brown hair.

Adara was born and raised in Bardavos. The first three years of her life she was taken care of by her mother primarily, taken along even when Catline was performing duties as a midwife. Because of her family's busy life, there was no time for her to be babied and she was treated as an adult as soon as they realized she understood what they could say. This never diminished the love and companionship that was abundant in their household, it simply raised the standards that she lived up to gladly. In her fourth year Jeffory was forced from his home due to financial problems and moved in with the family. Catline was free to do her duties free of burden, Bastil was working nearly the entire day to provide for the increased family, and Jeffory became Adara’s babysitter when her parents were busy and there were no immediate jobs he needed to do. At first Adara was afraid of the giant of a man, who matched his brothers height with his dreadfully long beard, shaggy long blonde hair, and a metal workers muscles. Despite his frightening appearence, he was as cheerful and optomistic a man as they come, and Adara loved having her fun loving and free talking uncle around, and became his shadow until she turned six. He taught the responsible young child to loosen up and enjoy life, and neighbors would joke that he was the child, and Adara was babysitting him. Nights were her favorite part of the day because when her father and mother came home the family of four would spend an hour before bed, laughing and talking about the day.

Their shop consisted of a small wooden building near the middle of the market area, where richer customers could be attracted. It was a one story shabby shack that had been patched up as best as possible. Coming through the front door, the first room was the selling area, swept once a day. Connected to the main room was the storage closet for products in the making, and was kept under lock and key. A door connected the living quarters, a single large room, to the storage and selling room. Their beds consisted of straw stuffed matteress' and blankets. Adara slept in the corner where she could see through a missing board and watch the stars at night. Her mother would scold her when rain leaked in, but Adara paid her no mind. Aside from the beds, the only peice of furniture was a table with uneven legs, and chairs.

On her sixth birthday, as was custom, Catline became Adara’s mentor in the healing arts, and Jeffory went back to full time metal craft. The first three years of her training were simply memorizing the appearance, names, and uses of particular herbs. After her ninth birthday they moved on to poisons, and antidotes. Her training took nearly her entire day, and though Adara resented her stolen freedom, she developed a love for what she was learning. When Adara was twelve her father went on another trip to find gems and returned two months later, his arm broken. He had developed a fever on his trip and while driving his cart back he had fallen and the cart had rolled over his upper arm, crushing it. When he returned his fever had yet to disappear, and he was bedridden for two weeks. Her mother stayed by his bedside, trying to encourage the healing of his arm. While her father was unable to, Adara tended the shop with Jeffory’s help. Because her mother spent all of her time working on Bastil's arm, Adara gained first hand experience of healing by taking over Catline's duties as midwife and town healer. Bastil and Catline returned to work as soon as his fever had broken and his arm was on its way to being healthy, but due to her fathers injured arm Adara opted to help him during the day, and continue her healing training in the mornings. Even after Bastil’s arm healed completely, Adara continued to work at his shop.

Because of the work she did to support her family, her interaction with other children her age was limited to the customers of the shop. They treated her with pity or looked down at her because of her financial situation, for the most part. She developed very few close friends her age, though some children would stop by the store to chat with her while she worked. During her work she would compare their lifestyles to her own. They were beautiful in their well woven dresses and their jingling money purses, while she was stuck wearing the same clothes day after day, and worked hard for every coin she received. She developed a deep envy of them, though she never expressed it to her father because she knew it would hurt him. She threw herself into healing, determined to prove to herself that even though she wasn’t rich, she was better than them at something. By the time she was sixteen she was better at her craft than most.

She first developed a sense of loyalty to Queprur, the death goddess, during the winter of her seventeenth year. The poor residents of the city had no source of heat, save small fires, and were prone to illness. One family had a five year old son who became sick from exposure, and Adara's help was asked. She came willingly, and spent the night at the boy's bedside, tending to him. She had been called upon too late, however, and he died in the morning. The enraged mother of the boy cast her out of the house, cursing her and her abilities, blaming the death on Adara. Adara, worn down from the sleepless night, was severely hurt by the mother's accusations, magnified by her first failure as a healer. She stumbled home and collapsed in her mother's arms. Distressed at seeing her normally collected daughter in tears, Catline calmed her by explaining that death was a natural part of life that came when Queprur called them. The explaination was not meant to be a religous comment, merely a reason for death. But Adara took it to heart and commited herself to the goddess of death.

Adara’s patients were mainly warriors passing through the city after a battle. She tended minor wounds and infections while her mother continued to midwife. Most warriors were reluctant to accept her help because of her youth, and that frustrated her. She finally earned respect when, at age 18, a band of hunters came into the city. They had been attacked by a band of robbers, and one was severely wounded. His arm had been ripped to pieces, and it was turning black. Out of desperateness the hunters allowed her to try to heal the man, as all other wound healers refused to help, knowing that Adara was best suited for the job. She preformed an amputation of the man’s arm, directing one of the hunters where to cut. Then she used one of their swords, heated to a flaming red in a fire, to close the wound by pressing the hot metal on the severed flesh. A month of care later, the hunter was back to normal (minus an arm).

Adara’s skills became better known in the city, though it extended no further. By the time she celebrated her 21st birthday she was well practiced in most medical situations. She became restless dealing with minor colds and stomach problems. She knew there were others who could do those simple things just as easily, and it seemed she was wasting her talent. At the completion of her training she said goodbye to her family, promised to visit, and left Bardavos. She set out for other places where she could be of more assistance.

Weaknesses:
Adara has never had physical training. She is weak physically, and knows nothing of weaponry. As she has no magic, magic induced wounds are beyond her power to heal. In a battle, she is pretty useless. She never had the oppurtunity to gain a formal education, so she knows little of math or science. Her mother taught her to read and write, yet it was used little so she has a limited literary vocabulary. She is afraid of large wild animals, because she has no way to protect herself from them, nor has she seen many. She is also terrified of the dark, because in the city there were always lamps burning, and no lights usually meant that someone had extinguished them to make a murder or theft less easy to protect against.

Strengths:
Because she has spent so many years perfecting measurements, tastes, etc for her healing mixtures, Adara has a knack for cooking. She knows which herbs taste best with each other, and is very creative when making recipes. She is an excellent healer and growing up around city people she knows how to deal with stubborn people. She is also very quick on her feet and agile, though those skills were developed from avoiding crashing into people or items when navigating through her fathers shop. She is street smart, and can sense a fraud or theif with relative ease. When shopping for supplies she can haggle the price down considerably, and she knows how to run a business.

Possessions:
There are only two things that Adara carries with her that she deems of any importance: her herb bag, and a change of night clothes, a shawl, and a sash. Her extra clothes are kept folded in a large "pocket" sewed on the underside of her skirt. Inside the herb bag she has a small supply of Yahrle that she bought from an elf that was passing through town, Easecathe, Miyu beans, and a bottle of the Mercy Athlane that was purchased from a traveling soldier. She keeps a dagger with her, for protection and healing purposes, but she knows nothing of using it in a violent way.