Browse wiki

One of three siblings, Nuala was destined early to forge a contrary path to expectations. Freed from demands of inheritance, she firmly believed she had a destiny to fulfill. And perhaps there's something to that, for few people come into the world so stricken by the need to live life to its fullest. The blood in her runs hot and sings true for the far horizon. Even in her tender years, all knew she would not be rooted to the stony soils of her homeland, but driven to turn over every rock, dive through unknown waters, dance with the stars, and puzzle over the unfamiliar shapes. Her Redrain family didn't encourage her to wander initially. She received a broad and extensive education. Nothing would halt the questions tumbling off her lips that besieged every tutor. A story completed begged more inquiries and a radiant sense of action. Nuala understood, as those rare dynamic souls do, answers could not be found only between withered parchment pages or musty books kept on the high shelf where small hands shouldnt reach them. They existed outside walls among people and spirits, couched in lies and mysteries -- and she wanted her piece of them. She took up a sword because the idea of venturing into the outside world unarmed was inconceivable, and she took her blows with an eye firmly fixed on the horizon. Restless west winds blew her away to ports of call further than the last, wherever her coin, martial talents, and relentless independence could purchase a berth. Stays at home grew shorter every time. Whether the Mourning Isles or Sanctum or Setarco, she sought to reach the borders of the Compact and beyond. She preferred expeditions to less known lands, braving corners her boots never before touched. Trouble scratched her often enough, but she sailed away in search of adventure, excitement, and a need for truth. Few crews knew her identity, hidden by a plethora of names and changing stories. On one journey, she crossed paths with her future husband, a prince of Valardin, bound south to the furthest of the Lycene isles. Treacherous storms drove them to Eurusi shores and trouble she never much speaks of. She and her husband were the only survivors. The harrowing effort to return took nearly a year, and the couple was thought very much to be dead. The pair of windblown birds married within two months of coming ashore. It should have been a happy matrimony, and it was -- while it lasted. They drew plans to support the expansion of trade from the north, bolstering Redrain's diplomatic position abroad. They continued to search deep and far into unknown waters. Their marriage contract was barely dry when he died in the Battle of Setarco, leaving Nuala a widow. She turned north for a brief phase, then took to the sea, extending her house's influence. Some said she lost the only roots she had. All the promises forged in the deserts of Eurus and the high seas while they bled, starved, and wept would not be denied. In those adventures she fell in with other fortune-seekers like herself, all seeking to scribe their name on history and life. What drives her with such purpose, she keeps squarely to herself. But why is she making up for lost time? She has a destiny, and she will fulfill it in the city of Arx among other fortune-seekers like herself.

She is studied contrast between the starless sky on a winter's night. The height and supple lineaments find a curious equilibrium when wedded to the lithe grace that carries her untouched through the world. Fair skin invokes the pristine chill of Everwinter, scribed by sharply distinguished cheekbones and narrow features. The faintest traces of rose blush her cheeks and find greatest saturation in her damask mouth. Clouds of bistre hair shocked by a blackberry sheen do nothing to lessen the impact of her moon-etched fairness or the intense scrutiny of her lambent heliotrope eyes. Contemplative or distant, deliberate expressions barely nudge the ethereal quality around her, and when she focuses in the present, her gravitas reaches a near tangible level.

The shamans in the north say she has spirit, and her southern kin would be hard-pressed to disagree on that front. Nuala burns like a star in the world, throwing her light out to illuminate the darkest corners. She thrums with life, and has an appetite for nearly all that life has to offer. The energy that blazes strong and fierce within her fills up a volume well beyond her apparent size. She can be dangerously charming or a wildfire, as the mood takes. Her belief in her destiny gives her a surprising resilience to fall back on when beset by difficulty, and she'll never be kept down long. Wearing interchangeable masks on the public stage, she shifts from a witty, easygoing figure to intense focus as the moment takes her, but never does she do anything by half measures. Occasionally the restless, roiling currents threaten to consume her. When directed to a shining focus, she can lose sense of nearly anything else in pursuit of a goal. Her insatiable curiosity goes hand-in-hand with a fierce independence. She rarely takes no for an answer once she sets her course.