Raven Masque
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| Raven Masque | |
|---|---|
| Social Rank | 7 |
| Fealty | Velenosa "Velenosa" is not in the list of possible values (Redrain, Valardin, Grayson, Thrax, Pravus, Lyceum, Crown) for this property.
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| Gender | Female |
| Age | 22 |
| Religion | Mirrormask |
| Vocation | Soldier |
| Height | 5'5" |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Eye Color | Green |
| Skintone | Fair |
| Journals | |
| Authored By / Featured In | |
| Active | |
Description
Raven is a distractingly beautiful woman who acts and dresses so to not make any use of her looks, utility trumping aesthetics whenever she has a say in it. Her mane of hair is pitch-black and her body is slim and athletic, born of rigorous training and god-given gifts of beauty and grace, but it is in her eyes that clues to Raven's puzzle can be found. venomously green, they are also filled with a forlorn touch that permeates her aura.
{w({nRaven looks pale and harrowed, as though she's been through some great ordeal recently.{w){n
Personality
Raven looks behind her and sees a young woman who had no prospects in life, and now serves the famed Pravus, brought fully into the household as the true heir of Lunara Argento would be. She inherited more than the title of Blackheart from her foster mother, however, and Raven believes she represents the woman. She is unforgiving with her own blunders, believing they reflect on the unassailable sea-queen that was Lunara. She acts honorably, she serves well, fights with cold fury, and hopes the Blackheart is watching. Most of times Raven prefers to speak with actions rather than words. She is prone to moments of great grief, even as she finds in the Pravus family echoes of Lunara's own behavior, small things that draw her into their fold. She is loyal to her new masters, but it will take her a while before she feels at home, especially as she is taught how to behave nobly by the duchess herself.
Background
Setarco is famed for its silken brutality as much as for its wines and courtiers. Dozens of souls vanish in dangerous alleys and strong tides to never be seen again every day, and while the city spares no one from its insidious cycles, children are more helpless than most. A homeless child in Setarco has two options: growing up fast, or giving up their fates to the Silken City.
Raven made her decision early.
Throughout her childhood Raven was forced to develop to survive Setarco's lower boroughs. She avoided other children so she could also go unnoticed by those who would prey on them, making no friends growing up. Before she was a woman Raven was already a damaged mess, violent and mistrusting, her life in a collision course to a shockingly violent end if not for one of the worst ideas she had ever had.
By the age of fourteen Raven had crossed just about every crime syndicate in Setarco, and owed them blood debts she had no intention to pay. She had to find a way out of the city, or die, and her escape plan hinged on the upcoming festivals in the name of Piero Pravus. The idea was simple: pick the right visiting noble, sneak into their ship while they were our partying and steal their treasures.
That was her ticket out, and it almost worked, too. She found a lonely drunkard to follow for days, one who had fancy clothes and paid for her crew's drunken parties every night of the festival. At the height of the festivities, Raven snuck into the woman's ship and into her cabin to steal whatever she found, but therein was the problem. The prize she found was the Silver Crescent, a stunning masterpiece of Alaricite, but holding it was its very awake wielder, the dreaded Blackheart of Bravura.
Details of that night are scarce, but some barbs were exchanged, and legend has it the young woman's prickly nature endeared the Argento woman. The next morning Raven was employed as a crewmate of the Blackwater, and Lunara Argento's new cup bearer. Raven never looked back, and over the years, hating and loving her employer, Blackheart and Raven became close, mother and daughter in everything but blood. Lunara taught Raven how to fight and gamble/cheat, how to win the affections of lovers and most of all about duty and honor. Those lessons would serve her well in the years after the failed Argento coup.
The fall of House Argento took its toll on the Blackheart, as Lunara fell terribly ill. When Marcos Argento moved the remnant of the family to Luciva, the Sword of Bravura was already a shadow of her former self, and Raven took up on the responsibilities of protecting the despicable marquis while her mentor rested. Raven stayed with Lunara, aware her mentor's greatest fear would materialize any day then: she would die unmourned on some bed, diseased and weak.
The end would come with the Pravus forces invading Luciva. Raven witnessed as the Pravosi swordswoman extended Belladonna' mercy to Lunara, urging the ever-honorable Blackheart to surrender and promising she would be welcomed in Setarco to continue her service as the protector of the last Argento. As Raven knew Lunara would, the captain of the Blackwater respectfully declined the offer, wishing instead the warrior's death against Pravus' best. The Blackheart left this life that very day, fighting like a demon-queen of the waves, drawing her last breath in Raven's arms.
For the mercy shown, and the funeral arranged to her mentor, friend and mother, Raven accepted the offer to bend the knee to the duchess of Setarco as Raven the Blackheart of Pravus, joining the House in Arx.
