Difference between revisions of "Rodica Corvini"

Revision as of 01:05, 13 August 2018

Description

When someone says the phrase 'Lycene ladies', it normally conjures up images of lushly seductive women in scandalously cut silk gowns. Not so, for Rodica. No, she's all lean muscle from years spent climbing the rigging of ships and sun-kissed skin that probably burned far more times than she'd have liked before it finally learned to tan. Though her dark hair is most often bound back for practical purposes, she has a tendency to develop wispy strands that frame her heart-shaped face, probably as a result of her general inability to hold still for very long. As for the gowns? Well, they're not much good on deck, but they're a tolerable trade for her well-worn leathers when the occasion calls for it.

Personality

Adventure lies just over the horizon, for those who are willing to chase that ever-distant point. And Rodica is more than willing. A longing to live life to its fullest courses through her veins, propelling her perpetually forward. She's a woman rarely satisfied for long and well-intentioned warnings or talk of "being sensible" is unlikely to sway her once her heart is set on a chosen course. Fortunately, she's just clever enough to have kept herself out of too much trouble before. (Whose definition of "too much", however, may be a matter of some debate.)

Background

Rodica was born in the seaside city of Iasu where, even for those of the leading family, life was often hard and luxuries were far too few. That doesn't mean that it was without its pleasures, though. When she could find them, she chased them with abandon. And when she couldn't find them, well, she made them.

The truest and dearest of those pleasures has been, and always will be, the sea. Like most of the Corvini children, she learned to swim from an early age. In fact, her mother often swears she learned to swim before she learned to walk. A fanciful exaggeration, but it's one she's fond of all the same, and close enough to the truth of it. It was soon followed by fishing, diving, sailing. And if she spent more time sneaking out of the study and down to the docks than she did with her tutors, well, her family indulged her. After all, times were lean and no one ever expected that she would lead the life of a noble lady newly restored to the Compact. Better to see to the here and now, and there and then the House was in more need of supplies than of silver-tongued courtiers.

So at sixteen, she took fully to life on the water. And she was good at it. Quite good at it. She worked the deck, earning her way slowly up the chain of command. She steered ships through deadly storms and sailed goods into ports all along a treacherous and rocky coast. She defended their harbor when it was called and, quite frankly, sometimes even when it wasn't -- and was simply an excuse to, ahhh, commandeer the cargo of another vessel that posed a threat. (After all, someone had to provide for the city.) And if she made a few connections along the way with Compact captains looking for a place to off-load their wares or a friendly dockmaster who'd look the other when it came to the colors flying from the mast or the details of their ship's manifest, well, what of it?

But now the Corvini *have* returned to the Compact. It puts their small fleet in a very different position now, and -- being of the leading family -- she's suddenly found herself with the title of 'Admiral', and all the expectations of respectability that come with it. It's going to be a very different life, and it's not one she's entirely sure she's prepared for.