Name: Bettina Lambert
Age: 17
Gender: F
Race: Human
Appearance: Statistics: Strength: 2
Agility: 2
Endurance: 3
Magical Prowess: 5 (only limited to Griffon Empathy, otherwise 1)
Bio: Bettina Lambert, usually referring to herself as Betty, hails from the Free Cantons of Schellenberg, a small confederation of independent cities and villages located in the mountains of the Western Heartlands. Though poor and distant from most sources of civilization, relying mostly on agriculture and especially animal husbandry across the mountainous valleys and meadows to make a living, they are fiercely independent and proud of their long lasting traditions which they have fostered among each other. Among their neighbours, they are known for a few things, although one of the most notable quirks is the fact that the mountains of Schellenberg are beloved by Anthem's Griffons as a nesting place and feeding grounds. It is for a reason that the head of a screeching griffon is the symbol of the Free Cantons, even if their peasantry constantly grumbles and complains about their sheep getting eaten by the massive beasts.
Betty was born to the family of a sheep herder, the fifth child in the family, in one of the villages of Schellenberg. A wanderous, friendly and all around perfectly fine child, she spent most of her early days helping her father and older brothers herd sheep, frolicking in the vast alpine meadows surrounding her home, or hiking in the mountains surrounding them, usually with supervision, but not always. In one of her hikes, the seven year old Betty stumbled upon something which changed her life forever - in the distant heights of one of the nearby mountains, she found a ransacked, ruined Griffon nest. Splatters of blood, broken spears and swords all indicated that this was the work of human hunters attacking a mother griffon at her weakest, right after laying eggs and thus resting - and while most of the laid eggs had been broken, one had somehow escaped the hunters' eyes by being immersed in the leaves and twigs composing the nest. The egg no longer had a mother to take care of - so Betty chose to pick it up herself, carrying the egg with her and hiding it from her family in a small cave, until finally it hatched into a baby male griffon which she named Matthias.
During the following years, Betty's family grew increasingly concerned for their daughter. She only seemed to return home for dinner and for sleep and spent the rest of her time outside, away from the eyes of her father or her mother. At the dinner table, she asked for nothing but meat, and yet ate little herself, carrying away the rest - not to bring it with herself to her room, but to carry it out of the house with her in a bag. Meanwhile, griffon sightings over the meadows and the village not far away from their family home turned increasingly common, forcing the villagers to flee to their huts every single time. Meanwhile, Betty attended her newfound friend every single day, watching it grow from a tiny hatchling to a large, powerful griffon, which eventually no longer needed food brought from home and started hunting for itself. Despite that, Matthias always remained close to the girl - it was the first thing he had witnessed in his life and his mind thus registered the human as his mother.
When Betty was fourteen, she finally gathered enough bravery to, after giving Matthias a hearty meal, leap on his back. The griffon didn't understand the meaning of this at first, but soon accepted this change and gave its partner a ride above the valleys of Schellenberg. Flying on the back of a griffon was scary, she constantly felt like she was about to slip off, and yet, at the same time, it felt amazing. And Betty began doing this more often. Her homeland, when traversed from above, felt so much more different - places once difficult to reach became trivial, all the villages and the wide valley expanse looked like nothing atop a giant flying mount... Already, the teenage girl was starting to think of the ways she could put this to use. Her father surely could use the help of a flier while herding sheep, as long as Matthias is well fed and doesn't think of eating some of them... or she could travel as far as the Northern Heights and the Tejis Desert to see the world unfold before her eyes...
What drove Bettine from her village, then? It was painfully simple. As much as she was a friend of one of the most dangerous magical beasts in Anthem, she was still, in the end, a human teenage girl with human feelings, emotions and desires. And her dreams and attraction settled upon a peculiar boy - Friedrich, the son of the burghermeister of the village not far from Betty's home. Unfortunately, as much as Betty saw him as confident, pretty and attractive, and never laid her eyes off of him when his family attended the council office, Friedrich couldn't care less about her. Just a random peasant, right? How do you make that to change, how do you get teh son of the wealthiest family in the village to change his mind about you? Betty wondered as she sat next to her sleeping Matthias, then... looked at the griffon which she had tamed... and put two and two together.
One day, Betty stumbled upon Friedrich in a confectionary and the two of them struck the first real conversation together. After getting to know each other's names, the conversation soon turned towards griffons, at which point she asked the burghermeister's son on whether he has ridden a griffon before. Obviously, the answer she received was no, at which point Betty suddenly dragged Friedrich away by his wrist, promising to show him something cool, bringing him outside of the town and whistled loudly, calling Matthias to land before the two and seriously scaring the boy. Convincing him that she wasn't a some sort of witch, that Matthias is not going to bite or maul him, and that he should hop on the griffon's back all took a looong time, but eventually, Friedrich conceded, and the two of them flew to the air. Much like Betty had been when she first hopped on her mount, the boy was in awe. Maybe this was finally working out...
Which is when disaster struck. For the first time since reaching adulthood, Matthias witnessed an another male griffon fly into its territory, searching for food. Any orders or pleads which Betty screamed didn't reach his ears - her griffon immediately shot forward, screeching louder than she had ever imagined and getting all of the people in the village below to raise their heads and look at the battle between two majestic magical beasts taking place. And while Matthias was certainly in the strength range of his newfound competitor, the two teenagers sitting on his back served as a severe liability to him - immediately, its opponent gained the upper hand. For the two riders, however, the situation was even worse. The only thing they could hold onto was Matthias's fur and each other - and while Betty knew exactly what to hold onto and how to stay on the griffon while it's shaking and fighting, her peer could not, until suddenly...
"FRIEDRICH!"
He fell, Betty's frightened scream echoing across the entire village and outstretched hand failing to catch the boy, left to watch him flail and fall hundreds of meters to his doom. Losing the weight on his back allowed Matthias to finally gain the upper hand and send a few stronger slashes at his opponent, severing the neck and letting his opponent fall to its doom as well, but Betty, holding back tears, ordered her mount to fly as far away as possible. After landing on a small plateau a dozen miles away and allowing Matthias to lick his wounds, the girl weighed her situation. Friedrich's death was only her fault - she was the one who thought that giving him a ride atop Matthias would be a good idea. Not only that, but the entire village heard her scream and knew that she had tamed a griffon and thus led to the burghermeister's son's demise. No, she cannot stay in her village or anywhere else in Schellenberg - thankfully, however, she had a second plan. A place where she could stay and possibly wait out the storm until she finally decides on what she is able to do.
A few weeks later, the people in Velathiri turned their heads to the skies, chatting about the sighting of a surprisingly low flying griffon above - before finally running in fright upon witnessing it descend straight to the city, and the headquarters of the Paean Legion, too. The guards of the HQ swiftly aimed their crossbows at the descending magical beast, only to lower their weapons upon hearing a woman on the griffon's back screaming to not shoot. As it turns out, they saw not a wild griffon searching for prey, but a tamed one - somehow - with a rider who wished to sign up for the Legion. It took a while, especially since she was the youngest person to sign up for the Legion in a long time, but she was eventually accepted, and received the Red Cloak rank to signify her new allegiance with the organization.
Heroic Boon: Griffon Empathy: As a result of Betty's Heroic Boon, she and Matthias are tied in a symbiotic relationship. The Boon imbues Betty with a source of magical power which, in close proximity, Matthias is able to funnel strength from - in practice, this means that when ridden by Betty, Matthias is faster, stronger and more durable than it would normally be.
Abilities:- Griffon Rider: Betty is nothing exceptional all on her own - however, what she brings to the table is an adult male griffon, named Matthias, whom she has known and cared for since hatching and has thus subsequently befriended, and knowing that griffons are not only rare, but also dangerous, brutal and fierce creatures who aren't exactly disposed to interacting with humans, this is quite a feat. Matthias is an eight foot tall creature, easily capable of carrying Betty, her belongings and a few other passengers on its back without a problem, its clawed arms are strong enough to rip apart large prey, it is fast enough to fly at a maximum of 120 kilometers per hour and stay in the air for hours, and, if required to stay on the ground, run at a 40 kilometers per hour. It can also release a powerful screech to daze or scare away opponents, or serve as an alarm to nearby allies.
- Altitude Acclimation: Hailing from the mountains and spending much of her time flying in the air, Betty is acclimated to the cold, oxygen-lacking high altitude environment.
Limitations:- Frail Rider: As stated before, Betty herself is nothing special when it comes to fighting, and even if she rides what is basically a flying tank as far as Anthem is concerned, this doesn't make the girl riding on the top any faster, stronger or more durable than she is before.
- No Stirrups: Nobody designs saddles or stirrups for griffons - as such, Betty sits on her partner's back, holding onto its fur or wings to stay on. This means that she is in a real danger of falling off, especially in high speed chases or, God forbid, aerial battles, at which point she becomes a severe liability to Matthias. Thankfully, those don't happen too often - fellow griffons are pretty rare and human riders even rarer.
- Sustenance: Matthias, like all apex predators, needs to eat a lot of meat to sustain himself, and cannot keep on flying or fighting forever.
- Griffon Pride: Matthias is not exactly the humblest animal to work with. Like all griffons, it sees himself with nothing less but the utmost pride, and this pride reflects itself in how he acts. He couldn't possibly bother with fighting wounded enemies or those which it sees as weak, it pridefully accepts challenges by equal opponents even if that would possibly endanger the whole mission - and if it were to ever see an another griffon above Velathiri, its territory, then it would be an instant recipe for a bloodbath from which only one creature would walk away alive.
Equipment:Nothing besides a small bag carrying an adventurer's kit and a small stock of food, as well as Legionnaire starting handbooks and a map of Anthem for navigation.