Name: Katya Kuznetsov
Sex: Female
Age: 20
Appearance: Katya is 5’2, thin, and frail. Her hair is slightly past her shoulders, colored a light whitish-blue. To call her ugly would be too harsh, but she has a very sharp jaw, a plain face, and an overall lack of feminine features.
Element: Wind
Skills: - Obviously, the whole Elemental thing. Katya isn’t nearly as competent as say Tristan or Eric, but she can hold her own.
- Katya can speak Gallish and Garmiccian fluently, although she has a thick
Russian Garmiccian accent.
- One on one with a rapier in a formal setting, she’s pretty good.
- Seems to have a knack for attracting strays and ruffians?
Personality: Katya is outwardly proud and stubborn, although inwardly rather insecure. A little reserved at first, but quite talkative around close friends. She is headstrong and foolish, following her own path whether wise or not. She also enjoys the recognition and attention of others, perhaps a little too much for her good. At heart, though, she's pleasant and good-natured - for the most part.
Weaknesses: - Some say that the powers of a Spellborn draw from their individual vitality, channeled from their own life-force. Whether this is true or not is a mystery. However, Katya seems to tire more easily than the average Elemental, with more complicated spells enacting severe exhaustion which takes a while to recover from.
- Katya also is slightly emotionally unstable. Maybe father issues, maybe the stress of exile - but the mood swings are there.
- Katya detests Yelhennians. This has not come up and likely will not, but five hundred years of feuding cannot be ignored! Cowardly rat-dog Yelhennian bastards, can’t trust a single one!
- Overconfidence is not a virtue. Katya feels compelled to live up to the accomplishments of her father, without having the mental fortitude to go with it. This leads to some poor decision-making.
- Cannot cook, cannot dance, cannot knit, cannot sew, cannot play instruments. Not the best wife material by Garmiccian noble standards.
Equipment, if any: A few sets of clothes, a dark blue cloak, thick winter boots, a chestplate with greaves and leggings, a rapier, and a large grimoire stolen from her father’s prized library.
Bio: Katya is the firstborn child of Baron Nikolai Kuznetsov, a fearsome Metal Elemental warlord and current regent of the Morozov Province, a far-flung northernmost polity of Garmiccia. Katya’s mother died in childbirth, and Baron Kuznetsov refuses to speak about her to Katya at any point.
Despite this tragedy, Katya’s childhood was a happy one. Her father was willing to raise her as his rightful heir, and he was a doting and caring father. She learned the customary arts of any noble - horseback riding, dueling, studies of history, how to use her gift for practical purposes. It was a busy childhood, but not an unpleasant one.
That is, of course, until he remarried. When Katya was around 14, her father accepted an offer of marriage for the hand of Nadia Szelmalom, one of the daughters of the Szelmalom House of East Vasovia. It was a loveless marriage, arranged for political reasons at the bequest of Jeremiahde.
As Nikolai failed to produce a son and time continued to wind along its way, he became harsher and more demanding, beginning to confront the fact that perhaps he would not end up with a real heir. Though he has raised his daughter like a proper son, this had been more of a contingency than anything else. In his eyes, she was not ready for the responsibility she seemed destined for. She had inherited both the sins of her father and mother - too stubborn and prideful, and yet too free-spirited and carefree. If he died, his life’s work would fall to pieces under her care. And in her eyes, he became cruel and callous, a tyrant of a father. Satisfied with nothing and always asking for more. Their formerly close relationship unraveled and strained, threatening to fall apart completely.
Things only grew worse when little Bohdan was born. Nikolai was overjoyed, elated beyond belief to have a real heir, a son to carry the family name. Katya’s world dropped out from under her in weeks. Her fate had gone from ruling her father’s lands to marrying some suitor and becoming a dignified lady of the court. But she had spent her life training for the wrong thing, and couldn’t dance, or play an instrument, or follow table manners, or organize the matters of servants and maids.
Her father did his best to find her a suitor to her liking, but she rejected them all with disdain and hatred, reacting more poorly to each subsequent attempt. It all rose to a climax when her father attempted to wed her to Duke Kowalczyk, a shipping magnate and a valuable trading partner. She insulted him, he insulted her in return, and she challenged him to a duel in front of the entire court. Kowalczyk was not an Elemental and not a fighter, but to reject a challenge like that would be humiliating. Rumors would spread. He drew his sword to defend his honor - and lost terribly. Filled with victorious glee, Katya sliced his long beard right off his face.
The room fell silent. That very night, Nikolai banished her, threatening her with immediate execution and certain death if she ever set foot in his lands again. Despite what Katya thought, this was difficult for him. He still loved his daughter, but to let her continue on in this way would ruin his reputation beyond repair. Nikolai had sacrificed much and suffered plenty to gain what he had, and even his love for his daughter was not more important than his dream. His Captain of the Guard, Alexei, who had raised Katya like a daughter he had never had, protested - banishment without terms was too cruel. He pled her case to her father, almost begging for an alternative.
In a surprising twist of fate, Nikolai relented. There was a task that had been given to him by Emperor Jeremiahde - one that involved going overseas to deliver a letter. Perhaps, he supposed, if she managed to complete this - he could let her return home.
Two men were sent to accompany her by Nikolai. The first was Ivan, a petty guard who had been caught taking bribes from the peasantry. This was an exile in all but the official decree - if his daughter was to mature, she would have to learn to deal with adversity. This miserable little man would prove to be challenging enough, he hoped.
The second was Timur, one of Nikolai’s trusted captains, sent to ensure that the mission was completed and that his daughter did not stray from her path. Alexei volunteered to attend as well, not willing to let his adoptive daughter travel to a faraway land with no family and two wicked men. Reluctantly, Nikolai dismissed him as well.
The ship they boarded was caught in a fierce storm at sea, and blown far off course. The sinking vessel landed on the city of Carogne to make repairs. An embargo between the Commonwealth and the Federation kept them stuck on the island, with no way to continue their journey. They hid low on the Watchtower-infested island for near a year, learning the language and attempting to find a way onwards. But the gods had other plans for them, apparently. After a year of languishing away, they encountered Eric and Belle in a crowded town square - and the rest, of course, is history.
Theme: Music from a game about the cold. Seems fitting. 
Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2022 4:10 pm
