Country Affiliation: Wanderer, though she still considers herself a citizen of Heliohapt
Race: Magician
Tier: D
Class: Magician
Age + Birthdate: 23, June 21
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Pansexual
Personality: Nenet is a woman who exists in a tenuous state of balance with herself, a woman who has experienced great trauma and sadness in her life who now finds herself experiencing hope and happiness when she had all but given up on it: She is a woman healing and growing who cannot just shed the pieces of her past and it's pain so easily.
She is a smart, quick witted woman with both a formal education that makes her well read and a wizened street smarts that make her adaptive and capable. She often comes across as somewhat shy and quiet, but that's not strictly the case as Nenet prefers to watch and observe until she's comfortable dealing with a situation… most of the time.
It's like a mask she can slip on, a sudden charm and wit that isn't quite sincere, her laughs a little too lilting and her smiles always missing her eyes even as she shows her interest, her 'sincerity' trained into her so much that sometimes she doesn't realize she's doing it. She can slip into this mindset for many reasons and when she's uncomfortable or upset it comes out the most easily. A way. To cope with things, a way to protect herself.
Then she smiles, truly smiles, and Nenet is a gorgeous and tragic woman again. Her real self isn't so 'perfect', defined by her grief and the losses she has suffered. She is reserved, conflicted and withdrawn unless she is truly comfortable or happy around others and she comes across as having very low self esteem but she has a passion in her heart that shines through. Warm and compassionate, sweet in a very heartfelt way and always trying to empathize with others or understand them.
Her empathy for others manifests in very pointed ways, often in protective streaks and an almost motherly way of caring for others, a trait she picked up in her former life where she often tried to soothe and nurture the young initiates who were forced into the same place she was. Abuse and violence towards women or children, because of this and her life, will incense Nenet to the point of being compelled to step in and help. She has had her voice stolen before, and she refuses to allow it again.
This has resulted in a streak of defiance and an almost compulsive need to speak her mind when she sees or hears something she finds objectionable and a fierce loyalty to those who earn her trust. While she comes off quiet and distant, and often requires time to trust anyone, she will do almost anything for those who earn her trust and has difficulty letting go of grudges or resentment. She can put on a mask when she needs to if her feelings are counter productive.
Though she is healing and changing for the better, all of Nenet's growth can't change how hurt she is inside. How brittle she considers her new life, and she wildly relies on Kotanan to the point of sharing dependency with him. They are each other's lifelines and share a trust that is almost like a wall around them, sometimes keeping others from truly knowing them as they know each other.
This itself makes Nenet incredibly protective of her savior, and with this combined with him being an absolute idiot who wishes to test and prove himself at every juncture...Nenet often finds herself panicked for him, and worrying every time he throws himself into a critical situation. She can't imagine what life would be like if she ever lost her beacon.
Likes:
- Kotanan, the man who both set her free and enslaved her heart
- Alcohol and Hookah, vices from her years in the brothels
- Reading, both fantastical stories and academic pieces
- Performance Arts, singing, dancing, and playing music (she is adept in the qanun and harp)
- Tea, particularly fond of spiced teas or rose teas
- Pomegranates, she loves their duality
- Freedom, there was nothing like it
- Children, while uncertain whether she’ll have any of her own, she adores them nonetheless
Dislikes:
- Slavers and Slavery, having lived through it she has a special discontent on the topic
- Consuming Meat, it’s never been something she’s enjoyed
- Being ridiculed or looked down upon for being a courtesan, she has no shame in who she was and dislikes being treated as though she should
- Those who feel entitled to her company, just because she was a prostitute gives no man the right to her time or body any longer
- Being touched without expressed permission, never again
- Being cold, it brings back bad childhood memories and a discomfort she could live without
Aspirations:
- Revenge, the organization who benefitted from her long after her family’s debt was paid in full, the same one which sold her to line more of their pockets… she wishes to dismantle it from the inside
- Never end in chains that are not of her own making
- Finding the version of herself without her chains
- Pursuing magic, while she no novice in spellcraft she does wish to grow her skills and become more proficient, following other branches of magic as well
Phobias/fears:
- To end in chains once more, she cannot think of anything worse in her life than to return to the life she had been forced into
- Losing herself in who or what she might become following her path of revenge, when you walk such a path you don't know where it will take you.
- Losing Kotanan or finding herself unworthy of him, he's the first person to ever to her for herself and not the person she was expected to be during the time she was rented.
Face-Claim: Scheherazade / FateGO
Hair Color: Dark slate-black
Eye Color: Blue-green
Height: 157cm, 5 foot 2 inches
Weight: 57kg, 126 pounds
Appearance: Nenet stands just over five foot though despite being small in stature, the woman’s willowy body gives her more height than she truly has. Her torso has a voluptuous hourglass form with a bosomy chest, slim waist, and shapely hips attached to exquisite legs that belie her height entirely. Her figure is overall rather soft with some subtle muscle definition most noticeable when she dances, giving her a rather buxom appearance.
She wears her long hair either loose down her shoulders and back or braided over one shoulder, ear-length bangs brush the side of her beautiful miens, painted just enough to enhance the beauty already there. Large eyes and high cheekbones, delicately shaped nose, her upper lip is not unlike the shape of a longbow with a plumb lower lip to give them a plush appearance.
Her outfits are all typical of the Heliohapt general style, wearing golds and metals and silks to adorn her body. Much of her skin is often exposed but her clothing of choice is almost modest enough to be sensual without outright being sexual. She is often seen veiled, showing just the eyes upon her face that have a habit of looking either blue or green depending on the angle in which they are gazed upon.
Rukh Alignment: Natural Rukh
Special Features: There is a brand on the back of her neck, the mark of her slavery, always hidden by a choker she nearly never takes off.
History: The day she was born by and large seemed completely ordinary but it was auspicious as another beloved one of the Ruhk was born though it was a couple of years before anyone knew. Her early child was the typical blissful ignorance all infants are wont to experience, attentive and loving parents, but the reality was not quite as beautiful. Her parents did love her, that was without question… she was their little miracle child, a babe they never thought they could have--and in a way they were right. With another personage in the household they struggled more than they ever had, they wanted their child well kept for and happy as they were never happy, desperation wishing for a better future her father took a risk and got involved with a shady organization but the gamble didn’t pay itself off.
That was when everything started to change in her life though in her perspective it was simply the normal, she hadn’t had the luxury of knowing a better way; her parents moved them abruptly from their home and into the household of her aunt and her son. Her early years were spent with her mother’s nephew, Bes, who was nearing his teen years looked after her while both her parents were working--and they were always working. Her cousin was lovely and took care of her without complaint so those years were not the worst they could have been, she was still a rather carefree child. It wasn’t until it was discovered she was born a magician that everything started to change, slowly at first before being thrust into a life completely outside her control and choosing.
When she was still young--around five years old--she was out at the market with her cousin, buying ingredients for their meager family dinner, when a cart went out of control and came barrelling down the poorer market’s lane. In the chaos Bes was sent off his feet and in holding her she went down with them in the way of the rampaging horse. In a panic her cousin tried to get them both up but he would have been too slow, Nenet cried out for help as she clung to her guardian and the Ruhk answered, the horse crashed into the shield that suddenly appeared around her; it shattered the protection but toppled the horse, the exertion had the young girl passing out on the spot. Bes quickly collected her and retreated from the scene before anyone truly recognized her and ran them both home.
Despite Bes' efforts and reactions, the syndicate discovered Nenet's awakening potential and began to put plans into place to develop her as a magician among their ranks. Her parents tried to object and took every precaution to keep her out of sight and mind of the Way; Isolating her from others, bringing in a private tutor to instruct her in magic instead of exposing her progress to the Way. Nenet's talent was immediately obvious and she took to the lessons she was given like a fish to water. Her drive to learn and take in what she was given, combined with her innocence, made Nenet miss the obvious tension around her and the way her parents seemed to both be proud of her and yet also nervous of her progress.
As Nenet grew older her beauty and natural charm began to show more and more prominently the attention her tutor gave her began to change; He no longer saw a gifted student, but an asset he could use to advance in the organization and be rewarded. Her growth as a magician was forwarded to the Way, but the organization was equally interested in the way she had developed physically. Plans were formed around Nenet's future despite the protests of her parents who were silenced, no longer useful to their employers in the face of Nenet's potential. She was to be sent to a location owned by the Way to be trained and shaped as an entertainer and an escort, working off her parent's debts while the Way found ways to use her talents.
Young and willful, Nenet tried to retain some level of personal freedom and voice in her new life once she was sent away, but the madame who took responsibility for her had broken dozens of girls just like her; Her freedom was stolen from her with locked doors and vigilant, well paid guards while her voice was silenced with physical abuses and mental tortures. Deprived of food, of water, of sleep, she learned to be silent and respect the rules of her new life through force and fear, and hanging over her head the entire time was the ‘debt’ her parents owed. Through her ‘work’ she would earn enough to cover what was owed and be free, and this thought was all that kept her going at times.
She was taught to dance, sing, to play music, to read and write beautifully, to entertain and charm her patrons. Her intelligence and physical features were cultivated but her magic, her pride and joy, was now turned into a tool to allow her to appeal to those patrons more spectacularly compared to the other women of the house and earn her more money. When she wasn’t acting as a courtesan, Nenet found herself practicing her magic in private and picking up on other skills from those around her. During her time she picked up tarot and runes from the other girls, something she began to practice to pass her free time and cultivate an air of mystery and charm.
Her debut into the house was simple enough, her dancing and singing enough to satisfy others, but eventually she suffered the same fate as every woman in the house; She was sold for someone else’s satisfaction, a beautiful doll to rent for a night or an evening, a doll playing out her own life. She fell into it, burying herself in half-truths and thoughts of freedom being her reward...And then one day, news came to her from inside the house. Her parents were dead, killed by the Way after they had tried to track her down and rescue her from the house. Their debts had far been paid off by this point and they had tried to take her back by force when the Way had refused to release her...and suffered the consequences.
Nenet, furious and finally at the end of her rope, demanded her freedom. Fought and screamed for her freedom with the last vestiges of the person she had been before they had taken her life from her. It didn’t matter,and when they discovered her fury had rendered her numb to the usual punishments, the Way and the pleasure house decided to wring her last drop of worth from her; They sold her into slavery outright, a wealthy merchant buying her the moment she was available. Her freedom now locked and chained away, Nenet sunk into herself completely and the next period of her life was a blur of emotions and hopes robbed from her. She surrendered entirely to the blackness that choked her and she did as she was told, she lived to survive. Until that day on the ship…
Her owner was taking a journey, an excuse to escape the building unrest that had been building in Heliohapt for a time, a trip by sea into the north for trade and Nenet was taken along for the inevitable need for companionship a man would find on such a long journey. Somewhere among ice and snow, a lookout spotted a man adrift among the waves and he was pulled aboard. His hair and clothing marked him as one of the Imuchakk and the merchant had ideas of using him to find the tribes among the ice and bring his trade to new peoples, but it would never come to fruition. He made the simple mistake of sending Nenet to tend to the man, to bring him warm drink and hot food and ease his frostbite, but none of them realized what Nenet soon came to see.
The man wasn’t harmed by his time in the ice, he was suffering something deeper and more emotional, something Nenet understood the moment she saw the darkness in his eyes, and she tried to ignore the flicker of emotions rising up when she realized this. He had touched a split in her lower lip, placed there by her owner earlier that evening and the simple gesture of concern broke something deep inside. He ate and he drank, and then he caught her hand and asked her why she was trembling around him...and Nenet responded by asking him to help her. To save her.
It should have been an insane, desperate plea with the last part of her true self she’d locked away, the part that her life had nearly stolen from her. Instead, Nenet found herself staring in shock as the man they’d rescued quietly stood and moved out of the cabin he’d been placed into...and freed her. It was a day she would never forget, not allowing herself to leave the cabin and instead listening to the sounds that rang out. Men crying out, bodies hitting the deck, the water and then finally her owner’s voice sounding out last among them all. When she saw the man again, he was holding several bundles of cloth that he threw to her and told her to gather anything she could carry. They were leaving.
Before Nenet truly understood what was happening, the man had taken down one of the small landing boats off the ship and had loaded food, clothing and provisions into it. He lowered her into the water first and disappeared for a few moments...returning only when the ship began to catch fire above her. He landed on the boat with her and rowed them away as the ship began to light the sky and billow smoke. It was only here that Nenet finally asked her savior his name and truly met the man she would come to trust with her life; Kotanan.
At first he intended to only take her as far as the nearest port and let her choose her own path from there, but this intention changed when she realized that he had been injured during his rescue of her; Her magic, unused for anything but aiding in her dancing and entertaining, allowed her to mend his wounds with little trouble, and Nenet felt herself attached to this man. This brutal, quiet man who had just murdered a shipful of people on little more than her plea was the only spot of hope she’d had in years, and she clung to it. She asked to stay with him, and admitted that there was nowhere else for her to truly go now. Instead of leaving her at port, Kotanan took her with him.
Nenet has begun to relearn herself and push herself to grow into the person she never had the opportunity to be, who she wishes to be, alongside her boisterous and prideful traveling partner who has swiftly become her best friend and companion. Growing and changing alongside him as he grew out of his own wounds and demons, the pair have been traveling ever since and nothing has yet managed to come between them, something which shows no signs of changing anytime soon.
- Role-Play Sample:
- Wheel of Fortune. It was almost an ironic feeling that welled within her breast as she gazed upon the elaborately painted card in her hand, setting it down on the gilded fabric spread out over the table before her. Her lips encircled the end of the pipe to her traveling hookah as she inhaled the flavored smoked, exhaling deeply as her dominant hand pulled another card from her deck. Queen of Pentacles. She let out of her breath towards the ceiling and quietly contemplated the meaning of what she drew from the deck and how it related to the previous card. The Queen joined the Fortune on the mat as she took another draw from the hookah, shifting softly in her chair; almost as if from an involuntary tick as she drew the final card of her current spread. Judgment. The pipe was set off the side as she exhaled, her mouth coming down in a frown as the placement of the card was in the reverse position, the card was put with others and she sat there for a time trying to come to the conclusion of what the cards meant to tell her. The shadow that graced the door frame, having to stoop to step inside the room's proper brought her out of her reverie completely making whatever mood the cards had placed upon her melt away like the desert sun melting ice. The smile that graced the room was brilliant, chasing away the last of the clouds.
