Synopsis
Altmer diplomat on an unusual mission
Description
At home in the Summerset Isles, Asherah would never win the crown of beauty. Though her blood is as blue as the other nobles around whom she was raised, she had none of the noble features of her race. Her eyes are too big, her cheeks too rounded, and since she started coming into her woman's form, an unfortunate blemish started to cross her nose and cheeks. Her parents and their servants did what they could to mask their daughter's strange looks, and Asherah has learned much of the ways of skin care and disguise, but nothing could save her from the taunts her family has endured on her behalf.
Still, it cannot be denied she is her parents' child. From her father's side she inherited the unusually coppery shade of hair, and from her mother the malachite eyes and full mouth. Though her softness makes her look child-like to her people, it also adds to her subtle grace. When she speaks, her voice is soft and reserved, her words carefully chosen. More often than not she is underestimated before she speaks. This, at least, her parents consider an asset worth offsetting her other less fortunate features.
Asherah is most often found in garbs befitting an Altmer diplomat and mage, and possesses the necessary arsenal of a noble woman's finery. Recently taken to travel, she's had to leave much of these things behind at the Embassy, but keeps a few pieces of jewelry on hand befitting of her station to remind those around her that she is not some child to be coddled, but an Ambassador worthy of her post.
Personality
Asherah has always felt apart from her people. Any attempts to conform with societal norms - and there were many - were met with disappointment and ridicule. When uniformity is one of the most highly valued qualities in a people, any differences, particularly those one is helpless to change, are viewed with disdain. Asherah learned early on that she would not be forgiven her odd looks, though she tried hard to hide them and make up for them by working harder at learning the ways of proper nobility through strict education, not only for her budding ability with magic, but about her people's history and society.
Age did not rid her of her childish softness, not even the strict diet her parents put her on to help her grow leaner in face and body, which left its own marks on her mind and spirit. And as she grew and learned more of her people, she found that the disappointment was becoming mutual. It didn't take long for the observant young Altmer to find patterns in the movement of the Thalmor, and to see that, so long as her people's ambition remained, war would never end. Knowing her one, small voice would never be heard on this matter, though, she decided to devote her time to other matters - following problems to their very root so that she might take care of them at the source. Thus has warfare and its reasons been a source of much interest to Asherah over the years.
Finding more acceptance among books and in her studies than amongst her peers, Asherah became the closeted sort. While her social skills slacked, her mind expanded. She found ways of looking at the world as a puzzle, whose pieces span many dimensions, but when fit together, form beautiful and fascinating truths. And so she devotes much of her time to taking in these pieces, sorting through them at rapid rates, and drawing conclusions no one else around her seems to reach.
What also sets her apart from her peers is her empathy. While many of them strive to use one another for positions of power, Asherah stayed so long outside of this game that she never learned the art of courtly maneuvering. Instead, she remained so close to the bottom rung that she found herself in company of the fallen, offering them comfort with the reassurance that, no matter how far they fell, they would never be her. This was so oddly and consistently effective that she learned the healing powers of self-deprecation, though this was practically considered a sin among her people.
Equipment / Abilities
Thalmor robes (stats?)
Horse
Books?
Potions?
Magic-increasing accessories
History
Raised in high society, Asherah wanted for nothing in her youth. She had every opportunity laid out before her, every resource available to her, and every chance to follow whatever path her ambition most desired. However, the one thing she wanted most in the world, the one thing she could never have, was love and acceptance. Born with unusual looks into a society where the paramount value is uniformity is difficult for anyone, and in particular a child. Her parents did nothing to defend Asherah from this truth, only sought to do what they could do deflect it. She was put on diets, given private classes in cosmetics, and generally encouraged to make fashion choices to mask her less desirable features, with limited results. As a result, Asherah learned much about societal norms, but learned very little about self-worth.
This began changing when Asherah's talent with magic was discovered and she was sent to study to become a mage. Her family seemed relived to see her go, and the feeling was mutual - though the idea made Asherah feel somewhat guilty. Still, she became quickly distracted by the pleasure of intellectual pursuit - something the ridicule of her peers couldn't take from her. When she wasn't at her normal lessons, Asherah was pursuing new and intriguing inquiries and learning about the history of her nation - if not to find some hint of other oddities like herself, then for the pleasure of learning new perspectives, but either she was a unique case, or history blemished by oddities like herself had been wiped from the slate. Whatever the case, she abandoned the search as best she could, hoping to spare herself the disappointment, and concentrated on other studies.
Asherah's keen inquisitive mind learned soon enough that her people had a talent and proclivity towards warfare. That they had rarely known a moment of peace with the other nations. And with the rise of the Thalmor in body and popularity, she could see only more bloodshed on the horizon. So she began taking steps to prepare for that eventuality, devoting most of her time to the practice of defensive and restorative magics, as well as devouring histories and cultural guides of neighboring nations.
Her interest in foreign affairs earned her the right to request placement for the Ambassadorial Apprenticeship, and when she got the go-ahead, Asherah hopped the first ship off the Isles and headed for the mainland.
She was present for the signing of the White-Gold Concordat. Having been in the Empire at the time of the Great War (she has a talent for being in the midst of the most conflict; she finds out where the worst is happening and goes to the center of it in order to fix what she can) (blah blah saw things were going to shit and that the Thalmor had aimed their next conquest at the north - though she might have tried to get to Hammerfell first while they were trying to take over there and failed.)
Extra
Refreshing Feed...
