Karen Brightflower
| Karen Brightflower | |
 Ala Mhigan Bodyguard for Hire | |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Hyur |
| Clan | Hylander |
| Citizenship | Ala Mhigan Refugee |
| Age | 25 |
| Relationship | Single, looking. |
Character
General
Birthplace: Ala Mhigo
Current Residence: Goblet Appartment
Current Workplace: The Silver Nexus. (Lavender Beds Free Company Mansion.)
Eye Color- Right violet, left green.
Hair color- Blue
Body Type- Muscular
Age: 26
Appearance
Karen is of average height for a Highlander woman, with bronzed skin and a muscular build. She has deep blue hair, usually with light blue highlights, most often kept in a ponytail but at times cut short. Her eyes are hetero chromatic, with her right eye being violet and the left green. Karen tends to favor clothing that is dark blue or violet in color, whether it be heavy armor, a lighter tunic for hand to hand combat, or casual clothes for socializing. Karen carries a mark on her right wrist, usually covered by clothing or a bandage.
Personality
Despite being a hothead in her youth, Karen is a reserved and usually stoic woman. She values strength and courage, and detests bullies and schemers. Initially she can seem distant and aloof, but can be quite warm and caring once she gets to know someone, and is very protective of the few she calls her friends. She respects strength in whatever form it comes it, but detests those who abuse their power to bully or torment those beneath them. She tends to keep her feelings and emotions to herself, guarding what she allows others to see whether friend or foe. However, those that she comes to call true friends will be able to see another side of her.
Combat
General
Karen's preferred style of combat is with a sword and shield, usually wearing medium to heavy armor. Using blade and shield in tandem, her use of extensive shield work often catches some foes off guard who expect her to mostly block with it, rather than use both her sword and shield for both offensive and defensive purposes. She tends to fight defensively, looking to outlast her enemy and slowly wear them down, aiming to tire out her foe until they make a mistake and create an opening for her to exploit. Though lacking enough aether for prolonged use of magic, Karen can use her aether to empower sword strikes or reinforce her defenses in limited amounts.
In addition to her blade work, Karen has also begun training in the Pugilist's Guild in hand to hand combat. Both in order to defend herself when without her arms and armor, but also for instances where she may need to incapacitate an aggressor without maiming or killing them. When fighting in a tunic or other light clothing besides her armor, she can be deceptively quick for her size, using a combination of strength and speed to bring down her foes. When fighting in this way, Karen is much more offensive and aggressive than with her sword and shield, looking to end fights more quickly. However, she is not as skilled with her fists as much as she is with her sword and shield.
Tendencies
Likes/Hobbies
- Sparring, hand to hand or with practice weapons
- Triple Triad (Casually)
- Honesty and straightforwardness
- Weapons and armor
Dislikes
- Bullies
- Corrupt merchants/officials/officers
- Boisterous loudmouths
- Sickly Sweet things
- Armchair psychologists
Strengths
- High physical strength and stamina
- Highly proficient with one handed blades, shields and heavy armor
- Moderately proficient in pugilist martial arts
- Though lacking education, she can be clever at putting pieces of information together
Weaknesses
- Though not completely illiterate, Karen can only read and write on a very basic level
- Limited mobility when in armor
- No formal education
- Limited aether, preventing her from fighting primarily with magic and forcing her to be strategic with overt uses of aether in battle.
Relationships
Family
Katherine Brightflower (Mother): Deceased. Perished shortly after the Calamity.
Kallen: Younger sister. Former member of the Ala Mhigan Resistance, currently an apprentice armorer in Limsa Lominsa.
Friends
Her fellows in the Silver Nexus, and former employment in the Safe House.
Romantic Partner
None.
Enemies
None, yet.
Rumors
Common Rumors
- Said to be a former gladiator in the Blood Sands of some success, until her career came to a sudden and quiet end.
- A refugee from Ala Mhigo who has managed to integrate better into Ul'dah society than many.
- Those familiar with her time in the blood sands would know that Karen used the name Bright Flower as a pseudonym in the ring. Though she introduces herself as Karen Bright Flower now, it may not be her true surname.
Uncommon Rumors
- There may have been more to her retirement from the Blood Sands than she lets on.
- Seems to be rarely seen with others when outside of the workplace.
- Karen seems to have some sort of mark on her right wrist, usually covered up by clothing or a bandage.
Rare Rumors
- Said to have vanished for a couple of weeks shortly before the liberation of of the city of Ala Mhigo and appearing again a couple weeks after.
OOC Info
Bodyguard for Hire
Karen works as a bodyguard for hire, either in heavy armor with a sword and shield, or in a lighter tunic using her fists depending on the circumstances. Karen's main employment is via her Free Company, the Silver Nexus, working security detail at the company house. However, Karen is also available to be hired for security or bodyguard purposes for RP events or to protect individual characters. If interested send me a tell. IC wise Karen would be getting paid for these services, but I don't require to actually be given in game gil for her services. Karen has a strict confidentiality policy with her clients, and will not discuss anything that goes on in private while on the job, and will see the job through to its conclusion once a deal is struck. Her services are defensive in nature. To provide security or serve as a bodyguard. While this may involve Karen fighting against someone causing trouble or trying to harm her client, it's an inherently defensive role, focusing on protecting. Karen's not looking to go rough up people that owe you money.
Combat RP
I tend to avoid this with strangers, but it can be fun when everyone is an adult about it OOC and nobody godmods or tries to 'kill' other characters without consent. Someone may well TRY to kill Karen, that's fine. You can try just about anything. But I'm not going to let the character be killed off, so if that's your goal OOC don't bother. Whenever I engage in combat RP it's usually with Grindstone rules. To elaborate, both parties roll, highest gets initiative. Then the two people go back and forth rolling for attack and defense. If the attack roll is higher, the defender takes a hit. We go back and forth attacking until one part takes three blows, at which point they lose, but are not killed. It should be noted that the attacker will describe the attack, but leave the response to the defender to determine how they are either hit or how they evade the attack.
Types of RP
I see people mention different types of RP in their in game statuses all the time, so I figured I'd add a section here to elaborate on things, rather than try and cram it all into my status note.
Slice of Life: Characters just interacting and chatting or hanging out etc rather than going on an epic quest or focusing on big plot lines or combat etc. This is fine and can be a good way to develop characters and build connections between them naturally.
Story Arc: RP centered around longer stories and arcs. These can be a lot of fun and I'm more than happy to have Karen play a role in one so long as it fits her story naturally.
Dark RP: I'm fine with dark themes in RP, so long as it's done in a natural feeling way. Things like murder, sexual assault/rape, torture, etc all happen in Eorzea. Frankly, sometimes Eorzea can be a crap place to live. What I want from this kind of RP is for the stakes and consequences to feel realistic. Handled with appropriate weight. What I don't accept is edge for its own sake used to just make a character feel special/unique without giving these subjects the weight they deserve.
Mature RP: Things like flirtation/innuendo, alcohol/drugs, realistic violence etc. Things that aren't necessarily 'dark' or explicitly sexual. These are fine, again so long as they're handled well.
Romance/Relationships: Karen is currently single and open to pursuing a relationship. However, I don't do designated romance. Any romance will have to genuinely sprout from IC interactions. Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't.
Erotic Role Play (E RP): I don't do random erp for its own sake. A romance could lead to it if we're both up to it, but I'm not going to randomly run off to ERP with someone Karen hasn't gotten to know.
Annotations
A commission of Karen done in the Paladin Job Armor.
A commission of Karen during her first gladiator match.
A commission of Karen in her current armor.
A commission of Karen (left) and her sister Kallen (right)
This Template was created by Karen Brightflower
