Striding Oak

Striding Oak
"There is no such thing as a life without any regrets at all."
Gender	Female
Race	Roegadyn
Clan	Hellsguard
Citizenship	Limsa Lominsa
Patron Deity	Oschon the Wanderer
Age	32
Namesday	16th Sun of the 2nd Umbral Moon, 1545
Height/Weight	7'0" fulms / 245 ponz.
Occupation	Bodyguard for hire
Free Company	Crystal Dawn

"Striding Oak" (not to be confused with Walking Oak -- apparently we had the same idea) is cool and collected to the point where it can be frustrating. She experiences extremes so rarely that she can ironically come across as aloof or uncaring, although nothing could be further than the truth. She is in fact very observant, and there's plenty of warmth right beneath the surface that is not difficult to access. Her general manner is patient, even, and matter-of-fact, but she can quickly be coaxed into joking and mirth.

With Oak, what you see is what you get -- literally. She will always tell it like it is and has no time for things such as shyness, lies, embarrassment, and so on. She has no shame, and is honest to a fault.

Oak enjoys simple pleasures: a hearty meal, heated alcohol, a summer festival. She is most at peace in the mountains or on the road. Her whole life seems to be devoted to martial mastery, though every once in a while she lets slip that she envies the peaceful life of farmers.

History

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Common knowledge about Oak's past is quite rare. She is known to have originated somewhere in Abalathia's Spine, born to her blacksmith mother, Diving Sparrow, and her father Stalwart Mountain, a sellsword-turned-mountain guard. Sparrow was fairly well known between Sharlayn and Ishgard, for she traveled often to hawk her wares; Stalwart had likewise spent many years hired out to Ishgard on a rare contract, though was forced to move on to Limsa Lominsa as Ishgard slowly grew more insular. He spent many years adventuring in the company of a pirate named Fraebhar Bloewilfsyn before finally deciding to settle down. Like most Hellsguard, Oak was born into an expansive extended family -- but her own immediate family was very small. Contrary to tradition, she remained an only child.

Oak lost both her parents at some point while she was still relatively young. It is difficult to hear exactly how this occurred, but some rumors state it was inadvertently Fraebhar Bloewilfsyn's fault. Most accounts state that a grieving Bloewilfsyn took the child to raise her as his own, and that she spent the next ten or so years with him aboard his ship, the Moraine. As soon as she was old enough, however, Oak left the Moraine to make her own way as a mercenary.

The younger Oak was known to be brash, impulsive, and pugnacious, but most who have hired her in the past agree that she matured in both skill and personality quickly. For many years she simply traveled, living from job to job and slowly building up her personal funds. Some rumors, however, speak of a disastrous escort just over five years ago, wherein a client -- accounts vary on who it was, though most suggest they were quite young -- died under her watch. Shortly thereafter, Oak retreated back to the Spine, arriving home in time for the Calamity.

It is next to impossible to find news of her after the Calamity. Some records suggest that she began traveling again a year later, trying to help bring order to the chaos wherever she could. Her contracts have steadily increased in both number and reward since then, though she's exhibited a distinct preference for bodyguard work, almost exclusively. Most recently, she's been known to work in alongside the free companies Crystal Dawn and the Traveling Templar.

Character

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Name

Given Name: Pfarnelyn Syhrberkwyn

Aliases/Nicknames:

Abarbym Fraebharwyn -- A name given to her when she was a child growing up in Limsa Lominsa. It is an old name long forgotten, and she personally never goes by it anymore.

Appearance

At 7'0", lean of build and tightly muscled, Oak can cut a decently imposing figure. Her hands are a touch on the large side, with thick, calloused fingers. Though thick of leg and sporting a reasonably ample bust, however, she is rather lacking in feminine figure. Though not slight, that does not mean she wants for grace -- Oak is surprisingly light on her feet, and moves with both fluidity and purpose.

Oak is not pretty, or at least not conventionally so. Her oval shaped face bears two scars, one across the bridge of her nose and one on the left cheek. Her lips are broad and full, her eyes a simple slate gray, and her nose the typical broad, flat nose of a Roegadyn. As with all Hellsguard, the tip and the nostrils end in a darker, more textured brown. Her cheekbones are low, her brows unshaped, her lashes long but pale. Her skin is a rich coffee-and-cream brown, with only a light bronzing from the sun. She wears no makeup, though she does typically keep two stripes painted across her right cheek -- her own personal war paint.

Oak's hair is a veritable mane. When left to hang down it billows around her head, over her shoulders, and down her back in waves and waves of coarse chocolate brown. In order to keep it out of the way during battle, she carefully braids it into several rows around her head, then pulls them all back into a ponytail. Her bangs, forever unruly, are left to hang around her face or go where they will.

The woman bears many scars, mostly on her arms, some on her thighs, a few on her back. The worst is what looks to have been a deep puncture wound in her stomach, where the flesh twisted slightly as it healed. Nevertheless, Oak is proud of her body because she is fit, and never attempts to hide the scars when she is out of her armor. Ask for a story, and she can tell you about nearly every one.

Behavior

Voice: Oak has a deep, velvety voice, with a faint bit of rasp caught on the tail end of her words. She always enunciates clearly and evenly, but can really bellow if the situation calls for it.

Quirks: Oak enjoys people with wit or clever tongues, and loves a bit of playful word-sparring. Innocence tends to delight her as well, and she genuinely loves the actions and enthusiasm of children, even though she scoffs at the idea of ever settling down herself.

She has a fairly common tick where she'll scratch behind one ear or the other -- usually it's out of idleness, but she'll also do it if she's feeling sheepish, awkward, or droll. She'll even attempt to do it when wearing a helmet, and, once thwarted, will try to pass it off as some other gesture.

Flaws: Oak's stubbornness could only be possessed by a Roegadyn. While typically more dignified than she is proud, if her stubborn streak takes over all that will change. She will insist on doing everything herself and then will become frustrated with herself if/when that fails. Ironically, it is the fear of failure that tends to make her stubborn in the first place.

She has perhaps unreasonable expectations of honesty in people, and will get offended by lies, viewing them as highly disrespectful rather than something normal.

While very slow to anger, she is just as impossible to calm down once there. She has a tightly disciplined management of her feelings, but as such she typically vents either by drinking heavily, or taking out her emotions in a fight.

Oak is not typically one to insult somebody, but she has a bad habit of being blunt or sometimes tactless in conversation, occasionally leading to ruffled feathers.

Intelligence: Oak is intelligent, but not well educated. She possesses natural logic, a fair amount of wit, and a good degree of pure instinct, but she has only learned reading, writing, and arithmetic up to what in the real world would be considered an eigth grade level. To this end it'd be fair to say she's street smart rather than book smart, and to say the least anything magical or technical is usually beyond her. That said, Oak works hard and is good at applying herself, and if given a bit of time can learn new things relatively quickly.

Religious Views: Oak quietly follows Oschon, primarily due to her life as a wanderer. As god of the mountains he surrounded her in her birth home, and as god of the wind he was her life at sea. While she would never preach his following or outwardly invoke him, Oak makes certain to honor him constantly in her own small ways.

Romance: Oak's views on intimacy are a lot like her views on religion: that it is private, personal, and should be enjoyed however one enjoys it. She believes that love is love regardless of race or gender, and that it's ok to be adventurous. She is dubious of the notion of a "soul mate", but she does believe in something akin to true love: that it is possible to find someone who is so absolutely compatible with you that they challenge and compliment who you are; that they are so much a part of your life that you could not imagine it without them. She knows her parents were this way, but she also knows it's very rare to find. A potential suitor would have to be incredibly patient, because it would take Oak a long time to decide she loved them and was ready to commit. She would need someone who treated her as an equal, for she is no housewife; someone willing to share all successes and failures, the good, the bad, the ugly, the mundane. They would have to share in some of her beliefs and interests, so that they could relate, but be different enough to challenge her to try new things and escape her comfort zone. Most importantly, it would need to be someone whom she could trust implicitly -- someone who she could tell literally anything to.

Combat

Oak has labored since childhood learning both the axe -- the traditional Roegadyn weapon -- and the lance. She believes that the one compliments the other, the lance-style keeping her light on her feet, and the axe-fighting keeping her strong. Both weapons have instilled in her an aggressive fighting style, quick and powerful but also tightly controlled. For her size, Oak is actually quite agile; she keeps her enemies at bay by virtue of a longer reach and quick foot movements. To achieve this, however, Oak tends to armor herself more lightly, and would never be able to take the direct blows a gladiator or paladin could.

Oak's stamina tends to flag quickly. Her strategy is to close in for quick kills, and she's not afraid to fight dirty to achieve this end if the situation turns especially sour. She will almost always press the attack, either diving in with her lance, or heaving mercilessly with her axe. If she must kill, it is done as quickly and cleanly as possible.

By virtue of being ambidextrous, Oak is able to throw off opponents by switching hands to be the opposite of theirs. She'll fight right-handers with her left hand, and vice-versa. Her preference for melee weapons, however, leaves her woefully vulnerable to any and all ranged attacks. Anything outside her jumping range has a distinct advantage. Naturally, her size makes her a very easy target, and both her weapons of choice are particularly slow.

Her general style is a strange mishmash that is difficult to place. It is Hellsguard, it is Sea Wolf, and it is even a good deal Ishgardian.

Armor

Oak tends to wear various combinations of leather, chain, and plate, depending on her combat needs. If traveling, she typically sticks to chain because it is the most versatile of the three, and not overly burdensome on her chocobo. If she knows ahead of time she's in for a long battle, she'll opt for the more traditional gear of a Hellsguard warrior, cladding her head, chest, forearms, and shins in plate -- but nothing else. Her priority is always to move lightly.

Her armor is all well used, but meticulously, almost obsessively cared for.

Miscellaneous

Likes

• Hot Springs
• Social Drinking
• Large Meals
• Gardening
• Strategy Board Games
• Hand Crafts
• Sparring
• Hard Work
• Travel
• Singing, Song, and Music

Dislikes

• Dishonesty/Vagueness
• Idleness/Laziness
• Disrespect
• Sweets
• Sweet-talkers
• Nix
• Disrupted Routines
• Magic (with several exceptions)

Talents

• Mastery of Axe and Lance
• Skilled Strategist
• Powerful Singer, Decent Dancer
• Handy at traditional Hellsguard woven art (though a failure in more mainstream artistic pursuits)

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Rumors

Who knows how the average passerby came up with some of these?

(Common) She can catch fish barehanded

(Common) She can crush nuts with her thighs

(Common) She's perpetually angry

(Common) She's actually a Highlander man

(Common) She must be some kind of butch

(Uncommon) She's constantly in debt

(Uncommon) She can speak the Old Tongue

(Uncommon) She crashed a ship off the coast of La Noscea

(Uncommon) She's a frequent skinnydipper

(Rare) She has a bastard son

(Rare) She is wanted in Sharlayn and/or Ul'dah

(Rare) She once shoved a man's face into a furnace

(Rare) She was actually born and raised in Ishgard

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'''''*Borrowed from Eva's and Siobhain's profiles! They did the hard work, I just mooched.*'''''