Runa Dawning

Runa Dawning
Every stone has a story to tell.
Ex-Imperial Magitek Mechanic
Gender	Female
Race	Hyur Midlander
Clan	Unknown
Citizenship	Garlean
Place of birth	Northern reaches of the Garlean Empire
Deity	TBD
Nameday	12th Sun of the 4th Umbral Moon (20 years), 1552
Occupation	Miner and goldsmith
Pronunciation	ROO-nah DAW-ning

Runa Dawning

The Basics

Biographical

Nicknames: "Roo", "Imperial scum"

Runa Dawning's real name is Calypso dae Laevinus, but at the moment, not even she knows this. Her current life began when she woke up in Ul'dah following the Calamity. She remembers nothing about who she is or where she came from. The only clues are her accent, which sounds strongly of the Garlean Empire, and her strong affinity for stone, ore and gemstones.

Since waking up after the Calamity, Runa has been taken in by the pugilist's guild and learned to defend herself against anyone who would accuse her of being an imperial traitor. Most of her time is spent out in the wilderness, mining ore and gems to craft into jewelry or trinkets. She has a strong gift for working with the materials of the earth and some even say that she has the ability to listen to the ore when she's working with it, to draw out the most quality from the ore's potential. Others suggest that the 'listening' is more akin to the echo ability that other heroes of Eorzea have. There are stories of times when the young goldsmith has been able to tell things and see memories simply by holding an important piece of jewelry.

Physically, Runa is small in stature and looks younger than her 20 years. Despite her childlike characteristics, she has a fiery temper and can be easily provoked. Her words often have no filter and she'll say whatever she wants, when she wants. She has no concept of understanding and respecting the feelings of others. On the other hand, she's not especially mean spirited and doesn't see the point in attacking those who can't defend themselves. She's not a bully. Usually.

Runa's clothes are best described as work clothes. She wears loosefitting trousers and tunic, with a work belt slung over one hip and a weathered cap pulled down over her mop of auburn hair. Her boots are made of tough leather and are scuffed and dusty from her travels, but still in good condition. She usually travels with a pack slung over one shoulder and a mining pick in her free hand.

Family

• Father: Henri deh Laevinus - presumed alive
• Mother: Eleanor deh Laevinus - presumed alive
• Sister: Josette deh Laevinus - presumed dead

Friends & Enemies

• Zarek: Fellow pugilist and common sparring partner

Appearance

• Height: 4 Fm, 8 Im

• Weight: 95 Pz

• Body: Small figure, likely built for crawling into small spaces when working on machines

• Hair: Dark auburn, medium length and pulled back in a messy tie to keep it out of her face

• Eyes: Hazel to green, depending on the light

• Skin: Tanned with freckles

• Clothing: Khaki trousers of a thick canvas-like working material. Light weight tunic under a vest of midnight blue. Brown leather jacket and a leather tool belt that hangs off her hip. A weathered brown cap shoved down over her hair in a messy but endearing fashion. Thick leather work boots and a leather pack slung over her shoulder.

The Rumor Mill

• Common Rumors (Easily overheard)
  • "Did you know that she's from the Garlean Empire? You can still hear her accent when she's drunk or angry."
  • "Supposedly, she doesn't remember the Battle of Cartenaeu or anything that came before it. Runa Dawning probably isn't even her real name!"

• Moderate Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear)
  • "She's really good with gems and metals, and she's a natural goldsmith, but she knows very little about the craft. I wonder what she used to do if she wasn't a craftsman?"

• Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard)
  • "My cousin's girlfriend's sister's best friend said that Runa was able to tell her about her mother just from holding their old family ring!"
  • "Runa can actually listen to metals! No wonder she's such a good goldsmith. The metals talk to her as she works them!"

• PC Rumors (From Other Characters)

• Things You Can't Possibly Know (But I want you to know OOCly)
  • Runa was one of the Garlean Empire's magitek technicians at the Battle of Carteneau. Her partner was her twin sister, who is presumed to have died during the battle. Runa doesn't remember anything, but sometimes she dreams of her sister.

• Wanted for Interesting Roleplay
  • Imperials
  • Anyone hostile to ex-imperials
  • Interesting characters
  • Anyone with a plot idea!

You May Know Runa From

• (5 years ago) Hovering around the refugee infirmary in Ul'dah after the Battle of Carteneau
• Training with the pugilists in Ul'Dah, always looking for a good duel
• (Up until a year ago) Wandering the alleys and streets of Ul'dah, picking fights with the gangs and bullies found there.
• (Starting a year ago) In Limsa Lominsa, in a corner of the Goldsmith's guild, working hard on quality trinkets that she then sells or discards.

Personality

Alignment: True Neutral

Morals: Runa's not really sure what she believes, but she's a decent person when she's not thinking about it. She has a soft spot for children and doesn't see the point in hurting people who can't defend themselves. She's usually honest simply because she doesn't know why she shouldn't be, but she doesn't really understand the concept of 'fair', either.

Likes: 1 Comfortable clothes 2 Working with stone, ore and gems 3 Crafting things with her hands 4 Being alone 5 Being self-reliant

Dislikes: 1 Being bullied for being an imperial 2 Not being able to remember who she is 3 Politics 4 Loud noise 5 Large crowds

Fears: 1 Being punished for something she doesn't remember doing 2 Remembering what she did 3 Running into someone who knew her 4 5

Strengths: 1 Mining precious ore and gems 2 Working with her hands 3 Hearing the "echos" in ore and gems 4 Tough - physically and emotionally 5 Working with machines and magitek (like airships)

Weaknessses: 1 Reading people 2 History 3 Communication 4 Losing her temper 5 Being empathic to others

Favorite Places: 1 Ul'dah 2 The wilderness 3 Any place with a lot of stone or metal 4 Any place quiet 5 Soliloquy Tavern

By The Numbers

(This is taken and modified from a post on teso-rp.com)

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1. Muscular Structure: (5) Like blacksmith or warrior, you exercise your muscles a lot every day

2. Health: (4) Fairly robust and strong, you enjoy outdoors life and challenges

3. Eye-hand coordination: (3) Throwing items or archery are not too demanding to you

4. Movement: (3) You stumble on occasion, but not too often, quickly getting back to your feet

5. Age (physical perspective): (6) You're a shining exemplar of a young hero of your race

6. Race: (4) You are a small Hyur midlander

7. Weaponry: (2) You're equipped with hand-held tools or improvised weapons

8. Armor: (1) You're not armored - why bother

9. Talent, imagination, abstract thinking: (6) Abstract, geometrical and even insanity-bordering concepts are just your cup of tea

10. Willpower: (4) You like to stick with your stances, but not so far you could said to be stubborn

11. Schooling: (5) Held a position in such facility - you taught an art or were part of some project or experiment

12. Age (mental perspective): (3) You're in your physical prime or little beyond

13. Mental stability: (2) You're fairly gullible and tend to get angry often

14. Spirituality: (3) Emphasis on your own well-being, you sometimes consider the feelings of others too

15. Appearance: (3) You blend well into the crowd with your fairly plain features

16. Influence: (1) You find it difficult to work with other people

17. Magnetism: (2) Carefree: you're often dismissed by others and don't have much authority

18. Alertness: (3) Average person; not overly concerned, but notice when obvious danger is present

19. Intuition: (5) You possess a true sixth sense and perceive things others do not

20. Sensory perception: (3) Your senses are pretty much normal and unhindered

21. Trade, professions or position: (4) Master of some trade, profession or position or hold an equal status

22. Upbringing: (4) Middle class: you likely received boons like advice, schooling, coin and contacts

23. Fortunes: (5) Your projects have taken off very well and you're a successful practicioner of your trade

24. Combat training: (3) Militia training: you've received rudimentary training and can use blades and guns

25. Field experience: (2) Streets: you've brawled, but nobody has died - at least on purpose

26. Scarring and traumatic experiences: (6) Personality-defining trauma: "You killed my father - prepare to die!"

STR: 15 DEX: 12 CON: 14 INT: 15 WIS: 8 CHA: 6 AWA: 11

CR (Combat Rating): 18 (Journeyman); HP (Health Points): 18 (Three health points); MP (Magical Potential): 18 (Moderate potential – 2 spells); Sanity (Sa): 2 (Disturbed, quirky or neurotic); Wealth (We): 13 (Mansions and guilds: The character is likely an established inhabitant.)

Abilities

Adventurer:

Pugalist Arcanist

Strengths: Runa may be small in stature, but she's fierce as a tomcat when someone picks a fight with her. She is fast and her fists can hit hard. She also isn't known to wear dresses or other 'inconvenient' clothes, so she's always ready for a fight if someone wants one. She also has an uncanny nack for arcane theories, which might be connected to her previous work with magitek.

Weaknesses: Though a tough fighter when it comes to street brawls, Runa has little experience with magics beyond the theoretical. She has little ability to defend herself if an enemy were to attack from far away.

Crafter:

Mining Goldsmithing

Strengths: Runa's echo ability is evident in the ability to hear and read the ore and gems that she comes across. It makes her able to find the large deposits of rare ore in the ground, and to work the metal in such a way as to bring out the best of the material.

Weaknesses: Though Runa has a strong connection to ores and metals, her true skills lie in the working of magitek. Unfortunately, that is not something available in most of Eorzea, so unless she were to return to the Empire, she has to settle for mining ore and crafting trinkets.

Other Skills:

Technical calculations Designs & mechanical drawings

Strengths: No doubt taken from her previous life as a magitek mechanic, Runa is good at drawing out schematics and plans and making the calculations needed for any project to be successful.

Weaknesses: In addition to having talents that are all but useless in Eorzea right nor, Runa's affinity for calculations and mechanical drawings often make her seem strange or eclectic among her fellow smiths and arcanists.

History

Before The Calamity

Runa is one of two daughters of Henri dae Laevinus, a middle class arcane scholar in the Garlean empire. Runa and her twin sister Josette joined the Garlean technical academy at a young age, at the insistence of their father, who wished them to improve the family's status by becoming talented magitek mechanics. Runa and Josette were both skilled at their craft and became talented partners in creating some of the more advanced magitek machines that the empire uses. The title 'mechanic' is a misnomer, really, as Runa and Josette designed and created more often than they repaired or fixed the machines. This led them to be the youngest mechanics on the field when the empire faced off against the Eorzean Alliance at the Battle of Carteneau.

Post Calamity

Awake in Ul'Dah

I woke to find myself lying in a cot in a grand hall made of stone. All around me were more cots and piles of blankets, impromptu beds numbering in the hundreds. Most of those cots were occupied with men and women of every race. Around the beds, more men and women wandered, checking on the occupants, murmuring soothing words in comforting tones or checking on bandages or testing for fevers. It was easily the largest infirmary I had ever seen, but it was clear that this room was not built to treat the sick and injured - it was a makeshift setup necessitated by... what?

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Slowly, I sat up and found my body stiff and aching. How long had I been out? What had happened? Where was I? As I stared around me in confusion, a miqo'te conjurer noticed me and began heading in my direction. Her dark fur stood out against her white robes and her eyes were ice blue, just like the Siamese cat that I'd had as a kid.

Where had that memory come from? Instantly, my head began to pound and I let out a groan, pressing the heels of my palms into my eyes as if I could push the pain out of my skull.

"Careful, now," the miqo'te murmured as she reached me. "Take it easy. You've been unconscious for over a week, ever since the battle."

"What battle?" The confusion tore through the pounding in my head and I blinked up at the miqo'te. She looked momentarily surprised, as if my words had caught her off guard. No, not my words, I realized. My accent. An instant later, she had recovered her composure with an easy smile. "The battle of Carteneau. You were one of the injured who survived. You're in Ul'dah now. You are safe."

I stared at her, my expression no doubt a reflection of the confusion I felt. I had understood maybe half of what she said. Maybe.

One of the other injured cried out several cots down and the conjurer hurried over to help them, leaving me to my thoughts. There had been a battle? I'd been injured? If so, why didn't I feel any injuries? My body felt stiff and sore, but there were no bandages nor indication that I had been wounded. So, what had left me unconscious for so long? And, more importantly, why didn't I remember this battle? For that matter, why couldn't I remember my own name?

Alley Imp

I stayed in the Ul'dah infirmary for another week because I had nowhere else to go. The healers didn't wish to toss out a woman with no name and no home, but in the end, they had no choice. The great beast Bahamut was still tearing up the countryside and refugees were flooding into the city every day. So, after a week of rest, I made my way out into the city proper with nothing more than the clothes on my back.

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"Hey! Imp!" The words didn't register for me, until a rough pair of hands caught me by the shoulders and spun me around, slamming me against one of the stone walls of the city alleyway. "I'm talking to you, Imperial scum!" I stared up at a large Hyur boy and cruel eyes and lips that were bent into an eternal sneer. Behind him, a Roegadyn towered a good fuln above him, his large hands in fists. Several feet back, I could spot several other bullies gathered to watch the show. I may not have known my own name, but not hard to recognize a pack of bullies intent on making trouble. And they were staring at me.

"Well?" The Hyur leader shoved me back again. "What do you have to say for yourself! I can't believe you actually have the galls to come here. What do you say we teach this wench what we do to imperial scum?" The roegadyn grunted - or maybe he was laughing, and smashed one fist into his other palm. I glanced around at the group, then did the only thing I could do. I ran.

I got two feet before someone caught my arm. Instinctively, I whirled and my fist swung out. Apparently they weren't expecting a small female like me to fight back because I caught the leader's nose in a solid pound of my fist. There was a crack, and my fist came away red - the blood wasn't mine. For a moment, the leader looked surprised. Then, his gaze turned murderous. I barely had a chance to blink before his hands were on my shoulders and his knee came up into my gut. Instantly, I was on the ground, gasping for air. From behind me, the roegadyn jerked at my hair, yanking my head up so that the hyur could aim his knee for my nose. This time the blood was mine.

Raising my Fists

The blows continued for several minutes, but I think I blanked out for a good part of it. The next thing I knew, a pair of large hands slipped under my arms and lifted me to my feet. I couldn't see through the haze of pain, nor could I hear through the ringing in my ears, but I think the owner of the hands said something. I stumbled a little and the hands caught me just as I blacked out again.

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I faded in and out as I was half-guided, half-carried down the Ul'dah streets. I expected to find myself back in the infirmary, but instead, I ended up in a small room with a small wooden table and two chairs. I leaned back, letting my head rest against the wall and focused on the only thing I could do - staying conscious and pushing aside the pain. A cloth appeared at my face, wiping away the blood, then a cup was pressed into my hands. I sipped carefully, then managed to open my eyes and peer up at my benefactor. The roegadyn man who stared down at me was certainly no healer despite the bandages he was preparing. He wore dark trousers and a lose vest, with a headband that wrapped around his forehead and bandages around his hands as if to protect them while he repeatedly punched things. He grunted when he saw me watching him, "You aren't going to throw up on me, are you?"

"I... don't think so?" I replied and was surprised at how weak my voice sounded.

If the man noticed, he didn't comment. He only grunted again. "Good. You've got spine, I'll give you that. Saw you sock 'em before they took you down. But just having the guts ain't enough. You're weak and uncoordinated." He fell silent, then as he yanked my shirt up. My eyes widened, but I was too shocked, and too hurt, to protest. The roegadyn just grunted again, then began to wrap the bandages over the bright purple bruises that were already appearing on my stomach and chest. "You broke a few ribs, but they'll heal. Your nose'll heal, too." When I didn't answer, he continued, his attention on his work and not bothering to look up at me. "Once you've healed, we'll start on your training."

Now I did speak. "Training?"

The big man looked up to pierce me with a gaze that was sharper than his huge form would suggest was possible. "Yeah. Yer training. Yer not leaving the compound until I know you'll be able to hold yer own against those bullies. Got that?"

I didn't know what to say, so I simply nodded. And on that day, I started down the path of the pugilist.

Additional Info

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Inspiration Images

<spoiler> Mechanic Portrait

Mechanic Girl

Steampunk Girl