"Sometimes you need to accept what you’ve lost, then move forward. Then you can instead realize what you’ve gained."
~ Brandon Sanderson, Dawnshard
BASICS
NAME: Rysn
GENDER: Female
PRONOUNS: She/Her/Hers
ORIENTATION: Bisexual
BIRTHDATE: Early Winter 2747
AGE: 27 as of Early Spring 2775
LOCATION: Semaca Weyr
OCCUPATION:
APPEARANCE
EYES: Dark Brown
HAIR: Black
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 5'1", stocky
PLAY-BY: Makowka Picrew
EXPY SOURCE: Rysn Ftori (The Stormlight Archive)
FULL APPEARANCE:
Rysn has a short, relatively stocky build, though the former is difficult to perceive since she's unable to stand. She has a round face with large, dark brown eyes and thick eyebrows that, left unchecked, will grow together into a unibrow. Her hair is black, thick, and wavy; she leaves it loose when she's on shore, but ties it back in a braid on board ships.
Since she has few other ways to make herself look dignified, she tends to dress well. She favors skirts that hide her legs, and fine linen blouses--she prefers vests over those blouses, but doesn't always wear them in Semaca's climate. She's rarely seen without jewelry, especially earrings.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY:
Rysn is probably not exactly what one probably expects of a pirate. She's smart, organized, and highly competent. She's tenacious and determined to make the best of herself that she can. She's more fond of words than bold action, and she finds it easy to talk to everyone she meets--even when they don't want to be social, she's going to try. And probably try to sell them something at the same time. On the other hand, like many of those who choose a less-than-legal profession, she also values personal freedom above all else. She's willing to take orders, but she won't allow anyone else to determine the course of her life for her.
Rysn has a bit of an egotistical streak. She's usually convinced that she deserves things and that she knows best. She is also rather selfish, wanting the best for herself, though she's able to set that aside somewhat specifically when trading. She can be more than a little impulsive, especially when it comes to proving herself right. She has a tendency to hold a grudge, and is still angry about the fact that she wasn't Searched. She thinks dragons have an extremely unfair method of choosing Candidates and cannot be convinced otherwise.
More than anything else, Rysn hates being talked down to. She doesn't like people assuming that she can't do something for herself or trying to do things for her without her asking. While she acknowledges that she needs help with a lot of things, she still wants it to be on her own terms.
HISTORY
FAMILY:
Fen, Mother, Trader
Kmakl, Father, Trader
Vstim, Younger Brother, Trader
Vraln, Younger Sister, Trader
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: None
BIRTHPLACE: Nerat Hold
HISTORY:
Rysn was the oldest child of a rather successful Trader family that traveled by ship rather than by caravan. She spent her early Turns visiting a large number of ports, depending on where the wares were going. A she showed a natural inclination toward trading and a strong drive--and stronger ego--her parents assumed she would someday manage to own her own ship and taught her everything they thought she needed to know.
The ship was in port at Tillek Hold when riders came on Search. Rysn, by then eighteen, was not chosen. Being so completely denied was outside her rather spoiled experience at that point, and she did not take the news well. She didn't really want to leave her life at sea, but it was just the principle of the matter; she refused to accept the idea that she wasn't good enough for someone.
The day before, she'd seen some other youths jumping from cliffs into the sea. Rysn was determined to prove that she was brave enough to be a rider and, despite no evidence suggesting that it was the reason why someone might be passed over, decided that if she jumped from the same cliff it would be sufficient proof and make the rider Search her. Heedless of warnings that she didn't know where exactly was safe to jump from, Rysn hiked to the cliff edge. She was a sailor; she was more than just a good swimmer, whatever the land-bound Holders thought.
She should have listened to advice. She landed in a spot with rocks just below the surface. Once some of the locals whose very advice she'd scorned got her out of the water, the extent of her injuries became clear. Her back was broken, and the Healers had little hope that she would make a full recovery. Almost as bad in Rysn's mind, her family's ship had to depart without her. They couldn't afford to wait for her to recover without taking on cargo. She was left alone and paralyzed to wait for them to eventually return.
Over the next Turn and a half, she slowly learned to live with the life she had. For a time she was bitter and angry and not sure where to direct that anger. She mourned the freedom she was supposed to have had, she was angry with the Searchdragon for rejecting her, she was mad at everyone who could walk and dress themselves without difficulty, among other things. But slowly, things improved; she hired a drudge to help her with the things she could no longer do for herself and started working with the Hold's inventory records. She bought a fire lizard egg and trained the white that hatched to fetch things for her. It wasn't the life she'd wanted, but it was a life. And when her family's ship returned, she told them she was content to stay at Tillek. It was a lie--she was ashamed of the way she was certain they must see her--but it was an easy lie to tell.
And so she stayed. She got more and more bored with her stationary life, but she didn't see that she had much choice. What else could she possibly do? Her old life was closed to her now for multiple reasons. She missed the feeling of a deck moving under her, and the sound of waves. When she made an off-hand mention of it to Nikli, the drudge she'd hired who had over time become a friend as well, she was surprised when he mentioned he had some "old friends" who would love to hire someone with her skills. She let him write to them to ask, and several months later they went to clandestinely meet a ship on a beach near the Hold.
Rysn did not expect the old friends to be pirates, but she was willing to work for just about anyone who would hire her to work on a ship again. She couldn't help with the actual sailing, but she could help the quartermaster and in the galley, and when the crew needed to pretend to be honest Traders she could lend them a certain air of legitimacy because she was one, it wasn't just an act for her.
And when the pirates came to Semaca, well, there was even more need for her skills. Plus she rather liked the idea of trying to fleece riders for all she could get out of them. Even after so long, she had never let go of that particular bitterness.
