Ysera Song (a.k.a. Sera)

Ysera and her twin sister Aqima are the eldest siblings of the Song family, a fairly well-off merchant family that owns a sizeable farm in the remote Outer Ward who sell highly sought after food and drink to select distinguished clientele within the City. Ysera’s father Yrim used to operate a very well respected tavern within the Inner Ward known as The Song to Table, but after a run in with an established duster gang, he decided to close up shop and instead focus on catering lavish feasts for religious houses and guilds and distinguished aristocratic families for their galas and religious ceremonies. Ysera's mother Odira is a Leftenant in the Eadwald City Guard and is well-respected in that community, serving as a weapons trainer for new recruits when she is not making her rounds in the City. The only other member of the Song family is a precocious young boy named Aser, the blatantly obvious favored child of Yrim and Odira, as he is doted on constantly and never has to partake in any of the household chores.

When there are not parties or feasts to cater, Ysera and her sister are a common sight in the Gate Ward and Inner Ward, carrying baskets of spiced meats, gourmet cheeses, and puffed pastries in cloth baskets attached to tall poles that rise out of the crowd while they sell individual delicacies to the people. When they aren’t catering to parties of the elites or selling food to the masses, the two girls spend their days weaving cloth out of wool and working to tan leather hides (a chore Ysera especially despises). Then, after all of this work is done, they train with their mother for several hours a day into well in the night, practicing a style of martial arts known as “the Way of Iron” (which their family knows as The Song of Stone). Odira has forbade the girls to talk about their training with anyone – they are only practicing in order to have some tools at their disposal if their lives are in danger, and they know full well that should the Church find out about their knowledge of this forbidden art, their family will be punished severely.

Ysera is beginning to get bored with a tedious, monotonous, and dreary life of cooking and haggling and knitting and constant training, and a severe wanderlust has begun to take root in her in recent years. She often finds herself sitting on the roof of her home at night and staring off to the South towards the mystical city of Gaddel and dreaming of one day traveling there, as she is fascinated with the Enclave and the stories of powerful Sorceresses and their battles with the demons, and Ysera dreams of one day getting accepted into their ranks and being taught to wield magic.

During the last storm, Ysera steeled herself to stay out in it, believing that the powerful tempests can impart magical abilities to those brave enough - or foolhardy enough - to ride out the devastation; but she lost her nerve when the first sheets of crimson lightning could be seen lighting up the horizon. Too far from her parents storm shelter, she instead raced to the nearest bunker, located inside the Gate Ward. There she met a great many disparate and fascinating people from all walks of life and rode out the storm with them; and she was surprised that, in these strangers, she found herself feeling properly at home for the first time in ages.

After the storm passed, Ysera was punished severely by her mother for not sheltering with the family during the tumult, and this punishment steeled Ysera’s resolve to branch out on her own and pursue her dreams.

General Physical Condition

Ysera is short and slight of stature, but with the build of one who has worked and trained hard for most of her life. She moves with the grace of an acrobat – light on her feet but explosive in speed and fury when the situation demands.

Body Features

Just a month over 70 years old (18), Ysera still has the air of youth about her, as she is just blossoming into adulthood. She is very short for her age, standing just over 5’4”, and weighing slightly over 7 stone soaking wet; yet she somehow has the confidence and strength of will to seem substantially stronger and more powerful than that when challenged.

Facial Features

Slight and lean, Ysera has a youthful countenance and normally does not concern herself with her appearance too much – leaving her long black hair tied back in a sensible ponytail most of the time, but one held in place with colorful cloth. Shy and reserved, she will rarely meet a stranger’s gaze unless challenged, in which case her bright silver eyes will flash with fearless fire…

Identifying Characteristics

Her slight stature, athletic build and obvious grace are the first things one would notice about her, promptly followed by her brightly colored homespun clothing,her light olive skin and her luminous silver eyes.

Special abilities

Ironskinned: Ysera’s years of training with her mother in the Song of Stone has hardened her body to the point that she is more resilient to normal punishment. Her body is usually a mass of bruises and scrapes as a result of her intense training, but these exercises have prepared her for the dangers of the real world (Ysera can add her Constitution bonus to her Armor Class; She also has the Improved Unarmored Defense talent, which adds an additional +1 to her AC).

Chef: The daughter of an accomplished cook, Ysera has learned the restorative value of a good meal and is quite an accomplished chef in her own right. Chef talent: • As part of a short rest, you can cook special food, provided you have ingredients and cook's utensils on hand. You can prepare enough of this food for a number of creatures equal to 4 + your proficiency bonus. At the end of the short rest, any creature who eats the food and spends one or more Hit Dice to regain hit points regains an extra 1d8 hit points. • With one hour of work or when you finish a long rest, you can cook a number of treats equal to your proficiency bonus. These special treats last 8 hours after being made. A creature can use a bonus action to eat one of those treats to gain temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus.

Apparel & Accessories

Ysera wears homespun clothes of modern cut and sensibility, usually died to bright and fun colors (yellows, reds, greens and blues) to stand apart in the crowd. The Song’s raise their own sheep and spin their own clothes, and Ysera and Aqima are both accomplished seamstresses in their own right. They take pride in their clothing, even when they are working.

Specialized Equipment

Ysera wields a long staff with a metal hook at the end, which she uses to keep the basket of food and treats and coin high up above the greedy hands of the urchins and pickpockets looking for an easy mark as she moves her way through the densely packed Eadwald streets while selling her father’s wares. As part of her Song of Stone training, Ysera has learned to use this staff to deadly effect, though she has never needed to do so up to now.

Personal history

Ysera and Aqima are twins, and are the eldest daughters of the Song family. The only other sibling is their younger brother Aser, a boy of 44 years of age whom the girls derisively call Prince Asser, on account of him being the family favorite and not having to partake in the chores and maintenance of the farm.

Education

Ysera has been educated at home, and taught to read and write Eadlwaldian and Merchant Speak. Her affection for the Mul who work on the family farm has inspired her to learn their tongue as well. Ysera normally eschews her scholastic readings in favor of reading the pulp books about the magnificent sorceresses of the Enclave, and she dreams of one day joining their ranks.

Employment

(Proficient in Cooking Utensils; Leatherworking Supplies; Weaver’s Tools) Ysera’s life was one of near constant toil: working in her father’s restaurant from the time she could walk, to hawking his wares in the streets as a teen. She shears the sheep and weaves the cloth, cures and tans the hides of the butchered animals, and helps her father in the kitchen during feast days and galas. Then she trains for one bell every evening with her mother. She has no time for anything else…

Accomplishments & Achievements

Always in competition with her twin sister, Ysera’s drive and focus drove her to succeed in the Song of Stone and she routinely learned the katas quicker and beat her slightly older sister in the sparring matches as the girls grew up. Aqima, being calmer and far more personable, has always been a source of competition for Ysera, who is more shy and reserved, and besting her cooler sister in this way is a huge source of pride.

Failures & Embarrassments

Ysera is driven to become a Sorceress in the Enclave, and as such during the last storm she steeled resolve to stay out in the tumult, believing that the storms are the key to unlocking magical powers. However, when the first streaks of crimson lightning lit up the sky, she lost her nerve and raced into town, banging on the door of the nearest bunker. Reluctantly the inhabitants let her in. Her lack of courage in facing the storm has been eating away at her and she has promised herself that during the next storm, she will brave its wrath.

Mental Trauma

Outside of being jealous of the affection that her parents dote upon her little brother Aser, and her sense that she is working too hard and has no time for herself, Ysera's life has be relatively trauma free, thankfully

Intellectual Characteristics

While not a particularly great student, Ysera has thrown herself into the pulp novellas about the Enclave and talks about the great Sorceresses nonstop. She is bright, but not overly focused on much else at this stage in her life. Her favorite book series are called The Spark and the Ember which tell the story about a young urchin girl name Ufra who gets noticed by a powerful Sorceress named Clementine, who gets Ufra  sent to the Enclave to train - and of course the two end up saving the world many times over. Ysera will always have a copy of one of these books on her at all times.

Morality & Philosophy

(Lawful Good): Ysera believes in helping the poor and dispossessed. She was often admonished for giving away her father’s cooking to the beggars and urchins free of charge; but she hates to see people suffer, so she endured these punishments. The dozens of Mul that work on her father’s fields and tend to their livestock were given food and water and ale by Ysera over the years. She spent so much time with them that she even learned their tongue.

She is not afraid of a fight, especially to protect someone weaker than her, but she will have a hard time killing, and will try to reason with a would-be attacker before using lethal force.

Taboos

Ysera will not allow torture or killing of innocents – that is what the demons do. Orcs too, sometimes.

Hygiene

Her years of hard work and her family’s close working association with the various nobility have made Ysera very fond of bathing, modern fashion, and good hygiene. While she does not overly work too hard on her appearance, she is somehow vain in her apparent modesty.

Contacts & Relations

She knows several tavern keepers and shop owners through selling her father’s wares throughout the City. Her father’s small batch Ale is sold exclusively at the Hound & Demon pub, and the owner there looks at her very fondly. Outside of that, she has a passing relationship with some of the nobility and clergy where she has catered their events, and knows many of the City Guards who work with her mother.

Family Ties

Twin Sister: Aqima Song (Rogue level 1) Instead of focusing on her Song of Stone training, Aqima uses her access at the Church and Noble functions to line her pockets. She is open about this with her sister, who is at once horrified yet titillated at her brazenness.

 

• Younger Brother: Aser Song. The darling of the Song family and target of Ysera’s jealousy.
• Mother: Odira Song – guard captain in the City Watch, and practitioner of the Song of Stone fighting style
• Father: Ymir Song – cook, farmer, brewer of some repute.
• Butler: The seneschal of the Song household is an elderly Mul named Ecru Morden. He has been part of the family for almost 100 years, and has helped raise the children. He takes care of many of the mundane chores around the Song household and directs and cares for the Mul laborers who work on the farm and in the pens.

Religious Views

Who has time for religion when you are working all the time? She carries a pin with the symbol of Gandolo on it, since this is basically required of the mercantile class, and she has an affection for Perelandro's message, but is fairly nonreligious otherwise.

Social Aptitude

Shy and reserved in social settings, it takes a while for Ysera to open up; but when she does, watch out…And if you are cruel to someone who doesn't deserve it? She is fearless in such matters.

Mannerisms

Ysera is usually lost in her own thoughts, and can often be seen practicing her forbidden katas as she goes about her daily life. Once she realizes what she has been doing, she shuts down and acts shy and sheepish - at least until she forgets and starts running through her stances again…

Hobbies & Pets

Her only hobby is reading about the exploits of powerful sorceresses who fight demons and save the world

Speech

Ysera is normally very proper and soft spoken, except when her righteous indignation has been awakened, in which case she can be a force to be reckon

Wealth & Financial state

Ysera's family are of means, owning and maintaining a large homestead which supplies food, ale, cloth and leather to many Eadwaldian businesses, and her mother makes a good living working for the Eadwald City Guard