PLAYED BY: Emily Alligood
CHARACTER NAME: Avelina Squallborn
GENDER: Female
PRONOUN(S): She/Her
CLASS: Cleric
AGE: 28
RACE: Ulven
HAIR: Red
EYES: Blue
OCCUPATION: Avelina was raised in a fishing family and has continued to work in the family business.
KNOWN SKILLS: Avelina is a skilled fisherman and sailor. She was raised on the coast and is familiar with skills such as gardening and hunting to supplement during harsh winters when the coast freezes over or a wolf’s wind make the seas unsafe.
BIRTHPLACE: I was born in what is now former Clan Squallborn territory in 246.
APPEARANCE: Avelina is quiet, but with a strong and steady demeanor.
NOTABLE TRAITS: No notable traits.
RELATIONSHIPS: Avelina recently met and befriended Hersir Imrick and has joined the organization called the Stormborn Coast (or the name of the organization once it has been approved, as it is in progress). In this process, she has befriended the other members of the organization, especially Mirth, who answers her endless questions about the world. Avelina grew up as the best friend of Bodil’s daughter, Hilda.
RUMORS: There are rumors in her small village that Avelina consorts with humans and prefers them to Ulven company. She is believed to have a party streak despite being so quiet, in the same way that people say ‘it’s always the quiet ones’.
BIO / BACKGROUND HISTORY:
Avelina was born to a successful fishing family and grew up spending her days on the sea and her nights with her pack. She spent time at the markets with her family where she met her friend Hilda, daughter of Bodil Squallborn. Avelina always had a fascination with the world at large, asking questions of traveling merchants, and wondering just how far her little skiff could take her. Her pack tolerated this curiosity at first, seeing the intrigue of a small child as a gift. The older she got, though, the more her questions were met with unhappy answers- first it was changed subjects, awkward silence, and soon outright hostility. As confused as she was, she harbored her curiosity in secret, being careful not to disrupt the harmony of the pack, and more importantly, the clan.
One day, when she was about 13 years old, Avelina was playing with Hilda when they overheard raised voices from across the house- they heard Bodil, the clan leader, discussing humans in Squallborn territory. The young girls crept into the hallway to listen to the story, they heard of humans, coming from Faedrun, a land overrun with monsters as if in a living nightmare. They heard of scared families running from devastation, abandoning their homes and their people, to keep their families safe. However, these families now needed a place to stay, to rebuild, and they wanted to consider the lan of Clan Squallborn as an option. At the thought of so many new people, their new stories and new ideas, Avelina gasped in excitement, which drew the attention of Hilda’s mother, Siegrid. She discreetly shooed them back into the den where the girls had been playing and shut the door. Avelina was bright eyed and full of questions, but Siegrid hushed her quickly. She told the girls to keep what they’d heard to themselves as this would be a matter for the clan leaders and not something for little wolves to worry about. Avelina was perplexed. She couldn’t understand why this would be anything other than exciting, and told Siegrid just that. Knowing the girls and their insatiable curiosity, she had no choice but to discuss with the girls long into the evening. As they spoke, Avelina recalled the mumbled answers, the silence, and the anger she’d encountered when asking about new people and lands; it all fell into place for her that night.
From that day on, Avelina was far more quiet. She stayed out of the conversations about the war, stood by as a quiet observer, humming in agreement as needed and simply gathering the thoughts of her pack mates, hearing the sentiments intensify day by day until the sparks of feared blazed into a civil war. Avelina watched her pack, her friends, and Bodil move through the war, through raids, and the fateful day of Attenjav. It tore her heart to see her family, once so revered, brought down so low. Despite the war and the raids, the pain and horror she’d seen and experienced, her curiosity remained, though now with a shameful trickle of guilt to accompany it.
As it always does, life continued. Avelina sailed with her family, eventually earning her own skiff, and went to market to support her family. She tried to shove away the curiosity, but the more her pack worked and waited for life to return to “normal”, the more she realized it never could. Out on the ocean, where she and Hilda could speak freely, Avelina confessed her ideas of a new future for Squallborn. A world where Ulven, Human, and Syndar, live together in peace. Hilda laughed at the thought, simply because the pack was now too beaten down, bitter, and angry to consider a future. Avelina wondered if she could begin the process of rebuilding a future for her people, hoping that one day, her people would want a new path, and see the value in curiosity as they had when she was just a little girl.
One fateful evening in a tavern the next town over, Avelina encountered a strange group of travelers, formerly known as the Golden Hand, who were looking for new opportunities in the area. As a daughter of former Clan Squallborn, and someone with a dream for the future, she leapt at the chance when she heard those fateful words- “are you looking for a job?”