CHARACTER NAME: Tova Goldmane of Pack Goldmane, of Clan Grimward
PLAYER NAME: Kathy Beltran
GENDER: Female
CLASS: Warrior
AGE: 30ish
RACE: Ulven
HAIR: Blonde
EYES: Blue
OCCUPATION: Warrior of Pack Goldmane, to Clan Grimward
KNOWN SKILLS: Archery, Combat
BIRTHPLACE: Pack Goldmane territory
APPEARANCE: Short, powerful Ulven warrior
RELATIONSHIPS: Mate to Ulrik Greytide
RUMORS:
BIO / BACKGROUND HISTORY:
Tova Goldmane is a paragon of the endangered Pack Goldmane. She is quick to laugh, easy to joke, loves to talk, but also is incited to anger and quarrelling quickly, but falls back to good mood just as quickly. She has been compared to the element of air by her mate, Ulrik Graytide. Mercurial of mood and temperament.
Tova Goldmane is one of the few remaining Goldmanes on the continent of Faedrun. During the initial wars with the Invaders, the Goldmane warriors were slaughtered when they went to announce the truce. She had been there to see Khulgar Graytide bring the bodies of the slain back.
Tova, a girl at the time, had been too young to understand why her father and brothers had been killed. Mistakes and the ironies of fate meant nothing to her yet. The sight of her father, and brothers, lying dead in the field after the Graytides returned them meant something. It meant anguish, and despair, and something she had never really felt until now. Something like anger, but more, hotter, darker. The day her pack was ended by the Invaders meant hate. Hate for all of them.
That hate could have poisoned its way into her heart and made her as vile as the Invaders. It could have eaten at her, making her self-destruct in booze and rage as many others. It could have meant she would have brought shame upon her name, her families, and her pack. All that could have happened. What did happen was the hate was tempered. While they funeral pyres burned as hot as her hate, Khulgar Graytide, who brought vengeance upon the hated group of Invaders. They killed the intruders until the Longfangs had intervened. Tova did not know who the
Longfangs were, but her hate for the Invaders bled over to the Longfangs. Who were they to deny the Goldmanes their due?
Tova watched as her Pack split. She knew what that meant; Goldmane would die. Those who had relatives in other Packs left to join them. Tova did not have the luxury. She was one of the few to go with the Graytides to their home. And why not? They had delivered Goldmane justice, and Khulgar was married to a Goldmane. They were close enough as kin. Besides, the Graytides were strong, fierce warriors. She would be a strong, fierce warrior as well. Tova trained. She worked hard with her adopted Graytide family, doing chores, chopping wood, helping in the fields. She did all the things a warrior would need. Her true calling was in the use of the bow; a truer shot was never had. Scuffles are common with the Graytide, and she took her knocks and bruises as well, but she fast became accustomed to it and the Pack began to know her reputation for endurance in a fight.
During the Ulven Civil War, she was kept home at Pack Graytide. While she had wished to go to war and slay her hated enemies, Khulgar ordered her to protect the home front. Goldmanes were too few now to throw away. Besides, someone needed to stay back and protect her kin if the Invaders did something treacherous.
During this time, a Graytide began to take her interest: Ulrik Graytide. She had not known him, which was strange; the Pack was overly large. He appeared with a group of Graytide after a hunting raid during the Civil War. When she had asked the other warriors, they simply said he was a traveling Graytide. That was perhaps true, as Graytide often traveled and Tova might not notice him if her was gone for long periods. And he often was; he journeyed to hunt Mordok, Invaders, and treacherous Ulven. He never came back with scars. The lack of scars often spoke of cowardice or noviceness. When she spoke to his Packmates, they stated neither. He was seen in the shieldwall, but sometimes he went hunting by himself. Both spoke to her of skill. Tova, a Goldmane as she was, let her interest be known. He seemed…less enthusiastic than she deemed appropriate. As such, she made sure her overtures were direct and deliberate. He still seemed to not commit. Finally, she told him they were to court, and that was the end of it. And it
was. She did not question him about why and what happened when he left, and he did not question her about what she did while he was gone. The pair were obviously in love and when seen were either affectionate, or quarreling. After a year of courtship, they were mated. He still wandered, and she still followed her own muse.
It was not until after the Civil War that Tova saw her first Invaders. A merchant group from Ironmound passed through with a couple of Ulven. However, part of the group was a Syndar barkeep. As there was no ongoing feud between them, she kept her distance. She did not know if she could control herself, and would not disgrace her Clan and her Pack. Her observations of them deemed them strange. Their guards were armored well; some so well only Ironmound warriors could compare. This made her wonder about what else she did not know. She decided that she would go with Ulrik next time he went out. He had asked why, an she had told him because she wanted to see what these Invaders were like. He just nodded, knowing when she set her mind to something it was best to go along with it.