EA-LEC Zaina Bio

NAME: Zaina (Alias: Runaway)

AGE: 27

HEIGHT:  (5’9”)

SPECIES: Human

STRENGTHS: A highly trained swordswoman, she is also competent in hand-to-hand combat. She has a lot of experience fighting, and is fairly politically astute and good at reading people. She will err on the side of suspicion and caution in new situations. She is a trained tracker and can live off the land if she has to.

POSESSIONS: A curved sword, and a dragonscale vest that was a gift to her mother from the Hirkuet clan head. The sword is ordinary. The vest is strong and light, and has the property of reflecting spells.

WEAKNESSES: No magical expertise, though she practices with Yuuden to learn to adapt to fighting mages. Her vest provides protection from spells cast at her (spells that must travel from the mage to her) but not from powers in general. Spells that affect the environment (spells that create fire, earthquakes, or traps for instance) will not be reflected. (Message me if you have questions about which category your characters spells fall into.) Extremely powerful spells also bypass the effect. (Message me if you want to talk about whether your characters spells are powerful enough to fall into this category, probably at least a few are.)
She’s used to protecting Yuuden, and will surrender if he is in danger. She doesn’t like to take chances, so if she’s required to go outside of her comfort zone (in battle or social situations) she will be off balance.
She’s not really used to being around a lot of humans, and comes across as rude sometimes, not being super aware of social conventions.

BACKGROUND: A mercenary raised in dragon country by her mother, who was also a mercenary. Her mother took the name ‘Runaway’ as an alias and passed it down to her daughter. She grew up around a powerful clan of dragons the Hirkuets. Since her mother was in the employ of the clan, (specifically Kaida, Yuuden’s father) they were under Hirkuet protection, which was important to Runaway Sr. who had a seven year old to raise. She took over protecting Yuuden at 22 when her mother was killed by elves, and a year ago, Yuuden came to her to let her know that he was running away from his clan. He asked her to come with him, as a friend. Though he gave her a choice, for her there was only one decision she could have made. She still works as his bodyguard, and he endeavors to regularly pay her for her work, but she would stick around even if he didn’t.

She grew up around dragons, and not so much humans, and going to human cities was a rare treat for her.

PERSONALITY: She can be suspicious, slow to come to a decision, and brusque. Not having been raised around other humans, she’s a bit unfamiliar with social conventions.
She’s cautious, and a fairly good judge of character (even if she errs on the mistrustful side). Where Yuuden is nosy, Zaina is respectful of other people’s secrets and boundaries. She is confident without being arrogant, but has a hard time turning ‘off’ from her occupation as a bodyguard. Relaxing doesn’t come naturally to her.
She enjoys sparring for the fun of it, and likes to have the company of other swordfighters.
She also tends to indulge Yuuden’s whims, despite being outwardly exasperated with him. She tries to guide him and help him mature, and around younger people (even ones she doesn’t know) finds herself being protective of them.
Her favorite thing about living in human society is interacting with people who consider her an equal, as spending your life working for snobs can wear on you. She enjoys reading, camping, fighting, and recently (since moving to Elarthe and getting access to television) mystery shows and police procedural dramas.

YUUDEN: Zaina was introduced to Yuuden by her mother, who was originally hired to guard him from other members of his clan. It was Yuuden’s mother Ravarre who suggested that since dragons tended to think of humans as interchangeable, Runaway pass down her alias and job to Zaina when she was ready to retire. Zaina was happy enough to go along with it. Having been raised alongside Yuuden, she views him as a sort of adopted sibling. Now that she is an adult and more mature than him, she views him as a spoiled younger sibling- sometimes exasperating and a lot of trouble, but ultimately a family member and friend. Which is why she went with Yuuden when he ran away (when she easily could have sided with his clan and had continued employment and security.)

FUGITIVE STATUS: The Hirkuet clan is traditionally powerful mages, and while jumping planes seems to have confused them, if they still feel like pursuing her and Yuuden it is possible they could manage to open portals to Elarthe.