Thread: Skies of Arcadia!

Name Shiho H. Ettaran Background-- See more Though she doesn't have very many memories of this time, Shiho's early years under the name of another family were spent in a large library. Her dad was a researcher, and her mom was a technician working on polishing skyship technology, Shiho's time there was truly one of wonder more than sadness - as while they spent their lives inside the royal library of Non-canon technically advanced country to focus on their research with the occasional acquiring of a room from the hotel across the street their cared about their daughter greatly, even if she had gotten lost in the building's elaborate structure easily twice over how many times you could count on two hand. She gained a liking to the written craft here, though by contrast she spoke rather more quietly compared to the other children. In the month after her fourth birthday, a great sickness spread over the land. Her parents had Shiho stay with some family friends, the Ettaran's, with a lone island to the south, while they worked on a cure. Two weeks later, they were dead. The survivors could not rebuild. The country lie in ruin. It is beyond repair. Following this, the Ettaran's stored away what copies of research Shiho's father had sent them, and officially adopted Shiho into their family. It was not a smooth transition. Lots of screaming and crying was involved. After this point, Shiho's family consisted of a 'father', a 'mother', and an 'older brother.' They had lots of money. She spent the most of the next five years locking herself in her room and getting her 'parents' to order her books from far-off lands. They were familiar to her. Her older brother was mean, but they managed to ignore each other most of the time. Her father was an international stockbroker who worked under a large company based in Valua. She has a hard time remembering what her mother did. By the time she was fourteen, she began looking into some research elements she remembered from her time with dad. She started reading into concepts more attuned to someone at least a decade older. A year later, she managed to build a miniature skyship operated by remote control from scraps she found in the mansion basement. She was happy until it broke. The next month she saved a life when a business partner had a heart attack during a visit. He still died later that year, but she wanted to be proud of something. Her relationship with her 'family' got a little better. They still hated each other, but they learned to respect that at least. Her brother's friends bothered her a little too much, so she took a trip to a library and picked up a book on how to use a knife. Shiho started going out to practice every Saturday night, until her father noticed she was out often and she decided to lock herself in her room again. Once, at sixteen, she asked for her father's help getting into a prestigious school. She wanted to find somewhere she felt safe. Being with others was painful. She might as well have just been there to be played with. She had meltdowns and broke into tears in the bathroom every other week. She left after her first semester. Father wasn't nice after that happened. Brother wouldn't fucking shut up about it, either. I stomped on one of Brother's spare glasses after that because I was angry. There was a fight after that. He ended up with a black eye and I broke my arm. I remember wishing I had brought the knife. A week later, I was a little glad I had forgotten it. ...Things started getting better after that. She met a nice man once while shopping for medical supplies and spare gears. That birthday, when she turned 18, was the first time someone outside her family had joined her for one. He spent that night in her room. She said she loved him next week, and they haven't met since. She isn't sure if she regrets it or not. She can't even remember his name these days. At twenty, she asked 'father' for her parents' old research papers. They were covered in dust, but still readable. Well, I say that, but her dad's handwriting was horrendous. Shiho was the only one in the whole house who could make heads or tails of it. There was a note on page 53 about dad taking everyone to an amusement park once this was all finished. Shiho cried herself to sleep that night. She spent the next few years working on iterating her mom's skyship blueprints and reading up on biology with a boost from her father's blueprints. There was a lot there that could serve as details for more than just a single cure. Notes of wild dreams and the applications her dad had written about how he could change the world were scribbled in nearly all the margins. He said he was sad so many people had to die in order to find an opportunity to make the world a better place. On the night mom died, dad wrote that he's sorry he wouldn't be able to be with me anymore. That was the last entry in the papers. I think he would be happy knowing I could read that. In the week after she turned 24, there was a large fire. She blacked out after inhaling too much smoke, and it took her a month to finally wake back up. Older brother had a friend who died. He was out for the funeral when she woke up. The papers 'survived', under one description or another. They were sold off to pay for the repairs. A rather extravagant Valuan shop that deals in things of historic and scientific value. Father's market shares hadn't been doing well lately. They were already low on money as-is. By the time the parents could ask to buy them back, they had already been sold to a buyer. The shop didn't keep records of who. They had a lot of customers who would have rathered stay anonymous. She spent the rest of the day fixing up older brother's old glasses from the fight some years ago. It hadn't mattered if they didn't fit anymore. She cut her finger on the glass once and needed a bandage. She gave them to brother when he returned from the funeral. There were still tears on his face. Shiho told everyone she was sorry she couldn't learn to be a family with them. Father said that dad would be happy with who she's become anyway. That night, Shiho set off on a travel ship to a far-off country to find the papers. She wanted to go to Valua, but father had told her it was dangerous alone, even if he respected Shiho's wish that this was her own goal to solve. She took a random ticket and decided to start her search wherever it landed her. Depending on what the first post is like, Shiho probably meets the rest of the party on a transportation ship somewhere on her journey. Background's finished, so I'll put this up and post the rest of the sheet as I work through it. Description Shiho, 24 years old, is a young woman who takes pride in her intellect, or less commonly, her wit. She'd like to think she's reached a fair level of emotional maturity over the years, and generally manages to keep herself at least a bit cheerful out of sheer willpower. She's about the same height as most men her age, if perhaps shorter by the size of an eyeball, with bright brown hair that reaches about halfway down her neck, and eyes with a dim green hue like small emeralds. Her face, while still fairly beautiful, can usually be recognized as a foreigner, depending on where her travels take her, but it oftentimes takes someone more well-versed in the subject to point out her exact lineage. Her body is fairly well-rounded, with breasts just slightly above average compared to others, and she sees her waist and her hips as fairly appealing though not exaggerated to the point of being bothersome. She has a preference for long skirts that reach below her knees as a minimum, and her underwear choices are generally more elegant without being outright chosen for sexual reasons or anything that might be cumbersome to move around in. Makeup is usually expensive or otherwise a bother for daily use and reserved for special occasions. She keeps a bag strapped to her waist for money, documents and the occasional bottle of water, whereas the upper rim of her skirt is a suitable place to hold her knife. In the events that her knife needs to be more easily hidden she can strap it to her thigh, but she doesn't like it too much as it means she needs a shorter skirt in order to pull it out. High Concept Searcher of Lost Texts. Shiho searches for her parents' lost documents that were sold off after the fire. Her experience with written craft in-general means she has a much easier time understanding and researching written language - this is expanded to simple understanding of text in unknown languages as well with some careful observation - but by contrast she has much more difficulty understanding the vocal language of strangers. She also knows her parents' handwriting well enough to recognize it. Trouble A Broken Spirit. Shiho has difficulty staying calm or otherwise not-panicking under heavily stressful situationsgenerally in the same zone as hostiles, affecting her efficiency in noncombat actions. Aspect 1 Calm Hands and a Healthy Mind. Shiho's practice in her parents craft, usually relating to medicine and engineering, make her much more skilled at making delicate hand movements and observation of how something works. Aspect 2 A Faint Whisper. Shiho's internally-focused demeanor and general avoidance of crowds makes her much better at staying quiet or otherwise moving unnoticed. On the other hand, she doesn't deal well with crowds and being the center of attention. Aspect 3 Nimble and balanced. Her training with a knife, while she's not strong enough to make her stab stuff harder, has given her improved dexterity with her body. She has an easier time moving swiftly and otherwise staying balanced without falling over. Approach scores-- Careful3 Clever2 Flashy1 Forceful0 Quick2 Sneaky1 Stunts Because Shiho has Calm Hands and a Healthy Mind , she gets 2 when she Carefully overcomes obstacles when she tends to an injury.