Riala Siloris

== History ==
Riala grew up on the streets, carving whatever life she could in her earlier days. As a tiefling in Inverden she was never particularly cared for, her parents abandoning her at an early enough stage that she doesn't even remember their faces, let alone their names. Rather, she grew up with something of a family of other sorts- a somewhat ragtag group of orphans, misfits, and survivors. She learned to fight and flee. She was quick, and had a good eye, so she was often the lookout or scout for various expeditions to allow others the chance to get in, steal what they needed to, and get out. It wasn't glorious living, but it got food in their bellies and money in their pockets for what needs they had aside from food. They may have wanted for much, but they worked together to see as many of their needs met as possible.
This resulted in Riala developing a strong sense of kin-bonding with those she would consider friends. So when most of her friends started to fall apart for various reasons- disagreements, greed, petty squabbling, or trying to find a better life for themselves, she quickly found herself listless and aimless. Had her friends fallen apart due to some external stimulus... Something she could rage against... Perhaps she would have a focus. Instead, it was all taken from her by the currents of time.
It is no surprise that she eventually chose to left. Alone in a land that was short of actively hostile toward her, with nobody to fall back on and nothing to lose... She stowed away on a ship headed to somewhere- anywhere. But what sorts of fate could there be for a tiefling who's only skills were her keen eyes?
While out on sea, the fateful day came when a pirate attack struck, taking the crew and everything they were worth. When things seemed the most bleak, as the captain's men revealed her in the cargo and were going to do any number of things to her... The captain saw her, wielding a blade desperately, and managing to dodge and weave around his men with surprising skill for her age. So he made her a deal... If she could survive a year on his ship, working for them, and succeed in the tasks he gave her, he would let her live.
One year became two. Two became five. He taught her many things, from how to truly wield a blade, to how to use and repair a gun, to how to crack a chest and reveal it's golden treasures. The trademarks of their profession, and soon to be a capital aspect of who she molded to be. She ascended to first mate aboard the Cresting Hag. Once again, she had a home, and a family.
Fortune was not kind to Riala, however, as it oft was not to people like her. The ship entered a battle with another pirate ship, and lost. The wreckage floated ashore in an unknown place, and she found herself picking apart what remained. One thing she refused to leave without, however... Was the flag on the mast of the ship, still waiving, determined. To a degree, so long as she could hold that flag, she felt she could conquer anything.
There was a lot for Riala to do, a lot of progress to make, and a lot of power to gain if she were to revive the Cresting Hag and become a captain of her own. In the meantime, she had to find a way of gathering such power for herself.
== Appearance ==
Riala is a rather tall, stately woman with large, curving black horns and vibrant purple hair. Her red eyes practically shine from behind her bangs. She has a strong countenance, and something of a swagger to her befitting a pirate. She dresses in clothing that is easy to move in, and keeps a pistol at her hip. Her eyes seem to gleam when she shows intense emotions, sometimes flaring into something of a fearsome appearance. Usually, however, she seems cheerful and energetic. This can actually get somewhat unnerving in the heat of combat, however, as she laughs while cutting down her enemies mercilessly.
== Personality ==
Riala is not necessarily a good person by any stretch, nor does she pretend to be. To her, life has taken it's stripes out of her, but if she focuses on that she'd go insane. Instead, she laughs at it all as she cuts her own stripes back. If you are a part of her crew, she'll go to hell and back for you. If you betray her trust, she will hunt you. If you harm her or her crew, she will kill you. To give quarter is to give others a chance to get back at you, and so she does what she can to leave no survivors in the process unless she is sure they stand no chance of doing so- in which case, she might be willing to take them on to serve her in some way. If her current crew disdains this, however, she will ease up not out of a desire to show mercy, but because she knows that having a crew is far more important than killing one's enemies.
In general, she has a strong desire for freedom and the ability to do as she wants. It leads to an arguably selfish mentality, but it's not something she overly concerns herself with. After all, she isn't the only one. She's seen the faces of greed and disdain, and known how readily someone will shove others down for petty reasons. To her, that is a benchmark of what society is. To some degree, however, she still finds herself rebelling against that as well. Almost paradoxically, she will mercilessly push down someone else... But rush to the aid of someone when another does the same depending on the context- specifically, whether or not they can do something about it.
To her, beating an armed opponent and then gloating about it, taking their things, and killing them... That's perfectly acceptable behavior. In fact, she's more than happy to do it, and takes some amount of pleasure from it. She strongly dislikes doing this to the powerless, however, and rather dislikes those that sees the lack of power of another as reason to treat them in such a manner. This also leads to her butting heads with authority figures quite often, since she sees institutions like that as practically establishments of such. She actually doesn't really care much one way or the other about slavery, however. To her, that's a different thing, though goodness knows if someone tried to enslave her she would be all too eager to blow their head off. It's one thing for others to be slaves, but to dare place such an attempt on her or one of her crew is an offense that would have her ready to kill in an instant.
== Loves ==
Riala has a large love of treasure. Coin, gold, jewelry... She hopes to one day be able to have vast quantities of plundered goods from all over. To a certain degree, this is one of her greater vanities. Her greed is a rather notable factor of her personality, and one that honestly is likely a rather large weakness of hers as well if exploited.
== Fears ==
Being an individual that so thoroughly enjoys freedom, losing that freedom is something she despises. She makes ample use of technology, and thinks that magic is something that is very much a tool to be used. Her fear of losing her freedom, however, tends to cause her to look suspiciously on certain kinds of magic, such as enchantment and illusions. Similarly, she has little to no love of any establishment that would see fit to make her a slave.
Thieves are obviously a huge fear of hers as well, but granted that it takes one to know one. One who's wealth is illegitimately gained will often be most worried about thieves by far, after all. As such, she tends to guard her treasures rather zealously. One would think this would lead to a level of suspicions about her own allies, but also paradoxically once she feels she can trust someone enough to have her back in a gunfight, she's usually pretty quick to follow with the rest of her trust as well.
== Hobbies ==
When the clink of counting coins grows dull to her ears, and fiddling with her gun becomes tedious, one can often find Riala trying to find fun foods she isn't familiar with, good drink, or parties that might be worthy of her interest. To a degree, work is a hobby to her as well. She enjoys herself when plundering, and often finds herself antsy when she hasn't done so in a while. The feeling of the waves beneath her feet is also something she greatly enjoys, so whenever possible she loves to get ahold of a boat and sail away to whatever ends she can find.
== Family ==
Riala has no clue who her parents are. In her opinion, good riddance. It was highly likely they were the sort that just dumped her on the street when her horns started growing in because of the almost vapid hatred Inverden bears for those of the blood of the lower planes. To her, her crew is her family, and that is what matters most to her. With her crew all dead, this means she needs to find a new family. She is sure so long as she holds the flag close to hand, however, this detail will solve itself in time.
== Friends ==
Similarly, Riala's friends all separated, and with the destruction of her ship, she is left bereft of any companionship. She is a stranger in strange lands, and will likely find fate becoming all the stranger as it goes on.
== Enemies ==
At this time, she has no way of acting on it, but one day she intends on finding the pirates that destroyed the Cresting Hag and destroying them. She has a vendetta for now, but without any knowledge on the band of pirates that destroyed her ship, this will likely take a long Time. The only thing she has to work on is the image of a black flag with the skull of what appeared to be some form of mandibled humanoid, a pair of sickles crossed behind it. One day, she intends on finding this ship, and sinking it to the depths. For now, however, she has to start small and work her way to that day.
== Aspirations ==
Riala craves fame and fortune. She craves the successes of dashing her enemies before her, and running them down. In some way, shape or form, she also intends on reviving her old captain's ship and crew. The ship would never return- it was destroyed utterly- but with the flag still there, clearly there was a chance for some form of renewal. The Cresting Hag was done for, but that didn't mean that the flag could not fly again- the same colors with a new name. To her, this was the epitome of moving forward.
She obviously has many more desires than this. Mountains of gold, the fear of the seas, and perhaps some beauties at her beck and call as her crew brought them into the sunset. All the trappings of a magnificent life with the quality food and drink that comes of the position and successes to get there. She longs for a legend of riches and spoils, all the better if she can carve them from her enemies.