Marina aep Dornala

Marina with her crow Filibertus

Marina aep Dornala was a half-elf innkeeper, healer, seer, tracker and smuggler from Lyria.

## Appearance

Being half elf, Marina reached as an adult a height of 5'3 ft. Slightly taller for the average women, but not as tall as the rest of Aen Seidhe.

She would be described as a woman of raven hair, and green eyes.

Due to her mixed blood, Marina was born with a skin condition in which pigment cells of her skin stopped functioning. Causing her skin to loose color in patches.

## Personality

Marina was known for having a characteristic good, dark humor. As well as being rather flirtatious.

Being an innkeeper, she would always welcome anyone to her inn with a smile. And enjoyed a good company along with a drink. During any exceptionally good night, she would even sing and dance.

There were a few exceptions to her usual cheerful estate. When problems were caused at the inn, she would not hesitate in reestablish order in the room to whatever cost, even if she had to recur to violence to do so. There were people who could claim to have seen her smash tankards in men's faces if they dared to use slurs against non-humans inside the inn. Another exception were soldiers. After Lyria's pogrom when the aforementioned killed her entire family, once the inn was rebuilt her most strict rule was to never admit soldiers inside. Regardless of the king they served.

## Biography

### Early Life:

##### Childhood:

Marina was born middle daughter of an Aen Seidhe merchant and a human woman who established in Lyria after opening an inn. Her childhood would be described as happy. She was raised in the kitchen by her father and in the inn's clinic by her mother. Marina would be educated during the first fifteen years of her life as a cook and a healer.

###### -Visions:

The first five years of her life passed without anything that indicated she had been gifted with clairvoyance. The first time she recalled to have a vision was during a dream in which she dreamed she was drowning and died. Later on, the blacksmith's son disappeared to be found a few days later, drowned in the river that ran under a bridge near the town. She would continue to have visions in her dreams but never dared to tell about them to her parents. Some dreams involved people she didn't know, and others involved people she loved, or the kingdoms in general, like the Nilfgaardian invasion when she was seven years old, or the time her father fell from the roof they were fixing. She would then finally foresee the murder of her family.

When Marina has visions in her dreams, she first catches signals that allow her to place the time or the place where the event is going to happen. It may be roads, the phase of the moon, if there's a celebration. This allows her to have an idea of when to expect any catastrophe or tragedy she has foreseen.

##### Lyria Pogrom (1268/1269)

At the age of 15, Marina dreamed of an attack at the inn. More precisely, she dreamed of the inn being burned down, and experienced being attacked by townsfolk and soldiers from her mother's point of view, pleading for mercy for her sons and ultimately being killed. This caused her to insist to her parents to leave Lyria for a while. And even when the pogrom in Rivia had taken place that same year, her parents refused to leave since they had come to feel completely accepted by the community and thought it wouldn't come to that.

A few days later, Marina was sent out of town to buy fruit and beer. She pleaded her parents for them to go all together, but was dismissed. The travel would take two days, and one night. By the time she returned to the inn, she found everything inside destroyed and semi-burned. She also found the bodies of her parents and brothers. Their pointed ears had been cut.

Being spotted by soldiers, Marina had to flee and disappeared for two years.

##### Return to Lyria (1270)

After two years hiding and surviving in the streets and forests, Marina returned to Lyria and to the inn, which she rebuilt and fixed with help of free elves and even some humans she met and befriended during that period.

###### Training:

After her return, Marina met an elven male who belonged to the radical movement of the Scoia'tael, Aodhan Vaerney. Who took her under his wing until she was able to get back on her feet. During this time Marina was taught how to fight, and shoot with bow and crossbow. Aodhan became a paternal figure to Marina, and was also the main reason why she later would decide to support the Scoia'tael.

### Adulthood:

#### The Red Crow

The inn changed its name to The Red Crow, and became an all-inclusive inn hidden in the forest. This meant, unlike other establishments, elves, dwarves, witchers, and pretty much any non-human who didn't cause trouble was welcomed to have a drink, food, and rest.

The establishment included in addition to the usual commodities, bathing rooms as well as a clinic, where Marina prepared medicines and received patients. There were also ancient ruins and a cave-like temple where Marina went to pray and meditate, as well to perform her rituals.

While running the inn, Marina also became a smuggler for the Scoia'tael. Providing weapons, medicines and food to the camps. Unlike *hawkers*, she would sell weapons, medicine and food to a much lower and fair price, as well as having hosted, healed and hid more than one member of the movement.

### Relationships:

-Freyja of Kaednwen:

TBA

-Aodhan Vaerney:

TBA

-Nyriel:

TBA

-Fianna O'Siadhail:

TBA

## Skills and Abilities:

### -Marksmanship:

After returning to Lyria and having found Aodhan, Marina started her training in archery and crossbow shooting. Being instructed by Aodhan while he was part of the Scoia'tael movement, she mastered both bow and crossbow. Later she would opt for the latter since it was easier to have a loaded crossbow under the counter in the tavern. Still, Marina never stopped training with traditional bow in case she needed a weapon that didn't require loading.

### -Close Combat:

She was not only trained in archery, but also hand-to-hand and blade or knife combat since she would not always have her bow or crossbow at hand. After two years of intense training, Marina could defeat men taller than her, as well as being able to decently defend herself using knives or blades. She had a dagger strapped to her thigh at all moment. As well as a knife under her pillow.

### -Healing:

Marina as raised as a healer since she had age to speak and understand what was being spoken to her. At the age of twelve she could attend births and heal severe wounds.

### -Clairvoyance:

She started having visions when she was five years old and for about two decades she was not able to control what she saw or when. It also appeared she could only see tragedies. And not only what she saw caused her to go under extreme stress, but when experiencing the events while being a victim, she could feel pain, fear, and any sensation produced as if she was actually being hurt. After each trance, she would feel exhausted, sore and pretty weak. At some point, trances could be so terrible and the visions so bad that blood would come out of her eyes in tears, which was the reason she tried to suppress all the dreams by drinking heavily and taking sleeping potions. After being taken to Tir ná Lia and training with Leannán, Marina was able to control her visions and be able to see things she actively intended to see.

### -Tracking:

Marina discovered her tracking ability after the first attack to the tavern when she returned home. After she gathered the remains of the inn and took a bloody piece of cloth. This allowed her to know who did it belong to and where was that person. This ability may have been activated or triggered after the stress of the previous vision, the sight of her murdered family and the following to years of surviving in the street.