Etti Rörig

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## History and Experiences

As with a lot of Fytáli, Etti is a baby of Dazkla. Growing up and leading a peaceful but exciting forest-life, Etti fell in love with the views of old, sun-bleached pillars wrapped in vines. Her most exhilarating memories are of just that: an archway, a potential opening to a village, town or city of old, strangled and held fast by the new life around it.

It was here that Etti realised that birth and death are nothing to be afraid of. Birth grows off death, and she saw that with the pillars; the vines, strangling roots and ivies reached the sun because they had something to climb. She knows her death will be just the same. Perhaps her body will become fertiliser and she will take the spiritual form of a plant once again, only this time dormant forever. She is not afraid of her death, and always says she will stare it right in the eyes when it comes. All through her life this attitude carried through, so that when she came upon her first strangler fig, in the forest near Afévresi, she spend the night staring at it with tear-stained cheeks.

The next few months, she looked to find the forest source. The spiritual hand that prowled beneath, above and within the earth itself. Back in Dazkla, Sylvanus was that hand. But, in these forests, she could not find anything that let her truly believe these woods had a source. No evidence presented itself in her subconscious, no foliage on her body ever reacted to anything. She swore she noticed the flytraps were less responsive to her in this place.

This whole thing fascinated her. Her search for this source became more widespread until she discovered the empty and leaf-less skies of Afévresi. Seeing it both astounded and sickened her stomach. It was impressive, a little like the vast landscape and network of bowers that acted as residences for the Fytáli back home. But... everything, to Etti's eye, was too symmetrical. There were right-angled corners everywhere, there were spaces of perfect distance between buildings, there were even structures that looked identical to the one next to them. Being from the crux of nature, no order and perfection had been witnessed before. Nature grew randomly and, although certain patterns were always followed, these were rarely geometrical.

Etti could understand the identical shapes somewhat - bees made tessellated shapes, as did the creator of the insects did on their silvery wings. Rivers wound their ways with the same patterns, just in different directions. Plants almost always grew upwards. But the perfection of the place was so alien to Etti she became scared.

She fled the edge of the forest and even the forest itself, back into the comforting colours of her own home region. The source of nature called out to her heart, she felt, and she ran to it for hours. The lack of it before was so interesting yet so hollowing.

However, Etti could never get the comfort and happiness of that source out of her head, once it had truly come back to her. It was like she'd reclaimed the feeling in the soles of her feet after it had been lost. She began wandering further out towards the edge of the forests, feeling that source dwindle. But... what did the other regions hold? Did they have sources of equal strength to the one in Dazkla?

This is why Etti is entering civilisation and becoming a Guildmember. These wants, these desires to feel other natures speaking to her, and to commune with them herself, it is all she wants. She wants to whisper to nature, and she aches to hear nature whisper right back to her.

## Character

### Etti Herself

Despite how fragile her frame may suggest she is, Etti's moral code is rather skewed. As could be expected from a Fytáli hailing from the essentially lawless land of Dazkla, Etti's mind is focused almost purely on the good of nature. Her standoffish tendancies and mistrustful glances make her easily rather dislikable, though that feeling is often mutual, especially if the other person is a Synthi; Etti almost hates Synthi because of their drive to build things, their love of symetry and their need to understand. The reason she doesn't outwardly detest them, however, is because she spent many unaware months in a dense forest area of the reigion, very close to the Synthi major city Afévresi. She lived so close, searching for a natural spirit energy she could communicate with for months. This search was ulitmately fruitless, perhaps because she was so close to the city that the true sciences and intelligences of the Synthi were presiding over the natural forces in their woods. This realisation inspired two things within Etti: a growing distaste for the Synthi and a feverish wish to discover all the forces the world had to offer.

Etti is as cautious as she is curious. Her gaze, once drawn to a particular odd occurance, is hard to shift. She will spend hours on something, trying to work out what it is, or gauge whether it is dangerous. And, although she does not realise it, this streak of her personality makes her closer to the thread of the Synthi's existance than perhaps other Fytáli would be. Etti, while being concerned at just what plant is growing before her, wants to understand *why* that particular plant grows before her; is there something about this climate the plant favours over others, and why has it not grown before now? These questions Etti asks herself for the good of nature. Once she knows how to make a particular plant grow, she can harness and encourage the life around her forever upwards. Doing this makes her not only feel closer to Sylvanus, but closer to her true spirit and soul. It would bring a tear to her eye to see something flourish, as much as it would to see something wilt.

### Fighting Style and Weapons

It is this drive which gives her a mind more focused on Spirit Arts than Force combat. Not only are the Fytáli Spirit Arts revolving around the suggestion of her favourite living things, but she finds Force combat an uncomfortable waste. Constantly scared she could whip round and sever a vine or root, she does not carry any rapier, and would instead rely on the antler-like branches sprouting from her forehead, or her thorn-like bones that extend externally from her elbows. Her body is not build for close-combat, and she would rather keep herself away from bruising. Because of this, Etti chose Spirit Arts.

Her move into Spirit Arts prompted her to use her hands more, as well as learn to somewhat control her pheromones. Her string of rosary beads provide her something solid which she can focus on and therefore build up some power to control plant life. And, while she can do suggestion on most plants, it is her pheromones which she finds most handy to control. Any sentient plant, such as the conjoined-flytraps that extend from her shoulderblades, feed off her pheromones. She cannot directly control these examples, though they respond to whatever pheromones her body releases. Fear, sadness, anger, all fuel the flytraps minutely. However, as Etti prefers to stand away from any threat, these flytraps mainly remain a secondary way for her to obtain sustenance.

### Orientation and Drive

Perhaps these flytraps describe Etti herself better than anyone may realise. Should they be left alone, the flytraps remaine passive and still. However, if triggered, the traps respond, becoming offensive in a second. This is the same for Etti. Her life is nature-oriented, and her goal is to discover and commune with more natural forces to see how their environments live. But, if she herself or anything close to her (be it by relation or by sentiment), she will become offensive. She is quick to stand up for anything she wants to, and perhaps too quick, so her attitude may not be favourable all the time. Though, perhaps she is different to the flytraps in that, should she catch someone defiling her green world, she would chase them even if doing so was a foolish idea.

## Skills and Breakdown

### Retire and Respire

Etti takes a breather for a turn, respiring glucose and oxygen to repair parts of her body.

### Summon Nettle

Using her rosary beads to focus on, Etti aims a small sprouting of nettles to grow rapidly beneath the enemy. The nettles' stings are enhanced and can penetrate most hides. The nettles stay on the field.

## Relationships and Allies

### Prejudices and Preferences

It is clear that Etti's view of Synthi is very negative; even living so close by Pokos for months, she only got to appreciate a few minor things about their race and culture. Overall, she dislikes the unnatural orderly disorder of cities most of all. Right angles are not beautiful to her, and the colour of the Synthi major city is not something she has oft seen. She treats Synthis with contempt, and would turn her back on one even if they needed assistance. She has seen first-hand that Synthi tear down woodland to make room for their homes. Etti only sees this as the murder of innocence for the sake of impurity.

However, Etti does not overly despise the race - the things she managed to appreciate did serve her well when she practiced them herself. As an example, one thing she learned, although begrudgingly, from the Synthi was the simple aspect of soling shoes. Etti's lower legs are the home to tens of sprouting leaves, though her feet are free of them. She used to cover them with simple and rough fabrics, which would protect against some thorns, but it was common for her feet to become scratched and hardened by the years of rough terrain. Etti now soles her makeshift footwraps with bark.

Although there are many differences between her Fytáli self and the other races, Etti does not have the same prejudices as she does towards the Synthi. The ones she likes the least, though, are the Chitós, because their societies are similar to the Synthi's. She has never ventured far enough to see any settlement, but believes that they are not too different from Synthi civilisations. The Sári, either Northern or Southern, Etti has no issues with, and likes them for their use of the environment. This is the same as with the Thári. Their animal instincts and behaviours do for the environment what the ground-dwelling fauna do in Dazkla - a little destructive, but no further than it needs to be. A fox makes its home in a burrow, and does not clear the land above to make room for itself.