Caroline Lao

Name: Caroline Lao
Nickname: Carrie
Age: 19
Weight: 112
Height: 5'2"
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Grey
Distinguishing Marks: None as such, but see Backstory for Stignir.

Physical Description:




Carrie Lao is a small, slender young woman of mixed-but-mostly-Hmong ancestry.  She wears her hair fairly short, and it's straight and black; her figure is very slender, but with muscle underneath.  She tends to dress very goth or punk, usually in dark colors.  She has a low voice, and tends to speak softly.  She walks confidently, though, and there are always corvids where she is-- crows or ravens will find her; many are not natural birds.

Lineage: Odin

INTROSPECTION
Personality: Cynical, a bit sarcastic, and very analytical.  Carrie doesn't think much of the conventional structures of society, but she hasn't worked out what would be better.  Yet.  She's working on that.  She'd rather listen to music than head into danger, but the threat of the Titans is bad enough for her to get involved, and she's taking it very seriously.  She doesn't want to fight-- so she's going to do her damndest to make sure she wins as quickly and completely as possible.

Strengths: Observant.  Mentally resilient.  Emotionally centered.  Intelligent.

Weaknesses: Distrusts authority figures.  Cynical about other people's motives.  Finds it hard to open up to people or show vulnerability.  Bad Imposter Syndrome.

Fears: Letting people down.  Being helpless.  What she might do in a fight.

Hopes: To get this damn fight her bio-dad dragged her into over with without getting hurt.  Maybe to make some good friends along the way.

TALENTS AND ABILITIES
Inherited Godly Powers:

* Crowfriend.  There are always crows or ravens where Carrie is.  At least some of them are not natural birds, but stronger, smarter supernatural entities.  They will do as she asks, and she can use their senses, even seeing through the eyes of many of them at once.  They will steal or fight if she asks them to.  She can also assume the shape of one, but she doesn't do it often.

* Martial Mastery.  Odin birthed her for warfare; she was born to it.  Outside of a fight, she's not unusually strong or tough.  But when there's actual violence happening around her, she turns into an engine of death, able to move like lightning, dodge attacks that cannot be dodged, parry the blows of giants or strike blows that can fell them. In this state, she will automatically incorporate the senses of all crows present into her actions, making her nearly impossible to hit by surprise.  However, in this state, she can't back down or back off, and will always act in an attempt to quickly slay any perceived threat.  When it's over, she's generally left exhausted.

Basic Skills: Very good at parkour, from trying to find high spaces to go up and think.  Also a very good tactician and strategist, and very skilled at figuring out the strategies of others.

THE JUICY BITS
Backstory: Carrie Lao was born in Minnesota, the grandchild of Hmong refugees from Laos, and daughter to Odin, although her family never knew this.  Carrie was smart and observant enough to do well in school, and get into a good college, and she did so reluctantly.  The system looked to her like it was deeply flawed, but she hadn't worked out what to do about that.  Yet.  But college wasn't bad-- she got to take a few interesting classes, listen to some interesting music, make out with a couple of cute girls at parties.

It was during this time that crows began to follow her.  She liked the atmosphere they provided, so she fed them.  And then, one day, one of them was instead an old man with a beard, a broad-brimmed hat, and only one eye.  And he told her, "That's enough of that.  You were sired by the Smith of Battle, the Lord of the Grave-Mound.  Old Man Trouble.  Me.  You've been living too peacefully, and now it's time for you to prove your worth to me.  Take this spear, Stignir, and I will send you where you're needed.  I don't give a damn if you save anyone, but kill the Titans.  Succeed and I'll reward you.  Fail and you'll already be dead, a fine place to be, so you can't lose."

None of this was reassuring, but she took the spear anyway.  It was a single shaft of a strong, slightly flexible substance, about five feet long, and its tip was incredibly sharp.  Odin explained that it had been formed from the bristle of a gigantic boar, and now it was hers, and Stignir could inflict bleeding wounds almost impossible to heal on anyone it stabbed, even ghosts.  (Odin didn't bother telling her that she was his second choice for Stignir, but the half-brother she never knew had died killing the monstrous boar, so he needed a new candidate.

Stignir can turn into a jewel stuck to Carrie's forehead when not in use.  She doesn't quite know why, but she's glad for it, and in a crisis, her skill and Stignir's power are a dangerous combination.

Alignment: Gods.  Odin probably would be just as happy to see the rest of them burn while he laughs, but he wants the Titans destroyed more than that.