_ Viktoria Lodovka-Sud
![](https://rpol.net/portraits/f/fh19067.jpg)
Many might confuse Vik for a boy at first glance, one who'd been on the sea a while, face already sporting a few cracks and scratches from a life staring into the sun, wind and rain. Her hair is kept short, shorn with little more than a dagger she keeps in her belt.
Despite a noble (if hardy) upbringing, Vik's posture, speech and manner is that of someone who keeps to the boat. On land she is as sure a warrior as at sea, despite her ungainly pack, but her short stature hides her fierce training in swordplay, her cunning skill at swimming, and her deft hand at boating.
quote: |
"The North is not a forgiving place, survival is maintained by keeping to roles set in ages past. My father had sons, but only after I was born, and though I took well to learning the arts of heraldry and horse-riding, I balked at the prospect of a quiet life as some other lord's wife. So I've little wealth or influence to my name, save that name and my skills, earned first in the castle yard, and then on the decks of ships sailing the Lake of Mists and Veils, and beyond." Drawing one of the shortswords she'd gained in treasure, Vik admired the edge "I've longed for castle-forged steel for years since leaving home. I had to content myself with knives and clubs, a sickle for the longest time, until I earned my blades in a place called the Merling's Hook, a den of the foulest and most vile people you've ever met. It was months we were stuck in the hook, our captain having sold the crew into servitude until he could gamble our ship back. We killed him eventually . . . a poor captain is no captain. But his weakness left me to learn lying, how to control the edges of my mouth, my eyes, when I'm talking." |