Name: Ailee Verinon
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Race: Beastkin (Satyrus / Mountain Goat)
Height: 6'2"

Appearance: Her form is lithe and strong, corded muscles and powerful lines visible even beneath the inch-thick fur that covers her limbs and back. Horizontal slits divide the startlingly bright yellow-green pupils of eyes set quite widely on a narrow, melancholy face. A pair of tight horns curl back from her forehead, wrapping tightly to the skull around a pair of thin, long, pointed ears; the horns covered in intricate scrimshaw and the ears decorated with a half-dozen piercings. An unruly mohawk of thick hair falls over her forehead and extends down her neck, the color a darker grey than the softer fur it blends into. Thick, powerful legs covered with shaggy fur reverse-bend just below the knee before terminating in a pair of cloven hooves.

Ailee tends to follow the fashions of the men she fights alongside, wearing breeches and tunic when not armored in chain and leather; yet this is simply behavior she has adopted to appease the more delicate sensibilities of the lowlanders. Still, her clothing and armor are kept pristine, the act of maintaining them providing cathartic relief for the satyr. No rust stains the metal in her gear, and the leather is replaced as soon as it becomes too worn or damaged to provide proper function.

Her two primary weapons, multi-purpose club/hook axes that were once both right and responsibility of the High Shaman, can almost always be found affixed to her legs in their strange sheathes when she's not plying them simultaneously to their shared purpose. Finally, the longsword Loa'lokai is a permanent resident of the space between her shoulderblades; the terrible weapon a malevolent curse that she carries bound tightly in its sheath.

Personality: As a youth, Ailee was one of the most gifted Shaman her people had ever seen; a fact that she was aware of almost from her first conscious thought. This incredible gift made her fearless in the face of all adversity, and was no great encouragement for her to learn humility. Instead, she constantly pushed herself to be worthy of her gift, in her own eyes. Always she drove herself to exceed all others, training her body and sharpening her wit beyond any of her kin. While she was never outright arrogant, she was fully headstrong and convinced that she was the one who saw the right way through all situations; a rockslide crashing down the mountain, unstoppable in her pursuit of knowing all that could be known and simply smashing through anything that sought to divert her.

The fearlessness of Ailee's youth has since been tempered by a decade of mourning and hopelessness; the latter fading only recently, evidenced now only by the countless scars that pattern her flesh. For years she sought to repay her sins with her own blood, seeking to drown out the rhythm of pain and sorrow that seemed to resonate permanently through her soul by immersing herself in the powerful drumbeat of conflict. It wasn't for money or power or honor that she ran to the fields of blood... it was to find her peace at the end of a greater foe's blade.

Yet that peace never found her, and eventually her shell of numbness and pain could no longer hold back the ghosts that haunted her. Her brutal battlefield reputation and lack of regard for her own life had left fear in the eyes of the lowlanders she fought beside, a sight that eventually penetrated her walls and reminded her what it was she was fleeing from in the first place. She now finds herself at a crossroads... how to compromise the pure, gifted child she was with the eager, exceptional killer she has become? Is such a thing even possible? And where does her magic, power still churning in her blood, fit in with such a compromise?

Now she most often finds herself in a general malaise, impatient for combat and that feeling of life that only comes while flirting with death. Outside that Thrill, she is blunt and somewhat taciturn, perking up only when exposed to the chance of a fight.

Strengths

Nimbly-bimbly Hoofwise: Ailee has tread the world, from the highest Crags to the muddiest plains, her hooves the only vehicle she has ever known. Footing is never an issue for her, no matter how precarious or tenuous, and her balance seems to defy possibility.

Desperate Thrill: Fighting has been her life for the bulk of the past decade, and so she walks the razor's edge between life and death with confidence. Her weapons are an extension of her will, her body an extension of her weapons... all are honed to lethality. It is only when walking that line, engaging with an enemy who may kill her, that she truly feels alive... it is only by filling the air with screams that she may override the screams in her mind.

Vocal Centering: All things, visible and invisible, have a rhythm; the rhythm of the forces that bring them into existence and bind them. These rhythms are manifest to Ailee, giving the Shaman a deeper than usual connection with the realm of spirits and granting her the ability to channel their songs and communicate with them. While this would normally put her at risk of being displaced from her own body by malevolent beings (or of losing herself on a spirit walk), her near-constant singing grounds her consciousness firmly to her physical body and rebuffs unwanted intrusion. In addition, this rebuffing barrier has a slight, unconscious rebounding effect against magic, curses, and spiritual afflictions.

Attuned Visual Spectrum: Due to the wide degree of vision and greater motion recognition her goat-like eyes and narrow face grant her, as well as the level of her gift in Shamanistic magic, Ailee has an almost preternatural sense for magic and spirit beings. Seeing spells in formation, she can accurately predict magic attacks. In addition, she quite literally has eyes in the back of her head as the shape of her pupils and head grant her a halo of vision, an incredible boon both on the battlefield and off it that she maximizes by keeping her head constantly in motion.

No Airsick Lowlander: Having grown up in the extreme heights of the tallest of the Crags, Ailee's cardio-respiratory system is much more robust than that of those who live in the lowlands. As such, her stamina and endurance far exceeds that of all but the heartiest lowlander.

Neutral Aspects

Mage Hunter: Ailee's ability to detect, read, and avoid enemy spellcasters early in her career led to certain... incentives... being underhandedly passed her way. Incentives to change her 'avoidance' policy to 'terminate'. She discovered quickly how good she actually was at the task, provided she could get through or around the formations that often protect them. Still, her willingness to accept coin for what amounts to battlefield assassinations has left a black mark on her already mottled combat history, and she has made no few enemies among the nobility.

I See You, Little God: As a spiritual leader of perhaps the most spiritual of all beastkin, Ailee has developed the ability to see the forms of the spirits that comprise natural and magical forces. Where others may see a glow or sparkle denoting enchantment, Ailee sees the form of the spirit of the magic. All spirits, benevolent or malevolent, are deeply revered by her people. In almost any situation, Ailee will either address or make obeisance to these 'little gods', sparking amusement in some and religious indignation in others.

Multi-tonal: Like all of her people, Ailee utilizes both sets of vocal cords simultaneously. For some, this is a fascinating habit; for others, terrifying.

Weaknesses

Sole Survivor: The only survivor of three separate mercenary companies, her reputation is that of a great black albatross. Despite the rapid spread of her fame as a peerless fighter, few companies now seek to hire her out of fear that she will bring her curse down upon them. Some even whisper that the destruction of her former allies happened by her own hand, although such whispers are not uttered near her presence...

Ignoble Savage, Harbinger of Evil: As a member of a caste-less tribe, Ailee has no corresponding station in the lowlander world (nor are any likely to ascribe her one). While other Beastkin are slightly more common, the Aloalako'aina are never seen outside the highest reaches of the Crags, and their appearance trends toward their bestial heritage. Her uncommon (some say demonic) appearance and ways, combined with her savage and amoral reputation on the field, has resulted in many focused instances of prejudice, superstitious rejection, and religious ire. Most view her as untrustworthy automatically, while others have outright fled in panic or attacked in hostility at the mere sight of her. Most often, she is viewed as little better than a servant or slave, and far more often treated as if she were the beast of burden brought along by what humans she may be accompanying. Rare is the human or other who is willing to approach her or converse with her.

Perpetually Sleep Deprived, Hunted, and Paranoid: Her abundance of enemies and lack of willing allies has resulted in a lone wolf in goat's clothing. Due to surviving them, she has come to expect hit men behind every door; a high-level state of alertness and tension that results in insomnia as well. Every few days she tends to fall into a deep sleep for ten or more hours, after which she rarely sleeps for more than two hours a night. Sometimes this amount of time stretches into weeks. As a side effect, she has developed an addiction to sugar, and chewing certain stimulating herbs.

Near Sighted: Because of the fact that her uniquely shaped eyes grant her an expanded field of vision, Ailee's long-range vision suffers terribly. Anything outside the front 20 degrees of vision (the narrow cone where her fields of view overlap) has a distinct blurriness and flatness to it until it enters her mid-to-short-range vision.

Notable Equipment:
Loa'lokai (Curse of my People) - Relic, Cursed Longsword. Peacebound.
Lak'ria and Ain'ria (Voice of Earth, Voice of Sky) - Relic Clubs / Hook Axes

Likes: Music and song, dance and rhythm. A worthy challenge. Learning
Dislikes: Stagnation and lack of progress. Ignorance. Empty boasts
Habits: Ailee's most distinguishing habit is in her speech. She always uses both sets of vocal cords at the same time, one set humming a rhythm set to her emotional state while the other formulates the words. Other habits include knuckle-cracking, coin-fidgeting, crunching on what sweets she can buy, and headbutting structural components of buildings upon entering them. Finally, her eyes and head are almost always turning a small bit, whether engaging in a conversation or on the field.

History:
Aloalako'aina ('The People of Earth and Sky' or Cragrunners as they are known abroad) are a deeply spiritual, ritualistic people, worshiping the spirits of the earth and the sky that they dwell so precariously between. The pinnacles of the Crags are their home, precarious cliffs and unpredictable canyons their birthright. Tribes are rarely larger than two or three families, and are often very territorial; especially of their females, as most children born to the tribes are male. Blood feuds and conflict are normal between the tribes, yet all revere the same Shamans (both spiritual leaders and warrior defenders of the people) and worship the same spirits. Because of this, any time there is a child born with magic to any of the tribes, that child is removed to the care of the Shamans and becomes part of no-tribe. While tribes are tight-knit, family clusters, the source of most of the feuding between them comes from the need to procreate. Since females are rare among them, it is tradition for young males to kidnap females from other tribes and take them as brides. As a rule, because there are so few Aloalako'aina, all but the Shaman abstain from using edged weapons. Most of the fighting is done with clubs, and takes after the headbutting matches of the mountain-goats they resemble.

Ailee was one such infant, gifted from birth with the ability to commune with and channel the spirits, and so she was adopted by the High Shaman and raised on the highest of the Crags. As she grew, she was taught the songs and rhythms of Aloalako'aina, the inaudible music that only her kind could attune. Unlike the others of her tribe though, the cadence and rhythm of her own people were not the only ones she could attune... to her, even the songs of the spirits were plainly audible. At first, the other Shamans thought her changing of the patterns and rhythms a simple childish trick; experimentation within known bounds. However, as she grew in age and confidence she began to channel the songs of other creatures, alien rhythms and tones that brought fear unto many of her fellow Shaman.

Yet Ailee was fearless, and as she reached adulthood she would often raise her voice while attuned to those foreign songs, seeking out new and powerful rhythms. It was that mix of fear and fearlessness that awoke the spirit of an ancient relic entombed in the Shaman's Totem, its presence unknown to any in the tribe, but now felt by the young Ailee. Unaware of the weapon's malevolent nature, the gifted young Shaman heard its voice; unafraid, she sang its song... and when the final refrain ended she was greeted with a horror beyond word or song. At her feet lie the corpses of her kin, those who swore beside her to uphold balance; all slain by the longsword now gripped in her hand.

That same day she fled the peaks, taking only the cursed sword and the two inherited symbols of office of the High Shaman. Upon finding her way to the base of the Crags, she wandered aimlessly onto a battlefield where she was caught between two warring factions. She fought without thought, her weapons simply rising and falling over and over until nothing stood before her. She ended up being recruited into one of the mercenary companies when the battle was over, her haze-filled mind simply following the orders leading her to the next field of slaughter.

It would be years before her mind rejected the endless rut she was caught in, her intellect finally forging a way through the pain and heartache and self-loathing, forcing her to examine her actions and what she had become. A monster is what she was, but she knew she didn't have to be... the voices of the Earth and Wind insisted this was true, despite the howls of all the souls of those whose songs she had forever stilled. She now keeps Lao'lokai specifically so that it won't fall into the hands of another, as she has come to believe that it was originally sealed away in her village so the Shamans could keep it asleep. As the last Shaman and de-facto High Shaman, she views this now as her singular responsibility. The blade is also a constant reminder to her to never give in to the temptation to use her magic again. The ironic hypocrisy behind her wish to die to a better warrior is not lost to her however, as she knows that that wish will result in her ultimately failing in that final duty. Thus, she fights to her utmost in the hopes that the one who fells her will be stronger and more capable of dealing with the weapon than she herself is.