THE BASICS
Name: Maris Strand
Nickname: Meri,  Maris Ransdottir (she's not particularly fond of this name, only her mother and 9 half-sisters call her this)
Age: 25
Weight: 145lbs
Height: 5'9"
Hair Color: Brunet, long and wavy.
Eye Color: Hazel, doe eyed
Distinguishing Marks: A golden dragon tattooed down her left thigh, a mermaid down her right thigh.

Physical Description: On the taller side, Maris is lean with a good bit of muscle. She has clear eyes that fluctuate from hazel to green, depending on the light around her. Her long, black hair is usually tied up in a braid that falls to her lower back. When left loose, a soft wave is evident in her hair that is further enhanced by sea salt. Her hands are rather calloused from handling ropes so often. She's prone to staring off into the middle distance while she thinks and often needs to be brought back to reality.

She can usually be found wearing darker shades of blues and grays, particularly an old wool jumper that belonged to her father that now fits her rather large. Her father was often fond of saying that Maris had a rebellious look in her eye, much like her mother. She carries a small, yellow folding knife with her at all times.

Lineage: Rán, Norse goddess of the sea and death

INTROSPECTION
Personality:
Maris is a quiet soul, preferring the sound of the waves to the sound of people. Her speech is quite plain more often than not, though her humor can sometimes be a bit sarcastic. She is very much the kind of person who looks before she leaps, knowing that any and all circumstances can change within the blink of an eye. Though somewhat reserved, Maris feels quite deeply, this is apparent in her willingness to lay down her life for what few friends and family she has left in the mortal world. Maris is a simple kind of person who expects others to treat her with the same respect she shows them; if she does catch anyone trying to manipulate or lie to her, she can be quite cruel in her anger.

Strengths:

• Loyal- She is willing to give up her life in order to protect those she would call friends and family. At this point, there are very few people she would do this for though.
  
  
  
• Independent- Due to her upbringing, Maris has learned to be quite independent, often taking matters into her own hands when others refuse to act.

Weaknesses:

• Capricious- Much like her mother, Maris can be prone to quick changes in her mood.
  
  
  
• Wrathful- Maris can be very unkind when she is really angry, often only relenting when she is satisfied that the offending party feels just as hurt as she does.

Fears:
She wouldn't call it a fear, but she does have a strong apprehension to her dual nature, that of human and divinity. She can't afford to lose control of herself like other mortals can, since this can lead to natural disaster but neither is ready to give up her humanity either. Although she respects Rán and her 9 half-sisters greatly, she fears becoming like them, like the rest of the gods.

Hopes: Maris hopes to eventually strike a balance within herself. Later on in her life she will be faced with the choice of giving up one side of her self completely, it's her greatest hope that she'll be to choose correctly when the time comes.

TALENTS AND ABILITIES
Inherited Godly Powers:

• Hydrokinesis: As a daughter of a sea goddess, Maris has control over bodies of water. She is able to generate waves while at sea, solidify water into a few limited shapes, and instinctively find bodies of water. She is unable to generate water, as that is still within her mother's realm.
  
  
  
• Perfect Bearings: Maris has perfect bearings on the ocean, allowing her to navigate quite easily. She can identify lines of longitude and latitude on instinct which leads her to figuring out her coordinates at 95% accuracy.
  
  
  
• Communications: It was much to Maris's surprise that she began to have a limited ability to communicate with sea creatures, including mermaids. She is typically treated with much respect whenever she's addressed by such creatures. Her particular favorites to converse with are sharks and dolphins.
  
  
  
• Hydromancy: Maris has shown an ability of clarivoyance, being able to view past, present, and future events when she stares into pools of water. It isn't conistent and she still has trouble interpreting what she sees, but she's currently training with her elder sister, Himinglaeva. Unable to control when she has a vision, Maris is usually left with a debilitating headache that leaves her very sensitive to light.
  
  
  
• Ghostly Perception: An intermittent gift, Maris is sometimes able to perceive the spirits of those lost at sea. Though she is not able to communicate with them verbally, she does get a sense of the spirit's emotional state. Whenever she can, she'll let her mother or one of her sisters know of the roaming soul so that they can be claimed properly.

Basic Skills:

• Swimming: Water is like a second skin to Maris. She is able to move through water with effortless grace and surprisingly fast.
  
  
  
• Sailing: Raised at sea by her father, Maris has an intimate knowledge of sailing. She can find her way on most ships quite easily, though she has a preference for her father's boat, a Valiant 40 named Echo.
  
  
  
• Fishing:  Again, due to her upbringing, Maris is skilled at fishing, particularly with nets (much like her mother). Every time she does fish, she gives a small offering of gold or silver to the sea as thanks for the bounty.
  
  
  
• Freediving: Freediving is a form of underwater diving that relies on the diver's ability to hold their breath. Maris took up the hobby as a teenager and enjoys it immensely. Curiously she never finds herself running out of breath. Her longest dive time was that of 13 minutes on a good breath.
  
  
  
• Surviving the Seas: Maris is uniquely adept at surviving  and thriving at sea. This would include CPR and basic first aide.
  
  
  
• Cartography: A new hobby, Maris has taken up creating her own maps during her times at sea. They're uniquely precise and tend to have a slight artistic flair. She often incorporates information she is given by the sea creatures in those areas she's charting.
  
  
  
• Light Combat: One of the first things Jonah taught his daughter was how to throw a punch and how to use a knife to defend herself.

THE JUICY BITS
Backstory:
For all intents and purposes, Maris had a very normal childhood. She was raised as an only child by her father and stepmother, Jonah and Bethany Strand.  Most of her summers were spent sailing across the Pacific while the autumns and springs of her childhood was spent at San Leandro, California. Spoiled with real-life adventures and charged with her own responsibilities, Maris grew up with a unique sense of independence and freedom not often afforded to girls her age. It was during this time of her life that she learned the true value of hard work and the satisfaction of a job well done.

Despite the fact that she loved her stepmother greatly, Maris always wondered about her mother (a subject Jonah was often reluctant to talk about). She developed the habit of jokingly asking her father for scraps of information in exchange for completing difficult chores. Jonah never gave in though, he often had a sad look in his eyes for several days whenever Maris brought up the subject. As she grew older, Maris stopped asking but the desire to know never really went away.

As time went on, Maris began to develope into a young woman. Puberty came with its regular struggles of moodiness and hormones, but something wasn't quite right for Maris. She began to hear voices when ever she was near the water (which was constantly since they lived at a marina). The voices were incessant, never letting her sleep.She was certain she making the water move around her just by staring and she was plagued by headaches constantly with a permanent sense of deja vu. She began avoiding the water as much as she could, thinking that perhaps she was developing some kind of delusion. After one long stretch of 3 sleepless nights, Maris finally went to her father with her fears.

Seeing her consternation and fear, Jonah felt it was finally time to tell Maris of her mother and her true nature. As calmly as he could he explained to his daughter that she wasn't crazy by any means and that hearing the voices was part of gift her mother had given her. Her mother, it turns out, was Rán, a goddess of the seas and death. All of these strange things Maris was now experiencing were once things Jonah had witnessed Rán do at one point or another. The voices Maris heard were that of her mother's subjects, paying respect to her as the daughter of their ruler; water yielded to her because it recognized her as well. Jonah went on to say that he never thought that Maris would ever develop any kind of divine powers and that's why he'd refused to tell her about her heritage.

It was a lot to take in at the age of 17 and Maris was certain that her father was playing a trick on her. Well, at least she thought that until she met her mother for the first time. On the eve of her 18th birthday, Rán finally decided to make an appearance While Maris finished chores on deck, she was startled by the sight of a woman rising from the ocean, clad in seafoam with wild black hair, skin tinted blue and eyes just like Maris's...

After a lot of questions from Maris and a lot of stubborn half-explanations from all three of her parents, Maris finally accepted that what her father had told her was true. She was a demigod, one of very few Rán had ever sired outside of her marriage. Rán explained that in time, Maris would begin to develop more abilities, that she shouldn't be afraid, and that she would always have help to master these skills. For the first time in three years, Maris felt a sense of relief with knowing the truth.

But comforting her daughter was not the real reason Rán came to visit. No, she had come to collect Jonah and Bethany (who apparently was another one of Rán's lovers) to take them down to her golden halls under the waves... In the span of a single night, Maris had gone from having three parents in her life to now being left essentially an orphan in the mortal realm. Jonah tried to comfort his daughter by telling her that they wouldn't be away from her, not really.

But his words did little at all to soothe Maris, who's grief and anger began calling up a high pitching waves in the marina, some so powerful even Ran had trouble wrestling control away from Maris. Taken slightly aback by the intensity of Maris's emotions, Rán quickly made a decision to offer her daughter a deal. Rán would gift her with a token, if she accepted, Maris would eventually be brought down to the golden halls, as a soul or as a ruler would be up to her.

Maris's sorrow lessened, she accepted the token from her mother. It was Jonah then who ordered her to see as much of the world as she could and forbade her from trying to arrive to her death sooner than she needed to. Taking her father's words and goddess-mother's promise to heart, she has since then spent as much time as she could sailing the world. By the time she was  22, she had sailed around Cape Horn. She's recently met another one of her goals, crossing the international date line at the age of 25, she commemorated with a golden dragon tattoo.

Relic:
Drop of the Sea: A blue crystal pendulum necklace, the prism is encased in delicate filigree, it hangs from a heavy silver chain and when held over a map, the sharp point of the prism touches down on the map to reveal the location of whatever the owner desires most at that moment.

Every bit a mark of favor and doom, Rán created the Drop to gift to her favorite mortal lovers. When received, it was under the understanding that Rán would eventually call the mortal to be in her golden hall beneath the waves. In the mean time, Rán would help her mortals find treasure and fulfill their desires so that they would not leave the living world wanting for more. The last mortal to be gifted with the Drop was Maris's father, Jonah Strand.

After Jonah's passing, Rán gifted the necklace to Maris under slightly different conditions. By accepting the gift, Maris would agree to eventually join her mother and the spirits of her mortal parents, whether as a spirit herself or a ruler like her mother would be up to her... Using the Drop to cheat Rán or severely damage the seas nullifies this agreement and would eventually lead to Maris being rejected from the sea.

Alignment: Gods