Character Profiles for the novel “Dungeons with Dragons in Them”

Genre: Fantasy

//Wizard Lady (Name to be Determined)//

A little over 300 years old. Human.

She’s a professional rare item and bounty hunter, hunting everything from medicinal items to treasure to things of legend that might not even exist. She does this for pay, not as a hobby.

Because of her stellar reputation and trustworthiness, she’s the highest-paid item hunter in the world. She demands prices far higher than the next highest-paid hunter. Because hiring her is as much a way to flaunt wealth as it is a way to obtain treasures, her clients pay her even if she fails to find the bounty. If they didn’t pay, it would be the same as declaring that they were of a lower social, political, or economic class. Most of her clients would rather die than be seen as part of a lower class, so they pay up.

A very powerful wizard. In that world, humans naturally don’t live past 100, but she uses specific magic spells to keep herself alive and as healthy as possible. Although magic is common in that world, wielders that can defy death and natural aging processes are extremely rare. That kind of magic is almost taboo, so she has only told a few people that she can wield it. Therefore, most people don’t realize she’s as old as she is.

/Backstory:
When she was younger, she had naturally bright red hair. She used magic to preserve the color until she was around 200 years old when that particular spell lost its effectiveness against nature’s processes. Back then, she was called the Red Wonder because of her accomplishments in magic and her charity toward others. As her hair rapidly turned pure white and her skin even paler than it already was, she came to be known as the White Wonder, which is her current sobriquet. All who knew her as the Red Wonder have died, but her deeds from that era fill history books and oral legends across the world.

Before she met her husband, she was an adventurer, making her living as a traveling healer in raiding parties, merchant caravans, and so on. During her travels, she met her husband, and they fell deeply in love. He was the most wonderful person she had ever met. They had many things in common, but he wasn’t the adventurous type. A chronic condition or illness he’d been battling since childhood made it impossible for him to travel for extended periods, so he preferred a safe, stationary, normal life.

He loved her intensely and didn’t want to keep her stuck with him in a normal life, so he took a long time to propose. He felt it would be unfair of him to propose because he knew she loved him so much that if he did, she’d stop adventuring and settle down with him in his boring, stationary life. He didn’t want to cause her to leave the adventurous life she loved so much.

They were young then. She was emotionally vulnerable and raw regarding him because she loved him so deeply and passionately. She began suspecting that he wouldn’t propose because he was just toying with her emotions. They had a fight because of her suspicions, and she declared she was going to leave town. Thinking of being without her scared him so much that he finally popped the question.

When he proposed, she did exactly what he thought she would do. She stopped adventuring immediately and settled down to build a life with him. The happiest she’d ever been was when she was his wife, raising a family, living together, and caring for him.

He made sure she kept up with her magic studies and other things she enjoyed. Even when family life got crazy and she’d forget, he’d always remind her and help her keep her skills sharp, although he wasn’t a magic user himself. But he was an intelligent man with many magic-wielding friends and business associates, so he knew more than enough to help her practice, learn, and train.

He was a few years older than her. He died around the age of 100, a little over 200 years ago. When she talks about her husband, she always does so fondly. She no longer cries when thinking about him but for nearly one hundred years, she did.

A few years after he turned 100, his health began to decline rapidly. Seeing that he was nearing death’s door, she begged him to let her use magic to extend his life. He refused because he was morally opposed to using magic for that purpose. He died soon after.

He was the love of her life, and she never fell in love or married again. In her heart, no one could ever hold a candle to him. She’ll never fall in love again.

While they were married, they had 12 children. That was over 200 years ago, so now she has many descendants spread across that kingdom. Almost anywhere she goes in that kingdom, she has descendants there.

After her husband passed, the eldest of her children, and some of her other descendants, told her that it was her time to go back to the adventurous life she’d always told them stories about. This pleasantly surprised her because she thought they would prefer that she stay with the family and help raise the children. But her eldest child, by then a grandparent themself, recalled growing up listening to her stories of wild adventures and how her face and eyes would light up when she spoke about them. They said the only other thing that made her light up that way was when she was with her family. Knowing that, her descendants wanted her to experience that joy again. Eventually, her family members were able to convince her that it was okay for her to return to the adventuring way of life.

So, around the age of 100, still full of vigor and health because of her life-preserving magic spells, she set out into the world as a traveling healer once more.

Over time, she became interested in bounty hunting, and now it’s her main professional focus.

Since becoming an item hunter, she has mastered a huge variety of magic types, not only healing spells.

She has connections all over the world, including her relatives, business associates, former and current clients, and thousands of fans and friends.

/Personality:
With very few exceptions, every person she hires to assist her on missions is reliable, good-hearted, and easy to get along with. Although her magic is powerful enough that she can subdue almost any troublemaker, she prefers pleasant company. If she has to discipline members of her team, she finds it tiring and exasperating, so she tries to only hire mature people.

She’s an excellent judge of character because she has centuries of experience dealing with people. So, given enough time with them, she can see through the facade of most people. Even if someone in her party seems gruff and rude, it’s almost a guarantee that they’re a good person at their core because that’s her preference. The only time she’ll partner with a jerk is if they have some kind of skill that no one else in her network has, or they’re the best, and only the best will do for the current mission. But because her network of connections is so vast, it’s rare that she hires that kind of person.

However, she’ll gladly accept jobs from rude people. After all, their money is spendable, and she only has to tolerate their nasty attitude for a day or two, at most. She’s mature, so she can handle it.

She’s resourceful, crafty, incredibly confident, and exceedingly brave. But she’s not reckless. She avoids danger when possible. Cunning, analytical, and good with logic. But she’s also emotionally intelligent and can usually see things from the point of view of other people and beings. This skill is helpful when negotiating with clients and with beasts of higher intelligence.

Very personable and a great conversationalist. Fascinating to speak with because she’s wise and a great storyteller with thousands of engrossing stories to tell.

/Voice:
The voice of an elderly woman. A slight quiver to the voice. It doesn’t have much strength. In order to yell, she has to use a voice amplification item or spell. She can speak, sing, or chant for hours, so she has vocal endurance, but the volume isn’t loud.

/Way of Speaking:
She uses an old way of speaking from her younger days. The only other people that speak the way she does are people that were born during the first 100 years of her life and their children. Of course, most of those people died a long time ago, so hardly anyone speaks that way now.

/Movement and Mannerisms:
She moves like an elderly woman, although her back is mostly straight and her stance mostly steady. She’s light on her feet, but that rapid movement is mostly supported by magic. She walks with the support of a sturdy, yet light walking stick, which doubles as a tool for using certain spells.

Her movements are a little creaky because she has minor arthritis in all of her joints. But she still moves with a bit of smoothness and feminine grace. She walks lightly and handles items delicately. She still has a lot of femininity about her, despite her great age.

/Appearance:
She has straight, sleek, pure white hair that falls to her knees and very pale skin that’s almost white. Her lips are naturally light pink. Her eyes are deep blue. The skin of her face and body is moderately freckled and also deeply etched by time. Her knuckles are slightly gnarled. A close examination of her face reveals scars nestled among the deep wrinkles. The scars are from her younger days when she took a more physical approach to completing missions and hunting for bounties.

She usually wears long white wizard’s robes with accents of red or blue. Her robes are always crisp, clean, and like-new unless she’s just finished a mission or lengthy journey. Her hair is usually loose, neat, and straight. She wears a few jewelry pieces that were gifts from her husband and descendants. Because she has so many pieces of jewelry, she changes them every day.

Her walking cane is made from some kind of red-colored wood which is light yet strong. It’s very simple, carved in a “T” shape with no engravings, embellishments, or decorations. The shaft is smooth yet crooked because it was carved from one slender branch. The tip has a metal cap that looks like it’s very old.

/Abilities / Skills / Powers / Magic:
She has mastered over 100 spells and is moderately competent in a few dozen more. This includes spells in the categories of healing, defense, offense, buffs, status effects such as sleep, physically moving items and beings, reading minds, and many more.

/Relationships:
-Hundreds of descendants spread throughout the kingdom
-Friends with the Healer, Warrior, and Thief in the story
-She has connections all over the world, which include business associates, past and current clients, fans, and friends.

/Motivation(s):
-A deep love for her family members and closest friends
-A need to adventure, travel, see the world, take on challenges, and make discoveries
-A desire to help people and other beings that are downtrodden, poverty-stricken, ill, etc.

/Why She Bounty Hunts:
She enjoys the excitement. The idea of being a quiet old woman tending home or looking after great great great grandchildren fills her with a sense of lost purpose. She would waste away in that kind of life and probably end up feeling hollow or depressed.

/Role(s) and Purpose(s):
-The most important character, probably the main character
-Drives the plot more than any other character
-The catalyst that brings the other heroes together
-The wise leader who guides and directs the other heroes
-Delivers exposition more often than any other character because she knows more than the other heroes

/Hobbies and Interests:
She likes to collect cute and pretty trinkets. She keeps them for a little while, then gives them to her family members as gifts when she visits them during her travels.

/Handicap(s):
-Her body is fragile because of her age, so she must be very careful when engaging in any kind of vigorous physical activity, such as dodging hazards or fighting

/Limitation(s):
-Doesn’t want harm to come to anyone that she cares about

//The Healer (Name to be Determined)//

/Backstory:
She’s nearly 50 years old. Human. Has 3 adult children.

Immediately after their youngest child became an adult, her husband left her for another woman. He had always cheated on her, and he ended up falling for one of his mistresses. He didn’t bother granting Healer a divorce, so technically, they’re still married.

He had a great reputation in their town because he was one of the town’s healers (for money), but he also healed the poor for free or in exchange for errands or something. But behind closed doors, he was emotionally abusive to Healer.

He resented her because he accidentally got her pregnant when they were around 18 years old, so he was forced to marry her. Back then, that town’s rules were very strict when it came to marriage, pregnancy, and raising children. He would have been harshly penalized if he hadn’t married her.

At first, the relationship was good enough. He was the only man she’d ever been with and she had loved him since childhood, so she was happy. But he never loved her. She had just been a convenient plaything before the pregnancy. After the wedding, as she fell more deeply in love with him, he grew more resentful of her.

He hadn’t considered cheating, but at some point after the 2nd child was born, a woman flirted with him, and they started an affair. That affair lit a fire in him that led to more affairs and even more resentment towards Healer. He began to see her as a weight that was dragging him down and ruining his life, and he began taking that frustration out on her.

Part of the emotional abuse was him venting his frustration with her. But he was also trying to get her to file a divorce. Nobody would have believed that a man that was so charitable, friendly, and pious would be emotionally abusive, so if she filed for divorce, she’d look like the bad guy. She’d be so deeply disgraced by the townspeople for breaking a sacred marriage vow for seemingly no reason and for accusing such a perfect man of horrible things she’d have to leave the town. So, he emotionally tortured her, hoping she’d make that move.

However, she was so in love with him that the thought of living without him, even if he was abusive, was devastating to her. She was dependent on him emotionally. She also didn’t want to be away from her children, and if she had divorced him, the children would have stayed there, and she would have had to leave the town and not be able to see them for years. Despite his flaws, he was a great father and provider. He loved his children and had always treated them well. So, she was also afraid that her children would hate her if she divorced their perfect father.

So, she tried all that she could to win his love back. She was miserable, but she couldn’t emotionally handle any other option.

A new leader took over the town a few years before their oldest child became an adult. The new leader loosened many of the strict marriage laws. So, when the oldest child became an adult, Healer’s husband was free to leave her. He moved with his mistress to a nearby town, close enough that the kids could visit.

Healer was in her early 40s at that time.

Of course, she was emotionally devastated when her husband left. She became extremely depressed. Her children asked why their father had left, and she couldn’t bring herself to say anything that would make their father look bad, so she kept it inside and dealt with the pain as best she could.

Being without her husband and not being able to confide in anyone was too painful, so she often went to the temple to pray for guidance and strength. One day, when the Wizard was in town on business, she happened to visit the temple while Healer was there, crying her eyes out. The Wizard comforted her and they became great friends almost immediately because the Wizard could see Healer was a good person, and because her heartbreak reminded the Wizard of what she went through when her beloved husband died.

Finally, Healer had someone to confide in. Although she didn’t want to leave her children, Wizard convinced her, after hearing her full story, that she would go crazy if she stayed in that town with all the memories that would haunt her there. She learned that Healer was good at using healing magic, which she had learned so she could look after her children better and so she could assist her husband at his clinic. The Wizard invited her to come along on some missions, for pay.

They adventured together for years. That’s how Healer became a professional traveling healer for hire.

/Personality:
She’s learned a lot from the Wizard, so she’s somewhat worldly, but because she’s only been out of her hometown for around ten years, she still gets surprised by things she sees during her travels. She’s delighted when coming across something she’s only read or heard about.

She’s intelligent, curious, hungry for knowledge, confident in her abilities, and very comfortable around people. She enjoys good company and prefers to not be alone. But she loves to read and study, so she can often be seen in a crowded bar, restaurant, or plaza enjoying a good book or studying something fascinating.

She’s highly moral but not too stuffy. Family, friends, and loyalty are important to her. She has a mother’s heart, always looking out for others, especially anyone young enough to be her child. Because she cares about other people, she often doles out motherly advice to those younger than herself, even if they didn’t ask for it.

She’ll stand up for anyone who’s downtrodden, regardless of gender, species, age, status, circumstances, etc.

She’s incredibly charitable. She has a warm heart and wishes everyone health and happiness. Everywhere she goes, she hopes to find someone to help in some way. Helping people and other beings is the only thing that truly gives her life meaning now.

She misses her children and is still in love with her horrible husband. She will never be able to get over him. She knows this and has accepted it. Somewhere deep down, she realizes that it isn’t rational for her still be in love with him after all he did to her, but she can’t help feeling that way about him.

She’s a hopeful person who believes in miracles. She truly holds out hope that he might feel sorry for the way he treated her, come back to her someday, and that they might be a family again.

Can be a little too blunt sometimes. If she thinks you’re doing something stupid, and if she knows you well enough for this kind of comment to be acceptable, she’ll make it clear that you’re making a stupid decision. She’s less blunt towards people she doesn’t know well, but to someone she knows well, is younger than her, and is hardheaded, her comments can border on rude, but it’s always in a motherly scolding kind of way, never in a degrading way.

If she knows you really well, she might slap your hand if you’re about to touch something you shouldn’t, or she might bop you on the head if you make a truly stupid or rude remark.

Very devoutly religious but never tries to “recruit” anyone or criticize anyone for their beliefs or lack thereof.

/Voice:
Strong, authoritative, and clear. The kind of voice that can make a room full of rowdy schoolchildren sit in their seats and be quiet.

/Way of Speaking:
Speaks the way people in her hometown speak. (To be determined. This might be a specific accent, unique idioms or exclamations, or unique vocabulary)

/Movement and Mannerisms:
Stands upright, tall, and confident. Appears to be responsible, strong, yet approachable. A friendly face most of the time. Children like her because she seems so motherly. Walks with confidence and a steady pace that isn’t too slow or too fast.

/Appearance:
She looks African. I say “looks African” because the story doesn’t take place on our version of Earth, so there isn’t an African continent there.

Her skin tone is medium-brown.

Her hair is always in shoulder-length dreadlocks. The hair near her head and the first couple of inches from the roots of the dreadlocks is mottled black and light gray. Rather suddenly, a couple of inches from the scalp, some of the dreadlocks turn the color of cinnamon bark. That part of her hair is actually fibers from a particular plant that only grows in her home region. Some of the more intelligent beasts have a strong affinity for the fibers of that plant. It gives them a “catnip” effect. It also has medicinal uses for some species of beasts. She can cut off one of the locks and give it as a gift in exchange for information, help, or safe passage, so it can be useful during missions or on journeys. When dried, the plant smells of warm sweet spices, so she always smells like that. It’s comforting to her because it always reminds her of home and the happy memories that she chooses to focus on.

She stores the fibers on her hair so she has it readily available when needed and also because that’s something they do in her region of the world.

She wears common healer’s robes in muted earth tones, including browns, golds, and dusty reds and greens. She never wears heavy colors such as black, dark gray, deep or bright red, bright green, or any kind of blue.

Her overall appearance, including her robes, is always clean and neat, unless she’s been on a journey or had a very busy day.

Always wears her wedding band.

/Abilities / Skills / Powers / Magic:
Specializes in magic spells in the following categories.
-Healing
-Buff (increase attack, defense, etc of a party member)
-Barriers against physical and non-physical attacks
-Protection against negative status effects such as sleep, paralysis, and various kinds of mind-altering spells
-Removal of negative status effects such as poison, curse, sleep, or paralysis

She doesn’t know spells that cause any kind of damage to anything, any kind of destruction, any kind of negative status effects, or mind-altering effects. Because she uses magic to help people who are sick and dying, she focuses on healing, prevention, and defensive spells.

Defensive magic is her weakest category because it’s not directly related to healthcare. But it has proven to be indispensable during missions. Because the magic is similar (somehow) to prevention magic, she has become competent enough to wield it effectively.

/Relationships:
-Very good friends with the Wizard
-She has three grown children she’s close to
-She will always be in love with her estranged husband

/Motivation(s):
She wants to help the sick and poor as much as she can, but she also wants to continue traveling and having grand experiences and adventures. She wants to satisfy her thirst for knowledge and her curiosity about the world.

She wants to return to her home town some day, but because she basically left because the Wizard said she’d go crazy if she stayed there, and she can’t tell if she’s been away for long enough, she’s waiting for the Wizard to tell her it’s okay for her to go back. Sometimes she asks, but apparently, the Wizard doesn’t think she’s ready. So, for now, she’s focused on enjoying her life as it is.

But until she’s back with her children in her hometown, there will be a hole in her heart. And until she’s reunited with her husband and children, she won’t ever be completely happy. With her life as it is now, she’s never truly fulfilled. She’s always looking forward to having that happy, complete life again. She would love to settle down with her husband and help her children raise their children. She would do or give up almost anything to have that life if the opportunity arose.

/Why She Works for the Wizard:
She initially left because the Wizard convinced her. She left on the Wizard’s advice to avoid an emotional breakdown. It wasn’t a difficult choice at the time because the Wizard was there to support her. Now, she travels to help people, earn money, be independent, grow as a person, and learn more about the world and the beings in it.

The Wizard is her best friend and the only person (at the beginning of the story) that she can confide in. It would be too lonely to leave her side. Also, she’s a great boss and leader, and she pays well.

/Role(s) and Purpose(s):
-One of the protagonists, though she doesn’t drive the plot as much as the Wizard does
-Keeps the team from dying when things get difficult
-Provides support and guidance to the younger party members in a way that the Wizard can’t
-The reader learns about many other characters in the story through their interactions with her
-The reader learns about the world through her reactions to things because she has a lot of knowledge but not so much hands-on experience

/Hobbies and Interests:
-Helping other beings
-Correcting youngsters
-Reading
-Practicing magic
-Having conversations with other beings for various reasons or just for fun

//The Thief (Name to be Determined)//

In her early twenties. Human.

/Backstory:

She became a thief to help her homeland and the people in it. She comes from an island nation surrounded by a massive and extremely dangerous poisonous deadbog (a naturally occurring bog in which nothing physical can live, but spirits, undead things, or creatures made of magic might exist there, depending on the makeup of the environment).

This particular deadbog is extremely unnatural. Its deadly fumes form a barrier around the island that is hundreds of miles thick. They rise vertically for several miles, high enough to keep dragons and other magical creatures from flying over the barrier. Not even a strong storm disturbs or disrupts them. They’re too poisonous and corrosive for any living thing to tolerate them for any length of time.

The deadbog, with its field of eternally rising fumes, is massive. Not even the strongest vehicle made from the best materials could survive the long journey through it. Magic barriers are also of no use because the fumes are corrosive to magic as well. The water and mud of the deadbog are just as poisonous and corrosive as the fumes.

Island lore says the bog was turned into poison by a powerful and loving god in order to protect the island’s inhabitants from persecution. This is what everyone on the island believes, but it isn’t the truth.

As the Thief will eventually learn (sometime after the 2nd book), the deadbog was actually made poisonous by an insane dark wizard around 450 years ago. The wizard had founded a cult that practiced strange rituals that shocked and disgusted the rest of the world. They were ostracized and persecuted because of their practices. Despite this, he gained a sizable following.

When his congregation had reached numbers equivalent to that of a small town, the wizard sought a place where he and his followers could live as they liked without persecution. Eventually, he learned of an island in the middle of one of the great oceans. He settled there with his people, but others found them and persecuted them again. The persecutors were driven out and the wizard used his strong dark magic to turn the bog into what it is today.

The island is large and lush enough to sustain a large number of people. There is a fishable expanse of ocean water that runs along the border of the island. The island is in a warm climate and is crowded with fruit-bearing trees, edible insects, medicinal herbs, trees for lumber, and plenty of materials for making clothing, shelter, and tools.

The members of the cult thrived there, undisturbed, but when the wizard died and attempts to replace him with a suitable leader failed, the cult practices slowly faded with each succeeding generation. Eventually, those practices, along with the history of that nation’s founding, were forgotten, replaced with legends, or transformed into myths. Only a handful of historians on the mainland know the truth of that island nation’s founding. And even they don’t know what happened there after the barrier was erected. But they don’t speak about the history because nobody is interested in that nation any more. None of the people of the nation know the truth of its founding.

Although that island is essentially a paradise, there are illnesses there that the people can’t cure because they don’t have the required knowledge or materials. Their medical knowledge is somewhat primitive. Women die in childbirth often, and people die of things that simple surgery could fix because their surgical techniques aren’t good, and they have no concept of germs.

The people tried many magical means to get a few citizens off the island in search of knowledge that could help them overcome those challenges. After failing for years, someone had the idea to build a tunnel from the island, beneath the poisonous bog, and through the earth to the nearest inhabited land. Luckily, they found that the poison and corrosive magic didn’t reach into the earth below the bog, so they decided to dig the tunnel as a last great attempt.

They knew it would be almost impossible to do, and they felt horrible doing it because they truly believed (and believe) that the poisonous barrier was a gift from their god, but they couldn’t stand watching their loved ones suffer any longer.

So, nearly a century before the Thief was born, construction of the tunnel began. It was a dangerous, difficult, and time-consuming process. Several people died before they perfected techniques that allowed them to detect the depth of the deadbog and keep the narrow and extremely long tunnel from collapsing or filling with unbreathable gasses.

Shortly after Thief was born, the tunnel was completed. Scouts were sent out to investigate the mainland. They found that they could mostly understand the people of the world. News came back that the outside world was safe enough and that the medicine and magic there were advanced. The leaders started a training program for newborns and very young children so they could be sent into the world to gather knowledge and supplies when they were old enough. She was chosen to participate in the program, as were her younger sisters when they were born. But her sisters never became skilled enough to travel to the outside.

The people of that nation had to use this kind of plan, doing this in a trickle, to prevent persecution from the descendants of the world that they knew used to persecute their ancestors. They also did it this way to avoid the temptation to live in the outside world. They’re careful not to accidentally anger the god who had so lovingly given them the island for protection, so only a few of the best trainees are off the island at any one time, and only for the medical knowledge, supplies, and training.

They cannot tell anyone where they’re from. They can’t bring anyone back to the island with them. They will never try to rid the deadbog of its poison or corrosive nature. Doing so would be the same as openly insulting their god.

Her people love family and have a lot of kids. They’re positive people. Because of their religious beliefs, they’re generally not haughty or egotistical. Working together is important on the island because it reduces workload and makes life easier for everyone. They believe that every island inhabitant is beloved by their god, so it’s highly immoral to treat fellow islanders unfairly.

However, they don’t think they’re the supreme people. They don’t hold a grudge against the people of the outside world, but they’re very wary of them. They assume that because they know about the past persecution, that people from the outside world also remember it. But actually, people in the outside world only know that a nation exists behind the strange poisonous screen, but with the exception of a few curious people, nobody really cares about that nation beyond that.

The people of the island nation love to climb to high places. They build their homes in the tops of strong trees and on the sides of mountains. They feel very comfortable lying in the dense branches of an ancient tree. They’re excellent climbers and cliff scalers. This might be a side effect of living in the equivalent of a deep bucket with opaque walls.

The Thief met the Wizard and the Healer weeks after she emerged from the tunnel. She had caught an illness she’d never had before, and she was very ill. The Healer helped her recover, and the three of them became friends. She has gone on several missions with them as part of her knowledge gathering.

/Personality:
She’s only confident in her thieving and sneaking skills, and talking about them and plans related to them. She thinks those are the only things she’s good at.

She is quite shy and timid and unsure of herself unless she’s using her skills. Easily embarrassed.

She’s a sweetheart and a gentle person who sees the good in others. She has sympathy toward those who are evil or hurtful. As her nation’s religion teaches, she believes those kinds of people are being manipulated by dark spirits. She believes all living things are good at heart and everyone can be redeemed.

/Voice:
Her voice is soft and melodic. She speaks just loudly enough for others to hear her.

/Way of Speaking:
She uses the dialect of her people, which is very different from that of the people of the rest of the world. Like the other people from her nation, she uses a lot of words related to nature, goodness, and hope. She uses sayings that most people haven’t heard of, but some of her people’s sayings have counterparts in the rest of the world.

/Movement and Mannerisms:
Naturally, she keeps her body movements to a minimum. She doesn’t fiddle with things, and she moves less than most people, regardless of what she’s doing. When in motion, her movements are efficient, the movements of someone trained in superior stealth.

Her face is very expressive. It’s usually easy to tell exactly what she’s thinking just from reading her face.

/Appearance:
She looks like she’s from India. I say “looks like she’s from India” because the story doesn’t take place on our version of Earth, so a country named “India” doesn’t exist there.

Her skin tone is very dark, darker than Healer’s.

She’s homely in the face with thin lips and an upturned nose that’s a little too big. Her big, dark eyes are beautiful and captivating and rimmed with long, thick black lashes. Her eyebrows are thick and black.

She usually wears a close-fitting hood. This covers up her head, which she keeps bald and smooth in accordance with her people’s customs.

Her height is below average. She has a very slender build. Small hands and feet with slender, nimble fingers. She looks very delicate. But her head is kinda big.

She always wears black, no matter what, and the fabric is never shiny. Her clothes hug her body but leave breathing room. They’re very easy to move in.

/Abilities / Skills / Powers / Magic:
-Trained in the ways of shadows, so she’s excellent at stealth movements, hiding, remaining silent, walking silently.
-Trained in the ways of observance, so she has very sharp hearing and sight. She can hear things that are far away and a wider range of pitches than most humans. She can also discern sounds out of a jumble of sounds much more easily than most humans can. She can see far away, can discern details that most people miss, and can notice hidden things or the hints of hidden things very easily.

Like most of her people, she’s great at climbing trees and scaling the sides of mountain and cliffs.

/Relationships:
Friends with Healer and Wizard. Not many other friends or associates off the island because she keeps to herself and doesn’t speak unless necessary.

/Motivation(s):
Fulfilling the mission she was raised to fulfill is the most important thing to her. She wants to help her people with knowledge and supplies. She wants to get this accomplished as quickly as possible so she can go back to living on the island with all the people she loves under the caring eyes of their god.

/Why She Works for the Wizard:
-She’s friends with Healer and Wizard.
-Healer and Wizard know a lot and teach her a lot.
-Traveling with the Wizard is a great way to gather medical knowledge, medical supplies, and other information or things her people could use. It’s safe and much more fun than traveling alone.

/Hobbies and Interests:
-Hiding in tall trees or on top of other tall things.
-Hiding in shadows or behind things if there isn’t a suitable tall tree or high shelf nearby.
-Silently listening to and observing people, animals, and the environment. This can keep her occupied for hours.

/Quirk(s):
-Because she’s usually in a tree or on top of something tall, she’ll jump off of whatever she’s on and start talking if she has something to add to a conversation.
-Suddenly stepping out of a shadow or some other hiding place to join a conversation.

/Flaw(s):
Too shy and timid. Sometimes this is a problem.

/Limitation(s):
She refuses to do anything that goes against her religion or the rules or traditions of her nation.

//The Warrior (Name to be Determined)//

He’s in his late twenties. Human.

/Backstory:
When He was a child, civil wars were frequent in his country. Many of the kids ended up orphaned. After his parents died because of the wars, he was taken in by the Tree Boys, a band of orphaned boys who lived deep in the forest, hidden from the wars. The Tree Boys taught each other fighting and survival tactics and were as close as brothers.

Besides fighting, they also learned to make things out of wood, plant fibers, and other materials they could gather in the woods. They made useful things such as clothing and tools and fun things such as toys and musical instruments.

They don’t use magic in his country, with the exception of priests and priestesses, who use it for important ceremonies of appeasement to the gods.

Magic doesn’t interest him, so although he’s had the opportunity to learn it after leaving his home country, he never bothered.

/Personality:
Loves action and adventure. He has a strong stomach and isn’t grossed out by much.

People think he’s a horndog because, outwardly, he enjoys looking at and flirting with pretty women. But actually, he simply enjoys staring at them and enjoys their (platonic) company. People who know him well or are observant notice he doesn’t sleep around or do anything similar.

He uses cheesy pick up lines, which he thinks are cool, but women usually just think he’s being cheesy on purpose to be cute or as a joke. He’s muscular, young, tall, funny, charming, and handsome, so they tolerate the jokes.

He’s not as stupid as he seems, but it takes a while for most people to realize.

He’s quick to laugh. With friends, a big part of his humor is gentle criticism (also referred to as “ribbing” or “razzing”). Sometimes he accidentally takes it too far, especially when speaking to female friends, which are less likely to understand or be amused by this very masculine style of humor. But that’s the way he grew up, so he hasn’t been able to soften it yet.

He teases people he likes without always considering that some folks might be hurt by it. He sincerely feels bad about it when he realizes he has hurt someone with an inconsiderate joke.

He’s a good man deep down. Quite sensitive when it comes to people he cares about. He cares for strangers, too, but he gets deeply emotionally involved with folks he has a bond with, and he can be hurt by them, hurt for them, or be extremely happy for them. When he falls for a woman, he’s loyal and wonderful to her and supportive in every way. That’s not what anyone would expect from looking at him or seeing his usual goofy attitude.

He loves action and activity. Gets bored easily without something to keep his interest. But that thing can be a good conversation or a riveting board game or playing a musical instrument. He doesn’t need to be running around fighting all the time. But, like a dog, he needs vigorous physical exercise on a regular basis.

He’s goofy, optimistic, good-hearted. Not a trickster. Prefers to deal with things head-on and doesn’t do or like manipulation. Chivalrous but not good with table manners or similar refined things.

He cares about his friends and the people he loves. He doesn’t like to see anyone, especially people he cares about, in bad situations. He will speak up when he thinks someone is making a bad decision that will end up hurting them (going back to a bad spouse, for example). He does that to strangers too.

Family is very important to him, but he defines family as the people you have a bond with or people you depend on. It doesn’t have anything to do with blood relations.

He doesn’t use magic. Prefers to do things himself. Magic doesn’t interest him, so he never bothered learning any. But he admits it has its uses.

He plays two musical instruments but only when he’s very bored or stuck indoors.

Because of his past, he hopes to one day fall in love, get married, and raise a big family in a peaceful and beautiful place.

/Voice:
Manly and strong. Not too deep, but deep enough. Loud when excited. Rarely speaks softly. Even his whispers are too loud to truly be whispers.

/Way of Speaking:
Short sentences with unsophisticated vocabulary. He doesn’t know a lot of big or fancy words. His language is straightforward and direct but friendly and warm.

/Movement and Mannerisms:
A lot of movement when talking. Instead of merely talking with his hands, he talks with his entire body. Very animated.

/Appearance:
He’s very handsome and muscular. He’s often outside, so his blond hair is sun-bleached, and his skin is suntanned. He has hazel eyes.

In the beginning of the novel, he’s usually got scruff or stubble on his chin. But after he falls for the thief, he keeps himself smoothly shaven and well-groomed to the best of his ability.

His long hair is purposefully matted into one thick dreadlock. That’s the way men do their hair in his country. Long hair is a sign of a man’s vitality there. They make a hair growth potion from specific herbs that makes their hair grow faster and longer than normal.

He wears his hair wrapped across his chest, around the upper part of his torso.

/Abilities / Skills / Powers / Magic:
He’s good at assessing physical abilities. Great in a fight. He thinks quickly and is light on his feet despite his size.

He’s very good at making things. His big hands are surprisingly nimble. He can also make and play two different handmade instruments that are native to his home country.

His physical prowess is top-notch. He also knows first aid. Has a high pain threshold.

/Relationships:
He makes friends easily. Has many friends in his home country because he’s a member of the Tree Boys. During his travels in the wider world, he gained a reputation for being a ladies’ man. Most of his friends outside of his country are women, although he has plenty of male friends, too.

He’s friends with the Wizard, although he hasn’t known her long and doesn’t know her well.

/Why He Bounty Hunts:
It’s a great high-risk, high-reward way to earn money, so it’s fun for him. He tried other jobs, such as being a bodyguard and working in a flour mill, but they were too confining and had too many rules and too little pay.

/Hobbies and Interests:
-Making things
-Playing the two handmade instruments he plays
-Also very good at a certain board game from his country, which is popular in a few spots around the world (this plays into the story sometimes, like tournaments for earning money or for winning mcguffins)