Age/Birthday: 33 (
4e 168, 13th of Midyear)
Gender: Cis-Female
Voice: Christina RotondoSkin: Olive-Gold, Lightly Freckled
Hair: White-Blonde, Long, Straight, Navel-Length
Eyes: Golden, Almond-Shaped
Height: 6'4" / 193cm
Weight: 188 lbs. / 85.3kg
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Faith/Religion: The Altmer Pantheon -- Primarily
Auri-El. Also believes in
Talos.
Personality Traits: “I prefer not to dither over the details. If something must be done, then I should rather do it properly and without hesitation. And, I confess, I quite enjoy having matters firmly under my control.”
Ideals: “Tyranny is the very antithesis of what I believe. No one ought dictate what another should believe, think, or feel. I would not have such things dictated to me, and neither would I presume to dictate them to another. Those are theirs to decide... and theirs to carry.”
Bonds: “
Elenwen robbed Toris of his youth, and of that kindness I once loved in him. I shall have my revenge for that, one day. What's more, Casavar, that dark mage, is plainly plotting something I have yet to understand. I must see both matters properly settled -- and, in the meantime, protect this place I have come to call home.”
Flaws: “Perhaps I have a tendency to speak before I have properly considered how my words may land. I can be rather... devastatingly unkind without intending to be. And though I do rather like being in control, even I must concede that I have a habit of overstepping. As for Toris... well... having seen him again, I find myself at odds with my heart. Not with what it feels, but perhaps what it does not...”
Backstory -- Day 1A tall Altmer enters the room, standing across from you and introduces herself in a rather elegant curtsy.
"Suna tam. A na Casylandra. Casylandra av Shimmerene."She chuckles lightly, "Ah,
aesuna... you are not so versed in Altmeris?
Av darre. I am rather used to speaking in Tamrielic. So... from the beginning."
She once more curtsies as she speaks, "I am Casylandra. Casylandra of Shimmerene. The Dreamer said I am to introduce myself, where I come from, leading up to the beginnings of my true journey. I made the request that tea be set aside, so please, sit with me. Let us chat."
She sits across from you and small talk soon ensues. Casylandra speaks on her vocation mostly, a wizard of war magics. Something of an abjurer, but also blending a mix of anti-magery and evoker spellcrafts. She speaks on some of her finer abilities, but soon the topics wind down to her history.
She smiles, setting the cups between the two of you as the tea kettle is brought out.
"Well... I suppose we should begin. What better place to start than the beginning, then..."
"I was born in
Shimmerene, on the thirteenth day of Midyear, beneath the sign of the Steed,and despite my peoples' longevity, I was born this era, during the 168th era. My family was hardly noble, though neither were we poor. My father, Heralir, was a Bosmeri soldier who had risen rather considerably through the ranks of the Thalmor before I was born. My mother, Lenisse, was an Altmeri wizard."
A faint smile paints the visage of the Altmer, her eyes gently close as she seems to pull the memories from some place locked away. When she returns your gaze, she continues to speak, tracing her fingertips along the rim of the tome in her lap.
“I remember my mother rather fondly... from the fun little trickeries and enchantments to the charming displays of lights. I should like to say I remember more of her than I do, but I was very young when she was imprisoned. She was not present for my childhood thereafter... What she left behind, however, was her spellbook.”
“I suppose this book was my first teacher.” She muses, looking at the inner cover and the worn signature in the bottom left corner.
“My elder brother, Ryfon, was twelve years my senior. He was sent north, to Skyrim, on his eighteenth birthday to study at the
College of Winterhold. At the time, I thought this was dreadfully unfair... He was permitted to leave
Alinor and see the world while I remained behind with my books!” Her seriousness turns to a chuckle as she adds, "... Bear in mind, I was
six. Ahhhh but Shimmerene! It was breathtaking. Truly! White stone on foundations of coral. Where ships caught not only the winds of the channel but also the whispers of Y'ffre's stories. I would walk its streets, mother's book in tow, and would try to replicate her precise notation and understanding of each spell within. I'd like to imagine that, perhaps, a small portion of her is still with me even now through this tome."
The Altmer then proceeds to pour the tea between the two of you, the hot herbal scent carries a slight sweetness of orange. She motions the teaspoon back and forth in her cup following the addition of a touch of sugar, a careful dance as if practiced with precision to the point of habit, never once so much as grazing the bottom nor rim of her cup.
"That was all I believed I needed after she left, because then, maybe, I could see her again. There'd never be a cold, rain-drenched day in Shimmerene again with the magics I could potentially command... I could become one of the mightiest queens of Alinor!"
"Perhaps that is what made the next part so easy... because I was playing with powers that were meant for more experienced minds, given my age. The same year my brother left for Skyrim, eyes were watching my progress in magical study. My father brought me in for aptitude testing and the testing officiants were, to say the least, impressed."
She looks into your eyes and her smile is no longer present, "I still remember it. They told me I had potential,
value. What they were really saying, in hindsight, was that I was an asset and a utility. Yet... that promise to help me bring back my mother... that was all I could see."
"So... I began to be taught under
the Dominion."
After sipping her tea Casylandra begins to elaborate on the finer points of what her education entailed.
“My education changed rather dramatically after that. They taught me the history of our people. They taught me about the races of Men. They taught me that Altmer civilization represented the highest expression of the Divines, that our enemies sought to drag us downward, and that it was my duty to ensure that they could not...”
"... and I believed them. It wasn't just that I was a child among teens and adults, it was that they played to every want and made promises of a world to come. One that could not be comprehended in this dimension of flesh and dust. If you wanted something, it was assured to happen in that new world to be. I ask forgiveness that I was swayed in this regard."
“The Great War was still ending when I first saw its aftermath and beginning to see Thalmor heroes bringing sword and sorcery in the name of our 'divine birthright.' Yet from those excursions with my colleagues, I remember the dead rather more clearly than I should like. Men who had been alive, then weren't. And then some of them...
continued to move. Certainly, I was protected. I was never harmed by them. But being told that you are safe does very little when you are eight and staring at a dead man who has decided that death was apparently too inconvenient.”
Casylandra sets down her cup, her breath releasing the tension as she recalls these details.