Shayleen

Background

It was probably Shayleens exotic appearance, a trait of her family, that led to her whole family being abducted from the land of Aznan as slaves for the Theran Empire when Shayleen was 3 years old. There she was, along with her mother and older sister, taught to become a pleasure slave. At the age of 14 a Theran prefect acquired her as a gift to his son who had just reached adulthood. Despite all expectations Xenius wasn’t a ruthless swine, but a handsome, gallant young swordmaster who didn’t treat Shayleen as a slave, but as a consort. Shayleen soon fell in love with her new master, which was mutual, and so he confided details of important battles and other political events to her. So she learned about Theran history, military organization and tactics and he also taught her the art of swordfighting and also how to dual-wield sword and dagger. Xenius taught her to read and write and she absorbed all his books and showed extraordinary hunger for more knowledge as well as a clear understanding of how things worked.

Although Shayleen was happy there was the uncertainty of her family’s fate, for she had not heard from them after Xenius had her come to his new post in the north-eastern borderlands. He quickly rose through the military ranks due to his clear mind, determination and fighting prowess and soon he was only second to the outpost commander. His rapid career also created envy by some other candidates for the deputy commander’s post, but the young swordmaster was inexperienced in such subtle games and underestimated the danger to his life.

Xenius had planned to release Shayleen from slavery on her twentieth birthday and propose to her, but this was not meant to happen. One night, an assassin entered their quarters and slit Xenius’ throat in one clean stroke. Shayleen awoke and wanted to scream for help, but was hit on the head and dropped unconscious. The next day she was found next the the lifeless body of her master with the bloody dagger in her hand. The case seemed obvious and so the officials didn’t bother with a court hearing, but dragged Shayleen outside the outpost where she was to be burned on a makeshift stake. She was stripped of her clothes and bound to the stake, but when the soldiers wanted to ignite the fire they were blinded by a sandstorm, entangled by vines and Shayleen’s bonds were cut and she was lifted and carried away by an unseen force.

After having escaped successfully Shayleen’s savior lent her his cloak as a makeshift dress and introduced himself as Deldron, an elderly human wizard who had come along and witnessed the cruelty of the Therans. Shayleen was fascinated when Deldron spoke about his discipline, stressing the understanding of the world and magic as the highest goal of a wizard. She started a deep philosophical discussion about the nature of the world, which wasn’t hard for her as she had read lots of books about the matter. At the end of their conversation Deldron was deeply impressed by the understanding of the young pleasure slave and took it upon himself to initiate her into the wizard discipline.

Meanwhile the indignent pleasure slave Shayleen has become a heroine of Throal when she and some other adepts discovered an incredibly valuable ancient library from pre-scourge times and were able to salvage it very much intact from the depths of a kaer. Besides a good academical reputation she also enjoys the amenities of her own house in Bartertown.

Physical Description

Shayleen is an exotic sight even in the land of Barsaive. She’s a human in her early twenties, but that doesn’t immediately show as her skin is ebony and usually only scantily clad. Her hair is snow white and reaches down to her hips and her eyes shine purple, so a casual observer might mistake her for an elf. Her slender build adds to this impression which is only cut short by her height of 1,77m being less than average for elvenkind, and her rather round face with the flattened nose also looks less elven.

Shayleen’s travel garb consists of little more than a wrap skirt and a wrap top – both in white color which makes for maximum contrast to her ebony skin, and adorned with embroidery. She usually wears sandals instead of closed shoes. Another contrast is her snow white hair which she usually ties up in a pony tail or a single thick braid. Large silver hoops sparkle in her ears and small ring or stud in her left nostril. She wears 4-5 thin bangles on each wrist and a small silver ring in her belly button. Her belt not only holds several leather pouches, but also a curved saber and a curved dagger. A sturdy white hooded cloak, a leather backback and a shoulder bag complete her gear.

When going out Shayleen likes to wear a long slitted skirt of white, orange or red color, and a fitting crop top. That makes her belly button with a large and shiny piece of jewelry an eye-catcher. Her finger- and toenails are painted in a fitting color and she’s wearing a large amount of bangles on her forearms as well as some bracelets on her upper arms. A sparkling necklace, a bejeweled choker or  several thin rings adorne her neck and some more thin rings her ankles. Her nose-jewelry is either sparkling, large or even tied to her earring with a tiny silver chain. Her earrings are large and heavy silver hoops, sometimes perfectly round, sometimes flattened and beset with gemstones. Her hair is styled elegantly sometimes with little braids.