For use in: General purpose RPs or as a Sitter.
Name: Oriella Distung (NSW)
Age: 150+
Born: Fal Dara in Sheinar
Parents: Father was a lancer. Her mother was a beautiful lady, skilled in anything she put her hand to. She was patient and took time to teach her daughter all she knew. Her father was a simple fighter with more passion than stature. He died in a skirmish along the blight when she was only 12. Her mother grieved for the rest of her life and kept to the women’s quarters then, except when she needed to come for her daughter.
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Green
Height: 5’8”
Build: Athletic
Appearance and Clothing: She has always worn the latest fashions, but she prefers to wear lighter colors with simple elaboration (a single vine of embroidery where others might put a field of flowers, a touch of lace where others might have their hands covered by it) and in plain colors rather than any kind of patterns. Her hair is long and straight and she constantly plays with it, wearing it in any fashion she desires.
Personality: Oriella is a warm person. She loves people and is warm and friendly with them. She enjoys laughing and dancing. She’s been known to turn a head or two in her times and enjoyed it, but she isn’t a lightskirt and it has never been something flaunted around. She enjoys life in all it’s forms. She prefers simple beauty to ostentation and it shows in her appearance, her quarters, in the way she lives her life. She is very smart though and has always understood that it is sometimes easier to get what you want when people aren’t aware you want it. She shows people her loving side so they don’t ever see the shrewd calculating side.
Character History[]
Oriella was born to a Lancer in Fal Dara. As a child he played with her with pretend swords and little men carved from wood. They would play at making battles of their own making or reinact battle they had read about together (Never a battle her father had been in. He didn’t want her to understand where her father really was in those) Her mother laughed at them and let them play. When he was away she taught Oriella embroidery and knitting and other womanly arts. Her father died when Oriella was 12 and her mother went into mourning. Her Aunt and Uncle (her father’s only sister) pulled in closely to them then, helping to raise Oriella. She was well loved and though she had lost her father, she kept him in her thoughts as she continued on with life. Their pretend battles continued with her Uncle when he had found her crying over them one day. She had confessed to him that she didn’t think she could continue playing with them anymore and her Uncle and pulled them out of her hands and placed them on the table, telling her that her father would have wanted her to remember him by continuing. Since then, any type of ‘battlefield’ reminds her of her father.
At age 16, an Aes Sedai came through the city to tour the Blight. She stayed for a couple weeks and Oriella was approached by her. She said she thought Oriella could be Aes Sedai and there was a test she could take. Oriella jumped at the chance. She was fascinated by Aes Sedai, by the respect and awe and fear they inspired. She was tested and when the Aes Sedai left the city, Oriella was with her. She had a hard time adjusting to being a Novice as she had been fairly spoiled by her family in Fal Dara and she had a number of incidents that led to a switching from the Mistress of Novices. She had a nasty temper and hadn’t learned to control it yet. In time she did and as she gained the right of Acceptance, she began working towards something besides the shawl. A cause. What she saw in the world was the injustice of how Aes Sedai were treated. Women who strove to make people better, to make the world better, and they were at best treated with reserved respect and mostly with fear and hate. She kept this idea to herself as she worked hard in her studies, kept her tongue leashed, and learned everything she could. Specifically she studied strategy, the history of the lands and their relations to others (other countries, other ways of thinking, other ways of life). For a while it looked to people like she would be a brown, as much time as she spent with her nose buried, but when she finally came out of the books it was with an eye for the world.
Upon reaching the Shawl, Oriella petitioned the Green Ajah. Her private war to increase the reputation of Aes Sedai was something she kept closely guarded and didn’t talk about to anyone. In time her ability to lead was recognized and she was placed in charge of a number of Campaigns in the world. Wherever she went she did much for the name of Aes Sedai. She was careful to seem courteous and kind to all, warm and friendly as opposed to the image of the cool and cold Aes Sedai in the Tower. After a time, she was elected to the position of Sitter. The position was welcome and Oriella felt like she had finally achieved a position where she could begin to work on her goals, but she was limited since she couldn’t leave the Tower. After only one term as Sitter, she stepped down and returned to the World. She had gained enough political power in her brief time as Sitter to forge some alliances with Sister of other Ajahs and it was those connections she called upon when she went back into the world. She remained there for a long time. In fact, long enough that some thought her dead. However when signs began to appear, Oriella made her way back to the White Tower and buried herself in her books again. It looked like the Last Battle was coming and she read everything she could of the Prophecies of the Dragon. She also began making her connections within the Tower again, showing her political prowess to strengthen her own position as well as that of her Ajah. When Aramina sur Dulciena left a vacancy in the Green Ajah Sitters, Oriella made sure she was the one to take her place.
Strengths/Weaknesses: Oriella is very good when it comes to strategy and manipulation. She’s learned to pull the strings from behind others and how to lead quietly. Others recognize her ready wit and warmth as a true love for people and know that she is willing to help. Most don’t see that behind that is a very calculating mind that sees warriors in a battle that they don’t know they are fighting. Her greatest weakness is her temper which she had learned to control most of the time. Once she knows you and knows she is safe with you though, she is apt to yell, scream, and occasionally throw things, which have started rumors among the servants of the Tower. They might not ever hear her yell but they’ve cleaned up too many vase shards to think it’s anything other than her throwing them.