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Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): Monster Academy - Profile: Aderyn Songbird


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Aderyn Songbird

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Personal Information

Name: Aderyn Songbird

Nicknames: Ade, when male; Ryn, when female.

Occupation: Student

Marital Status: N/A

Known Relatives: Resak Mountain-Killer, formerly Verin (protected), now Verndarin (protector); Laesh, mother (verin of Itakshir Dragon-Bloodied); Korvan, father (verin of Huisak Open-handed); Tornah, younger sibling (verndarin of Shinriki); Jorahn, elder half-sibling by Laesh (verin of Kraeta Sky-Climber); Desann, elder half-sibling by Laesh (verin of Uthvanik Ice-Scarred); Bersah, elder half-sibling by Korvan (verin of Nikshar Storm-Blessed).

Allegiance(s): Resak Mountain-Killer

Physical Traits

Weight: 115 lbs

Height: 5'10"

Apparent age: Teenager

Age: 16

Gender: Most often female, but can become male at will

Ethnic Background: Caucasian (human guise) / Songbird

Eye Color: Blue-green / Green, blue, and gold

Hair Color: Dark blond / Honey hues with blue, green, and gold feathering

Handedness: Left

Appearance (human guise): Aderyn is beautiful, seeming pure and innocent, in her human guise, whether male or female. Both forms are slender with bright blue-green eyes and fine, soft golden hair. She dresses simply but attractively, favoring shirts and pants that flatter her figure and accentuate lithe curves of her body. Her voice is light and pleasant to listen to.

Appearance (true form): As her true self, Aderyn has a crest of beautiful feathers framing her face and her movements are a graceful dance even when only walking or doing mundane tasks like cleaning and cooking. Her skin takes on a golden luster and her eyes become inhumanly intense and flecked with gold. She does not seem to have ears in this form, but doesn't seem to suffer any loss of hearing; her voice becomes even more entrancing, a pleasurable indulgence for anyone in range to hear her.

Powers, Skills, and Personality

Known Powers: Aderyn can heal with her singing and takes time to help out in the school clinic, especially when arms practice is in full swing or competitions are going on at the school. Although less than a dozen people at the school have ever seen it and so it remains mostly a rumor, she can harm with her voice just as easily as she heals.

Abilities/Special Skills: Aderyn is an accomplished performer and cook, both services that she provides to her Verndarin, Resak, and to others if he permits.

Personality: Aderyn is usually quiet and congenial, allowing herself to slip into the role of hostess and invisible servant when tending to Resak; when on her own at the Academy, she is still reserved but quite friendly if approached. She is fiercely loyal to her Verndarin and will defend him vehemently against any attack on his reputation or character. She will do the same, though to a lesser extent, for his younger brother, Shinriki.

Background

When the Wise Woman of the Iron Fangs tribe found she was with child, she and her husband ordered their verin to mate to produce a Songbird child to be their child's verndarin. Songbird pregnancies are shorter by a few months than Nibelung pregnancies, allowing Aderyn to have been born nearly two weeks before Resak, an auspicious sign among both Songbirds and Nibelung for the two infants.

Her childhood was fairly typical of a Songbird born to be verndarin to a noble Nibelung child: she had the advantage of living in luxury, but was still Songbird and suffered the whims of her verndarin and his friends. Neither particularly cruel or kind, Resak treated her as a confidante, servant, and personal whipping boy by turns. When Resak's father determined that he would send his son to the Monster Academy, he declared that Aderyn would be left in the Northlands, as Resak would be well-protected at the school and there were questions on how well the Academy would honor the bond between Songbird and Nibelung.

Aderyn panicked, well aware of how far her social standing would fall - from near the apex to below the lowest-born Nibelung and Songbirds - if she was left in the Northlands without her Varin. She begged Itakshir to allow her to accompany Resak, and when that proved useless, appealed to Huisak and the close bond the Wise Woman shared with own varin, Laesh. Huisak interceded with her husband and a compromise was reached: Aderyn would attend the school with Resak, so that they were not strangely separated and so that Aderyn could learn what she would need to understand to serve Resak as he grew into his power, but she would declare herself female to school and room in the girl's dorm, so that Resak would have to room with another boy and learn to interact with other monsters.

She saw the changes in Resak after the first year, but didn't truly appreciate the new depths of her Varin until the last break from school. Resak and number of other Nibelung noble-borns decided to go hunting in the Little Mountains just south of the Great Glacier. They were hunting wraith beasts, large leonine creatures with pure white fur that made them nearly invisible in the snows - clever and strong prey that would earn the boys a great deal of prestige if they brought one down, and a fine pelt to gift a girl for whoever struck the killing blow - when they awakened an Earth-Child, violent rock elementals that could take an entire tribe to kill if it were an greater Child.

The Nibelung children did as they'd always been trained when faced with a foe they could not defeat - they ran and left their Songbirds to die for them. Resak ran until he heard the first Songbird scream, even the snapping of the Songbird's bones sounding like a lyrical accompaniment to the melodic tones of their death-cry. He turned back, unwilling to allow the same fate to fall on Aderyn. It took over an hour and the death of two more Songbirds before he managed to kill the Child, luckily a younger elemental not yet adorned in full mantle but still strong enough to break Resak's arm and leave him with a dozen scars down his side for his efforts.

When they returned to the Iron Fangs, the tribe was arming to rescue the son of their chief. Once word spread that Resak had returned - the Earth-Child slain and a half-dozen young Songbirds in tow - he was declared Mountain-Killer and his childhood was officially over. He became the Verndarin and Aderyn his varin, while the other Nibelung were shamed for acting as little children and allowing two Songbirds to die instead of standing with Resak when he turned back.

Aderyn had never heard of a Varin ever saving their Songbird verndarin before - sacrifice is what Songbirds are for while Nibelung are still children - and her loyalty to Resak now borders on the fanatical. She works even harder to be a Songbird worthy of a Chief of Chiefs, as she is certain Resak will take that mantle when his father dies and she refuses to ever be a shame to the man that saved her life when all his childhood training should have left her to be crushed and eaten by the Earth-Child.

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Stats

Body - 3

Mind - 8

Soul - 10

Attributes

Aura of Inspiration 11 (Performing Arts: Singing)

Divine Relationship 11 (Celestial)

Environment Influence (Sound)

Exorcism 11 (Area +3, 10 meters; Targets +3, 10 people; Activation -2, Must spend a turn singing before the effect begins.)

Feature -

  • Perfect Pitch
  • Appearance 2 (pure, ethereal)

    Healing 11 (Area +3, 10 meters; Targets +3, 10 people; Activation -2, Must spend a turn singing before the effect begins.)
    Heightened Sense (Hearing, x2)
    Tuning (Gender swap and able to mimic any sound.)
    Weapon 11 (Area +3, 10 meters; Selective; Targeted -1 (Celestial, harms evil creatures); Activation -2, Must spend a turn singing before the effect begins.))

    Skills

    • Cultural Arts (Orc, Nobility) 1
    • Domestic Arts (Cooking) 1
    • Etiquette (Orc, Nobility) 1
    • Medical (Homeopathy) 1
    • Performing Arts (Dancing, Singing, Drumming) 2
    • Wilderness Survival (Arctic) 1
    • Defects

      Sweet Song:

      Songbirds are incapable of making any unpleasant sounds, making them favored prey of anyone with keen hearing or hedonistic predatory instincts. This, combined with their slender physique and lack of adaptation to the arctic conditions of the Northlands, lead to the near destruction of the race and complete destruction of their culture. The only Songbirds that survive are kept as slaves by the Nibelung of the Northlands, given to children as childhood companions and as "bait", as any predator will attack the Songbird before going after the Nibelung child. While all current Songbirds have Nibelung owners/protectors now, their inability to make unpleasant sounds still hampers their ability to communicate pain or sadness; some Nibelung don't care how they make their Songbirds "sing".

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