Lynnae Tinumir

Appearance:

Ranger, female, elven, short, skinny, ICE blue eyes, forest green hair with a streak of white.

She carries a variety of weapons, including two short swords, two morning stars, and a bow. Her passion follows that of her ranger savior, that of the short sword. She wears leather armor, and is skilled in leatherworking from her father's influence.

She loves animals but will never again allow herself to become close to any dogs or wolves, for fear of it being taken from her. Since she has vowed to never be lost again, she has developed a sense of direction that is uncanny.

She is ASTONISHINGLY strong for her stature, an ability that tends to surprise larger humans, to whom she appears to be little more than a waif. She is intuitive and intelligent, but not exceptionally so. Her health is to be considered average at best, but her skill with a bow is quite impressive.

Unfortunately, she is also rather significantly burned from her experience in the barn. She has burns covering half of her neck, and the burns extend down her left side. Most of these burns are covered up as much as possible, but her own awareness of the burns prevents her from being as outgoing as she normally might be. While she is inherently pretty, the burns detract from her appearance, and this has been a source of self-imposed embarrassment throughout her life.

Background:

As a young girl, Lynnae Tinumir was a normal elven child. Her mother, Larissa, was a seamstress, her father, Antel, was a leatherworker, and her siblings, older brother Tinel, younger brother Ajel and younger sister Rhianna, spent their days working with their parents to make a living. It was tough, but it was a good life.

Lynnae's particular job in this family unit was to transport leather and cloth goods from her parent's shop to their various clients, and to bring supplies back. To assist her in her duties, her parents bought her a large dog, a mastiff that Lynnae named Angus, to serve as her pack animal. While she was not supposed to view this dog as anything other than a simple domestic assistant, nevertheless, the dog became a loyal and trusted family member, at least as far as Lynnae was concerned. The dog was devoted to Lynnae, never leaving her side, to the point that Lynnae was forced to spend much of her time sleeping with the dog in the nearby barn, given it's large size and servant nature in the household, which she had no trouble doing. This kinship with animals was clear from an early age, and she found the unconditional loyalty of her best friend to be something that few people are able to provide her. She spent much of her youth having little social interaction, preferring the ease of communing with animals. Her job made this task that much easier, given that it was her duty to spend her days mostly alone with her loyal hound.

A few years pass, and the world finds itself in the midst of war. The War of Decay brought very large creatures to her village. Lynnae came to know the creatures were giants, but at the time, she had never seen the creatures until that day. Having fired the forest, the giants had swept forward to kill anyone left in their way. They set fire to the village, and watched it burn as the villagers ran for cover.

Unfortunately for Lynnae, inside the barn and sleeping, she awoke to find her dog, Angus, nudging her awake. The barn was on fire, and the dog needed her master to escape before he could leave. Too scared to move, she gripped on to the dog for dear life. As the barn began to collapse, the dog made sure that his master has a good hold and made a desperate dash for an opening in the flames. He made it to a hole in the barn wall. Then a great crashing sound could be heard, as the support truss holding up the majority of the barn gave way. The truss struck the dog in the back as it was trying to scurry through the hole. Angus made it halfway out, and then let out a bloodcurdling yelp. His back broken, he flailed helplessly in the hole he had found in the barn wall. Lynnae has been tossed through the hole, and found herself on the outside of the barn, looking back at her faithful companion who had sacrificed his own life to ensure the life of his master. Angus' writhing soon switched to whimpering, then sighing, and finally submission to his wounds. He would never move again.

It was at this time that Lynnae realized what that sound was that she had been hearing the entire time. It was laughter. Not the laughter of elves, but the deep laughter of creatures much larger. Turning her head, she saw several huge humanoids, later to be understood to be giants, that were laughing at her weeping and painful goodbye to her most loyal and trusted friend in the entire world.

Finally, one of them said something she didn't understand and moved towards the frightened elf-child. Not sure of what to do, she fled in the first direction she looked. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the giant pluck Angus out of the flames, smile, and bite him in half, handing the other half to another nearby giant, who hungrily ate the rest of the morsel offered to him.

Lynnae ran until she was exhausted, collapsing in a heap in the as yet unburned portion of the forest. It was then that she realized that she was lost. Her family had told her to stay close to home in her daily journeys, and she had just traveled into the woods further than she had ever gone before.

Miserable and alone, she wandered around the forest for a few days, foraging what she could, drinking from the streams and brooks that she happened across. But she was alone and lost, and anything can happen in the woods. She began searching for familiar signs, landmarks, even footsteps that might lead her in an appropriate direction. She was surprised to find that she was actually able to find a set of footprints leading further into the forest. Since any civilization was better than living alone in the woods, and possibly dying there, she followed the footprints as far as she could.

She lost the track after a while, but continued in the same direction, spending her time intently staring at the ground for signs of passage that would tell her she was still on the right track. Kneeling down at one point to examine the ground more carefully, she was surprised to find that a sword was now pointed at her throat. The voice was human, and it belonged to a man that she would later come to know as Arletren. Arletren said to her "Who are you? What are you doing here? You're just a kid!!". Lynnae provided her response as quickly and succinctly as possible, leaving out no important detail: "Some giant humans killed my dog! I don't know where my parents are! I'm lost! Help me!" Well, she thought that was the important stuff, anyways.

Arletren had been tracking the young girl for quite some time, and had noticed her studying of the tracks that had been left by passing humanoids, and became intrigued. "This one seems worth helping" he thought to himself. Arletren took care of her for a few days, providing her food, shelter and protection as he made his way to the nearest elven community within the forest that lay in the general direction he was heading. He intended to return the child to the elves, relate her somewhat patchy story in a way that would allow the elves to find Lynnae's parents after he left, and then he would be on his way.

During that time, the two found themselves to be of similar feelings as far as giants were concerned, Arletren's hatred of giants was just as sharp and focused as Lynnae's was.

At one point, Arletren and Lynnae run across a pair of giants in the forest. Arletren leaped to attack at the first sighting of them, and proceeded to slaughter them in short order. Lynnae is impressed with this ability, with the ferocity of the ranger, and the skill of the fighter within. She takes careful note of how skillfully Arletren handled himself, thinking that one day, she might be able to do that herself.

When Arletren finishes off his giants, he kicks the giants in the face, knocking out their teeth. He takes one tooth for himself and gives one to Lynnae. "Never forget what these things are capable of, the vermin!" This too, leaves an impression on Lynnae. If she ever gets the opportunity to kill one of these creatures, it seems like a fitting bookend on the whole experience.

After a few days of seemingly aimless wandering in the forest, Lynnae finds that Arletren has led them to an elven community. Friendly conversation between Arletren and the elves commences, and he relays Lynnae's story. Arletren tells Lynnae that one day, she has the ability to do what he's able to do, and she should prepare herself for that day. He says his goodbyes, and has disappeared into the forest just as quickly as he arrived into her life.

In short order, Lynnae is reunited with her parents, and soon, they try to make life go back to normal, without much success. Lynnae has been transformed by her experience. As far as her parents are concerned, Lynnae leads a largely wasted youth divided between long lonesome walks through the forest, and wasting time with her friends in the nearby city of Ethe. Even though Ethe is a fair distance from the forest, Lynnae is hardly missed for the weeks she goes missing from her parents home, it becomes such a habit for her. She never wants to get lost again, so she familiarizes herself with the forest and it's nuances, so she can find her way home again. She learns to track smaller animals, humanoids and so on, attempting to hone her ability whenever she can. Her kinship with animals continues, though she never again owns another dog. Her hatred of giants is firmly established, and she will attack any giant she sees on sight. She is also a loner at heart, except when it comes to her friends. She likes a select group of friends, and they often get together in Ethe.

Finally, her parents grow weary of her constant travels, and advise her that perhaps it would be best for her to seek her fortunes away from the family. They cannot count on her to be there for them, but they care for her, and wish her well, but their best parental advice is to let her seek her fortune elsewhere. She is welcome home any time she likes, and is expected to visit on a regular basis, but it is obvious that her path lay along a line that diverges from that of a leatherworker and a seamstress.

She spends much of her forest youth trying to find the ranger that provided her assistance all those years ago, so that she may thank him for his assistance and for helping her 'find her way', her chosen career. Unfortunately, that task would seem fairly impossible at the moment. Despite here abilities as a tracker, she has never seen the ranger in question again. Perhaps one day she will be in a position to help him as much as he helped a lost elven girl find her way all those years ago. In the very least, she'd like to thank Arletren for showing her the way of the ranger.

Roleplaying Notes:

- Lynnae is shy around strangers, gregarious with friends. She will linger at the outside of any conversation, listening intently but not contributing. She will speak her mind ONLY when she has a strong opinion about what should be done, and only then if she can't accomplish the task to be undertaken on her own.
- Hunters are to be compassionate when they kill, any unskilled hunter is treated with disdain for not being able to minimize the suffering of his quarry. She recognizes the need for hunting, but hates to see animals suffer.
- She never wears clothing that reveal her burns, and goes to extreme lengths to avoid having her burns seen, to the point that it is obvious that she is hiding something.

POSSIBLE PLOT HOOKS:
- Lynnae could be seeking out her rescuer, who was human and significantly older at the time of her rescue. This could potentially mean that at the time of her quest, he could already have died of old age. This would not stop her, wishing to speak with the dead not to ask questions, but rather to thank the ranger for his assistance. If the PC's happen upon human remains, it is possible that divinations could lead Lynnae to them, and allow interaction that would lead to adventure involving giants, and the eventual retrieval and proper burial of the remains.

- Lynnae could be found in any area frequented by giants, and seek to cautiously assist any group that is seeking giants to kill. She has spent her life learning the ways of giants, their language and habits, in the hopes that such information would help her vanquish her enemies, or that the information would lead to others vanquishing the giants she has a hatred for.