I’ve mentioned before about how just to get to know a character I play or just write about on my own time, I’ll dig out this character sketch. This is one I did forever ago, putting together my Aasimar bard in our Planeshift campaign. I had great intentions for really fleshing this out, but then ran out of time and just jumped right into the new campaign instead. Inconsequential, but possibly fun stream of consciousness-style look into Isolde Satrinava. Enjoy!
For reference.
Isolde Satrinava. Her childhood nickname is Izzy but hates it and won’t respond to it from anyone but her parents.
Her hair color is silvery white, and she has gold eyes. Unlike some Aasimar, she does have visible pupils.
She has alabaster white skin with a smattering of freckles. Prior to the beginning of the campaign, she was bit by a viper in an assassination attempt. She was healed in time, but the poison left black veins running up the left side of her face, from her jaw to her cheekbone.
She does not have a birthmark and no scars—she has been stabbed several times but is vain and will always spend money to be healed perfectly. She has callouses on her fingers from her lyre and viol.
She has a living mother and father that are the equivalent of middle class. She sends gifts from her travels home regularly. She makes friends wherever she goes but doesn’t get really close to anyone. She is diplomatic but can be bitingly sarcastic and when she is critical she does not hold back. She was close to Queen Asylla and was devastated by her murder.
She was born on some land right outside a city. Not a huge city, but it had more opportunities than a small town. She felt at home for the first time in Asylla’s court in the capitol and was sad to leave it behind. She’s content with traveling around and seeing and experiencing new things, but does feel a little more adrift than she’d like. At the same time, she’s pretty good with people, and isn’t worried about things like living arrangements and finances—money follows her wherever she goes, as a world-class musician.
When she’s angry, she will give it a few quiet moments. The first is for you to explain yourself, which usually ends in acknowledging you were wrong, and she won’t rub it in your face too much, unless it was really egregious. Alternatively, she will just give a long, silent moment, tell you what she really thinks, and rip into you and then leaves. She is not tied to anything or anyone, and has no problem with just leaving.
She is a perfectionist and she always thought her biggest fear is failure. That came true when she failed to protect Queen Asylla and nearly died herself. If that wasn’t bad enough, she is without a connection to her deva anymore and feels truly alone, and she is terrified and shaken to the core of her being.
She doesn’t have a secret, but she keeps others secrets. Or doesn’t keep them… depending.
She actually does have a good sense of humor and laughs easily.
If she had a refrigerator, she would have a leftover cheese danish, fruit, and chilled white wine in it—its her favorite wine, but she loves a good flagon of ale or mead from a tavern that probably has a B rating at most.
There’s nothing on her bedroom floor. She’s very tidy. She has lots of clothes and likes nice things, but has a very organized bag of holding.
On her nightstand are a bunch of different books—philosophy, history, and more than one tawdry romance novel, which she reads unashamedly.
She wears exceedingly nice, knee-length traveling boots. She has a kit for cleaning them every day. She wears fine silk stockings with them, but when alone in her room she has super thick, comfy slippers in loud patterns.
The smells she would associate her childhood with are the scents of grass after the rain and floral tea. She liked rainy days, inside with hot tea the best when she was young. Those were quiet, peaceful moments before life started getting busy, taking lessons, getting an education, doing the tasks her deva set before her.
In spring cleaning, she finds it pretty easy to part with a lot of her clothes—she’ll just buy some more, or be gifted with more, but she does have a few pieces she really loves that she’ll keep forever. She finds it difficult to part with some well-loved books even if they are nothing special. She will never part with a hair pin that Asylla gave her.
Saturday at noon, she’s probably having a light lunch and reading, while listening in to other peoples conversations around her. Probably directly after this though, she’ll be found performing in a tavern or in a town square, raking in the money. Right now her life is pretty much eat when she needs to, drink lots, perform, and just hanging out in the popular spots in town, making friends and enjoying conversation. She rarely has to pay for lodging if she performs at the establishment. She has a lyre and a viol, but usually plays the lyre. She can read a room, and will sometimes play soothing melodies and background music, but more often plays the lyre while singing bawdy poetry. Sure, she’s a classy lady, but she still has a wicked sense of humor. She does particularly like interrupting a calm, quiet mood with such songs. She thrives on the disapproving scowls and loves it when people join in from a completely different mood.
One memory that has stuck with her began as a dream with her deva when she was very young. This wasn’t her first meeting, but on this occasion, they came to her and presented her with a lyre in her dream and told her that