Seren Rhiannon Ackhart

Name: Seren Rhiannon Ackhart (roughly translates to the Starry Great Queen of the Strong Oak)

Rank: Royalty

Titles: Princess, Lady, Prenwarder, Conall’enaid ("strong wolf soul")

Age: 22

Gender: Female

Race: Human

Height: 5 ft. 5 in.

Weight: 128 lbs.

Hair color: Black

Eye color: Bright blue

Occupation: Princess of the kingdom of Colfen, hidden deep within the Forest of Colfenaria

As the forest’s princess, Seren is the head of the Prenwarders ("tree warders" or "tree guardians"). These are, essentially, the main guardians of the kingdom, specially trained in woodlore and guerilla-style warfare. They are a highly secretive group that relies more on stealth rather than open displays of strength. The princess of the royal family is the traditional leader of the Prenwarders. She is responsible for ensuring the continued safety and secrecy of Colfen. The people of the forest kingdom do not take kindly to outsiders invading their nature sanctuary, and they are especially mistrustful of elves, specifically the elves of the neighboring kingdom, Valina.

Aside from protecting Colfen from the influence of outsiders, Seren is also responsible for maintaining the wood itself. Because of her royal blood, she is privy to the restorative powers of the forest goddess, Anthea, whom the people of Colfen worship. With these powers, Seren has the ability to nurture the earth in ways the rest of the people cannot, through a mystical connection with the power of creation itself. She uses her magic in conjunction with Anthea's servants, the faeries, to keep the life and death of the forest in balance.

Weapons:

Dalenber (Leaf Spear): Seren's primary weapon is her spear, which she can use as both a long-range melee weapon and a throwing weapon. If she chooses to throw Dalenber, Seren is capable of summoning it back to her hand, provided she has the few seconds to spare to do so.

The haft is four feet long and made of solid oak that has been stained dark brown. Intricate carved patterns of leafy vines snake along the haft. The butt of the spear is capped with silver crafted in the shape of a wolf curled in on itself which serves to balance out the great weight of the spear's top. The sharpened tip is made of roughly a foot of blackened iron and bound to the spear by tough, white plant fibers. Two more pieces of black iron run perpendicular to the tip and curl downwards at the ends. From these iron pieces, Seren likes to hang various charms resembling things from the forest--including feathers, leaves, bits of faerie stones (colorful pebbles sometimes used by the faeries in their nightly dances), and starglass (a reflective mineral usually found in the shape of a star and said to possess special blessings from Anthea). A silver charm in the shape of a spreading tree is embedded at the center of these two iron pieces.

Mardant (Deadly Tooth): Should Seren be unable to summon her spear back to her for some reason, she has Mardant, her hunting knife, at her disposal. Its subtly curved blade is approximately a foot in length, with the handle at about five inches. The blade itself is made of rare steel (rare to the Colfen people, anyway) and has the outline of leaves etched into its surface. The handle is of a simple construct--a cylindrical, darkly stained piece of oak wrapped in the carving of a howling wolf. A perfect piece of blue starglass is embedded in the bottom of the handle. Seren keeps Mardant in a leather sheath hanging at her right hip from one of her two belts.

Armor: None

Skills/Magic:

Rhithstem (Form Shift): Because Seren is a member of the royal family, Anthea has blessed her with an alternate form, which she can assume whenever necessary. When she undergoes a rhithstem, she takes the form of a black wolf about twice the size of the normal variety. Her thick, wild fur tends to make her appear even larger than that. She is also covered in shimmering blue tattoos of the ancient faerie script. These markings grant Seren the power to grow plants simply by walking over the ground. Her eyes retain her human form's striking blue color to match her tattoos. Around her neck hangs a thick emerald green chain with a single, large leaf charm in a matching green hanging from that. She also has a medium silver hoop earring in her right ear. Though the size of this form is fairly large, it is a fast, effective way for Seren to cover a lot of distance in a very short amount of time. As a wolf, her senses of hearing and smell are extremely amplified, and her sight receives a lesser boost, as well.

Milaraith (Animal Speech): Seren has the ability to communicate with animals, though this ability is limited because she must establish direct eye contact with them. Therefore, as an example, she cannot speak with a high-flying bird. This skill is not a mental form of communication, so it does not form telepathic links or anything similar with the animals. This also puts a limit onto her ability to communicate, for any animal she speaks with must be within range of her voice.

Hadaraith (Seed Speech): When Seren uses this skill, it might seem to a forest outsider that she is talking to plants, but actually, she is communicating with the forest spirits attached to particular plants. She predominantly speaks with the faeries who maintain flowers, though she does, on occasion, speak with the more elusive tree nymphs. All communication performed through this ability is verbal, though the responses of the spirits may not necessarily be audible to those who cannot see them.

Strengths:

Seren's deep connection to the forest and her experience leading the Prenwarders have turned her into a superb hunter and tracker. Along with such leadership experience, comes the ability to comfortably give orders and strategic direction. Her fighting style emphasizes her agility and speed; she can strike rapidly and dodge follow-up enemy attacks. She can use nature to her advantage both as camouflage and as a weapon. Her extensive knowledge of plants enables her to both heal and kill in subtle ways. Because she can communicate with animals as well as forest spirits that typically go unnoticed by all those outside Colfenaria, she has, in a manner of speaking, her own information network.

Weaknesses:

Since Seren is all about speed, agility, and evasion, she does not have exceptional physical strength, especially against heavily-armored opponents. Her weapons are simple, even though they serve her well. They don't have any extraordinary attributes like being able to slice through anything and such. Though she is magically inclined, she cannot fully tap into her spiritual powers unless she undergoes rhithstem. Though she is an experienced tracker, she is still human and does not possess any heightened senses unless in wolf form.

Appearance:

Though her face is softly heart-shaped, Seren's features are oftentimes hard. Her brilliant blue eyes are large and penetrating, filled with the hidden wisdom of someone much older than she is. Her nose is proportionate to the rest of her features, with more of a rounded rather than pointed shape. Her ears are small with attached earlobes, and they typically stay concealed beneath her black hair. Her hair itself falls straight to just about her shoulder blades and is of medium thickness. She has a thick set of bangs that she usually keeps swept over the left side of her brow. She has high cheekbones and a soft, narrow jaw. Her lips are full and, though she may not admit to it, luscious.

Seren's frame is small, but she has an incredibly athletic build for someone of her size. All the running through the forest that she does has stripped every visible amount of fat from her body, leaving well-toned muscle in its wake. Her legs are of a good length to allow for as long a stride as she can possibly achieve while human. She has somewhat narrow hips and a small but still very noticeable and attractive chest.

Seren is clothed as simply as possible while still retaining a measure of her status in the kingdom. The main part of her outfit consists of one piece of solid grey-blue material. The top half of it is tailored in the form of a tank-top with thin shoulder straps. A V-neck plunges down just enough to fully show off the large silver charm in the shape of a tree with a star embossed over its branches hanging from a black leather thong around her neck. The sides of the V-neck are held together by a single fastened piece of black leather. The neck is also trimmed on both sides in solid lines of dark blue that join at the bottom of the neck and run all the way down the center of her body until the top half of her outfit transitions into the lower half. From here, the lines of blue diverge as the material splits apart to form a partial skirt that falls to Seren's mid-calf. Underneath this long, open skirt, she wears a layered mini skirt of the same grey-blue material with dark-brown leggings underneath that. Finally, a pair of soft leather, ivory-colored boots that come up to her knees and a cloak that matches the dark blue trim of the rest of her outfit complete her clothing.

Personality:

Seren has spent all of her life sheltered in the Forest of Colfenaria, and this affects the way in which she relates to practically everything. For her, everyone outside of the forest cannot be trusted and certainly should not be befriended (she is especially mistrustful of elves). She views the outside world as a corrupted, polluted place that constantly threatens to encroach upon the purity of her forest kingdom. In this, she is incredibly stubborn and unyielding. Thus, she guards her kingdom’s borders with zeal stronger than any of the other Prenwarders under her. She believes the sanctity of the woods is of the utmost importance in the mind of Anthea. Therefore, it must also be paramount in her mind.

As a princess, Seren is both fair and just, and her people love her dearly. She is neither overbearing nor harsh and loves to revel in the beauty and majesty of the woods, but she does not have a high tolerance for pure laziness. She expects all of her people to carry their weight in the kingdom, whether through acting as a Prenwarder or caring for the trees and harvesting fruit or whatever other capacity in which a person serves.

Seren does not follow the traditional stereotypes of royalty. For instance, she refuses to keep full-time servants for herself. She recognizes the benefits of good labor and is not above doing menial tasks alongside even the least of her people. Since Seren values simplicity, excessive royal trappings are abhorrent to her. She prefers functionality over form for the most part. However, she does have a sense of propriety and recognizes that she is in a position deserving of honor, respect, and loyalty from her people. Sometimes, this sense of propriety can make her seem very uptight.

Bio:

My story begins long ago, when the forests were still dominant and the elves were still harmonious with nature. My ancestors came to Colfenaria, seeking shelter from tyrannical rulers. These human masters were harsh and only sought material gain at the cost of nature's balance. My people foresaw the evils such thinking would produce and escaped the mechanized kingdoms of the corrupted humans. Purity, they sought, and purity, they found in the sanctuary of Colfenaria. Anthea, the great goddess of the forest, perceived my people's innocence and revealed herself and her secrets to them. She offered them safety and protection from the outside world in exchange for their service to her. In conjunction with the faeries, my people tended the forest, harvesting and using its abundant blessings wisely.

Peace was only a temporary state.

Our storytellers have passed down the tales of despair and destruction that nearly tore Colfen apart and eradicated my people. The elves had built themselves a kingdom called Valina adjacent to our forest's borders, but it was not a kingdom we supported. The disease of the world--that obsession with material wealth and power--had infected even the elves, and now they were greedily expanding this kingdom, even though they had to consume the very forests to do so. Anthea was heartbroken by the death, and yet she still infused Colfenaria with life, refusing to allow her personal sanctuary to die. My people persisted, surviving in our forest home thanks to the power of Anthea. Though the elves loomed as a tainted presence across the river, for the most part, they remained in their industrialized cities and towns.

One night, the winds carried the scent of death into Colfen. The spirits were restless and on edge. That's when the demons crossed the river separating us from the elves. It was a nightmare. They ravaged the outer forests, spreading their darkness and poison everywhere. It was only by the power of the goddess herself that my people were able to defend the inner forests and themselves. Since then, we have always been wary of the elves in Valina. Now, we have the Prenwarders whose sole purpose is to guard our borders and ensure that no other catastropohe like that ever befalls our kingdom.

I have been the princess of Colfen my entire life, twenty-two years. My father, Gareth Ackhart, is a kind and even-handed king, and my mother, Eirian Ackhart, is the pillar of strength that supports him. One day, I hope to be as strong as she is. Together, they are the glue that holds our kingdom together. My mother hopes that I will find someone among our people to rule alongside me soon.

I was in love once, two years ago. His name was Talyessin, and I thought we would be together forever. He was strong and full of courage, not intimidated in the least by my rank or my powers. I had never, nor have I since met, anyone like him. But one day, when we were spending time together near the edges of the outer forests, we were attacked by a contigent of elves seeking to discover the secrets of our kingdom. I escaped with my life, but Tal was not as fortunate. The Prenwarders I was able to assemble in the confusion took down every last deplorable elf, but we could not prevent Tal from falling to their swords and crossbows. I spent a year mourning in a secluded glen after that, attended and comforted only by Anthea's faeries. Now, I have fully resumed my royal duties with a renewed fire directed against the corrupted outside world, especially all of elvenkind.