[FireDog]

Name: Nadia Verdon (Na – D – Ah, Ver – dOn)

Age: 25

Gender: Female

Birthday: 17th

Race: Xitian

Appearance:

Concept art (Note the 'concept' part. Obviously this is not what she looks like entirely, but it is just some art I personally think Nadia may look like. Obviously changes in clothing, eye color, and other looks would be made

Spoiler

General look in a nice dress I suppose.

Where can a guy find steam punk looking things that cover everything? Seriously what engineer wears short shorts or has her corset push out her breasts? I'll tell you, one who gets torn and cut from dangerous machinery or chemicals.

Nadia is a simple and plain looking girl with long brown hair that she buns up or puts into a pony tail when working or riding. She has bright red eyes which stand out from her normal appearance and very expressive facial motions. She has a more conserved body language that she holds in a noble pose. She’s not one to show with her clothes, often wearing her working gear as that’s the most simple for her. Other than normal work clothes with goggles, the only real thing to see from her is the chemical scars she has if she rolls up her sleeves. She’ll carry a bag or pouch with her to carry explosives in a safe container.

Personality: Nadia Verdon appears to be a simple and humble woman, perhaps of noble stature. She carries herself in a rather high and confident tone and will carry a calm and quiet tone to deliver her current feelings. She’s a bit soft on her voice which may appear to make her a shy character; however this is quite the opposite. Nadia quite enjoys conversation and entertainment with new friends and people as a way to familiarize herself with a new group. She will wear a pleasant smile during conversation and her facial expressions tend to stand out due to her more plain features which do not particularly draw attention. Most attention driven to her is naturally to her face as her red eyes and expression stand out over everything else. She will often show what she is feeling with her facial expressions as the subtle changes make large impacts. Nadia is someone who will make initial steps and not shy away when she wishes to achieve to obtain something such as knowledge. Nadia manages to do this without being in your face and being obnoxious about this, but she is bound to take the first step when it comes to getting something she wants.

Nadia is a brave girl who has dealt with dangers before from Mesalians, Lucins, and even fellow Xitians; she does not back down easily and often stands her ground on her beliefs. This bravery can also be a bit harmful as it can throw her into danger as Nadia can be rather radical in her beliefs until proven wrong directly. Such instances can also come from her to directly telling someone off if she is displeased or angered with them, anger is often the best way to break her composed stature. After all, Nadia grew up in a family of angry, temperamental Xitians. While used to tempers, Nadia has one of her own which she hides and pushing the wrong buttons at the wrong time can lead her to berate someone without fear. Nadia is hard working and often fights to get what she wants, but can often be pushy with others if they continuously fail. Leading her to prefer working alone. Nadia often finds herself feeling a bit lonely as such when by herself and feels a need to actively find others to converse with in order to remain happy. She has a terrible dislike toward being by herself in any given problem. Nadia is extroverted but often can push people away. If she snaps at someone and is then left alone, she feels a great deal of sadness and has a bit of trouble dealing with it.
 
Nadia is more or less confident of her abilities, very confident in fact. She knows very well that she is an intelligent young woman who can create materials which are often unseen to most: Explosives. Nadia very well knows that she holds the secrets in a great power so she treats her work as something with great care. No matter how trivial the job, Nadia is bound to put her all and her best into it and not slack off. She makes her intelligence well known as she is the calculating sort that looks at a problem and will in an instant look for solutions. Nadia is fantastic under ‘pressure’ as well, for explosives work is some of the most pressuring around. If trouble is coming quickly, Nadia is more than able to keep her cool and deal with it in the most efficient matter she can find.

Skills:

- Explosives* (Competent): Nadia is well versed in the one thing she has been taught to do in her entire life time. She is best versed in the creation of cherry bombs, smoke bombs, mining charges and shrapnel charges. Her main strength being in mining charges. Nadia is very able to handle explosives and knows what places are dangerous for the devices.

- Fire powers (Competent): Nadia’s main power, she uses fire to light fuses primarily. However she has often used fire to defend herself from attackers or as a light. She is very careful with her fire as to not harm anyone who is not an intended target or to recklessly use fire as a threat. This caution with fire is due to Nadia often carrying explosives and being reckless with such objects can lead to catastrophe.

- Chemistry* (Apprentice): Nadia often uses chemistry as a means to her work. However her only knowledge in chemistry outside of the basics is into explosives. You won’t see Nadia using chemistry to create anything other than something that goes pop.

- Runes* (Apprentice): Nadia uses runes to create explosives, however nothing else. She is very knowledgeable of how these objects work in her field. However creating a home, communication, or amnesia rune is was out of her field.

- Horse Riding (Apprentice): While never having used the horse as a means to attack or advance on targets, Nadia spent most of her free time riding her horse in the woods on extended walks. This was purely out of leisure.

*Skills that heavily relate to eachother
 
Knowledge:

- Xitian language (Advanced): Nadia is well versed in her own language. She knows how to read and write fluently and cohesively when using her natural tongue. She has spent most of her life speaking Xitian which leads her to be not as well versed in common.

- Common language (Novice): Nadia is able to understand most things in common but will have trouble keeping up sometimes, especially if the speaker has a thick and foreign accent. She has learned a thing here and there and is more than willing to learn more, but her reading and writing in common suffer a bit.

Backstory:

Spoiler

Prolouge:

prolouge

Verdon. The Xitian family. Born into the tyranny and raised into war, Verdon was a well respected name in the world of Xitians. The Verdon family consisted of brilliant strategists and war mongers to inventors and intelligent scientists who would make their finest creations purely for the Xitian cause. The esteemed Verdon family was large and powerful with its mind set on pure goals for the Xitian race. The Verdon family was a loyal and willing one, which had taken tasks for the Xitians for generation after generation. The Verdon family was wealthy and difficult to outwit. Verdon was a family so intelligent, that they were even allowed to work on a secret project of war to destroy the Mesalian opposition and Lucin invaders during the War of Veld. The Verdon family now lays as a mere memory of what it was before.

Therin Verdon began his work early as a boy growing up in the midst of war. As he grew up, he was taught to become knowledgeable in runes. However his father and fellow scientists had taught him in the ways of chemistry for another plan. During the war the Xitians grew desperate and looked for new weapons to gain an edge on the opposing forces across the land. Therin, along with his father, and several other Xitians began work on a top secret project to create materials that could potentially shift the war and give the Xitians a defensive edge. The first thing that came to mind was strategically placed traps. Deciding what these traps would be was the problem. After many debates and discussions, the Xitians formed one plan that they collectively thought could work. This idea was the birth of explosives. The idea that with the right combination of runes and chemical changes, a material can release a violent explosion of force in order to severely harm the poor soul who activated the trap. The Xitians worked for several years on the device and put their all into it. The device had to work or else loss could be faced. And losing this war was not an option for the Xitans. Several scientists gave their life to this work for the new technology. Some were caught and burned from chemical reactions. Some went deaf or blind. The casualties were staggering for the early stages of these explosives only to create an unstable final product. Eventually, the explosives were made. Cherry bombs were issued to soldiers as test weapons to cause hysteria on the battlefield. The idea was that the violent explosion could throw off the Mesalians and allow for easy kills. They were wrong. The explosives were unstable and often went off at the wrong times, or if a Xitian was not careful, he sometime blew himself up in a quick burst of flame. The cherry bomb was hard to work with unless up close and being too close to the victim often hurt the user as well. Shrapnel charges were made to be placed as traps on the defensive side of battle. They would be hidden and when an unsuspecting Mesalian found his way to the trap, he would be blown away. These shrapnel charges failed as well. Sometimes, the trap would go off prematurely, or not go off at all. The lack of stability of the brand new devices harmed their usability. The explosives were a failure. Yet they were a constant, dark reminder of what could have been for both the Mesalians and Xitians. The Xitians lost the War of Veld.

At this point in time, Therin Verdon has lost his own father in one of the many accidents during the creation of the explosives. Therin, like many Xitians who were not sealed away, fled off to far away and remote locations to escape the purges. Therin fled with a few other Xitians and eventually settled in a quiet location after Lucins had purged the lands. The Xitians built a quiet settlement and told themselves to never start conflict if their small group wishes to live. Therin himself began working on the explosives work once more after settling down. He created more stable explosives, and worked on old blueprints founded a long time ago. The mining charge. The mining charge was a scrapped idea for the Xitians as it severed little purpose in the war. Over the years, Therin married, had a child, and created a modern mining charge variant. Therin was more than aware he was aging, it was up to him to pass down his secrets of explosive work once more to his child. His son, Yorik Verdon, would gain these secrets and continue working on them. Therin himself eventally lost most of his eyesight from the flashes. Therin became frail and was unable to work on explosives directly. However is son was able to do these exact things. Yorik's work focused around stabilizing the cherry bombs, shrapnel charges, and mining charges all to allow them to work without as many complications. One still has to be careful around them, but the charges are not as dangerous as they were before. Yorik spent his entire life in this Xitian settlement and became much like his own father who still lived to this date. Yorik had one child, and to his dismany, a daughter. Yorik was led to believe that women are not as capable with runes and science as men are. And while Yorik attempted to have more chilren, his wife continued to miscarriage after the birth of Yorik's daughter. Yorik was not going to let these secrets go to waste. Regardless of weather or not a woman carries them on. The Verdon family must know all that is passed down with explosives and Yorik was determined. He would teach his daughter, Nadia, and raise her to dwell further into this dangerous world.

Part 1, Childhood:

Spoiler

Nadia lived her entire childhood in the unnamed, isolated, Xitian town where the majority of the residents consisted of older men and women yet very few children to spend time with. The town was poor, and worked on its own, independent merit. Only consisting of a few guards, men, women, and the elderly, Nadia stuck out like a sore thumb. The town kept to itself to avoid conflict among Mesalians. Not out of fear, but the Xitians did not want to get involved with conflict out of the sake of longing for their own peace for future families and towns. For all they knew, the Xitians were still targets for purges and destruction and were left unaware of the civil wars raging across the lands between Mesalians. Nadia grew up to find her closest friends to be her family. Her mother, father, and grandfather. Nadia’s grandmother had passed before she was born. Nadia’s father, Yorik, always had worked in his lab every day and all day. Her mother, Helena, often did house work. Unlike father, Helena was not invested in science. Finally, there was Nadia’s grandfather, Therin, who sat around drinking and rambling in angered verse all day and frequently argued with his son during the night. As a child Nadia did not quite understand the arguments that were had. All Nadia knew was that Therin was angry about something or someone, someone who is not suited for something. Despite not being aware of what these things were, Nadia knew the someone was her. Nadia was raised mostly between her father and mother as she was told to keep away from Grandfather, especially when he was drinking. So she watched her mother work around the house and occasionally helped with everyday chores. Her curious, child self wanted to go with Father to see what he did every day in that lab, but he always told her ‘no’ as it was apparently too dangerous for her. Nadia aged normally for a Xitian girl. At the age of six she discovered that she could ignite a weak flame in her palm. Father and Grandfather often did this and Nadia was ecstatic. Upon her discovery, she informed her entire family. Whilst Father and Mother were pleased, Grandfather responded with a simple grunt to Nadia. Nadia was taught by her mother how to use this flame and to control it. She was also carefully instructed by her father to be extremely careful with using these powers. He also went into detail as to never ignite a fire near his lab. Nadia took this to heart and only used her flames outside the house with Mother’s supervision.

Nadia continued to grow in her life with her angry Grandfather and supportive Mother. Upon retrospect, Nadia could never gage how Father felt in her early years of life. However being a child made her bliss to her ignorance and love both Father and Grandfather without letting negative feelings get in the way. Nadia was taught how to read and write the Xitian language from her mother so she could expertly craft her words into proper verse. As she reached the age of eight, Nadia’s father took time out his laboratory work to teach her in science and mathematics. Both parents made it clear that both subjects were rare among those in this world. Nadia took the rarity as something great and invested herself greatly into Maths and Science. This investment appeared to please Father.

Nadia aged with these teaching engraved in her mind, and when she was ten, Father let Nadia into his laboratory and to see what he worked on. He gave her some gear to keep herself safe, a laboratory apron and goggles. He also made sure Nadia followed every safety procedure around his laboratory, which she did. Father explained in detail what he worked on: explosive material. Nadia had never seen the devices but the many tools of science interested her. Nadia watched her father work this way and helped gather materials he needed to ease his work. She continued to do so despite not being asked from now on. Father took this a sign that Nadia had a great interest in explosives, and he seemed to be even more pleased. A few nights later, Nadia hear the most violent argument from her bedroom between Grandfather and Father. Nadia also heard Mother interjecting during the argument. The conversation started as normal bickering between the three, but it grew louder and louder. Nadia could hear Grandfather ranting in violent tones on how she was not worthy of learning explosives work, mathematics, and science. He continued to question Father and accuse him of being a ‘traitor’ of the Verdon name. Nadia listened to the entire argument which seemed to last hours upon hours into the night. Both Father and Mother disagreed with Grandfather, supporting Nadia. This was followed by Grandfather shouting at Father for being too quick to change his mind and that he would see his mistake of actually trusting a woman to carry on the secrets of explosives. Grandfather told how Nadia would kill somebody in a horrific accident, and if she didn’t, any discoveries made would be lost to another family’s name, a loss in honour for the Verdon name. Nadia broke down into tears and sat with her ears plugged at the end of her door, trying to hide herself. The vulgar language dug itself into her mind, allowing the attacks and insults to make its own space within. In her breakdown, Nadia blocked out the screaming and yelling along the rest of the fight. This fighting grew from happening once in a while, to once a week, to daily. Nadia grew used to it and just hid herself away so she could live with it. This harshness required her to not quit using explosives and to brave out the harsh words from Grandfather for two years. Until Grandfather died. His death had not phased Father nor mother, neither, to most of the townsfolk’s surprise, the twelve year old Nadia.

Part 2, Teenage Years:

Spoiler

After Grandfather’s death of age, Nadia’s life became far quieter. Her parents seemed to be more open with her as she matured, and Nadia continued her study of runes and chemistry to create explosives. Nadia was taught indirectly by her father to take great care in his work as it was something she saw in him when assisting in the laboratory. Nadia had also began making her own explosives, first was smoke bombs and small cherry bombs. Every day she would create new bombs and test them, using her fire powers to quickly ignite the fuse before she threw the cherry bomb a safe distance away. She enjoyed the pops and bangs from the explosives and watched them from behind the safety of her goggles. Additionally, Nadia grew with very few fears. Many women seemed to cower at the sight of most things; however nothing was a greater threat to Nadia than a mishap in explosives work, or her angry grandfather. She found herself to grow in a strong and perhaps argumentive way. She often outwitted adults with her knowledge due to reading habits and her works in Science and Maths. Nadia was very aware and intelligent and the other Xitians knew it very well. However nobody was more pleased to see this than her father, who for years during her childhood, assumed she would not be smart enough to understand explosives or have an interest in them. The opposite was true as Nadia spent almost all her time understanding what she found to be an art.

Other than the explosives work and studies, Nadia’s teenage life was rather uneventful. The town had not known of the Civil War between Mesalains, nor were they involved. The children were born after Nadia, and thus too young for her to feel comfortable interacting with for extended periods of time. Younger kids do not relate to teenagers in the same way. While Nadia was plenty outgoing with the adults and enjoyed conversation with them, it was not the same as having a true friend of her age to interact with. This caused a sharp pain of loneliness for her and during her young teenage years, Nadia was often moody and even got into arguments with her parents over trivial things.

Years went on and on as Nadia’s loneliness continued for a great deal. So she spent her time making observations like a proper scientist. She observed people, mostly. How they act and what they did with their days. There was one man who stood out though. As Nadia went out one night to take a small walk around the town, she spotted a man sneaking outside of his house. The man was named Revgen, and he was known to have hermit like behavior. More often than not, Revgen distanced himself from the other Xitians. Almost seeming to hate them. Nadia had never seen Revgen outside of his home before and was quite curious to see him sneaking out in the middle of the night. This continued for weeks as he ran off somewhere in the middle of the woods. Nadia never saw him come back due to her own interests in taking her strolls. One time Nadia had tried, but he had not returned for a long time, and Nadia had feel asleep before she could spot him. She thought nothing of this; she just assumed the hermit man was off doing things by himself, as hermits do.

Nadia was eighteen when those assumptions were proven to be false. She was working late into the night, creating a mining charge which she had taken a liking to. The mining charges were very useful for the miners in town and Nadia enjoyed making them. She was about to finish one, however an unexpected hazard appeared. A fire lit in the laboratory which she noticed a bit too late. The fire was lit away from her eye sight and the burning she assumed to be the natural chemicals of the explosives at work. As the fire warmed the room and blazed, Nadia finally took notice and ran for the door to escape, however the heat had caused a violent explosion in the room. She covered herself whilst moving away from the unintended reaction, but the explosion damaged her. Chemicals flew all over and landed on her arm, which she used to cover her face, and the right side of her body. These chemicals caused intense pain for Nadia as they ate away at her protective clothing, then her regular clothes, and her skin. Luckily for Nadia she had been wearing her protective gear, so the acid did not kill her. Father and Mother heard the explosion and rushed down to see a burning building and a screaming daughter in agonizing pain. They carried her out quickly and took Nadia to a pool of clean water so her wounds may be cleaned and the chemicals washed away. In the mean time, Father gathered the rest of the town and the burning building was set ablaze even further from the explosions.

The fire was eventually put out and Nadia laid in bed rest to recover from her wounds; wounds that would leave permanent burn scars on her. Nadia recovered, but not to return to happy faces. Her father was displeased with her as the entire operation had gone astray, and the rest of the town was angered as well. If the fire was not responded to in the time that it had been, Nadia’s accident would have caused the entire town to burn to a crisp. The town voted to outcast the Verdon family, as the explosives work was too dangerous to have in the small group. Nadia herself was devastated that she caused such an accident, however she pleaded that it was not her fault and remained set on that case. Nadia knew that the fire was not hers, someone else had started it. The townsfolk did not accept her plea despite the logical arguments Nadia had put up. The townsfolk were probably glad to have rid of the dangerous explosives in town. Nadia, her father and mother left town with no home and little food. Only then had they discovered a Mesalian town, much larger in scale in comparison to the Xitian village, which to their surprise accepted the new Xitians. It would be found out a few years later that Nadia did not set the flames, but instead it was Revgen in a mad fit.

Part 3, The Dangerous World:

Spoiler

For the first time, Nadia had gained friends of her age. Although it took some adjusting, Nadia loved it. The others had taken a notice to Nadia’s powers and seemed to enjoy this. The others had taken a notice to her intelligence and appreciated it. The others had never seen explosives work, and were in awe as Nadia showed the wonders off. She felt more at home here than at the Xitian village. In a short amount of time, Nadia’s father had a new lab, made of stone built for the two. However Nadia was no longer allowed to work without her father’s supervision, which irritated the young woman to no end. Nadia pushed past this though and went on with her life and her new friends whom she now spent time with. While Father was not as pleased, or did not seem to take care of this, Mother was fairly happy with her daughter’s joy in social life. This social life filled an empty hole for Nadia as she quickly grew to be fond of the Mesalians. The largest obstacle, however, was the language barrier. Nadia willingly took hours out her days to study and learn common. She also grew to like horse riding from the local stables in town. Instead of walking, Nadia learned how to ride a horse and walked with it on strolls. Something was rather calming about the animals and she enjoyed taking these walks.

As she stayed longer in town, Nadia noticed guards and older Mesalians had not taken the same liking to her as the others her age had. As she understood more and more about the common language, Nadia understood remarks and racial or sexist comments from the guards. She grew to ignore these not was determined to not let race be a separating factor on her view of the town. These people were just angry or bad people, like her Grandfather, and she knew they would not cause harm. The other problem was with bards who flirted with every girl in town, including Nadia. The bards often found themselves facing threats from an angry Xitian woman who would not blush to their lovely ways but instead threaten them for their behavior. There was one man though who caught Nadia’s eye. Harold, the handsome boy from across the road. Harold was someone who Nadia thought of as attractive for what she thought to be the right reasons. He appeared to be intelligent enough, he was strong and supportive. As her relationships with her friends, Nadia became attached to Harold, and quickly. Father noticed this as Nadia was not very good at hiding her feelings. Harold took notice of these feelings as well and was more than used to it by now with girls. Father quickly told Nadia off and scolded her about Harold. Warning he was a womanizer who was playing to Nadia’s emotions. He was rather blunt about the boy too, saying Harold only wanted to sleep with Nadia for a quick pleasure. Nadia, for once in her life, had flat out ignored her father’s warnings and met with Harold at night, away from town. Harold arranged it, and had even initiated this. Nadia was more than pleased and went right away to find Harold. They had met, and Harold began sweet talking. And more sweet talking, which led to him getting closer and closer to Nadia. She was interested in keeping conversation however, to see what he was like. Harold, as Father had said, was more interested in unclothing Nadia. After some time, and advances from Harold, Nadia saw this, and her bliss stopped short. She shoved him away and angrily threatened him with a raging fireball readied in an instant. The sweet talking pleased her but not enough to instantly wish to sleep with Harold. She scared him off and they never spoke again.

Nadia lived the next few years of her life riding horses, learning common, and working with explosives. She reached the age of twenty-two and took notice to her friends eventually becoming distant as they all had jobs and lovers. Meanwhile, Nadia was alone again with her parents. She heard of a place far off. A long boat ride would have to be made, but this did not scare her. Sleezy sailors would be abroad, but this did not scare her. Nadia told her parents of her wishes to leave and they agreed to let her go. She packed her things, and left the next morning to be somewhere else and start her own life.

Relationships:

Spoiler

OOC: This is what my character thinks of your character. Don't take personal offense. I'm really only putting the relevant character relations here. If Nadia has only had a few brief conversations with your character that led to nothing, don't expect her to really have major thoughts on the character.

Bishop: The brother of Lapis, and son of Ezri. Bishop is quite excitable and appears to be hardworking. He has interest in explosives, so I do intend on talking to him about a partnership in the trade.

Chathra: She's hostile toward me. Chathra has a way of being particularly rude to people she has no deal giving disrespect to. I had tried to befriend her, but my attempts just led on deaf ears as she spout bigoted remarks on my culture and people. Yet, so many people in this town seem to enjoy her company. Koi says she's just afraid of Xitians. I did not bother to poke why, but I can only conclude it comes from a lack of knowledge as to who we are. Or wanting to know who we are.

Hector: Hector is a quiet man. He appears to have a deep interest in plants and nature. I do not know him too well, but perhaps that may change soon enough. Hector told me that he wants to grow his own garden in town, and accepting my request to help. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn some gardening so that perhaps I may grow my own.

Ike: Ichabod strikes me as lazy. Although apparently that is not true in some eyes. Ichabod just refuses to work, in which the very concept of that baffles me. Never have I heard of a Xitian man or woman just not working because he or she does not want to. His desire to refuse work comes from fear of explosives. Which is a shame because he is the only competent miner in town. I am not sure what he plans to accomplish.

Koi: A rather complex man who seems to hide it under that hair of his. Among other things. He has proven to be quite nice, showing hospitality and that I can in fact go to the inn without racists spitting venom at my face. Koi has already done a great deal. He has helped me shovel coal in the mines. He has been there as a friend and a hard worker. And he has shown interest in meeting again. I must admit, part of me feels guilt thinking about him now. During our blasting, I ran into Koi and knocked him off balance. Upon doing so, I saw Koi had a cut and scar on his eye that he obviously covered up with his hair. It is clear he wishes to hide the scar, and I believe it has to do with what he said in not being a warrior.

Lapis: A nice enough young girl. Lapis is the town healer. I do not know too much about her but I do know her mother and the kindness shown. I trust that same kindness will show from this girl as well.

Zarkaylia: I respect her and cherish the honor and kindness she presents to me. Zarkaylia is quite the respectful warrior with more than enough strength and experience under her belt. I truly appreciate her kindness and I support her choices with the town.

Goals:
-Learn to cook
-Learn to Garden
-Ask Koi about cooking
-Talk to Koi because he's nice and stuff
-Help Hector grow flowers and a garden
-Get a house
-Get a laboratory
-Convince Ike to get his bum in gear
-Form a proper mining team
-Find big burly miner men who aren't afraid of friggen explosives to form said team
-Avoid Chathra at all costs
-Seriously she's gonna cook Nadia into Xitian stew
-Send the letter to her father
-Obtain books from her father
-Spend more time off in the Town Square because it's pretty
-Learn more common
-Learn to read and write in common
-Convince people that explosives are not that bad
-Find a place to put her explosives where people will stop complaining about them being there
-Clean up the house and polish it up
-invite people over her house
-Obtain a horse for leisure rides
-Work with Bishop on explosives
-Talk with Lapis and get to know her more
- Improve her dress a bit
-Mine more coal