Holli was born into a rather average family that consisted of, Louise Shenton, Her mother. Wayne Shenton, Her father. And her two older brothers Jamie Shenton and Thomas Shenton. Due to the genetics of the family everyone in the family was naturally very small, Holli more so than all the others. Whilst her brothers gained what little height there was in the family from their grandfathers. Holli was the opposite and gained all the short genes from her grandmothers, both of which only ever grew to 5ft tall, Maximum.

Holli was born in Chrysoar, in the upper levels of the city. Her mother being a Doctor and Her father being officer got them enough money to live a rather comfortable life. Along with the money, the family also had very good ties into the Military. Louise’s Father and Brother served in the past as officers thus giving the family good relations with the Military.

However the peace of mind was disrupted. Holli had reached the age of two, only just beginning to learn to walk and talk. Her two brothers who were 3 and 4 years older than her always gave her anything she cried for. As time passed on, Holli learned to walk and talk better after her mother told the brothers to leave her be and let her learn by herself.

Things began to grow unsettled in the family, arguments rose from mere discussions between Louise and Wayne’s mother. In turn, Louise and Wayne gradually grew further and further apart, arguments now broke out into fights. Fights that were too dangerous for a 2 year old, 5 year old and 6 year old. Louise dealt with the fights for a short amount of time. Then, as Wayne was sent out by his higher ups for a mission, Louise left with her children. She left Chrysoar and her husband and moved back to where her parents lived. Amina.

Amina was a small city near the north-west of the continent, not far off from Dranscey, the outskirts of which was where all the real fighting was taking place. Amina wasn’t exactly well known for the best education and jobs, but nonetheless, things managed to work themselves out for the family of now four. Jamie and Tom went to one of the better schools in the area. Louise stayed at home with Holli and raised her in a good way to not care about how people would soon judge her for her height.

Wayne returned from his mission, only to enter an empty house, no wife, no kids, he wanted to get his children back, by any means necessary. He mentioned to his wife in one of the past arguments.

‘I will take all three of them from you!’

For the mean time it looked as though Wayne would not go through with that statement. So for the time, everything was peaceful.

Louise still raised Holli and the boys, but now had help from her new husband, Steve. Louise had met him in a tavern, whilst out with her sister, Sandra. Steve spent time with Louise and they grew closer and closer, finally getting married a few years on.

The children now began to develop their own skills, realizing what they were good at. Tom developed a particular skill for speed and stamina. Jamie had the intellect and creative abilities, one you would not expect from a 12 year old.

Holli was somewhat left behind, because of her small stature and violent tendencies she didn’t really see that she had any good skills to offer anyone, the only thing she was good at was yelling at other children who called her names and bullied her for her height. She tried to get along with the housecat the family got from Louise’s brother, Ian. But, things did not turn out well. Holli loved the cat as a child would, but, perhaps a bit too much. Whenever the cat drew close to Holli when she was a baby, she would grab the cats tail and pull it, unaware she was hurting the poor creature.

Now older at the age of 7, Holli watched her brothers display their talents and skills, and grew envious of them, especially Jamie, who was a brilliant artist, but also extremely smart. She watched in jealousy and admiration as Jamie would breathe life into a blank piece of paper with no utensils other than a pencil. The jealousy grew too much and Holli now tried to copy what her eldest brother was doing, and low and behold, she could draw. Not brilliantly, but she practiced and listened to her brothers advise, and grew better at the artwork overtime. She also tried to take on board the possible skills Tom could teach her, she also proved, after some of his teachings, to be a rather fast runner, but not with quite as much stamina as her second eldest brother had.

Now aware of her abilities in speed and art she began to grow happier, spending time doing nothing more than drawing about the outdoors.

Wayne was still in the background, still Jamie, Tom and Holli’s biological father. They did go to visit him on occasion and still stayed in touch with him. But now, Wayne wanted his children back. Jamie was 12, Tom was 11 and Holli was only 8.

They went to visit their father one day and sat down and were speaking to their grandmother and stepmother, Lin. Holli happily indulged with the two other females in the family, but then noticed Jamie and her father travel upstairs, Tom noticed this too. Holli paid it no heed and carried on talking, until her father came downstairs without Jamie and spoke words that would echo in her head forever.

‘Jamie is not going back to your mums with you. He is staying here with me.’ The look on his face was cold, their Dad was not joking about this, and his ploy from years ago was now finally being put into action.
Holli looked around in confusion, too young to understand what her father was doing. Then, her eyes laid upon Tom, a look of distraught was on his face, and not from the fact he had just lost a brother. From the fact that in his mind, his father loved Jamie more than Tom.

Once Tom and Holli got home their mother was distraught too, realising what was happening, her children would now be plucked from her, one by one.

3 years passed and Holli had finally learnt to get on with the cat, Minkey, and by the request of Tom, they also got two dogs, Smokey and Bandit. Holli proved to be good with dogs aswell and finally, her skill with animals finally rose to the surface. She loved being with the animals, spending time with them. Playing with them, she loved it so much that she began to pour herself into learning about the not so domesticated animals. Stories of Tigers and Lions truly appealed to her, she loved cats, but the bigger more dangerous kind were far more interesting to her. She then began to widen her search for interesting animals, learning about all she could, from rabbits, to wolves. She even began to learn about a few reptiles like snakes and lizards. Whilst she was aware of spiders and bugs, she steered clear of them, finding their legs, antennas and general being all too creepy for her.

Tom was now 14 and Holli had become 11, Jamie was 15 and earning now, working in a high class Inn in his father’s area. The day was special as it as Toms 14th birthday, and Wayne had promised Tom a special present, which made him especially happy, realizing that his father still loved him dearly. Louise however knew what this ‘present’ was, and an argument began to rise between Tom and Louise. She told Tom that he could not go over to his fathers that day. Holli was stood near the fireplace, horrified by what was beginning to take place. Tom grabbed one of Steve’s tools from his toolbox and ran at Louise. With her raw strength, originating from her Northern roots, Louise pinned her son down, in an attempt to calm him down. Tom then calmed slightly and got up after being released and ran out of the house.

Holli’s mother and father spoke, Louise decided to succumb to Tom’s wishes and allowed her last son to go and live with their father. That left just Holli, on her own, with Steve and Louise. Shortly after Tom left, Wayne traveled to Louise’s house to pick up Toms belongings. Holli, wanting to see her brother and father in the wagon, traveled out of the house. Only to be greeted by vicious yells.

‘When will I see Tom! I want to see him’ Louise called out to her ex-husband.

Wayne turned and walked slightly forward, a cruel expression growing and he spat more words that would be forever trapped in Holli’s head. ‘He says, he will see you when the nether freezes over!!’

Holli’s eyed widened in shock, the father she knew until now was a façade and she had now seen the same Wayne that her mother had had to deal with. Luckily to Holli’s future advantage, Wayne saw his daughter appear and witness him spit these words out. A look of horror was written on his face. He knew now that he would not be convincing the last child. His daughter, to be living with him. His ploy, was now broken.

Holli’s true colours now began to show when she developed into a small, but rather aggressive teenager. She reached the age of 14 and her mother decided to explain what her father was truly like, what the ploy was, and how he wanted to go about it. Holli decided to still visit her father and brothers, but put on a happy façade around Wayne and his family.

Holli wanted revenge on her father, no normal father takes their children away from their mother. Holli slowly overtime visited her father less and less, forcing him to deal with the same pain that he had put their mother through. Jamie’s intellect finally kicked back in and began to visit Louise again. Tom however was too stubborn and never visited Louise again and due to Wayne’s mind games that he played on his son.

Throughout the now growing years of becoming an only child, Holli decided to try and develop new skills. She visited both of the families, and her grandparents on occasion, learning Gardening from her Mother and both of her Grandfathers. Her Dad and older brother Jamie showed Holli the basics of carpentry and how to work it, though due to their greater strength, she only understood the logic of how to work it, since she lacked in the strength of putting it into effect. Deeming the carpentry a lost cause, Holli visited the stables in her town and asked for a tutor in Horse-Riding. The head of the stables, Claire, agreed to teach her how to treat a Horse and ride it after learning about Holli’s aspiration for animals. Holli continued the Horse-Riding for 4 years, then finally stopped since she felt she had learnt enough of how to treat Horses for the time being.

Holli reached the age of 16 and was approached by her mother, she wanted Holli and Steve to come with her to a short trip to the desert, to learn some of culture found only there. The money was not an issue as Louise was still a working doctor and bringing in plenty of money for the family, as did Steve’s job, which was that of an engineer. They set off for the trip and learnt many different ways to survive there, as well as the history found only in the desert.

Holli turned 17 and though she knew of the civil wars going on, and it did worry her, her towns close proximity to Dranscey provided them with the much needed protection. Though the town was still surrounded by steep walls and had guards on every corner, occasional fights would break out in the town, only resulting in the individuals being taken to jail until they calmed down. That said, Holli was in her room, with her cat Cleo, and was drawing, or at least trying to, draw different elements on a page. As she scraped the page with an orange chalk, a huge blast of fire seared past her window, causing her to fall off her bed in alarm, and then stumble to her feet, running to the window to see what was happening outside.

A Xitian had decided to pick a fight with the guards, or so it seemed. Holli watched from her window as the guards tried to attack the intruder, only to be greeted by a fireball to the face. She watched in amazement, and in fear at this. Her mother then came running into the room and attempted to pull her stubborn daughter from the window and down into the basement for safety in case the fight were to escalate further. Holli was, much to her dismay, pulled away from the window and into the basement, and remained down there for 3 days until the fighting, which did grow out of hand, was quelled.

Word of the fight grew and the guards investigated and discovered that the attacker was infact planning to use Amina as a base for the fighters, to gain closer quarters to Dranscey and eventually attack it. Due to this security around the town was greatly increased and all Lucins and Xitians were restricted from the town, deeming their power too great for the town.

Holli was now 18 and her 19 birthday was closing in quickly. Holli had grown shorter tempered now, though this was due to her mother constantly asking her;

‘Holli, when are you going to go out at actually get a job and earn for the family?’

Holli turned from her drawing and stopped stroking her cat which was called Cleo, ‘I will.. at some point in time’ Holli got out of her chair and went to get a book and handed it to her mother.

‘Look at this, apparently, there is a place called ‘The forbidden lands’ it says in the book that it is supposedly uncharted, so, if it is uncharted, there’s gonna’ be exotic animals there that nobody has discovered before!’

Holli grinned at her mother, however her mother did not share the same enthusiasm.

‘Are you sure that you’ve thought this through Holli, You really don’t want to get caught in the wars, and how’re you even going to get there?’

‘Well, I thought about that and asked around at Amina Library, the librarian there told me that Dranscey Docks has a ship that sails to ‘The forbidden lands’, and you don’t have to worry about the wars, the ship apparently has guards and scouts on it too’

Holli watched her mother, reading her face carefully for any evidence of whether she had won this debate or not.

‘……….Fine then, you can go. But do NOT leave the wagon and head straight for the docks. No detours. Do you hear me?!’

Holli sighed at her mother’s yelling and reluctantly obliged.
‘Ok then, no detours. I’ll get my stuff and set out at dawn, does that sound okay?’
Her mother nodded and left her daughter alone. Holli turned and hugged Cleo, not wanting to leave her cat behind, but, she had no choice she had no knowledge of the predators in ‘The forbidden Lands’ it was much safer to leave Cleo in Amina, protected by the city walls.

The next Morning Holli rose from her bed and grabbed her stuff together, a basic kitchen knife for protection, a thick leather jacket for warmth, thick leather boots to keep her feet warm, and a compass to ensure she knew where she was going, and her art supplies, as well as bringing her book on wildlife with her. Holli ventured downstairs and found a small box, loaded with food. Her mother had prepared it for her. She took the box and set out for the Docks, taking the wagon left outside for her, Holli glanced up at her stepdad, waiting in the wagon.

‘Oh, how early did mum get you up to do this job then’

He looked down at her and spoke in a bored tone. ‘She didn’t this was my choice, I’m going to drop you off there and then head back.’

Holli was surprised at this, she had never really gotten on with her stepdad, yet here he was offering to drive past warzones just so she could go out to the world and do as she wanted. She was taken back, but nonetheless got in the wagon and watched sadly and she drove away from the home she had grown up in.

During the journey Holli glanced out of the wagon and saw a brilliant spout of fire and water rise into the air. She looked for the base of the spout and found a dark tan man with blood red eyes yelling and throwing fire at a pale man with brilliant blue eyes. Holli watched and remembered the fights from a few years ago, she loved the elements and always had admired them, and deeply envied Lucins and Xitians ability to control them. She watched them, still slightly sad that Lucins and Xitians were banned from her town. She then turned her attention to the huge walls of Dranscey, and the bustling crowds that lived their lives, her eyes then finally set upon the dock.

Holli got down from the wagon and grew sad, hugging her stepfather good bye and turned to the boat guarded by men and scouts and got on board.

She stayed on the boat for what seemed like eons, growing very bored of ship life. Finally her torture of being stuck of a ship came to an end as the ship sailed down a very large river, and past two huge waterfalls, finally docking at a small village, with various people there, going about what she could only assume as their daily lives.

Good Traits
Loyal
Kind
Trustworthy
Good Sense of direction
Confident
Admiration of the elements (Lucins and Xitians)
Curious
Adventurous
When bored, may hum or sing (quietly)

Neutral Traits
Good Sense of Humour
Short attention span
Loud
Sarcastic
Easily bored
Violent (In a playful way)
Arachnophobia
Fear of bugs
Speaks her mind
Major love of Cherries (This basically means, she will be willing to steal cherries if someone else has them)

Bad Traits
Liar
Procrastinator
Lazy
Stubborn
Bad Language
Hot headed
Headstrong
Sense of logic
Never shuts up
Paranoia
Panic attacks

Novice
Hand to hand Combat- Holli learnt basic hand to hand combat, from repeated fights with her and her brothers. Mainly how to block some blows and land winding blows on others.

Pressure Points- Due to her mother being a Doctor, Holli has some knowledge of how to lock nerves in one’s hand, and to extension, though it normally fails, an entire fist. Disadvantages are once she does this once on someone, she has to ask permission to allow her to do it.

Tailoring- She knows how to sew up a basic tear or rip in clothing.

Apprentice
Cooking- Everything Holli knows about cooking (which isn’t a lot) she learnt from watching her mother. If she is lucky she can cook a chicken, but she is better at baking, but prefers not to do it.

Average
Horse-Riding- After being taught by her tutor Claire for 4 years, Holli knows easily how to mount and dismount a Horse, as well as how to gallop and ride in a horse in a manner of ways.

Animal Husbandry- Holli always had a natural affinity for animals, though never really knew how to understand it. From when she was a baby, she has been surrounded by animals and has figured out over a long period of time, how to respect them, how to treat them, and by extension, how to care and rear them.

Adept
Art- Holli has loved Art, always has, and always will, though at times she lacks the inspiration and dedication to partake in art, she stills works hard at it, wishing deeply to create the images that she imagines in her mind. Despite her extensive years of refining this skill, she still deems her artwork unworthy and will practice constantly at it, wishing to find new styles and techniques.

Expert
N/A

Master
N/A

Long Term Goals:
-Find a new area to settle in
-Raise and help all mammals she finds

Short Term Goals:
-Arrive at ‘The Forbidden Lands’