Post by ZOE STAVROS on Jan 12, 2013 1:49:04 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][atrb=style, width:450px;,bTable] [classy=proimage]  [/classy][classy=profiletext][style=font-family: 'Open Sans Condensed', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; border-bottom: 1px solid #2794bf; padding-bottom: 5px; margin-bottom: -8px; margin-top: 0px; background-color: #171717; text-align: center; padding: 3px; letter-spacing: 3px;]NAME zoe sophia stavros. AGE 20. RACE ancient. FACTION ancients. canon. MY NAME IS ZOE STAVROS, AND MY AFFINITY IS SPIRIT. MY SECONDARY ELEMENTAL IS EARTH. I AM HETEROSEXUAL AND I AM PLAYED BY CAPT. SQUIRREL. [/classy][classy=profileextended] personality +inquisitive, courageous, determined, loyal, effervescent, independent, innocent, protective, observant, resourceful, compassionate, intelligent. -insecure, bashful, obstinate, secretive, quick-tempered, vengeful, picky, tactless, impulsive, obsessive, parsimonious, impatient. history In her early years, Zoe seemed to be a rather ordinary child. She was born as the only daughter of a wealthy family and the granddaughter of one of the most influential Elders in Naos. Her basic education began when she was very young as her parents hoped to groom her to eventually enter into politics. However, this desire was crushed when Zoe was only five years old.The first indication of her rather unique ability to catch glimpses of the future manifested in the form of vivid nightmares. Usually a sound sleeper, Zoe found herself waking up with images of people and places she had never seen rushing through her mind. While occasionally she witnessed peaceful moments, she was also subjected to scenes of violence and natural disasters. Although her parents wondered what had triggered these nightmares, for several weeks they simply seemed to be bad dreams. However, they paid closer attention when Zoe offhandedly mentioned tidbits of information that were impossible for her to know, especially since the events had yet to occur. One morning over breakfast she turned to her grandfather and told him to be careful on the stairs. The elderly man didn’t pay much attention to her strange words, until he fell down a flight of marble steps and broke his hip not an hour later. However, the Stavros family seemed to be determined to write off these strange occurrences as coincidence. They warned Zoe not to say anything out of the ordinary in front of others and insisted her nightmares were dreams. This strategy preserved their family life for a short time, but it was not to last. Towards the end of the year, a massive fête was held to celebrate the day on which the Ancients left Yumiris a thousand years previously. As a well-known and influential family, it would have been unthinkable for the Stavroses to miss such an event. Although the event nearly passed without incident, Zoe fell asleep during the lengthy speeches. Moments after she drifted off, those around her were quick to notice when she began to glow. Zoe’s mother swiftly shook her awake, but then she turned with a distant look and intoned a line straight from legend. "A.E. 2060. The world shall fall to ruin as Maxwell cleanses the land." While only those in her immediate vicinity could hear the child’s words, within moments everyone in the elaborate hall knew what she had said and the party erupted into chaos. Eventually, a pair of guards helped the family to slip away, but their troubles were only beginning. The Elders called an emergency meeting the next morning and by the afternoon Zoe’s grandfather and two other Elders arrived at the Stavros’ home. All three representatives seemed reluctant, but they informed the family that Zoe was to be placed in the care of the Sibylline Order, a semi-religious branch of the government which was responsible for keeping an eye on the world below. Zoe’s parents protested rather weakly; this came as no surprise. However, Zoe dissolved into a wailing tantrum. She kicked and screamed, much to the disgust of the two additional Elders that had accompanied her grandfather. Finally, her grandfather knelt down and asked, “Would you like to be a hero? You could save the whole world, you know.” Her curiosity was enough to stop her tears, at least long enough for the Elders to deliver her to one of the Sibylline Order’s elaborate temples where she would spend the majority of the next fifteen years. In a matter of hours, Zoe was fed up with her new surroundings. The Elders left as soon as she was safely within the temple’s walls, but everyone around her seemed to avoid her as much as possible. They only spoke to her when it was necessary and several of the more religious members of the Order bowed when she passed by, although she did find the bowing rather hilarious for a short period of time. However, any humor the bowing caused quickly evaporated when the head of the Order took her aside and tried to explain the situation. The man wasn’t exactly used to speaking to children, so Zoe comprehended very little of what he told her about eventually reawakening Maxwell. However, what really caught her attention was when he informed her that as a “vessel of the Spirits” she was now a member of the Sibylline Order and no longer part of the Stavros family, a fact which Zoe pointedly ignored. Instead, she repeatedly insisted on returning home, much to the leader’s chagrin. For the first couple months, Zoe was under constant supervision as her training for eventually travelling to Yumiris began. Her initial escape attempts failed miserably and for a while afterwards it seemed as if she’d given up on returning home. However, one morning, shortly after when Zoe would have celebrated her sixth birthday, her escort fell ill and had to run off. Zoe immediately took advantage of this and managed to slip out of the temple and began to head home. In her mind, if she could only get home then everything would return to normal. She assumed that it wouldn’t be too difficult to pass through the city unnoticed, but she was shocked to see that most of Naos’ citizens reacted more strongly than the members of the Sibylline Order. Everywhere she went a fearful silence fell and people backed up to give her space. As she was unable to blend in, Zoe didn’t even make it halfway home before members of the Order caught up to her and escorted her back to the temple. The head of the Sibylline Order was waiting for her upon her return and by now he was tired of the child’s insubordination and he decided that it was time for a bit of manipulation. Drawing on Zoe’s surprise at the reactions of the other Ancients, he informed her that her parents would now react the same way if they saw her. Faking kindness, he told her that the temple was now the only place where she would be accepted. Due to what she had witnessed out in the city, Zoe believed him. Over the next several years Zoe was instructed in everything from the history and culture of the world below to what the Ancients as a whole knew about Summon Spirits and Maxwell. Unfortunately, it would be years before she realized just how inaccurate and ignorant her tutors were about what they were teaching her; as their knowledge of the world below was outdated and much of what the Ancients had once known about magitechnology and the spirits had been lost. As there was not much else to do in the temple, Zoe threw herself into her studies and became a rather reserved and quiet child. Soon after Zoe turned thirteen, the Order decided that it was time to begin training her in combat. Without asking for her input, they decided that she should be trained in the traditional fighting style of the Ancients; the shortsword and shield. They brought in one of the strongest warriors in the city, who Zoe was surprised to find was a rather nervous young man named Iason. At first he was just as afraid of her as any of the other citizens of Naos, but as he realized that she wasn’t nearly as terrifying as rumors indicated, he found his anxiety drifting away. Zoe found herself enjoying the combat lessons, especially when she realized that her instructor was one of the rare few who didn’t fear or shun her. After several months under Iason’s tutelage, Zoe began to see him as a mentor figure while he couldn’t help beginning to see her as a younger sister. Soon after, he suggested that if she were more cheerful then perhaps few people would fear her. Zoe decided to take his advice and the members of the Order were surprised by her sudden change in attitude, even if it was mostly an act. However, it at least partially worked as some of the Order found it difficult to fear a girl who cheerfully greeted them by name whenever they passed by. During the next year or so, Zoe began to wonder if she actually did have a place at the temple as she found herself feeling less miserable. However, after a while she noticed that the friendly faces were beginning to disappear, only to be replaced by a series of sterner individuals who ignored her smiles and greetings. When she mentioned this to Iason, he decided that it was time to speak with the head of the Order. However, when he voiced his concerns, the leader simply informed him that he had become too close to Zoe and immediately removed him from his position and forbidden from seeing her again. When Zoe went to attend her sword fighting lesson the following morning, she was not pleased to find a crabby older man had replaced Iason as her combat instructor. Although Zoe struggled with depression following Iason’s dismissal, she kept his advice in mind and attempted to outwardly remain cheerful. She was soon distracted when her abilities began to grow. Despite her tutor’s attempts to teach her to control her powers, they had been largely unsuccessful and Zoe could not control them any better she had during her childhood. However, one evening as she was studying, Zoe bumped a glass of water with her elbow. Instead of spilling all over her books, the glass seemed to freeze at the beginning of its fall. Confused, Zoe righted the glass then glanced around to note that fly that had been buzzing about also had frozen in midair, but although it was no longer moving its wings, it didn’t fall out of the air. She had just enough time to note that she was glowing in the same way as when she caught glimpses of the future before something seemed to shift and everything returned to normal. Although similar occurrences soon followed, Zoe elected to keep her newfound ability a secret as it would only make others shun her further. Her lessons continued over the next several years, with the final addition of sailing. Now that she didn’t care much for her combat tutor, Zoe found her lessons on sailing to easily be her favorite. She was finally allowed out of the temple, although she was always accompanied by a sizable escort. Even though she was closely watched and they never strayed far from Naos, Zoe couldn’t help but enjoy the sense of freedom that accompanied sailing through the sky. In 2058, the Elders decided that she was ready to venture to Yumiris, although they may have been influenced by the fact that the prophesied year was almost upon them. Although she had been training for this task for three-quarters of her life, Zoe still couldn’t help but feel like she was unprepared. However, at the same time she was incredibly excited to venture into the world below. Of course, she wasn’t going to be alone as a group of five members of the Sibylline Order were to accompany her. Before she left, the Elders visited her at the temple and gave her several items they had removed from their vaults; a machine that turned into the Sword of Maxwell and the Sorcerer’s Ring. They also granted her a pouch filled with coins, though they weren’t to know that it was a currency that hadn’t been used for more than 500 years. Finally, Zoe and her wards set forth in a rather impressive mechanical ship. Although she was a bit put out by the fact that they wouldn’t let her steer the boat, she soon was glad since she couldn’t be blamed when they became rather lost since the map they were attempting to follow was completely outdated. Things only became worse as they sailed over a dense forest when the magitechnology that powered the ship inexplicably failed. One moment Zoe was leaning comfortably against the side of the ship, the next she was scrambling to hold on to something as they plummeted downwards. Although the helmsman managed to slow their decent somewhat, they violently crashed through the trees. Zoe was thrown from the ship and briefly lost consciousness as she tumbled across the ground. When she came to, Zoe found that was luckier than some of her companions; two of her wards had been immediately killed in the crash while the other three had sustained a variety of injuries. However, Zoe had not escaped the crash completely unscathed either. When she had been tossed out of the ship one of her legs had caught on a broken metal pole which had cut deeply into her leg from the knee downwards. Her head had also been cut by a root which had been sticking out of the ground, leaving her with a large gouge across her forehead and a concussion. Neither Zoe nor her wards were familiar with healing artes, but they attempted to patch themselves up the best they could. However, barely hours later, soldiers from the Empire stumbled onto their crash site. Her wards called for her to escape while they stayed behind to hold off the soldiers. Although she was reluctant to leave them behind, especially when they were injured as well, Zoe realized that her mission was more important and limped off the best she could, hoping that she would be able to evade capture. notes
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alicia melchiott – valkyria chronicles – zoe stavros [/classy][/style] |
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