Post by Varoen on Sept 16, 2010 1:20:57 GMT -8
Urial Uthsanke
Basic Info
Birth name;Urial Uthsanke
Age && date of birth;January 13, 404 A.W., 28
Gender;Female
Bending Element;Air
Bending/Non-Bending Level;Advanced Airbender, Advanced Blademaster, Intermediate Crossbowman
Alias; Zephyr
Plot Position;Swift Breeze Assassin Elder
Appearance
hair color;Strawberry Blonde
Eye color;Brown
Height;5’9”
Weight;135lbs
Appearance;Urial is of a slight build, mostly toned muscle, and not small though she is not wide either. She is not a physically overwhelming individual and would not last long in a straight out fight with a seasoned brawler, but her training has made her able to use speed to her advantage for what she lacks in bulk. With medium length blonde hair she often has the majority of its length tucked inside the back of her kimono to keep it out of her face or braided down the back. When out among those in society she is dressed wearing only simple kimonos of various dark hues with a belted waist which hangs loosely around her body and often a dagger which she wears as a symbol of her station, as well as her short blade hidden beneath the folds of the garment. At other times she may also wear leather breeches and a colored tunic with boots comfortable enough to walk in, yet capable of being used in a fight as well, and always with at least a dagger on her person.
When in her civilian garb, she uses her glider as a staff to walk with as well as a weapon to defend herself. She wears nothing but sandals on her feet and requires no further cover for them. On her arms she wears fingerless gloves which work well to help keep the cold out in the high mountains, and around her neck she wears a scarf, partially for the reason of warmth, but mostly to hide the scars of her journey.
Though she is not gifted with extraordinary beauty, Urial is by no means ugly and when she is dressed for her part as an assassin, she wears loose fitting comfortable leathers of black and mottled gray to make for maximum ease of movement when fighting and sneaking, as well as to allow her to blend seamlessly with the shadows. Urial wears a studded leather chest piece to provide extra protection for her body with lighter sleeves which end in gloves at her hands. The only protection she wears on her arms are metal bracers which protect her forearms from blades and allow her to deflect blows fairly easily without much worry of harm. Over her covered hands she wears the main attachment for her claw weapons, which tie securely to her wrists and are held in place by metal loops around the fingers and are spiked just below the studded knuckle allowing for a devastating punch when left unarmed.
Covering her legs she wears leather breeches and knee high boots of hardened leather with velvet lining to create hardy yet comfortable and flexible footwear allowing her to walk undetected. A belt around her waist holds what is effectively a large sheath for her equipment that straps to her thighs to keep it from moving. Attached to the belt itself are her two daggers used for quick killing and combat and strapped to her back across the waist with its hilt accessible from the left is her short sword. Above the sword on her back is a small tube lined with fur so as to block noise from within. Inside the tube are twenty bolts for her crossbow, each of which is held to the wall of the tube by a loose loop of leather that keeps the bolts from knocking against each other when she is on the move.
Within the leather sheaths on her legs, which are unclipped and can be rolled and tied to the belt for easier access, is the rest of her equipment which consists of: ten smaller kunai made especially by her request to fit five on each side; the four blades for her claw weapons which slide into place and are held by a simple manual locking mechanism on the attachment on her hands, making it so that they cannot be undone by a foe in combat; and finally her katars, double bladed with a space between them so that they may deflect attacks and catch her enemies blades making them useless, and can be used in combat in lieu of her other weapons. Also strapped to her back is her sighted jet black light crossbow for silent long distance kills. All pouches in the sheaths are padded so as to reduce the amount of noise made by them as well as the cover both behind and in front creating a tight yet flexible and nearly noiseless compartment. Though she does not carry it except for special missions, she also has a belt pouch which contains several homemade poisons used for a variety of things from simple sickness to death.
Urial will always arrive to a kill using her glider for transport as it is both quick and silent in approach and can easily be stashed in a tree until the job is done and she may return home. The final touch to her appearance is a small added feature to both conceal her identity as well as to strike a small amount of fear into her enemies in the face of an already heavily armed foe; a simple mask of blackened steel creating a nondescript face and giving her eyes the appearance of a silent soulless watcher. The strap of her mask is concealed by a black hood rising from the shoulders of her armor which conceals her hair and leaves no part of her body uncovered, allowing her to blend seamlessly into the shadows from where she may strike.
Traits
likes;
- Silence
- Books
- History and Tradition
- Mountains
- Curry
- Children
- Emotion
- Chrysanthemums
- Cool temperatures
dislikes;
- A lot of People
- Crowds
- Boredom
- Unnecessary noise
- The New Airbenders
- Heartless people
- Her own insecurities
- Selfishness
- Ignorance
Overall Personality;Fitting the billing of a Northern Air Empire citizen, Urial acts cold and unfeeling towards the rest of the world to a certain degree, though she enjoys travel and interaction with the populace of the other nations. Being of the Swift Breeze Assassin clan, she views those who inhabit the world as equal beings all deserving of life and for it to be a shame for them to lose it. The only exception to this ideal is the New Air Benders, whom she despises as she was to do. Possessing a sense of humor that has been quiet since childhood when her training began. She does not smile often, and enjoys the shortest of conversations with an anger that is quick to rise.
Urial will not tolerate idiocy and does not put up with the weak minded for they annoy her. She bases her assumptions of people largely on first impression and will stick to that idea of someone until proven otherwise, which could take a while. Despite her tough strong head and slightly cold attitude she longs to let someone in, someone who she could truly call a friend. But the training of her cast has been so deeply ingrained in her that she refuses to let another person in for fear of the harm they could inflict upon her, and as such, her guard is always up, even among family.
Urial is a very proud individual and will not hesitate to defend her honor or the honor of those whom she cares for, though there are not many. The only ones who see her softer side, for it does exist, are her family, and more specifically her younger brother and sister who bring out the light in her eyes. Urial secretly longs to be a mother and being with the two of them helps to curb the desire to love and have children. She knows that if she were ever to find someone she cares about she would most likely have to give up her profession for which she has trained her whole life, and especially so if she were to have the children she so wants.
But to be a mother is not her only desire, for she also wishes to find someone who she can love and be loved by in return. Many times when she is alone, she can see herself being held by the man she loves and being overwhelmed by a sense of completeness. Giving up her life does scare her for the prospect of finding someone who could complete her so, but beginning the life that she has at this time was also difficult at first, but she did it. Urial feels that she is incapable of her deepest want as she puts up such a cold front that she would let no one near her, but longs to find the one who would stay beside her through her temper and her unfeeling attitude until they have found the one who would love them unconditionally for a lifetime. However, having so little trust as she does Urial is afraid that she will never be able to let anyone that close without unintentionally hurting them many times for her own stupidity.
History Info
Home Country; The Northern Air Empire
siblings; Song (Little Sister, 8) and Aun (Little Brother, 8)
history;
In the mountains of the Northern Air Empire, before such a name had any meaning, and the world was still relatively peaceful, a baby girl, no more unique or special than any other baby was born in the Northern Air Temple among the old caste of Airbenders. Urial Uthsanke was birthed to Anshui and Virona Uthsanke in a family fiercely loyal to the creed of the old ways and the suppression and ultimate destruction of the new Airbender population. Raised in such an environment she saw nothing wrong with these ideals and grew up much like a normal child, playing, laughing, and learning the anatomy of a person and how precisely to exploit potential flaws in the human design so as to maximize damage with the least possible lethal force. Urial was born into a family that had made its life on the death of others; a cast of benders bound by blood and loyalty to the old ways. She was a part of the Swift Breeze Assassins by blood, a group whose members had come from what was considered the purest of the bloodlines from the old days before the war and had trained in secret to defend their people where they had failed so long ago.
But this tradition was not what defined her family, for killing was not all they were. Indeed the mention of blood rarely occurred at all unless someone was wounded and needed medical attention. Instead the family was what might be considered noble, living far from the quiet and uneventful lives of monks, they had become involved in what passed for their new politics and saw to it that their voice specifically was heard on the elder council. Though you might think this would make for a cold and heartless upbringing Urial was never left wanting for attention and, as an only child, was brought up with as much love and care as was possible. She lived to never want for anything and, outside of her lessons from ordinary schooling, to her Airbending, and even into her basic practices for the job which she would someday take up, she lived the life of a normal child entirely.
If there was anything to set Urial apart from other children it was her protective and loving motherly nature. Often times while her other friends would play war or some other such thing she would play nursemaid and would bring her injured friends back from the brink of death so that they could defend their people once again. Living in and around the temple, things had changed since the old days before the Fire Nations war. Not all citizens were destined to become monks, but not as many ventured out of the temple either and, as a result of this, it was often overcrowded and stuffy among the heavy mass of bodies. Many called for a growth or expansion of some kind into the mountains, but the elders would not hear of it, while Urials parents urged the elders to let them and the Swift Breeze Assassins go to the other temples to reclaim them for the old way. The elders opposed any such action and instead said to wait and that the opportunity would arise soon enough.
Urial was only five at this time and had just begun her training in Airbending. The practice was not easy and the talent did not come naturally for her. Her father was her teacher as he was the most experienced member of their family in the art and, though he was compassionate and a kind man outside of his calling, he quickly grew frustrated with his daughter and her lack of proficiency and threatened several times over the course of her first two years of training to give up on it altogether. But she tried hard to make him proud and, though it was always a disappointment to let him down so, she kept training. When out playing with her friends she would ask for tips and have them help her as the other children around her seemed to take the art up with great ease and were all far more skilled than her.
This however never deterred her and she was eventually given the nickname of Zephyr for the great determination that she had shown in her training. Initially it was a name to make fun of her more than anything and was devised by her friends as they often commented on the small gentle gusts she was able to create with smiles of amusement on their faces. Instead of a deterrent she found fuel in this name and chose to embrace it for its higher meaning rather than the mocking one with which it was used. Eventually at the age of twelve, Zephyr grew in her skills and after constant training and multiple spars with her friends, the majority of which she lost, she found herself becoming stronger. Using her bending at a level that actually surpassed her friends, though by a fractional margin and her parents decided that at this point it was time for her to begin her steps towards embracing her heritage as a Swift Breeze Assassin.
As any member of the cast is to do, she was sent at the age of twelve to the temple to become a nun so that she might learn discipline and patience as well as compassion and reverence for life so that she would become a thoughtful, careful, and wary hunter. To be blood thirsty was not what makes a Swift Breeze Assassin, but rather the intelligence to know how to strike and when to do so in the name of the Airbenders, so that their people might be safe. Urial shaved her head, feeling a deep seeded pain run through her at the sight of her hair on the floor as the wind gently caressed the crown of her head. It was the first of the many things that she struggled with.
For the next six years she spent her life in the temple, knowing almost nothing of the world beyond and focused solely on what she was there to do, though her concentration came hard in the first three years. Meditation was far from her favorite thing to do and she would often fidget or fall asleep all together while trying and would be awoken by a rude sharp whack to the back with a bamboo pole. Her clothes were always a brown or orange of some kind, neither of which made her happy as they were far from her favorite colors. When training with the other Airbender children she found that they were all far more skilled than she was and often made her feel like a fool for being so proud of her own pathetic abilities, and this made her angry. Zephyr attempted several times to quit her training or to leave the temple, and failed. Eventually a capable monk was placed at her door to keep her inside. She hated the temple to say the least.
With these and other grievances she lived on a daily basis, never realizing the frame of mind she developed, and the selfish and closed minded attitude she maintained was what kept her from happiness, or achieving what her time there was meant to accomplish. But gradually she learned from her own self serving attitude and it was plain to everyone that she was creating her own suffering in this place by simply not accepting it for what it was, and for not feeling a sense of joy from the simpler things she accomplished every day. Gradually in the first few years she grew into accepting her role in the temple and what life there was like in such a simple existence and Zephyr even grew to enjoy the life she had there. She walked among the gardens and meditated, hidden amongst several bushes of chrysanthemums she concentrated on her breath, feeling the air on her skin, and lived in the moment as she took in all the sounds, smells, and textures around her.
Though her accepting of her life brought a certain measure of peace, her difficulties with Airbending prevented her from being fully calm for herself. The problems she had with the element reminded her of her life outside the walls and created a small yearning to see her family, her friends, and to eat and dress in what she wanted for a change. There were many times in the night when she should have been sleeping that she practiced her Airbending and on more than one occasion she was unknowingly watched by another nun who was both younger, and far more skilled in bending than she. One evening, after Urial had returned to continue her practice and was attempting to knock over a jug a few feet away with a narrow concentrated gust, the nun came to her. Her name was Othenya and, though Zephyr knew her name, she told her who she was and that she had come because she wished to help her to become better. Knowing she would be a fool for refusing such an offer from one so skilled, she humbly accepted the offer.
For the next year, sometimes during daylight hours and others after the temple had gone to sleep, Othenya and Urial trained. Unlike her father, Othenya never became frustrated when teaching her. Instead she was calm and reserved, always confident in the lesson, and was looking for new ways to teach a move or an ideal of Airbending when another failed. On more than one occasion Urial felt embarrassed for being so difficult to train, but the more she learned, the more sure of herself she became and the more she wanted to learn from the younger nun. Though friends seemed to be a rarity in temple life, Zephyr believed she had finally found one and the two would often lose track of the lesson and talk to one another. Othenya held no ill will toward the New Airbenders, and instead saw them only as new siblings who simply needed guidance to fully understand the ways in which air can be recognized.
Despite her younger years, Othenya taught Urial a great many things that she was not even aware of. By training her, the nun had showed her the values of compassion in taking her as a student; she learned charity from the repeated giving of instruction; Ingenuity and that there is always another approach from their lessons. And finally kindness and, though she did not know it, there was a certain level of tolerance for the New Airbenders, though she would not realize it even to the present day. In addition to her lessons in Airbending, Urial had found the value of life, the simplistic joy in the little things, and an appreciation for every second that she was given. Thinking of herself as an assassin who took life suddenly seemed a strange and despairing thought.
Urial had been five years and eight months away from her parents when word reached her of the expansion that was being undertaken by their people, by her family, and the Swift Breeze Assassin clan. She longed to join them, wished to know what it was that her family did, and wondered what role it was that they played in the clan at all. So secretive and seldom discussed was it that she was not even to be told their place in its ranks until the day she was embraced by their order; and that day was still many years off, but her time in the temple was almost done. When it was finally complete, when her lessons with Othenya could be taken no further, and when she had fully learned everything she was meant to, she left the temple as quietly as she had entered it. There was no going away celebration, nothing extravagant. She simply gathered her few belongings and left after saying her goodbyes.
Urial returned home to her parents at the age of eighteen and found many things to be different from when she had left. Expansion had finally been allowed and her parents had led the charge through the mountains, sending the few scattered Earth Kingdom soldiers into full retreat and securing a place for their people to spread out and settle. Stopping at the edge of the mountain chain had led to an end of their quick journey and also provided a strategic point from which to strike if it were ever needed. Urial’s father picked up her training where they had left off so long ago and took her into the art of bladed and unarmed combat. Being the physically stronger of the two, her father often gained the upper hand and left her defeated before she finally began to understand that her true strength lay in her speed rather than strength.
It took Zephyr a great deal of time to hone her speed to be able to compensate for her lack of strength, and being able to locate soft targets on the body rather than releasing an assault of blows took even longer, but she was able to learn these as well. Rather than spending a large amount of time on her unarmed skills, which returned quickly, he began teaching her bladed combat. This was where Urial was truly skilled and very much a natural and this proved to be a great relief to her father after the difficulties with teaching her bending. They began with simple daggers which she learned quickly, allowing the weapon to flow through the air, imagining enemies as if she were a girl as she practiced with one as she started.
Anshui saw a talent for her which would make up for her difficulty with bending and saw the way she moved skillfully with one dagger, but the lack of balance created by her attacks caused her to leave herself wide open for a counterstrike that could be her end. He immediately began training her with two daggers, one for defense, and one for offense. Learning to defend while attacking proved to be a difficult venture, but one she quickly got the hang of given enough defeat in the sparring ring. Seeing no further need to push her through her training with daggers full time her father ushered her straight through and into using throwing daggers to her advantage. Though she never would have admitted it, Zephyr had a certain fascination for the way the daggers flew and would more than once go on a hunting trip, using her fully fledged abilities as an assassin later in her life to hunt an animal that stood no chance. Though it was not out of cruelty, it was simply amazement for the accuracy with which she threw a dagger and the way it flew.
Phasing from daggers to swords, kamas, bows, and finally into less conventional weapons such as whips, Urial completed her training with each weapon. Though there were some she favored, there were others she had less than love for, and ground her teeth through every lesson as she found she either did not have the talent required to wield them, or simply could not stand them. Among her favorite weapons were small blades, weapons which could be of the slightest extension of her arm, be easily concealed, and of which she could carry many. There were many other weapons that she did not train with simply because they were not in the repertoire of the Swift Breeze Assassin, and she would have to travel to other lands to learn their usage.
Urial spent two years at home, training and living with her family before she chose the weapons with which she would fight for their people. Two daggers, and the throwing daggers she so loved. But she found that there was something she loved more than the weapons she held in her hands. Children. Zephyr had found a love for the young and discovered a new joy from seeing the innocence with which they lived, and she knew that she wanted to have some children of her own. But her calling drove her far from the desire that she held so dearly, and kept her still further from something that she had found an even greater longing for. Love was something too that she desired and after a long day Zephyr wanted nothing more than a man whose arms she could fall into and be cradled by, cared for and protected as they whispered every word as if they were secrets only the two of them could share. But this was something that, at least for now, could only be a secret fantasy.
At twenty years old Zephyr found a small relief in her want for children however. Her mother had become pregnant in the months that she had been gone and finally had given birth to the families newest additions. Twins; a boy and a girl. The two were named Aun, her brother, and Song, her baby sister. Though the they relied heavily on their mother, Urial could not help but feel a strong pull towards them and found herself to be caring for them on a great many occasions. Holding them and taking care of their many needs and loving them as she would her own children, Zephyr found a certain measure of peace of mind that assuaged the burning desire to lead a simple life with children and a husband. But unfortunately there was also her calling.
At the same time as their birth, Zephyr was also ready to join the Swift Breeze Assassins at twenty as an initiate and would begin her training in stealth and the killing arts. Taken under the arm of a woman who had no patience for laziness and would not tolerate disobedience, Zephyr was taught to walk as if she were floating, breathe as if the world could hear her at her quietest, to case a room in seconds no matter the size, to always know her exits, and most importantly how to blend into the shadows so that they embraced her as their own.
Though she wished should could have said that the training had been easy to pickup, it had been less than so. To become the shadows, she had to abandon what she knew of herself. She had to embrace the darkness as flesh, find her home in it, and create a new being who welcomed the line between day and night as her own. The transition was not easy. To become stealthy she had to walk where her steps were at their loudest. Muffling her feet to still hear her steps was failure for the Swift Breeze Assassins. Failure was death, and the death of one was the inevitable death of the old benders. For the sake of her people she learned the art of walking quietly upon gravel and dry leaves. Though her steps on these surfaces were never quiet, they showed her how to properly walk to minimize the noise of her steps so that she would be almost completely silent, if not all the way, upon a regular floor or ground surface.
Zephyr was 23. She was taken to see the various places and countries of the world by her current master, Kaldrossa Wyn, so that she might better know both the design and layout of the world’s buildings. This would also be the last time she would be allowed out into the realms of humanity without wearing the mantle of the Swift Breeze Assassins.
Taking the trip with her new master, though it seemed tedious and annoying, would be perhaps one of her most important lessons; learning to blend in to other cultures by learning their customs, and knowing both the geography of their lands by sight rather maps as well as knowing the interior structures of a building of a certain region to know the quickest escape route should she be compromised. It was a lot to learn, but Zephyr was willing and eager to participate in a trip that could be the beginning of the excitement in her life. The first stop on their journey was the Northern Water Tribe. Frozen and cold, the temperature was lower than what she was accustomed to in the cold Northern Mountains and the cool air seemed to freeze in her lungs the farther they went.
By the time they reached the tribe Zephyr was bundled tightly into furs and jackets to keep herself warm though Kaldrossa frowned on this. Her master was dressed as the inhabitants of the region and made her pupil feel a fool for giving in to such weakness in the face of a greater purpose. The stay was six months and in that time she learned the basic ins and outs of Northern Water society, the rituals of the house, the aspects of their regards towards the water and moon spirits, and most importantly, how not to fall on her ass when she was walking on their frozen structures. The temperature eventually agreed with her enough to the point where she was able to dress as this others of the region did without appearing as an outsider.
Master Kaldrossa expected her to be a quick study and made her take notes in a journal about the common traditions, names of important military and political leaders, and to draw out and label the common fashions so she might blend in the best. The better prepared she was for each area, the better her chances of doing her job efficiently so that she might escape notice of those around her and do so alive. Urial also was able to acquire a new weapon for her arsenal, as was recommended to do in every nation they visited, so that she could learn a new skill to be better prepared for combat there and no best how to avoid and defend against their weapons. From the Water Tribe she selected a short blade, about two feet long from blade tip to the end of its pommel with a grip made to fit the hand, and elegant enough that the blade sang with each swing.
Despite the worry of what the fanatics from the Free World Movement would do, Kaldrossa was finally talked into visiting their lands to see what they would be like, though she insisted the visit be short. Once they would arrive in the port they would switch the ferry they were on and take one that would take down the shore of the Free World Movements territory and into the archipelago controlled by the Fire Nation rather than hoping the islands through the lands controlled by the Western Air Temple. That had been the plan at least. When the small ship they were on was only a few miles off shore the winds died and a chill fell over the air, not even birds were to be heard around them and even the ocean itself seemed to hold its breath in anticipation for what came next. From far inland the group could make out a large pillar of flame which rose from the ground to the sky and in the next second a darkness fell over the land which was followed by what seemed to be a wave of cleansing fire which scorched the land as it swept over it.
All on board were of course shaken and several asked the captain to turn towards the Western Air Temple and far from the devastation that they had just witnessed. But the captain instead insisted, much to the delight of the young Urial, that they go investigate what had just occurred and find and save any survivors if there were any. Fearing an attack by Firebenders or something far worse Kaldrossa made her young ward stay by her side at all times as they docked and kept a wary eye over the land. The city was a ruin and it stank of scorched earth and dead flesh. The group spread out to check for survivors in the immediate area of the cities harbor and Urial was given the responsibility of being in one of the search parties. Three groups went out and all returned in short time with the same news; all were dead, burned to death by the unnatural fire. As the group began to argue over what their next move should be, the ever curious Urial snuck away and made her way through the city streets, both looking for survivors and taking in the strange architecture of the distant land.
A chill sank into her bones and fear found her, yet she did not know why. In the distance an unnatural seething darkness sat and seemed to grow while the city itself was quiet. From the rooftop she heard a skittering of claws and the sounds of something moving fast towards her location. Looking up in time to spot a large demonic creature the Airbender sprang backwards, her training kicking in and immediately her throwing daggers leapt from their sheaths to her hands and with expert precision found themselves embedded in the creature’s chest. Sure that it was doomed Urial was about to turn when it charged. She drew her sword and a dagger in her off hand for defense and began to circle the street, exchanging blows with the beast many times before she began to tire. Each time the demon sprang back, examining her fighting style and looking for weaknesses as if it knew how and each time it tried to exploit an open position in her stance.
Finally Urial abandoned her training and turned tail to flee back to the ship, shouting for her master. Far off at the harbor, frantically searching Kaldrossa heard her calls and took off towards them. The nearer they got to one another the closer the hungry demon came until finally, when the two were only a block from one another the thing sprung from its four legged run and landed full on Urial’s back, its clawed hands about her throat and wrenched to the sides letting its razor sharp hands rip her flesh open. Kaldrossa was on the thing in seconds as the girls hand flew to her throat to keep her precious life from flowing out and she eventually passed out due to blood loss. Waking up several days later aboard a new ferry headed for the Fire Nation Urial was told the tale of Kaldrossa’s battle with the evil creature and how a waterbender skilled in the healing art had found them in time to heal the young Airbenders wounds before they were her death. Her master had told the healer to leave her throat scarred as a reminder for foolishness and a reminder for what comes of abandoning your training. The girl took to wearing a long red scarf around her neck regardless of their surroundings to hide the terrible scars.
The rest of the journey was relatively pleasant and uneventful. Making their travels through the foreign lands Zephyr continued to train with new weapons and gain insight into the inner workings of their societies. Ever the stickler for her note taking and the continuity of her observation and weapon training Kaldrossa made her young pupil take up weapon arts from each of the places they visited. From the Fire Nation, which was in the process of a violent regime change as the Execution Squads army swept across its lands, Urial learned the art of combat with dual Katars, the blade split so as to provide a catch for the opponents weapon and ultimately allow for a lethal or subduing strike on the enemy. The duo stayed only long enough to witness the death of the Fire Lord at the hands of his former assassins. Kaldrossa muttered something about thankless dogs as the rulers head fell to the floor, and commented on how easily an assassin can forget their place and think themselves above their ruler. They stayed for the next eight months as the country underwent several changes.
On a short stay on Kyoshi Island, only about 4 months, Urial was taught an expansion on the art of hand to hand combat by a resident martial artist and Kyoshi Warrior. Studded gloves, that are gloves with studded knuckles, were an exceptional way to deliver a large amount of damage with much less physical effort. The weapons proved to be some of Urial’s favorites and she even attached a band with a small three-quarter inch spike onto the finger below the studded part of the glove. Meant to maim rather than to kill, they would be used only if unarmed or to beat information from unwilling captives.
Their next place to stay was in the Southern Water Tribe which was also seeing a violent shift in the way its dealings with the outside world was done. Also this was the place of Zephyrs favorite acquisition in weaponry; the red colored claws which would prove to be oh so effective. Making a small modification to her gauntlets Urial was able to create a place to slip the blades onto them in combat. Placing a small metal plate on the top portion of the gloves leather hand there were smaller notches with built in locking mechanisms that allowed the blades to lock in place and be used for sturdy and effective combat and quickly unlocked by their user again when their use was finished. The blade itself sat in a cradle which faced outward diagonally from the true position they sat in, which were then turned and locked in place. A small metal pin was then locked into place and could only be unlocked again by a specific combination of Urial’s design. Much work went into the weapons craft and when they were completed they were her greatest invention for death and her favorite weapons to use in combat period. The awe and confusion and the four blades atop her hands from the enemy caused a small amount of glee to rise in her and a strange satisfaction to overcome her when she saw the destruction that her creations had wrought. Part of her was sickened by the feeling that she was overcome with.
The stay in the Southern Water Tribe was short, only about three months, but long enough for Urial to pick up on key differences in the cultural aspects of the North and South. Being 25 at the time, Kaldrossa and Urial made their next stop in the Allied Earth States, in a town not far from the Si Wong Desert. There Urial learned the art of shooting with a crossbow from a bandit from the desert itself and bought one from him for a reasonable price, where he thanked her for supporting an organization called Mirage, though she had not heard of it. Taking note of the towns customs, the duo moved from place to place until they finally found themselves in Omashu, where they finished out their stay for three months. They finally rented ostrich horses and left north to the town of Gaoling where they went into the mountains and, using their airbending and their stealth, they snuck over the borders between the States and the Earth Kingdom and continued the next leg of their journey.
Making several resupply stops in the area of Chameleon Bay, Kaldrossa eventually led her pupil northwest, towards the great city of Ba-Sing-Se and eventually home. Word reached them over the course of their journey about a new rise in the military power of the Earth Kingdom called the Bulwark against the demonic forces there and they made sure to avoid the area all together. Urial herself still occasionally had nightmares about the place and her encounter with the first wave of its demonic inhabitants. Once in the city, Urial could find no weapon that interested her enough to learn with that she had not already learned the basics of an instead found the shop belonging to an eccentric inventor who had a particular item of interest. It was the same basic principle of a telescope but it had a crosshair on its glass to aid in precision when aiming a weapon such as her crossbow. The man raved about its usefulness for such a weapon and, after much haggling, the man agreed to let it go and Zephyr began to train with it, putting holes in the walls and doors of each inn she and Kaldrossa stayed in, much to her masters distain.
They had been in the Earth Kingdom for six months and Urial was ready to return home at last. Making the last leg of their short journey, they slipped easily passed the Mountain Guards pathetic garrison and made their way into their home territory. They were stopped by routine patrols and, after proving they were who they said, were escorted to the temple and Zephyr was at last allowed to go home. Throughout her journey she had collected a large supply of herbs and plants and was taught in the ways of poisoncraft with the various plants of the many locations they visited. Her knowledge over the expansive lesson was tested time and again as Kaldrossa slipped various concoctions into her food and drink when she did not expect it and quickly told her what was in her system and would always give her multiple choices of antidotes to choose from so that she could be cured. On more than one occasion she needed to be treated for several days for making the wrong choice.
But being back home brought with it the greatest joy, that of seeing her younger brother and sister. The twins had grown much in the time that she had been gone, nearly three years. They were six now, Urial herself was twenty six, and they still remembered their big sister. Spending as much time as she could outside of her final training sessions with Kaldrossa as she could, the woman found a simpler measure of peace playing with the children and found her own inner child delighted by the interactions. She had not been so happy during her journey and had found herself only longing more and more for children and a husband and a home of her own. Yet the calling of the Swift Breeze Assassins, the banner of her people, was something she could not ignore. The object of so much training and molding for who she would become was not going to become a wasted effort.
At last, at the age of twenty six, Urial was given her first contract, a young nobleman of the Earth Kingdom who was gaining support for an invasion of their people needed to be silenced. His villa was located twenty miles inside their territory, perhaps to show that he was not afraid of the Airbenders, and Zephyr was given her staff glider for the completion of her training up to this point. Using the glider and her bending abilities, which had grown to quite an advanced level by now, Urial soared through the black skies in her new specially made outfit made specifically for her jobs with the Swift Breeze Assassins and landed shortly outside the lands. Her orders were simple; kill the man, kill the guards, kill all who lived on the premises to make a statement to those who would rise against the Northern Air Empire.
The job had felt too easy as she sat on the properties edge, picking off the outer guard with her crossbow. When she ran out of bolts she switched to throwing daggers as she made her way towards the center of the land, retrieving the daggers from her fallen victims as she went. When finally she made her way to the buildings complex she switched to her katars, longing to use these weapons in combat, and struck with brutal efficiency. She made short work of the interiors guard. When all were dispatched, she moved room by room with her daggers and slit the throats of all who slept. Walking quietly, her blackened mask obscuring her face as she tucked her emotions back for the remainder of the job, Urial felt like a god. When she finished she looked at her work, and a smile came to her face. This was what she had trained for, this was her purpose. In what had taken three hours, Zephyr saw her future, and knew it to be good.
Taking more contracts until her twenty seventh year Zephyrs experience grew, as did her kill count as well as the respect and awe she received from the others of her cast. Finally she was summoned to meet with the head of their order, for what she did not know, and to learn the identity that few were privy to. Zephyr waited for hours in a simple sitting room in a kimono of deep green with a reaching ivy pattern laid in. A person, light of step she noticed, entered from behind as she sipped tea and Zephyr waited patiently for them to sit, though she wanted to turn and face the new person. Quelling her curiosity she looked with a cool stoic expression into the eyes opposite her and her mouth fell open in genuine confusion and shock as her mother nodded to her in greeting. Urial had never imagined that her mother was even among the clan, much less responsible for its entire structure.
The two talked for a long time, Zephyr having a great many questions pouring from her mouth before she could process them. Her mother answered freely and only smiled at her daughter, waiting for the shock to subside. When it finally did the woman spoke with great conviction about the direction of the Swift Breeze Assassins and what they stood for, their origins, and that their family had organized its first members many generations ago. They had been leading its members in their purposes ever since the old days and now, after so many years of training and work, it was time for Zephyr to take up the mantle of the Swift Breeze Assassins Elder. It was a sacred position of honor and duty, passed from mother to daughter in their family since Zephyrs nine times great grandmother had sworn her life, and those of her descendants, to protect their people.
After humbly accepting the position that her mother had passed to her, Zephyr spent the next year of her life, learning the ins and outs of the Swift Breeze Assassins clan, receiving the last of her training from the one woman who could teach her more than anyone else. When all was said and done, when there was nothing more that could be done to prepare Urial Uthsanke for her position as the Elder of The Swift Breeze Assassins and she had fully accepted her role as the high protector of The Old Benders, her mother returned to their home to be with their family and live out the rest of her life in peace with her father. Meanwhile Urial nervously took the role and found herself to fit into it perfectly. She was her mother’s daughter and she was confident in her abilities to succeed.
Other Stuffs
Urial once killed a man with his own testicles.[/size]
RP Samples
1000+ Words Please include 2. You may choose any two themes from this list:[/size]
- Action
Sleeping soundly, as if untouchable by the mortal realm, Urial’s scum lay dormant. His chest rose and fell as if each were a contended sigh. This man, this dog, his deeds had reached her ears over two weeks ago and until three days ago she could not believe what she had heard was true. Alnega Bosana, a respected merchant and well known citizen of the Northern Air Empire had done unspeakable things to children, defiled their young minds and bodies in ways that no living person should. This was no contract that Zephyr hunted, but a personal vendetta. She had followed the rumors, looked for the truth and watched the life of this kill from afar until she learned the reality of what she had been told.
Now the shadows embraced her outside his bedroom as she watched him revel in his home comfort and that safety that he cherished. It was but an illusion now, one she wished for him to think real, even as she invaded his privacy and his home. She pulled a needle from her poisoners pouch and dipped it into a vial containing a powerful paralyzing agent. Leaning down Zephyr whispered into the man’s ear “Awaken scum.” Her voice sounded raspy through the her masks mouthpiece. The man’s eyes jolted open as she shoved the needle into his neck, letting the poison find a quick entrance into his system. He tried to sit up but instead found himself to only lazily shift to the side and he stared into the face of her darkened mask with mounting fear in his eyes. Fast acting poisons were a girl’s best friend. “Now that I have your attention, allow me to introduce myself. I am death incarnate and I am your soul judge and jury into the afterlife,” Zephyr’s breathy words sounded raspy and echoed out of masks mouthpiece. “And you have been found unworthy of this life you worthless scum sucking pedophile.”
The mere mention of what he was made his eyes bulge as Alnega realized why this was happening. “I know what it is you do Alnega. I’ve seen you, hurting children, taking advantage of their youthful ignorance, and ruining their lives.” He attempted to struggle and shake his head like he could explain away his crimes and make everything right. A loud groan escaped his strangled vocal chords as he tried to speak again and again and a small smile spread over Zephyrs masked face. This was one of the few kills she would enjoy. There was no contract for this one, just vengeance and it was going to be sweet. She spoke again, letting her voice become soft and caring as she laid two fingers over his comatose lips “Shhhhhh Alnega. I wouldn’t struggle like that now if I were you. You’re going to need your energy to scream and beg for mercy later.”
Tears welled up in the mans eyes and began to roll down his face as his fate became apparent to him. No jokes, no warnings, these were his final moments in this world and he was afraid of how he would fair in the next. A scraping sound of a dagger clearing its sheath was the only noise in the room and Zephyrs target recoiled and made a small whimper as it reached his ears. Despite the poison the locked his body in place his teeth shook behind closed lips and chattered together as his fear mounted. Urial grabbed his bed sheet and cut a strip from it, folding it over onto itself and fashioning it into a gag before she tied the cloth around his head. Turning she returned the dagger to its place and went to the rooms fireplace which burned with dying embers. Throwing wood onto the fire she used her bending to feed the coals and return life to the flames once again as they began licking at the dry fuel.
Finding a poker Urial put the metal into the fire and let it warm itself as she turned back to her prey. Tears streamed down his face, his body crumpled into a heap on his bed, and the faint smell of urine already staining both his bedclothes and the air. ‘Pathetic’ Pulling two kunai from her leg sheathes she turned back to the fire and put their blades into the flame and waited patiently for them to gain the warmth she wanted. Wordlessly she picked up the weapons, ignoring the warmth spreading to her fingertips, and walked back to Alnega. Zephyr grabbed one arm and pulled it over the man’s head and put it flat against the wall behind him where she thrust it into this arm, pinning it to the wall between the ulna and radius, listening to the fat and flesh sizzle under the heated metal. She repeated the action with his other arm, ignoring his cries, and stood back, wondering where to begin. Torture had been something she was never fond of but she was more than ready to put her training into action in this case.
Returning to the fire Urial grabbed the now glowing fire poker and ripped open Alnega’s bedclothes to reveal his pasty white chest. Though he couldn’t see it she smiled and laid the iron across his torso, leaving the metal long enough to see skin begin to bubble. His cries were almost exquisite. Had he been able to he would have been flailing and cursing her. Zephyr reached for her short blade behind her back and pulled it from its sheathe, looking the man in his red swollen eyes as she brought the blade to his Achilles tendon and sliced in a quick motion underneath both legs. “Don’t want you going anywhere,” She told him in a sing song voice as he whimpered. “Don’t want you bleeding all over the place either.” Her voice was harder this time, as if he were breaking some kind of rule by allowing his blood to flow out the open flesh. Jerking his leg up, followed by his right she pressed the still red iron to the open wound roughly and waited patiently for the wound to cauterize.
Urial’s next step she decided was to drag her short blade across the blistered burn on the man’s chest, letting the steel bite slowly, cutting blisters and letting the puss drain into each open wound. Several times for the next few hours she returned the poker to the fireplace until it again glowed and burned him before she cut each one. Occasionally he would pass out and she would punch him hard in the side with her studded and spiked gloves on until he would awaken. She would then cauterize any open wound until to ensure he stayed with her as long as possible. Finally however, Zephyr began to run out of open flesh as the number of sliced and resealed burns increased. She jumped up onto his chest and, putting her hands on his shoulders looked into his eyes which were deadened and red, surrounded by blotchy and tear stained skin. The weakling would be dead soon enough.
“Now… I know you said things to the young ones you hurt… things that were not true and that you did not mean to receive their compliance. I bet you even told them to lie for you! Oh yes… or else how could it have been such a secret for so long?” She fingered a kunai in her sheathes and let out a small chuckle, despite the fact that what she was doing sickened her. Zephyr was not longer in control, but rather a spectator to a grisly sport. Instinct was taking over before weakness got the better of her and if she let this man live or get away with anything more she knew she could never live with herself. Knowing that everyone he touched and hurt was a child, someone’s most treasured life, she imagined that it could have been her own. That enough was fuel for her to keep going. “I know how to deal with a liar.” Urial unsheathed the kunai in a quick movement and grabbed his face with her other hand as she moved the gag from his mouth. Forcing open his mouth she grabbed his tongue and hacked at the soft flesh with the sharp blade until at last the pink floppy mess fell onto his neck and rolled away into the shadows.
Glaring at his blood she reached for the hot poker and shoved it into his mouth, listening to his unbridled screams and saliva and blood sizzled and cooked in the sensitive flesh of his open mouth. She looked at him, waiting for his tears and cries to subside, his body twitching as the poison began wearing off. She knew what it was time to do, but first she needed something from him. Leaning close to his face she whispered to him, as if it were a secret “Now listen carefully scum…. I’m going to do you a kindness and kill you now. But before I do… you are going to do something for me…” Urial reached up and wrenched the kunai from both the wall and his right arm, letting it fall lazily to the bed where it twitched, his muscles coming down from being restricted. Reaching to the bedside table she grabbed a pen and dipped it into a bottle of ink that was also there and then forced it into his hand. Putting a sheet of parchment onto the table she looked back at him “You will write on this paper ‘I am a pedophile, and my sins are unforgiveable.’ You will do this, or you will not die until much later. I promise you this.”
Alnega nodded slowly in understanding, wanting death more than anything at this point. Whimpering through his pain he wrote, quite determinedly, though it was slow going each word that she asked of him. When he finished Urial smiled “That’s a good pedophile.” She jumped off his chest and walked down to the end of his bed where she tore open the remainder of his nightclothes and reached for his crotch with her short blade in hand. His head lolled up onto his chest as he tried to watch what she was doing. Zephyr grabbed his testicles roughly brought the blade down in one swift motion, and brought away the severed member. The man cried out in great agony as well as surprise as she strode back to him and looked him in the eye. “You will never receive atonement.” Pulling the skin of his scrotum aside she again reach and forced open his mouth and shoved his testicles into his mouth, which she forced and held close, forcing him to swallow them. His body bucked and jerked several times as he began to choke, his testicles stuck in his throat. His eyes bulged and Zephyr glared daggers at the man, annoyed that it took so long for his death to come. When it finally did, she stayed only long enough to clean her weapons and return them to their proper places, and then fold and put the parchment into an envelope which she put on his chest. Urial jumped from the window with here glider in hand and took into the night.
