Too Many Knight-Enchanters

Background

Five years before Nai’ahvier was born, seventeen-year-old Velanne Alerion volunteered to leave her position as Clan Alerion’s Second to become Clan Enasalin’s First. She didn’t want to leave everyone she knew, but her clan had two children with newly-manifested magic, and Clan Enasalin had been left with only a Keeper after their First died. The trade made sense. And anyway, it wasn’t long before she had new friends, and it wasn’t much longer than that before she fell in love with the Keeper’s son.

Three months before Nai’ahvier was born, Velanne Enasalin realized that while she could deal with the way her husband had started treating her, she wouldn’t want her child to grow up with it. But the Keeper loved his son far more than his traded-in First, and the Clan loved their Keeper, so if she wanted to leave him, she would have to leave.

Nai’ahvier and her twin brother Nai’sulahn were born in the alienage of a medium-sized city near the Ferelden border in Orlais. Their mother Velanne hadn’t made it to Clan Alerion as she’d wanted to, alone and pregnant as she was, but this would work until her babies were old enough for travel.

As a five-year-old, Nai’ahvier’s favorite thing to do was listening to her mamae’s stories of the Dalish. They were fairy tales about powerful gods and ancient empires, days spent roaming the wilds and nights spent under the stars, honest work and fair rewards, acceptance and freedom. Fairy tales about the people Mamae had come from, about the people they’d return to – soon. Always soon. Once they had a little more money saved up, to pay for safe travel for a single mother who didn’t want to risk using magic to defend her two small children herself. (Nai’sulahn’s favorite thing to do was probably putting spiders in his sister’s hair, based off of how many times he’d done it.)

When Nai’ahvier was eight years old, her magic manifested. Velanne taught her to keep it hidden best she could, and realized they couldn’t put off leaving much longer, or it might be too late. Nai’ahvier learned how to do proper housekeeping, and worked as her mother’s assistant, cleaning for rich shemlen. (Nai’sulahn learned the best places for pickpocketing. Nai’ahvier covered for him when he was out late, making up stories of honest employment, and Velanne pretended she believed it. It’s not like she could stop him, when she was gone so often herself.)

When Nai’ahvier was nine years old, she got terribly sick, and all their savings went towards healing. Maybe soon wasn’t as close as they thought. Maybe it never had been.

When Nai’ahvier was ten years old, Nai’sulahn mouthed off to a shem when he should have apologized, which was a regular occurrence, but this shem was an angry drunk with violent friends. Nai’ahvier ran to get their mother, who returned in time to divert them from her son, but took a broken bottle to the stomach. She died two days later.

As an eleven-year-old, Nai’ahvier worked her mother’s old jobs in the day, and helped her brother at night. He'd already gotten a bit of a reputation among the city’s criminal element, and with Nai’ahvier talking him out of bad plans and bad situations, he did even better. It took a bit of finesse, fixing her brother’s mistakes without implying he’d made any, but she did her best.

As a twelve-year-old knife-ear mage fighting to survive on the streets, Nai’ahvier’s dreams of the Dalish seemed awful far away, but they were the only hope she had.

When Nai’ahvier was thirteen years old, the winter was the worst it’d been in even the elders’ memories, and she used magic to ward off frostbite. The templars found her doing it. Nai’sulahn had always promised to protect her from them, in exchange for her constant unwavering loyalty, but in the end, there was nothing he could do. They left him bleeding out in the street as they dragged her away.

As a fourteen-year-old in the Circle, Nai’ahvier was beloved by many. She was charming and friendly, competent enough to do well but not so talented as to inspire envy, and desperate to stay in everyone’s good graces. She wasn’t often cold or hungry anymore, but... well. She was glad she had a lot of practice reading moods and defusing bad situations and following rules that didn’t make sense except as excuses to punish.

As a seventeen-year-old in a Circle, being liked by the templars wasn’t that great of a thing anymore. Some of them really were on her side – or seemed to be – you never knew when they’d start demanding compensation for their kindness – but some of them were to be avoided at all costs. Nothing that bad had happened to her yet, but she was working very hard to keep it that way.

When Nai’ahvier was seventeen years old, she decided she was going to get out. There were whispers of hope, scattered among the horror stories and gossip. She had the destination, and she had the motivation, and she had the beginnings of a plan.

When Nai’ahvier was eighteen years old, her harrowing was scheduled. She’d never been more terrified of anything in her life.

When Nai’ahvier was eighteen years old, she used the goodwill and trust she’d accumulated over the years to get away with a few things here and there. Things like visiting the room where the phylacteries were stored.

When Nai’ahvier was eighteen years old, she escaped.

She made it to the paradise described by her mother so many years ago, the Dalish Clan Alerion, and they had room for a mage. They remembered her mother fondly, and they expressed their regret over the turns her life had taken, and it was awkward but nice. She didn’t quite fit in, but she was charming enough to be included if not fully accepted. She didn’t quite believe the fairytales of empires and gods, but she tried her best to; they were nice stories either way. It wasn’t quite what she’d dreamed of, but it didn’t have to be, to be better than anything she’d had before.

She learned how to hunt. She learned how to fight. She made friends. She tried not to dwell on how she’d always expected to have her mother and brother here next to her, how they could have been if at some point they’d all just left now instead of soon, and then Mamae wouldn’t have had to work so hard and ‘Sulahn wouldn’t have acted the way he did and neither of them would have.... She tried not to dwell on it. She practiced magic. She earned her vallaslin.

The conclave exploded.

Nai’ahvier heard about an Inquisitor who stood for order and justice, who allied with mages, a qunari with power who was changing the world. She remembered what it was like living in fear – the things she tried to forget, the things she’d never quite escaped – and if someone was trying to make the world safer, she wanted to do whatever she could to help them.

So she said goodbye to her clan and set off chasing rumors. (They were sad to see her go, but they probably wouldn’t miss her much. She was sad to leave, but it had never felt like home anyway.) She arrived at the Exalted Plains shortly after the Inquisition’s scouts did, and joined a group as they returned to Skyhold.

The Inquisition... was nice. Nai’ahvier had a place to sleep every night, freedom to use magic without fear, and spare time to spend as she wished. It was all the best things she’d known, combined into something unlike any of them. The newest part was the independence; in the alienage she’d stuck close to her brother, in the circle the templars kept track of everyone, and in the clan mages were leaders-in-training. Here, she was just one more volunteer in the crowd. When that freedom turned quickly to loneliness, even that was fixable: she just stopped trying to blend in and started trying to make connections. She charmed and worked her way into the good graces of everyone she could – the cook who made the sweet rolls, the stablehand who kept track of the cats, the healer who always needed more elfroot – and they paid her back in kindness and favors and reputation (both as someone good and as someone protected).

It was nice.

Personality

Nai’ahvier wants everyone to like her. Her natural bubbly friendliness is often good for this; if she's scared of someone or doesn’t like them, she’ll hide it behind even more adorable naïvety and friendly agreement. It can be hard to tell when it’s genuine or not, especially since she tries to pretend even to herself that it always is. Sometimes she plays up the “flower child who must be protected”, sometimes the “silly girl who couldn’t cause trouble if she tried”, sometimes a persona farther out of her comfort zone - whatever will keep her safe.

She doesn’t stop at her own safety though. She wants to protect everyone, from others and from themselves. She tries to stop people from making decisions they’ll regret or being cruel, through logic or pleading or trickery or anything that might work– but if it seems to be going wrong, she’ll usually back down pretty fast, reluctant to risk herself. If she fails or can’t do anything about it in the first place, she’ll take it as a personal failing. Or she would, if she wasn’t so busy trying not to think about it: if everything’s fine, she doesn’t have to face the guilt of letting people be hurt, or the fear that it’ll happen to her, or the memories of when it did.

She’ll make up utter lies or tell the complete truth as it seems necessary, but when she can, she prefers to avoid revealing her past, without either lying about it or making it obvious that she’s avoiding the subject. Most people would assume she’s a sheltered idealist, a Dalish mage who wants to fix the world but doesn’t quite get how harsh it can be. She is an optimist... but most people don’t know how much effort she’s putting into staying that way.

She’s scared of humans, templars, people who are bossy or uncaring, authorities, anyone who seems like they’d do bad things and not listen to her attempts to stop them. However, usually she sees this as her fault. About the only thing that’ll make her dislike someone is sabotaging her attempts at diplomacy and calling out her manipulations. (Ironically, the more scared she is, the more likely she is to let these things slide.) Otherwise, she’ll forgive just about anyone. She’s quick to make excuses and look for the best in people and sweep disagreements under the rug.

Relationships

Nai’ahvier encourages Nyeni to be more outgoing, bringing her into conversations and giving her tips on how to make sure it goes well. She’s a bit wary of Sylvanni, with her vicious streak and aloofness – which means she tries even harder around her. Kepi is just the right combo of strong and kind that sets Nai’ahvier at ease, so she’s more likely to trust Kepi’s judgement and be honest around her.

She admires all of them and their valuable contributions. Kepi and Sylvanni are fearless warriors, Nyeni is a dedicated healer, they’ll all stand up for what’s right and dedicate themselves to helping people. They’re true Dalish heroes, like she dreamed of as a child, and sometimes she wishes she was strong and brave like them. But she isn’t, so it’s best not to dwell on it.

As it is, she’s happy to let them shelter her as much as they want to; nothing like other people keeping the bad things away from you to help you pretend they’re not out there. In return, she tries to be a voice of peace and cheer and good advice.

Skills

Nai’ahvier has picked up bits of street fighting and offensive magic, but never really got trained for or used to combat. Barriers, healing, buffs and debuffs, and avoiding fights in the first place are more her specialty. However, it gets frustrating not being able to rush in and help someone when they need it, and scary not being able to defend yourself when you need it. So when her friends started learning the way of the Knight Enchanter, she decided to join them. She still hangs back in battle, but in addition to giving her a weapon, her training strengthened her confidence and her tactics. She sets barriers, bolsters her teammates, and when the time is right, she darts in with a devastating spirit blade strike.

She sings and plays the harp, and dabbles in other instruments when she can get her hands on them, and hums and whistles when she can’t. Small children adore her; most people do, for that matter. She knows the basics of surviving in the forest or in the city. She cleans dishes and floors and clothes with the efficient thoroughness of a professional, but only when prompted to. She’s a passable pickpocket, but makes a better distraction. She’s a champion flower-crown weaver. She’s got puppy dog eyes that it hurts to say no to.

Background

The Keeper of Clan Duvallon had often said that the day Sylvanni was born was the day that Mythal had smiled upon them. Truly, when Sylvanni’s gift of magic was discovered, the clan celebrated. Though their Keeper was strong and in good health, the clan had had no First for almost two years, and had prayed that a mage would be given to them.

As soon as she was discovered, she was taken under the Keeper’s wing, trained in magic and groomed to be First. Sylvanni was trained to lead from a young age, and felt her duty to rise to the station. She was Duvallon’s treasured First. From the start, Sylvanni learned to push down her own personal wants and opinions for the good of the clan. Doing what was best for the whole was more important than anything she might want herself.

Clan Duvallon was rather well connected, at least for a Dalish Clan. Travelling in the true Dales in Orlais, Duvallon tried to respect the wishes and authority of the Orlesian lands they passed through. Though they didn’t seek out settlements, they also didn’t avoid them, feeling comfortable visiting towns to trade and talk with the outside world. 

The clan, having wished for a mage for so long, was often sympathetic to outsider mages as well. On more than one occasion, the clan helped smuggle runaway Circle mages to safety. On several occasions, an Orlesian house would find a child had manifested magic, and would ask the clan to spirit the newly sparked apostate away somewhere safe. Though the clan often ranged on their own for long stretches of time, these allies and connections made them rather more involved with the world than most other clans.

Sylvanni, as First, was often sent in to handle negotiations and speak with those who requested assistance. She was the one who entered towns and cities to request permission for the aravels to camp outside and for her people to do trade. Fluent in both Orlesian and Common, Sylvanni made an art of adapting to fit the needs of the situation and finding the best way to achieve her goals. She negotiated with noble houses, common craftsmen, even groups of templars on a few occasions. 

At one point, the clan crossed paths with a runaway elven Circle mage and offered to help her. The girl was treated as a guest of the clan, and stayed with Sylvanni and the Keeper. However, a few days after agreeing to come along, without warning, the girl revealed herself to be a maleficar, and used blood magic to turn the Keeper into an abomination. Sylvanni, not knowing what to in the face of such a shocking and horrible betrayal, ran away and hid from the chaos. She watched from afar as the bloodmage and the monster that had been her Keeper systematically slaughtered her clan, until a troop of templars finally came through and killed the rest. 

Sylvanni, stunned by the sudden loss, wandered on her own for a long while, trying to fend for herself, but feeling lost without a purpose. Eventually she was found by the commander of a troop of Knight-Enchanters, a woman named Helaine. Recognizing Sylvanni as a mage with potential, Helaine offered to claim jurisdiction over her and train her as a Knight-Enchanter in the regiment. As a Knight-Enchanter under Helaine’s command, Sylvanni would be safe from templars and the Circle, while Helaine gained a promising new fighter for her group. 

When a request came from Skyhold for a trainer for Inquisitor Adaar, Sylvanni accompanied Commander Helaine to the great fortress. Though the Inquisitor didn’t choose to train in their discipline, the Knight-Enchanters decided to stay on. Sylvanni works as an agent of the Inquisition within an assigned troop with three other Knight-Enchanters, Kepi, Nyeni, and Nai’ahvier.

Beliefs and Personality

Sylvanni has always been a determined and driven individual, motivated by duty. She often thinks of personal desires as selfish, and seeks to put the good of those she is responsible for above her own good. Sylvanni is unafraid to make difficult decisions, especially for the greater good. If a line must be crossed, there’s no use worrying over feelings. What must be done will be done. She holds loyalty to oaths and protection of those one serves as the highest of values.

Despite the steely determination at her core, on the outside Sylvanni is often very personable and friendly. She has a confident air of leadership and a calm charisma when making new acquaintances. She’s skilled at adapting to make others feel more comfortable around her and often feels that strong alliances are more important than burning bridges.

Sylvanni tries to ignore a great many of the hurts and traumas she’s experienced, often to her detriment. Though often composed and confident on the outside, Sylvanni still feels strongly about the death of her clan. Though she doesn’t like to admit it, there’s a certain ruthlessness she feels deep within, a desire for vengeance. Sylvanni, when facing someone she feels has truly wronged her, can be a terrifying sight to behold. Though this viciousness frightens her sometimes, she can’t deny that it is true.

One of the few times she feels truly at ease is within the hectic energy of a challenging fight, especially dragon fights. Though Sylvanni doesn’t have any particular fondness for killing, she exults in the challenge of facing down a worthy opponent and having a real test of her skills. In the heat of battle,she doesn’t need to think, just act. Though facing dragons are her favorite fights, Sylvanni will enjoy any fight in which she feels the cause is just.

Relationships

Kepi: Sylvanni recognizes a bit of a kindred spirit in Kepi, in that their personalities can be remarkably similar. However, she also recognizes that their differences in background have resulted in some very opposing viewpoints. Though they don’t always agree on things, Sylvanni respects Kepi and her opinions, though she sometimes feels the other mage lacks perspective on some issues. That said, Kepi is probably the one that Sylvanni feels is most like a peer out of the three.

Nyeni: Sylvanni feels as though Nyeni is a mage with a lot of potential, and wants to help her overcome the blocks that are keeping her from proceeding. She sees Nyeni’s shyness and hesitance as something that could be coaxed away with the right training and encouragement. Sylvanni also greatly appreciates her skill in healing and will defer to her expertise in such matters gladly. Of course, Sylvanni slowly begins to realize that Nyeni isn’t the only one in their relationship with things to learn. And that’s a scary prospect.

Nai’ahvier: Sylvanni doesn’t entirely trust that Nai’ah is really as happy as she pretends to be, but also feels she doesn’t want to mess it up if it’s real. No one who’s lived alone in this world is without hardship and hurt, certainly not an elven mage. She knows that all too well. No one learns how to handle themselves so competently in battle in a life where nothing’s wrong. But if the girl wants to pretend, why not let her? Sylvanni keeps a polite distance with Nai’ah for the most part, always kind, but never truly open. Sylvanni doesn’t feel she fits in with happy people, for the most part, so it’s better to keep away.

Combat Style

Sylvanni, as the most experienced Knight-Enchanter of the group, takes to the Knight-Enchanter’s philosophy of battle with ease. Combat is one of the few times that she feels truly at ease. Sylvanni feels thrilled at close-quarters combat and she’s often the first to throw herself into the thick of things. She keeps an evasive tactic in the field, flitting between Fade Step and Fade Cloak to stay untouchable by her enemies. 

Background:

From the first time Nyeni sparked lightning between her fingers, her mother–Selia, the First of Clan Tarthonal–taught her magic quietly in the evenings, reminding her daughter to keep her abilities between them, and to steer clear of both demons and their Keeper. Growing up knowing that any hint of magic might cause her to be sent away from the clan, Nyeni became careful and shy, keeping her head down and focusing on her studies as an apprentice healer. But late at night, her mother would help her add healing magic to the herbs and tell her stories about the gods. Nyeni’s favorite was Sylaise, who gave the elves the gift of fire--the gift of life. Thus her mother instilled in her (perhaps unintentionally) a willingness to help people in any way she could, even at risk to herself.

When Nyeni was fifteen, her clan was camped perhaps too close to Hasmal, and a patrol of templars seeking a runaway Circle mage resulted in the loss of her mother. They came upon Selia when she was out gathering herbs, accosting her first because she was an elf and then because she reached for her staff. When she did not return, Nyeni went into the woods looking for her, and spent the night seeking some sign of where her mother had gone. Eventually, Nyeni was forced to return to the camp, worried and afraid that something terrible had happened.

That morning, the templars, having followed Nyeni to the camp, attacked, perhaps thinking the clan was sheltering runaways or perhaps seeking to take the Keeper. The clan rebuffed the attack, and it was the first time Nyeni used magic openly, throwing up barriers around the hunters, and channeling a few bolts of lightning into the templars. The Keeper was livid to discover that Nyeni’s magic had been hidden from her, but in the aftermath of the fight, Nyeni healed those who had been wounded, despite her fear and grief over her mother’s disappearance and presumed capture. The Keeper relented, taking her on as her new First. Though Nyeni and a few hunter friends wanted to go into Hasmal in a desperate attempt to rescue Selia, the Keeper convinced them that Selia would want them to live and be free, and so the clan moved on.

Time passed, and the Keeper taught Nyeni more of magic--more offensive lightning spells and some of frost and fire, but she remained most skilled at defense. She was excited to learn more about the history of her people, and she and the Keeper actually became something like friends after discovering their mutual love of mythology and history. Nyeni climbed a bit more out of her shell, and was less shy around her clan now that she didn’t have to hide her magic; children sought her out after playful accidents or falling out of trees or getting their fingers slammed in aravel doors and she was very good about only reporting the worst sort of bedtime violations to parents.

About five years after Nyeni became the First, a hunter came to her, frightened: their daughter was exhibiting signs of magic, and they feared that without training from either the Keeper or Nyeni, she would be in danger. But they also knew that the Keeper would not hesitate to exile the child. Nyeni, not wanting another girl to grow up with the secret she had suffered her whole childhood, went to the Keeper and volunteered to leave the clan herself, opening the position of First to the younger girl. The Keeper protested, reminding her of all the good she had done since becoming First and all the ways in which she could still help her clan. But Nyeni had made her choice, and she left in the middle of the night, knowing it was the right thing to do.

She returned to Nevarra to pursue long-cold leads on her mother, and after about a year of living in the shadows on the streets of the alienage, and making discreet inquiries, she found out that her mother had been taken to the Circle, but had been (probably wrongfully) accused of seducing a templar and subsequently made Tranquil. Not long after that, Kirkwall went up in fiery explosions, and Nyeni, fearing that the mage rebellion would spread west, fled the city and made her way to Ferelden, thinking to put a whole ocean in between herself and the grief of her past.

She aimed her wandering footsteps southwest, toward the Dales, half wanting to find one of the clans that traveled those parts, half wanting to visit the lands of her ancestors, but when the mage/templar war followed her south, she was drawn instead to aid those effected by that fight. Determined to prove that not all mages were as violent as the rebels, she shyly offered her services as a healer to any town or village that might need her. She eventually ended up in the Hinterlands, and after the explosion at the Conclave, she ended up helping those hurt by demons just as much as those hurt by mages or templars. When the Inquisitor made their way through the Crossroads, leaving a garrison of scouts and soldiers in their wake, Nyeni kept her head down and continued healing refugees. But Corporal Vale saw her skills, and approached her about joining the Inquisition. She saw the opportunity to help, as they had apothecaries but no real healer, and she nervously agreed to go to Haven–though nervousness quickly turned to determination as she realized how desperate the situation truly was and how much they needed someone who could use more than elfroot poultices to fix a stab wound.

Once at Haven, Nyeni threw herself wholeheartedly into healing the Inquisition. She was never really short on patients, what with daily patrols through the Frostbacks as well as wider patrols returning irregularly from stranger parts of the world all coming to her with scrapes and stabs and bruises from their fights with demons, red templars, highwaymen, bears... Nyeni didn’t have time to think about going out into the field, not that she really had the training for it anyway, but sometimes she wished she was doing more to help Adaar’s efforts to restore some sense of order to the chaos the Breach had brought to the world.

She stood with the Circle mages when the Herald closed the Breach, letting Adaar pull on her magic, feeling the flow of hundreds of mages opening up their power so that they could all help close the hole in the sky. It was the first time Nyeni truly saw and felt the direct results of the Inquisition’s tireless efforts, and she was proud to be a part of it. Of course, the feeling was short-lived, as Corypheus attacked, and Nyeni fought as well as she could, shielding the fleeing citizens of Haven with barriers as they fled deeper into the mountains.

Once they reached Skyhold, she grimly took it upon herself to learn more about combat, to learn better ways to protect herself and those around her. She sought out Commander Helaine when the trainer arrived and begged to be accepted into the ranks of new students; the commander took some convincing. Nyeni had little combat experience and all of what she did have was defensive--pretty much the opposite of the Knight-Enchanter’s “charge at the front lines” philosophy--and on top of that she was timid, hardly leadership material, and far more important kept in reserve to heal the aftermath of the battles she was asking to fight in. But her stubborn refusal to take no for an answer finally swayed Helaine, and Nyeni joined Kepi, Sylvanni, and Nai’ahvier in their training.

Personality and Beliefs:

Nyeni is generally shy (sometimes painfully so), especially with people she doesn’t know, and she’s very humble about her magic, though once her shell is breached, she’s warm and loyal. If she doesn’t like a person, she makes it known in small ways, mostly by adding a heavy dose of sarcasm to their interactions. She follows in her mother’s footsteps, and believes there is nothing more important than helping people, no matter the personal cost. She’s a lot less innocent than most people assume, and though she’ll look for peaceful ways around situations first, she won’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to resolve problems (though the things she is willing to help do sometimes scare her and affect her deeply). She chooses to train as a Knight Enchanter out of a desire to be more effective at protecting people rather than any need to be on the front lines. 

She’s seen the aftermath of violence too often to be truly okay with it, and often comments that she wishes there was a better way to help. In a healing tent, she’s a force to be reckoned with, and her barriers of shyness and nerves drop completely as she takes command of the effort to save lives or limbs. She’s more comfortable around children, as well, not that there are many of those at Skyhold.

She hates templars and the institution of the Circle pretty fiercely, and frowns on the way they refuse to try to see things from any perspective other than their own. She’s frustrated by Circle mages (like Vivienne) who don’t believe there is a different or better way despite the fact that she herself is proof that magic can be successfully taught outside the Circle. She seeks kindred spirits among the rebels, though she would prefer less violence on their part.

She believes deeply in the elven gods, and genuinely fears losing her culture now that she’s voluntarily exiled herself from it, and is therefore relieved to meet other Dalish in the Inquisition with whom she can share at least some familiarity of culture.

Relationships:

Kepi is the second of the group to arrive at the Inquisition, but they are both so busy at Haven that they rarely have time to speak. They see each other in passing, and Nyeni is impressed by Kepi’s willingness to throw herself back out into the field. She also tells her that she appreciates Kepi’s love for her fellow mages, and the way she fought to make her friends from the Circle safe. During the retreat from Haven, she sees how well Kepi is able to defend herself and those around her in combat, and wishes she could do the same.

Once they reach Skyhold and both apprentice themselves to Commander Helaine, Nyeni is nervous around Kepi at first. Or rather, around Kepi’s blade. Eventually, they begin to mentor each other--Nyeni helping Kepi rely more steadily on her magic, and Kepi teaching Nyeni not to fear her blade--and become fast friends after that.

When Nai’ahvier arrives at Skyhold, Nyeni immediately feels drawn to her, wanting to protect this small, hopeful, sunshine girl. She’s far more open with Nai’ah than others and comes to trust Nai’ah as a source of advice and a mediating voice in conflicts. She senses a sort of kinship in that they both voluntarily left their clans, and though Nai’ah is more relaxed about it than Nyeni is, she talks about that with her more than any of the others. She also respects Nai’ah’s willingness to brave the world on her own in order to help people and the Inquisition and looks up to her strength. And though she knows, logically, that Nai’ah is perfectly capable of taking care of herself, she worries incessantly and tries to protect her at every turn.

Sylvanni takes a bit of getting used to for Nyeni. Her charm and ease with strangers is something Nyeni initially envies even as it puts her at ease and makes her want to like Sylv, and her power and strength in battle is perhaps a bit fearsome to behold. However, as they are forced together onto the same team, they begin to draw each other out--Sylv makes Nyeni less shy, and Nyeni (well, the whole team, really) draws out Sylv’s pain and tries to help make it better. So long as they don’t talk about dragons, they get along very well.

Combat Style and Skills:

Despite her grim determination to learn how to fight, Nyeni is still far more comfortable standing back from the fighting and aiding long-distance. She’s the queen of barriers, and has learned to throw protection up around her more melee-inclined friends who tend to forget to see to their own defense. Offensively, she’s terribly good at lightning spells, and often enemies will find themselves shocked or stunned from afar. If she remembers to throw Fade cloak over herself, it’s a banner day, but if she finds herself somehow caught in the thick of the fighting, she’ll get in a few good swipes with her spirit blade before fade-stepping the hell out of there and returning to her ranged attacks.

Background:

Clan Rhodilas already had a Keeper and a First when Kepi's magic manifested, quietly, in the form of a small snowstorm her parents found their nine year-old daughter giggling over.  They were lucky:  she didn't understand what she had done or what it meant, and when they took her into a Rivaini city 'just to see the sights' and ended up in the shadowed, fragrant house of an elderly Seer, she simply accepted this as a new and exciting experience.  Her parents begged the Seer's help, and the human woman gave it to them, teaching Kepi techniques for safety in the Fade while she slept and the importance of avoiding spirits until she was older and properly trained.

Kepi grew up hiding her abilities, using both meditation and sword training as ways to center her mind and body and resist the humming impulse of magic.  She became a competent swordswoman and hunter, taking pride in her ability to defend and provide for her clan and firm in her belief that the Creators gave her magic to be used in their hour of need.  What that need might be she could not imagine, and she rarely dwelled on it - until it happened.

Not long after the Chantry conflagration in Kirkwall, as the conflict between Circle mages and Templars spread across southern Thedas, Kepi's clan encountered a band of former Templars outside of Cumberland.  The College of Enchanters, in an effort to preserve their own stability and role as a beacon of order to Southern Circles, had cast out those of the Order accused of serious crimes.  To the Cumberland Circle, and other loyalists, it was a sign of reason and justice, a promise that mages and templars could live together as they always had if only the bad apples were removed.  For Kepi, it would spell her undoing.

The soldiers' intentions were simple:  capture the Keeper and the First, and buy their way back into the Chantry's good graces (and lyrium stocks) by bringing in two Dalish mages.  Clan Rhodilas fought desperately and were almost successful despite their warriors being outnumbered, but then one of the former Templars set fire to an undefended aravel, and all hell broke loose.

Kepi lashed out with magic for the first time in her life.  Ice came easiest to her and she froze the fire before it could do too much damage - but the spell, uncontrolled, also caught the Dalish inside.  She struck out at the soldiers with lightning, and their surprise as much as her magic was enough to turn the tide of the battle.  Afterward, the Keeper melted the ice, and her clanmates emerged cold and shaken, but alive.  They would be able to recover and move on - but not Kepi.

She was sent away from the clan that very day, turning south as they went north.  Survival on her own was simple enough, but being rejected by her kin shook Kepi deeply. Emotionally raw, she avoided people for as long as she could, but when she stood on the Waking Sea with no further south to go, she was forced to seek them out.  She traded animal pelts for coin to buy passage on a ship to the Fereldan coast, spending the crossing silent in a crowded hold.  Ten years ago, refugees had made the same journey in the other direction, fleeing darkspawn; now, as Kirkwall and other Marcher cities erupted, lingering traces of the Blight seemed a lesser threat to many.

On Fereldan's coast, she stumbled across a group of Circle mages from Kinloch Hold.  Many of them had never left Lake Calenhad before, never seen a Dalish elf or built a fire, and their arms trembled as they held their staffs.  Kepi, believing all her life she was meant to protect people in need, couldn't turn away.  She joined them, teaching them woodcraft and acting as their scout.  Though they could never stay in one place longer than a week for fear of discovery, she relaxed incrementally.  The mages were grateful for her help, as her clan had not been.  The adults among them were still skittish of her, but the apprentices had quickly lost their fear of a 'Dalish savage'.  She began to believe that she could belong with them.

When the Inquisition's presence pushed north, Kepi got word of their alliance with the Circle mages.  Discussing it with the rest of her group, they determined to leave the coast for Haven, travelling along the foothills of the Frostbacks and well clear of the roads.  The possibility that the Inquisition might bring true safety was irresistible, after so long living on a knife's edge.

In Haven, once her mages were settled and safely employed in tasks that wouldn’t require them to fight, she asked to be deployed as a field agent.  She was rarely in the Frostbacks for long after that, but returned just in time to watch Kirin Adaar close the Breach and briefly celebrate with the people who had become her comrades.  As Corypheus and his Templars marched on the town, Kepi evacuated her mages and as many others as she could, praying to Mythal all the while for the Inquisition’s survival.

Arriving at Skyhold renewed Kepi’s belief in the Inquisition.  The newly minted Inquisitor Adaar promised to work towards restoring order, and Kepi threw herself into the rebuilding effort with a dedication that pushed her to exhaustion some days.  What little time she had to herself she spent in clearing rubble from a pocket of the kitchen roof, filling it with rich soil and tending a tiny garden there.

During her time in the Inquisition, she had largely been letting her magic languish, using it in tiny drabbles but rarely taking the time to learn or practice.  This ended when Commander Helaine arrived, recognizing in Kepi a mixture of magic and martial skill that would adapt easily to the discipline of the Knight-Enchanters.  Kepi was not always the most adept student, particularly resistant to trusting her safety and that of her companions to a magical barrier, but it was an application of her skills which made her more capable, so she gritted her teeth and worked for it.  Eventually, she was deemed competent enough to go into the field as a Knight-Enchanter, and joined the others on the team.

Personality and Beliefs:

Kepi firmly believes that it is her role and duty to protect others, even at a cost to herself.  She fears and dislikes Templars, who often cause harm under the pretense of the greater good.  Her experience of Circle mages has mostly been of their inability to provide for themselves, so she is more likely to view them as needing protection than something to be protected from.

This is compounded by the fact that, despite being an untrained mage, she’s managed to resist demonic possession for almost 20 years since her powers manifested.  Kepi is the poster child for a mage who should have become an abomination, but she has not, and she throws this back in the face of anyone who insists all mages are dangerous regardless of intentions.  She has a tendency to downplay the threat of demons in general, which can lead her to butt heads with... well, most other people.

She has a deep belief in the Elven gods and in the legitimacy of the Dalish quest to preserve their culture.  Being outside of her clan has made her less dismissive of other ways of life, but she still feels strongly drawn to the Dalish and is proud of her origin.

Essentially utilitarian, she dislikes death she deems unnecessary, but will accept violence in the name of the greater good.  Her utilitarianism extends to herself:  she sees herself largely as a tool for others to put to use.  Kepi frames her own wants and needs as of secondary importance, unless she can find a way to justify them in the name of serving some other goal.  (This is how she allows herself her hidden garden in Skyhold, as she takes the products of it to the kitchens and healers.)

Relationships:

Nyeni arrived in Haven before Kepi, and they occasionally encountered each other in the village, but rarely had time to really talk.  At times, Kepi wound up as one of Nyeni’s patients, which gave her respect for the other mage’s competence and cool-headed handling of her charges.  Though she never said it, she also found it comforting to be around another Dalish elf, as the multicultural Inquisition was often foreign and strange to her.

When they began working under Helaine together, Kepi quickly noticed Nyeni’s hesitance in swordplay.  They ended up making a bargain:  Kepi would learn to cast and depend on barriers if Nyeni would agree to practice more swordplay and spar with her.  This mutual mentorship helped them grow together, and turned into a steady friendship.

Sylvanni intimidates Kepi.  She’s a much more competent mage, a more practiced Knight-Enchanter, and Kepi secretly believes that Sylvanni thinks poorly of her for hiding her magic and staying with her clan.  About the only area in which Kepi feels at least equal to her is survival skills.  Reflexively, Kepi would tend to defer to Sylvanni’s lead in many areas; however, they periodically come into conflict.  Both are women of strong convictions, but Kepi finds Sylvanni to occasionally be far too harsh in her judgments of others. 

Nai’ahvier’s relative youth leads Kepi to making something of a snap judgement of her.  She sees Nai’ah as someone to protect and, to a certain extent, guide, and underestimates her life experience and the harshness of the world she’s already seen.  Still, Nai’ah doesn’t seem to mind all that much, and they get along amiably for the time being.  In the long term, Kepi’s perceptions of Nai’ah may have more of an effect, as she is less likely to treat Nai’ah as a full partner and equal member of the team.

Skills:

Trained as a melee warrior, Kepi prefers her Spirit Blade to her staff, given the choice.  She understands barriers conceptually but often neglects them, more used to trusting her own skills with a blade than magic.  When she does fight with magic, she leans towards elemental spells: something physical and relatively easy for her to accept.  Skills that place the wielder partially in the Fade (Fade steps or cloaks) are disconcerting to her; magic isn’t really a part of who she is to a degree that she could be comfortable with that.  Not being accustomed to healing or using glyphs, she prefers to conserve her energy for more offensive spells and has learned virtually nothing of them.  

As a last resort, she will use her staff blade as a spear.  Polearms are not a kind of weapon she’s familiar with, but she has sought out training among the Inquisition soldiers and is making progress.