big feelings about some characters

As a child she got heavily influenced by Mephala (similar manner wee see Nelkir being affected in Skyrim) and was pretty much her personal plaything (manipulated Shiala to meddle with politicians, planting false evidence and killing in Her name) and even though Shiala has no interest of becoming a new Champion for her, Mephala has a certain interest in her, due to the circumstances of her being born from a writ. I call her a writ-spawn in few occasions. She’s not the only one of her kind, of course.

Notable relationships:

Brynjolf: A thief with nimble fingers a silver tongue and an old assassin who’s versed in illusion and manipulation? What could possibly go wrong. Neither of them trust each other and their motives as they meet. It’s a complicated road of attachment-issues on both sides in a world that doesn’t seem to want them to be together. They’ll get there, one day, but at what cost? :)

Erandur: Shiala’s previous relationship before Brynjolf. Passionate, but messy. Wrong place at the wrong time-kind. While Erandur wanted redemption, Shiala looked for revenge.

Aranea Ienith: Becomes one of Shiala’s best friends after she helps her to restore Azura’s star.

Glover Mallory: A father Shiala never had after she moves to Solstheim. When Shiala wants to become something else than a weapon to be used by others, Glover is there for her more than her mother is. He teaches her almost everything to know about being a thief. I adore their relationship so much.

Faenre Rilvayn: Shiala’s mother. Owner of the Ebony Blade before it found its way to Irileth in Whiterun. Wanted Shiala to become her successor and let Mephala manipulate Shiala without intervening. When Shiala found out about it, she began to distant herself from her and everything related to Morag Tong and Mephala.

Karliah Indoril: They bond after all the Nightingale-stuff comes around and also learn that they are related to each other. (Not that closely, but close enough)

Strengths:

Manipulation, she can be very convincing.

Related to above, she is a master of illusion-magic

Very good at killing (thanks Mephala)

Pickpocketing

The ability to remain unseen

Weaknesses:

Reckless, a little arrogant. Thinks herself invisible at times.

Lockpicking (lmao)

Lust for power that has blinded her more than once.

Never thinks she’s good/strong enough.

No interest in:

Fame, would rather have people believe the Dragonborn is dead

What strangers think of her

The civil war and politics of Skyrim, yet keeps getting dragged into it against her will.

No concept of:

The limits of her own body, tends to push herself too hard

Character:

Appears cold at first, has a bit of a resting bitch-face going on. Enjoys making people squirm with her humour. She is not ashamed of getting a bit flirty.

In battle:

Agile, bit of a glass-cannon. Kill it before it kills you-attitude. Uses two daggers, and sometimes Chillrend as a main weapon — prefers daggers though most of the time. Uses illusion magic to confuse/fear enemies and rally allies, if she isn’t fighting alone. Prefers close combat overall but isn’t too shabby with a bow. Has a natural talent for murder and has Mephala’s favour from birth, which gives her an advantage of finding weak points of her enemies. (It has a visual form much like a Dragon Aspect, stay tuned for me drawing it one day)

Distinguishing marks:

Hermaeus Mora’s spread corruption on her hands, appears as black, dipped in ink-like fingertips.

Small scars here and there on her body but the most visible will be the stab wound on her chest from Mercer’s blade, that had complications while it was healing. Sometimes she uses glamour/illusion magic or gloves to cover herself while in public.

She also has purple eyes which is a little unusual for a dunmer.

Trivia:

Suffers from memory loss thanks to meddling a little bit too close with Hermaeus Mora, struggles to remember some people from her past as well (biggest being Amelith, her past lover)

She used to be awful at picking locks — and still isn’t the greatest and often depends on illusion/alteration magic to work on her favour . (Glover used to craft her enchanted picks to make her life easier)

Her favourite drink is Velvet LeChance

Used to prank Talvas a lot in the past which gave her a nickname of “Trickster of Telvanni”, which Neloth called her once and it stuck afterwards.

Is afraid of spiders, ironically enough considered she’s supposedly Mephala’s love-child

Doesn’t worship any Daedric Prince but will exchange favours for their blessings without much of a second thought, mainly Hermaeus Mora, Nocturnal, Boethiah.

Unfortunately I don't have a ref-sheet for Shiala to show off for this (Maybe I'll finally get to it tonight) so here enjoy one of the portraits I made of her as at least some sort of a picture haha