#rinasu

or, a guild mage dabbles too far in the dark arts, and begins to re-evaluate her priorities after a chance visit

The mossy rock was cool and damp on Rin’s back. The sounds of the cave were quiet, and there was no undead to claw at her or vampires to maim. There was no tension in her body, no sense of urgency - only an easy, blissful peace, swirling around lazily. She heard footsteps and hesitantly forced her eyes open, peering around in the dark.

As her vision came into focus, she saw a figure standing over her. Tall, Altmeri, possibly – she could not see his face, only long strings of white-blond hair dangling out from under a black hood. She recognized the red skull of the Necromancer on his robes only as he lifted his dagger --

“You sleep rather soundly for a murderer. Good. You’ll need a clean conscience for what I’m about to propose.”

The mage acted quickly, summoning a dagger into her hand only to feel the point of the already-drawn knife the man held resting languidly on the flesh beneath her chin.

“Ah, ah, ah. I would advise against sudden moves.”

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, before she could make out the shape of an Imperial man - not an Altmer, she realized with some semblance of relief, before she remembered the very pointy knife he held. His voice was like gravel, and once Rinasu forced herself to release the bound dagger, he took the point off her neck.

“If this is about the necromancy,” she began, voice still heavy with sleep, “I can assure you, that was a one-time thing, and they were Necromancers themselves, so I don’t feel particularly bad about it.”

The man laughed, and she pushed herself up in her bed roll. The cave was still dark, the burnt-and-electrocuted bodies of the Bloodcrust Vampires littered around the cave.

aka a very self indulgent attempt at a different writing style

!!! oh boy could i

it’s very much a sort of maternal relationship, in a bit of a twisted way — when rinasu was young, she would follow around a local morag tong assassin named fadryn in his time off, who initially introduced her to the worship of mephala. he left on an assignment and didn’t come back, but rina would still pray to mephala, and would sometimes find those prayers answered.

as she got older, she took her worship more seriously, and by the time she was a teenager, she was already a skilled mage. she was able to navigate local politics with ease, often planting the seeds of strife and stirring up all sorts of trouble, mostly at mephala’s orders but sometimes of her own volition. mephala would reward her with knowledge, mostly, and in that way rinasu followed hermaeus mora just a bit, too - but she would sometimes reward her with simple words of encouragement and affection, something that rinasu was desperate for. rinasu very much looked to mephala as a mother, and mephala would at least treat rinasu as her child

during the oblivion crisis and the return of mannimarco, rinasu justified some of the less morally-upright things she did as threads woven by mephala that she had to tug loose. it was when she found herself in charge of the arcane university when she started to honor mephala in less ,,, bloody ways.

5. What’s their relationship with their parents like? What about other relatives?

‘horrible’ would be putting it very, very lightly. so horrible, in fact, that she openly claims that mephala was more a parent to her than they were. she openly despises the sixth house and camonna tong despite her family claiming direct ancestry from the founding family of house dagoth. she has a somewhat better relationship with a few of her cousins, but they don’t keep in touch

29. How would they describe their own personality?

she’d call herself a trouble-maker first and foremost, and a scholar. beyond that, she doesn’t really think about it much.

41. What does their laugh sound like? Do they snort when they laugh? How often do they laugh?

she doesn’t laugh often, but when she does, it’s either a Sensible Chuckle or loud, echoing peals of snorting laughter. there is absolutely no in between

89. What is their D&D alignment?

i’m going to assume you meant the not-so-nice asks -- correct me if i’m wrong !!

37. Have they ever had their freedom taken away?

in both a literal and metaphorical sense, yes. her mother was cammona tong and her father was a sixth house cultist, and she was Very Much Pressured to follow in their footsteps. saving and befriending the last septim is very much a giant middle finger to them both

38. Have they ever been imprisoned?

yeah !! she got “caught” practicing necromancy, so she tried to flee to cyrodiil -- only to get caught and brought into the imperial city prison as she tried to cross the border.

39. Have they ever been accused of something they didn’t do?