Aira's Bio and origin stories.

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Aira
Posts: 747
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:57 pm

Aira's Bio and origin stories.

Post by Aira » Tue Aug 10, 2021 4:27 pm

Name: Aira Ciarron
Age: just shy of her middle years
Gender: female

Origin: her parents' sawmill in western Murandy

Physical attributes:
Aira is of an average height and build, although years of swinging around a sword have made her muscular. She has a decent balcony, which has lead to many a lament about the shape of breastplates. She has long, wavy brown hair and light brown eyes.

Character attributes:
Aira is a headstrong and confident woman. She knows what she's done, she knows her abilities and she knows her worth.

Positive trait:
She's a thinker, mostly due to having had her nose in many books when she was younger.

Negative trait:
Fear of abandonment, as so many (players) have left her over the years, and resulting walls put up.

History:

After leaving her family home and going to Lugard to find work, she found herself wooed by a young man. Sadly, it turns out he was a pig and they got into a fight, which was broken up by a few Children of the Light. A young officer, on the Council of the Anointed no less, took her to the Child of Light encampment, where eventually she ended up as his scribe, as he preferred his time studying rather than writing.

Part of her duties were delivering messages and on one such mission, a group of young Andorans took offense at her being a Murandian. Given the border tensions between Andor and Murandy this is not strange, but beating up a young woman is something else. She was left at the side of the road, more dead than alive. She believes the injuries caused her much lamented infertility. Aside from this, the assault did cause a lasting dislike for Andorans, but also instilled a motivation to become better and stronger than these louts.

After some time spent in Cairhien with the Children, the officer she was a scribe for returned to Amadicia and Aira signed up with the Children. The young officer left Amador, but Aira remained. She never truly believed the Children's teachings, to her, the Children were just a place where she could learn how to fight and live in safety. As an illustration of why she was not a model Child, she had an illegitimate relationship with another Child officer, which is when she found out she could not conceive. He ended up leaving her, because to the Children, a woman's duties are being a mother and she was not up to par.

Ultimately, she ended up alone, combating the Shadow in the Blight with the Tower more often than she saw her brethren and she felt alienated from them. The only person who has stayed with her all these years is Larry (her mastermob). He has been her confidant for nearly 15 years irl and they are often with eachother. Larry is not a romantic interest.

After serving the Children for many years and her brothers seemingly abandoning the mission as well as her, the Lord Captain Commander offered honorable discharge to any Child who wished. Remembering the happy times in Cairhien and its wonderful library. She and Larry have since served King Galldrian su Riatin Rie, with her eventually being honored with the title of Baroness. Now, she mostly is interested in rebuilding Cairhien, through encouraging its economy.

Old dream:
Marry Galadedrid Damodred, take over Andor and with Galad as King, become Queen of Andor and set things right.

New dream:
Jokingly, marry Galadedrid Damodred, take over Andor AND Cairhien and with Galad as King, become Queen of Cairhien and reinvigorate the economy.

In reality, restore a semblance of order to her estates in Cairhien, and perhaps the nation.

Aira
Posts: 747
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:57 pm

Re: Aira's Bio and origin stories.

Post by Aira » Tue Aug 10, 2021 4:32 pm

After statting Aira in 2006ish, I wrote several stories about how she ended up with the Children. Unfortunately, those didn't survive the 15 years since. Partly due to a fit of rage about RP being useless, partly because I'm 3 computers down from that time. I remember the gist though and am in the process of re-writing them, also linking them with some contemporary stuff Aira is doing, storywise.

Story of my Life

'Heave! Heave! Heave!' the foreman called out, as the massive waterwheel was lifted from its place by the stream where it had been constructed. Four draught horses dug in their hooves and leaned into their harnesses, a chain leading from the swingle trees behind them and through a pulley that sat on the edge of a thick wooden beam. A team of two dozen men were also pulling on the chain, while others pulled on ropes to move the wheel sideways until the nave and its bearings hovered above the stone wall that lined the dammed-off stream.

'Hold!' the foreman called and the teamsters steadied the horses. Some of the workmen inspected the position of the wheel and one nodded at the foreman. 'Push!' The horses inched backwards. The men on the chains strained to cushion the sudden change in direction. Aira stood at a safe distance, but she could see the massive wooden wheel creep downwards, until it landed onto its supports with a thud. The chains slackened, the men cheered and Aira cheered with them. She may have been raised to Baroness by the King, she still felt like a commoner at heart. And this was an achievement worthy of celebration, in the largely deserted eastern reaches of Cairhien.

She walked up to Larry and clapped his shoulder. Larry nodded. When they had both ridden out to her new estates and had inspected the lands, they had both been shocked by the desolation. During their service to King Galldrian, they had seen most of Cairhien, but their patrols had frequently taken them through the more populated regions. This close to the Spine, villages, farms, vinyards had been abandoned and were largely overgrown. The people who had lived here, prior to the Aiel War, had been too afraid to move back. Most of them now lived in the Foregate, much to some higher borns' chagrin. It had taken quite the sum to bring in the crew to have them build this water-sawmill. Water aplenty, this close to the Spine. And timber as well, although there was ever a need for replanting what was cut down.

Now that the waterwheel had been secured into place, pints where handed out for a job well done. Soon, workers would start erecting the building that would become the sawmill. A wagon with large wooden cogs stood ready on the cobblestone floor that had been laid before. In a matter of weeks, the mill would be operational and they could start rebuilding. First, some of the village homes and farms. Her manor, if you could call it that, could wait. In her years as a soldier, she had become used to roughing it.

~@~

A few weeks later, Aira was at the mill again. A structure had been erected over the cobblestone floor, with the side walls covered with planks. A peaked roof would keep the timber dry. All sorts of cogs and gears had been set up, as well as a pulley system to lift and move the wood. Aira was looking around with interest, until a voice called out. 'Lady Aira, to you the honor of pulling this lever and activating this mill,' said the foreman. Aira reached out, put her hand on the cool metal and looked around her, at all the faces of the workers, farmers and villagers surrounding her. 'For Cairhien!' she boomed and she pulled the lever. The brake was released and the gears connected. Thudding, stomping and creaking, the mill came to life. The wheel turned in the stream, driving the shaft and a plethora of gears, culminating in a saw that moved up and down. The men had prepared a stripped treetrunk and the machine was now cutting hungrily through the pinewood, spreading a pleasant smell. The crowd cheered.

Amid the festivities following the opening of the mill, Aira stood in the sawmill, hearing the familiar thudding and clanking and she was instantly brought back to the sawmill where she was born. In western Murandy, a good distance south of the road from Remen, her parents had owned a sawmill. She and her brothers had grown up carefree; there had not been trollocs, or darkfriends, male channelers, nor Aes Sedai. It had been an uneventful childhood. She had memories of the smell of wood, sawdust forming motes in shafts of light and the rhythm of the sounds emanating from the mill. Of swimming in the millpond, clambering across stacked, felled trunks and playing hide and seek in the woodland surrounding the mill.

Her mother would call from the backdoor, wiping her hands on the narrow, brightly colored apron, announcing that dinner was ready. The children would come running, their faces dirty, their hair a mess and spots of sticky resin on their clothes. Her mother would shake her head and tell her that she was as bad as the boys. Aira smiled.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to find Larry there. They shared a smile, before he said 'They want you at the table, for the speech.' Aira sighed. The downside of being raised into nobility: these people wagged their tongues at any and every occasion. Story of her life.

Aira
Posts: 747
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:57 pm

Re: Aira's Bio and origin stories.

Post by Aira » Fri Oct 22, 2021 7:40 pm

A faint breeze came down the Spine of the World, causing the stalks in the wheat fields to weave and rustle. Aira was glad to see the land being used. Cairhien was struggling to support itself, even all these years after the Aiel War. Farmlands had been abandoned and grain had to be imported from Tear. At least there were some efforts underway to use the land again.

The hours passed quickly as they rode towards Cairhien and the landscape slowly changed. Small villages surrounded by farms with a few crops and some livestock gave way to larger estates. Vinyards became more frequent, as did traffic. Her con of a goat clutching two lightning bolts rose above her back, ensuring that anyone who saw her and Larry riding up gave way to them. Even if this deference made her uncomforable, it definitely made travel faster. She had loved designing her coat of arms. The goat signified practical wisdom and solving conflicts through diplomacy, while the lightning bolts referred to her past as a Child of the Light.

They rode on, letting the horses alternate between a walk and a trot, allowing them to catch their breath in between. Even if her horse would stay stabled in Cairhien for a few days, it was no use overexerting him on the ride in. Not to mention, you never knew what might happen and a fresh horse was better than an exhausted one. They topped a hill and Cairhien came into sight, its topless towers rising in a regular pattern like slender pinnacles, their jagged tops unfinished. One day, their steep, cone shaped roofs would be decorated with plated gold, turning the city into the Hill of the Golden Dawn once again.

The tilled fields gave way to rickety buildings as Aira entered the Foregate. Before long, they were riding across a broad, unpaved road that lead towards the Dragonwall Gate. Tall buildings lining the streets reflected the general din of the lively Foregate. The people from the Foregate wore bright clothes and had much less inhibitions than the people in the city proper did. Goodwives hung from windows, carrying conversations with eachother and people on the street below. The contents of a chamberpot emptied on the second floor narrowly missed a man on the side of the road.

Aira's thoughts drifted to another time she entered a city. She had been a few weeks shy of turning eighteen when she left her parents' sawmill. Her father had had an accident and she had gone to Lugard to get a job and contribute to the family income. Lugard. It had seemed the grandest city she had ever seen. Of course, it had also been the only city she had ever seen.

It seemed grand, until she learned of the dirty underbelly of the place. Aira smirked. She had finally found work as a tavern maid, starting out shy and easily intimidated, but the men's reactions quickly made her drop her reservations about quipping right back. Eventually, one such a man attracted her eye and that had been the start of a romance.

'Well,' she thought to herself, 'he had turned out to be a pig.' All had seemed well, but in hindsight he had tried groom her for a less than honorable form of employment. Even after all those years, she fumed quietly. When the proposition came, she had been absolutely enraged, to the point of her shouting admonishments, utterly embarassing him and attracting a crowd. A patrol of the Children had arrived, parting the crowd like a knife slicing through silk. Upon discerning what was going on, the officer present decided that her suitor was a threat to the citizens' morals and they tried to arrest him, but the sorry excuse for a man had bolted. When she had made a move to chase the pig of man, the Child officer had stopped her.

They reached the Dragonwall Gate and passed the end of a line of wagons and carriages that were waiting to enter the city. One of the officers at the gate made a note in a ledger when foreigners entered the city and asked them to return in twenty-four hours to let the guard know which inn they were staying at. Aira smiled. Not much had changed since her younger years. A wariness of foreigners was nothing new. Some, like Lieutenant Tavolin spoke with contempt about the Foregaters being corrupted by outland ways. It had not been any different when she first came to Cairhien, many years ago.

Aira and Larry nodded at the gateguards. Given her rank, Aira did not have to, but in her experience even the lower ranks wanted to be seen. Even though Cairhienin would read things into it that she never intended, such small things could matter in the future. The streets of Cairhien proper were much quieter than those of the Foregate. Some thoroughfares were busy, with merchant wagons, carriages and carts, but in here, she could hear the birds chirrup in the trees.

They rode up to the Palace Gates and handed their horses over to a pair of grooms. Aira walked straight towards a narrow archway, which lead to a maze of passages and ultimately, the barracks of the guard. Before long, the familiar sounds and scents of soldiers surrounded her. Laughter, dice, ale, sweat. It had been a long time since she had first spent time among soldiers. The Children had taken her to her camp to lay accusations at the Lugarder pig and she had been given a cot in a tent to sleep at. The day after, the man commanding them had asked her to deliver some letters, saying she could do so more inconspicuously than any of his men could. She spent a few days doing errands when the commanding officer had discovered she had a fine pen hand and him being less than enthused about all the writing, started dictating contents of letters to her.

One day, after the Children had rode north, into the southern reaches of Andor, she was delivering a letter a local minor noble. A patrol of young Andoran soldiers had noticed her and started jeering at her for being Murandian and surely a spy, or out to steal some sheep. She had continued walking and ignored them, but they had followed her. She had no memory of how it started, but she sure knew how it had ended - her lying on the ground, battered, bruised and beaten, more dead than alive.

She felt a hand grabbing her arm and she winced. The smells of sweat and sounds had made her remember. A jovial lord laughed drunkenly, his words slurred and talking about how pretty she looked. She excused herself, muttering 'Men and their drinks! Story of my life.'. At least the young commanding officer of the Children had been kind. Overcome with guilt, since she had been on one of his errands, he had let her stay with the Children until her wounds had healed, continuing her work as a scribe when she could. Eventually, the Children had reached Cairhien for some diplomatic mission or another. Aira had roamed the library. What a magnificent place. Her stay in Cairhien back then had been among the happiest periods in her life and the reason why she had returned, after she left the Children.

She turned into a room in the barracks, which was empty, save for one stout man. She greeted him before asking 'Donal, is your brother still in the blacksmithing business? I'm going to need some plows and harrows and such.'

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