Fennlisa

Her Personality
and the Art of Playing a Woman Character when you are a Man.

Introduction

One thing you learn when you grow up as part of a family with six kids and both parents working is to wait your turn. Wait your turn for food, clothes, toys, the jacks, love, attention… basically everything. And that means learning patience.

Fennelisa learned this at an early age (Dadda always said she was a bright girl). She has cultivated patience to a high art.

The other thing you learn living in such a large family is to be self-reliant. Others will not do for you if they barely have time for themselves. Not that her foster parents never had time for their children but they wanted to instill in their brood a sense of being able to do things by themselves.

Fennelisa also exceeded at this. She was able to always keep busy at tasks that needed doing. Anyone who knew her well, also knew that she could be trusted with most tasks and that she would them to the best of her abilities.

This also means Fennelisa is always doing something, she never sits idly by when there’s work to be done. She is not content with thinking about doing something, she has to be about doing it. If something else comes along, switch and come back to the previous task when the new one is finished.

Fennelisa has always had sympathy with others who have a hard time. When she was younger, this tended to get her into some trouble (mostly with her parents for not making a slight amount of profit over it) but as she grew older she has learned to temper her impulse to spontaneously help anyone in trouble. She has decided that joining the legion is enough generosity on her part towards her fellow Thardan (and if she can pick up a few bucks while at it… She is after all a bred Thardan, even though she was not born in Tharda.)

Described in terms of my RPG personality system, Fennelisa has the following Personality Factors:

Driving	Practical
Influencing	Compassionate
Sustaining	Patient
Apparent	Industrious
Binding	Trustworthy

What this means is that Fennelisa is driven to action, she never debates a matter if can do something about it instead. She prefers action over debating. Everything she does is tempered by her compassion for others and their difficulties and sufferings. She will always weigh the effect something has on others. Her patience is what keeps her going. Even when she is at the end of her ropes or at wit’s end, she will keep her cool and remain calm. She never rushes herself or others. What other people always notice first about Fennelisa is that she is always doing something to keep busy. She will sits still or lazing about, she is always doing doing something, something preferably useful. And what Fennelisa, Fennelisa is that everyone can trust her because she will always do her best to justify others’ trust in her.

Too good to be true…

Fennelisa would almost seem to be too good to be true but that is misleading. She is after all Thardan. Like all her fellow countrymen, she is very much concerned about two things: Status and Money. She joined the Legion to be able to advance in Thardan society. The first step is to become a citizen. With her background, simply coming of age would have been sufficient but she feels she has to fulfill others’ trust in her by earning her status of citizen. Joining the Legion is the best way to do it (admittedly not the safest way, but the best way nonetheless.)

She had thought of other ways but none of them would give her the same status. She had chances to become a woodcarver, a priestess or a mage (and she still feels those venues are open to her) but decided that her first step would have to be as a linari. Once that step is done, she would still have time to change to another carreer. She knows she has the support of both sets of parents in that respect.

Because of an experience when she was younger, she has also developed an intense dislike of anything relating to Naveh and the Navehan Church. She will have nothing to do with them at all. Her first impulse is to avoid their activities but she knows that is not always possible. She suspects they know who she is and thinks they might bear a grudge against her.

In a crowd…

Fine, if you spend time with her, now you’ll be able to recognize her. But who is she, what does she look like?

Physically, Fennelisa is taller than the average woman. She also weighs more than other women because she is stronger. In fact she is stronger than most men. Her skin tone is a darkly tanned white. She has straight reddish hair closer to auburn than fall-red in colour. Her eyes are a medium blue with flecks of grey and green.

She resembles more her mother than her father in general looks. She is rather plain and unremarkable; not unattractive mind you, but not pretty either. She has such a rough look about her that people are surprised when she speaks; her voice is so soft and clear. The kind of voice you expect to find (anachronism alert!) on those phone line things…

Abilities

Fennelisa was born under the sign of The Wands, Aralius, while Alaran was in the house of Nadai and Tissams was rising (her foster-father is an astrologer, remember). She has strong abilities with crafts and nature. She was always drawn to working natural materials like wood. In fact, she has spent her childhood helping out her friend Bashar, the woodcrafter, who has a shop next to where her adoptive mother works (in Coranan).

This page was last updated on January 23, 2002
Questions/Comments should be directed to the Webmaster.
All works are Copyright their respective authors, 2002.