tzimisce Anna Cerva of Ragusa

[Mild Scribe]

 

Anna hails from fair Ragusa, one of the Dalmatian city states that shine like pearls along the Adriatic coast opposite Italy. Anna’s own family the House of Cerva belongs to the oldest of the patrician class, dating from the foundation of the city when they and others fled the barbarian invaders that sacked the ancient city of Epidaurum. Yet on the coast protected by Roman might out of Constantinople the city-states of Dalmatia stubbornly clung to independence. As imperial power waned the rising republican might of Venice took its place, though this was more often contested by the local inland powers, yet whoever controlled the city in the courts of kings for its own part Ragusa always quietly maintained its own heritage and management of its own affairs. As a child of a patrician house Anna was afforded every luxury as a child. Born a twin to her brother Marin the two children were loath to be apart in their earliest days, so Anna often shared his activities from their lessons in arithmetic and rhetoric, to more boyish pursuits like riding and even the rudiments of swordplay. With her brother Anna was adventurous, always urging him to take her places and try new things, but with others she was quick to hide behind Marin and play the shy maiden. Yet those halcyon days would not last, and things began to change for the twins when their mother died. 

Their father swiftly remarried and the twins' new step-mother proved far less indulgent. While not a cruel woman in truth, having no children of her own she latched onto Marin as her legacy, and seemed to resent any other female presence in his life. Anna found herself increasingly fenced out of her brother’s life and redirected to “arts all young maidens should attend carefully” instead. Eventually it became clear to Anna her step-mother intended her to be married off and put away for good, probably to some wealthy Venetian. Had that been of her own will she might not have minded life in her small city’s much larger patron, but she would not be forced to such a fate or any other. Absconding with several bags of silver and other gear Anna set her sights on Outremer. Ragusa had played no part in the great Crusade nor was Anna motivated by any particularly great faith, but in the trading city every boat from the east had been loaded with strange and fascinating treasures. While the tales the bards spun of battles in the time of her grandfather seemed like the ancient heroes come to life. To the young and naive girl the Holy Land seemed full of mystery and adventure, her own city a rather small thing of little account in God’s Creation. To ease her travels Anna cut her hair and put on a man’s clothes, taking up the name Alexios and made her way east. 

It was not long before reality caught up to her. Everything cost far more than she had anticipated, she lost a purse to a pickpocket and had to see another off at swordpoint, other were suspicious just what an armed young man was doing journeying alone and charged accordingly. By the time Anna reached Constantinople barely a third of her coin remained. It was there that “Alexi” became a soldier or rather a mercenary, guarding a convoy of pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. Ironically this choice became a fortunate one, for the Kingdom of Jerusalem of fact, not myth, proved to be a dry and dusty place filled with greedy and ambitious men. Anyone that could fight could find their place there, and rise high no matter the station they were born to. Able to ride well, fight some, and most importantly of all read the young Alexi soon found themselves moving up the ranks. Yet even as her prospects rose Anna feared exposure all the more. She was not the only woman under arms in the Holy Land, where every hand was needed and women like Queen Melisende had achieved great acclaim while the men were constantly at war, but the conspiracy of silence only went so far. So Anna always took care that Alexi remained but a faceless knight in service of the mighty.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by Mild Scribe (see edit history)

[Mild Scribe]

 

Theme Songs: 

 

Name: Anna Cerva	Nature: Celebrant	Clan: Tzimisce
Sect: N/A	Demeanour: Soldier	Generation: 7th
Concept: The Faceless Knight	Road: Path of Chivalry	Sire: Moryana the Wise

Attributes

Strength: ●●●○○	Charisma: ●●○○○	Perception: ●●○○○
Dexterity: ●●●●○	Manipulation: ●●○○○	Intelligence: ●●●●○
Stamina: ●●●○○	Appearance: ●●○○○	Wits: ●●○○○

Abilities

Talents	Skills	Knowledges
Alertness: ○○○○○	Animal Ken: ●○○○○	Academics: ●○○○○
Athletics: ●●●○○	Archery: ●○○○○	Enigmas: ○○○○○
Awareness: ○○○○○	Body Crafts: ●●●●○	Hearth Wisdom: ●○○○○
Brawl: ●○○○○	Commerce: ○○○○○	Investigation: ○○○○○
Empathy: ○○○○○	Etiquette: ●●●○○	Law: ○○○○○
Expression: ●○○○○	Melee: ●●●●○	Medicine: ●●●○○
Intimidation: ○○○○○	Performance: ○○○○○	Occult: ●○○○○
Leadership: ○○○○○	Ride: ●●○○○	Politics: ●○○○○
Legerdemain: ○○○○○	Stealth: ○○○○○	Seneschal: ●○○○○
Subterfuge: ○○○○○	Survival: ○○○○○	Theology: ●○○○○

Advantages

Disciplines	Backgrounds	Virtues
Animalism: ○○○○○ Auspex: ○○○○○ Vicissitude: ●●●●○	Companion: ●○○○○ Generation: ●●●●● Herd: ●○○○○ Resources: ●●●○○ Status: ●	Conviction: ●●○○○ Self-Control: ●●●●○ Courage: ●●●●○

Other

Merits & Flaws	Road	Willpower	Bloodpool
Eat Food ● Inoffensive ● Multi-Lingual ●● Prestigious Sire ● Promethean Clay ●●●●● Sanctity ●● Cursed ●● Deep Sleeper ● Rivalry ●●● Twitch ●	Humanity ●●●●● ●○○○○ Aura:	●●●●● ●○○○○ □□□□□ □□□□□	■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■■ Blood Points per Turn: 4

 

Freebie Log5 Merits +5
4 Backgrounds +4
2 Body Crafts 4
2 Melee 4
2 Willpower +2

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Edited November 17, 2023 by Mild Scribe (see edit history)

[Mild Scribe]

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[Mild Scribe]

Companion & Retainers

 

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Edited November 6, 2023 by Mild Scribe (see edit history)