Nadezha Sirantas (approved)

Character information
Full Character Name: Nadezha
Furcadia Name: Nadezha "Nadya" Aishe Sirantas
Desired Role: Jongleur
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Height: 5' 4"
Build: Athletic
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Raven Brown


Description:
Soft fair features give innocent elegance to the gypsy entertainer. Playful friskiness toys from dark glossy eyes, wild flowing hair of brown so dark only highlights tell the tale of its nature. Her bronzed frame fit for a dancer, lithe enough for the flexibility, curvy enough to catch the wandering eye. Festooned in the most colorful of risque decor when performing, she is often dressed not much different than any other common servant.

Character Background:
The gypsy tribes that wander the lands are usually unwelcome company in any town or village due to their stereotype of decadent and criminal lifestyles. But one thing they are positively well known for is their entertainment prowess. Enter one such girl, a prodigy of the entertainment arts as she trained under everything she was able to learn at the earliest of ages. But as any good cliche story, tragedy would strike when the encampment stirred the wrath of a rather unforgiving town in the southern mountains. Goods were plundered, the majority of the men were slain, and most women taken captive to be sold like cattle. The aging War Duke, Gabriel Lucinti I, was passing through with his troops on his way home from a victorious campaign when his discovery of the barbarism the townsfolk were committing to the survivors in the town square, it left him attempting to have the chaos stopped. The townsfolk unrelenting and the Duke seeing it would come to massive bloodshed to do go further, he put up a small fortune to buy as many as he could, the slavers naturally overpricing him in spite. Given the choice of their freedom on return to the Duke's estate, with no homes and families, most of the women pledged their allegiance to him, some even marrying soldiers they had come to know on their travels.

Still quite young Nadezha was no different in her allegiance, becoming a handmaiden for the Duke's grand children. She was beloved for her gracefulness yet pitied for her poor sight, her retinas having been damaged from strain and trauma from her capture, leaving her rather nearsighted. She continued training in her skills secretively, in fear they would be looked poorly upon by the Duke's courts, but when elder Gabriel discovered her many talents, he was more than overjoyed to promote her into a court entertainer when she were older, where she dazzled most of those who came through the court. At least those who were not turned off by the 'erotic' costumes and acrobatic antics of a female gypsy. Still, times were pleasant.

But all good things come to an end. Gabriel and his sons were slain in combat and the young grandson, Gabriel III, assumed the Dukedom, a position he assumed like the crazed dictator he was. Life became harsh all too quickly, Nadezha just as snared into as any as he kept her as his personal liaison for many months until his sister, Jesslyn, gained word of the Valenti's reigning in the new era and settling in Valys. She took a small envoy of her personal court, absconding Nadezha in the process, and headed for Valys to make a new life before Gabriel III ended it for everyone.

Nadezha and Jesslyn Lucinti remain close friends and confidants as Jesslyn courts for a husband, Nadezha freed to find her own path in her new home. Provided they would accept a gypsy as quickly as her patron once did.

Nadezha, often called Nadya for easier pronunciation, is a jongleur (or troubadour if you really prefer) of all trades. Dancing, parlor tricks and conjuring, acrobatics, knife throwing, juggling, and even the occasional song if properly coerced. She likewise plays an accomplished lute but refuses to play it in performances. Her near sighted handicap is covered by an excellent catlike capacity of balance and a keen sixth sense during performances. She uses touch to help her through daily life with poor eyesight, making her appear flirtatious, but still struggles with disadvantages such as the inability to read. She also has a wide array of costumes that many would consider too provocative for most courts. All of this combined with a very open and playful personality easily labels her a harlot in most eyes, but as one often persecuted for her gypsy heritage, it rolls off her like water off a duck's back.