Tarina "Taru" Autio
| Tarina Autio | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class | Bard |
| Occupation | Storyteller and aspiring Hero |
| Tier | Expert |
| Ancestry | Fetchling |
| Heritage | Ganzi |
| Alias(es) | Taru |
| Pronouns | She/Her |
| Age | 33 (born 29th of Desnus 196) |
| Height | 1.98m |
| Relatives | Taso Autio (sister) |
| Status | Alive |
| Player | Unseelie |
Tarina Autio, or Taru as she prefers, is an Associate of the Round Table, wishing to tell the tales of both heroics she witnesses and those she performs herself.
Description
Original
Taru is a fetchling ganzi, the latter granting her a frame taller and more muscular than what is typical for fetchlings. This heritage is further expressed in a line of blue scales over her left eye, mirroring a scar over her right eye she earned in her childhood, as well as a pair of bright orange, fairly small, and not fully material wings, resembling those of a peri. Her skin is of a middling grey tone, and her hair a bluish grey. Like most fetchlings, she has glowing eyes.
Her usual adventuring outfit consists of a quilted armour, any sturdy pairs of pants and boots she could get hold of, a longsword, a whip, a sling, a dagger, and a lute. However, the last she only carries for merrymaking, relying on speeches and spells to support her allies in combat. She also wears several piercings in both ears, preferring small rings or studs that do not pose too great a hazard in melee fights.
Due to usually travelling light, she tends to wear the same things outside of adventuring, only storing part of her weaponry somewhere should she have the option. This may change now that she has a semi-permanent dwelling. She dislikes people staring at her scar and scales, so when not among adventurers she also often dons a half-mask hiding these features.
Taru's shadow, while mostly sticking to the same shape as Taru, never stays still, always exploring anything around itself, and completely lacking any concept of personal space. It is very outgoing and usually tries to greet the shadows of other living beings, often leading to disappointment when they do no react. It quickly gets over any such distress, but Taru still tries to avoid it by matching the timing her own greetings of non-fetchlings to those of her shadow.
(By Roujin_)
Changes while living in Onadbyr
Some months into living in Onadbyr, Taru replaced her old half-mask with a full face mask capable of changing shapes and enhancing her performances. She also upgraded from her quilted armour to a custom hide armour featuring the emblems of Cayden Cailean on the front and of Desna on the sleeves. A similarly decorated full plate armour is already waiting at her home for when she is strong enough to properly use it. Recently she expanded her arsenal, removing the longsword and sling, but instead adding a greatsword, a kusarigama, a tekko-kagi, and a composite shortbow, with runes applied to the first two.
Taru's shadow is slowly gaining a sort of ethereal substance. As of summer 225, it is able to touch objects enough to interact with them.
Around the same time Melfyra started living with Taru so that Taru could protect her.
Background
Taru, together with her fraternal twin sister Taso, was born in a small village on the material plane mostly populated by fetchlings that had to flee the shadow plane during The Collapse.
Some lingering fragment of chaos came into contact with her mother during her pregnancy, apparently only affecting Taru and leaving her sister a normal fetchling. While Taru's unusual appearance certainly drew glances and whispers, she was generally accepted in her village, staying there until she finished an apprenticeship as a bard and decided to experience adventuring herself rather than just telling stories about it. (An anecdote she loves to tell is that she earned herself the nickname of "Butcher of Legends" at that time—occasionally she will also reveal that it was for her absolutely atrocious first attempt at retelling legends before an audience.)
Her sister, wishing to learn more about crafting techniques around the world, decided to tag along. The two of them have a rather strange relationship, getting along famously in letters and occasional meetings, but mostly bickering whenever they spend more than a day or so together. Somehow they made travelling together work anyway.
They split up soon before Taru arrived in Onadbyr, Taso staying a while in a workshop they came across to learn of their methods. The two still regularly exchanged letters and a few month later Taso joined her sister in the city.
Life in Onadbyr
Taru greatly enjoys living in Onadbyr and being an Associate. She joins missions as often as she can, as long as she believes she will be more help than hindrance.
She spends most evenings in taverns telling tales of heroes and adventures, both for fun and as a secondary source of income.
Religion
While Taru is not deeply religious, she follows the teachings of both Cayden Cailean and Desna. One could argue that she respects the latter more as a divinity, but she looks up to Cayden as a person and even recently became one of his champions.
Pet
In autumn 225, Taru received a frost ora as reward for… training said frost ora. She is still unsure what Samara got out of that deal.
The frost ora is named Aeve, after a legendary slime whose story Taru has heard. They are trained to orate tales backwards for an audience and to collect rewards after.
Etymology
Taru's names are based on Finnish words. Her first name, Tarina, means "Story" or "Tale", aggrandised in her nickname Taru, which means "Epic" or "Legend", symbolising her own aspirations.
Autio, her last name, translates to "Desolate" or "Uninhabited", referencing large parts of the Shadow Plane. It is a very common last name in her culture.
Aeve is named after a Magic: The Gathering card, the legendary slime Aeve, Progenitor Ooze.