Issra Vale
Personal History
Issra Vale grew up on the docks of Gowtenham, a coastal city in Valsevia, where the scent of tar and salt was a constant reminder of hardship. Her father was a drunk and her mother chronically ill. At just ten, Issra lost her mother to winter’s bite and her father to the sea. A year later, her older brother was hanged for stealing from a brewery.
By twelve, Issra had already killed a man — a lecherous drunk named Gremdrol — defending herself behind a gambling hall with a sharpened shiv. To escape the consequences and her past, she disguised herself as a fourteen-year-old boy and signed on as a deckhand the next morning.
She sailed under false names until she reached the docks of Umcebo, where she met Braila, a recruiter for the Black Hand. By the time she was actually fourteen, she had already become one of their youngest operatives.
Her scar — a jagged cut through the left side of her skull — came from smuggling a displacer beast she foolishly tried to befriend. Since then, she’s become hardened, dangerous, and deeply pragmatic.
Now a fully-fledged Black Hand operative, she captains her own sloop and brokers high-level arms deals with warbands, rebel groups, and opportunists alike, trading firepower for political footholds across Ararim.
Physical descriptions
Appearance & Attire
Issra is tall and powerfully built, with wiry muscle and an imposing presence. Her skin is sun-worn and tanned from years at sea, with piercing green eyes and angular features. Her black hair is half shaved on the left — a rough, jagged scar cuts across that side of her skull — while the right is braided and adorned with beads of bone and metal.
She wears reinforced leather armor adapted for sea travel and jungle combat, layered with light plating and hidden holsters. At her hip rests a menacing, curved rapier etched with infernal markings, and a highly advanced firearm — a relic of unknown design — rests on the other side, secured in a quick-draw harness.
Despite her rugged appearance, she moves with precision and speaks with a cool, sardonic elegance that unnerves even seasoned killers.
Concealed Items
A hidden locket with her mother’s broken ring inside. A small folded list of names written in charcoal — each one a person who once wronged her or her brother. A rune-carved coin gifted by Braila, granting her authority among Black Hand cells.What do they sound like
Her voice is low and smoky, touched with a dockside Valsevian drawl. She speaks in short, deliberate sentences with sharp wit and frequent sarcasm. In tense moments, she’s calm and quiet — but when she raises her voice, it's like a blade drawn in a silent room.
Social
Motivations
Issra is loyal to the Black Hand, but more loyal to her personal sense of survival and justice. She sees arms trading as a form of balance — giving small factions the power to resist greater tyrants. Beneath her hardened exterior, she secretly hopes to build a legacy where the weak don't have to suffer like she once did.
Personality Traits
Quick-witted and sharp-tongued.
Observant — rarely speaks without calculating intent.
Loyal only to those who prove they’re not cowards or fools.
Keeps emotions buried, but will risk herself for underdogs.
Flaws
Deeply distrusting of emotional attachment; avoids anything that resembles family.
Holds grudges with unshakable intensity.
Self-medicates trauma with violence, secrecy, and recklessness.
Struggles to accept help, even when she needs it.
Ideals
“Power should be earned, not hoarded.”
“Trust is a currency, and most people are bankrupt.”
“A sharp blade and a loaded gun solve what politics won’t.”
“No child should grow up fearing the dark. I’ll be its monster instead.”
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