Riley Rae Maddox

Small, JUST hitting five feet tall. She is lithe and looks as if the slightest breeze could blow her away. At first glance, she’s ethereal, almost angelic. Her small stature, alarmingly pale skin, with blue eyes flecked with gold and silvery-blue hair give off the impression that she almost isn’t real. She looks like a figment of your imagination at first, until you notice the shit-eating grin or hear her hoarse laughter. Her very appearance is anachronistic. Her appearance definitely doesn’t match her personality, let alone her voice or laugh. Rae sounds almost human, with how rough her voice is—and loud—she’s loud like humans are, in a way that most elves are not. But it is evident from her appearance that she was once raised to behave properly. Certain tells have never gone away over the years. The way she arches her brow when she doesn’t quite agree with something, or the way her jaw clenches when she’s frustrated—all tells of the ways she was once curtailed in her youth by her first family. Her more evident mannerisms come from her human parents. She laughs loud, long, and boisterously. She drinks and dances with abandon. She flirts and flits around a bar like she grew up in one… and she kind of did, at one point in her youth.

For some reason, she almost glows in the moonlight. She’s never understood why her skin was so pale in comparison to everyone else in her family. Or why she’s so small in comparison to her parents. She just doesn’t really fit, and she doesn’t understand why. She isn’t actively seeking out information about her difference, but if she runs across something, she’s always interested.

The daughter of a prominent official, who acted as a public official for the High Elves. Her mother was one of the six families which supported the “king” so to speak, acting as a politician, essentially. Growing up, Rael was a very smart kid and often went with her mom to meetings. As she grew older (around 70-90; teenage-hood, I suppose), she began listening in and once her general distaste for decorum and politics made itself known, Rae began pulling away from her family, friends, and the general community.   She had always been a little out of the ordinary and never quite meshed with anyone close to her. She struggled socially, because she was often, loud, brash, and brazen as a child. She had a hard time sticking to the etiquette that her mother desperately wanted her to learn. Sometimes she was a perfect “lady” as she should be; but most often, she was being escorted out of parties and yelled at for playing tricks on guests. These tricks were often at the behest of her deity, Alobal Lorfiril. Alobal (or Ally; Aloe, as she calls him) is a minor elven god, who is invested in focusing on the now. He was especially interested in showing her the joys of good food, good drink (particularly the amazing wine her family had), friendship, and love. She found it hard to find the last two, as her family and community often treated her a little poorly, due to how pale she was in comparison to the rest of her people. One or twice, Rael tried to convince her mother to let her perform small magic shows for those who were injured, but her mother denied the requests every time. She did not approve of Rael’s interaction with her deity and was furious that her daughter was even remotely attached or interested in those who follow someone who she felt was “sloth-like” and “frivolous.”   At a public event, she denounced her mother’s position on something to someone from an opposing viewpoint, causing a massive stir. This was right before her ceremony for adulthood, which her mother had “fast-tracked” so that she could begin training Rae for eventually joining the political field. Rae didn’t want to join that field and was certainly disinterested in her mother’s POV. She was an anarchist by her community’s standards, basically. Decidedly opposed to the subtle racism that plagued her people (especially her mother), Rae wasn’t really ready to become an adult yet and take on the political burdens of her family. As a result of her outburst at the event, Rael was told that she could either fall in line and accept her future, or she could leave. She was also instructed that she would have to abandon her faith in Alobal entirely and leave behind her “childish” attachment to silly applications of illusion magic. Her mother wasn’t really being serious and had intended the threat to be empty, but Rae took her seriously and left home that night.   At around 90 years old, Rae was very close to adulthood (what I would describe as being a semi-mature teenager). So, after the argument with her mother and the ridiculous ultimatum she’d been served, Rae packed a small bag and traveled to the nearest tavern. In the bar, she ran across several different races she had never seen before. She was fascinated by everything around her, but one particular couple caught her attention. It was a human couple, huddled over a bundle, which was clearly an infant. In their arms, they held a tiny baby, which was decidedly not human (Tiefling, she would soon learn.). Curious, she wandered over. Some stories were exchanged, and the two adults looked at Rae and smiled kindly, offering her a place to stay while things blew over with her mother. Things never blew over. She stayed with the couple for a month at the tavern/inn and never heard from her family. The two decided to offer her a place in their home. They knew she could be helpful with their new child and that she needed somewhere to go while she spent some more time growing up/getting ready for adulthood.   Rae lived with her human family for the next 45 years. The humans were fairly young when they adopted Riley Rae. She lived with them happily but eventually decided it was time for her to leave and seek her own fortune. She had so much time left in her life and her parents encouraged her to set out on her own and try to find what brings her joy. She watched her little sister (the Tiefling infant) grow up, get married, and start her own family. Some of the older, adult cousins Rae had less interaction with when she was young, came as she aged and began setting up their homesteads nearer to her family. They too have begun adopting children from around the world. She checks in frequently and sends home gifts to her little siblings/cousins as much as she can.   Rae has never contacted her Elvish family, nor have they reached out to her. She is now out on her own, roaming around and trying to find people in need. Occasionally she sets up orphans with new homes, whenever possible. Sometimes she suggests a relative or a community member, as someone to seek home and comfort with.

Rael, despite her desire to be ANYTHING but what her birth-family wants, does wish to lead her people into a more inclusive, accepting, and less rigid lifestyle. The upper echelon that she is familiar with makes her sad for the elves. She pities them, in a way. But she’s also furious that they are so advanced, but so lost in the mire of their assumed superiority. She wants to break these traditions, pull the high elves off their high-horses, and teach them the ways of Alobal Lorfiril—she wishes to show them the joy of revelry and teach them how to delight in minor chaos. Ultimately, she wishes to abolish the system her family is intrinsically involved in. She wishes to strip the kinglike figure who they all bow to of his power as well. She wants no superiority but chosen or elected officials who truly care about the people they represent. To her mind, those in power are nothing more than jockeying for position.

• Really doesn’t like her birth mother and feels abandoned by her birth family. • She is afraid of the council her mother works for—she fears their dislike for her and the fact that she feels judged like her powers aren’t enough. • She’s still a little heartbroken that she never felt like she was good enough to please her birth parents.

• Elvish parent [You can pick these names if you want to—you would know who is on the council and what their names are. If they don’t have names yet, I would call her father Errevan and her mother Daelana.] • Human parents—Mother—called Momma, given name Joleen; Father—called daddy, given name—Jasper. • Adoptive siblings—she has a bunch, but she is closest to her little sister, a Tiefling named Andrea (called Andy for short). o Other siblings: Topher, Brynn, Lyanna and Lyanus (twins), Mary, and George. • Adoptive cousins—a bunch, she has a massive adoptive family. Her cousin who is closest to her in ‘age’ (approximate development) is basically her best friend. He is a bard and so she has learned a lot of music and developed a deep love for bards and their skills. His name is Newton, but he goes by Newt. o Other close cousins: Dean, Sab, Mads, Xander, Willow, and Piper. • Aunt—she is a half-orc who is incredibly skilled with art. She has a small tattooing and piercing business and will decorate her family for free. Rae has several tattoos and a single belly button piercing. Her name is Flint. • Uncle—her uncle Daeric is a wood elf and he too is a cleric of her deity/patron, Alobal Lorfiril. They are incredibly close because they share a similar sense of humor and love for revelry. They are often the two in charge of putting together parties and use those moments to pay homage to their god.

Rael typically talks about her human family as her FAMILY. If she is referencing her birth parents and the community she originally grew up with, she will often refer to them as her “hosts” because she feels no family connection to them at this point. It is also important to note that her birth parents and the Elvish community at large would not know her adoptive name, her adoptive parents, or any of her adoptive siblings unless they have been looking into her secretly.