Kapok Sycamore Kar'ita (a.k.a. Sam)
(Most of the information in this article is based off of Sam in Record.)
Basic stats (in DnD terms for lack of a better or original matrix): STR: 13, DEX: 19, CON: 16, INT: 9, WIS: 11, CHA: 13
Sam is the protagonist of the Kar'ita series (of which has barely been written, but that's not important). Most of her adventure (or traumatization) occurs over three books: Record, Rogue, and Return. Sam's roles in these books are listed below.
Record
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After living in Eklon Woods (alone, save for The Great Dryad Tree and visitors to the woods) for her whole life, Sarah, a frequent visitor to the woods, convinced Sam to join an adventuring party with the goal to defeat the daemon king. Sam, lured by the promise of bread, followed the group (The group consisted of Naomi, a syzcian-human cleric, Heather, an undead ranger, Sarah, a human barbarian, Jack, an elven bard, and Frederick, a human wizard.). Sam took up the role of a rogue, perfect for her small stature. The party traveled through towns and cities, taking quests and vanquishing monsters. At the end of their journey, they found themselves woefully unprepared to fight the daemon king. The party's bard, ranger, and wizard were killed, and the cleric, the barbarian, and the rogue were heavily injured, but they retreated and survived. After being mostly healed, Sam retreated back into the forest to avoid all her problems. She found ways to sneak around the daemon king's possible wrath (despite already being outside of his attack range.).
Rogue
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About two years after the events of Record, Sam decided to go into society again, if only to buy bread and some other things she couldn't find living in the woods. While there, she was approached by a young fighter, Kira. Kira asked Sam to help her defeat the daemon king since Sam was the only one of the original team to still be able to fight. Sam and Kira negotiated a payment (70%:30% of the battle spoils, respectively), and they were off. For around 3/4's of a year, Sam brought Kira to monster encampments to train her. Despite trying to remain distant, Sam got attached to Kira, even renegotiating her payment to 50% of the battle spoils. A week before winter, Kira dragged Sam to the daemon king's castle, and together, they attempted to defeat the daemon king once and for all. Kira fell pretty quickly, and the daemon king stopped attacking Sam, allowing her to take Kira's hair ribbon to remember her by before she retreated back to Eklon Woods to hide from her problems once more.
Return
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A year and a half after the events of Rogue, the Great Dryad Tree of Eklon Woods gave Sam a locket holding a 'Seed of the Dryad'. Sam was told to swallow the seed when she found it appropriate. No other instructions concerning the seed were given. Not even a week later, undead soldiers came into the forest, killed the Great Dryad Tree, and tried to kill Sam as well. Sam attacked the soldiers and ran, going anywhere but any region of Eklon. While having a drink at a stream, Sam met Naomi's brother, Elm. Both having had people close to them harmed by the daemon king, they decided to put an end to the daemon king once and for all. After absolutely no training but a lot of hyping each other up, they ran into the daemon king's castle. Before the battle, Sam swallowed the Seed of the Dryad, hoping its likely magical properties would make her more formidable in battle. Predictably, Elm fell in battle, but Sam, with the power of pent-up fury, defeated the daemon king. She then gained the ability to turn into a tree at will as long as she was near the daemon king's castle. The rest of Return is just a revived Heather trying to help Sam work through her feelings. Whether Heather is successful or not, Sam ends Return by staring upon the majority of hominid-kind with sadness because they will die in the near future (a few hundred years or less) and she will not because she is a magic tree and could theoretically live forever if she is not killed.
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While not created for her, artifacts relating to Sam are old, brittle pages of one of Eklavov's texts, a sword sharpener, a silver serving platter, a well-maintained mandolin, magic earrings, a hair ribbon, and a dark maroon handkerchief. These are not Sam's items, but they're instead pieces of her old companions' lives.
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Great Dryad Trees don't have specific texts, but they pick and choose pieces from other texts. Sam uses Eklavov's texts, but she only chooses pieces she finds reasonable.
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All Great Dryad Trees are associated with trees and an additional symbol. Sam's additional symbol is either a castle or a fortress.
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On the 1st of Kleishou, the worshipers of the Great Dryad Trees who are most loyal to Sam celebrate her birthday. It's not an official holiday, but it is celebrated by some.
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Sam wants evil to cease to exist so she can be left alone without the looming threat of someone she cares about dying.
Physical Description
Sam has the mark of the Dryad on her sternum, but it's usually covered by clothes. In addition, parts of Sam's skin, more specifically her elbows, knees, and forearms, are scraped and stained with chlorophyll.
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After the events of Record, she also has a scar on her chest from being injured in the final fight.
Sam is pretty human. Maybe she's shorter than most people and has slightly pointed ears, but there's nothing else about her that would really scream 'that's not an average human or a non-human being!'. At most, she just has a few injuries, but it's not really anything peculiar.
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At least in/after Return, Sam can turn into a tree if she's close to the location where she first became a tree. She can also control plants.
Sam wears a black, high-necked tank-top. She has detachable sleeves molded so that she can easily slip her arm out if she's grabbed, and the person grabbing her will be none the wiser. She wears long, black leggings. In addition, she has a long skirt to hide her knives.
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As time goes on, Sam's skirt gets more and more damaged until it just ceases to exist entirely.
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At the end of Record, Sam steals her party's wizard's magical earrings, using them to temporarily seal the daemon king away. In addition, after Rogue, Sam tied her companion's hair ribbon around her (Sam) right arm in order to remember her (companion).
Sam uses two very sharp daggers (affectionately referred to by her as knives).
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After Record, she uses magic earrings alongside her daggers, but it's more of an unconscious thing, not something actively thought about. In Return, she uses the Seed of the Dryad, but that's a one-time use thing and not necessarily a part of her usual arsenal.
Mental characteristics
Sam grew up in a very caring environment, never really having to endure any mental hardship or anguish. She never did, however, develop a proper way to manage any negative emotions, should she encounter them. As such, should anything happen to Sam or the people around her, she will emotionally shut down in an attempt to play dumb. After all, if it doesn't happen, it can't hurt, can it?
Sam has never been to school before, but she's literate and knows how to do basic math. Most of what Sam knows was taught to her by The Great Dryad Tree of Eklon Woods. If Sam was put into the same school system most people her age are in, she would severely lag behind in most areas. She has no knowledge of history and a very basic grasp on some concepts of certain religions. Her scientific and magical knowledge is subpar for a third-grader at best. She can do basic arithmetic, but a fifth grader could do more than her. The only classically taught skill at schools in Restov that she's proficient in is reading, but she lacks the skills and abilities to read darker tales or to further analyze what she's read.
The Great Dryad Tree of Eklon Woods isn't a teacher. Even if she was, she wasn't trying to properly prepare Sam to get a job and/or go live outside of Eklon Woods. After all, Sam's role in Restov never was to live in hominid society.
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Sam's life is marked with little but failures to protect others or preordained events that she never had any control over. The most achievements she's had are small, mainly deescalating arguments or motivating others while they're in battle. She did kill the daemon king, but she never saw that as an accomplishment or an achievement, only an atonement for her past failures.
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Sam's being inactive or shielded in battles has led a lot of people around her to their deaths. Even if they weren't directly her fault, she always had some involvement in their demise. Inaction, overconfidence, or even just her very being led monsters or other evil beings to injure or kill her friends and companions.
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Before beginning to travel with her companions, Sam had absolutely no mental trauma. By the end of the journey, it seemed the only mental trauma she would accumulate would be watching her companions get slightly hurt in the midst of battle. Then, she watched half of her party brutally fall and the other half get seriously injured in the final battle. When she went on her second adventure, she grew close to another person who died just as brutally as the others did. At the time of her third adventure, she had already figured out the pattern. She tried to stop it, of course, but the death of her new companion was already set in stone by the narrative.
Sam believes in most of the religion of Eklavov, but she does believe that things such as self-defense should be permissible (things like that are, however, usually only followed by the extremely dedicated members of the religion anyway.). Some of the morals that she follows are more basic, such as no violence (barring self-defense), treat others with kindness and compassion, respect people, especially those above you in status, just be a generally good person, et cetera, et cetera.
Personality Characteristics
Sam just went with the party in exchange for bread and ended up getting roped into a much bigger plot.
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While the original intention was ensuring Sam's safety while Sarah was off helping save the world, Sam ended up becoming the one who did most of the world-saving.
Sam is excellent at anything plant-related, but she couldn't figure out how to properly express her emotions for the life of her.
Considering Restov is kind of based on pre-rotation farming times with a few technological advances and Sam is basically feral, Sam's hygiene is pretty good. Even though she usually just dives in a lake to wash off, she isn't dirty, and she usually smells like pine needles.
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Perhaps as one of the first dryad, if not the first dryad to exist in her tree form in a man-made structure, she indirectly encouraged hominid creatures to invite more plant life into their homes, creating new cultures and subcultures around the idea that animals and plants could, with some exceptions, live in a type of harmony. (Essentially, houseplants and extreme collectors of houseplants became a lot more prevalent in society.)
Social
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One of Sam's parents is The Great Dryad Tree of Eklon Woods. Her other parent is unknown.
Sam is quiet, standoffish, and perhaps a little abrasive at first, but once she feels comfortable around a person or a group of people, she can become very animated. Sam tends not to beat around the bush, and sometimes she struggles to figure out what would and what wouldn't be appropriate to say in a certain situation.
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