(ESO FanFic: Templar of Shezarr – Intro)

Race: Imperial
Gender: Female
Orientation: Pansexual
Age: Early 20’s
Occupation: Mercenary, The Gray Legion & Mistveil Mercenaries
Specialties: Sword & Shield, Fire & Earth Magic
Alignment: Neutral Good

Rusia was born into minor nobility but orphaned at twelve after her parents were apparently murdered. Rusia finished growing up in a mercenary funded orphanage in Stormhaven. She joined the Band of the Hawke mercenary company at 17, and rode with them for four years until the company was destroyed.Rusia was born to an noble family in Cyrodiil and lived much of her young life in the soft, easy life of wealth and prosperity. Her father, being of an open-minded nature, encouraged her natural gifts for sword play. Her mother did not care for the ways of steel, but loved her young daughter for her strength as well as her beauty. Rusia also inherited a touch of magic from both parents, and her mother helped to teach her how to nourish and control it.

That was before the destruction and terror of Molag Bal. Before The Alliance War turned to fury and flames. In the midst of the chaos and horror, Rusia’s parents became victims of the Daedric prince and his minions. Her father murdered, her mother taken as a slave and later killed, she was left alone and abandoned, with no one to turn to and no hope for the future. Distant and greedy relatives took over her parents’ lands and manor, throwing her out with nothing, leaving her starving and begging in the streets for enough just to survive.

Rusia was near death from a terrible beating by a gang of roughs when she was found by a member of the secret cult of Shezarr. After healing Rusia, the woman — who never shared her name — left the young girl on the steps of the orphanage at Whitehawke in Stormhaven with a note containing only one mysterious sentence: “Blessed by the 10th Divine.” Taken in by the Band of the Hawke, Rusia spent the last few years of her damaged childhood growing up in an orphanage funded by the mercenary company, learning the arts of war to someday avenge her father and rescue her mother, until the news reached her eventually that her mother too was dead.

At 17, Rusia officially joined the Band of the Hawke mercenary company, and rode with them for four years until the company was destroyed by the forces of Molag Bal, once again leaving her ‘orphaned’ and alone.

Rusia turned to work as a freelance mercenary after failing to find any other survivors, and spiraled downward into despair and self-loathing. An assassination attempt by a Daedra claiming to be sent by her supposedly dead mother nearly claimed her life. Rusia was rescued from death by Sindri Khan of The Gray Legion. Given a new lease on life, Rusia gladly offered Sindri her allegiance in helping to save and care for the refugees of war. Within the same week, she also joined the Mistveil Company of mercenaries under the leadership of Vermillion Fury.

What happened to the Band of the Hawke, and the attempt on her life allegedly directed by the mother she thought was dead, still plague Rusia’s mind every day. She didn’t know if either mystery would ever be solved, but she would never stop trying to find the answers.

Rusia is intelligent, well educated, gentle outside of combat, and strives to do good as best as she can define it. She is also, at times, painfully shy and suffers from attacks of social anxiety. To those she does not know well, it appears she has an icy shell and can be mistaken for being hard of heart and uncaring. In truth, she feels too much sometimes and masks her pain with a tough exterior. To her friends, however, she is a kind and caring soul. She has a terrible rage buried deep inside to seek revenge against those who destroyed her family, but she tries not to let it rule over her. For now, she is content to learn and help others, but some day that rage will likely break loose and fuel her need to strike out in vengeance.

QUOTES

“Trust is something that does not come easily to me, nor friendship. But for those I count among my companions, I will defend them with my last breath.”

“I do not fear death, only a life without purpose. My sword arm is sure, my heart willing, and my word is true.”

“I know what it means to have someone step in at the darkest moment of your life and shine a light of hope. I strive to be that light for others in every way I can.”

CLOAK & STAGGER