"I fight with quickness and wit, rather than with brute force and strength. I call myself a duelist because I honed my skills in duels with warriors I encountered over the years." - Isabela

"Duelists are deadly combatants who prefer to fight in light armour and strike with light, but precise attacks. Experienced duelists have preternatural reflexes that allow them to evade their opponents' clumsy blows, as well as strike with remarkable precision."

So, you want to be a duelist? Well, you've come to the right place! Admiral Isabela is flattered you'd ask her to teach you.


REQUIREMENTS

Isabela doesn't generally ask for much when taking on a student. However, as dueling is a dexterity-based specialization (and graduates of the training will come away with increased dexterity and damage ability), if she finds you lacking a certain grace or it seems like you are accustomed to fighting in a way that would be incompatible with being a Duelist, she will teach you the basics and no more.

Preliminary Requirements

Isabela will insist on getting to know her potential students at least a little bit before starting, and this is your first test in determining if you are worthy to be the Admiral's pupil. There are four options available to do this, and she may ask for more than one:

1) Come with a personal recommendation. If a friend of hers or another rogue (especially Zevran or Varric) has directed you to Isabela for teaching, she will generally honor the request. Members of Zevran's Rogue School come with an automatic recommendation.

2) Drinks and Wicked Grace. The point here is not so much to play the game, but for her to test your cunning, dexterity and possibly even your stealth in catching and proving her a cheat. You will get two chances. If you fail both, she will turn you away.

3) "Private Time" in the Admiral's Quarters. Yes, sex is also an option, regardless of gender, but don't kid yourself, this is still a test of your flexibility, ingenuity, stamina and willingness to take direction.

4) Payment, preferably cash. Pay her enough to make your instruction worth her time, and she generally won't say no. The exact amount is at her discretion on a case-by-case basis. Elves will generally receive a discount, but she will require extra payment from Qunari. No one ever said being a duelist was about fairness.

TRAINING

Training will mainly focus on using dual-wielding daggers and shortswords, but can also be adapted for one-handed longsword combat, crossbow use, and long and short bows. There are three levels of training.

Basic Training


This covers 4 key skill areas, in order of difficulty:

Basic Dueling, which focuses on proper form and increasing attack.

Upset Balance, which teaches the duelist to make a quick move to throw their opponent off balance, reducing their speed and defense unless they are able to physically resist the move.

Keen Defense, in which the duelist develops a knack for simply not being there when their opponent attacks and thus increasing defense.

Pinpoint Striking, in which the duelist learns to strike the vitals of an opponent with pinpoint accuracy from any angle.

Intermediate Training


At this level, the student works on developing confidence, style and more elaborate techniques in five key skill areas:

Throwing the Gauntlet, where the duelist issues an irresistible challenge to a single opponent, causing said opponent to immediately abandon any other opponents to engage the duelist. A duelist who gains mastery over Throwing the Gauntlet can further refine this skill in a challenge To the Death, where the opponent becomes so absorbed in the duel that not only will they not seek any other opponents until either they or the duelist fall, but becomes careless in their attacks and inflicts less damage against the duelist. With even more experience, the duelist can also add Cutting Barbs to the challenge, taunting the opponent into lowering their guard.

Parrying, in which the duelist's defenses become stronger by knocking the opponent's attacks aside. As the duelist gains experience and confidence, can make even more use of their parries by learning to Riposte, and thus make their counterattacks more lethal, and to use En Garde, where the duelist attacks with increased fury.

Sure Strikes, which comes as the duelist gains more experience and becomes more likely to hit opponents.

Evasive Maneuvers, where the more experienced duelist learns to become keenly aware of incoming attacks and how to avoid them.

Vendetta, a stealth tactic where to best gain the advantage of the first strike, the duelist vanishes behind a cloud of smoke, then strikes the enemy viciously from behind, even from across the battlefield. Once the vendetta has been mastered, the duelist can learn the Blood Feud, which causes even more serious harm against opponents, bypassing armor, and especially effective against opponents that have been staggered.

Advanced Training


The advanced level allows the fledgling duelist to learn the power of being Elusive and to specialize their abilities along two distinct skill sets with 14 skill areas each: Step Smartly, which focuses primarily on melee combat (particularly with two daggers) and No Quarter, which focuses more on ranged combat (particularly with a crossbow). Students may choose to learn either skill set, or mix and match from each. It takes a truly dedicated duelist to fully master both.

Following the Step Smartly skill set, the duelist learns these skills:

Flashing Steel, where the duelist lashes out with both daggers, hitting all opponents in melee range. With additional experience, the duelist can refine the technique with Weak Spot, which takes less stamina and causes additional damage to opponents marked by Vendetta.

Dead In The Water, where the duelist gains constitution and opponents who attack while the duelist is being Elusive are weakened.

Gangway, where if the duelist's target is in melee range, they fall back and fire a crossbow shot. If they are at a distance, they hurl a grappling hook to leap to them, then kick them on arrival. As the duelist gains experience, they can refine this skill with Avast, which allows the duelist to use the Gangway technique more often against opponents marked by Vendetta.

Flank Attack, where the duelist leaps through shadows to attack their opponent with deadly strikes that hit them from behind. With further experience, the duelist can refine the attack with Hard Astern, which consumes any active Vendetta mark and makes the duelist more Elusive.

Look But Don't Touch, where, while being Elusive, the duelist is unaffected by damage over time.

Buccaneer, where, just as the Admiral is easy to love but hard to handle, the duelist, too, learns to be hardier, more cunning, and more dexterous.

Avenger, where when a party member dies, the duelist gains maximum Elusive and a bonus to damage.

Hoist the Mainsail, where movement speed increases the more Elusive the duelist is.

Advanced Parrying, where the duelist quickly blocks a strike made by the opponent, then counters as their own defenses fall. This can be further refined with the Effortless Riposte, where if the duelist succeeds in countering a blow, the Parry costs no stamina at all.

Ambush, where the duelist catches an opponent off-guard, taunting them to attack and dealing massive damage if the duelist is not already doing so. Further experience can refine this with Wind in Your Sails, where dealing damage to an opponent the duelist has taunted with Ambush restores some stamina.

Unyielding, where an attack that would bring the duelist down instead leaves the duelist with a small amount of health, and the duelist is immune to all damage for a short time.

Swashbuckle, where the duelist consumes all their active Elusive to unleash a flurry of dagger attacks. The more Elusive, the more attacks. Additional experience can refine this with Daring Speed, which increases the duelist's attack speed the more Elusive the duelist was being.

Naturally Elusive, where the duelist learns to be so Elusive it's like second nature, adding a bonus to being Elusive.


Following the No Quarter skill set, the duelist learns these skills:

Bolt, where the duelist fires a quick shot from their crossbow, placing a Vendetta mark on any enemy the duelist strikes. This can be further refined with Hot Streak, where a critical hit with Bolt gives the duelist an automatic critical hit on the next ability used.

Unforgiving Chain, where, learning to have additional dexterity, the duelist's daggers blur, a dance of deadly pain. Each strike adds to the duelist's critical hit chance. After a critical attack, the chain resets as the duelist begins another dance.

Keelhaul, where the duelist shoots a tethered bolt that chains two opponents together and places a vendetta mark on both of them. Both opponents are slowed and will be pulled together if they get too far away from each other. With experience, this can be further refined with Shark Bait, where Keelhaul chains and adds a Vendetta mark to an additional opponent.

Evade, where the duelist leaps away from incoming attacks, putting the duelist where they need to be to win the fight. With experience, this can be further refined with Hidden Step, where opponents will swear the duelist is still there, attacking empty air and hurting nobody but themselves as the duelist leaps away.

Looked Like It Hurt, where, as the duelist learns to be more cunning, the worst mistake the duelist's opponents can make is to let the duelist see them flinch. Whenever the duelist scores a Critical Hit, the duelist regenerates stamina.

Savvy, where each crossbow ability increases the damage of the duelist's next dagger ability, and each dagger ability increases the damage of the duelist's next crossbow ability.

Salty Sea Dog, where, learning to be hardier, when there are opponents nearby, the duelist's defenses increase. When there are no opponents nearby, the duelist's stamina generation increases.

Crow's Nest Lookout, where, in gaining more dexterity, the duelist's critical hit damage increases, especially against distant targets.

Fallback Plan, where the duelist places a thieves' lantern to mark a fallback location before heading into battle. When the fight gets ugly, the duelist leaps back to safety, as healthy as when the duelist placed the marker. With additional experience, this can be refined to Bait and Switch, where the duelist can fight for a longer period of time before leaping back, and pulls the closest opponent with the duelist.

Blinding Shot, where the duelist shoots an opponent with an explosive blinding powder, causing the opponent's next attack to deal no damage. With additional experience, this can be refined to Brilliant Shot, where the shot now blinds all opponents near the original target.

Broadsides, where the duelist hits all opponents around the target with crossbow bolts, placing a Vendetta mark on every distant secondary target. With additional experience, this can be refined to Cross the T, which does additional damage and weakens all opponents it hits.

Dead Men Tell No Tales, where, upon learning to be even more cunning, if an opponent dies while marked with Vendetta, it spreads to nearby opponents.

Black Mark, where, with further increase to cunning, targets marked with Vendetta take additional damage from all sources.

The Kirkwall Kiss, where, becoming more dexterous, all of the duelist's active cooldowns are reduced each time the duelist deals damage to an enemy marked with Vendetta.


Graduating from training involves, well, a lot of dueling. You have to sufficiently hold your own against Isabela herself and/or best her to get her blessing as a graduate.


Feel free to ask if you have questions or interest!

Isabela's history and tastes include a number of questionable subjects, including:

1) Manipulative and neglectful mother
2) Childhood crime (mostly stealing)
3) Marriage of dubious consent
4) Neglectful spouse
5) Infidelity
6) Spousal murder
7) Lots of murder in general
8) Slave trading
9) Rampant alcohol use
10) Gambling
11) Sexual promiscuity/solicitation of prostitutes
12) Assorted kink/BDSM practices (whipped cream, leashes, spanking, topping, bondage, racial fetishism, etc.)
13) Attempted forcible religious conversion

If you don't want those things to come up, or don't want to be tagged by her at all, please comment below.

( PLAYER ★ INFORMATION )

NAME: Ardruna
AGE: 30
CONTACT: ardruna
CURRENT CHARACTERS & LATEST AC: Nerdanel (Most recent AC check link here) and Prince Edgar (AC-worthy January thread here)

RESERVATION LINK: here

( CHARACTER ★ INFORMATION )

DOES THIS CHARACTER MEET SKELETAL BASICS? Oh yes.
NAME & AGE: Birth name: Naishe; Current name: Isabela. Surname Unknown. Age unspecified, but likely in her mid-to-late thirties.
CANON & CANON POINT: Dragon Age, post Volume III of "Until We Sleep" comic.

CANON INFORMATION: Dragon Age Wiki
Isabela's Wiki Page
Dragon Age II Codex Entries: Act I, After The Deep Roads, The Last Three Years
((Assumed potentially-malleable player-character choices will be marked with an asterisk *))

Isabela, then called Naishe, was born a poor girl in the slums of Rivain. While the exact location isn't given, it's generally assumed she is native to southern Rivain, possibly the island of Llomerryn. She was raised by her mother (no father is ever mentioned one way or another, aside from one line during the Legacy DLC: "Well, I think your father sounds like someone worth knowing. According my mother, my father wasn't. Not even for one night."), who was a con artist self-styled with the name Madam Hari. She included her daughter in her schemes from a young age, and Naishe took to dishonesty like a duck to water. But eventually her mother grew weary of her life of fraud, and soon turned to the Qun to find meaning, much to Naishe's dismay. Naishe resented her mother regularly sneaking off to worship and trying to push her beliefs on Naishe--it was a constant subject of contention between them, as Naishe adamantly refused to have anything to do with religion. Often, Naishe believed that her mother didn't love or care about her at all. She was still fairly young when, while at the market with her mother, she caught the eye of an Antivan merchant/pirate by the name of Luis. He decided he had to have her, and sought Naishe's hand. Frustrated and angry about her daughter's refusal to convert to the Qun, Naishe's mother was only too happy to give her into marriage for nothing more than a promise Naishe would be looked after, so much so that she didn't even bother to haggle the price--something that infuriated her daughter well into adulthood, enough she often would tell that she was offered for a handful of gold and some livestock. Naishe was led away in tears to Antiva, and that was the last she ever saw of her mother. She was just shy of nineteen.

Married life was not particularly kind to her either. Although Luis was a wealthy man, likely thanks in no small part to his association with the Antivan Crows (an assassin's guild of the highest repute), and made a very comfortable lifestyle for his young bride, bestowing her with silks, wines, and other fine luxuries in hopes of grooming her for Antivan high society, he was also, in her words, a "greasy bastard." It was a loveless marriage, especially on her part, and she was treated more like a plaything than a spouse. While he never beat her, Luis kept from her the one thing she truly wanted: her freedom. She rebelled against him in ever more daring fashion, until he began to lose interest in her and planned to "lend" her to some of his business associates. Then the day came when Luis was assassinated by an up-and-coming member of the Crows, an elf by the name of Zevran Arainai, who happened to be Naishe's lover. Isabela's own accounts vary as to how, exactly, this came about, sometimes claiming she was entirely innocent of the affair and implying that Luis got into enough trouble with the Crows on his own to warrant his death, and at other times hinting none-too-subtly that she was the one to put the hit out on him. Whatever the case might be, Zevran murdered Luis in his bed, and his young widow "thanked him profusely" for freeing her from her marriage. It was also Zevran who taught her the basics of knife combat. It appears the affair was rather short-lived, however, as Isabela later teases Zevran for "leaving her bereft of her lord husband and then disappearing without a trace."

Following Luis's death, she inherited (some might say "stole") his ship, The Siren's Call, and declared herself captain, though she personally lacked the connections to do much with said inheritance. So, she signed on with a captain of the Felicisima Armada, who, as a joke, bestowed the named "Isabela" upon her, as he referred to her as his "little beauty." When asked what happened to this captain, Isabela says that he died--badly. Though she gives no further details, a flashback scene at the time of the question indicates she killed him in a fit of rage.

Meanwhile, Isabela proved to be very capable of piracy and dueling alike, and her reputation skyrocketed. The sharpest blade in Llomerryn, she became the self-proclaimed "Queen of the Eastern Seas," and was greatly desired and feared, both. She was the scourge of two coastlines, four nations, and countless tavern floors. At some point during this time, she fell in love with an unnamed man, but broke his heart when she fled from his proposal of marriage--who he was, she will never tell. All in all, there was nothing she couldn't have if she so wanted, and her appetites were legendary. In fact, her excesses ended up leading her into debt with the Armada, forcing her into taking more profitable jobs in order to pay them off--including slave trafficking. Isabela had no love for slavery, and refused to do any actual slaving herself, but such cargo was extremely lucrative. She brought on board with her Lord Devon, the Armada's procurer of slaves, for the job. Though she doesn't seem to have a great deal of personal fondness for Devon (making him unlikely to be her one genuine love), the two did become physically involved. Devon had packed the hold extremely full with their chattel, which normally wouldn't be much of a problem, except while they were crossing the Venefication Sea, Isabela found herself being tailed by the Orlesian Navy. Orlesians were known to hang slavers, and Isabela, refusing to die that way, tried everything she could to outmaneuver them. But, the weight of their cargo made the ship slow and clumsy, and the Orlesians were gaining on them. Finally, in desperation, Isabela brought the chained slaves on deck a few at a time, and cast them overboard to drown. She tried to justify it to herself that they were better off beneath the sea than collared and chained. Of course, failing to make her delivery, and thus losing money on the deal, only worsened Isabela's financial situation and placed her all the more deeply in debt with the Armada.

For reasons unspecified, perhaps in an attempt to get the Armada off her back for at least a short time, Isabela soon headed far to the south to Ferelden, where she docked in the capital port city of Denerim to allow her men to resupply and indulge in various pleasures. Unfortunate timing, however, meant that she arrived during the beginning of the Fifth Blight, and lockdown because of it meant that no ship would be permitted to leave until the darkspawn threat had been summarily handled--a process that would take roughly a year. But it wasn't all bad for Isabela. She quickly became a regular at a local brothel known as the Pearl, and it was here that she met the escaped mage Anders (who had a particular "electricity thing" of which Isabela was most fond), as well as be briefly reunited with Zevran, who was in the company of two Grey Wardens, one being King Maric's bastard son Alistair, and their motley band of companions, and promptly introduced Isabela to his new compatriots. After demanding that the Warden honor her with a game of Wicked Grace*, Isabela taught the basics of dueling, but otherwise never saw the Warden again. Once the archdemon was defeated and the Blight ended, Isabela took to the seas once again, returning northward.

Of course, she hadn't escaped her looming debts, and soon returned to piracy and smuggling, transporting lyrium, jewels, criminals, whatever happened to pay at the time. Eventually, she was hired by Castillon, yet another crime lord of the Armada, who asked her to escort a ship carrying an unspecified cargo. Isabela, desperate for coin, agreed to the job, not even asking what it was she was protecting. But, once the job was underway, she grew suspicious, and decided to investigate what, exactly, was in that hold. It turned out to be nearly 200 Ferelden refugees, displaced by the Blight, who were to be sold into slavery. Guiltily remembering her previous disastrous experience with the slave trade, Isabela refused to go through with the delivery, and instead freed them all at the nearest port. Castillon was furious, and once again, Isabela hadn't been paid for her trouble. As remuneration, Castillon sent Isabela on a job that was all but a suicide mission: steal a Qunari relic from the Orlesians before they could give it back to the Qunari. Having no love for the Qunari after they had all but stolen her mother from her, Isabela was almost too happy to comply. While she did successfully steal the relic (in her banters, she claims she didn't know what it actually was, as it was in a locked box, and didn't bother finding out at the time, but this seems to be an avoidance technique, as a comic flashback shows her taking a clearly unboxed book, and she protests the question by saying she "didn't get to where she was by showing her hand") from the Orlesians, the Qunari discovered this treachery, and pursued her. Isabela, along with the Qunari dreadnought chasing her, was caught in a storm near the Wounded Coast, and, evidently following a battle with them during the squall, shipwrecked. She lost her ship, crew and the relic all in the disaster, and barely managed to make it to Kirkwall, the nearest city, in one piece herself.

Knowing Castillon wouldn't be happy about her latest failure, one of the first places Isabela went in Kirkwall was a tavern named the Hanged Man. There, she met a lowlife named Lucky, and hired him to help her search for the lost relic. Unfortunately, Lucky was unsuccessful, and so Isabela refused to pay him for his help. After besting Lucky and his men in a brawl, Isabela soon found herself introducing herself to a Ferelden mercenary of sorts named Hawke, who was looking for odd jobs to help finance an expedition into the Deep Roads. Sensing that Hawke might be better able to help her than Lucky ever was, Isabela admitted that her troubles were more than just Lucky, and that Castillon, growing impatient with her, had sent a man named Hayder (with whom Isabela had previously worked in Antiva) to enforce their agreement. Isabela planned to duel Hayder, but also expected that he wouldn't be fighting fairly, and asked Hawke and company (among which was Isabela's old friend Anders, who, having been conscripted into the Grey Wardens by the same Warden she'd taught to duel, was now on the lam after having fused with the spirit Justice) to accompany her to face Hayder and his men. With Hawke's assistance*, Isabela was able to defeat Hayder during a showdown in the local chantry, and concluded that as long as she provided Castillon with the relic before he found her, he'd be satisfied. It would be the start of a beautiful friendship* with Hawke. Shortly after the incident with Hayder, Isabela approached Hawke with another job, this time to help a friend of hers, Martin, with a situation involving some lost cargo. Hawke agreed*, enabling Martin to re-enter business and solidifying what would become a long-term companionship with Isabela.

A couple years after dealing with Hayder and Martin, among other things, Hawke returned home to find Isabela and Aveline arguing, both in need of Hawke's assistance. Hawke opted to listen to Isabela first*, upon which the Rivaini told Hawke that she had finally managed to locate the relic she had lost, and that Castillon had promised to spare her life if she gave it to him, as originally promised. They headed into Lowtown to find a man named Wall-Eyed Sam, who worked in the Black Market where the relic, the Tome of Koslun, had turned up. As it turned out, the Qunari in Kirkwall would not be able to leave without this precious book. Even with this knowledge, Hawke decided to help Isabela* rather than turn it over to the Qunari. Hawke confronted a small group of the Qunari in a fight, a confrontation that Isabela herself ran away from, and at the end, found a letter from Isabela on Wall-Eyed Sam's body saying that she had the relic and had left Kirkwall, and apologized for running out on Hawke. Unfortunately, Isabela's escape did nothing to defuse the tensions with the Qunari in Kirkwall, and, in fact, managed to make it worse, very nearly bringing the city to all-out war with them. Things came to a head in a confrontation between Hawke and the arishok, leader of the Qunari. Although she could have made a more-or-less clean getaway, Isabela's friendship with Hawke was great enough* that she returned to Kirkwall, bringing the tome with her rather than handing it over to Castillon. Of course, the Qunari demanded both the book and Isabela, but Hawke chose to defend the Rivaini woman instead by facing the arishok in a duel*. Hawke won, much to Isabela's relief, and thus earned the title "Champion of Kirkwall."

Isabela did disappear shortly thereafter for a while, after talking to Hawke, and people were beginning to think she'd left the Marches for good. Then, one day, Isabela was back in her usual spot in the Hanged Man as if she'd never been gone at all. Of course, now Isabela had no way of leaving Kirkwall again without somehow acquiring a ship of her own, and ended up having an essentially permanent residence at the Hanged Man. She continued to work with Hawke and their mutual friends Anders, Aveline, Merrill, Fenris, Sebastian Vael and Varric Tethras over the next few years. Together, their various adventures would, at different points over the years, reunite Isabela, if only for a short time, with some of her assorted acquaintances from her time in Ferelden, including Leliana (now in direct service to the Divine of Orlais), Zevran (caught up in some continuing trouble with the Antivan Crows) and Alistair, who was now King of Ferelden. Although they did flirt now and then, Isabela never did get involved with Hawke*, though she did have a dalliance with the escaped elven slave Fenris.*

Then came the day when Castillon himself showed up in Kirkwall. Isabela soon caught wind of his arrival, and quickly went to see Hawke about it. She said that she wasn't going to wait around for Castillon to put a knife in her vitals, but she had an idea for how to get to him first. Isabela didn't know where Castillon himself was holed up in the city, but she did know that Velasco, his right-hand man, had been spending his nights at the local brothel, The Blooming Rose (where Isabela happened to be a regular and then some). It was decided that Isabela would be bait for Velasco to hand over directly to Castillon, and that she would leave a trail for Hawke to follow directly to Castillon's hideout. The plan worked surprisingly well. After killing Velasco, Hawke and Isabela found some incriminating documents indicating that Castillon had plans to expand his slaving business in the Free Marches. Yet, when she finally confronted him face-to-face, Isabela offered to give Castillon the documents (as opposed to turning them over to the Kirkwall authorities) in exchange for his ship and letting him live. Hawke, though surprised by Isabela's sudden generosity, allowed her to strike the bargain*, which Castillon honored and bid Isabela goodbye, permanently ending her business both with him and the Armada. No longer needing to fear the Armada and with a ship to her name, Isabela was a free woman at last. But she didn't sail off just yet. She suspected that something big was going to happen soon, and that Hawke would likely be right in the middle of it. Isabela wasn't going to miss that for the world.

The "something big" turned out to be the explosion (quite literally, thanks to Anders) of the tensions between the mages and templars. In the entire seven years Hawke had known Isabela, with tensions between templar and mage continually simmering and bubbling, and despite having companions with strong opinions on both sides of the matter, the Rivaini had remained stubbornly neutral, claiming that she didn't care and didn't have any opinion on the subject whatsoever. This was actually mostly true. Isabela had no care for the templars (disdaining the teachings of the Chantry just as much as she did the Qun), and frankly thought their leader, Knight-Commander Meredith, was off her rocker (which turned out to be an accurate assessment). And, while she did sympathize with the mages to a degree, she found their ideologies just as impractical in the real world as any other form of zealotry. As predicted, Hawke ended up being right in the middle of things, and Isabela was right there too, not because she cared who won or which side Hawke supported, but because Hawke was her friend and needed every possible bit of help, Isabela's included. But, as soon as the fighting was over, Isabela wasted no time in leaving. She gathered her crew and ship and sailed off.

Not long thereafter, though, Isabela received a surprising letter from Zevran. Although the two had kept in sporadic contact over the years, this was the first time in a long time that it was about business. As it were, Zevran had passed along some information to his old companion King Alistair of Ferelden regarding his long-lost father King Maric (presumed lost at sea for some 13 years), and Alistair was planning to go Antiva to track down the truth of the rumors. But, he also would need someone with him who knew the particular areas of Antiva he needed to visit, and since Zevran's estrangement with the Crows meant he couldn't do it himself, Isabela was the perfect woman for the job--and it was a paid job to boot. But despite knowing the area, Isabela's own checkered past in Antiva meant that she'd need someone who had the connections she didn't, so she contacted Varric Tethras and asked him to join her, promising him the chance to gain the ear of a king in the process. Naturally, he agreed, and the two set out to meet up with Alistair.

In Antiva City, they broke into one of the Crows' archives, seeking out information on the Crow-operated prison of Velabanchel. While there, they were met be Prince Claudio Valisti, whom Isabela recognized as her late husband's business partner. Zevran had been the one to put Alistair in touch with Claudio, as he was the one with the information about Maric, informing the king that Maric had been imprisoned in Velabanchel. Isabela, for her part, warned Alistair not to trust Claudio. The prison was their next stop, and Isabela and Varric worked to hold off the guards and Crows while Alistair searched for Maric. He found an old man who recognized him as being Maric's son, but turned out to be Maric's former cellmate, and told them that years ago, Maric had been freed from the prison by a witch of the wilds named Yavana. After letting the old man free with a bit of coin in his pocket at a safe place, the three then headed through the Tellari Swamps to the Silent Grove in search of Yavana. They found her and her pet dragons there, though she was less-than-forthcoming with information. Oh, and of course, they also ran into Claudio who betrayed and attacked them. And he also kidnapped Alistair in exchange for letting Isabela and Varric live--not that Isabela was having any of that. She and Varric marched right back to Yavana and demanded her help in rescuing Alistair--which she refused until Varric struck a bargain with her. So, they went back to confront Claudio and get Alistair back. In the inevitable fighting, Claudio accused Isabela of trying to seduce Alistair and become the next Queen of Ferelden (a charge that, curiously, she never actually denies). Isabela ended up killing him, much to Alistair's chagrin, before he could give any information on Maric's current whereabouts. But, Yavana, fortunately, was able to draw the name of Claudio's patron, Aurelian Titus, out of Claudio's spirit before Alistair killed the witch. So, they decided to go after him next.

Titus, as it turned out, was a magister, so it was off to Tevinter. He was scheduled to make an appearance at a ball, along with every other magister in the area, so of course, the three were in attendance. And who should Isabela run into there, but her old colleague Devon! She wasn't happy to see him, and even less so when he threatened to tell Alistair about the incident in the Venefication Sea. A pointed threat from Isabela, though, was enough to convince him to hold his tongue. When Titus arrived, Alistair confronted him about Maric. But, it didn't go so well. Fighting broke out, and Titus escaped. In the hubbub, while he was trying to thank her for preventing one of Titus's slaves from doing more than just wounding him, Isabela killed Devon herself and then blamed Titus's man for it. They took said slave captive, and Varric managed to trick him into giving away the location of Titus's base on the island of Seheron. Although Seheron was considered disputed in ownership, it still brought them uncomfortably close to Qunari territory, and, sure enough, before long, they found themselves being pursued by a pair of Qunari dreadnoughts. The Qunari boarded Isabela's ship and took everyone on it as prisoners, including Isabela, Varric and Alistair.

Isabela, who had been long considered an enemy of the Qunari ever since the whole mess with the relic, was locked in a cell, stripped of many of her belongings, and kept without food for days on end. Finally, she was visited by Rasaan, a priestess of the Qunari, who asked Isabela various questions about her past and demanded Isabela's real name, which she refused to give, even when threatened with forcible conversion. Isabela also refused to admit feeling any guilt over her myriad past mistakes and wrongdoings. Meanwhile, Varric and Alistair were faring somewhat better, and eventually brought before the new arishok, whom Alistair immediately recognized as one of his traveling companions, at the time called Sten, from his days fighting against the Blight. Unfortunately, this meeting wasn't particularly fruitful. Luckily, Isabela managed to escape her cell (and anger a whole lot of Qunari in the process) and come to bust the guys out, after which, while she went to find her crew, Alistair went to find the arishok. The two argued over the wisdom of Alistair seeking out Titus, which eventually escalated to a physical altercation. Meanwhile, Isabela's stubbornness had provoked a similar battle against Rasaan, who pursued and found her outside her crew's cells. Fortunately, both Isabela and Alistair won, without killing either Qunari (and Isabela did finally reveal her birth name as a parting shot to Rasaan, but saying it wasn't her name anymore). The new arishok even agreed to help them on their quest, as best as they could, which at the time mostly meant fixing up Isabela's ship, freeing her crew and restoring their possessions, as well as sending two dreadnoughts as escort. As they continued on to Seheron, Isabela mentioned to Alistair that she wasn't sure she was "Isabela" any longer, and also that she intended to see Alistair through to the end of his quest.

Arriving at Titus's fortress, Varric infiltrated the complex, while Isabela, Alistair and the Qunari mounted their assault on the outside. Varric succeeded in finding King Maric, who was attached to a device called the Magrellan, and, upon shooting it, ended up sending himself, his friend Mae (also a prisoner at the time), Maric, Alistair, Isabela and Titus all into the Fade, land of dreams... and nightmares. They did not arrive in the same places, though, each one locked in his or her own dream or nightmare as the case might be. When Varric and Mae found Isabela, she was deep in the throes of her worst nightmare, having become a loyal follower of the Qun and didn't recognize her friends, attacking them on sight. Carefully (as she was still a very capable fighter, even while caught up in the nightmare), Varric did his best to remind her of who she really was and what she really wanted. As she came back to being in her right mind, Isabela confessed that the dream was easier and simpler, being neatly defined in her own place, although the dream didn't have enough to truly tempt her, as she had already faced this nightmare in the waking world with Rasaan. But with some gentle coaxing from Mae and Varric, she realized she would never again allow anyone else to define her, and recognized herself as a heroine (in her own way), never to be haunted by her doubts or trials. After that, it was off to find Alistair. His dream was much prettier than Isabela's, being a prince with his half-brother and father both alive and well and a real family for once. But though he greeted them cheerfully, joking around (and awkwardly flirting with Isabela), he didn't recognize his friends either, only his father Maric who shared the dream with him. Still, they managed to persuade him that the dream wasn't real, and they agreed to take the fight to Titus, killing him in the confrontation, which brought them back into the waking world. When Alistair saw for himself the state of Maric's body, he destroyed the magrellan, which destroyed Maric as well. Then he went back to Ferelden to be a good and proper king. Isabela presumably followed him back long enough to collect her payment. She later asked Varric if he thought Alistair had done the right thing, to which Varric answered he didn't know.

Isabela does not personally appear in Inquisition, but Varric mentions that she rejoined the Armada and began styling herself as an admiral, though he will admit he's not sure if she is actually a highly-ranked officer, or if she's just calling herself one. Beyond that, Isabela's whereabouts are unknown.

PERSONALITY: The infamously libidinous Isabela is probably one of Thedas's more colorful heroines. She values fun, freedom, being on the winning side, and otherwise getting ahead of everyone else. In her own words, "sailors only care about a very small number of very specific things: The sea, strong drink, and booty... both kinds." She appreciates a wit as quick and dry as her own, responds well to sarcasm and flirtation, has a vulgar vocabulary and bawdy sense of humor (as in, she can hardly go more than a sentence without making some kind of sexual innuendo), and has little patience for fools, or preachy, prudish, and/or meddling types. Early impressions are important to Isabela, and they will often dictate how any given relationship with her will develop. A simple off-the-cuff remark might amuse a friendly Isabela, but the exact same line delivered by someone of whom she’s less than fond might only exacerbate a growing rivalry.

There is no honor among thieves, a fact that Isabela knows and expects of other low-life types, and she gives about as much as she expects to get. She is very honest about her dishonesty, speaking perfectly frankly and unashamedly about cheating in a game of cards (“I win because I cheat, Kitten. I thought that was obvious.”) or her many sexual dalliances, and has few qualms about taking advantage of, cheating, or killing people she feels are just as petty and greedy as she can be. She is willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top, and if that means unscrupulously tipping the odds in her favor, then so be it. Danger doesn’t worry her much--the greater the risks, the greater the rewards, as far as she’s concerned, and it only makes the prospect that much more entertaining for her. When things don’t go her way as planned, she can be quite resourceful and does what she can to make the best for herself out of any given situation, and all with her typical devil-may-care good humour. A win is a win, in her book, whether that means making someone fall at her feet or on her blade. This is not to say that she is entirely unethical, however. Isabela will only use or act against people she feels deserves it, and the exploitation of the innocent will not sit well with her. And, while she often acts selfishly (and will protest anyone saying otherwise about her), there's a heart of gold underneath that ponderous bosom, and Isabela can be very generous (if somewhat unorthodox in her exact methods) toward people she happens to like or (secretly) care about.

When it comes to relationships, Isabela generally only considers them either business or pleasure (or, frequently, a combination of both). She much prefers to outright hire someone to do something for her with some kind of pre-contracted agreement, or have a clear expectation of job and payment both if someone hires her, rather than just relying on favors or someone’s goodwill. She generally doesn’t do something for nothing, and gets rather disgusted with other people who do. Isabela figures that the past is the past and a person’s business is their own, thus prying or butting into personal decisions, especially those of strangers, is a quick way to annoy her. The one exception to this seems to be teasing other people or asking details about their sex lives. Isabela has a considerable sexual appetite, certainly knows her way around a whorehouse, and is not particularly discriminating in her choices of partners--men, women, dwarves in drag (not recommended, by the way, according to her), makes little enough difference to her as long as she gets orgasms out of the deal. She gets rejected as often as not, and so tends to cast her proverbial net widely. She has a broad network of paramours and low-life business associates all over Thedas, and if they’re some kind of pirate or criminal scum, chances are good that Isabela’s either worked with them or slept with them at some point or another. She does have some standards, though, when blurring the line between business and pleasure could negatively impact her position. For instance, she generally would never allow the men serving in her crew to lay a hand on her so long as she was captain. When it comes to genuine intimacy (be it friendly or romantic), though, Isabela tries to avoid it. It's less that she's afraid of falling for someone and getting hurt in the process than it is her being afraid of inadvertently (or worse, deliberately) hurting someone else who doesn't deserve that kind of treatment, especially if she does come to genuinely care for them. Frankly, she tends to find love and romance vastly overrated, but that may be due to her limited experience with the real thing. After all, she didn't come from a loving home, didn't have a loving husband, and so is used to emotional abuse and neglect, and tends to be distrustful of anyone claiming to actually care about her. However cavalier and frank she might seem at first, her trust and loyalty are not easily won--it took years before Hawke and the others were able to claim any form of genuine solidarity from Isabela. The proverb "If you love something, set it free, and if it returns to you, it'll be yours forever, but if not, it was never yours to begin with" is quite appropriate for Isabela. Once her trust has been duly earned, she won't turn her back or desert a friend unless given reason to do so (usually by either betrayal or trying to chain her down).

Isabela does not like to be confined in any way, be it literally or metaphorically. Small, narrow enclosed spaces make her nervous, and she chafes under any imposed rules and restrictions. It's one of the reasons why she prefers to seek out seedy and lawless places to live and socialize rather than anywhere fancy or refined--people living in places like those might as well be wearing a target for Isabela to pick on them. She hates fancy parties, or really, any gathering where she'll be expected to be on her best behavior. A pragmatic and secular realist, Isabela finds organized religion especially distasteful, along with zealotry for or against the established dogma. While she rarely will begrudge another person for their beliefs, Isabela wants no part of it, and will only agree to being dragged into a war of ideologies if she can either profit from it or has something to lose if she doesn't get involved. More often than not, she'll stubbornly refuse to voice an opinion on a hot-button issue, either by claiming she has no opinion on it, and/or changing the subject to something she finds more palatable. This often will confuse and frustrate her more principled and opinionated companions, who have difficulty figuring out what her real motivations are (she, however, claims she really is that shallow and they're wasting their time trying to find a deeper meaning to the things she does). She always makes sure she has an exit whenever possible, regardless of whether or not it might be dangerous, but otherwise she wants to be able to do whatever she likes, however and whenever she chooses. Rarely does she stay in any one place for long, and it’s one thing when she decides to be there, and quite another when she’s forced to be there.

Isabela also can be remarkably perceptive of other people, often able to accurately gauge their motives, feelings, and general states of being. She has a particular knack for being able to find people's trigger buttons, and she seems to take a wicked delight in pushing them, even to the point of estranging or enraging the other person (especially if it's someone she doesn't like). As Varric observes, "there's only one person who can make people that angry"--that person, of course, being Isabela. Believe it or not, though, Isabela doesn't actually like picking fights or arguing with her friends (enemies, though, that's a whole different ball of wax), nor does she usually seek out trouble, and she'll usually back off if she senses she's crossed one line too many. (In the event she doesn't back off, though, be prepared for a hell of a fight, because she will not give up until she's either triumphed or can't see any possible way to win--whichever comes first.) However, it does make a useful method of deflecting if someone attempts to talk to her about things that Isabela isn't comfortable discussing: she'll often turn the tables by deftly changing the subject in a way that tends to make the other person feel awkward, uncomfortable, or otherwise defensive until they get the hint and drop it. She may be willing to open up later on, but she'll only do it on her terms when she feels ready to talk. She especially doesn't like to talk about her past, her decisions, or her feelings, figuring that what's done is done, and her experiences have made her the woman she is.

There's also a distinct streak of vanity in her, and not just due to her ego. Though she may play it off that she doesn't give a damn what other people think of how she presents herself, she is actually somewhat insecure about her looks, and worries about the effects of aging, be it wrinkles or weight gain or anything else. She secretly does enjoy dressing up, and likes when people compliment her appearance. But, she hides any doubts behind an overconfident swagger and a staggering sense of entitlement. Even places she's never before set foot, she'll often walk in like she owns it, and has a habit of seeming to think that she does too. In her friends' homes, she'll blithely help herself to food, drink, even their closets if she finds something she likes, and often will borrow without permission, or even leave her mark (literally--she apparently canonly carves lewd graffiti on the stairwell of the Hawke estate) on the place. She also seems to think her companions' talents are hers to make use of whenever she wants, whether it's healing magic or other ideas on how they could put their abilities toward things she would find useful, regardless of what they think. She even made one companion, Sebastian, stand still so that she could use the shiny armor he was wearing as her own personal mirror, despite his obvious awkwardness. Call her on it, and she'll show no remorse whatsoever. Eventually, her friends usually just learn to accept it as part of putting up with Isabela.

Isabela's distinctly vivid imagination is one of her more endearing features, though it nearly always seems to be in the proverbial gutter. Often, she can invent whole stories from innocent words or phrases, or even just something she heard about offhand. So strong are these fantasies of hers, that she frequently ends up distracted from the conversations at hand, too wrapped up in whatever flight of fancy has entered her head to listen anymore. She'll often be too happy to hint at what's going on inside her head if someone makes the mistake of asking. She's never subtle about it, although, oddly, she seems to be surprised when met with similar directness from her companions.

Still, don't be fooled by her joking, casual, vulgar, shallow exterior. Underneath, Isabela is a woman of remarkable spirit and determination. She's faced genuine hardships over the years, and pulled herself out of them by her own self-will. When she sees something she wants, she goes after it. Her fronts are her armor, but she really is tough as nails. She's even an amazingly good leader in the right circumstances, as she's an excellent captain, able to inspire fierce loyalty and obedience from her men. Even her companions have remarked on the distinct shift in her demeanor when she sets foot on her ship, as she suddenly becomes responsible and even respectable, and clearly caring deeply about her crew, even when shouting orders. Get her to let her guard down enough, and she can prove surprisingly kind, gentle and sympathetic (if slightly awkward, as she's not used to such displays of vulnerability and sweetness).

But, of course, the people who know her best are her long-time friends, who've heard her say all of the following, and then some:

"Be off with you now, and be glad I only took from you your gold! Heh. Fools..."

"You see, sweetness, men are only good for one thing. Women are good for six."

"Sailing is like sex. If you do it wrong, you will get sick... but do it right, and there's no feeling in the world like it."

"Ah, the Blooming Rose. Where people come... then go."

"And then Isabela went to the Chantry, and saw that it was... boring. Canticle of Isabela, stanza one, verse one."

"You smell that? Smells like repression, doesn't it?" (spoken upon entering the Kirkwall chantry)

"Hmm... apostate prostitutes? ...Apos-titutes! *Laughs*"

"Our mistakes make us who we are."

"Really? We're going to just waltz in here and fight dozens of blood mages? Ourselves? All right. I'm game."

"Ah, the Hanged Man. Sometimes you want to be where everybody knows your name."

"A warehouse? I don't like being led around. Unless leashes are involved. And they're not."

"Coming in here of my own free will feels wrong. Like diddling a sister." (said upon entering the guard barracks in Kirkwall)

"Your death toll is approaching natural disasters."

"When you get right down to it, we're not responsible for anyone but ourselves. You can choose to be free, or you can choose to be saddled with all the world's problems."

"I like big boats, I cannot lie."

"A sneer on your lip, but want in your eye."

"I'm sorry, I don't speak never-gets-sex-again."

"If we kill them, we get their stuff!"

"Why must it always be ancient horrors? Why can't it be fabulous treasure once in a while?"

"Aveline, if you shove your thumb up his ass, I win."

"I like duels. It's what I do. And if I win, he'll be dead. Problem solved!"

"Wait. I’m helping the Qunari recover some priceless artifact? Oh, the irony."

"Stealing Qunari relics from Orlesians… Why do I feel like I’ve been here before?"

"Oh, shit... literally."

"Don't bet anything you're not prepared to lose."

"Please, Martin. You wouldn't know honest if I tied you up and spanked you with it."

Complete banter links: Anders | Aveline | Bethany | Carver | Fenris | Merrill | Sebastian | Varric | General comments


COURT ALLIANCE & REASONING: Oh, gosh. Isabela is almost painfully Unseelie. She hates being confined by codes and rules (except whichever ones she imposes on herself) and gets annoyed by goody-two-shoes types; she will up and leave without warning, and then come back as if nothing happened at all; she very nearly starts an all-out war; she refuses to take sides in most conflicts... However you spin it, Isabela values her freedom, plays by her own rules, and she'll cut and run if anyone tries to make her do otherwise.

ABILITIES: Isabela is entirely human, so she has no supernatural or superhuman abilities.

COMBAT: Isabela is a duelist, meaning she has superb skill with knives, daggers and short swords, and prefers to use finesse and speed rather than brute strength when she fights. She relies on form, stance and dirty tricks, keeping her opponents off balance, predicting her opponents' moves and simply not being where expected when they strike, and using pinpoint accuracy to hit vitals when her blades connect. Most of the time, she wields dual blades, though she is not innately ambidextrous. Her entire purpose in Origins is to teach the Duelist specialization. In Dragon Age II, although you can make her a Duelist, her unique specialization is that of the Swashbuckler (though it is worth noting she only fights with daggers and knives, not longswords or bucklers). Here is an example of Isabela in action.

ROGUISHNESS: As a rogue and pirate-smuggler, she is skilled in things like stealth, picking locks, nicking and hiding stolen goods, gambling (and cheating so the odds are well within her favor), spinning lies, wiggling out of tight spots, drinking other people under the table, and other similar standard-fantasy-rogue skills. She also has a great deal of experience in using her feminine charms to get what she wants.

NAUTICAL: She is an experienced sailor and captain, and knows how to command and run a ship, as well as steer through currents, weather storms, navigate using stars, compasses and maps, minimize seasickness and land-sickness, handle cargo and has all the other maritime nautical skills that would be expected of a long-time deckhand at sea (tying knots, splicing ropes, running rigging, etc.).

LITERACY: Isabela is known to be literate, and apparently has some canonical skill as an author, as she is quite fond of writing erotic "friend-fiction" for her attached companions that seems to be of decent quality--despite her friends' protests to such a practice, she intends it as a genuinely affectionate gesture.


INVENTORY:
-Her Threads of the Eastern Seas, fully upgraded to include a Supportive Corselet, Rigid Boning, Lambswool Insoles, and Boiled Leather Plates, plus a change of formal wear.

-Daggers Backstabber, Heartbreaker and Dagger of the Four Winds, plus several unremarkable daggers. (There is always a minimum of 3 daggers on her person at all times)

-Lady's Choice ring

-Amulets The Pearl, Badge of the Felicisima Armada and Rivaini Talisman

-A deck of cards each to play Wicked Grace and Diamondback

-A model Ship in a Bottle

-Sack of Ferelden currency

-Several pieces of written erotica

-A personal stock of strong liquor

( WRITING ★ SAMPLES )

NETWORK SAMPLE:
[Isabela can be clearly seen shuffling a deck of cards (some might recognize it as a Wicked Grace deck) and smiling mischievously.]

You know what I miss? What I haven't done in a long time? Some good, old-fashioned card games. I'm not talking anything terribly quiet or without risk. That'd be much too boring. But, something with a little friendly wagering, or more... interesting aspects of play? That sounds like fun.

So! Anyone brave enough to join me? I'll make it worth your while. First round of drinks is on me!

LOG SAMPLE:
Isabela was calmly nursing her drink at the bar of the Hanged Man when she noticed the man sidling up beside her—and not in the good way.

“You owe us, Isabela,” he hissed in her ear.

“Well, Lucky, I'll tell you what,” she said, barely deigning to look at him, “Since the information you gave me was worth nothing...” She topped off her mug and took a swig. “...that's what I'll pay you.” The pirate queen poured more into her mug, but as she was raising it to take another drink, Lucky's hand slammed hers back down onto the bar, earning a glare from her.

“Me and my boys will get our money's worth, bitch,” Lucky growled. Isabela rolled her eyes before looking at him, her expression full of mock-sympathy.

“Oh, you poor, sweet thing,” she cooed, moving almost as if to kiss him.

Instead, quick as a flash, she gripped his wrist there on the bar, and with her other hand knocked a blow to Lucky's head so hard that his face slammed into the bar countertop. He dropped to the ground, dazed, as one of his men rushed at her, grappling her from behind so that her arms were pinned behind her back—or so he thought. She jabbed an elbow into his solar plexus, making him groan and double over in pain, releasing her. Isabela barely ducked the third man, coming at her with an empty bottle, which missed her and shattered in a spray of glass when it hit the bar. Standing back up, she slugged him across the chin with a right hook, making him stagger backward. Gripping his arm, she kneed the third man in the stomach, and landed a few more solid punches to his face until he dropped to the tavern floor.

A triumphant smirk on her face, she turned back to the bar to see Lucky lurching back to his feet and drawing a sword from a scabbard on his back. Isabela was quicker, and had her dagger pointed at the soft pale skin of his throat before he even got his sword all the way out. He stopped, not daring to move, the sword still raised uselessly over his head.

“Tell me, Lucky,” Isabela asked in a casually menacing tone, reaching for the other dagger still sheathed on her back, “is this worth dying for?” Lucky wisely backed off as his men pulled themselves back to their feet, still groaning in pain. As the three of them scrambled toward the door, Isabela knocked back a long, deep draught out of her waiting mug.

“I didn't think so,” she chuckled to herself.

|| Player Information ||
Name: Ardruna
Personal Journal: N/A
Time zone: CST
Contact: email: ardruna@gmail.com; AIM: Mirisa Erato
Current Characters: Prince Edgar


|| Character Information ||
Fandom: Dragon Age
Name: Isabela

It is worth noting that “Isabela” is not her birth name, but rather a pseudonym she adopted around the time she began her adventuring career, bestowed upon her as a joke of sorts by the first captain with whom she signed on. Naishe, the name her parents gave her, has long been left behind her, as she finds her chosen name much more suitable—not to mention, her reputation hinges on it. She does not use a surname, whether it be the one she was born to, nor that of her late husband. At this point, though, she's considering taking on a new name, not entirely sure that she's "Isabela" any longer.

Canon Point: Post the finale of "Those Who Speak" Volume 3.
History: Isabela's Wiki page!
The following assumptions are to be made as part of Isabela's history:
-Alistair became King of Ferelden
-Isabela was in a friendly relationship with Hawke (as opposed to a rivalry)
-Isabela returned with the Qunari artifact, and Hawke dueled the arishok rather than turn her over
-Isabela was allowed to keep Castillon's ship at the end of the “No Rest For the Wicked” quest

Personality: Isabela has been called the Queen of the Eastern Seas and the sharpest blade in Llomerryn. She has long played the part of the swashbuckling rogue, as pirate and smuggler, and is the scourge of two coastlines, four nations, and countless tavern floors. She's equally skilled with dagger and insult, and it's hard to know which cuts more deeply. Her reputation is far-flung in Thedas, and she is desired as much as she is feared--which is quite a lot on both counts.

She values fun, freedom, being on the winning side, and otherwise getting ahead of everyone else. In her own words, “sailors only care about a very small number of very specific things: The sea, strong drink, and booty... both kinds." She appreciates a wit as quick and dry as her own, responds well to sarcasm and flirtation, has a bawdy sense of humor (as in, she can hardly go more than a sentence without making some kind of sexual innuendo), and has little patience for fools, or preachy, prudish, and/or meddling types. Early impressions are important to Isabela, and they will often dictate how any given relationship with her will develop. A simple off-the-cuff remark might amuse a friendly Isabela, but the exact same line delivered by someone of whom she’s less than fond might only exacerbate a growing rivalry.

There is no honor among thieves, a fact that Isabela knows and expects of other low-life types, and she gives about as much as she expects to get. She is very honest about her dishonesty, speaking perfectly frankly and unashamedly about cheating in a game of cards (“I win because I cheat, Kitten. I thought that was obvious.”) or her many sexual dalliances, and has few qualms about taking advantage of, cheating, or killing people she feels are just as petty, selfish and greedy as she can be. She is willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top, and if that means unscrupulously tipping the odds in her favor, then so be it. Danger doesn’t worry her much—the greater the risks, the greater the rewards, as far as she’s concerned, and it only makes the prospect that much more entertaining for her. When things don’t go her way as planned, she can be quite resourceful and does what she can to make the best for herself out of any given situation, and all with her typical devil-may-care good humour. A win is a win, in her book, whether that means making someone fall at her feet or on her blade. This is not to say that she is entirely unethical, however. Isabela will only use or act against people she feels deserves it, and the exploitation of the innocent will not sit well with her. She once got herself into a scrape when she discovered the cargo she was helping smuggle was Ferelden refugees being taken to be sold as slaves, and she chose to free them all rather than deliver them. It was while working to get out of said scrape that Isabela first met Hawke and sought help in dealing with Castillon and his underlings.

When it comes to relationships, Isabela generally only considers them either business or pleasure (or, frequently, a combination of both). She much prefers to outright hire someone to do something for her with some kind of pre-contracted agreement, or have a clear expectation of job and payment both if someone hires her, rather than just relying on favors or someone’s goodwill. She generally doesn’t do something for nothing, and gets rather disgusted with other people who do. Isabela figures that the past is the past and a person’s business is their own, thus prying or butting into personal decisions, especially those of strangers, is a quick way to annoy her. The one exception to this seems to be teasing other people or asking details about their sex lives. Isabela has a considerable sexual appetite, certainly knows her way around a whorehouse (one in Denerim being where she met the Warden, as well as where she first crossed paths with Anders), and is not particularly discriminating in her choices of partners--men, women, makes little enough difference to her, as long as she gets orgasms out of the deal. She gets rejected as often as not, and so tends to cast her proverbial net widely. She has a broad network of paramours and low-life business associates all over Thedas, and if they’re some kind of pirate or criminal scum, chances are good that Isabela’s either worked with them or slept with them at some point or another. She does have some standards, though, when blurring the line between business and pleasure could negatively impact her position. For instance, she generally would never allow the men serving in her crew to lay a hand on her so long as she as captain. When it comes to genuine intimacy (be it friendly or romantic), though, Isabela tries to avoid it. It's less that she's afraid of falling for someone and getting hurt in the process than it is her being afraid of inadvertently hurting someone else who doesn't deserve it. When she was young, her mother sold her into a forced marriage for a goat and a handful of coin. Isabela was not fond of her husband Luis, an associate of the Antivan Crows and captain of The Siren’s Call, referring to him as a “greasy bastard” who considered her his plaything, even to the point of making her “entertain” his friends. It’s little wonder, then, that she had no qualms about being unfaithful to him, and at one point took up with a handsome elf assassin by the name of Zevran Arainai, who just so happened to have been hired to kill Isabela’s husband by one of his enemies--she claims to have "thanked him profusely" for freeing her from her marriage. Upon her husband’s death, Isabela inherited (some might say "stole") his ship, and named herself captain, thus beginning to earn her own reputation for piracy. Some claim that Isabela was the one to hire Zevran to kill Luis, but she insists upon her innocence on that part. Isabela has only ever loved one man, whose name she refuses to reveal but says she loved shortly after becoming a widow. She ended up breaking his heart in the end after she panicked and fled from his marriage proposal, and so finds love vastly overrated. Hawke was one of few to become a true friend to Isabela by defending her against the Qunari after she stole their precious relic. Hawke and the closest companions of that entourage are among very few people to claim any form of loyalty from Isabela, as it took many years to earn the pirate queen's trust--something she does not easily give, despite her cavalier frankness. The proverb "If you love something, set it free; if it returns to you, it'll be yours forever, but if not, it was never yours to begin with" is quite appropriate for Isabela. Once her trust has been duly earned, she won't turn her back or desert a friend unless given reason to do so (usually by either betrayal or trying to chain her down).

Isabela does not like to be confined in any way, be it literally or metaphorically. Small, narrow enclosed spaces make her nervous, and she chafes under any imposed rules and restrictions. It's one of the reasons why she prefers to seek out seedy and lawless places to live and socialize rather than anywhere fancy or refined--people living in places like those might as well be wearing a target for Isabela to pick on them. She always makes sure she has an exit whenever possible, regardless of whether or not it might be dangerous, but otherwise she wants to be able to do whatever she likes, however and whenever she chooses. Rarely does she stay in any one place for long, and it’s one thing when she decides to be there, and quite another when she’s forced to be there.

Some of her more amusing quotes also include:

"Sailing is like sex. If you do it wrong, you will get sick... but do it right, and there's no feeling in the world like it."
"Ah, the Blooming Rose. Where people come... then go."
"And then Isabela went to the Chantry, and saw that it was...boring. Canticle of Isabela, stanza one, verse one."
"You smell that? Smells like repression, doesn't it?" (spoken upon entering the Kirkwall chantry)
"Hmm... apostate prostitutes? ...Apos-titutes! *Laughs*"
"Our mistakes make us who we are."
"Really? We're going to just waltz in here and fight dozens of blood mages? Ourselves? All right. I'm game."
"Ah, the Hanged Man. Sometimes you want to be where everybody knows your name."
"A warehouse? I don't like being led around. Unless leashes are involved. And they're not."
"Coming in here of my own free will feels wrong. Like diddling a sister." (said upon entering the guard barracks in Kirkwall)
"Your death toll is approaching natural disasters."
"I like big boats, I cannot lie."
"A sneer on your lip, but want in your eye."
"I'm sorry, I don't speak never-gets-sex-again."
"If we kill them, we get their stuff!"
"Why must it always be ancient horrors? Why can't it be fabulous treasure once in a while?"
"Aveline, if you shove your thumb up his ass, I win."
"I like duels. It's what I do. And if I win, he'll be dead. Problem solved!”
"Wait. I’m helping the Qunari recover some priceless artifact? Oh, the irony."
"Stealing Qunari relics from Orlesians… Why do I feel like I’ve been here before?"
"Oh, shit... literally."
"Please, Martin. You wouldn't know honest if I tied you up and spanked you with it."

Also, an example of Isabela in action.


Skills | Powers: Being human, Isabela has no supernatural abilities.

Isabela is a duelist, meaning she has superb skill with knives, daggers and short swords, and prefers to use finesse and speed rather than brute strength when she fights. She relies on form, stance and dirty tricks, keeping her opponents off balance, predicting her opponents' moves and simply not being where expected when they strike, and using pinpoint accuracy to hit vitals when her blades connect. Most of the time, she wields dual blades, though she is not innately ambidextrous.

As a rogue and pirate-smuggler, she is skilled in things like stealth, picking locks, nicking and hiding stolen goods, gambling (and cheating so the odds are well within her favor), spinning lies, wiggling out of tight spots, drinking other people under the table, and other similar standard-fantasy-rogue skills. She also has a great deal of experience in using her feminine charms to get what she wants.

She is an experienced sailor and knows how to command and run a ship, as well as steer through currents, weather storms, navigate using stars, compasses and maps, minimize seasickness and land-sickness, and has all the other maritime nautical skills that would be expected of a long-time deckhand at sea (tying knots, splicing ropes, running rigging, etc.).

She is equipped with her fully-upgraded “armor,” as well as the “Lady's Choice” ring, “Pearl” and “Badge of the Felicisima Armada” amulets, and a good half dozen or so daggers, including the Dagger of the Four Winds.

First Person Sample: [Accidental video]
[The feed appears to have gotten switched on while she's attempting to shove the tablet down the front of what passes for a dress on her, so it fairly quickly becomes too dark to see much of anything clearly, but not before there's a flash of her face from the underside of her chin, followed by the sight of a most-impressive set of bare breasts pressed up against the screen. You're welcome, red-blooded straight males and similarly-appreciative females. A woman's voice with a slight exotic accent can be heard, despite the somewhat muffled effect of where the tablet has been placed.]

...damn. So much for getting anything useful out of him.

All right. I don't know where I am, I don't have my ship, and I'm hungover as hell. ...I've dealt with worse before, but why must it always be darkness and gloom? Would it kill someone to throw in some good, old-fashioned fabulous treasure every now and again? [a sigh, causing the tablet to shift position a little bit as her chest heaves melodramatically] ...either way, I suppose that'll teach me not to challenge half a dwarven carta to a drinking contest.

Speaking of, I wonder how much I can get for that... thing they gave me. It ought to at least be worth a good, stiff drink, right? Only one way to find out...


Third Person Sample: Isabela was calmly nursing her drink at the bar of the Hanged Man when she noticed the man sidling up beside her—and not in the good way.

“You owe us, Isabela,” he hissed in her ear.

“Well, Lucky, I'll tell you what,” she said, barely deigning to look at him, “Since the information you gave me was worth nothing...” She topped off her mug and took a swig. “...that's what I'll pay you.” The pirate queen poured more into her mug, but as she was raising it to take another drink, Lucky's hand slammed hers back down onto the bar, earning a glare from her.

“Me and my boys will get our money's worth, bitch,” Lucky growled. Isabela rolled her eyes before looking at him, her expression full of mock-sympathy.

“Oh, you poor, sweet thing,” she cooed, moving almost as if to kiss him.

Instead, quick as a flash, she gripped his wrist there on the bar, and with her other hand knocked a blow to Lucky's head so hard that his face slammed into the bar countertop. He dropped to the ground, dazed, as one of his men rushed at her, grappling her from behind so that her arms were pinned behind her back—or so he thought. She jabbed an elbow into his solar plexus, making him groan and double over in pain, releasing her. Isabela barely ducked the third man, coming at her with an empty bottle, which missed her and shattered in a spray of glass when it hit the bar. Standing back up, she slugged him across the chin with a right hook, making him stagger backward. Gripping his arm, she kneed the third man in the stomach, and landed a few more solid punches to his face until he dropped to the tavern floor.

A triumphant smirk on her face, she turned back to the bar to see Lucky lurching back to his feet and drawing a sword from a scabbard on his back. Isabela was quicker, and had her dagger pointed at the soft pale skin of his throat before he even got his sword all the way out. He stopped, not daring to move, the sword still raised uselessly over his head.

“Tell me, Lucky,” Isabela asked in a casually menacing tone, reaching for the other dagger still sheathed on her back, “is this worth dying for?” Lucky wisely backed off as his men pulled themselves back to their feet, still groaning in pain. As the three of them scrambled toward the door, Isabela knocked back a long, deep draught out of her waiting mug.

“I didn't think so,” she chuckled to herself.