easternseaqueen: (Default)
Player Name: Ardruna
Player DW: [insanejournal.com profile] mirisa_ardruna (no personal DW)
Contact: AIM: Mirisa Erato, email: ardruna@gmail.com [plurk.com profile] Ardruna
Character Number: 2!

Character: 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, but she'll let people who know her by that name continue to call her as such.

Source: Dragon Age

Appearance: Appearance in Dragon Age: Origins
Appearance in Dragon Age II
Full-body shots

Isabela is a lovely woman now in her mid-to-late-30s, about average height and notably buxom. She has the rich deep-brown skin of her Rivaini heritage, long dark brown hair typically tied back with braids or a bandanna, warm golden-brown eyes often lined with kohl, and a roguish smile that always seems to be mocking someone or something. Her ears and lower lip are pierced, and she favors heavy gold jewelry. Clothing-wise, she prefers garments that are comfortable, well-made, allow plenty of freedom of movement, able to hide a myriad of knives and daggers, and if they happen to be on the slutty side, so much the better.

History: Post Volume III of "Until We Sleep" comic.
Timeline: 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 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 his help in dealing with Castillion and his underlings. 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 (one in Denerim being where she met the Warden and challenged her to a game of cards, 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 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 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, a pirate and captain of The Siren’s Call, referring to him as a “greasy bastard” who considered her his plaything and asked her to "entertain" his friends in his Evening Gallery. 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 after she learned the ropes signing on with other captains--including the one who granted her the name "Isabela." 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. It's not so much that she's afraid of having her heart broken, but rather that she'll be the one to hurt someone else, especially if she does come to genuinely care for them. Hawke was one of few to become a true friend to Isabela by defending her against the Qunari after she stole their precious relic. Of course, with Hawke's romantic attentions being taken up by Anders, Isabela instead dallied with the escaped slave Fenris, though it was purely a physical relationship, not an emotionally-involved one. Nonetheless, Hawke and his closest companions 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, 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. 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. 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.


Abilities: 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 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.).

Isabela is known to be literate, and apparently has some 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: 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 (even while naked, she somehow carries a minimum of three on her person), including Backstabber, Heartbreaker, and the Dagger of the Four Winds. Although Backstabber is listed as being onyx, and Heartbreaker and the Dagger of the Four Winds as aurum, said daggers are not fully specified as to what they're made from entirely, but the blades are assumed to be steel alloy.

Prose Sample: Truthfully, she'd be hard-pressed to admit it, but leaving Kirkwall for good was a lot harder than Isabela had expected. Mostly because it ultimately led her to say goodbye to Hawke. Well, all right, they all ended up parting ways with him, except for one or two. Even Varric, normally so good about keeping tabs on everyone, split up with everyone, but Isabela, admittedly, was one of the first to do so.

She had a ship. The sea called her. And she had debts to pay. That's really all there was to it. Escaping from that debacle between the mages and templars was just extra. She belonged on the sea, unlike the rest of them. Of course, she made sure to write every time she stopped into port. Letting at least some of her old friends know she was still alive and well and hadn't gotten on the wrong side of a Qunari dreadnought. Mostly Varric and Zevran. If anyone might need to find her in a sense that wouldn't get her arrested, it'd be the two of them.

It felt good being back to a life of adventuring. She'd spent too long in one place, as much as she had enjoyed the company of Hawke and their friends. Of course, jobs were still difficult to come by sometimes. The whole ugliness with Castillon and the Qunari relic had made something of a mess of her reputation.

And then came something she hadn't expected. A letter from Zevran. The letter itself wasn't so much the surprise as what it contained. King Alistair of Ferelden needed help in tracking down a rumor along with connections to some of the associates of Isabela's late husband... and Zevran had suggested she help. There was plenty of gold to be had in the job... How could she say no? She immediately started penning a reply. And getting another sent off to Varric. She was going to need him for this too.

Journal Sample:
[She can clearly be seen standing down by the seashore, and she looks downright excited for her...]

Hello? Does anyone know anything about the boat that's down here? What are her specs? Does she have a name? Crew? Owner? Captain?

And if anyone at all tells me "no" to any of those last four, I'm calling dibs. After all, the title of "Captain" rings a bit hollow if I don't have a ship under my feet, don't you think?

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Isabela

July 2016

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