Author Topic: Mara Lev  (Read 5787 times)

Kaliot

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Mara Lev
« on: December 10, 2017, 08:53:55 PM »
CHARACTER

Name: Mara Lev

Age: 43

Species and Gender: Human, Female

Symbol:  -

Occupation: Leader of Mercenary/Hit Squad, Siren

Physical Characteristics:

Health - After getting out of her situation, Mara managed to improved her overall health to an adequate state. Though she doesn't have access to rich food anymore, she still manages to get by with a balanced diet.

Mara trains and exercises on most days of the week. Most of her training and exercise she does with her mentor and it usually focuses on technique, balance, and keeping a clear state of mind even when under duress. On her own time, Mara works on improving her balance and her endurance.

Body - Mara weighs 115lbs and stands in at 5'5". Her body is fairly tone and is maintained by her regular exercise. Her skin, while once fair when she lived in the harsh Vale, was now slightly tanned thanks to the constant agitation of Vacuan sun; it used to be that she instead was easily burned, but after a decade of living in Vacuo, her skin was now used to it. [ ]

Head and Face - Her hair is a chestnut brown with a red tint and it runs to her shoulder-blades. Her hair is naturally straight, but because of her environmental conditions, it tends to always be at least a little disheveled. Because of this, Mara tends to wear her hair in either a bun or a ponytail, the latter held together with a simple, black, elastic hair-tie. [ ]

Her eyes are in-between the color of her hair and the color of her aura, and it is best described as illuminated rosewood. The default setting of her eyes is observation with a sprinkle of judgement making her seem as if she is staring down whomever she is looking at. [ ]

The shape of her face overall is oval. Her cheeks are moderately round, and both her lips and her nose are thin. Signs of aging are just starting to appear on her face.

Attire:

Main Wear - Mara doesn't refresh her wardrobe often making her clothes are worn but still often enough that they're not ragged. Mara's main garb consists of a beige, hooded cloak with either a black or white head-scarf, doubling as a facemask, made from cotton-polyester cloth. Underneath her cloak, she wears a plain tank-top of varying colors--usually light-blue but never white--with black, tight mid-thigh shorts and either khaki leg-wrap sandals or desert boots that run up to a third of her shin. In additional, her hands are always covered in black hand-wrap--blood tends to stain white a tad too easily--in anticipation for any fight that may come her way. She also keeps a pair of recently-replaced, military-grade goggles, its grey straps hanging around her neck allowing the goggles to be concealed under her scarf. [ (/) ]

Formal Wear - Being a Vacuan mercenary/hitman, the chances of actually needing formal wear is unsurprisingly low; she'd sooner win the lottery than have to go to a formal event. In such an event, Mara keeps it simple: she wears a sleek black or wine-red dress with black gloves that run to her elbow and black heeled-boots that rum to her knees. She keeps her makeup light and her hair in a bun. She wears no jewelry but has on light make-up. [ (/) ]

Combat/Mission Wear - Not wanting to endanger herself, Mara strays away from you usual loose clothing, instead going for fitting/tight clothes to reduce her opponents' abilities to grab her. Following this goal, she keeps her hair up in a tight bun. She subs out her tank-top with a tight, dark-grey t-shirt, her shorts with fitting, khaki military-pants, and her scarf for a black, proper facemask. Mara holds onto her hand-wraps, adding atop them black Kevlar gloves, as well as her desert boots. She also retains her goggles, but for safety purposes, keeps them in a beige sack, the sack kept closed with string. If she needs to conceal her outfit, she will use her cloak to do so, but he will remove it upon arrival to the target's location. [ ]

History: Mara was born in Vale to loving parents. The family was not well-off financially, and although they encountered many hardships, they always managed to pull through, even by the skin of their teeth. Despite their situation, they were able to send Mara to a decent school--She was able to lead a fairly normal academic life and she graduated with respect.

Managing a work-school life, Mara continued on to college where she would meet her husband and eventually come out as a certified nutritionist. Shortly thereafter, she gave birth to a daughter.

Mara enjoyed her family life. She was much better off than she was as a child, and with her income she was even able to help support her parents when they needed it. Unfortunately, this life was cut short.

When Mara was 33, she was intercepted on her way home from work. They blindfolded and gagged her, and the next thing she knew, she was in some sort of cell, her hands tied behind her back. Around her, she could hear the agony of other women who had suffered the same fate as she had.

She wasn't in the cell for very long. Almost immediately after she had realized where she was, several men had entered the premises, whisking away women one by one, retaliating against anyone who resisted. When they got to her, she went without a fight. They took her up to the surface to what appeared to be the docks, placed her in a shipping container, and shut the door, engulfing her in darkness.

The 'ride', as one could call it, was miserable. It was only a day, but with the rocking of the barge, it felt like an eternity. At one point, it was clear that she was being craned, and the ride continued past the waves. When the doors opened up again, a sweltering heat smashed into her face. It took her eyes a bit to adjust, but when they did, Mara realized they had brought her to Vacuo.

Again they herded her, but this time it was back into a cell. With the slamming of the door, they tossed some exotic clothing into the cell and ordered her to put them on. She glared at them, demanding with her eyes for some privacy and they did so, preferring not to have to deal with anymore hassle.

When she was done, they brought her back outside to a stage with a small crowd gathered. Not having been the first to be let out, the crowd seemed to be placing prices on the girls with a surprisingly amount of civility. Mara watched until her turn was up. They led her by leash onto the stage and her own auction commenced. Of course it was no laughing matter back then, but when she looks on it now, she was modestly brag about how she managed to snag the highest price. "Those fuckers" she would add as a cherry on top.

For years, Mara was a pet being used by one owner until they tired of her only to be transferred to the hands of another. For years, she endured as best she could while she waited for a chance to make a clean, stealthy escape or for a rescue party to find her. In the meantime, she did a little training everyday out of the sights of those around her. She waited for a long time, but nothing ever happened.: no rescues, no openings. Upset, disappointed, bitter, and extremely frustrated, Mara gave up on the idea of rescue, instead only turning to only herself to get her out of this mess. She went on, trying to remain strong-willed, but she was slowly chipped away at day after day until one day she finally snapped. After an altercation with her master, Mara grabbed the nearest heavy object she could and smacked him atop the head with it before bolting out into the dead of night.

Almost immediately Mara began to regret her decision, certain that they would find her, and in doing so, provide her with some unimaginable fate. She wouldn't be able to show her face; she was essentially still a prisoner, except her cell went with her to whatever hole she managed find herself in night after night. She changed clothes soon after leaving, stealing some garments off an open-air rack, and proceeded to lay as low as she could, awaiting the day they would find her and take her away. She spent her days hidden away, sleeping in abandoned buildings or rarely-treaded rooms in occupied ones. During the night is when she became active, scavenging for food and clothing as well as continuing her training which she had been doing in secret before. A long while passed and they never found her, whether due to her prowess or their apathy she wasn't sure.

Eventually, she did find the courage to walk around in daylight, albeit with a covered body and face. Like the breaking of her will, every day she spent in the light rejuvenated her spirit. She looked into doing one-off jobs so she wouldn't have to forage or steal anymore, and she trained more seriously in combat by finding someone willing to teach her, preparing for the day that her confidence may have been misplaced. With time, she felt stronger and more empowered than she had ever felt before.

Still, there was still something missing. Mara thought about it constantly, and she eventually realized that she couldn't keep doing nothing. Sure, she was starting to make something of herself, but there were many others that still needed help. Filled with a resolve and a mission, she set out on her crusade. She started with her most recent captor, managing to simply free the woman that replaced her. She continued down the line of her masters, her methods getting more violent and extreme, culminating in the murder of her first, and it was almost…euphoric, and it was this feeling that would twist her into someone merciless.

By that time, a small band had formed around Mara from the victims who had decided to following are, either because they had nowhere else to go or they wanted to join in her crusade. The group continued on this path, continuing to hunt her former masters and branching out to the former masters of other party members.

With time, as their pool of targets began to slowly dwindle, the group's 'just' crusade began to falter as well and their ideals started to erode. What started as a group of seemingly righteous individuals turned into a band of vigilantes, and eventually after that, nothing more than a small mercenary group/hit squad with very little moral compass to speak of, and Mara was at the helm; many left during throughout the transition, citing that Mara wasn't who she once was. She dubbed the group 'Siren' as a reference to the fact that many in the group had been brought from overseas, and for the irony of having mythical sea creatures in the middle of a desert.

Personality: Mara was once a kind and merciful soul, a light that brightened even the darkest of days. She was once a loving mother and wife, but the sandstorm that was Vacuo gradually and eventually dimmed her light; now, she isn't even bright enough to see her hands in front of her face. Once just, looking to free those who were like her, she became tainted by the Vacuan culture where it wasn't the kind-hearted who survived, it was the strong, the cunning, and the merciless, and that is what she became.

Knowledge/Intelligence - Having spent a decade in Vacuo, Mara has become aware of the inner-working of Vacuo. Specifically, its 'street services' as she likes to call them. If you need something from under the table, she knows a guy.

Academically, Mara doesn't know too much outside her occupation and hobbies unless its common knowledge or within her realm of alternative interest. Whenever she is curious about something, she follows it as close to its roots as her current capabilities will comfortably take her.

By nature, Mara has always been tuned to details. She was never been caught off-guard by trick questions in exams, and she is quick to pick up on social anomalies as well as the behaviors of people.

Values/Beliefs - Even before being dragged to Vacuo, Mara has always had a soft karma philosophy: whether good or bad, people should get what they deserve. Of course, she knew that it wasn't an actuality. Sometimes good people were punished and bad people were rewarded. It wasn't until she freed herself from her masters that did she take the fate of others into her own hands.

The personality trait that Mara values the most is loyalty. Loyalty to a person, to a cause, or a belief (even despite the fact that her crusade itself became warped). Loyalty breeds trust, and trust is necessary for any organization to run smoothly and effectively. If a person or an entity cannot be loyal then her respect for them degrades quickly; Mara prefers not to deal with them unless she's giving them their dues for their past deeds.

As a leader, Mara tries to run a tight ship. She does understand that the group is fairly amateurish and things may not go as she hopes but she still, is quick to punish those who endanger the group regardless of actual intent. While she has a reputation as a strict leader, Mara is not opposed to having a good time when the situation calls for it, though her 'good time' mainly just consists of cards and drinking around a dimly-lit round-table, joking with her companions how some of the dumb or silly things they've done.

For the most part, Mara has retained her motherly traits. She is always trying to find ways to nurture those in the group who are younger than her, and she makes sure that those older than her are able to live comfortably. Mara is highly protective of the group. She makes sure to handle dealings with outsiders herself. In the event of something going wrong, Mara would prefer to go down than any of her companions.

Relationships/Sociability - Despite all that has happened to her, Mara is still a motherly figure to her younger companions. She wants to nurture them into strong, independent individuals but at the same time protect them from some of the darkness in the world. This protective nature is what drives her to handle most of the groups interactions with complete strangers, afraid that they have ulterior motives or intentions. When it comes to slightly more trusted contacts, Mara is willing to less her companions handle them.

While Mara is motherly towards her juniors, she holds much respect for those in the group who are older than her. She tries to make sure their lives are comfortable, and when she has to make any significant decision for the group, she always consults with them.

Mara is not exceptionally sociable. She isn't shy but also not boisterous. Often times she finds herself too deep in an observational trance to begin conversations with other people; the only time she does so is to inquire whether it be for straight information or curiosity's sake. Though she is not one to usually start them, she does enjoy engaging in conversations. If not with her comrades, then she enjoys chatting with strangers with interesting stories.

Hopes/Dreams - Mara isn't one to have any grandiose hopes or dreams. She does hope that those who do good get rewarded for their work and that those who cause malicious suffering (because at the end of the day, wherever there is competition there is suffering) suffer themselves.

She also hopes that her companions and past companions are able to live free and happy lives even if go against her previously mentioned views.

Mara would be lying if she said she didn't want to visit home and her family but she is acutely aware of how much she has changed since she was first swept away to Vacuo, and she also doesn't have the means to do so. Despite the fact that it's been ten years without a single trace of a search party and that they perhaps gave her up long ago as missing or dead, she still wishes to see them again one day.

Happiness - When it comes to happiness, Mara feels as if she is in purgatory. On one hand, it's difficult to be truly happy as an ex-slave mercenary in the heart of Vacuo. On the other hand, she's at least free and is able to move about as she wishes. Because it this, Mara is somewhere between the realms of neutral and content.

Hobbies/Preferences - Mara's leading hobby is training, not only because it keeps her and her companions safe but it is also her primary means of venting off any caged emotions rattling inside her. Beyond that, a nutritionist at heart, she also loves to cook. She finds the meticulous nature of cooking calming, and whenever she has an odd inventory, she enjoys trying to make the best dishes she can with whatever she has left available to her. For similar reasons, Mara also enjoys to sew, not only as a means of relaxation but also to save money since she just needs to buy cloth and thread.

For entertainment, her go-to activity is playing cards with her companions. Mara enjoys trying to predict how they will act in whatever scenarios they may find themselves in, and it also gives her an opportunity to boost her observation skills. Beyond just playing cards, Mara trains her card training  in an effort to become a card mechanic and illusionist. The manipulation of something as seemingly chaotic as a deck of cards fascinates her. She doesn't do anything tricky when playing with her companions, though they nevertheless get nervous when she is dealing. When playing with complete strangers, Mara would be willing to employ her tricks depending on the situation.

Mara doesn't have many major, insignificant likes or dislikes. One of her few is smoking. Mara despises smoking, enough that she's pretty much banned her companions from doing so. The smell is disgusting, the smoke slowly stains whatever is around, and it affects bystanders.

On the contrary, Mara loves spicy foods. She enjoys a challenge, and the exhilaration she gets from the pain only pushes her to finish her dish and slightly up the heat for the next one. Unfortunately, Mara can't eat spicy foods often since they tend to leave her...vulnerable the following day, and she can't be having that.

Faunus - When she still lived in Vale, Mara was cautious around Faunus strangers. She was able to work with them but she'd always be tuned to her environment in case anything suspicious happened. This weariness dissipated as she built relationships with individual Faunus.

It wasn't until Vacuo that, going along with the culture, she saw Faunus in the same way that she saw anyone else: liars, cheats, sleuths, brawlers, adventurers, etc. Her constant interactions erased the barrier in her mind separating Humans and Faunus allowing her to see everyone as one.

Mara holds a different perception on Faunus depending on what Kingdom she is in. In Vacuo, Mara sees Faunus as equals. In Vale and Mistral, she is wary of them, especially the latter due to the presence of the White Fang. In Atlas, she views them more as pitiable than suspicious.

Aura and Semblance:
Coquelicot Red (#FF3800)

Mara is able to tag objects, and in doing so, she is able to continuously 'see' them even if they leave her line of sight. The more objects she tags, the more vague the sense becomes. For example, at one object, she is able to see that one object with absolute clarity; she could actually count the hairs on a person's head of she wanted to. At five objects, she has a somewhat vague idea of what the tagged objects are doing. If they are all holding up some amount of fingers, all Mara would be able to tell you if is her tags are holding up more or less than half their fingers. Past five, the actions of tags come progressively blurred. At this stage, she still has an approximate direction and distance of her tags, but those senses soon fade into pure noise past ten tags.

Usage - As one may be able to tell from the get-go, Mara uses this to track her opponents in the heat of battle or for pursuit of targets. She makes a conscious effort to tag those that are about to leave her sight as well as untag those who she had previously tagged and were now entering her sight.

She can also use her semblance to keep track of her teammates. In the chaos of battle, she will lose track of them easily so she doesn't bother. When things are calm and she isn't constantly tagging and untagging targets, she is able to keep fairly good track of her them.

Cost - Tagging exhausts her mentally, but because her semblance's senses degrade with every added tag, the total cost is the same regardless of how many active tags she has. She can keep her semblance up for ten minutes before needed to rest her mind.

Aura Training - Blast, Detection

Through her training with her mentor, Mara by chance trained her aura in the way of creating aura blasts to augment her melee attacks.

Detection was acquired through similar means except with missions instead of training.

Combat Behavior:  With her main weapons being her knives and her various limbs, Mara is almost exclusively a melee fighter save for a pistol she carries around just in case.

When weaponless, her primary style involves reacting to her opponents in a swift and aggressive manner in order to shift control of situations to her (e.g. swiping a gun or forcing an attacker onto the ground and into a submissive position). This style typically does not involve striking, but if it is or becomes clear that invoking submission will be difficult to impossible, she will not hesitate to get her fists and shins involved.

Mara's combat style with knives is similar, but it does aim to kill rather than to simply incapacitate (as one would expect). Unless she smells blood or if she must attack, Mara prefers to fight reactively, using her opponent's attacks to create opening for hard strikes.

Against untrained or novice combatants, Mara has also dabbled in a style that involves repeatedly attacking a opponent with heavy low-kicks in order to hinder their movement and ultimately incapacitate them. She doesn't do so against stronger opponent because they generally are able to endure much more pain and such a style would drag the fight out longer than she would be uncomfortable with. On top of that, she has a tendency to leave small opening using that style that stronger opponents can more easily exploit.

She can handle up to five melee opponents at a time, the five opponents being completely inferior to her in skill. For greater numbers and against ranged fighters, help is required. When 1-on-1 with an equally skilled opponent, her choice to disengage or fight depends on the situation. If the fight is more or less meaningless, she will usually disengage. If the fight is significant, she will always take it.

Teamplay - The members of Siren are not particularly strong individually so they are forced to make up for their weaknesses with excellent teamwork. Because of her semblance. Mara often acts as a coordinator both in direct combat and on missions in general. She is the one to survey a situation and relay that information as well as orders to her companions.

Sometimes there will be times when Mara has to enter the fray herself making it difficult to keeps tabs on the tide of a battle. In those times, she is comfortable with letting someone from the backline run the show while Mara relays their positions back to her backup.

Strengths - Mara's most important strength is her excellent perception. Along with her semblance, she is able to have a very solid grasp on the state of a battlefield.

Weaknesses -Without the aid of her teammates, Mara is nearly the equivalent of a sitting duck. Her ranged capabilities are extremely limited, she is not a Dust user, and she lacks extra mobility.

MELEE WEAPON 1

Name: (None)

Primary Form: Two trench knives with the blades the same length as the handles. The blade retract into the handle allowing for them to be easily stored or used as brass knuckles.

Dust Functions: None.

History:  Snatched off the body of an unconscious guard during her first mission.

MELEE WEAPON 2

Name: (None)

Primary Form: A simple karambit.

Dust Functions: None.

History: Bought from a vendor.

RANGED WEAPON

Name: (None)

Primary Form: A simple, silver revolver, slightly worn. Mara carries this around at all times in a leather sheath around her thigh. Holds six rounds.

Dust Functions: None.

History: Bought from a vendor.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2017, 08:12:26 PM by Kaliot »
Pyre Persephone Delanto

Formatting

Characters: ShowHide

Sophea Devi Visorith - Beacon Nurse, Gardener, Health Nut, Scholar
Mao Visorith - First-Year Beacon Student, Team SFF[M]
Aurelia Caelius - Beacon Graduate, Huntress, Team [A]URM
Izumi Cremisi - Member of Obsidian Rose, Assassin, Thief, Arcade Enthusiast
Airi Fogden Bicardi - Second-Year Atlas Student, Family Heiress
Avery LeBlanc - Third-Year Atlas Student, Triplet, Duelist, Manipulator, Team SA[L]T | Threads [Team: ]
Yu Mei - Third-Year Haven Student
Suna Arevik - First-Year Shade Student, Scavenger-in-Training, Team S[S]MR
Mara Lev - Mercenary, de facto Leader of Siren

Worldbuilding: ShowHide

Mahava Plains - The bastion of Eastern Sanus
Obsidian Rose - Valish Criminal Organization

Kaliot

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Re: Mara Lev
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2017, 08:14:46 PM »
[Post for Spreadsheet]
Pyre Persephone Delanto

Formatting

Characters: ShowHide

Sophea Devi Visorith - Beacon Nurse, Gardener, Health Nut, Scholar
Mao Visorith - First-Year Beacon Student, Team SFF[M]
Aurelia Caelius - Beacon Graduate, Huntress, Team [A]URM
Izumi Cremisi - Member of Obsidian Rose, Assassin, Thief, Arcade Enthusiast
Airi Fogden Bicardi - Second-Year Atlas Student, Family Heiress
Avery LeBlanc - Third-Year Atlas Student, Triplet, Duelist, Manipulator, Team SA[L]T | Threads [Team: ]
Yu Mei - Third-Year Haven Student
Suna Arevik - First-Year Shade Student, Scavenger-in-Training, Team S[S]MR
Mara Lev - Mercenary, de facto Leader of Siren

Worldbuilding: ShowHide

Mahava Plains - The bastion of Eastern Sanus
Obsidian Rose - Valish Criminal Organization

Kingnoname1

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Re: Mara Lev
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2017, 03:19:23 AM »
I'd still like a bit more detail on 'Siren's fall 'grace.' Like you say that a bunch leave that means that some are convinced to stay.

Not enough to avoid a +1 tho.
No criticism is too harsh so hit me with your best shot.

Calen Shrike - ASTC - First Year Beacon.

Saffron de Cortez - SALT - Third Year Atlas.

Amarant Lovis - (formerly of)ACCE - Headmaster of Atlas Academy

Ramalia - RASB - First Year Shade

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Re: Mara Lev
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2018, 11:30:32 AM »
Approved 2 of 2.
First Year Beacon Student: Rackley Winchester - The Hawkeye Sniper currently Teamless

Second Year Beacon Student: Jett Davenport - The Playful Shadow Knight of Team MLDC (Melodic)

Third Year Beacon Student: Suntalia Lyn Ryker - The Voice of Thunder currently Teamless

Fourth Year Beacon Student: Savas Carnelian - The Quiet Berserker Leader of Team SARK (Stark)

Beacon Professor: Oberon Falcov - The Man With A Plan / Team Strategy Teacher of Beacon