[OOC: Backstory (a very teal deer, read at own risk)]
Choline has no memory of the first year or so of her life, which she assumes she spent living with her biological family. She was found, apparently abandoned, in the town of Sumervale, (on the northwest coast of the Southern Kingdom, near the border with the North) by Hal and Melasin Merova. Hal and Melasin were a pair of assassin-rogues who were once part of the Scorpio Organization; however, their health in middle-age began to fail them, and they were acting as intermediaries (that is to say, helping others in the Organization cross the border, and using their residence as a safe-house for traveling mercs). Inherently good in nature, Hal and Melasin decided to raise the elf-child, since they were unable to have their own children. Choline - or Rosalind, as they named her - was raised knowing that she was adopted, but has always considered Hal and Melasin her parents.
She grew up in Sumervale, and was educated in the region's public schooling system, attending school until the age of twelve and gaining a generalized background in reading, writing, arithmetic, and general local knowledge. On her thirteenth birthday, she started learning her parents' trade - thinking that she would become a mercenary. She showed great potential in this respect, and trained hard for five years in combat, espionage, and information gathering techniques, sometimes accompanying her parents' colleagues on low-level jobs, which she completed admirably.
Rosalind, as she approached her twenties, was beginning to show adeptness at using her good looks as a tool to gather information. However, there was a slight problem with this: being an elf, she still looked remarkably young, and it soon came to pass that her preferred techniques would work with most of her targets. Eager to be useful, and viewed as an adult by all of her peers, Rosalind and her parents began seeking out mages and alchemists to see if there wasn't some sort of enchantment or otherwise magical item that could be used to make the young elf seem older than she was.
They met a young mage named Farja, who claimed that he could go one step further and actually jumpstart Rosalind's growth. He promised no dire effects, apart from suddenly having a mature body and brain and needing to deal with the consequences of that. Hal and Melasin saw nothing wrong with this, provided Rosalind made the choice of her own free will.
Rosalind agreed to let Farja work on her. There was to be a six-week seclusion period wherein Farja would - with Rosalind's parents present at all times - gradually, with the use of enchantments and potions, make her appear as though she was a twenty-something human.
The procedure worked, but it wasn't as Farja had promised. For some reason that is still unknown (but is probably easily explained by those well versed in potion-making), instead of a gradual change, Rosalind's body metamorphosed in a matter of hours, a painful ordeal that strained her body almost to the point of death, rendered her unable to walk for months, and left her, inexplicably, with green hair and a taller stature. There were also more internal effects of the botched procedure, most of which Rosalind would only become aware of over time. To date, she eats very little (even for an elf) and shows no signs of fertility. This experience is the basis of her one overriding weakness: she is very uneasy around magic. Even now, almost a hundred years after the incident, she still carries this uneasiness with her, and shows almost a phobia of any magic beyond the sphere of what she has set has her own personal limit (this limit being generic, benign healing and enhancement spells.). She fears the idea of encountering magic that has even the potential to alter her physiology - she does not wish to live that experience again.
It was during her rehabilitation period, at the age of twenty-five, that she met Serine Xiloscient, a relatively well-known elven dancer living in Sumervale, and also a member of the Scorpio Organization. Serine was a friend of Hal and Melusin, and suggested to Rosalind that she take up dance as a way to help heal her body, and to get used to her now-changed physique.
So started Rosalind's informal dance education. She took well to dancing, and was especially intrigued by Serine's personal technique that blended the art of dance with the deadliness of martial arts. As the two grew closer, Rosalind discovered that Serine was actually a Cloaked Shadowdancer, and was an assassin who had been working with Scorpio for decades. Serine, looking for someone to carry on her techniques, formally asked Rosalind to study under her on a permanent basis five years to the day after first meeting the young elf.
Rosalind did so, and took on a new surname. Serine also bestowed the name Choline on her new apprentice. The elves’ transitory attitude toward names was the first of many elven cultural insights that Choline learned about during her apprenticeship. Serine became another parental figure in Choline’s life, teaching her about elven customs and heritage, in addition to the deadly arts of dance. As time went on, Choline also began to learn about the inherent advantages in being a pretty female spy. Over time, the education that she received expanded into the areas of seduction and sex. The idea of mixing business with pleasure - and moreover, of using pleasure as a tool - appealed to Choline, and Serine’s femme-fatale methods have stuck with Choline to the present day.
It was Serine was the biggest influence on Choline’s personality. The elder elf, while being somewhat of a disciplinarian (not to mention a bit of a drunk who delighted in insulting Choline regularly), was the person who turned Choline into the rampant, deadly hedonist she is at present.
While studying with Serine and honing her skills in shadowdancing (her preferred style of the two that she had been taught), Choline was also formally inducted into the ranks of the Scorpio Organization, and began to do short-term work for them, as approved by Serine. Generally speaking, she was given jobs she was very well suited to; she often played the role of noblewoman at social functions in order to get close to her marks. It also wasn’t uncommon to see Choline, disguised, leaving a noble’s bedroom early in the morning, her dagger bloodstained.
After a run of ten successful jobs, Choline elected to become a permanent member of Scorpio, and received the twin Scorpio Brands on her inner forearms. These marks are carried by all permanent members, and command respect when - if ever - they are revealed.
When Choline was sixty, Hal passed away of old age. Melusin followed not even a year later. Choline was deeply saddened by her parents’ passing, and took it upon herself to do her job in the best manner possible, so that their memory would live on. She continued taking short-term jobs and studying under Serine for the next ten years, growing into a remarkable dancer who could almost rival her teacher in talent.
Her seventieth birthday was the day that she left Serine’s residence and struck out on her own as an independent contractor for Scorpio. She has been doing mercenary work for them to the present day.
She grew up in Sumervale, and was educated in the region's public schooling system, attending school until the age of twelve and gaining a generalized background in reading, writing, arithmetic, and general local knowledge. On her thirteenth birthday, she started learning her parents' trade - thinking that she would become a mercenary. She showed great potential in this respect, and trained hard for five years in combat, espionage, and information gathering techniques, sometimes accompanying her parents' colleagues on low-level jobs, which she completed admirably.
Rosalind, as she approached her twenties, was beginning to show adeptness at using her good looks as a tool to gather information. However, there was a slight problem with this: being an elf, she still looked remarkably young, and it soon came to pass that her preferred techniques would work with most of her targets. Eager to be useful, and viewed as an adult by all of her peers, Rosalind and her parents began seeking out mages and alchemists to see if there wasn't some sort of enchantment or otherwise magical item that could be used to make the young elf seem older than she was.
They met a young mage named Farja, who claimed that he could go one step further and actually jumpstart Rosalind's growth. He promised no dire effects, apart from suddenly having a mature body and brain and needing to deal with the consequences of that. Hal and Melasin saw nothing wrong with this, provided Rosalind made the choice of her own free will.
Rosalind agreed to let Farja work on her. There was to be a six-week seclusion period wherein Farja would - with Rosalind's parents present at all times - gradually, with the use of enchantments and potions, make her appear as though she was a twenty-something human.
The procedure worked, but it wasn't as Farja had promised. For some reason that is still unknown (but is probably easily explained by those well versed in potion-making), instead of a gradual change, Rosalind's body metamorphosed in a matter of hours, a painful ordeal that strained her body almost to the point of death, rendered her unable to walk for months, and left her, inexplicably, with green hair and a taller stature. There were also more internal effects of the botched procedure, most of which Rosalind would only become aware of over time. To date, she eats very little (even for an elf) and shows no signs of fertility. This experience is the basis of her one overriding weakness: she is very uneasy around magic. Even now, almost a hundred years after the incident, she still carries this uneasiness with her, and shows almost a phobia of any magic beyond the sphere of what she has set has her own personal limit (this limit being generic, benign healing and enhancement spells.). She fears the idea of encountering magic that has even the potential to alter her physiology - she does not wish to live that experience again.
It was during her rehabilitation period, at the age of twenty-five, that she met Serine Xiloscient, a relatively well-known elven dancer living in Sumervale, and also a member of the Scorpio Organization. Serine was a friend of Hal and Melusin, and suggested to Rosalind that she take up dance as a way to help heal her body, and to get used to her now-changed physique.
So started Rosalind's informal dance education. She took well to dancing, and was especially intrigued by Serine's personal technique that blended the art of dance with the deadliness of martial arts. As the two grew closer, Rosalind discovered that Serine was actually a Cloaked Shadowdancer, and was an assassin who had been working with Scorpio for decades. Serine, looking for someone to carry on her techniques, formally asked Rosalind to study under her on a permanent basis five years to the day after first meeting the young elf.
Rosalind did so, and took on a new surname. Serine also bestowed the name Choline on her new apprentice. The elves’ transitory attitude toward names was the first of many elven cultural insights that Choline learned about during her apprenticeship. Serine became another parental figure in Choline’s life, teaching her about elven customs and heritage, in addition to the deadly arts of dance. As time went on, Choline also began to learn about the inherent advantages in being a pretty female spy. Over time, the education that she received expanded into the areas of seduction and sex. The idea of mixing business with pleasure - and moreover, of using pleasure as a tool - appealed to Choline, and Serine’s femme-fatale methods have stuck with Choline to the present day.
It was Serine was the biggest influence on Choline’s personality. The elder elf, while being somewhat of a disciplinarian (not to mention a bit of a drunk who delighted in insulting Choline regularly), was the person who turned Choline into the rampant, deadly hedonist she is at present.
While studying with Serine and honing her skills in shadowdancing (her preferred style of the two that she had been taught), Choline was also formally inducted into the ranks of the Scorpio Organization, and began to do short-term work for them, as approved by Serine. Generally speaking, she was given jobs she was very well suited to; she often played the role of noblewoman at social functions in order to get close to her marks. It also wasn’t uncommon to see Choline, disguised, leaving a noble’s bedroom early in the morning, her dagger bloodstained.
After a run of ten successful jobs, Choline elected to become a permanent member of Scorpio, and received the twin Scorpio Brands on her inner forearms. These marks are carried by all permanent members, and command respect when - if ever - they are revealed.
When Choline was sixty, Hal passed away of old age. Melusin followed not even a year later. Choline was deeply saddened by her parents’ passing, and took it upon herself to do her job in the best manner possible, so that their memory would live on. She continued taking short-term jobs and studying under Serine for the next ten years, growing into a remarkable dancer who could almost rival her teacher in talent.
Her seventieth birthday was the day that she left Serine’s residence and struck out on her own as an independent contractor for Scorpio. She has been doing mercenary work for them to the present day.