Aoide

Aoide Mathwin
Ebon Bardling
Created	February 26, 2011
Status	Active
Race	Elf
Hometown	Loth Llorien
Classes	Bard
Followed	Katrana

Current Description:

Aoide, like most elves, is tall and willowy. Numerous black braids loop and twist around her head, adorned with bells and trinkets. But for a single ebon tendril, the plait's lone escapee, her face is unmasked and open. Her wide eyes are the palest grey and only add to the innocent look about her. While her hair tinkles and chimes when she moves, the sound is almost drowned out by the cacophony coming from her various bags. The bell of a shiny black clarinet juts from one resting at her feet. Under her cloak and mess of instruments and bags glints a steel sword. She is the Bardling of the Hunt, after all. Her pale skin is unmarked saved for an indigo scar, or perhaps a tattoo, in the shape of a spider just below her collarbone.

You can barely hear her humming a faint tune, a waltz by the sound of it. In fact, you spy her feet tapping along with the beat. Her feet and song still as she notices your attention. With a hint of a blush she asks, "Would you care for a story or a song?"

WHO Lists:

Elf [ Bard:   2   1   1 ] Aoide the Elf Maiden                                        2-26-2011 
Elf [ Bard:   7   5   1 ] Aoide is always hunting for good stories.                   3-10-2011 
Elf [ Bard:   9   6   1 ] Aoide is hunting for scores, scrolls, and groups.           3-17-2011 
Elf [ Bard:  10   7   2 ] Aoide, now offering corpse retrievals.                      3-26-2011 
Elf [ Bard:  10   7   3 ] Aoide afk a jiffy.                                          3-26-2011 
Elf [ Bard:  10   7   3 ] Aoide, devoted Tikruul fan.                                 3-26-2011 
Elf [ Bard:  10   7   3 ] Aoide is hunting for tales of the Lady Cordir.              3-26-2011 
Elf [ Bard:  10   8   4 ] Aoide.                                                      3-31-2011 
Elf [ Bard:  10   8   4 ] Aoide Matwin seeks the Bards' Council.                      3-31-2011 
Elf [ Bard:  11   8   4 ] Aoide Mathwin seeks the Bards' Council.                     4-05-2011  
Elf [ Bard:  12   8   8 ] Aoide Mathwin seeks the Phantom.  *HUNT*                    4-17-2011  
Elf [ Bard:  12   9   9 ] Aoide Mathwin requests a tell from Isolas. (HUNT)           4-18-2011 
Elf [ Bard:  13   9   9 ] Aoide Mathwin the Bardlet.  (HUNT)                          4-20-2011 
Elf [ Bard:  13   9   9 ] Aoide Mathwin, Ebon Bardling.    (Hunt)                     4-23-2011 
Elf [ Bard:  15  15  14 ] Aoide Mathwin, Ebon Bardling. My poor bag. [HUNT]           6-06-2011 

Character History:

I was born to be a bard, though I would not admit that for some time. But you see, I was born on the road, and was is a bard if not a wanderer? My mother was an elven ambassador and we spent most of our time traveling from settlement to settlement. Father was a craftsman, a tailor, and found work wherever we went, though it was often mere patch work. His heart’s desire was a commission from a court, fine materials and finer cuts. When the commission finally came, we headed to the Dwarven Kingdom where he would get his greatest desire: to make a dress for the queen. She loved the dress and I loved the court. The clothes, the food, the music, the finery, the romance, the soft beds...it all seduced me, and when my mother and siblings left, I begged to stay. Father became one of the Queen’s favorites, and he was always busy making new gowns for her or for those who wished to be like her. As the Queen's favorite, he was spoiled. Because he was making so much from the sale of his other gowns, I was spoiled. I can see now how pampered I was, but I'd go back in a heartbeat even still.

I’ll never know if he was simply in the wrong place on the wrong night or if he was more politically minded than I knew (for all was not well in the Dwarven Kingdom, even then), but in the dead of night a few months after we arrived, Father was murdered by those opposed to the Queen. I was at a party that night, as I was most nights, and I heard the whispers before the guards came to collect me. "To keep me safe," they claimed, but I was afraid. Even then I knew one could never be sure whose guards were whose in those days. I ran through the halls until I found a place to hide and there I waited. Through the night, I heard more rumors. When they found his body deep in the maze, covered in blood, I ran. I ran for days, wandering again, only this time alone. I had no desire to live and as an ambassador’s daughter. I was searching for another court to take me in. My skill with the needle was nothing compared to Father’s, and I soon found I’d have little success as a tailor other than mending and simple work wear. Perhaps now I would be content with the places and people that took me in, but then I was eager for something finer. So, I continued to seek vainly for someone to care for me but found nothing other than rejection in the circles I craved and nothing but common folk in those who would help me.

Huddled in the half-elf shanty on night, I began to despair. I had thought I might find my mother in the camp, something I would never have admitted I wanted in the earliest months. She was not there, however, and no one had seen her for over a year. Word was she had disappeared one night and never been heard from again. Perhaps the same who murdered my father, perhaps something related to her work, but I will likely never know. All I knew was that at that moment, I was desperately alone. I had been for some time, apparently, but had held on to hope for something else. It is a depressing thing to realize one has nothing and no one in the world. It was then, in my darkest moments, that I noticed a man in the corner who was so sure of himself, so confident. Surely this man had some power, some influence. I had seen the walk, that same carriage, in the royalty and well-to-do as a child. The man was Nevyn, though I did not know it then. I was shocked and a little disappointed to learn that he was not royalty at all. He was nothing more than a traveling minstrel.

I saw him again a few times as I stayed around the camp, mending and enjoying a break from the travel. It was an easier place to be than the elvish hometowns, even as an elf myself. There was too much there I was running from. Despite my past and heritage, the other hometowns were unwelcoming to a lone elf. And so, I waited there. Waited for what, however, I was unsure. I soon began to look forward to Nevyn's visits, for his songs and for his tales of the world. It sounded more glamorous in song than it had on the road. One night, as he sang and was lauded, I made my decision. I would become a bard. It might not be as easy as court, but I could work my way there. There would be praise and food and finery, even if I would be dusty for a while. That was just as well, I was dusty and hungry already.

I imagined it would be a glamorous life. What child does not believe herself to be a great singer? I was talented, certainly, but untrained. It was difficult, more so than I had imagined, especially getting started. I had no past to return to, no real future to look towards, and very few in the realm who could or would help. I laugh now at how inexperienced I was, how I thought it would be a simple decision. Still, when I was sure there was no future left, Viteazu began to train me, Hern constantly pestered to group with me (much to my aid, perhaps not so much to his), others helped gear me and teach me and I slowly progressed. Not too long after this, Cordir had pity on the bards, and my path was fated. As I spoke with the Weaver after her quest, I learned of the Triat, and began to find a purpose other than simply myself. That purpose led me here to the Wyld Hunt, and here I am--the Hunt is more home than anything else has ever been, even if they all don't wear fancy dresses.

Trivia:

• Aoide was given the title 'Ebon Bardling' by Cordir.
• Aoide was the first to find Cordir's Gift To Bards.
• Aoide won second place in the first Quest of Words.
• Restrings Worn: <worn with pride> (Red Aura) (Glowing) a golden quill stained with ebon ink

Personal Timeline:

02/26/2011: Aoide is created.
04/05/2011: Aoide passes her first Bard Council.
04/13/2011: Aoide joins the Wyld Hunt.
04/23/2011: Aoide completes her 20th Mob Mastery: a calm monk
05/27/2011: Aoide passes her second Bard Council.
06/07/2011: Aoide reaches 1010 Location Quest points.