Age: 32 turns
Nameday: 3543.10.22
Sex: Female
Sexual Orientation: ???
Craft: Healer (Mindhealer), Mercenary
Rank: Journeyman
Location: Western Weyr
Physical Description: Raen is 6'4", long of limb and broadly shouldered. She is muscled and quite fit, but not unshapely, and definitively feminine despite her stature. She looks like the workhorse that she is 90% of the time, done up in sturdy leathers and knee-high boots with her long chocolate hair swept back from her face in a wrap or scarf. She likes nice accessories, embroidered edges on otherwise tough gear... but she isn't the sort to go out of her way to splurge just on her day-clothes. Browns, creams, golds and greens take front and center in her closet, especially with deeper greens to match her eyes—a small cosmetic indulgence. Come Gather day, an entirely new Raen appears. Gilt-edged dresses and intricate hairdos, long planes of coyly revealed skin—she's a show-stopper of a sight, and though her demeanor is one of effortless carelessness, she's definitely aware of her looks, and proud of them.
Personality: Raen knows who she is and what she's doing. Not a lot unsettles her, and she lets very little get in her way or slow her down. Certain things need to be done for the good of the many and the survival of certain important or beloved folks, and she knows she's sturdy and balanced enough to handle them. She's had to do things she never thought she'd have to do, but she doesn't let it keep her awake at night—she doesn't feel any guilt for protecting what's her own, or the people important to her. She's a care-taker at her core, and sometimes that means shouldering burdens and doing morally gray things to keep others from having to do it.
She doesn't let her goals go easily once she has her teeth into them, which is a boon and a curse at times. It's the drive to get the work done, but with it comes a detrimental willingness to push herself (and an expectation for others to push themselves) to the very edge in the process. In addition she is slow to forgive—if someone's proven themselves a danger to her people before, she's quite content with ending the threat permanently, rather than risk letting it live to return. She is the mother bear protecting her cub, and she will kill or be killed if it means victory.
But many times the battles she finds she must fight are the battles of the mind. Not her own—she's firmly hinged and has no demons to exorcise—but of her friends, and especially of her comrades in arms. To them, she says, "Weep, if you need to, let it out;" she's here to listen, and you'll never have to worry about her judging you... at least, not out loud. Her plain confidence comes in handy, her ability to assess a situation and look at it without hesitation—"You did what you had to do, don't feel guilty. Anyone would have done the same, I would have done the same, it's okay. The people you hurt wanted to DO hurt to people you care about, defending them is normal, and nothing to be ashamed of." And she genuinely believes what she says, and uses that sense of certainty to help her patients believe in themselves too.
...If in the most blunt of terms. She isn't one to mince words, and can come off as abrupt, even callous if you don't know her. Sometimes she struggles to express fine nuances of feeling or concepts, her mind fails to grasp that sometimes you need more than "well of course you did that, that's normal". She isn't one to talk about her own feelings, in a personal or professional setting, and so can seem disingenuous at times—she'll never be one to say "I understand what you're feeling right now, it can be very difficult and scary". She understands that it is, of course, but to her the answer is just so incredibly obvious that it doesn't need to be said or embellished upon. If nothing else, she's genuine and she means well. She'll do anything she can to help the people around her, be it through counsel or through action. She just won't be the most eloquent or subtle about it.
Positive Trait List Tempered, confident, determined.
Negative Trait List Reserved, blunt, ruthless.
History: Born in a minor Hold nestled on the shores of one of the islands trailing to the north of the Western continent, Raen was a healer before she was anything else. She was always keen to be of use, be helpful, but she lacked a lot of the under-footedness of most youngsters. A notable stoicism in the face of such chores and tasks as helping aid the wounded from sailing accidents, hunting accidents, and occasional combat, she was quickly singled out for Healer training. She took to the training like a dolphin to the seas, and shifted into mindhealing as she learned—heading to Healer Hall for some turns, despite her displeasure at leaving her home. In her mind it was a fair trade: once she was trained up, she could come back, perhaps, and help them even more. There she was schooled and coached, and found that she had a knack for calmly and plainly sorting out the chaos of frayed and frazzled minds, redefining it in plain and simple terms that often made troubles seem smaller, or at least easier to deal with. Her bedside manner was never the best, but her utter confidence and belief in herself and those she works to help has filled the gaps when needed.
Over turns, her small Hold found itself victim to a number of pirate raids. Upon hearing how the people she had trained to care for had suffered, both physically and mentally, and having reached her Journeyman status, Raen opted to depart the Hall for home one more. The aggressive situation there provided her with another opportunity to help, another avenue to take care of them and provide for and protect them. Her stature offered her the strength with a blade that practice had not yet had time to afford, but turns more of fending off foes of one kind or another made her as deft a hand at combat as she was at chasing back nightmares.
Of course, thread wasn't something she could fight back against, but when her Hold decided to dissolve and attempt to join Western Weyr—where they would be free of both pirates and the Enemy—she could at least go with them, and offer what services she had to give.
Other: She likes to press flowers. She doesn't mind being hit on (comes with the turf when you're tall and gorgeous) but she isn't gentle about letting people down—she might have a small reputation as being cold because "she's just not that into you, dude".
