3rd Age NPCs (Alternate Timeline)

Graciela Togita is the great-niece of the King of Shienar through her grandmother’s blood. She was raised in Fal Moran by her mother, an honorable, good woman of the Light to grow to be a lady that would proudly carry the family name and do credit to Shienar with her stalwart courage and conviction. Graciela fulfilled all these roles as she grew in age and character. As a girl she always imagined marrying into a strong, Noble, borderlander family. She sometimes dreamt of what it would be like to live in Kandor or Arafel with their mountain strongholds and mighty histories. Though when she was informed that she would marry the son of the Lord of Fal Sion, she was not disappointed. She was 14 at the time her mother, grandmother and their family undertook the pilgrimage to the Blight Border Fortress to make the engagement official. It was along the same road as Fal Dara, which she had seen when she was a small child. She remembered the feeling of awe that the Keeps impressed upon her when she was a small girl. And upon the return trip, this time to Fal Sion, she was proud of the might of those high walls, believing that someday she would be their Mistress beside a strong, honorable husband.

Her first night in the Keep remains emblazoned in her memory to this day. The evening banquet was over, it was an occasion that made her spend much time choosing her clothing and arranging her dark hair into a flattering style around her face. She chose a dress of charcoal and blues for the event, and by her family name she was allowed to bear embroidered swooping hawks worked into a pattern of embroidery around the sleeves. She spent a long time looking at herself in a mirror before the feast, hoping she would do her future husband proud when they first met laid eyes on one another, although she did not know his exact identity yet. The food was marvelous, of course, and much honor was given to her grandmother, the sister of king Easar. Eventually her mother and father were honored, which made Graciela very proud to be their only child. And finally, she herself was introduced to the feast, “Her Lady Grace, Graciela of House Togita.” Nothing was spoken concerning an engagement, as it had not yet been announced officially. In fact, Graciela herself only knew because her mother made her swear to keep the secret. Arranged marriages are always more difficult for the woman involved than the man.

During dinner, she could not help but glance at the two sons of Lord Armendariz. The older one, Xavier, was handsome, rugged, and very muscled, and only 6 years older than herself. At the age of 20 he was already honored for bravery in battle, was rumored to be highly respected and well-liked among the Lancers of the Keep, and would inherit the Keep as their next Lord. The younger son, Vladamir, was two years older than herself. He was quieter than his brother, but just as handsome. He wasn’t as tall or as cut as Xavier, but she could tell that he carried himself with confidence, honor, and strength. While Xavier inspired other men to smile with his words of encouragement and inspiration, Vladamir listened to them speak instead. And when Graciela saw him smile, it made her heart weak. Alas, she watched them both during dinner, but did not know which one she was to marry. She caught Xavier looking at her several times and he would smile from across the room. But she only caught Vladamir looking at her once, but he quickly looked down or to his brother in deference.

After the banquet she was informed that her parents and grandmother would meet with Lord Armendariz and his wife alone. Graciela knew the subject of their conversation would include many important matters of the state of the country, the Keep, and the Blight. But she also thought their official engagement would be finalized as well. She was walking back toward the women’s apartments when the alarm bells went out. Her young ears had never heard their sound tolled ever before in Fal Moran, some distance from the Blight, but they chilled her bones. She knew what they meant. The Keep was attacked. Trollocs or Myrdraal might be within the walls itself! She abandoned her path toward the women’s apartments and went toward Lord Armendariz’s office, seeking her mother. She got lost along the way, though, and as the alarms went on and on she started to get worried. She was able to keep her wits about her though when she turned a corner and ran straight into the young Vladamir Armendariz.

He was dressed in under armor clothing as though ready to bear steel plates and armed to join forces at the walls of the Keep. And in that environment, he seemed fiercer than he had at the banquet. His eyes flashed and she knew that he would be an asset to the men fighting without. They stood and stared at one another for a moment, having just now coming this close to one another. He towered over her height and she suddenly wondered it would be like to be wrapped in his arms. But like it or not, she was lost, and had to ask for assistance to find her way to her mother. Thankfully, Vladamir led her and she was able to spend more time in his presence. He was kind and patient with her questions, and escorted her straight to her mother.

The next day the Keep celebrated their victory over the attack that brought shadowspawn to the very walls of Fal Sion. The celebration was largely due to the fortunate presence of Isabella Sedai of the Green Ajah, who traveled with her family from Fal Moran. But the lancers, archers, and soldiers were also mighty defenders of the Blight Border so as to make Shienar proud. Graciela was very honored to have a chance to be the next Lady of Fal Sion someday. She asked her mother but was told that official talk of her engagement was delayed due to the battle. She hoped that sometime during the celebration it would be announced.

She waited patiently when the Lord and Lady of Fal Sion were announced to a throng of cheers at the celebration. Then she sat forward on her seat when Lords Xavier and Vladamir were announced. Apparently Xavier had given the orders at the wall that night and his keen strategy had saved many lives. But all fell silent when Isabella Sedai suddenly stiffened and spoke in a strange, monotone voice. She foretold Vladamir’s fate, that he would save a life and whose life he saved would go on to save the lives of thousands, that he would be a warder and bound to the White Tower.

Graciela was shocked, just as her mother, grandmother, Isabella, Xavier, Lord Armendariz, and every other attendant at the celebration. Before she could blink, he was escorted off to Tar Valon with a company of men honoring him as he left. And she was informed of an engagement to Xavier a few weeks later.

She finally wed Xavier a year later. She bore her first child a year after that, a daughter named Misaki which means Blossom in the Old Tongue (now 14), and another two years followed a son named Kenta (now 12), which means Strong in the Old Tongue. She took to her new family and home well and quickly earned the respect of Fal Sion with a reputation for justice, honor, honesty, and loyalty. At one point she heard that her brother in law, Vladamir, was raised to some honorable rank in Tar Valon, and she imagined he deserved every honor the White Tower could give and she was proud to be a part of such a noble family. But since then no word has come about him and over the years Graciela always wondered how he fared in this world and who it was that he was meant to save as Isabella had foretold. Over the years as well, Graciela fell in love with her husband, but once in a while her thoughts turned to Vladamir, and what might have been if that foretelling had never taken place.

The Telerians are a family from Darein with little but pittance to their name. They first came into contact with the White Tower when Keio, the youngest daughter, was given the opportunity to learn her letters under a Sister of the Blue Ajah, Yelendrian Arra’goath, as a trial run before the Blue intended to begin academies. As the lessons, which involved a number of other children, were to take place in Tar Valon, travel was arranged and paid for.

It was then things began to change. The driver of the wagon that came to pick Keio up was Akari Miyakawa. A ta’veren. Keio was smitten from the start.

After the battle that raged through Tar Valon, the Telerians managed to take residence in a small, deserted house. But as the village continued to recuperate, it became necessary for them to move on. Akari came to the rescue, purchasing a cottage in need of repair. Gadril, Keio’s father, was a Thatcher by trade and was honoured to receive the job. The Telerians stayed there for a while, until Akari Miyakawa one day disappeared. Gadril completed the work anyhow, and though they waited as long as they could, Gadril could not on conscience stay in the house without compensating the missing Captain.

Once again things began to grow worse.

With the funds saved from Akari’s generosity, they found new residence in a small house in Tar Valon, but the money soon began to run out. Larissa became pregnant, but lost the child, and for Gadril work was thin. Eventually they were evicted and, in a last desperation, turned to the Tower for work and residence. Lanie Maddragon granted them their request, and at the Tower they have remained.

Gadril: The father of the family. Fairly tall, though not excessively so, with a lean, strong figure. Perhaps middle thirties, and though hardship has taken its toll, looks younger than his actual years. Crow-lines crease his eyes when he smiles and the mischievous glint makes it clear from where Keio gets her own. He feels the burden of what he regards as letting his family down and resents having to turn to the Tower (or anyone) for help, but recognises that they have little choice in the matter. A hard-worker who has struggled for most of his life, his main skills lie within construction, although he is essentially a jack of all trades. He is happy so long as his family is, and has spent the last five years as the Head of the Green Ajah servants. He takes pride in his work and is a favourite in the Ajah Halls for his discretion and easy smile.

Larissa: A fairly young woman, not far into her thirties. Past hardships have given her an older appearance than most – especially in a Tower full of beautiful, ageless women. She appears plain, if she is actually quite pretty. Dark hair, which curls at the ends, is usually tied back in a smart bun. Her eyes are her best feature; a sparkling blue. A rather quiet woman, who tends to be quick about her work (which is the main reason she found herself appointed to the Red Halls). As a mother, and having to help care for her brothers and sisters before that, Larissa is both efficient and practical in all that she does and has a quiet but firm way of dealing with those around her. She has been the head maid of the Red Ajah for the past five years.

Mikel: He has always resented his family’s poverty, if only for the fact that it damages his pride. Despite it all, he is very loyal to his family, if he teases his sister something rotten. Arriving at the Tower at thirteen, he has passed through that tall, gangly and awkward stage of his development, and is now quite the handsome young man. A mop of dark hair curls forever into his bright blue eyes and he is tall and lean, like his father. At first working in the stables (and finding it a huge bore) he is now apprenticed under Steffen the baker and has excelled at the work. He isn’t shy around girls and enjoys any attention he might get. He flirts whenever he gets the chance, but has never overstepped the boundary.

(Ty-ee-gee)

20,000 tides; 2 ships and 4 thin earrings ago Ty’s life started on the water and for the first 7 years imagined his course would continue as charted. Until the news broke over the ships of his clan about the maelstorm called from the other side of the sea. New voyagers reaching from the shores so far across the sea even his own people ceased exploring that eternal distance generations out of memory. By this point he was already taken on by the ships of his father, passed from his mother’s barely a year before. His mother visited as often as her station and rank allowed and as is the ways of children, Ty tenderly loved and respected her; and so, upon catching wind of her capture by the seanchan, he mourned, deeply mourned her loss. His father, Aaric True Gale, bid his son farewell soon after, and he would have done the same for his daughter if she did not reside with their mother’s clan, and he left, charting the course to avenge and rescue her. Ty did not expect to see him return, but he kept a keen ear to howls of tide and rumor for news of either.

Several years into apprenticeship, the fleet was effectively docked by the Coramoor, and Ty found himself marooned in Illian. The seanchan naval forces patrolled the Aryth Ocean, trade with the Sharans crashed to a halt, and Ty found himself pacing docks rather than decks. He felt no burning desire to serve the Coramoor, though come the day his ship would be called out from port, and he would be dead before his next sight of land. Atha’an Miere kill their channelers, rightfully so, those who will not agree to submit themselves to the ocean of their own accord. Their race struggled to fight the drowning world in the Breaking, the very oceans upheaved and mountains tore down by men who could channel, driven insane by the taint. Men like himself.

So he took the escape, the Coramoor’s amnesty, and fled, shamefully knowing what he was. He had a wife and child waiting, but he felt the burden on their minds would be lessened if he disappeared, more so than knowing he lept from the rails of his own free will in suicide. He would eventually return to them some years later, understanding the threat of insanity was lifted, knowing he was safe to love and care for his family. They had waited for him, that they had made his heart soar. His own daughter, Saga, grown from an infant into a beautiful, lively child. His boy, Tao, already adopted by the clan to train. And his dear wife. Sweet, fierce wife. Kaliyani din Hai Sweeping Tide. She never faltered, never ceased believing in his return from the black seas. Upon their long awaited reunion, he begged her forgiveness, and what broke his heart the most, was her steadfast reply – that there was nothing to forgive.

Appearance/personality:
Ty, the sailor, the asha’man, has some height to him for the people of the sea. 6 tall feet. Short hair. Skin far darker than any Ebou Dari, his the color of darkly rich wood. Strong enough to fight the rough waters and control a ship cutting through the very waves. Stern for the public eye, though quick to celebrate in private. Plays, sings, and dances enough to entertain a Tinker, and waits for the Coramoor’s call with his family, Traveling back and forth from the islands controlled by his wife’s clan, where their watery home now resides, he gathers news and is quick to work where he is needed. Typically barechested and barefoot, black oiled breeches, bright sashes and dons a long, curved dagger. He typically wears a series of gold links around his neck, two, thin gold earrings in each ear one of which bears a polished stone, and the remainder of his black uniform while on mainland, though in warmer climes, leaves the silken coat unbuttoned and open.

Skills:
Dagger-knowledge with enough to duel a mainlander and most of the time come out ahead, with no aversion for using fists and feet in such a fight. No extraordinary feats of channeling, except to Travel. Fiercely loyal, protective of his family and passionately serves the Light.