Aurenne

Aurenne, 15, is a member of the Horvakar culture. Her real name is Algetha but her name was changed when her family sided with the Athvrean colonialists. She is a practitioner of Vidigrek and currently has tattoos of a nautilus, frog, and leopard. These give her the ability to breathe underwater, climb rough surfaces, and grow claws when needed.

She is the youngest daughter of a powerful family that was offered Athvrean favor in exchange for siding with their colonization. Her father was granted citizenship and her mother became a Flamekeeper. Her two older brothers were sent to be educated in an academy in Drelvyndor and her sister was married off to a Priest. She watched her maternal grandmother weep as her parents made these decisions. In her eyes, it would've been better to die with their traditions than to side with Athvrea. She was a practitioner of Vidigrek, covered in tattoos from head to toe. Aurenne wanted to be like her and begged to learn the tradition. Her grandmother agreed when she turned 10 and taught the girl in secret while her parents tried to arrange a marriage for her.

They came to her with a betrothal at 14, she was to marry an Athvrean naval captain. This horrified Aurenne, who would rather be a slave than bear an Athvrean son. She ran to her grandmother in tears and asked for the first tattoo. That tattoo would ruin her in the eyes of that captain and spit in the face of her parents. Her grandmother nodded and pulled out the ink for the first tattoo. The ritual was conducted over weeks in the middle of the night as her grandmother marked the nautilus on her ribs. As it was applied, her grandmother passed on the tradition on how the ink must be made, how it must be applied, and what it meant to wear it.

Once the tattoo was complete, Aurenne stole her father's longsword and a bag of klara. The sword, a family heirloom with stylized sea creatures along the blade, didn't belong to someone who rolled over so easily. She kissed her grandmother's forehead and proclaimed that she was setting out to find her siblings and bring them back. It was better they were dead than that they be traded like cattle.