@TwilightArrows

Artemis Alafare

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Age: 23

Alignment: Good
Personality: Free-spirited, Reckless, Daring, Headstrong, Adventurous, Wanderer
Occupation: Champion Archer
Home Region: Valara
Powers/Abilities/Skills: Extremely skilled with a bow and arrow, Strong intuitive skills when reading people (though she does not have the ability of fortune telling like her mother), can navigate by the stars, plays guitar and sings


Other Associated Regions: All

Artemis was born to Geraldine Alafare, a travelling gypsy who was gifted with the ability of fortune telling. Her mother named her after the Goddess of the Hunt and Moon, sensing her natural alignment with her.

Her father, a young sailor, had left her mother shortly after she had been born. Geraldine had often described him as a restless soul, one that yearned for a life of change and adventures. Artemis had always felt a sense of betrayal for her father. How could he have left after her mother had begged him to stay? How could he sail off and leave his child behind? And yet, she shared the same restlessness in her heart as his.

Geraldine was determined to do everything she could for her daughter and it wasn’t long before she was traveling the land again. While her mother read fortunes on their travels, Artemis earned her keep through archery competitions, a popular sport throughout much of the land. 

As Artemis turned 18, it was time for her to pick her totem animal, carrying on the long held gypsy tradition. Though she kept it from her mother, Artemis had her dreams visited by a seemingly mythical creature. In her dreams, a lion with a mane and aura of fire would watch her. He never interacted with her, and rarely moved aside from a flick of the tail or a somber head turn. The night of her 18th birthday, she dreamt she was walking though the woods, full moon overhead. The air was silent, not even a rustle of trees or chirp of a bug. She was wary, ready to grab her bow the second she heard so much as a twig crack. Suddenly, the ground split beneath her feet, leaving her just a millisecond of reaction time to leap back to solid ground. A gust of wind and rock erupted from the fissure, causing the young huntress to shield her face. A dark form billowed from the wind-torn the depths, eye’s glowing red with an evil inexplicable with common words. Before she could so much as much as move, the shadow creature sent her flying back, engulfing her in a tidal wave of darkness. With the shadow leaving her blinded, she grabbed an arrow between her fingers, pulled back the string, and prayed to the gods for their divine protection. 

As the arrow left Artemis’ fingers, the tip burst into a white hot flame, leaving a streak of fire across the sky as it travelled. In an explosion of fiery light, the darkness was blown away. Shocked by what had just happened, Artemis took a shaky breath, staring ahead at the fire burning out in the midnight sky. She felt a presence behind her, and turned to see the lion seated stoically behind her. He placed a paw over her beating heart and bowed his head. Artemis felt a surge, almost like lightning, shoot through her, and she woke up in a fright.

The next morning, she told her mother that the lion was to be her totem, but offered little explanation as to why. That discussion would be for another day, Artemis told herself.

Preferring to be out in nature than to be surrounded by people, Artemis was a natural loner. She was a child of the night, preferring the cover of moon to the sun. Gypsy and other traveling folk were often looked down upon, and Artemis didn’t tolerate that. She was proud and stubborn and not afraid to fight back anyone who would disrespect her or her mother. Though not gifted with future-telling as her mother had been, Artemis can navigate by way of the stars and has a natural gift for reading people.