Appearance: Falcia stands at 5’9”, fairly tall for a woman of the Empire, with a warrior’s physique. She has a sturdy lower half and a lithe upper half, both toned but not muscled, marking her as a swordfighter and acrobat. She has very pale skin, from her mother’s side, but her hair is raven black and she has dark eyes which are usually navy blue with lighter flecks of blue but can darken to black with extreme emotion – usually anger. She tends to wear her hair in a tight ponytail. She is beautiful, though with a Tilean tint to the tilt of her eyes and the shape of her crimson lips that makes her an exotic beauty in the Empire and Marienburg. Everything about Falcia speaks of grace, from the way she moves to the subtlety of her expressions and the occasional eloquence of her words. However, that can quickly change if she loses her temper.

Weapons: Falcia fights using four weapons. She has an Asur longsword hanging from the left side of her belt (used in her right hand) and a human shortsword hanging from the right side. The longsword has a blue leather sheath and is decorated with sapphires in the hilt and engraved silver ravens, a true noble’s weapon. She likes it primarily for its lightness and ability to be used at speed without problems. The shortsword is simple and unadorned, with a deceptively sharp edge. The other two are two daggers. In a sheath in her right boot, she has a fighting dagger. In a hidden sheath up her left sleeve, she has a throwing dagger. Both are of standard Imperial make, if only because she tends to lose them regularly.

Skills: Falcia was an assassin and has many skills of that trade, including an impressive grasp of combat. Falcia’s fighting style is a strange mixture of sword-fighting, acrobatics and street tricks. She uses her longsword and shortsword in both hands, moving very quickly and using her speed and swords to deflect attacks. However, she also incorporates that with some of the more underhanded tricks on the street, such as unexpected unarmed attacks, kicks, and so on; not to mention the use of her daggers. She can be quite intimidating and is good at turning someone’s fears in on themselves until they begin to doubt themselves and other mental tricks with those she considers enemies. She is unlikely to use such methods on her allies, however. She is very fast, almost as swift as an elf, but has average stamina and strength for her size. Her greatest advantage is the fact that she has being fighting for her life for the past eight years and has gathered a great deal of experience in the many battles she has been involved in and survived. She is also intelligent and can often think her way out of a sticky situation if given a chance to contemplate the options. She has a cool, effortless authority supported by her intimidating aura and a flair for making the right decisions at the right time, though her handling of people can range from tactless to disastrous.

She is also skilled at stealthy movement, using such tricks as shadowing others, using darkness and cover to become almost invisible to those who seek her, along with other infiltration specialities as climbing and limited gymnastics.

Clothing/Armour: Falcia does not wear armour. Falcia tends to wear black leather trousers, black leather turn-over-top boots which come up to just below the knee and a dark shirt that clings to her feminine form. The shirt can range from dark grey through forest green and wine-reds to white or more bright colours, but most of the time she wears black. Her hair is usually held up in a high ponytail out of the way. Two overlapping sheathes hold her weapons, while hidden arm and boot sheathes hold her two daggers in their places. She does not tend to wear jewellery, though every so often she will wear a dark leather doublet over the shirt. When the weather is inclement or she wishes to hide her identity, she wears a dark grey cloak with a deep hood.

Brief History: Very little is known about Falcia’s history before she created the Legacy of Shadows in Bretonnia. Some few who knew her beforehand talk darkly about a guild called the Shadow Court, and one or two favoured individuals know the entire thread of her history, a long tale with several twists and turns. She does not speak about her past and actively avoids or sidesteps the subject when it comes up.

What is generally known is that she founded the Legacy of Shadows in Bretonnia, claiming the title of Lady and owning a good few acres of land outside of Quenelles, quite close to the legendary Loren Forest. The Legacy of Shadows was exclusive, taking only those who had sinned greatly and were seeking redemption who were inducted into the Dusk section of the guild. The other section was Dawn, which for those righteous warriors whose faith or zeal had failed them in the face of the world’s darkness. The repentant sinners and the weary saints found a home there and together fought evil. The Duke of Quenelles disliked the guild intensely, and after a few years of moderate success in their mission, several attacks came at once and the guild lost almost half of its members in one night of blood. The survivors melted away and went their own ways. Falcia then reportedly went with her then-lover, the wood elf wardancer Isilecet Moonsword, into Loren Forest.

Not even a year later, she appeared in Marienburg and founded a new guild. This one was far more humble in its aims, merely trying to support each other and achieve its members’ goals. This was called the Silver Court, and it bloomed fairly quickly. Unfortunately it was also beset by troubles. Shortly after his win in the Grand Tournament, the elf Isilecet Moonsword left Falcia and their adopted daughter, Ilsa. Only three months later, the guildhouse was razed to the ground by dark elf assassins who were after a member masquerading as a high-elf. While the assassins were dealt with using a great deal of finances to hire rogue mages, mercenary companies, the Marienburg Assassin’s Guild and all thugs for hire that would aid them, the guild took a while to recover and the fight was not without severe losses.

The ‘Court is slowly returning the obscurity after this event, a fact Falcia is rather thankful for as it makes them less of a target.

Adventurer, Warrior, Rogue or Scholar?: None, as she is the Leader of the guild, but if she was, she would be a Rogue.

Goals (Short-term): Falcia’s short term goals are simply to continue to help the members of her guild and keep certain secrets close to her chest. Her new relationship with the Mercenary Commander, Sevrecht Ptarvos, is something she wishes to succeed. Unfortunately, she has grave worries about his reaction about certain things recently revealed to her.
 

Goals (Long-term): She wishes to no longer have anything to do with the darker side of her history, both mortal and beyond. She wishes to be simply an ex-assassin living off her ill-gotten riches and funding a guild of ne’er-do-wells in Marienburg’s Merchant Quarter. She wants to see her daughter grow up and be happy. She wants to grow old with the man she loves. She wants to feel like any of this will be possible.