[Bio] Istella Kincaid

[Istella]

((Hey y’all.
I’m not terribly new to forum RP, though I spend most of my time over on World’s End. A little bird told me about your forums though and I thought I would come over check things out here. You might recognize the name if The Madgod has been able to brow-beat any of you into listening to our podcast. Feel free to comment, I adore constructive criticism for my characters. Istella is the name I normally post on, but I have plenty of other RP characters whose bios I’ll post if I’m not too lazy. I’ll be sure to link them in my sig… as soon as I figure out how to add one. ))

Name: Istella Kincaid
Age: 20
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Class: Paladin


Languages: Common and a few words in Dwarvish (mostly expletives.)

Personality: ‘Refined’ and ‘sophisticated’ are two words that do not describe Istella in the least. Although she is not nearly as wild or deliberately disobedient as she was in her youth, she still has something of a rebellious streak. She is short-tempered and tends to say or do impulsive things when angry. Stubborn to a fault, the more resistance Istella encounters, the more obstinate she becomes. When dealing with others, she almost always abandons tact and etiquette in favor of candor. Despite her sometimes abrasive personality, her heart is generally in the right place and she is extremely loyal, especially to her family and friends. Once she gives herself to a person/group/cause she will defend it tirelessly; sticking with it come hell or high water.

Likes: Alcohol, probably a little more than she should; though she never indulges when on-duty, she enjoys going to taverns with the other recruits and being ‘one of the guys.’ She likes caring for her warhorse, almost always feeding and grooming him herself; although some might consider it menial labor, she appreciates the fact that she never would have been able to obtain such a symbol of status or wealth without being a paladin. Her remaining family is very important to her and she spends almost all of her extended leave with them.
Dislikes: Bullies- in any way, shape, or form. For the most part, this extends to most nobles as well; who she regards at best, as too inept to run the kingdom or at worst, too corrupt to care what happens to its people. Probably also related to that, she hates anyone who is arrogant or self-important. Nothing though, makes her come unhinged as fast as a traitor will.

Appearance: Istella is 5’9” and sturdily built. She has broad, muscular shoulders and seems to have a permanent tan which even darkens into a minor sunburn in places. Despite her young age, she already has crow’s feet beginning to form around her eyes; the kind you get from squinting in the hot sun for years on end. She has long black hair and brown eyes. On the inside of her left forearm, usually covered by her bracers, is a tattoo; just a sequence of plain black letters and numbers, running like a list down her arm. She wears a silver nose ring in her right nostril (mostly just to annoy her instructors and superior officers.)
Istella’s every-day armor is mostly a hodge-podge of mismatched, hand-me-down pieces of plate. Not all of it fits as well as it should. She takes as good care of it as she is able, but it’s pretty old and worn. On the other hand, her silver-hilted hand-and-a-half sword and shield bearing the blue and white Stormwind crest are in immaculate condition. She always wears a Stormwind tabard over her armor. She also owns a rather flashy set of gold-plated armor that is pretty but not terribly practical which she usually only breaks out for special occasions.

Strengths: Even as a child, Istella was no stranger to manual labor and is quite resilient and strong. She has excelled at the martial part of her training and that, along with her fiercely protective nature, leads her to often fight on a the front lines, acting as a shield to her companions.
Weaknesses: Istella often becomes reckless when angry or when she’s cornered in a fight. Although she was brought up in a household extremely devoted to the Light and believes in it whole-heartedly, she still struggles to call upon it for more complicated spells. Even the simplest healing or cleansing leaves her drained and weak.

History: Istella grew up dirt-poor on a small farm in Westfall. She had four brothers, one older and three younger. Times were lean, and her father got a job at the nearby mine in addition to working the farm. When she was eight, he was killed in a cave-in. Her youngest brother contracted pneumonia soon after and the family, having no money for medicine and unable to summon a healer, could do nothing for him as he grew sicker and died. Despite all of the family’s hardships, her mother is a very pious and faithful woman, who tried to pass those traits on to her remaining children. Instead, Istella grew up wild and resentful. When she was an angry, angsty teen, she fell in with the wrong crowd, and became a low-ranking member of the Defias.
One night she snuck out to participate in a robbery. Her mother discovered her missing and sent Istella's oldest brother (who had become the ‘man of the house’ since their father’s death) to find her and bring her back. When he caught up with them he argued with the man leading the group and tried to drag her home. There was a scuffle and the leader stabbed him in the back. Istella immediately turned on the Defias and killed the one who had injured her brother, the others ran. She tried to save her brother and managed to get him home, but it was too late and he bled to death shortly after they arrived. Guilt-ridden, Istella defected from the Defias, going to the authorities and giving them all the information she had on the organization.
A combination of crushing shame, her mother’s insistence, and the fact that the Defias were hunting her as a traitor made her go to Stormwind and apply to join the order of paladins in the city. There she is determined to turn over a new leaf, and somehow make up for what she has done. She trained in the Cathedral with the other paladin recruits under Lord Grayson Shadowbreaker. More recently, she has been sent out on different tours in both the Plaguelands and Northrend, often times working alongside the Argents.

[Chonar]

Love the 'clean' feel of this character, if you know what I mean. Very nice. Added to the RP Character List.

[Istella]

Actually, I'm not quite a hundred percent sure what you mean by 'clean'... but I'll take a compliment if I can get one. xD
Thanks for adding me to The List, I'm probably going to be flooding the forums with my other characters over the next few days (Madgod made me do it >.>) and once I can clean them up into a single post and link them in a sig, I will.

[Chonar]

Clean as in... heck, how do I put this without insulting people who may take this the wrong way...

She IS a girl from Westfall, trying to turn over a new leaf.
She's NOT a dragon-vampyr-pandaren mystic with an intricate past of breaking free from the Old Gods while avoiding her Naga half-aunt.

[Istella]

lol, I think I get it. I like to keep it simple. ^_^

I find simple characters more intuitive and easier to get into the right mindset. For me, part of the fun of RP is stepping into the character's shoes and trying to figure out what makes them tic; to think like they think.

Unfortunately it sometimes leads to certain aspects of my characters being repeated- all of them are female and most of them are fairly young.

[Khorianas]

I must agree with Chonar. The Character has a clean or solid base, which I also always try to achieve with my characters. And the additions needed for an original character are delivered by Istella's upbringing and youth and the fact that she is a bit rebellious Paladin.