Kasylwen Rideire

Childhood

As a youth in Evermeet, she was thought to be "touched". She would wander aimlessly through the woods, communing with unseen "faeries", surviving on her own for tendays without any particular skill or training to that effect. She was unfettered in expressing her affections; she would pour herself into arts, into music, into anything of the sort; she was clearly deeply emotional, with a thirst for life, a felicity of being that few if any could keep up with.

Late in her childhood, her talent was fully developed as a student of Bladesong at the House of the Mongoose. Bladesinger gurus instruct aspirants to find within themselves the capacity for a state of oneness with the world, a widening of perception, the disappearance of the self, a state in which the mind, body, and soul are one--a state known as Satori. Kasylwen's instructor found that she had a natural propensity for this kind of awareness--she was naturally without fear or doubt of any kind, willing to accept and love all the world, as it was. This, not surprisingly, made her an excellent--if unlikely--student of Bladesong.

She was content to slowly master her craft in Evereska, until one day in 1368, whereupon she spontaneously decided to seek out her twin brother Elaith on the mainland, acting on an ineffable and undeniable instinct available only to those with such a deep bond. Her journey to Faerun would lead to a whole host of amazing and improbable adventures, and ultimately to those who would become her new family.

Adventuring Career

Current Activities

Physical

As is apparent from first glance, Kasylwen is an astoundingly beautiful person. For her kind, she is exceptionally tall and voluptuous, yet neither detracts from her grace--she does not carry herself in the careful, ethereal manner elves often seem to in the eyes of men, but rather in the carefree, certain manner of a wild animal, entirely sure of her movements, yet unconcerned with how they might appear to others. In short, she is not what some of the fancier nobles would call "graceful", yet is possessed of tenfold more dexterity certainty of body than the most elegant ballerina.

Her facial features are decidedly fey, bording on impish. She is not a classical beauty, but an entirely natural one, never seen without a smile. Her features shine best in bright sunlight--her platinum blonde hair seems to dance in its rays like wind chimes in the breeze; her wide, sapphire blue eyes become a canvas for the daylight's infinite spectrum. She keeps her hair very long and unbound, save for her cropped bangs. She has rarely been seen in any kind of cosmetics--she hasn't ever needed them.

She prefers to dress simply, usually in a long silk tunic, cord belt, and as simple footwear as the terrain allows. She is, quite frankly, utterly unashamed of her body, and enjoys sunbathing, swimming, and even occasionally practicing her kata unclad, whenever she is among company who aren't too put off by such things. In battle, she relies mainly on magic and dexterity for defense, although she has been known to wear a mithral chain shirt in more serious conditions.

Personality

Though she has certainly matured since her spritely youth, Kasylwen retains her unflappable felicity and irrepressible vivacity. In her own words, "life is too short to hold anything back"...and this to fellow elves with centuries ahead of them. In a few words, she is outgoing, playful, exuberant, compassionate, and accommodating.

She is a relentless optimist, refusing to let anything sour her mood, and always ready to share her warmth with others, especially those who need it most. To some, she comes off as too personal, too intimate, failing to respect social norms and boundaries. To those who accept her ways, she is a devoted friend like no other, and to some, a most enthusiastic lover. She simply acts in the manner that will lead to the most positive emotional outcome possible. While it is clear she has little to no regard for the value of social distance, some wonder even if she has any sense of it in the first place.

And yet, she is not entirely given over to her outgoing nature. She still, from time to time, sojourns alone to the wild. Others refer to this as her "quiet time", which seems to come and go without any recognizable pattern. She herself never comments on it, but the purpose seems clear enough; all the positive thinking in the world can't erase trauma, loss, and sorrow, and even she must take the time to acknowledge those things in herself.

Swordsmanship

As a child, Kasylwen did not pursue many creative outlets, nor seek instruction in manual skills. She cared little for swordplay, archery, hunting, woodcraft, gardening, or any of the common pursuits of the young. Instead, she was a voracious consumer of such things--taking great interest in the works of others, but showing no proclivity herself. She might have been said to at least be nurturing a great talent for social interaction, but her lack of regard for social convention would tend to rather limit her usefulness as a diplomat, negotiator, salesperson, or really anything for that matter.

So it came as a great surprise to her friends and family how swiftly and completely she mastered Bladesong. What took others decades to grasp, she took to in years or months. It seemed that, once she had set her mind to it, her ability to learn was boundless. None of the classical appeal of martial arts--even defending her home and people--caught her attention at first, but her instructors found a way to make her abilities spring naturally as extensions of her inborn grace and awareness.

Today, she is a peerless Bladesinger, even so far as to have founded her own school and discipline, the House of the Swan. Those she is closest to in the profession, including her brother Elaith and her husband Rana--master swordsmen themselves--agree that her natural talent is limited only by her compassion, her unwillingness to harm life in all but the most dire of circumstances. Indeed, she prefers a defensive style, focused on agility and attitude--the latter being often attributed as the source of her success in duels, as her unflappable confidence unnerves her opponents into providing openings.

Her combat style is characterized by large, sweeping movements, swiftly and constantly executed. Each maneuver blends seamlessly into the next, and all into the harmony of her motion, making it all but impossible to predict her attacks or spot vulnerabilities. Against a heavier opponent--which is almost all of them--she will first focus on tiring him, forcing him to keep up with her endless motion. Although her style relies almost entirely on the exploitation of openings, turning an opponent's own attacks against him, she positions herself aggressively, very close--often inside her opponent's reach--so as to unnerve and fluster. To that end, she is not above using her appearance to her advantage--most male humanoids find themselves distracted by her beauty--uncluttered as it is by armor--and her nonchalant manner--maintaining a pleasant and warm demeanor even in the throes of combat.

Like any true martial artist, every aspect of her craft ultimately comes from her mental and spiritual state. As she describes to her students, the key is first to achieve a state of oneness, harmony, and acceptance, to let go of all fear and doubt, to silence the conscious mind, and focus all perception on the present. Once this accomplished, she explains, time seems to slow down, and everything becomes clear--from the beauty of falling leaves in the sunset, to the motion of an opponent's blade, seconds before it even happens. In that moment, looking upon an opponent's face, accepting his presence, his reality, without reservation, one can understand him entirely, and at once sympathize with his fear, his pain, whatever need has driven him to violence, and predict his movements and attacks as easily and intuitively as knowing one's own.

Magic

All Bladesingers learn the Art, albeit in a different manner, and to a very different end than a wizard or sorcerer. In Kasylwen's case, she has never seen magic as a separate force--or study--from the more physical and mental aspects of Bladesong.

She does not consider herself a practitioner, and maintains a modest understanding of spellcraft only to enhance her usefulness as an adventurer, not for its own sake. Instead, she claims to feel magic intuitively, describing it as the force which binds all life together, the medium through which her innate understanding and awareness of the world propagates.

Accordingly, her use of magic is exceptionally subtle. Her most commonly useful tricks include altering her image--either displacing it, rendering it invisible, or creating multiple illusionary duplicates--which she claims is entirely a mental trick, not a spell, and arises naturally from her mental and spiritual intent as she goes through the motions of swordplay.

It would all seem a minor distinction, aside from her somewhat controversial stance that all living beings--not just those born to wizardly talent--have the potential to master the Art, based solely on their ability to innately perceive it as she does, to feel the Weave's ebb and flow naturally, and to truly understand how they are a natural part of it, intricately connected to all other living things. To some of the more proud wizards, this is an incendiary opinion, a flat denial of obvious, common sense, merely meant to divert attention from her clear lack of any major talent in magic. Of course, getting an elf to express such an opinion that clearly and succinctly would be a feat indeed.

She does have some small mastery of more traditional spellcraft, including the use of runes to project shields against weapons and energy, and the ability to place minor enchantments on her weapon to enhance its power, particularly against large or otherworldly monsters to which steel is otherwise of little concern.