Sonje Helsi

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  1.   1.  Appearance
    1.   1.1  Basics
    2.   1.2  Miscellaneous
  2.   2.  Personality
    1.   2.1  Ideals
  3.   3.  Relationships
    1.   3.1  Family: Helsi, Oneiric
    2.   3.2  Relations
  4.   4.  Skills and Flaws
    1.   4.1  Abilities
    2.   4.2  Weaknesses
  5.   5.  History
    1.   5.1  Pre-'Souls

Sonje is the child of Vindr Helsi and Seraglio Oneiric, born in late 2011 alongside her brother Veltre. She was raised to view the world from a matriarchal perspective and within her was bred an insatiable sense of superiority.

After she and her family were forced to relocate to Hearg Njorth, the resulting disassociation of her mother and the restrictive caste system of their new home led her to bitterness and ostracism. An event tantamount to all her issues caused Sonje to finally abandon the Hearg, and journey inadvertently into Nova Scotia.

She had only begun to enjoy her newfound freedom when a run-in with a woman sharing her last name startled her into immediately fleeing the area.

Her life has been entirely nomadic since then, in a subtle effort for control, but a singular trauma caused her to reevaluate the choices she had made thus far, and a decision was made to return to Nova Scotia.

Overview

Basics

Name

Heritage

NPCs

Etc.

  • Date of Birth: 07 Sept 2011
  • Gender: Female
  • Luperci: Ortus
  • Residence: —
  • Mate: —
  • Pack: —
  • Rank: —
  • Nickname: —
  • Pronunciation: son-jye hell-see
  • Meaning: Dream; unknown
  • Origin: Anglo-Norman

PLOT OPPORTUNITIES

RELATED ADOPTABLE(S)

OOC ASSUMPTIONS

  • None at the moment, sorry :(
  • Come back later!
  • It would not be uncommon to catch mere glimpses of Sonje in the midst of neutral territories.

1.  Appearance

1.1  Basics

Essentials

  • Species: Though smaller and slightly boxier in conformation than an average wolf, her dog heritage is effectively hidden by her wolfish appearance.
    • Sonje's grandmother Kirkja was a mutt dog, descendant of the toughest breeds able to eke out a living in the post-apocalypse disaster. Sonje is not aware of most of these breeds: she is aware of herself as a wolfdog, but beyond that, she doesn't know specifics.
  • Fur: Short, dense fur that lengthens at her nape and along her spine.
    • Optime Hair: Thick, wavy, and untamed.
  • Facial Features: Sonje has a tapered face and a long, slim muzzle inherited from her father's Eastern Timberwolf heritage.
  • Build and Size: Her frame is most obviously made for speed; all sharp angles and streamlined curvature.
    • Lupus: Reedy and narrow, she appears proportionate except for a high, pinched stomach and an abnormally bushy tail.
    • Optime: Sonje is long and willowy, with a thin upper body (to the point of faintly visible ribs) and moderate hips. Her appearance is very fluid and feminine.
  • Humanization: Minimal; only tends to keep humanoid things that are of practical use, except she is partial to gold accessories and piercings.

Coloration

  • Fur:
    • Thatch is her base color and covers most of her body.
    • Bison Hide lightens the base of her chest and encompasses her entire stomach to the summit of her pelvis region.
    • Eternity darkens the uppermost parts of her body, traveling from the bridge of her muzzle to the middle of her tail.
    • Silk frosts her shoulders and is incrementally visible along her spine.
  • Eyes: Wild Rice
  • Optime Hair: Mostly a washed out Eternity, fading to Silk at the ends.
    • Nose and Paw Pads: Cod Gray
    • Scars: Petite Orchid

Palette

Thatch (#B39A8D)
Bison Hide (#C6AFA4)
Silk (#BAADA7)
Eternity (#271811)
Cod Gray (#171614)
Petite Orchid (#DE958C)
Wild Rice (#EBD898)

Forms

Lupus

75 pounds (34 kg) · 26 in (66 cm)

  • Spidery with a squarish shape about her shoulders, hips, and muzzle.

Secui

156 pounds (70.8 kg) · 31 in (79 cm)

  • Primitive and slinking, she is broad of shoulder and crouched because of overly long limbs. Her mane is close to the length of her Optime hair in this form.

Optime (Preferred)

189 pounds (86 kg) · 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm)

  • A wild-haired, svelte Amazonian with stark hips and a seamless figure.

1.2  Miscellaneous

Modifications

  • Scars:
    • A short, diagonal scar above the back of her left hip.
    • Two small and jagged puncture marks (several inches apart) that sit just beneath the ribs on her right side, where she was impaled by a branch through and through.
    • An asymmetrical spiral on her right arm from her elbow to her wrist; the thin line wraps around her wrist several times.
  • Piercings: Three in her left ear, the outside cartilage; One sits at the base of her ear, and the highest sits only about 3/4 of the way up. Two in her right ear, the inside cartilage; These are close together, set about midway on her ear.
    • All of her piercings are small gold hoops except the top piercing on her left ear, which is a stud.

Adornments

Sonje has very few items with her that hold no purpose. She carries furs of her own fashioning for warmth and bags made of cowhide to carry perishables. The exception to this are her plentiful gold accessories, and though she will give different reasons for their various existences, there is no true explanation behind her coveting the metal.

  • Jewelry & Accessories:
    • Always wears a gold torc. Along with several gold bracelets on each arm, she typically wears a thick, ornate anklet as well.
    • Can often be seen with various items strung through her wild hair: feathers, beads, (inadvertent) plant material, and the occasional tiny handcrafted totem.
  • Clothing:
    • A coat crafted by Sonje. It is a crude and aimless patchwork from the hides of multiple species; complete with a floppy, rudimentary hood. Though the coat appears overall somewhat thin, it is actually made heavy for even colder temperatures than in Nova Scotia.
    • For special occasions (or when she is wanting to be somewhat enigmatic), she will wear the jawless skull of a wolf that was twice her size. And twice her age. She just found it one day, but will tell more exciting stories concerning it rather than the truth.

Interaction

  • Speech: Sonje's voice is medium range in pitch with a very vague rasp serving up an undertone; reminiscent of Zoe Saldana. She tends to speak quickly, indirectly, and authoritatively, using syllables sparingly depending on how engaged she is. Her vernacular is modern, though often mingled with Old Norse terms and phrases that were picked up on in Hearg.
  • Scent: Mostly she smells of the earth; very woodsy and sharp like ginger. Often she will carry the scent of Bragi, pit smoke, and syrup.
  • General Posture and Body Language: Dominant, cautious, and feral. She does not slouch, but tends to stand loosely and with her chin raised. During the winter, she takes great care to hide a limp in her left hind leg.
  • Quirks, Gestures, Etc.:
    • Constantly pushing unruly hair out of her eyes.
    • Seems most comfortable when she is crouching or otherwise low to the ground. She likes to feel the ground with her hands and feet.
    • Her tail appears to be aggressively flared at all times, but it is just naturally very poofy.
    • She wiggles her nose a lot and tends to move in an otherwise subtly distracting or misleading fashion; i.e. moving her hands, shifting her weight/posture, etc. The latter habit comes from her time spent with thieving gypsies.

2.  Personality

The Cynic · Broken Bird · Social Darwinist · Deceptive Disciple · The Vamp · Poisonous Friend · Wild Card · The Unfettered

  • Clever, Uneducated
    • The majority of the things that Sonje knows or can do are self-taught, such as horse-taming and trap-building. This stems from her single-mindedness and the ability to problem-solve or pick up on skills quickly and without assistance. Perfection comes relatively low on her priority list, making her swift, if not efficient, but she will abandon a venture if the ends begin to seem of less worth than the means.
    • Her own judgement is law, and while this introduces a fair amount of fallibility, she is also intensely self-assured.
    • She does not know how to read, write, follow maps, or use other human tools (apart from weapons). Going mostly on instinct and intuition, she knows very little "common knowledge" and the value of some objects and traits escape her; therefore she does not engage in much trading.
  • Short-sighted, Determined, Vindictive
    • With a relatively low sense of self-control despite her sharpness, she does not tend to plot or formulate long-term goals without apprehension. She feels that she operates better when simply "winging it".
    • Sonje is also brutally effective: if she sets her mind to a cause, the strict resolve behind it can be frightful to behold; This, coupled with a distinctive lack of moral inhibitions against using, bulldozing, or outright destroying others, makes her a formidable opponent with an extremely deep capacity to hold grudges.
  • Amoral, Non-empathetic
    • There are no real lines Sonje won't cross when it comes to getting what she wants. She is a hedonistic narcissist, and while she always suspects self-interest, Sonje does not present herself as exceptionally self-interested. She is not particularly charming, nor is she manipulative: Sonje simply does what she wants, consequences be damned.
    • She becomes a compulsive liar when asked about herself, but more out of a minimal sense of piteous self-amusement rather than a desire to keep honest things a secret. In fact, she is almost as equally inclined to lie as she is to tell truth about any given subject at any given moment.
    • Emotionally detached for the most part, Sonje has a difficult time relating to the feelings of others and it is easy for her to come off as insensitive.

2.1  Ideals

Traits

Even, suspicious, feral, jaded, and selfish

  • Outlook: Pessimistic; Utilitarian
  • Sociability: Harboring both intro- and extroverted qualities, she is capable in thriving social interaction but also relishes in time spent alone. Though cautious, she is extremely intrusive and unafraid of conversation; Sonje is typically a calloused, unabashed speaker.
  • Expression: Reserved and imperious.
  • Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Motivations

  • Self-preservation seems to be the most prevalent subject in Sonje's life. She will go through great lengths in order to ensure her own survival.
  • Her sociability (or lack thereof) is largely influenced by a desire to control everything around her.

Fears

Death, incapacitation, falling under someone's influence, imprisonment, heights*

  • Heights are a relatively new fear. Too far up or too near a high edge and she will begin to feel disoriented and/or wretch.

Spirituality

Sonje does not hold spiritual beliefs. However, she recognizes religion as a powerful mechanism of control, and has no qualms regarding playing at spirituality to exert control or as a means of gaining her way. That being said, she is most readily familiar with the religious practices of Hearg Njorth.

Biases

  • Gender: Heavily biased against men -- thinks of most of them as simple-minded creatures after only sex. Considers herself and any other woman the superior sex, capable of controlling men with sexuality and is not above attempting such controlling measures.
  • Hybrids: Knowing that she is a hybrid, she despises purists.
  • Character: Can not get along with overly naive individuals or those who seek empathy. She gets irritated by the overly trusting.
  • Age: Respects elders (to a degree) and is inquisitive of children.

Sexuality

  • Demisexual "...does not experience sexual attraction unless they form a strong emotional connection with someone."
    • Being largely self-reliant and apathetic, she has a technical void for a "love life". She feels largely incapable of experiencing true intimacy but is prone to reacting towards advances of physical attraction in attempts to find it.
  • Kinsey 1: Predominantly heterosexual, only incidentally homosexual.

Interests

  • Likes: Nature, blood, lying, hunting, crafting, star-gazing, and botany.
  • Dislikes: Open spaces, the cold, too much downtime, and heights.

Substances

While Sonje does not drink or smoke regularly, she enjoys hallucinogens whether they be natural (i.e. mushrooms) or of her own concoction (i.e. potions and scent-salves).

3.  Relationships

* Does not know this person by name.

3.1  Family: Helsi, Oneiric

  • Mother: Vindr Helsi
  • Father: Seraglio Oneiric
  • Siblings: Veltre Helsi
  • Extended: Sonje belongs to the Helsi line, as per her main bower of familial knowledge; as such, many of their members are related to her. That being said, she does not know many Helsis and has avoided meeting them in the past.
  • Oneiric is her paternal lineage and it bothers her considerably less to mention it as opposed to Helsi.

3.2  Relations

Key Relations

  • Bragi, although a cat, has proved himself as more of a friend to Sonje than any canine she has met before him. He offers sound advice in the face of her rash actions, and though she hardly ever listens to him, she trusts his judgement wholeheartedly and habitually depends on his knowledge. Often, in hindsight, she mentions that she "should have listened to [him]".

Positive Relations

  • Seraglio and Veltre, her father and brother respectively, were largely responsible for her poor view on men, but despite the fact that she did not respect them, they were probably the only men that she actually cared for at some point. She (mostly) also enjoyed the power they allowed her over them.

Neutral / Negative

  • Vindr was Sonje's main inspiration in life until the death of Syzygy. After this, Vindr became a mere shell of the woman she once was and her daughter resented her for it thereafter. It was this event that taught Sonje that emotions are nothing but a weakness.

Minor Relations

  • Sex: —
  • Friendly: Itzal
  • Enemies: —
  • Murders: —

4.  Skills and Flaws

4.1  Abilities

Combat

  • Education and Learning: Sonje was not encouraged by her parents to learn how to fight, but instead took an interest in it herself after her first shift. She sought out mentors and sparring partners, often practicing until exhaustion forced her to stop. She continued these practices at Hearg Njorth and beyond, learning several different fighting styles, and she found ways to compensate for her weaknesses as they became apparent.
  • Lupus & Secui (Master): She maneuvers most fluidly on all fours. Her speed and precision makes her a worthy opponent and incredibly difficult to subdue.
  • Close Range (Journeyman): Readily familiar with hand-to-hand techniques and short ranged weapons, she is excellent at parrying but because of poor musculature, this field is not Sonje's strong suit.
    • Weapon skill: Dagger, Shortsword, Nunchaku, Garrote, and Club/Staff
  • Long Range (Master): Sonje's incredibly sharp eyes and keen intuition makes for a great marksman. Accuracy comes second-nature to her and she can make impossible shots under the guise of a fluke.
  • Acrobatics (Master): What started as a natural ability for dancing turned into a defensive style of fighting after meeting Northern gypsies who expounded on her flexibility, and taught her martial artist parkour.
  • Sonje is better at defending herself than attacking. It is extremely difficult to strike her and simultaneously avoid her counter attacks.
  • Her depth perception is superb and she will often distance herself from an opponent so that she might take advantage of her superior distance targeting.
  • Since breaking her leg, Sonje does things more frequently from horseback. Raumr has become an extension of her own body, and between her precision and his fearlessness, they work incredibly well together as a warring duo.
  • Though she will avoid unnecessary murder, Sonje will always fight "dirty" and in preservation of her own life, she is definitely capable of killing.

Pharmaceutical

  • Education and Learning: Syzygy taught her extensive medical knowledge before his death and during a self-imposed isolation at Hearg, Sonje began very rudimentary experimentation with plants. She mostly found out on her own the side effects of some plants, but it wasn't until she met Bragi that her knowledge and interest expanded.
  • First-Aid (Master): Sonje knows just about everything from CPR to bone-setting. She knows what to look for and does not balk in the face of physical trauma.
  • Herbal Medicine (Journeyman): Knowledgeable on simplified concoctions for multiple bodily ailments, however, she does not have much practice in making them.
  • Intoxicants (Master): Most of her interest lies in creating poisons and hallucinogens, both of which she had become very good at.
  • Horticulture (Journeyman): Due to constant traveling, she knows quite well how to preserve plants but has never had the time or patience to grow anything.
  • She does not enjoy many things, but treating wounds (or otherwise having the opportunity to show-off her medical knowledge) seems to thrill her in some way. Sonje becomes extremely focused when dealing with injuries.
  • Despite the aforementioned, she will never help someone without the pretext that they will return a favor to her afterwards.
    • If the wounded cannot comply, she won't see the worth in saving them.
  • The hallucinogens she creates are mainly for herself, but she will willingly share with another if only to watch them go through the experience.

4.2  Weaknesses

Physical

  • In mid-2013, a harsh accident (involving the death of her horse) left her with the visible scars she has now and a broken leg. She has taken great measures to resume peak condition, and while she stills favors her left side, it is only noticeable during the winter months.
  • There is something to say here.

Mental

  • Suffers from several subtypes of Narcissistic personality disorder, including but not exclusive to an Unprincipled, Elitist, Amorous, and Compensatory narcissist.
    • Because of this trait, she obviously does not consider her attitude a fault.
  • There is something here too.

5.  History

5.1  Pre-'Souls

Sonje was born to Vindr Helsi and Seraglio Oneiric in a small pack led by them, who had inherited the alphaship from Sera's parents. Sonje's grandfather Syzygy and her uncle Welkin also lived within this small pack.

Sonje's father Seraglio was utterly subservient to Vindr, along with Welkin. Syzygy held some sway over Vindr, but not much -- or so it seemed to Sonje. She grew up watching her mother produce efficient order within the pack, ruling over Sonje's elder male relatives with casual ease. Sonje was also raised to believe herself superior to her brother Veltre -- while her mother never stated this outright, it was clear from Sonje's first memories who Vindr favored. While Veltre was always larger, Sonje simply took advantage of her brother's sweet and submissive demeanor, emulating her mother's treatment of Sera, Welki, and Syzygy.

Their life was not particularly easy -- though Vindr had given the pack children in a time of plenty and peace, the spring following the children's birth was an exceptionally wet one. Floods plagued the land, and prey became scarcer -- a neighboring pack began trespassing to hunt. Though Sonje's mother and the rest of the pack tried to defend their territory, they were eventually muscled off the land by the larger pack, and headed east.

While the conflict between packs did not result in any direct loss of life, the eastward move toward more suitable hunting grounds was disastrous for Syzygy. The older wolf perished, and Vindr was never quite the same thereafter. Her efficient rule over Seraglio and Welkin began to slip, though she seemed indifferent. When they arrived in the Hearg Njorth, she had slipped into depression and ceased feeding and caring for herself.

Sonje could not find her place within the Hearg -- she disregarded many of the customs:

  • Sonje and her brother Veltre met Eitri Romano, her mother's uncle, and his mate Sætr Romano. While the pair were fascinated with Vindr and her children, Sonje did not return their fascination, and soon began actively avoiding them. This affront to family was a personal insult to Eitri and his mate.
  • While her slight size and speediness made her well-suited to the Skylda (scout) caste and her sex made her ideal for the Moðir job, Sonje held no interest in either; instead, she pursued first hunting with the Hundr sect and the Valr sect. Sonje also spoke of becoming a völva -- obviously impossible.
  • She remained in her two-legged form, doing so for reasons of preference or simple defiance -- which is not entirely clear. It is possible she did this as a result of the aforementioned wish to become a völva.

Her disrespect and seeming distaste for the Hearg and its ways lead to her ostracization. Few of the Hearg's naturalized residents acknowledged her, and soon even her family began to disregard her -- first her mother (arguably due to Vindr's own condition rather than Hearg conditioning), then her uncle Welkin, then her father Seraglio, and finally her brother Vindr. With no family and no sect, Sonje was on the very fringes of the Hearg society, accepted only amongst other outsiders such as herself -- and even then, only briefly. Hurt led Sonje to surliness, and she soon found herself in what amounted to an omega's position.

She was challenged to Skjoldr by a great burly woman of the Valr sect for an small insult -- more joke than insult, as Sonje tells it. Instead of facing the Valr woman in the skjoldr, Sonje took her leave of the Hearg.