Middle Sister

Name: Jasmin
Age: 28
Contact: shaestorms
Other Characters: Nahariel Dahlasanor (accepted)
Interests: Second verse same as the first! I still enjoy lore, character exploration, what-ifs, practice writing combat, and am really looking forward to how the events of DAI might have turned out with the Inquisiton as an organization without a real figurehead... and with people they have to TALK to coming out of the Rifts as well as demons.


Name: Lenneth Valkyrie
Canon/OC: Valkyrie Profile
Journal: lennethvalkyrie
Age: Unknown, appears 23

History
[Spoilers for the game]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valkyrie_Profile#Story

[This Lenneth's timeframe is set after meeting Lucian, but before recruiting him (which means before a lot of the plot).]

Lenneth is a recently awakened warrior-maiden--one of the three goddesses of fate--and servant of Odin, who has been tasked with recruiting einherjar, the souls of deceased warriors, to fight with the Aesir in their war against the Vanir and prevent the destruction of Asgard in Ragnarok. Thus far, she has done her duty admirably, collecting a small but loyal group of einherjar, and cleansing several areas of Midgard of their undead and spiritual corruption.

She has no history and needs no history to do the bidding of the Gods... but the more she sees, feels, and learns, the more those memories sealed away to make her a better servant are beginning to stir.

[Note: It is entirely possible for her to regain her memories in Thedas--there are plenty of modified triggers that can do so. Doing so will not grant her extra powers, it's simply cosmetic character development.]

Personality

Lenneth is a stern but good-natured woman, albeit curt and merciless in combat. As a Valkyrie, she is stoic and determined when it comes to accomplishing the tasks set before her by Odin. Unlike many of the Aesir, Lenneth does not hold humans in contempt. Rather, she enjoys their company, and sees her einherjar as full beings to be trained and protected, not as tools or weapons to be used in war. For that reason, she dislikes those who show little kindness or compassion to others; especially if that dispassion is that of a commander to their soldiers.

She despises those who disturb the souls of the dead for their own purposes (ironic, given that her job as a Valkyrie is to collect the souls of the heroic dead), or those who manipulate humans in general. Lenneth also holds a deep hatred for the undead, particularly those who can create others (Darkspawn count!).

She is not an introspective woman by nature, given that she was awakened and ensorcelled to be a 'perfect soldier' for Odin, but outside his influence and locked away from her task, she now has the opportunity to learn and change a great deal.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths:

Powers: [Because Midgard does not have a Veil, it will take her some time to learn how to manifest her powers in Thedas.]

↠"Astral" Sensitivity: Lenneth is aware of ambient area spirits, even when they are not manifesting physically.

↠Spiritual Concentration: Through a deep meditation, Lenneth can hear the spirits of those under mortal duress or on the brink of death itself crying out. This has a range of one mile

↠Crystal Creation: Resembles “Winter's Grasp”, although the crystals do not behave as natural ice and can be climbed for a short time. If shattered, the crystal dust has enough residual energy to be stood on in the air as if still a solid--albeit one that floats slowly downwards and dissipates.

↠Dispel: as the Spirit mage ability

↠Chooser of the Slain: Lenneth is able to grant the spirits of the recently fallen heroic dead the continuation of their mortal forms, memories, etc, to fight in her service. In the game, this lasts indefinitely, as they either stay with her or are sent to Asgard to help in the war with the Vanir. In here... well. Given the different type of spirits in Thedas, if Lenneth uses this ability, instead of restoring the minds and memories of the fallen and allowing them to fight for her as she's accustomed, she will find herself with uncontrollable, demon-possessed undead. [yippee!]

↠“Astral” Travel: Functions as Fade Step.

↠Divine Assault (Nibelung Valesti): Functions as Crushing Prison

Other Strengths:

Lenneth was created to be a recruiter and general in wartime.

↠She is skilled in the use of both swords (superior in bastard sword, basically proficient in others) and bows (superior in longbow, basically proficient in shortbow--has almost no familiarity with crossbow at all).

↠She has a mind for tactics, working well in individual skirmish, full battlefield, and long-term campaigning.

Weaknesses:

↠As she was created for wartime, Lenneth doesn't have much in the way of non-combat strengths. She will be oddly stiff and formal even in more relaxed situations, and will be easily confused by social cues that don't relate to her duty in some way. This is aggravated by her having been a goddess in Midgard (albeit a low-ranking one); she feels separation between herself and 'mortals'. Although she is not condescending (unless provoked), the distance is obvious. This makes her poor at diplomacy.

↠Her particular brand of 'recruitment' is of the recently dead... which means she may have more difficulty with the living, and with an unfamiliar war.

↠Besides obviously not belonging here, Lenneth has a very memorable appearance--mostly due to her incredibly long silver hair--which makes her nigh-impossible to disguise. That and her straightforward attitude make her pretty much useless for any kind of subterfuge.

Arrival Inventory

↠Set of Valkyrie's Armor (heavy) and a bastard sword, both made of some foreign metal

↠Nibelungen ring; a gift from Odin that both serves to help ward the Valkyrie from Dark magic [Convert to Spirit? Blood Magic? ...Blight?], and strengthen the seal on her memories (unknown to her). [Whether this works in Thedas or not, it's going to have some fun consequences.]

↠one Elixir, for emergencies (theoretically has the effect of a fully researched DA:I Health Potion, but who knows how or if it'll work in Thedas.)

Usually being able to create anything she needs, the Valkyrie carries very little...

'Human'ization

She is not human, but appears human, and is, in fact, human in Thedas.

Fit

I chose Lenneth specifically because... well because I love her, but also because Thedas shares many of the same themes of power, manipulation, and questions of the spiritual realm as Valkyrie Profile does. As a Chooser of the Slain, she is in a position to engage with the Fade and its beings in a different way than a Mage does, which will facilitate some (more) interesting theorycrafting.

One of the things I've always been interested in exploring about Lenneth is the fact that even though she essentially calls on the spirits of the dead to aid her in combat, she has an extreme aversion to necromancy and views it as a perversion of the natural order. As necromancy is more prevalent in Thedas than in her world, this affords more opportunity for debate on its nature vs. the nature of what she does. I'm also curious as to how she'll deal with the Veil, and the fact that the world of Thedas is segmented, whereas Midgard is not.

(Her Spiritual Concentration ability is also v. plothookable, if that ever becomes necessary or desired.)



Dancing With Demons

A Message for the Commander