Profile

Character Name: Verity
Class: Soldier
Weapons: Lances
Country: Korin
Age: 22
Birthdate: August 7, 605 AR
Zodiac: Leo
Family: Mother: Vivian; Father: Vincent (deceased); Brothers: Valerian (deceased), Valdemar (deceased), Valentine (deceased); Sisters: Veronica (deceased), Verdandi (deceased)
Language Skills: Trade, Korin (passable, reading/written only)
Blood Type: O

Verity was the second child born to House Hioken, and the first daughter. With her sisters, Verdandi, and Veronica, not being born until years later, after two more brothers, Verity received the brunt of her mother's attention. She was her mother's princess, her daddy's little girl, and though at times in her teenage years their doting annoyed her, she was mostly satisfied with the attention that they paid to her. Despite years of attempts at getting a pegasus, she didn't catch one until she was 17. She named her Liandrin. While her brothers learned the arts of war and diplomacy, both of which were a necessity in Korin despite Hioken's relative position of neutrality in any conflicts and its loyalty to the ruling house of Rayla, Verity spent her days with Liandrin, training her until at last the day came where she got to fly. Verity knew she didn't ever want to do anything else.

Being one of the older children in the family but not under the pressure of being an heir, Verity grew close to her siblings without hesitation. She looked up to Valerian, but admired and sought to protect all of her younger siblings. From Valerian's wise bookishness to Valentine's (flattering but strange) love of pegasi all the way down to Veronica's, Verity found things to love about all of her family, even if they occasionally fought as family tends to do. Verity was personally responsible for helping Verdandi and Veronica catch their own pegasi. She managed to mostly avoid talk of marriage, with her mother's help, too happy at home with her family to want to even entertain the possibility of doing anything else.

Her brothers were not so successful. Valerian married one of the daughters of House Varise, a powerful force in Korin, and Valdemar and Valentine were both quickly engaged as well. Valdemar had always been slightly better about dancing around expectations, so Valentine was to be the first married of the two of them, to Jessica of Mera, another house loyal to Rayla even if they shared little else in common.

It was at that wedding where Verity's life fell apart, as Keran of Sarrca marched into the chapel hall and torched it to ashes. Verity had been away from the chapel during the ceremony itself, making preparations for the wedding party, and thereby didn't see the culprit, but Lysander described things later. About the smoke and the cinders, about the dark haired man who had killed his father, about Valentine turning and running back to try and save the rest of his family. Verity had always thought of Valentine as well-meaning and lovable but awkward, and his last show of courage made her heart ache, as did the knowledge that it had been utterly futile. He was dead, and so was the rest of her family except for her mother.

Verity would not let it pass.

Lysander kept in contact with her as he made his way to Rayla, passing her whatever information about the attack he could find. They had agreed, at first, that it had been Aartyn, but when a letter from Lysander said that Aartyn was gone, and when another letter said that it was Sarrca, and it had been Sarrca all along, and when a third letter detailed his plans to strike down the house, Verity found herself aflame with renewed purpose. She requested information from Lysander, began making rounds through Korin cities, taking Liandrin at first, who had barely survived Mera's fall. She started spreading rumors of the rebellion, leaving signed notes on postboards and inn doors. She started people whispering about the revival of Forna.

Her mother accompanied her for one trip to Forshen, accompanied by one of the few soldiers that they had escaped with since her own pegasus had been killed. It was there that Verity and her mother parted ways; Vivian begged Verity to stay with her, since they were all each other had left. Verity refused to even consider the option. Begging turned to pleading, and Verity's refusals turned to shouts, and before long the disagreement turned into an argument. Verity left her mother in Forshen, taking Liandrin with her, and rode with the soldier who had accompanied them away from that city. She didn't allow herself to regret the decision.

Verity was always the most spirited member of Hioken in its glory days, with a sense of spontaneity and a tendency to shirk responsibility. She was girlish and soft, something that came from being the first, spoiled daughter. She often could be found flying her pegasus instead of doing her duties, avoiding heavy talk about marriage and alliances and instead having private lunches with her mother, whom served as her closest confidant and, once Verity grew older, her best friend as well.

Of course, this all changed when her House fell.

Verity considers her escape from the destruction of Mera (and Hioken by association) as a stroke of luck, one that she did not deserve and will never adequately make up for. Her desire to avenge her fallen family has become the center of her life to the point that she can think of nothing else. She eats, sleeps, and breathes thoughts of revenge, and often the knowledge that someday she'll be successful is the only thing that keeps her moving forward.

Often, she wants to crumple into herself, become the scared girl that was left when almost everyone she loved died. She never lets herself, though, coating herself with another layer of steel and pushing forward. There'll only be time for weakness once Sarrca is gone and her family's ghosts are satisfied. Liandrin and her mother are the only things she has left that she truly loves, and even her connections to those are slim; she's forcefully cut off contact with her mother and uses Liandrin only when she needs to travel, preferring to pose as a man in order to garner authority among those she rallies to her cause.

Before the destruction of Mera, Verity wore her red hair -- a trait she got from her mother -- long and often braided it back; it was her pride and joy. Since then, she's cut most of it off; it now falls closer to her face with a wild disorganization to it, like the mane of a particularly disheveled lion. At its longest, it falls between her chin and shoulder, but she never makes much of an effort to keep it clean or combed, with so many different things on her mind. She has light blue eyes, verging on grey, and pale skin. She's very long-limbed and slim, with most of her extra body weight in muscle. Her appearance has always been somewhat androgynous, but it's been magnified by her cutting her hair and she could easily pass as a boy with only a little chest binding -- Verity has never been especially gifted in feminine curves, but she's found that something to be grateful for now.

She has a low alto voice that she can fake as a tenor with some work. She carries herself proudly and with authority, something that hasn't really changed since Mera's fall.

[Verity is for himitsu_sensou and is played by dots. Her PB is Karen/Kallen Stadfeld from Code Geass.]