Joana Elkwood

(a.k.a. Gat)

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Joana Elkwood is a human woman (or at least chooses to look like one most of the time), mid twenties, with dark skin, black hair, and black eyes. She stands at 5'11".
She typically wears a a green tunic over green pants, with a sash/scarf wrapped around her shoulders and draped across her chest, and a red braided belt.
She is often seen carrying a lute, and/or a sword and shield. In combat, she wears a suit of Mithril armor, and sometimes wields a gilded sword with a gleaming white blade.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Joana Gat Elkwood has been visited three times by The Wanderer in her life. Once, as a child, the mysterious red-headed stranger that joined the troupe for a night somehow knew 9 year old Gat's real name, and encouraged her to keep singing.
Later, the same woman came to 21 year old Joana while she was alone, hunting. They had a chat over the campfire, and the Singer warned her of the Calamity of El Ren soon to come.
Then, once more, in the rebuilding times, the mysterious singer came and joined the troupe for a night of mourning and celebration. She spoke to the gathering, and to Joana in particular she mentioned a destiny to be sought and enemies to be fought in the fabled land of Idriell...
Gat Elkwood was born to a changeling mother and half-changeling father. She picked the identity of Joana as her default persona around the age of 10. She grew up part of a traveling theater troupe - the Elkwood Players. There are a couple families at the heart of the troupe, mostly human with a few Changeling and Elf-blooded members married in. There were Dwarf, Halfling, and Gnome members of the troupe as well, and various other people who came and went.
The skills of a Changeling are always in demand on the stage, and much of Gat's childhood was spent performing. She spent less time on the stage as she grew older, showing increasing interest in carpentry, and beginning her training as a Guardian.
You wouldn't expect to find Paladins amongst a theater troupe, and you'd probably be more surprised to find a Paladin who worships The Wanderer. But you'd find them amongst the Elkwoods. The troupe worshipped varioius gods and spirits of nature, and the Wanderer was among them. The Changelings in particular saw The Wanderer as their patron deity. The troupe saw their performances as part of a religious duty to spread light and cheer in the world. To protect that light, and to protect the family, a few members of the troupe took up the sword, and some wielded divine power.
The Guardians of Elkwood are not a very strict order of paladins. Just a few friends and members of the families who gather together and train, and fight. They practice the performing arts as a core part of their training. A few of them claim that their powers don't even come from gods, bur rather from their own light. Joana is fond of this line of thought.
Joana had a strong drive to protect and to fight, and officially started training when she turned 12. She fought alongside aunts and uncles and cousins, defending the family from bandits and things in the woods, then defending them from The Horrible Moon Monsters, even as some among the family became these things.
Now, as the whole world is rebuilding from the devastation, the words of a Wandering Singer tell Joana of some destiny to be sought in Idriell. After many nights of contemplation, and conversation with the family, she has decided to heed The Wanderer's words and see what awaits her in the birthplace of the gods.