Ruin Shaman Nivian Snow Zalen
An artificer archaeologist, Nivian uses intellect, physical skill and a little magic to navigate the most dangerous ruins.
Physical Description
Strong and sharp, Nivian keeps both her mind and body in good shape.
She looks like her mother Navia, with pale skin shap features and bright blue vertical pupils.
She has dark blue and black hair that extends down to the middle of her back which she keeps loosely pulled back. Her eyes are bright but direct, as if she's studying you.
- Vampire feature
- Distinctive Hair
- Dark blue tattoo across her left arm.
She tends to scratch at her head when she's thinking at a problem.
- Artificer Infusions / Battle Ready / Steel Defender
- Flash of Genius / Arcane Jolt
- Fighting Style - Unarmed Fighting / Second Wind
- Deft Explorer / Favored Enemy - Undead / Fighting Style - Archery
- Primeval Awareness / Hunters Prey - Horde Breaker
- Keen Mind / Medium Armor Master / Sharpshooter / Strixhaven Initiate (Lorehold)
A tanktop, simple trousers and good reenforced boots. She will wear some basic armor over this when she's working but rarely covers her arms or face.
- Defender Pod / Aurochs Tank / Constrictor Snake
- All Purpose Tool / Half Plate / Cloak of Elvenkind / Gloves of Thievery
- Nivians Bolt Caster / Spell-Storing Item -
- Wagon workshop full of tools
Mental characteristics
Born to River and
Navia with no small amount of magic,
Venin was born using an experimental process. A modified version of the 'Clone' spell was implemented and unlike her younger sister
Venin, Nivian's was born without issue. She was strong, healthy and stubborn. Both the sisters grew up quickly but Nivian was a little monster from the start, always starting fights, and never wanting to obey rules. Her passion for learning was matched only by how incompatable her parents teaching styles were for her. By the time she was 16 she was regularly sneaking out, causing trouble and getting into fights with her parents and they had had enough.
After one particularly bad fight the both agreed to allocate some of
The Windblown resources to get her an entrance exam at strixhaven and shipped her off. Both parties were delighted to have some time to cool off and
Navia despite butting heads with nearly everyone thrived at the newfound freedom Strixhaven allowed her.
She was placed in
Lorehold College with a colossal library, almost no oversight. It was everything she could have hoped for. She was set material for each test but other than that the lectures were hers to attend as she wished. She developed a particular connection with Losheel the Clockwork Scholar over their shared laziness and experience with artifice.
She even began making bonds with students in other schools during inter-house competitions, Zimmin and Drannar. The three would end up graduating at roughly the same time and decided to set out with their newly found knowledge on adventures. Nivian had been going home for summer vacations over her 3 years at the school for additional training and family visits. Things were dramatically improved now that she didn't live with her parents, and her and
Navia finally bonded over the history of their people.
The three began taking contracts for
The Windblown, would meet up with
Brook and
Gale during one of these, and eventually were skilled enough that her parents decided to send her and the team ahead to Mezro. With their collective skill sets and the resources of
The Windblown they would investigate ruins and establish a forward base for later operations near the higher undead territory of
Chult. So that's what she's been up to. She specifically, heads into ancient ruins to gather information on magic from the area and to the sword coast more than the rest of the team.
- Training in combat, artifice, and languages with the windblown teachers
- History, more languages, more history, more artifice and a smidge of shooting at Lorehold College
Steady employment taking contracts with the windblown and returning relics and histories to Lorehold.
- Graduating Lorehold in just 3 years.
- She's recovering knowledge thought lost from deep in the jungles of chult.
- Her dropkick once brought someone to tears (not the person she kicked)
Nah she's not worried about anything
She was the first of her kind of birth that she knew about. She grew up extremely quickly, reaching full maturity in 6 years and that had an effect on her relationships growing up. To her it seemed normal but to everyone else they had to redefine their relationships to her on the fly and it wasn't always comfortable for her.
Nivian is firecely independent, highly intelligent and has a drive bordering on compulsion to solve the mysteries around whatever has her attention in the moment. She's loyal and capable but has a lot of trouble restraining herself from antagonizing people that rub her the wrong way.
She has a deep respect for culture and customs but doesn't take shit from anyone. These clash regularly and get her in trouble.
Personality Characteristics
She's here for her family but what she's really here for is to find every mystery. She loves discovering things about cultures, either existing or long gone and has been on expeditions nearly constantly with her friends or solo since she left school.
Savvies
- Tool Expertise +9
- Cartographer's Tools, Flute, Mason's Tools, Smith's Tools, Thieves' Tools, Tinker's Tools, Woodcarver's Tools
- Acrobatics +8
- Arcana +10
- History +15
- Investigation +10
- Nature +10
- Perception +7
- Sleight of Hand +8
- Stealth +8
- Survival +12
Ineptitudes -2
- Deception
- Intimidation
- Performance
- Persuasion
Likes
- Tracking down one of her compulsions
- Exercise and a good fight
- Listening to someone who really knows what they're talking about
- Working on new artificer designs
DisLikes
- Being told what to do
- People in her personal space
- Fucking. Bugs.
Nivian is deeply capable, she's always ready to throw down and she's not going to leave you behind. She can navigate nearly any population center easily, knows tons of languages, knows what she's talking about and always has the right tool for the job.
She has trouble keeping her fucking mouth shut when someone is wrong or being an asshole and when someone deserves to get hit she has no chill at all.
History
Nivian was a good student when she was older and learned history and artifice from Navia, but always leaned more towards Rivers way of doing things. Despite being blood related, their actual relationship is more like that of teacher and student. Nivian is much closer and relates much more with River, and being raised among the entire mercenary company put less emphasis on the two biological parents and more on the community.
They both love each other, but Nivian was a lot to handle as a young child and Navia did not handle it well. There are regrets in the way some things were done, but both of them have always been true to who they are. Nivian takes her mothers culture and the mission left to their family very seriously, which inspired her pursuit of archaeology and her current mission to chult.
Despite her poor work as a student they Navia has always admired Nivians endless curiosity and passion to discover.
History
The two sisters have always gotten along. They had a pretty singular upbringing, though not a bad one. Still, they are the only people they know that had their experiences. Despite an unusual childhood they're sisters that love each other. Venin spends more time at the peak with the rest of her family while Nivian often spends long stretches of time away scouting and doing preparatory work for the return of Mezro but when they are together they make the most of the time.
Daughter (Vital)
Towards River in the Snow
History
These two have a strong relationship. Nivian fights like river and takes after her mom with her temperament. She did not inherit her charisma however, so what River would have said to manipulate opponents into making themselves look bad or guilty before starting a fight, Nivian blurts out obscenities and ends up being beaten up in an alley.
History
These two have a great relationship. Tazbor taught her tactics and languages while keeping her in fighting shape. She tended to lean more towards River's and Barrin's lessons in unarmed fighting but under the instruction in tactics from Tazbor. Tazbor would act as a confidant during her more rebelious youth and is remotely guiding her through the more dangerous areas of her Chultan explorations.
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