Cora

Cora (コーラ - Kōra) is a Female North-Eastern Sergal born in Northern Reono and living within the Shigu Dukedom during the Modern Era period within the New Age canon on Planet Tal.

Appearance
Cora is born roughly around the year 55RC, as such, she is 45 years old, the birthday is marked by the distinct sound of clattering Talyxian birds.

She was born to loving parents which had settled down in Northern Reono, a former Shigu male Soldier which joined the war effort willingly and a female leatherworker.

Cora sports a wonderfully deep blue fur shade, complemented by white underbelly. Her eyes are deep silver, with a piercing gaze. Her height puts her around 6’9” (206cm).

Her mane hair is long with trim-cut fades, sometimes she can be seen with it bundled up with a red fusfus silk scarf, embroidered with Silves markings. Rare white hairs can also be seen in her mane.

She sports two wide scars on her lower left back, no doubt obtained during her line of duty, either fighting off one too many creatures at once or defensive wounds obtained when safeguarding her rookies from danger.

The back joint of her upper left calf features a bite mark from a Talyxian creature as well. The now-scarred wounds are telltale of a creature that might have possessed hooked appendages as well as possibly an opposable finger or thumb.

A scar also can be visibly seen on the right side of her maw upon the upper lip, obtained from a Blood duel against the man whom would eventually become her husband.

Cora’s main passion and profession is that of being a Huntress, as with most of Reono’s inhabitants. She displayed a keen eye in the ability to track down prey as well as above average skill in hand to hand combat, unlike most hunters she prefers the use of an Axe instead of the regular halberd, thrown spears or bows and arrows. Her axe was aptly named “Dokobane” after she made use of it during a routine training exercise with rookie hunters which went wrong. As such, she can be seen wearing a somewhat scuffled up set of armor, inherited from her parents. The age of the armor itself can almost be traced dating back to ~10RC, the wear and tear to show after years worth of use. Even so, it holds up quite nicely, as it has been taken care of properly as a legacy heirloom.

Her parents, although devout Shigu loyalists, did not force her to have a split tongue, instead they taught Cora the importance and meaning of it, leaving the decision utterly to her. She does not have a split tongue but values the meaning behind the ritual to a degree, albeit with more emphasis on its historical value and.. Pleasing properties.

Personality
Despite being born and raised within a Shigu-centric family, most of her interactions, experiences, and education throughout childhood and adulthood were with Reono folk. As such, she was able to develop a quite unique set of individualism and traits to support it with encouragement from both family and social peers.

Cora loves to maintain a very optimistic and upbeat outlook on life, putting a heavy emphasis on conversational aspects and usage of irony, sarcasm and her favorite method of teasing friend or foe: a good, snappy dose of dirty humor.

Due to her athletic prowess and love for adrenaline, she developed and honed her thirst for it via seeking out the thrill of the hunt alongside other Reono hunters, joining a lodge and participating in training exercises, hunting and even dabbling into leatherworking as a side profession and hobby, an avenue pursued in part due to her mother’s teachings as well.

She is a fierce individual, displaying loyalty towards her fellow companions, those she loves and above all else, owns up to her words, perhaps to a fault even, to a degree.

As a huntress, the height of her profession was reached when earning the right to lead hunts and taking up the role of teacher, mentoring others in the rites of combat, tracking, hunting, and skinning prey until her impromptu retirement. This has granted her with a somewhat stern and bossy attitude, for better or worse, given the rate of mortality out there in the woods, it was a necessary trait to have at the time to keep all the welps in line.

Many Sergal females become mothers at one point or another, and Cora is no exception, in the year 75RC she gives birth to Drago. Throughout her days within the Shigu Dukedom, she works as a par-time drill instructor for the local Peacekeeping force and huntress, her prior experiences from Reono paying off in both maternal and mentoring roles. She imparts most of her wisdom to Drago as well, be they via stories of grand hunts, adventures through the lands of Reono or engaging in physical activities together with her son such as jogging, martial arts training and armor maintenance. When Drago was a younger lad she would sing and hum tunes to him, especially when combing through his mane softly with her fingers.

Despite her boisterous nature and outward appearance, she does speak with a soft tone towards her husband and son when discussing serious matters or sharing a gentle moment of motherly love and affection for her family.

Biography
Having been raised in North-Eastern Reono, Cora was exposed to a great amount of culture as well as Eltus from all walks of life, travelers from both Shigu and Gold Ring would always meet up in the southern regions, either in Tesae or Etai or travel up Northeast to visit the top of the Lyvanks where the Eltus steppe sanctuaries lay.

She was never close to her mother as a child, preferring to spend more time with her father instead because of his background as a former soldier and Cora was a more active and spry person seeking thrills. She would beg her father to provide an outlet for her excess energy, demanding to engage in virtually any sort of physical activity they could perform, mock-training sessions, sparring, hunting, fishing, etc.

Despite all that, however, Cora did spend time with her mother as well, eventually capturing a knack for Leatherworking and developing a certain degree of patience and sense of reward from the acts of skinning pelts, treating them as well as curing the meats. This was more or less done out of a sense of respect and love. She cared for both of them equally, in her own way.

When she was old enough to join the local hunting lodge and train with the others, she would find herself rising through the ranks quite fast into a notable position, eventually being tasked with leading hunts of her own.

Her track record for training and mentoring new hunters for Reono during her tenure remained strong although not impeccable, given how cowardly some rookies would behave and coupled with the treacherous nature of the Talyxian forests it would prove difficult.

After a happenstance turn of events during a hunt, she met her future husband and lifelong mate Rafe, their love bloomed over the course of the years as they moved to the Shigu Dukedom, eventually settling down, building their own abode and having a child together.

Cora is more than happy in her newfound life and livelihood, providing for her family with her tenure within the Dukedom as a drill instructor for the local Peacekeeper force. She also enjoys seldom going out on hunts either for profit or fun, bringing back with her animal carcasses and leaving nothing to waste, her leatherworking skills coming into good use.

Sometimes she brings back a useful bit or two from the forest for Rafe’s garden, usually in the form of a nourishing goo tube or bag of fertile sediment from the more deeper, lush regions.

Cora is more in-tune with animal husbandry due to her background as a huntress, so she'd mostly be taking care of the piglets and dondoko sprout reserves. She is passionate about bird-collecting, especially the crustacean styled carapaces from ones with whiskers!