O R T Z A - Y B A R R A
Details
Full Name: Ortza Ybarra neé Oriol
Race: Velsign
Sex: Male
Age: 24
Height: 7'3"
Weight: 375 lbs
Birthdate: 14th of Wither, Year 4598
Birthplace: Couronne, Davarin
Profession: Zalunire / Bodyguard for House Oriol
Housing: A Room in the Quarters of House Oriol in Amaran
Partners: None
Titles: None
Factions: House Oriol
Fluencies: Common, Raillén
Conversationals: None
Ineptitudes: None
Appearance
Ortza stands out from the crowd no matter where he goes - his height alone would suffice, but his wings serve to mark him as a rarity. They are large, but built for agility, with bronze brown barred feathers to the back and sleek in front. He keeps them folded close, though. He sees no need to call more attention to himself.
Beyond these distinctions, he is surprisingly human looking. His figure is lean and wiry, with a face full of sharp angles. He keeps a close cut beard, and clean dark hair combed back. Green, piercing eyes overlook a large nose. He vacillates between quick, clean, sharp movements, and uncanny stillness, depending on his mood. His skin is a few shades lighter than his feathers.
Ortza's other defining feature, in comparison to the culture in which he lives, is a refusal to cover his chest. While out of an attempt to keep some decorum, he wears sashes on his abdomen, and sleeves tied across his collar bone, nothing can convince him to wear something that would impede flight.
Personality
Unsurprising for a Velsign, and even more so one raised in Daravin, Ortza appears cold, stand-offish, and lacking emotion. If he had been born anything but Velsign, he likely would have been viewed a prime candidate to learn Candor. Instead, this demeanor was forged from ancestral memories, and a childhood of conditional love.
Surprisingly, this has also led to Ortza being extremely naive. He does not question the things told to him, and believes anything told to him by those who hold his loyalty. This worsens when, subconsciously, he wishes for their affection.
This trait, as well as indoctrination, has made him extremely loyal, to the point of his own expense. He measures his worth in how useful he is to others.
He does, though, have a fascination with cloth and weaving. This was not encouraged in his youth, so it is generally kept a closely guarded secret, along with his true feelings. There are depths to him, but he would be loathe to admit it.
History
What is to be said of the Zaldunire Velsign whose ties are not to the Pontifex? Whose rise is unknown, beyond the day he joined the Halamire of House Oriol?
Ortza Oriol was born to a minor lady of the Entante in secret, after a tryst with a free Velsign who had traveled the region. The father did not stick around, and whether Ortza's mother, Lady Léontine Oriol, truly cared for the winged man or was simply using him for her own ends, he will never know.
His childhood was one of secrets and tests, perhaps not dissimilar to other children in Daravin born outside the commoner class. Léontine, herself a former battlemage, initiated him into the Brand and began to train him. This too came with education on the Omen, learning the Oaths. It was important, she told him, that he believe in the Omen. But not as important as it was to be loyal to her.
And so he became a teenager, and his wings grew, and his primary feathers came in. At this point, his mother no longer could keep him hidden, not if his training was to continue. It was when he was 16 that in the dead of night, Ortza was presented to Lord Savéro Oriol. He didn't fully understand all his mother said, how he could be the beginning of Velsign loyal to only them. What he did understand is that now he had someone new to follow.
Lord Savéro and Lady Léontine made plans, and within the week, Ortza Ybarra was presented as the newest Zalunire of House Oriol.
The next four year were filled with continued training - predominantly physical. Publicly, he was staged as a new bodyguard for members of the house, and so he needed to be strong, and fast. It was not nearly as punishing as training under Lady Léontine, though. Quietly, though, he was also taught other skills - how to watch, listen. Most of his assignments during this time were protecting Lady Léontine. Not that it was needed, as she rarely left the Oriol estate they both lived at.
By the time Ortza was hitting 20, things shifted again. Lord Savéro began giving assignments protecting others - first of the House, and then allies. A few times, Ortza proved himself, both with blade, and from the information he would hear being at the right place in the right time. And with each success, Lord Savéro would praise him. Give him gifts, gentleness, kind words. It made a strange warmth grow in Ortza's chest. All he knew was that he wanted to hear more of it.
At 24, Lord Savéro took Ortza to his office, and gave him an assignment - to travel with him to Amoren. Outside of the place where he had grown up. Lord Savéro would need him there, he said. And it would perhaps be a place where Ortza could work on his magics, and one day become Valren.
Of course, Ortza would follow him. It was what he was ordered to do. He would follow Lord Savéro anywhere.
