Character Name: Saphira Vane
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Universe: Star Catchers
Canon or Original: Original

Appearance: Saphira stands at about 5'5" with bright red slightly wavy hair that reaches to her chest. Normally she leaves it down with a braid circling her head from front to back, but she has also put it up for formal occasions. For practicality she will simply style it into a side braid. Her eyes are hazel, looking almost golden in certain lights and green in others. In her position as an assistant in the mayor’s offices, she usually wears practical but elegant attire fitting for her role. Her style is very upper class chic due to the circles she travels in. She can rarely be found wearing simple or plain clothes. Her skin is cream colored with a slight tan acquired from her extra training activities outdoors, while her body is lean but with no obviously defined muscles.

Personality: Saphira is shaped by many things in her life. Her power made her believe that she could achieve whatever her mind set her to. The affinity for spirit certainly influenced her upbringing and the way she viewed the universe; as clay that she can shape and fit into any mold her mind could conjure. Of course, it didn’t mean every single thing she ever wished for, no matter how hard, had come true. There was still a lot of luck and hard work involved in the process. But her power had always made her believe in impossible odds, in seemingly insurmountable challenges, and that if she believed in something really hard, there was that small chance of it coming true that most people didn’t even have. That meant everything. It made her not only an optimistic, but also an ambitious person. Because if the limits of what she could achieve were her own mind, then she sure as hell wasn’t going to place any limit.

The other part came from not having a lot of limits in her life to begin with. As the mayor’s daughter, doors had always been open for her. She’d never encountered any real challenge, be it in finances, education, or success. Her parents and her family had paved that way for her, and her future was set. It was there just waiting for her. Barring any drastic events, she should become the next mayor of Shadeslake without even having to do much more. She was one of the lucky ones. In a way, this also set her bar higher. Made her want to strive for more than just what she could get by default. Why be a mayor of a city when she could rule the whole of Esoria?

Her convenient way of life certainly also made her, to a certain degree, a spoiled child. She was used to everything being handed to her or being a comfortable reaching distance. But Saphira was also the kind of person who was unsatisfied with just settling for what she could have. She wanted to keep pushing the boundaries. Wanted to see how much more she can achieve. After all, she was a person who grew up with the idea that no door would ever be closed to her if she tried banging hard enough on it. As such, she didn’t let her comfortable upbringing make her lazy or content to rest on her laurels. She worked hard for her new goal, and she was going to catch her star and prove to everyone that she could be even better. Her parents wanted her to be mayor? She was going to be queen.

The fact that she had never had any real challenges certainly made her rather naïve and ignorant about what the real people out there had to contend with. She could never understand what it would feel like to have to work so hard for a dream that seemed out of reach. She looked down upon people who failed because she believed it was their own fault for not trying hard enough. She didn’t care much for other people, having had her entire life focusing on herself and her goals. That didn’t make her the easiest or most fun person to be around. Saphira was not a team player at all, as she didn’t believe in the concept of working together and sharing the credit. Someone was bound to just look for a free ride, as far as she was concerned.

Any Unique Abilities/Skills: Saphira's affinity is Spirit.

History: Saphira lived a pretty charmed life as the daughter of the current mayor of Shadeslake, Terrence Vane. The Vane family was one of the few elite families who had been exchanging leadership positions back and forth between them for the past few dozen cycles. Their primary business was in spice and herbs trade, which turned very profitable a few generations ago when one of their ancestors, Griffin Vane, found a new type of herb that was discovered to have curative properties for one of the common diseases. They had had the monopoly on it ever since, though they made sure to also make sizable donations to health clinics and healers who were in need, especially when outbreaks of the disease happened suddenly. This endeared them to the general public, and they were viewed as philanthropists, which helped the first mayor in the family, Amelia Vane—Griffin’s daughter—secure her job.

Saphira was raised to follow her father’s footsteps as the next mayor of Shadeslake. She’d been trained as his unofficial personal assistant from a young age, and her family never really thought she would ever want to be something else. And for the longest time, Saphira didn’t. When the trials came, she got to try different professions with the other kids, but found no appreciation for any of the ‘lesser work’ like farming, herding cattle, carpentry, and botany. She liked her comfortable job at the mayor’s offices, and only ever longed to come back. She knew for sure working in the field was not where she belonged.

So she focused on her work as a mayor’s assistant, helping everyone in the city with their needs, figuring out ways to make everyone happy, finding new trades with other cities and towns and generally bettering the community as a whole. Making people happy made her happy, though it wasn’t really in an altruistic way. She simply loved the feeling of being adored, the notion that people felt grateful to her and her family and admired them. She relished the attention, the success, the accomplishments they had made in an entirely selfish way. She only helped people because she knew it would help her and her family cement their positions for the future.

However, Saphira felt that just going for this future that was all but certain seemed simply… boring. A fateful meeting from her childhood and times spent meeting people from higher positions and the capital made her dream about a bigger future. She had seen pictures of Thelline and the castle that stood there. The lavish way of life of its people and the royal family. And after many afternoons spent in the Halls of Records, Saphira had started to take interest in them. She would study their portraits, learn as much as she could about them, and eventually began to form a plan.

A plan to be the future queen of Esoria. And she knew that there was one way to achieve it. By being a Star Catcher. Of course, it was not easy. But between her elemental affinity and her ambitious determination, Saphira believed that she could do it. She had had a lot of practice in believing she could achieve anything, even when most times it was less of her luck and more her hard work and life of privilege that opened those doors for her, so to fail simply seemed out of the question for her. A huge part of it was naivety for sure, but she didn’t know better.

And so she learned as much as she could about previous Star Catchers and their journeys, the ones that had been published anyway. What challenges they had to face. She sought experts in tracking and basic martial arts to defend herself from other competitors and whatever creatures might lurk in the wilds during her arduous journey. She learned how to find her way based on the stars in the sky and exercised more to build endurance. She learned how to find the best things to eat when nature was all she had and how to turn ordinary things into weapons if necessary. She made a career out of being a Star Catcher in training. She was going to get her King’s wish, and marry the Crown Prince’s son, then be second in line to the throne. And live a life even more lavish and comfortable than the one she had now. Her family thought she was going to make them proud? She was going to impress them even more. But for now, her plan had to remain her own little secret. She didn’t intend to reveal her intentions to anyone, let alone share her wish, lest someone else steal the idea and ruin everything.

Other Noteworthy Facts: Due to being raised and trained as a politician, Saphira is well-versed in the arts of persuasive communication. She knew exactly how to convince anyone to do anything, the right wheels to grease, and the fact that everyone had a price. The Vane family had made sure the people of Shadeslake, or at least the influential ones, were kept in their favor, and Saphira learned from the best. Politics was her specialty, as well as anything involving law-making, trade agreements, and all sorts of bureaucratic knowledge.

As she intended to be a Star Catcher from a young age, she asked for extra physical training to build her endurance, basic fighting techniques that would be enough to defend herself from other competitors (but nothing deadly beyond tactical places to hit or things to do for a quick knock-out), as well as tracking and finding her way in nature.

Universe Specific Information: Star Catchers - HC Event

Storyline Specific Information: It was nearing their time. They had been through the trials, had learned all they could, and had decided upon their future professions; now all they needed to become full-fledged Adults, equal to any other in Esoria, was to reach the summit of Mount Everlast before midnight two days from now. If they were in place when the Meteor Shower reached its maximum, took in the light, and returned, their adolescence concludes. For most, observing the shooting stars was the final step; upon seeing its majesty after an arduous climb, they could bow out and return home, their trials complete, and take their place as full-fledged members of their community, taking on official apprenticeships or entering journeyman status in some regards, else jumping both feet into their career. But for some, for those young people who wished to make a difference in their world, there was an additional task, one that would automatically set them apart, separating them from whatever their birth, their hometowns, their families, their circumstances were holding them back from attaining, whether it be induction to higher education, to elite facilities, to the audience of a person of Power - this additional trial would put them on the fast path to a life free of glass ceilings.

For these few, the meteor shower is only the beginning. From the mountain top they need to track the path of a falling star and follow it to its landing site, obtain the star fragment, return to the capital and present it to the King. Only then, and for only up to five, and only to those who are present at the ceremony and whose presence throughout the trial is vouched for by the others, will they receive the tattoo, ring, and pendant that will open doors for them for the rest of their lives, and to only those five will the King grant a Wish - a wish that could erase their pasts or open new doors for their future. A wish that could provide funds for their future, could wave fees for entrance to their college or guild of choice, could make or bend the very law of the land, should their argument for such a thing be solid.

The quest is dangerous and difficult. Every year young men and women go forth, and maybe one group in ten returns with the star fragment - one group every ten years. The others return without the star and start their lives as they would have before, else they do not come back at all.

RP Sample:

Saphira stood with her closest friends atop Mount Everlast, waiting for the meteor shower that was due to happen in a couple of minutes. They’d made a journey out of it, the other kids from the elite families, bringing picnic baskets and drinks and luxurious snacks they’d snuck away from their parents’ stashes. They’d planned to have a toast after and enjoy the food, celebrating their success, though none of them knew that Saphira would not come back with them.

“I can’t wait to take over my father’s business,” Lenora Cress, the daughter of a rugmaker, tittered excitedly. “I know it’s kind of cheating, but I don’t regret having it easy. I still don’t get why we had to do all those other jobs during the trials, though. Like we’d ever pick something else. Such a nuisance, wasn’t it?”

A bunch of the other girls rolled their eyes and murmured fervent agreements. Saphira nodded along with them, though inside she was silently judging their contentment to simply settle for less. The fact that they had it so easy clearly never made them even think about striving for more, which she thought was a huge mistake. She wondered what they’d do when they realized she wasn’t coming home with them. What they’d think about her when she revealed she was going to go get a star. Would they think she was crazy? Would they expect her to die?

Then again, these girls had never known anything outside their comfortable little bubble. They probably thought the idea of tracking a star in the wilds alone—facing nature and all its untamed forces—seemed like insanity and a sure way to die young. They would never want to risk their easy little lives. They would never trade it for anything, would never risk it for anything. In their minds, there was probably nothing better than what life could already offer them.

But they were wrong.

Not that it mattered. They would all eventually have to bow down to her when she came back. And they’d see what a little ambition and hard work could get them if they’d just put their minds to it. The thought of being a princess, then a queen, made Saphira smile. Her life was going to be so wonderful.

“I’m jealous. Some of us have to go to university,” Portia Dumont complained, looking miserable. “I don’t even like school, but my father practically demands it.” The other girls chuckled and made comforting noises, then Lenora turned and looked at her.

“Saphira here is the luckiest. She’s going to lead all of us,” she said with a wink.

As the others agreed and made excited noises, Saphira turned to them, preening and beaming with a smile.

If only Lenora knew how right she was.

This is now ready for review!

Approved!