Member: ADOPTABLE
Originator of Character: David Riethmeier, additional development by Valerie R. Bowe

Name: Leravie (LAIR-ah-vee)
Gender: female
Generation/Age: 3rd/abt.2200
Status: Alive
Declared?: No
Original tribe: Tower Mt.
Current tribe: New Hope
Household: Greenwillow

Hair: a rich, dark mahogany brown; up through 3rd mil. worn loose with thick bangs, had a loose wavy-curl, hung about to shoulder blades in back; at New Hope very curly and trimmed to nape, a little fuller on top with a suggestion of bangs on one side, usually held out of her face with a pair of combs (pictures of both versions available)
Eyes: rich, dark brown; matches her hair color exactly; large, almond shape with thick lashes
Height: 4'9"
Build: slender to averge
Skin: peaches and cream
Voice: soft, sweet, lower range soprano
Physical attributes: Developed freckles on the march to New Hope. Tried desperately to get rid of them at first, but when she realized that Peysol liked to count them and connect the dots, decided she rather liked them herself.

Parents: Shadaln, Dekan (Fu)
Siblings: Ciddara, half-sister
Uncles/Aunts: Colya, Vannhael (both D) Quixol, Hanlir (uncles), Razmak (great uncle); Aldyth (D) aunt.
COUSINS: Betal, Coriander(D), Colin(M), Ehren, Periel(D), Irralev(D), Charise
NIECES/NEPHEWS: none
Current mate: Peysol - lifemate (lovemating began btwn. +800 - 1000)
Recognized?: yes - Starblade (NH +1)
Previous mates: Plenty of lovers, but Peysol is her first and last mate.
Children: Nineki (f)
Closest friends: Ceyte, Kaethe, Vallaree, Nalkor

Talents: average sending
Skills: leathercraft including tanning, dyeing, design and sewing
Hobbies: weaving
Bondbeast: none
Weapons: none
Jewelry: preference for glittery gold items, turquoise, blue coral, leather ornamentation
Clothing: Colors--blues, greens and creams/ivories are her preference in all hues and intensities.  Styles-- At Tower wore lots of dresses, long skirts and flowy things, with style usually dictated by whatever Peysol was experimenting with at the moment.  After her Recognition at New Hope prefers leggings or breeches with close-fitting tunic, halter, tank top, sometimes jumpsuits, short-shorts, frequently in colorfully dyed leather with lacings. Sometimes tops are lightweight, fast-drying, semi-sheer weaves.

PERSONALITY/BACKGROUND: Leravie is friendly, amicable and sociable. In Tower society especially, she "lived light", i.e. she enjoyed light conversation, social dancing, musicales, cheery music (without heavy "themes") and casual parties. She hated to talk of serious matters, ignored orgies and druggie parties, avoided politics, and had a tendency to nod off during any recital that smacked of classical music. Her clothing reflected this attitude; airy, impractical, sweet, modest, romantic.
     Leravie was, actually, a very insecure person. Her mother was a strong, practical, capable person. Her father was serious, cautious and methodical, capable of intense bouts of concentration.  Leravie tended to see herself as never living up to these "good examples" of a "useful and dedicated" life. It never occurred to her that, having been born in the Tower, she never had to race the sort of challenges her parents had faced, and that just such a carefree life was exactly what they had dreamed of for their only child. In her lifestyle they saw the fulfillment of that particular dream, and were relieved that she would not have to scrabble for survival or face the everyday dangers of a relatively untamed world.
      Leravie has no magical Talent beyond sending, no highly sought after skill, and (aside from exceptionally large and pretty eyes) is nothing out of the ordinary in terms of looks. In her heart of hearts she feels as if she is the most ordinary person ever to grace the halls of the Tower, and her desire for others to think of her as special caused her to feel uneasy at any time she felt the facade was slipping. She would become genuinely unhappy if she did not receive enough affection, gratitude or attention from her friends or other elves in the Tower.
      When she was younger she sought approval fiercely, becoming something of a party girl who was frantically having a good time. She was forever in pursuit of friendships and romance. Some of these "friends" would drag her off to orgies (mostly to annoy Shadaln) and sometimes involve her in rough sex. Her naivety exasperated her mother. Leravie could be bedded by anyone with a good line. It took her awhile to catch on, but she did eventually. This period of her life was short but intense, but even afterward she tended to drift from one affair to the next.
      Overall, Leravie is considered good company. She is possessed of a friendly, unaffected demeanor, is easy to get along with, a good party guest, doesn't make waves, and enjoys Tower life to the fullest. She has several casual girlfriends and a few male friends with whom she enjoys a platonic relationship. She enjoys certain of the luxuries of Tower life, and makes almost a fetish of keeping her hair and skin silky and soft, maicing people sometimes wonder if she's vain or merely sybaratic. (It's the latter.j

 LEATHERCRAFT: She does possess one skill which she has never given herself sufficient credit for. She's the best leatherworker in the Tower. Perhaps if they lived on the Outside, her skill might seem more important. But leather is not considered important for much beyond footwear in Tower. Aside from the perpetual demand for sandals, shoes and boots, she provides the hawkriders with most of their flight leathers.
      Leravie works fur as well as leather, cures them herself, and has perhaps as much skill in working with the peculiarities of her material as any other clothier in the Tower. Unfortunately, she's considered less a clothier and more a cobbler. Nevertheless, she does have several steady customers. She is the one who keeps Tanyel and Jheredd in those skintight leather outfits, and keeps the local sexual extroverts "in harness".
     Which brings us to another point. Leravie has a repressed sensuality, evident only in her love of supple, butter soft leather, and her ability to mold it into body-conscious garments. She enjoys sex, but doesn't long for anything outre. Her lingerie is frilly, pretty, romantic and Feminine. Never sexy and certainly not aggressive. In Tower she never wore the casually seductive clothes she liked to create, having convinced herself that "serious-minded, responsible people" didn't display too much sensuality in public, and besides, her parents who were her role models would consider such things frivolous, and hardly worthy of the attention of a serious mind. Her love of her art was subliminated into doing for others what she didn't dare do for herself. Peysol was fully aware of this contradiction, but any encouragement to wear her own art was met with resistance, and her insistance that she preferred what he made for her.

PEYSOL: Leravie is a romantic, and cherished fantasies of love and luxury which were fulfilled in her lovemating with Peysol. She saw him as something of a knight-in-shining armor, a hero come to sweep her off her feet, filling her Life with romance, treating her as if she were someone very special, and the means by which she would live happily ever after on her own personal cloud nine, as it were.
     The desire for a monoagmous relationship with Peysol was originally hers, not so much because she minded him sleeping with others (**OK. Maybe a little.**), but because she's scared of the dark. Even prior to their relationshiP, she slept around a lot in part because sleeping with anybody was better than sleeping alone. (Note: For the source of this particular terror, see section under Trolls.)
     As time went on and others became more and more absorbed in the Talents and skills which made them special (in her eyes), she began to lean more and more on Peysol as the source for her happiness. By the end of 3rd mil. she had long ceased to trust her own judgment, and looked to him to provide all her clothes with little or no input from her. If pressed she would pick a color from two or three offered. But mostly she left all decisions to the experts, and sought the approval of those she loved on even minor matters.
     This need for approval encroached on her social life, with her growing dependency becoming apparent to many Tower residents, but particularly obvious to her lovemate and her mother. She seldom argued her point, even when she was in the right. If soft words did not win the way, she was more prone to give in to an adversary than behave in a socially "improper" manner. Her parents and lovemate tended to be too even-tempered or too preoccupied with duties to be bothered by little things, and so she tended to perceive herself as quick tempered and perhaps nitpicky, rather than just having a different temperament, and swallowed down her annoyance rather than express it.

NEW HOPE: The proposed founding of New Hope stirred both excitement and anxiety within Leravie. It would be her first real challenge, her first chance to prove to herself that she was in some way capable of succeeding at something important. Even though she left the decision to go with the settlers to Peysol, she was secretly quite eager to go. The old insecurities arose, however, and she didn't feel as if she were up to accepting this challenge, so she raised no protest when her mother assigned some Torcs as her personal bodyguard. In a way she felt as if Shadaln was declaring to the Tower at large that she had no faith in her daughter. But her irritation was overshadowed by the sinking feeling that her mother was right.
     After the first couple of nights Leravie started to get her bearings on the new life she had let herself in for, and she started to obtain a measure of self-confidence, (I've been in the wilderness for a whole three days and nothing has tried to eat me. I must be doing okay.) When her skills started to be valued more, she actually started to take pride in it. For once, her leathercraft was considered practical and necessary, especially among the Outsiders whose matter-of-fact approval did a lot for her self-esteem.
     The construction of New Hope took a lot of work, and she felt a certain satisfaction in going to bed both tired and fulfilled every night. She started making professional contacts, sharing her skills and knowledge with others similarly inclined. She also started enjoying the pleasures of purely physical exercise such as swimming, riding and walking.
     Serves as one of Greenwillow Household's elders and a Council member. The responsibility has matured her into considering the needs of the many. She has a difficult time comprehending the needs of the human members of their society, and it took her maybe a little longer than most to stop depending upon them. Is glad Trika took on household chatelaine duties, as it would have been completely belong her. Doesn't do too badly in keeping an eye on household needs, but delegates bartering duties.

RECOGNITION: Her attitude toward life took a dramatic change when she Recognized a wandering Outsider elf named Starblade. He was Peysol's opposite in almost every way; a hunter who was sexually aggressive, rather self-centered, bold, downright cocky and exuded an aura of outrageous good health. For the first time in her life, Leravie was seduced by animal magnetism in its purest form and, to her alarm, found an answering chord within herself. He was fascinating as he personified this newly illuminated facet of herself. She was sorely tempted to chuck all and run off with him, but in the end decided that the life of a barbarian's mate wasn't for her. (Plus, she discovered that her and Peysol's relationship could enter into a new phase if she would only start putting something of herself into it.)
     It was after this event that she started expressing her true personality; speaking up when she disagreed with someone, pursuing interests of her own and, most tellingly, starting to wear her own clothes. Traces of the old Leravie do remain. She still takes particular care of her skin and hair, and is still something of a romantic. But it's a romanticism of a more earthy sort. She's developing independence, and by New Hope's third generation was secure enough to dismiss her bodyguards so they could find an occupation more necessary to the settlement's survival.
     She has one child, Nineki, the apple of her eye. It is difficult sometimes to refrain from smothering her with protectiveness (particularly since Nineki grew up during a period of Leravie's life where she was still struggling to find herself), but she wants her daughter to grow up sure of herself and not overly concerned with her parents' expectations. She tries not to push her too hard, but sometimes it's hard not to be anxious. This is her daughter, after all, and they are living on the Outside now.

HUMANS: Treated them purely as servants in Old Tower. They did what she said and she gave little or no thought to their wants and needs. Very large humans made her nervous, and she viewed them much as one would a particularly large dog that you weren't sure you could trust. Once New Hope was established and she was watching humans grow from infancy to adulthood 24 hours a day, she started to accept humans as intelligent, emotional, and individuals in their own right.
     Originally had her own personal bodyguards, first Dubyk and Epel, later Dubyk's sons Jehne and Alano, plus one other. There's nothing like having a 17 year old bodyguard to make you feel like the greatest weakling ever born. Besides, no one else except her was walking around with bodyguards. It got embarrassing! By NH +50, she waived her need for guards and Jehne and Alano became part of the New Hope protective force.

TROLLS: When she was still a child (six or seven or so, not yet skilled at sending), she accidentally found her way into the troll warrens and got the fright of her life! Big, ugly, hulking things lurking around in the dark! She screamed, tried to get out and only succeeded in getting lost further down in the tunnels, running from the trolls who were desperately trying to catch her and escort her back out. (They certainly didn't want this skinny little screaming thing running around.  Their ears rang for days!)
     Finally one of them got brave, dashed up into Tower and begged the first elf they saw (Eylar) to come get her out. Since then trolls have been the stuff of her nightmares, her own personal monsters-under-the-bed. Never ever goes in the troll warrens, not even Trolldelving Household, not even if you promised her every sparkly, glittery golden thingamabob in Tower.
     Didn't get her first good look at a troll until 4th mil., and the sight only convinced her that screaming and running off into the night had been an excellent first response. She'd be nervous but polite if she ever had to speak to one directly, but has managed to avoid the prospect thus far.

PRESERVERS: Ooo! They're darlin'! Will chatter with them on and on and on, only sending them away if she notices other people getting annoyed. Knows them all by name and doesn't have a personal favorite. They were particularly delighted with her pregnancy and stuck with her day and night all the way up until delivery.