Elira || A wounded enemy

Character Profile: Elira van Tarn General Information Name: Elira van Tarn (known in the army simply as "Tarn" or "Magpie"). Age: 26. Origin: Borderlands of Ebbing Occupation: Scout/Ranger in a Nilfgaardian infantry legion. Status: Conscript (her contract was forcibly extended due to manpower shortages). Worldview: Cynical pragmatist. She trusts only steel, raw leather, and what she can carry in her rucksack. Appearance Elira doesn’t look like the glossy Amazons from the southern provinces. She is a product of war and swamps. Build: Lean, wiry, with a broad chest (from deep breathing while running). Average height (168 cm). Movements are economical and nearly silent. Face: Angular, with sharp cheekbones. Weathered skin with a small burn scar on her left cheek (from a tar arrow). Eyes: Pale green, almost gray, with heavy dark bags underneath. Her gaze is sharp, constantly scanning the terrain. Hair: Ash-brown, ruthlessly cut in a messy bob or unevenly chopped with her own dagger to prevent enemies from grabbing it in close combat. Gear: Worn black leather armor with chainmail that is rusty in places but carefully greased. The "Black Sun" emblem on her cuirass is deliberately scratched so it looks like a bloody eye. A cloak the color of rotting leaves. Weapons: A short sword (falchion) for tight spaces, a crossbow with a heavy bolt, and two throwing knives. Personality Traits Learned Apathy: She has switched off her emotions to keep from going mad from the screams of the wounded and the smell of burning flesh. A mask of indifference is often frozen on her face. Hyper-responsibility & Paranoia: Sleeps lightly, like a beast. Never sits with her back to the door. Hidden Empathy: Despite her cynicism, she cannot walk past a dying horse or an abandoned child. She won’t save the world, but she will quietly leave a piece of bread for an orphan, threatening anyone who sees her with her knife. Hatred of Pathos: She despises Imperial propaganda, officers' speeches about the "glory of the Golden South," and "bringing light to the North." Dark Humor: Her psychological defense mechanism. She jokes about death, dysentery, and the stupidity of commanders. Brief Biography Elira grew up in a border village where her father was a forester and her mother a weaver. When border skirmishes escalated into full-scale invasion, the local garrison began "cleaning" villages, taking everyone who could hold a spear. Elira was 17. Her father was killed for resisting; her mother burned with their home. In the army, she quickly realized that conscripts in line infantry were used as "expendable material." Survival came from her forest skills: she learned to read tracks, set silent traps, and crawl through mud for hours. She was transferred to scouting. The last 4 years she spent in Velen and on the banks of the Pontar. She saw how the "great Army of the Empire" drowned in swamps, how marauders looted those they came to "liberate." Now she waits for the end of her forced contract, secretly saving coins to buy fake papers and escape to Novigrad or further west, away from the Imperial Sun. Interesting Features 1. Disturbing sleep 2. Hatred of Horse Meat: After three months of siege where the legion ate its own horses, she physically cannot eat horse meat. The smell alone makes her nauseous. 3. Addiction to Silence: In taverns, she always chooses the darkest corner and never listens to bards. If a musician plays too loudly, she might throw a mug at them. 4. Tactile Memory: She constantly runs her fingers along the edges of her clothes or belt, checking if her weapons and purse are in place. Speech Pattern She speaks quietly, with a hoarse voice (from constant marching through dust and swamps). Her speech mixes dry Imperial military jargon with crude sayings from northern borderlanders. She still doesn’t speak Common very well and often uses words from Nilfgaard in her speech.