Name: Abey Ishomara

Nickname/Title: Rue. She was given this name by her older sister after a series of pranks on unsuspecting passers-by.

Gender: Female

Age: 32

Race: Half-human, half-Ananki. The Ananki are a reptilian race within the region who were conquered by the Ameyatl approximately four centuries ago. While their culture has long since assimilated into the dominant culture of the region, attempts to breed their characteristics into the people have resulted in a sort of mini-species of mixed breeds featuring lizard-like features such as scaled skin or reptilian eyes.

Occupation: City Almoner - Abey collects on behalf of the needy and downtrodden on behalf of the city. She serves as a member of one of several charitable organizations sponsored by local religions. Some of these function through public support and others through city support. Often these charities are unable to supply vast amounts of aid to their supported people, but it is enough to help many live another day.

Physical Appearance: Abey retains cold-blooded metabolism and long features. Her face and torso are elongated, as well as her toes and fingers. Her hair is thick, coarse and black. Her pupils are large and black, just barely making way for the white irises to show when she looks in severe directions. Her skin is dark brown, reminiscent of smooth dark tree bark, but will become coarse without daily application of smoothing lotions. She does have a reptilian tail which grows at the base of her spine. In her efforts to keep her appearance more human, she removes her tail periodically.

While working for the city she wears a simple gray tunic with a white sash cinching in the waistline. This is the standard uniform of those in her position and she does nothing to embellish the look. She wears no face paint and ties her hair up into a modest bun.

While selling her charms she changes her appearance using makeup and clothing. She wears bright colors and will style her hair up into a large bushy creation, or alternately wrap her hair in a bright cloth. She will often paint bright pinks or yellows onto her face to brighten her skin and make herself harder to recognize.

Personality: Abey uses her station within society to bargain with the needy she encounters. While collecting and distributing on behalf of the city she presents herself as a generous soul plagued with naivety, the exact type of personality which many of those in need may attempt to exploit. Those who try are introduced later to Rue, a charmswoman who will sell her wares to the naive and desperate.

Magics: Abey is a powerful charmstress who imbues a variety of items with any kind of magic the buyer might wish. She also creates creams, pastes, teas and jewelry with specific charms in mind. She visits the downtown marketplace when a new large influx of non-native immigrants enters the city to sell her wares and offer her services to those new to the area. She uses this time to learn about the newcommers and which region of the city they might decide to live in during their adjustment period, in case she wishes to find them for later business.

Strengths/Good Qualities:

Deceit: Abey has no qualms about deceiving those around her in order to sell her services and she is skilled in this ability. Her stale features make her emotions difficult to calculate and her intentions hard to predict.

Dedicated: She feels a strong sense of loyalty to her family and provides for them above all other priorities. While she manipulates and uses others without remorse she does so for the sake of her family and their continued survival.

Persevering: Setbacks do not deter Abey's persistent spirit. She is aware that her family depends on her contributions for survival and so will conceal difficulties faced from those around her while pushing forward with life.

Versatile: Abey is able to manipulate her appearance both physically and mentally. She does not have the same range as a professional con artist and will not prevail in every situation, but her goal is often to receive a donation or sell a charm and so this rarely limits her otherwise in life.

Weaknesses/Bad Qualities:

Grounded: Her magics only work through a talisman or medium. She is unable to cast any spells without an object to channel the power through.

Cold-blooded: Abey will lose energy in colder climates. Her metabolism and thought processes slow down to sluggish activity. In time she will be unable to function.

Character History:

Abey was born the second of two sisters within a smaller family. With only two parents and one set of surviving grandparents, her family remained among the impoverished of the Ameyatl. Her older sister retained the more human features of her father while Abey took on more reptilian features to resemble her mother.

As a result, Abey was treated with more respect and acceptance among their people. She was often surrounded by others with more human features who wished to tag along for the higher praise received by a non-human within the society. When Abey realized that her status as merely half-human afforded her certain privileges she began manipulating her circle of friends to benefit her family. Many nights saw their household gifted with meals and small tokens, offerings in the event that the Ishomara family might rise in social ranks and remember those who had helped them before.

Along with an outgoing personality she developed a taste for slight cruelty inflicted on the unsuspecting. Her sister often joined her in small pranks against random strangers and took to calling her Rue. An example of one such trick was tracing a thin white line across the road in salt, causing spiritual stalkers to plague the unwary adulterer with nuisances until their partner discovered the transgression. Abey rarely saw the fruits of her trickery but enjoyed the imagined situations they might cause among the people she cursed.

Her sister married at 16 and produced two nieces for her parents to dote upon. With their attention focused elsewhere, Abey took even greater measures to attract a group of people to her sides and continued to accept offerings big and small to her family's possessions. Once Abey reached 16 she had ingrained the art of passive-aggressive manipulation into her psyche and rarely noticed when she was using this characteristic, even against her own family.

When the colonialist society encroached on her people's lands, Abey saw an opportunity to manipulate an entirely new set of people. She had gained enough of a reputation among her people that others knew to approach her with caution. Naive immigrants were spared this mercy and she set to preying upon the unwary. Using her sister's human features as a guide, she began painting her face and wrapped her hair to enhance her more exotic features. She took to selling trinkets in order to supplement her family's income, and endeavor which she found to be profitable beyond her expectations. As time passed, she visited several Piyas to learn the artwork necessary to imbue objects with power. Each Piya proclaimed her a "natural witch," indicating that not only was she capable of creating the charms but hers would contain more power than those without natural abilities.

The distinction caused a sudden increase in local business as more of her own people visited for a variety of natural remedies. Through trial and error Abey modified her charms until they were tailored toward her personal style. She took each request as a new lesson to learn and expanded her business to appeal to the non-native buyers flocking to the nearby city of Verre Zon. She painted and carved her charms to make them catch eyes, and tried to use shapes which immigrants might recognize instead of only native less-seen animals.

By 27 Abey became the primary source of income for her family. Both of her grandparents were ailing in their later years, unable to contribute to the family's profits, and her father had sustained a severe injury while working the agricultural fields for her town. She attempted to use her learned brews to treat him and managed to save his ability to walk, but he would never walk for long stretches or carry heavy weights again without doing permanent damage.

Abey's income was no longer enough to sustain her family and she traveled to Verre Zon in order to find a job and continue sustaining her family. She contacted her village Conclave member for assistance and was pushed toward the necessary task of charitable collections. With a new world of needy people exposed to her particular craft she dove into the new position with gusto.

Now she divides her time between the city almoner Abey, a kind soul with good intentions at heart, and street seller Rue, a charmstress with questionable motives. She changes both appearance and personality for either role.

Belongings:

While selling charms she wears a small carved stone heart between her breasts which is attached to a leather band. She keeps a dwelling within Verre Zon and will occasionally entertain her family for a few days, in particular her sister and nieces. She has several different head scarves to keep her hair wrapped.

She does keep many charms on her person when performing as Rue. While serving as city almoner she leaves her personal possessions at home.