May to Z: A

OK, here goes. The first of what will be many character alphabet posts.

Brought to you today by the letter A and the number 1

I knew when I originally came up with the May to Z idea that my first post would cover my wife's character. My wife has been incredibly supportive with my nerdly jabber over the years about fantasy worlds and characters that my skull is crowded with. She even went so far as to humor me by creating a pen and paper homebrew character. Her name is:

Auriel Dulinora. She is a half-elf druidess. She is so named because when my wife was little she and her sisters loved the Little Mermaid and they would reenact it in their living room, prancing around with braided pantyhose on their heads and singing just like Ariel. My wife settled on Auriel because she didn't want to name her half-elf exactly the same as said red-headed mermaid and she didn't like the way Arielle looked written out. Auriel's last name, translated using angelfire Elvish-English translator, basically means "a song bird in a tree."

She is well versed in healing with herbal salves and tinctures. She lives all alone in the forest, but occasionally she will visit human settlements in need of her wisdom and touch. Generally she prefers to be left alone because growing up a "half breed" she never felt entirely comfortable or accepted by either race.

Her human father was a carpenter who was attacked in the woods by a pack of wolves. Her mother came to his rescue and healed him, even though the elves and humans don't have the best of relations. Her parents saw the good in one another and let their own hearts choose instead of letting blind racism decide for them. Because her father kept a very modest cabin on the edge of the forest, rather than a home in the village, they were mostly left to their own company. When Auriel was born they knew that she would likely face much adversity and ostracism because she was neither one nor the other. She learned a love of herbs and healing from her mother, and would sing in harmony with her father's rich baritone as he worked rhythmically building furniture and carving wood.

Sadly her mother died of an incurable illness that no amount of herbs and magic casting could heal. She carries a heavy burden of guilt because she thinks had she been a better/stronger healer, maybe she could have saved her mother. This has pushed her to learn more about healing than some of the best known healers among elves and humans. Her father stopped singing after his beloved wife died because he felt so much joy had left his life that he couldn't muster the music within himself anymore. Auriel would only sing when she was walking alone in the woods. She worried that if she sang at home it would remind her father of her mother.

Her father was just over 40 when Auriel was born. Her mother looked about half that age, although she was much older. Elves are not truly immortal, but they are considered so by humans because they visibly age so little beyond about 30. Elves mature and grow at the same rate as humans until their late teens. From then on an elf only ages physically about 1 year for every 5-10 human years. Thus when a human reaches very old age of 85-100 an elf of the same age will only look in their late 20s. She is now all alone in the world because her half-elven blood gave her longevity over humans. She watched her father be taken by grief and age as the years passed after her mother's death. She is now especially kind to the elderly. Her love of the woods and singing and a natural affinity for animals keeps her mostly distracted from what must be a very sad and lonely existence.