 |
|
Arachne is all of three feet tall and weighs fifty pounds. She has a small nose (for a gnome), tan skin, large, pale brown (tan) eyes, and straight, auburn hair which she usually keeps (mostly) tied back from her face in a pony tail with a simple piece of thin hemp rope. Usually, though, there are several escaped strands. Arachne's ears are large and pointed, but her face is more elfin than gnomishly rounded. She is pretty, but people don't always get it right immediately what race she is. Wrong guesses include elven child and halfling woman. She speaks softly, shyly, quickly and precisely -- the usual manner is academic. Her voice is breathy and doesn't carry well. It's pretty lousy for singing or shouting. For that reason, since where she comes from every gnome learns some sort of performing art, Arachne learned to be a very good whistler. Arachne's garb runs to dresses and vest, tunic and skirt combinations in blues, greens and browns. She has no armor, but some of her clothing is soft leather. She has a small sapphire that she wears on a chain around her neck, but no other adornment. She does not have any weaponry in evidence, but has a sling and unimpressive knife around somewhere. She carries a purse and backpack. Arachne is vague and contemplative, apt to get lost in thought. If cooking, she's likely to burn things or churn cream into curds. She's not especially cheerful, but she mostly tries to be polite. Around serious violence or rudeness (or a mystery) , though, she can sometimes forget.Although she attributes her healing miracles to the goddess, Eldath, and has demonstrated a supernatural ability to shapechange that would indicate divine favor, Arachne almost never remembers to proselytize the Way of Peace either to companions or to anyone else she meets. Her faith, kept as hidden as it is, is thus a mystery.
Identifying quote: "Sorry -- what did you say?"
"Sometimes, she sits and thinks, and sometimes, she just sits."
-- Faire Mirage, telling some other students about Arachne.Wizards spend time studying their tomes, when they haven't anything else to do in camp. Priests pray. Warriors hone their arms or armor, keeping the gear in fighting trim. Acquisition experts fidget, playing with their knives or small tools. Arachne sits. Asked, she admits to thinking. Asked what she was thinking about, she allows that she was meditating. Pressed to explain that, she concedes that meditating is a disciplined way of thinking about nothing....
Arachne doesn't snore. She has no reason to get up at the crack of dawn, so she doesn't; she prefers to sleep in, if she can. Arachne is quiet. She doesn't cry much, but she doesn't laugh much either. She smiles often but many of those smiles are rueful. But perhaps that's just the current experience. She smiles more and is more cheerful when remembering the past, like the years at University.
Arachne is vague; she is an unreliable cook, because food burns or fires go out under her stewardship. She's bad at holding her attention on the meal she's supposed to be preparing. She doesn't pay much attention to the food she's eating, either. She seldom complains about anything to do with camp. Or weather, or the rest of physical experience.
Though she has none with her, except a journal she occasionally writes in, she is bookish. She spent years at a university on the Sea of Fallen Stars and still talks like an academic.
The greatest heroine in Arachne's pantheon is Faire Mirage, with whom Arachne studied while at the University in Spandeliyon and to whom Arachne attributes all the wise sayings she knows.
Although she is cooperative and usually tries to be courteous and polite, Arachne is forgetful about physical modesty. The healing art that she knows gives her an intimate acquaintance with the bodies of those who've been her patients, as well as her own. Since there's little mystery there to her, she's apt to forget to respect that there might still be to others.
Arachne doesn't bring many personal stories to conversations about other adventures; she doesn't have many. Instead, she can retell many that she heard at university; usually, she thinks of those if their theme is
relevant to the topic of conversation.Equipment: clothes (dress, vest, skirt, tunic, chemise, hair ribbons), foul weather cloak, backpack, purse, sapphire necklace, sling, sling stones, knife
Back to Character Index
Back to Night Below Main Page
