▶ PLAYER
HANDLE: Nat
CONTACT: ziskandra
OVER 18? Yep!
CHARACTERS IN-GAME: Miles Edgeworth (bratworth)

▶ CHARACTER
NAME: Isabela
CANON: Dragon Age
CANON POINT: Towards the end of Act 2 of Dragon Age 2, after leaving Kirkwall with the Tome of Koslun.
AGE: ~32
BACKGROUND: Have a wiki link!

PERSONALITY:
Isabela is a free-spirited and independent pirate captain, accustomed to sailing the open seas with no commitments outside of her ship and its crew. Having a taste for decadence, she seems to be motivated primarily by money, sex and alcohol. She likes to live in the moment, having expressed a distaste for reflecting on the past. If something can’t bring you giggles or gold, she doesn’t consider it worth dwelling upon.

Her live-in-the-moment attitude was strongly formed by the circumstances of her upbringing, where her mother raised her in near poverty until the age of eighteen. At that point, she was sold into marriage with a wealthy foreigner, who saw Isabela as little more than as a token wife. This abandonment by her mother and her subsequent loveless marriage led Isabela to believe she was unloveable, giving her a fear of intimacy that haunts her until this day. She’s pleasantly surprised when people are kind to her, because life has not shown her much kindness, and she has had to fight tooth-and-nail for everything that she has. She is a strong and capable woman and is well-aware that other people might not agree with her choices, but that doesn’t bother her: she doesn’t desire anyone else's validation. She is particularly skeptical of the opinions of men, half-joking that they are only good for one thing, and she is frustrated by the fact that as a woman, she has to work twice as hard to earn half as much respect.

At the end of the day, Isabela knows who she is: determined, flawed and selfish. Which still doesn’t mean it’s not nice (and terrifying!) when people genuinely like her for her, though.

She has difficulty being honest about herself with others, even when she likes them, because it’s easier to deflect the attention away than to directly confront her insecurities. She consoles herself with the fact she at least knows why she is the way she is, even though she is unlikely to do anything about it without outside influence. For the most part, she’s happy with the life she has now: it’s precisely what she deserves and she’s free to do whatever she wants (when she’s not being hunted down by embittered past business associates, that is).

While Isabela would be the first person to admit that she has loose morals, she does some have very firm boundaries to which she adheres. For instance, although she enjoys the pleasures of the flesh, Isabela refuses to have sex with the men on her crew because if she did, they would be unable to respect her as their captain. Additionally, while she has no qualms about smuggling illegal substances or criminals, she draws the line at getting involved with the lucrative slave trade, which is understandable, given her past. Freedom truly is paramount to Isabela.

Due to her beliefs and lifestyle, Isabela also isn’t the type of person to get involved in other people’s problems if it doesn’t serve her interests (although she can often be swayed with offers of gold). She doesn’t have a great interest in the world politics of her home, and unlike some people she knows, won’t go out of her way to actively save those who are being oppressed: she just doesn’t personally want to be involved in anything she finds despicable. She doesn’t tend to think she knows what’s best for others, so she’s reluctant to interfere with how other people live their life, beyond telling them to loosen up and making suggestions to improve their sex lives.

If one manages to delve beneath Isabela’s surface and emotional distance, they will find a loyal and determined friend who will fight to the death for those she cares about. However, getting her to the point where she will accept that she cares about anything other than herself will certainly take some time and healing.

At the end of the day, Isabela doesn’t think of herself as an overly-complicated person. She’s just doing her best to survive, on her own terms. If she has somewhere to rest her head at night, a tankard of drink, the scent of the sea breeze in her nostrils, and the ability to go wherever she may wish, she is a happy woman.

POWERS/ABILITIES:
Isabela is skilled with knives and usually fights with daggers. She can pick locks and pockets and perform other sleight-of-hand tricks. She has has no supernatural powers to speak of.

INVENTORY:
The clothes on her back, three daggers, and the Tome of Koslun, sacred text of the Qunari (whoops).

MOONBLESSING:
Going with Iris because it’ll be fun to explore her softer side!

▶ SAMPLES

Well, well, well, Isabela thought to herself, isn’t this just my lucky day?

The journey to Ostwick had been tiresome without a boat, and she had considered turning back at least three times as she ventured forth. Ostensibly because it would have been easier, but she couldn’t deny that there was potentially something else that made her want to return to Kirkwall.

She hadn’t been able to recall the last time she had been so conflicted, but that was when the Maker himself had intervened, if she were to believe in such things as divine intervention (she didn’t). The next thing she had known, she had found herself in some strange barren landscape with not a single drop of water in sight. She’d experienced many a strange sight in her life, but this had truly taken the cake.

That was only part of the reason why she was so pleased, of course. After being rescued, prodded and processed and inducted to her new life and all that it would entail, she realised she was in a world beyond her wildest imaginings (and she was very well-read, thank you; she was delighted to see that the occupants of new home shared her taste in literature). The currency of this land — Chroma — was generated by intimate contact? Instead of paying for some whore's services in a brothel somewhere, everyone involved could potentially make some coin? It was bizarre indeed.

But she certainly wasn’t going to complain.

At the very least, it got her out of the current conundrum of figuring out what to do with this damned book. She guessed she’d be hanging onto it just a little while longer. As for now, she was going to enjoy the comforts of her new home. Flagging down the nearest attractive stranger, she asked, “Where can a woman get a drink around here?"

Truly, the only thing that could make her day better would be a boat.