Basic Information
-
Statistics
Name: Vandenita
Full Name: Vandenita "Chai Pin" Cioskar
Age: 30
Apparent Age: Early thirties
Birthday: December 4th
Birthplace: Kyria
Occupation: Slave trainer, General
Orientation: Lesbian
Maritial Status: Divorced
Ethnicity: Kyrian
Languages: Common, Kyrian
Alignment: Organised Neutral
Species: Human
Height: 6'2"
Build: Muscular, athletic
Hair Colour: Black
Skin Colour: Tanned
Eye Colour: Black
Piercings: Several in each ear, clitoral hood
Family
Father: Chai Jian (Deceased)
Mother: Chai Lijuan (Favoured wife, Deceased)
Siblings:
Donovan "Chai Delun" Cioskar (Full blood brother, living)
Chai Liu (Half-sister, living)
Chai Mingzhiu (Half-sister, living)
Chai Feng (Half-brother, living)
Chai Zihao (Half-brother, living)
Chai Weishang (Half-brother, deceased)
Chai Xiabo (Half-brother, deceased)
Secondary Mothers:
Chai Meili (Second wife of Chai Jian, Living)
Chai Xiaohui (Wife of Chai Jian, Deceased)
Chai Tengfei (Wife of Chai Jian, Living)
Personality
A lot like this.
Vandenita is quiet and polite in her mannerisms, though she maintains a strong sense of humour and an intelligence that surpasses many. She deliberately feigns stupidity in order to ensure others underestimate her. She is thoughtful and spends a lot of her time in escapism. She can be brutal and cold, though rarely loses her temper. Her patience lasts for a significant amount of time but can result in explosive anger once lost. She is difficult to argue with and respectful of rank. On her best days she can be compassionate and caring, but in other circumstances it is unwise to provoke reaction. She suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and stretches of depression, which often colour her interactions and general state of being. She shows affection in strange ways and is often perceived as being a brute when it isn't possible to see her intentions or emotions. -
Influences and Aspects
Cultural
Kyria:
Kyria is a comparatively small island off the northern coast of Valkyre (seen above). Its landscape is mountainous and extremely cold. The people of Kyria are akin to Asians, though they are significantly taller and have a culture based around clan families. It fought to maintain its culture when the Valkyrian Empire annexed it twelve years ago. It has maintained the majority of its traditions, which include:
- Polygamous marriage. Men are permitted to have up to eight wives; a man is considered very conservative if he has two, and excessive at seven. The children from these marriages are brought up knowing who their birth mother is, although they call each wife 'mother'. The favoured wife takes on the role of directing the household and dictating how children ought to be raised.
- Warrior sons, domestic daughters. The gender roles are very set in Kyria; a woman's place is to tend the hearth and home, whilst a man is expected to learn how to fight. Boys receive a young elephant when they have taken their first steps, whilst girls must wait until they are considered a woman to be given theirs. Elephants choose their masters in a ceremony that signifies the beginning of one's adult life.
- Familial tattoos. Kyrians will tattoo their eyelids and cheeks with the mark of their family. The head of the family must learn to perfect this skill, as he will be required to tattoo his children when they come of age (again, when able to walk for boys, when becoming a woman for girls).
This is the culture that Vandenita, then 'Chai Pin', grew up in until she was seventeen. She was part of the resistance against the Empire until her capture, along with her only full-blood sibling, Donovan (then 'Chai Delun'). At this point, she became a Prisoner of War. She earned Valkyrian citizenship when she was nineteen.
Valkyre:
Valkyre is a considerable Empire that has established itself over the span of almost a thousand years. It is comprised of the continent of Valkyre, the two islands of Kyria and Lakyre and the northern half of Lareich. War is still in progress to claim the southern half. Kyria was its most recent addition, which it annexed in order to gain access to resources. It could be described as a very liberal culture when seen from the outside, although a closer look would show it to be more tightly controlled than it first appears. Its cultural influences include:
- Sex-indifferent marriages. Valkyre will recognise homosexual marriages as equally as it will heterosexual; this comes with the stipulation that certain roles must be filled. A husband, whether man or woman, must undertake typical duties such as protecting the family, earning money and disciplinary action. A wife must rely on their husband for the above, and cook, clean and raise any children. Several cases of heterosexual marriages with a male wife and female husband have been reported.
- Military superiority. Valkyre prides itself on its stellar military, and to be in the Valkyrian Army is to earn great respect from one's peers. The result of being so focused on the military has been the establishment of a very organised and rational Empire which very rarely understands emotional responses as acceptable.
- Honour and self-sacrifice. Half owing to its military pride and half to its religious tendencies, Valkyre greatly values these ideologies. It identifies the former as fairness and respect in combat and fidelity and unconditional support in the home. Tied in with this, is the idea that self-sacrifice is the greatest honour, particularly if it is in the name of the Empire.
- Dealing in doubles. Valkyre's policy, particularly its foreign policy, is typically fair; if it can gain what it needs by diplomacy, it will, but if it is snubbed, it will turn to violence without fail. Those who are good to the Empire receive double what they have given, and those who are hostile or uncooperative receive double their efforts in return.
This culture has made up the last ten years of Vandenita's life. At times, it contrasts severely with her upbringing, and she is made up of a confusion of values and morals from either culture.
Marriage
Vandenita was married to a politician for around eight years, and has subsequently developed more of a fine-tuned understanding of politics and the intricacies of the upper classes. This marriage has been influential to her not only on an emotional plane, but also a social one. There are times where Vandenita can seem surprisingly erudite and capable in a social settings, and then others where, by complete contrast, she is awkward and unsure of herself. This is owing to having certain 'scripts' in her head; she is capable of responding clearly and articulately if it is something she has trained herself to respond to. Otherwise, she is left to her own natural social skills, which are severely lacking when directly compared.
War
Not unexpectedly, war has made up a great deal of her psychology. This can sometimes lead her to suffer over things she has done in the past, but for the most part, simply makes up the basic facets of her lifestyle. She is uncomfortable sitting still, and finds peacetime to be difficult to cope with. She can sometimes struggle to relate to life as a civilian. She's the sort of person who puts her boots in the same place every night and would become very upset if they weren't there the next morning. She trains religiously, is a vegetarian, doesn't often drink and has never smoked in her life. Vandenita takes painstaking effort to suppress any violent tendencies she has, preferring to keep them quiet off the battlefield, but there are moments where she fails to do this. This can become problematic in her relationships with other people. - Polygamous marriage. Men are permitted to have up to eight wives; a man is considered very conservative if he has two, and excessive at seven. The children from these marriages are brought up knowing who their birth mother is, although they call each wife 'mother'. The favoured wife takes on the role of directing the household and dictating how children ought to be raised.
