Bertille Copperwing (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
guideyoursteps) wrote2012-09-27 12:27 am
guideyoursteps) wrote2012-09-27 12:27 am
First Impressions of Bertille Copperwing
'Pale skin, snotty expression. You're a Breton! The masters of magicka, right? Hmph. You're nothing but a stuck-up harlot with cheap parlor tricks.' - One Dunmer's particularly polite summary of what most people's first impressions of Bertille are.
At First Glace-
Bertille Copperwing seems proud. Possibly more than anything else. Not just a proud Knight or a proud Blade, she is open about both but rarely speaks of either if they are irrelevant, but the kind of proud that gives the distinct impression that she believes she can do no wrong. She's pretty enough - pale, with white-blonde hair and blue eyes and a distinctly elven facial structure that's uncommon among Bretons. A little on the short side, maybe, and more delicate than anyone would expect from one titled 'Champion of Cyrodiil'. She seems stronger from a distance, especially in full armour, which makes her seem much larger and disguises how short and fragile she really is until one gets very close. Her ears are very slightly pointed, showing just how carefully her family has tried over generations and generations to retain their Aldmeri-Nedic blood and to live as mer rather than men.
In Battle-
Relying heavily on distance, Bertille uses magic as her primary form of offence. She carries a bow which mainly sees use to deliver poisons or when the light from a spell would give away her position. If forced into close quarters she'll use touch spells primarily but she carries a dagger (poisoned, naturally) for use in very dire situations.
The way in which she acts in battle differs depending on whether she is alone or fighting alongside others. Alone, she'll fight as her fighting style works best, using distance as her ally and attacking from far away with magic and poisoned arrows. But if there's someone else there her efforts will be focussed on staying between them and anything that might hurt them, using her armour and spells from the alteration and restoration schools to compensate for her rather woeful fragility. She's not much of a tank but she tries. She tries so hard.
Speech and Manners-
High Rock and Daggerfall specifically, even after the Miracle of Peace, are places where doing well means careful juggling of people's opinions of you - making sure people above you know that you're loyal to them, making sure people below you know that attempting to hurt you is not a good idea, making sure every organization that matters believes your loyalties lie solely with them while making sure that from an outside view it appears that you're absolutely loyal to the ones you associate with publicly - it's something she's grown up with and she's not bad at it. If she was she'd have ended up rotting in a jail cell much younger than she did. So she's charismatic, she knows her way around a conversation and she isn't above a few little white lies, gathering blackmail material (she does not use it frivolously, but will if it seems like the best way to resolve a situation bloodlessly) or playing on her fragile appearance to guilt others into helping her. She also isn't above gossip, another valuable skill in the city where she grew up. She can listen to it and pick out the useful information from fiction and hyperbole accurately. And if it entertains her she'll pass it on. Good manners are important to her, she is polite even when entirely hostile (minus the arrows and fire damage, naturally), and she expects others to value them just as much.
Despite being more than capable of finding her way around most social situations and having a good head on her shoulders, she's not much of a leader. She can come up with plans and give instructions easily enough but has always lacked that quality that some people seem to have that inspires faith. Put her in charge of people and she may be able to tell them what to do (and her instructions may be sound and well thought out), but she can't make them believe in her or believe that they will succeed. The identity she's crafted for herself in Cyrodiil involves being a follower, and that's what she's comfortable with.
A desire to learn and consume information seems to drive everything she does, along with a desire to help and protect people (she sometimes gives the impression that this one is fairly new to her, protecting people after a childhood full of being protected is still very strange). No matter how foolish they seem, she will do things just to learn what will happen if she does them. She's naturally something of a pessimist and a worrier but she never seems unhappy because of it. Worry is a constructive thing for her, driving her to busy herself with finding ways to protect those she worries about instead of making her upsetand frankly in Tamriel it doesn't hurt to be ready for every worst-case scenario. Most of the time they happen.
On Various Topics-
ie, what a stranger would be able to pick up on from a brief conversation on these topics
On Religion- She's a religious type and not quiet about expressing it, even if she really ought to be. It's not difficult to pick up from the way she speaks that religion (and specifically her belief in the Imperial Pantheon, rather than either the Betony one that most of her people 'believe' in - the Bretons are not known for being a religious people - or the Aldmeri one she was raised with) is a very recent thing for her and her enthusiasm about her beliefs comes off more as childish excitement over discovering something new than true dogmatism.
On the Empire and Tamriel- She knows that the Empire has been weakened greatly by Martin's death. She knows that dark times may well lie ahead. She does not care. Tamriel is strong and still stronger united. And she believes it can be united - she has seen Cyrodiil united in strife by people's desire to protect their home. She is hopeful for the future of the empire, despite everything.
In skyrimtime, she still believes in the strength of a united Tamriel, despite Skyrim knocking those beliefs down and kicking them a few times. She disapproves of the current Emperor, believing that he does not rule by divine right and resenting the fact that the whole 'empire is ruled by Elder Council in the absence of a Septim' business was ignored. She Does Not Approve of his assassination, naturally, but this shit happens like every five minutes in High Rock. She's used to 'people in power get assassinated' as a concept.
On Oblivion/Kvatch/Bruma/90% OF THE MAIN QUEST- NOOOOOOPE. She's remarkably tight-lipped about the place, given how openly she speaks about most things. The most you'll get is complaints about the alchemy ingredients attacking and how brimstone smells like something that proper ladies don't discuss.
On Places- EVERYWHERE COMPARES UNFAVOURABLY TO DAGGERFALL. She's fond of Cyrodiil. She might even admit to considering Cloud Ruler Temple her home now - she'll complain a lot about the cold but it's still her home. But still, Daggerfall > everything. That said, she doesn't paint a very flattering picture of Daggerfall when she does talk about it, happily discussing a place where everyone lives secret lives, where nobles can die of mysterious circumstances when they become unpopular without anyone batting an eyelid and where people can be hanged for party crashing.
On the Daedra- It's a sensitive subject. She won't outright attack, because people do bad things for good reasons or do bad things for bad reasons but change. But hint that you consort with the Daedric princes and receive an all the suspicion you'll ever need ever.
And she doesn't believe that she's the Madgod. She is missing a good few weeks of time from her memory soon after retrieving that evil book, though. And she does admit that not knowing that being under the false impression that she is a female breton mage would be entirely in line with the whole 'madness' thing.
On Alchemy- Why would you start her talking about this she is never going to shut up now. She's well-educated and speaks in technical jargon and is clearly very enthusiastic about the subject. She has a lot of unflattering things to say about the flora of Cyrodiil.
On the Blades- The Blades are a major part of the new identity she's made for herself. Serving the Dragonborn is her life. She doesn't really have the aptitude with swords to actually use their traditional weapon and is a little sore about that.
On THAT GUY WHO MANTLED AKATOSH AND BEAT UP A DAEDRIC PRINCE- She speaks very highly of Martin Septim. If you thought it was a good idea to insult him in front of a Blade then. You are kind of silly! And also will swiftly be corrected.
At First Glace-
Bertille Copperwing seems proud. Possibly more than anything else. Not just a proud Knight or a proud Blade, she is open about both but rarely speaks of either if they are irrelevant, but the kind of proud that gives the distinct impression that she believes she can do no wrong. She's pretty enough - pale, with white-blonde hair and blue eyes and a distinctly elven facial structure that's uncommon among Bretons. A little on the short side, maybe, and more delicate than anyone would expect from one titled 'Champion of Cyrodiil'. She seems stronger from a distance, especially in full armour, which makes her seem much larger and disguises how short and fragile she really is until one gets very close. Her ears are very slightly pointed, showing just how carefully her family has tried over generations and generations to retain their Aldmeri-Nedic blood and to live as mer rather than men.
In Battle-
Relying heavily on distance, Bertille uses magic as her primary form of offence. She carries a bow which mainly sees use to deliver poisons or when the light from a spell would give away her position. If forced into close quarters she'll use touch spells primarily but she carries a dagger (poisoned, naturally) for use in very dire situations.
The way in which she acts in battle differs depending on whether she is alone or fighting alongside others. Alone, she'll fight as her fighting style works best, using distance as her ally and attacking from far away with magic and poisoned arrows. But if there's someone else there her efforts will be focussed on staying between them and anything that might hurt them, using her armour and spells from the alteration and restoration schools to compensate for her rather woeful fragility. She's not much of a tank but she tries. She tries so hard.
Speech and Manners-
High Rock and Daggerfall specifically, even after the Miracle of Peace, are places where doing well means careful juggling of people's opinions of you - making sure people above you know that you're loyal to them, making sure people below you know that attempting to hurt you is not a good idea, making sure every organization that matters believes your loyalties lie solely with them while making sure that from an outside view it appears that you're absolutely loyal to the ones you associate with publicly - it's something she's grown up with and she's not bad at it. If she was she'd have ended up rotting in a jail cell much younger than she did. So she's charismatic, she knows her way around a conversation and she isn't above a few little white lies, gathering blackmail material (she does not use it frivolously, but will if it seems like the best way to resolve a situation bloodlessly) or playing on her fragile appearance to guilt others into helping her. She also isn't above gossip, another valuable skill in the city where she grew up. She can listen to it and pick out the useful information from fiction and hyperbole accurately. And if it entertains her she'll pass it on. Good manners are important to her, she is polite even when entirely hostile (minus the arrows and fire damage, naturally), and she expects others to value them just as much.
Despite being more than capable of finding her way around most social situations and having a good head on her shoulders, she's not much of a leader. She can come up with plans and give instructions easily enough but has always lacked that quality that some people seem to have that inspires faith. Put her in charge of people and she may be able to tell them what to do (and her instructions may be sound and well thought out), but she can't make them believe in her or believe that they will succeed. The identity she's crafted for herself in Cyrodiil involves being a follower, and that's what she's comfortable with.
A desire to learn and consume information seems to drive everything she does, along with a desire to help and protect people (she sometimes gives the impression that this one is fairly new to her, protecting people after a childhood full of being protected is still very strange). No matter how foolish they seem, she will do things just to learn what will happen if she does them. She's naturally something of a pessimist and a worrier but she never seems unhappy because of it. Worry is a constructive thing for her, driving her to busy herself with finding ways to protect those she worries about instead of making her upset
On Various Topics-
ie, what a stranger would be able to pick up on from a brief conversation on these topics
On Religion- She's a religious type and not quiet about expressing it, even if she really ought to be. It's not difficult to pick up from the way she speaks that religion (and specifically her belief in the Imperial Pantheon, rather than either the Betony one that most of her people 'believe' in - the Bretons are not known for being a religious people - or the Aldmeri one she was raised with) is a very recent thing for her and her enthusiasm about her beliefs comes off more as childish excitement over discovering something new than true dogmatism.
On the Empire and Tamriel- She knows that the Empire has been weakened greatly by Martin's death. She knows that dark times may well lie ahead. She does not care. Tamriel is strong and still stronger united. And she believes it can be united - she has seen Cyrodiil united in strife by people's desire to protect their home. She is hopeful for the future of the empire, despite everything.
In skyrimtime, she still believes in the strength of a united Tamriel, despite Skyrim knocking those beliefs down and kicking them a few times. She disapproves of the current Emperor, believing that he does not rule by divine right and resenting the fact that the whole 'empire is ruled by Elder Council in the absence of a Septim' business was ignored. She Does Not Approve of his assassination, naturally, but this shit happens like every five minutes in High Rock. She's used to 'people in power get assassinated' as a concept.
On Oblivion/Kvatch/Bruma/90% OF THE MAIN QUEST- NOOOOOOPE. She's remarkably tight-lipped about the place, given how openly she speaks about most things. The most you'll get is complaints about the alchemy ingredients attacking and how brimstone smells like something that proper ladies don't discuss.
On Places- EVERYWHERE COMPARES UNFAVOURABLY TO DAGGERFALL. She's fond of Cyrodiil. She might even admit to considering Cloud Ruler Temple her home now - she'll complain a lot about the cold but it's still her home. But still, Daggerfall > everything. That said, she doesn't paint a very flattering picture of Daggerfall when she does talk about it, happily discussing a place where everyone lives secret lives, where nobles can die of mysterious circumstances when they become unpopular without anyone batting an eyelid and where people can be hanged for party crashing.
On the Daedra- It's a sensitive subject. She won't outright attack, because people do bad things for good reasons or do bad things for bad reasons but change. But hint that you consort with the Daedric princes and receive an all the suspicion you'll ever need ever.
And she doesn't believe that she's the Madgod. She is missing a good few weeks of time from her memory soon after retrieving that evil book, though. And she does admit that not knowing that being under the false impression that she is a female breton mage would be entirely in line with the whole 'madness' thing.
On Alchemy- Why would you start her talking about this she is never going to shut up now. She's well-educated and speaks in technical jargon and is clearly very enthusiastic about the subject. She has a lot of unflattering things to say about the flora of Cyrodiil.
On the Blades- The Blades are a major part of the new identity she's made for herself. Serving the Dragonborn is her life. She doesn't really have the aptitude with swords to actually use their traditional weapon and is a little sore about that.
On THAT GUY WHO MANTLED AKATOSH AND BEAT UP A DAEDRIC PRINCE- She speaks very highly of Martin Septim. If you thought it was a good idea to insult him in front of a Blade then. You are kind of silly! And also will swiftly be corrected.