Noriel – fire genasi nomad mystic
This was my very first go at using HeroMachine when I first discovered the site. It’s pretty basic, and at the time I got the impression that the options for things like clothing were kind of limited, but that’s only because I neglected to look through all of the drop-down lists. My great breakthrough moment was when it occurred to me to use a second hair item behind her head so it didn’t look so derpy with only the flyaway bangs. 😀 I also figured out that her face would look less stupid if I resized her mouth. I did have fun with patterns, and I think the surreal-ish setting suits her tendency to connect with her surroundings on a more conceptual sensory level rather than simply through regular sight like us normies.
Noriel was the result of an ill-fated romance between an elven traveler and the daughter of the powerful fire genasi who had enslaved him and his best friend during a foray to the City of Brass. After her parents were killed by the angry genasi, the child was spirited away by the surviving friend, Ianfir, who entrusted her to her elven grandparents before his grief compelled him to continue his journey through the world. When Ianfir returned two decades later, he found a grown woman in the place of the baby he had left behind.
Having received training in the mystic arts along with his friend many years before, Ianfir recognized the spark of potential in the young woman, and he took her under his wing as her mentor. They began their own sojourn through the world together, and grew closer as he carefully guided her to a fuller understanding of her mental capabilities. When he came to the troubling realization that his feelings for her had deepened beyond platonic fondness, he resorted to closing off part of his mind to her out of a belief that it was inappropriate and selfish of him to indulge in these feelings. It wasn’t until the fateful moment when he gave up his life to save hers that she realized the depth of his love for her. And then he was gone.
The mental and emotional blow of this loss nearly incapacitated her, and it would take months for her mind to process all of the ramifications of this traumatic event. She finally emerged from this waking sleep with the certainty that what Ianfir would want most for her was to go on, continue traveling and learning, and make the most of the life that he had wanted so dearly to preserve. And so she does, cautiously making her own way through a world filled with vast wonders.
