Do you have any prior experience with Requiem? If so, please detail when (and what characters, if desired) you previously played:
No prior experience.
Briefly summarize your prior role-playing experience in a sentence or two:
I have primarily role-played in MMORPGs for ~12 years with few ventures into other mediums such as various forums and Discord servers. However, this will be my first foray into Ultima Online's role-play community.
Why do you wish to play on Requiem, and what do you expect from the shard?
I have been in search of a community that holds role-play in high importance, but have had little luck in finding one that aligns with my same interests. However, I had recently come upon several posts that hailed Requiem as an excellent role-play shard. And it was a stroke of luck that I found them, for from the moment I read Requiem's story I was enthralled. From Requiem I expect excellent worldbuilding and storytelling that will finally be able to satiate that desire for high quality role-play, as well as participation in a community that treats its fellow members with respect.
What will your character’s name be?:
Alexandra Kostova
Please briefly describe the physical attributes of your character, including age, looks, height, weight and any notable features:
Alexandra is a woman of her early twenties, although her features might place her into later years to those unfamiliar. Her face bears the sternness of one born to hardship, and her piercing green eyes hold the determination of a hawk hunting its prey. Hair as black as the night falls to either side of her head, as if framing her visage.
For a woman of her type, she appears more thin and agile than strong. However, her looks are rather deceptive, as just beneath her smooth, dusky skin hides toned muscle.
Briefly state your character’s intentions or motivations for entering the First Province:
On a broad scale, Alexandra seeks to establish some purpose for herself. It is not in her way to sit idly by while the Torment rages on, despite the relative safety she may have clutched to within Ostenam. While the world burns around her sanctuary, she seeks to quench the flames.
On a smaller scale, she hopes to encounter long-long friends in the quarantine zone, who had begun their pilgrimage to the First Province prior to her own.
Briefly provide a pertinent detail or notable quality of your character’s history (this does not have to be exhaustive nor revealing of any information you wish to keep secret):
Born to two Kaduraan refugees who had been forced to flee from their homeland, Alexandra knew very well the horrors of the world, despite her comparatively sheltered upbringing in Ostenam. It was of little shock then, that her father had imposed upon her the teachings of swordsmanship, for it was their belief that by the Torment's end, only those who were capable of fending for themselves would remain. And for a time, between the responsibilities weighted upon her by household and state, it had become a task to which she dutifully attended. While she was certainly far from mastery, she held a degree of proficiency in the art that was sufficient enough to protect oneself from danger.
However, this diligence was soon to change with the advent of new weaponry: the firearm. It was upon Alexandra's eighteenth birthday that the first whisperings of such a technological marvel had reached her secluded town, and upon her nineteenth that she lay claim to her own. The device quickly became a subject of fascination to her, with the hours she had once spent practicing swordsmanship having been reallocated to studying its inner workings. While later years had allowed her the time to re-integrate swordsmanship into her activities, it had been from then onward that the primary focus of her training and study shifted to that of the gun.
Briefly write an in-character response to the following scenario (Omitted for space):
Alexandra had waited in line far too long listening to each and every petitioner's variation of the same plea, only for them to be waived off by an officiant who appeared equally as disinterested as herself. When the last of the bunch - a particularly frenzied man - had been peeled away by a less than amused guardsman, she fixed her eyes upon the officiant and approached in a calm manner. Laying her elbows upon the tabletop, she drew back her dark cowl and leaned in.
"Look," she paused. "I have a feeling that you wish to be anywhere but here listening to further outbursts." She motioned in the direction that the previous petitioner had been dragged off to. "The feeling is mutual."
The officiant returned her stare, but remained silent.
Alexandra dropped to a hushed tone, "Which is why I am here to offer you a deal that I believe we will both find most agreeable. You see, you spare me the time of having to sit here explaining some ridiculous motivation of mine and simply grant me a visa. In return, I spare you the absolute displeasure of listening to one such speech." She raised her eyebrow, "Yes?"
The officiant's expression shifted from a somewhat blank look to that of annoyance. He opened his mouth as if to beckon for assistance - most likely of the guard variety - but was quickly silenced.
"And before you speak," she uttered. "I will throw in a complimentary gift for the time we have already wasted." She straightened out her left arm, and discreetly allowed for a small, tightly-wrapped coin purse to fall into her palm from within the loose sleeve. Setting her hands once more upon the table - although closer to the officiant's end - she left behind the pouch of currency.
She crossed her arms, awaiting his reaction to her offer.
