Gisele Vaughn

Gisele is an apostate who is skilled in potion making and nature magic. She combines her magical skills with rogue-like use of dagger and a long staff blade. She has spent most of her adult life traveling the Anderfels alone which has kept her safe from mage hunting templars.

Physical Appearance
Gisele is tall and lean, and somewhat androgenous with her only curves being the ones at her hips. She is toned from leading a very physical life of farming, traveling long distances on foot, and occasionally fighting darkspawn, along with never having an abundance of food. She has tanned skin, wind burnt rosy cheeks, and hazel eyes. She typically wears her very long dark straight hair in a long single braid, although she uses a headscarf to protect herself from the sun. She often dresses in an androgynous manner to hide her gender and identity in order to avoid trouble as an apostate. She dresses in travel-worn, simple clothing. She wears a tan headscarf which she uses to protect her head and face with while traveling in the desert or to avoid confrontations, loose brown breeches, an amber colored tunic, brown leather boots, and a worn brown leather jerkin.

Personality
Gisele is practical, warm, thoughtful, and contemplative. She is slow to anger but stubbornly so once started, and vicious in a fight. She is generally polite and avoids conflict, but can be very passive aggressive, or outright aggressive if sufficiently antagonized. She is easily delighted but tries to be reserved in her expressions. While she is quickly accepted by others because of her calming presence she is not easily known by others because of her reservation, which has kept her safe all these years. She is not used to opening up to others and can get easily distracted by her own thoughts. She can be somewhat prejudiced against other races and those who are not Andrastrian as she has been taught her whole life to fear them.

Talents

 * Killing Darkspawn - as an Anders traveler she has a significant amount of experience avoiding and fighting darkspawn. Like most Anders people, she knows about their typical behavior, how to tell the different types apart, their strengths and weaknesses, and the best strategies for killing them.
 * Growing Plants/Botanical Knowledge - Gisele grew up on a farm and worked the land with her family until she left at the age of 16. After that she travelled to gather information about improving plant growth, potency, and health in blighted soil. Some of that special information also helps for growing in non-blighted soil. She knows the plants that grow in the Anderfels and those that have been brought there intimately. She is not familiar with plants outside of the region, although she may have heard of them or read about them briefly.
 * Potions - through mentorship with Gaius, Gisele learned to make healing potions and she's been experimenting with them, along with growing plants as she uses her augmented or restored plants to make potions. She mostly makes health potions and a few other restorative potions. She does not have experience making poisons, or potions with overly complicated effects.
 * 1) Healing Potion (somewhat stronger than the typical healing potion)
 * 2) Regeneration Potion
 * 3) Rock Armor Tonic
 * Dagger/Staff Blade - in order to make up for her lack of magical training, Gisele learned to fight with a dagger and her staff blade which is 1/3rd the length of her staff when her mana is low. She learned to fight with a dagger as a teenager when her father taught her to defend herself and the basics of killing darkspawn. Since then she has had significant practice in the 17 years she's been travelling. She does not fight effectively with dagger and staff blade alone, and is most effective when combining her blade skills with magic.
 * Crafting - Gisele's father was an amateur inventor and they often had to make tools themselves out of necessity on the farm. While traveling and being pennyless Gisele has had to make more with less. As a result, she has learned to make simple tools, make minor improvements on equipment, and fix broken equipment (unless it is irreperably damaged).

Skills/Spells
 Blighted Priestess 
 * Heal
 * Winter’s Grasp
 * One With Nature
 * Stonefist
 * Stealth
 * Blinding Terror: Darkspawn only. They are hesitant to attack you and will visibly recoil when you approach. Whether it it terror or reverence remains to be seen. Passive, always on.

History
Gisele was born to a farming family in a small, nameless Anders village along the Lattenfluss river between Kassel and Hossberg in the year 9:33 Dragon. Her parents worked hard, as was necessary to survive in the harsh, arid landscape, and were devoted Andrastrians. They taught their children to memorize large portions of the chant and to love the teachings of Andraste. While they expected their children to follow chantry law to the letter, they were loving and generous where they could be.

As the middle of seven children, Gisele was expected to work the land to help support the family but was left alone enough to wander and have her secrets. She loved working the land because life was so beautiful and singular amongst the vast emptiness of the steppes. Even now, she often thinks fondly of her father’s sun dried and weathered face smiling at her as he taught her. When to plant, to sow, and the techniques that made it possible to grow the meager amount of food they harvested, were what she lived and breathed in her childhood. Her mother was sterner in her love and taught her how to fashion tools from whatever materials they could find. Her ingenious solutions and flexible thinking always impressed Gisele.

By the time Gisele was 9 she knew she was different (9:42 Dragon). She learned things she shouldn’t know in her dreams from voices that whispered, though she tried to ignore them. The seedlings she grew were always days to weeks ahead of the ones her siblings planted. Her father joked that the plants just liked her better but Gisele’s mother was suspicious. One night her mother woke Gisele from her dreams and swept her into the kitchen, the only other room in their home. Her mother told her she knew Gisele was different, that things were happening out of her control. Gisele was horrified knowing the chantry’s view on magic, she was not sure how her mother would react. Surprisingly, her mother said, “Andraste said magic should serve man and that’s what you shall do. The circle mages don’t come out of their tower and help those who need it, but you will.”

Gisele was trained by an apostate who went by the name “Gaius” was familiar to their family because he lived outside the small village but visited when there was need of him. Although familiar to Gisele, she had no knowledge of his role before her training. He taught her exercises to practice controlling her magic and basic spells for healing, cryomancy, and helped her figure out spells to improve production on their farm. When She was 13 Gaius was captured by the templars and brought to the circle, thus ending her most formal training. She continued to work on her magic, in particular doing magical experiments to get produce and other plants to grow in the blight stricken soil.

When Gisele was 16, 9:49 Dragon, she had a dream of a landscape lush with grass and painted with woodlands. The land became greener and greener as she rose above looking at the land below her. She heard a voice say, “go and learn the secrets of your people and you will bring life back to the land.” When she woke she told her mother about the dream. Within a week she set off for what would be the next 17 years of her life, traveling from remote village to remove village, learning and practicing the techniques, both magical and non-magical, that her people had discovered to combat the blight within the land. Because she's spend years travelling the Anderfels she has accumulated lots of experience fighting darkspawn and has learned, with the help of training while at home and from others in her travels, to fight with a larger than average staff blade and dagger when her mana runs low. At the beginning of this RP Gisele is approaching Hossberg after hearing of an elven apostate who is claiming to offer assistance to farmers having difficulty growing their crops.

In-game
In Hossberg - the elven vendor, Gisele is lead to confront an elven beggar who she was lured to under false pretenses. He had a leather pouch for her, sent to her from Gaius, her old mentor. In the pouch was a letter from Gaius, a map, and an old document in a language she could not read. While sitting on a bench she is joined by Sares who asks for directions to the Circle. On the way he realizes that she is an apostate, something Gisele has to reveal in order to get his help, which she thinks is sent from the Maker. Sares eventually agrees to not hand her over and instead offers to travel with her to Weisshaupt under his watchful eye and help her with her quest.

In From Hossberg to Weisshaupt Gisele and Sares travel to Weisshaupt over the course of several days. They grow in trust and respect for one another over the course of their travels and while fighting darkspawn. When they are almost at Weisshaupt they are overrun by darkspawn and are helped by some of the wardens to fight them, then are let in through the gates.

While at Weisshaupt Gisele befriended Andie who offers to translate the Ancient Tevene document. Andie offers to have Gisele share her room with her which Gisele is extremely grateful for. There, Gisele also meets Harris, with whom she has started a relationship. Gisele was very much against keeping Anders alive and went to the First Warden to try and convince him to do something about Anders. Both Andie and Harris invited Gisele along for the trip to Hossberg.

Relationships

 * Sares - After meeting Sares in Hossberg, where he realized she was an apostate but offered to help her instead of turn her in while keeping an eye on her, they travelled together to Weisshaupt. Along the way they fought darkspawn and became friends, revealing their personal histories and learning to trust, and like one another. She greatly respects the mage and seeks his approval.
 * Andie - They met at Weisshaupt in the infirmary the day Gisele and Sares arrived. Andie offered to translate Gisele's Ancient Tevene document and a bedroom that is adjacent to her's. Gisele is very grateful to Andie because of how generous she has been, and greatly appreciates Andie's enthusiasm. She feels warmly towards the younger mage and has a growing sisterly relationship with her.
 * Harris (NPC) - They met in the mess hall at Weissthaupt and Harris flirted with her throughout the tour of the fortress given by Katari. Gisele accepted his invitation to walk the gardens. On their walk they flirted and shared stories about their lives, getting to know each other and very open about their intentions. Harris walked her to the library and kissed her briefly. They had a date where they discussed their religious beliefs and Rivain.
 * Katari - They met at the mess hall at Weissthaupt. Gisele was initially unsure and somewhat afraid of Katari, as he is a Qunari and she has been taught her whole life that they are savage, violent monsters. Katari was so friendly, earnest, polite, and obviously family oriented that Gisele could not help but feel more comfortable. She feels badly for him; that Andie is not as interested in him, that he just lost his arm, and that he misses his family, and is ready to help him if he needs it. She is still somewhat reserved around him.
 * Anders - Gisele is very suspicious of him. Initially she wanted him dead, no questions, however, now that he has traveled with them she is mostly annoyed at his presence since it has made it difficult to be alone with Harris.
 * Iskander - Gisele does not trust him and is suspicious of him.
 * Ser Gwyn - They have not had a meaningful interaction yet, however, Gisele senses that he does not like her. She respects him and his temper does not bother her because she thinks he is generally an honorable man.

Miscellaneous

 * Because of her time traveling the Anderfels and having very little resources Gisele will eat many things other might not, her favorite is a green iridescent beetle common in the Anderfels.
 * Her mother is from Rivain, which is where she gets her coloring from. Her mother did not talk about her past very much, so she is curious about what her mother's life might have been like there.