Nistrid
Nistrid of Erebor
| Name | Nistrid |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Occupation | Merchant and Apothecary, now Chronicler and acting officer of The Blue Mountains Regiment. |
| Age | Adult. Still young, a rough estimate lands her in her seventies. |
| Race | Dwarf |
|---|---|
| Residence | Often travelling to and from Erebor and the Blue Mountains. She has a residence she operates out of at 1 Stonemirk Street, Vendóm homesteads, Thorin's Gate. |
| Kinship |
| Outward Appearance | A mostly unextraordinary dwarf, although one with a particularly well-groomed, bright golden beard and blonde hair intricately braided. A dwarf with expensive taste, one would gather by the clean and well-tailored robes and fine jewellery. Not a warrior by trade, despite the axe (presumably reserved for self defence) but rather an affluent merchant.
This is Nistrid, a dwarrow-dame of the Lonely Mountain. She stands with the unrivaled confidence of a woman of high class, wearing a sociable smile and a glint in her beryl-green eyes that betray a certain sharpness to her. There's a soft aroma of sandalwood and something floral emanating from the oils and perfumes she uses to give her hair and beard it's shine. She seems approachable enough, often jesting and laughing, although getting a good reading of her true emotions or thoughts is challenging.
Non-dwarrows often mistake Nistrid for being male due to the lack of sexual dimorphism among dwarves. She rarely corrects them, although she is neither secretive. To a dwarf however, it is quite plain to see her for what she is. In dwarven standards, she might even be considered good-looking, if her facial hair a little modest. Her features and manner of speech place her as being a Longbeard, one with an education and pedigree.
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When on the road she wears more androgynous travel-clothes or light armour. Usually furs and long coats to keep her warm when passing through the mountains, over tunics in rich colours and clinched at the waist by an ornate belt in the dwarven style. She forgoes much of her jewels, but for a signet with her insignia; a moon and a cloak, that she often wears on a chain underneath her armour, and a ring of gold shaped and wrapped like a tiny dragon around her finger with runes that read "Shepherd of Wyrms" - a gift from a friend.
In the safety of the halls or among trusted allies at festivals and celebrations, Nistrid can be found in her full splendour. Swaths of fabric majestically gathered around her skirts, furlined cloaks that trail behind her, all in rich and vibrant colours. Emeralds and gold clasps decorate her beard and hair, her fingers laden with rings, jewels upon her brow, and thick bands of gold in the likeness of great wyrms coiled around her wrists... but never a wedding band.
Her uniform is typically kept pristine and tidy. Her weapon sharp, even her shield polished. A trained eye might notice that she lacks the confidence and skill of a trained soldier, but she seems to have her wits about her, and she can certainly still wield that axe of hers. Under her armour, one might notice scars on her leg from where she was bitten by a warg, or the scarring along her neck and shoulder from where she was burnt by drake-fire while defending Gondamon, silvery and starting to heal. |
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Background
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Nistrid was born in Erebor into a family of textile and pigment merchants as the only child of an older couple, her father being the only son to ever return to the Lonely Mountain. It was really no wonder why they had only one child, because their daughter was quite the handful. She got into plenty of trouble as a beardling, being stubborn, fiery, and ambitious. So, to sate that ambition, they tried to preoccupy her. She was taught the languages of men, to count gold, to read and write and sketch, all the traditional dances, to play horn and fiddle and pipes and even the drum, but most importantly she was taught to defend herself.
Both her mother and father were there when Smaug the Terrible cast the Lonely Mountain into fire and made their people refugees. Fearing such a thing happening again, they taught their daughter everything they could, lest she too spend her life as an exile. While Nistrid took to her lessons and for it became a highly independent dwarf-woman, she would find it somewhat suffocating. This, in combination with the smothering that came with being an only child, would eventually cause strife between herself and her father.
While her family would most likely have wanted her to have an advantageous marriage when she came of age, Nistrid was always more interested in the business affairs of her family. She insisted that, since her parents had no sons, she should be taught the family trade. Although hesitant, they relented. She threw herself into the family business and made a name for herself in the markets and trade networks, but that reputation was not always so positive and her connections often shady. To the point that it was becoming unsafe to stay in the markets of Dale or Erebor.Ultimately, she left her home to seek new opportunities and a fresh start in the Blue Mountains. Using connections she had made with a family of fur-traders and their son, one "Hroif Goldenhand", she started up her business in the west.
Nistrid would travel along the trade routes of the mountains with her caravan, and when they were set upon by bandits or orcs, well, she wasn't going to sit around braiding her beard. In fact, she was usually the first to jump into action, weapon in hand. She earned a bit of a name for herself as a leader of trade convoys, and was becoming something of a warrior in her own right. She and Hroif were even offered a position overseeing and escorting the supply wagons of the official standing army of the Blue Mountains on expeditions eastward, and together they joined the ranks of the Regiment as caravan guards and suppliers.After a few years she was surprised to find herself promoted. Hardly the strongest axe in a company of warriors, it was Nistrid's strong connections, quick wits and unexpected but ferocious compassion for her comrades that saw her rise in the ranks.
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((work in progress, still being updated))
| Friends | |
|---|---|
| Relatives | Her parents are alive, if their relationship strained. Nistrid has no siblings, but she considers Hroif and Rundod as little brothers. Annoying ones. |
| Rivals/Enemies | While she has a distrust of the elves of Mirkwood, it is only Thranduil she harbours a grudge against. |
| Loves | Her home and people, gold and riches, dyed silks, furs, mead, music and dance, friendly banter, and earning a profit. |
|---|---|
| Hates | Hroif's soup. |
| Motivation | To bring wealth and prosperity to herself and her household, and to protect her home and people if she must. |
| Quotes | "To be a dwarf is to leave your mark upon the world. Through craft. Through battle. Through companionship. Each dwarf chips a little away at the stone, bit by bit, but in the end leaves something magnificent." |
Nistrid's Adventures
| The Alliance of the Blue Mountains and Numenor | 2 years 2 months ago |
