Sumesera Maabi Dhiqun

Sumesera is a mortal in the Medieval Sect, currently in possession of a powerful bracelet which can forcibly "borrow" magic from others.

Appearance
Sumesera has an unusual combination of naturally tan skin (further tanned by the sun) and vivid red hair, due to her heritage. Her hair is very thick (a bit bushy) and straight, and it’s pretty long, about five or so inches from her hips. Sera has bright green eyes and is of average height and weight. She’s slight but very strong and she has good stamina.

Personality
Sumesera is brave, adventurous, and bold to the point of recklessness. She can be very rash and doesn’t always think things through. When she wants to be she’s also smart and calculating; however this is mostly just when she’s sitting still and has time to think, and otherwise she’ll tend to make rapid choices she might end up regretting later. She’s quick on her feet and resourceful, and when she was younger she was really mischievous. She’s curious and likes to learn new things, but is definitely a hands-on learner; she does terribly in classroom settings. She’s pretty extraverted and would be good with people if they were willing to talk to her. Sera knows what she wants and will go very far to reach her lofty goals. She can be relentless in attaining them, even if other people might think they’re overly ambitious. Sera is a bit materialistic and can get overly attached to things, and the longer she’s had them the more deeply attached she is. Due to her past, Sera finds it hard to become friends with, and trust, people, and can be a little paranoid. She’s scared of losing anyone else she might become close to, so she tries to keep her distance, and avoids the people who’ve been growing on her. She’s terrified of fire and it’s one of the only things she’ll visibly quail from, though she’ll often act like it’s nothing while keeping her distance. Because of her mom, Sera has a liking for dance, but she both doesn’t usually have the time for it and is self-conscious after not practicing so long. She has an accent, but it can't be described as being from one specific area, it's more of a combination of her parents'.

Backstory
Sumesera’s parents were both travelers, and they met each other in a kind of traveling market where her mother and grandmother were selling some of their spices. Her mother was from the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia (or the Forengard version of it, I guess). Her father was from Ireland (…or the Forengard equivalent), and joined the traveling market to sell some of the metalwork, sculptures, and intricate jewelry his country was well-known for. The two gradually fell for each other and finally married, then settled in a relatively large town in Forengard. They changed to selling their goods at a local market, and even as a small child Sumesera came with them and helped out often. Her mother loved dancing, and as a result Sumesera also grew up with a love for it. They lived in a pretty large house with Sera’s grandmother (from her mother’s side), and the four of them lived happily there for several years. But one night when Sera was five, staying home with her grandmother, the market caught fire. Her parents were heroes, saving many of the other vendors that they’d gradually befriended, but as they dashed in and out of the fire, the stalls slowly started to tremble and collapse – one of them penned them in, and they both lost their lives that night. As a result Sera is now terrified of fire, and even though she wasn’t there to witness it, whenever she stares into flickering flames she sees her parents there, screaming. After that she lived alone with her grandmother, just the two of them in the four-bedroom house they and Sera’s parents had lived in before. The house brought back memories of them, so Sumesera spent most of her time the following year outside, exploring the woods or splashing in the stream. The year after, she also started going to school, but she always felt left out and was excluded from things a lot because she was different, and the other kids made fun of her for things like how she looked or spoke or her always being alone in the woods. Even though they sometimes ended up with bruises and scars after Sumesera got fed up and started lashing out, the bigger, tougher ones kept going. One day (Sera was about twelve at the time),the bullies found her next to the edge of a river, while she was trying to let off steam by splashing around a bit in a shallow area where the current wasn’t too fast. They started by saying things, only to get splashed by an already fuming Sumesera. Then, getting annoyed and becoming a bit reckless from their anger, they started fighting, and Sera fought back viciously. She even managed to punch the leading bully in the face and sweep the legs out from under another. But she was, unfortunately, outnumbered, and now furious, they pushed her into the river. Sera yanked one of them into the river with her as she fell in, and they both got sucked in by the current and were swept away. Sera barely managed to drag herself out of the river a pretty long ways downstream, and exhausted,she fell unconscious almost as soon as she was safe. But the boy she’d pulled in with her, called Imam, hadn’t been so lucky, and in addition to not being able to swim, he got swept by the current for a while longer than Sera, and ended up coughing up water, barely conscious, on the riverbank next to the hideout of a criminal ring. The ring’s main purpose was to steal things and sell the items at a huge profit – and they were also assassins for hire. They eventually persuaded Imam to join, but he always held a grudge against Sumesera since then. Through the years he clawed his way to the top, and when the head of the ring died unexpectedly while he was out on a mission, Imam took over. Meanwhile, back in Sumesera’s town, the other kids, thinking the boy dead, were by now terrified of her, and drew back their insults and mean comments, staying as far away from her as possible. This quickly turned from running in the opposite direction to just plain-out ignoring her, even when she poked or pinched them. No matter how hard she tried to either act normal and fit in or attract their attention, they continued pretending she wasn’t there. Sera grew lonelier and continued her ventures into the forests, distracting herself from her loneliness by climbing trees or watching birds make their nests. Many years later (by now Sera was about seventeen), one day while she was brooding in a glade, a stranger approached her, having spied on her and seen how desperate she was to be noticed. He offered her an opportunity she couldn’t refuse, to travel far from her town and learn trade from him – something she knew her parents had been skilled in. And she was also tempted by the prospect of travelling, hoping to find somewhere she’d fit in, or at least come back home bringing enticing stories of exotic lands. So Sumesera accepted, and for a few months she trekked from place to place with him, from high in the mountains to deep in the desert. Eventually they started rounding back to Sera’s hometown, but as they got closer, they made one last stop a while downstream – the criminal ring’s base. He finally confronted Sera with the truth about how he was the leader of the ring, and offered her a place in it. He also offered to teach her how to fight, as well as to teach her manipulation and trickery if she showed promise. At first she resisted, but when she saw how she could use it to gain attention and even praise –things she’s always wanted - she ravenously learned all she could, and tried using it against him to make him teach her more, though it often didn’t work – he was the one who’d taught her, after all. And although she didn’t recognize him at first, she later found out that he was actually Imam, who’d been using a fake name the whole time. Enraged when she found out, Sumesera attempted to run away, and to go back home; but he caught her and tried to manipulate her into rejoining the gang, with threats of harm or her death if she didn’t. This went on for several months, but when this didn’t work, they then started to threaten her grandmother instead, and this time Sera decided to play along. Eventually she managed to escape them; and she set off on her own, crisscrossing Forengard until she was sure she’d thrown them off her trail. But when she returned home, she found her beloved grandmother dead, and a note from the gang warning her that she would not be able to escape them. Sera was heartbroken, and after days of grieving, wrathfully promised to get her revenge on them. She viewed herself as the heroine of the story back then; a young woman destined to take down a ring of criminals single-handedly. She explored near and far, seeking power, thinking she’d need it for when she faced them. Soon she heard of a bracelet that could literally just suck magic from others, and she eventually tracked it down and offered to buy it for a large sum of money, which she’d acquired by using some of Imam’s tricks and trading things for slightly more valuable ones. But the bracelet’s owner refused to sell it to her, and Sumesera later stole it, telling herself she was only borrowing it and that its previous owner hadn’t really been doing very much with it. The bracelet is crafted of silver and gold, braided, with a single yellow sapphire adorning it. It has the power to steal magic from others and give them to the user, as long as they are wearing it. But the bracelet also corrupts the user, and Sera later used it against its previous owner, for refusing to sell it when she’d first asked. With it, she first got more power from others who’d wronged her before; mostly the kids from her town. Then Sera got her vengeance on Imam and everyone who had been in his gang, barely coming out alive from barging in on them without a plan. Then, hungry for power and to be acknowledged and respected, she made herself powerful by using the bracelet against anyone who opposed her. Soon, she was terrorizing her town and the ones surrounding it, and everyone was forced to pretend to adore (or at least like) her or face the consequences. Now, instead of thinking herself the heroine of the story, she’s indifferent to all the pain and suffering she’s inflicted, taking control of entire towns just because she finds it entertaining (But for now she's only gotten two, her hometown and one next to it).