Se-Bast

General Information

Full Name: Metrodora
Nickname(s): Se-Bast (Child of Bast)
Name Origin: Her real name is of Greek origin but her nickname of Egyptian
Gender: Female
Age: 22
Birth Date: 2900BC
Birth Place: Karpathos
Death Place: Tell Basta
Ethnic Background: Greek
Orientation: Not so picky about genders, but rarely ever sexually interested.

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Physical Appearance


Appearance
Height: 1.66m
Weight: 50kg
Body Type: Slim and frail looking
Eye Color: Amber
Skin Tone:Olive
Prominent Features: Scar across her neck
Face Shape: Oval
Hairstyle: Long and loose
Hair Color: Brown
Natural Hair Texture: Thick. Slightly wavy
Favorite Clothing Style: Kalasiris of soft fabric. (Ancient egyptian clothing)
Favorite Jewelry/Accessories: Broad bracelets, draping necklaces, elaborate beads to be worked into the hair. She loves all kinds of jewelry.

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Past Life Information

Born as Metrodora on an island outside of Greece she remembers little about her life with her family. What she remembers is that she had two older brothers, a mother and a father. One day people came and raided the village, which she only remembers very vaguely as the experience was terrifying and confusing for the young child, only three years old at the time. She remembers a place with many other people, where she was being held with her mother.She did not know it at the time, but it was aboard a ship with slaves, bound for Egypt.
The trip to Egypt must have taken a heavy toll on her mother. Perhaps she fell ill. All that Metrodora knew is that they did not leave the boat together. Instead she'd been taken aside with a group of other young children and they were taught by older slaves their new role as preparation to be sold, their new owners hoping for a higher price. Some children disappeared earlier than others, perhaps thought better fit already or, as Metrodora came to assume later, sold for pleasure for those who fancied younger people.

After almost a year in training to become one of the most obedient of slaves she was finally sold, roughly at the age of five. Her owner was the wife of a lower priest in a city of the northern parts of Egypt. Her new duties ranged from cleaning the house and the clothes of her masters to looking after the two children, one a baby of a few months and the other a two year old. Although she was a mere child herself, months of training had left her capable and strong and it did not take long before she became indispensable to the family and she had their trust. She also got a new, Egyptian name. It never occurred to her that she could betray her owners or hurt them. She was submissive and also completely reliant on this family for food and other sustenance.

The years went by and man of the family grew in power within the temple, however there was some unrest in the region as the major god which was worshiped was beginning to be challenged by an uprising deity. As the temple attempted to battle this new belief with the use of violence, the situation grew ever more violent. This had a big effect on the family which owned her. The man became more and more stressed and thus also aggressive.
At first Metrodora and the other slaves of the household were the only ones who suffered by his hand. The slightest perceived mistake or imperfection was punished harshly. After a while, it did not even have to have a cause, if he felt the need to take out his frustration and fear regarding what would happen to the temple and his position as priest, he would do so against the slaves. Of course the men suffered the most, as he reckoned they would be able to take more of a beating without any serious injury which would hinder their day to day work.
What Metrodora was unaware of, at first, was that he had begun finding pleasure in his abuse and thus when he beat the women he also used them for sexual pleasure. Metrodora was too young to notice this at first and thanked the gods that she was a woman and thus didn't need to endure as much of his abuse as she might otherwise. The god she prayed to and thanked was the same god her master served. It was one of few gods she knew.
But when she was around 10 years old, the man had risen to the position of head priest, leader of the temple and under his leadership they had started a new offensive against the neighbour city, which was the home of this new religion. Eventually the enemy city fell and the priest decided that he would travel there to personally make sure the uprising was properly controlled. With him he brought his wife, children and a few of the household's slaves, including Metrodora.
By this time Metrodora's main responsibilities were to take care of the daughter of the family. She would dress her, walk with her, make her food and see to her every need. One could not call them friends, the difference in their status would not allow it, and if it had not been for the nature of their relationship the two would likely never have spoken to each other, their personalities being vastly different. One was the confident daughter of the high priest, surely having a bright future, perhaps even with the possibilities of become queen if married properly, the other a quiet slave whose only aspirations were to live and die as quietly and peacefully as possible. But even though they were not friends Metrodora had a very heavy sense of duty towards the younger girl and was very protective of her.
It was that very urge to protect that would lead her way to freedom, as it would happen. One night the young boy of the family shook Metrodora awake, tears streaming down his face and fear in his eyes. Metrodora could hear faint sounds of screams from the part of the building where her masters were staying. The boy pointed in that direction and, between sobbings, told her that their father was hurting his mother and his sister, begging Metrodora to help them. She could also see red marks on his arms and his cheek, as though he'd been hit and she could already imagined what had happened, even though she'd never seen her master take out his rage on the younger masters or the mistress.
With the boy tugging her hand they rushed towards the noise and she was met by the sight of the mistress of the house on the ground, bleeding and pleading her husband to stop, the master towering over their daughter who was kicking and screaming as he was trying to pin her down. This was the first time in her life that Metrodora had even thought about raising a hand against any one of her masters. Adrenaline was already pumping through her body as she reached for something to use against her master to get him to stop. Her trembling hand found a relatively long and thick needle used in hair decoration. Without a sound she charged up to the man who was now on top of his child, tearing at her hair screaming about something Metrodora couldn't hear. She didn't scream or cry or anything of the sort as she sunk the needle into his body and she tumbled to the side and scrambled to get away, as she anticipated a counter attack from the man. Instead, he just slumped down as she had just happened to hit a vital spot.
By this time the owner of the house they were staying in had arrived, startled by all the noise. She was a widow, her husband killed by the man who now lay dead on her floor. She herself was one of the few surviving priestesses of the new religion which the master had attempted to quell and the sole reason they had been staying in her house was to show their dominance and because it was one of the finer households in the city.

After she had killed her own master everything seemed to move so quickly. The owner of the house rushed off, the children crawled over to their crying mother and then, only seconds later it seemed to Metrodora, armed men came in and took the family away. As Metrodora tried to mindlessly follow her remaining masters, as was habit for her, the woman took her arm and pulled her aside to another room.
She said something about how Metrodora had set off another rebellion and that they were retaking the city, now that the head priest was dead and the news was spreading like wildfire. Metrodora didn't understand half of what the woman said and thought she looked crazed. It was all so unpleasant. For the most part Metrodora could only think of how she would surely die now, now that she had turned against her master and even killed him. But then the woman started saying that they needed a symbol, someone to rally around. Someone to embody the hope and faith that was their goddess. She said that she thought that although Metrodora was young, this night would prove enough for people to believe in her. She said that she must be sent from the goddess Bastet, the fierce lioness protector, to help the people against the people who would seek to oppress them. The woman said that surely she was Se-Bast, the child of the goddess Bastet. She went on to tell the young slave that she would gain not only her freedom, but power.
Before Metrodora could say anything, a man entered the room and asked if she was the one, which the woman confirmed. He knelt down and looked at her face and flinched when he saw her amber eyes. She remembered he said that she even had lioness eyes.
After this event a lot of things changed for the young girl. Her name was now Se-Bast, not the slave name she'd been given by her owners and she decided to forever discard that temporary name, not mentioning it ever again. She became a symbol for the people of the city and, as the religion grew, also to the people in other nearby villages, towns and cities. When she was first taken to the temple it was still not completed, but was being built on a site where it would be surrounded on three sides by the river. In her mind she could already imagine how grand and beautiful it would become.
Though she started out as a sort of figure head, she was quickly schooled in the ways of the priesthood and was fortunate to be such a quick learner. As such, when the years went by she became even more powerful. Eventually she was both the child of Bastet and the head priestess. She held a lot of power in the area and even the male rulers had to take her word into account when making their decisions, though she held little interest for politics.
Though she had started out not knowing anything about this new religion and joined it primarily to be allowed to have hope, belief that the future would be better than the present, it did not take long before she started seeing the threads of fate which must have brought her to where she was. Surely her entire life had been leading up to this point where she could serve the goddess. Her belief in her goddess, and the Egyptian pantheon in general, became a strong foundation upon which she then built her new life and everything she did was for the good of her goddess.

However, with the power she had gained came equally powerful enemies, as well as jealousy from others. This would come to mean the end of her life. Another high ranking priestess took her aside one evening to talk about the upcoming festival to honour Bastet. It had grown to be one of the most popular festivals in the entire region, people travelling far to participate in the singing, dancing and drinking. As such it also needed a lot of planning and the two had been working together fervently to make this year surpass even the previous year. It was then that she felt something press against her throat as her would be friend started to strangle her with a strap of cloth. She tried to fight back, of course, but taken by surprise she never fully got clear of her assailant. It was a painful and slow death however, which left her with a rather deep wound on her throat, where she now has a scar.



General Information

Religion: Ancient Egyptian pantheon, especially devoted to Bastet
Education: Priesthood/mystic
Martial Status: Unmarried
Children: None

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Speech/Communication

Speech Pace: Average/Slow
Voice Tone: Cultured and calm
Habitual Words/Phrases/Curse Words: So it shall be written, so it shall be done.
Speech Pattern: Thoughtful
Mannerisms/Demeanor: Calm, caring, gentle.
Typical Posture: Straight and strong
Gestures: Deliberate
Common Gestures: Often plays with locks of her hair when in thought (which is often)

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Habits

Personal Habits: Often prays or meditates.
Skills/Talents: Mystical talents from her priesthood and different skills developed as a slave.
Unskilled At: Fighting and hunting are the most important survival skills she does not have.
Hobbies: Weaving, painting, singing, dancing

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Memories

Childhood: Turbulent
Earliest Memory: Playing with her brothers
Saddest Memory: When her pet lion died
Happiest Memory: Being given a pet lion
Significant Event: Going from slave to religious figure

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Family

Mother's Name: Doesn't remember
Father's Name: Doesn't remember
Sibling Name(s): Doesn't remember
Sibling Age(s): 24 roughly.

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Mental Attitude/Personal Beliefs

Psychological Issues: Can you call being religious a psychological issue? Other than that if her faith is shaken her entire self starts to crumble.
Optimist or Pessimist: Optimist (though not overtly so)
Most Comfortable: Alone in meditation or prayer, though she has no aversion to other people and enjoys company too.
Most Uncomfortable: Among a few strangers (the less the others know one another the more comfortable she is)
Approach To Life: Decently brave
Prejudices: Anyone who doesn't share her belief is misguided.
Greatest Strength: Her hope and faith gives her great willpower and courage.
Greatest Flaw: She lets religion guide almost every action, which can be good or terribly bad. Extremely dependent on her faith in religion.
Biggest Regret: She doesn't really regret anything from her former life. She lived her life in honour of Bastet.
Quirks: Has a hard time saying no to people

A Paragraph About Personality In Depth:

As a slave she was taught to obey and she learned on her own to accept almost anything in a very stoic manner, however when she rose to power as a religious figure and leader, she quickly learned to discard much of her previous life. She will no longer take orders, but still has a hard time saying no when people ask her to do things. However she is still rather stoic in her approach to life and if it is the will of the gods that she give her life, then she would accept such a fate.
This may sound rather grim, but she is actually a fairly happy person, quick to smile and slow to anger. She doesn't seek death, but nor does she fear it, should it come. Her patience is also something she regards as a virtue, and if that is something she gained while she was a slave and had to deal with the whims of her masters, or if it was something she gained as she trained new priests and priestesses is not altogether apparent.
She believes that there is almost always a peaceful way to walk, and that is what she tries to do. If people argue, she tries to remain neutral and not make enemies, if someone is upset she will try to calm them. Some may find this annoying, but she believes in her own path.
As her faith is so firm and such an integral part of her, she has no issues walking her own path, even should everyone else forsake her for doing so. She holds true to her beliefs and values her own thoughts and opinions higher than most everything else. If a friend demanded that she do something that would go against her morals or try to force her down a path she does not believe in, she would simply walk away. She wouldn't hate the person and would easily forgive them, should they want that, but when it comes to the bigger decisions in life, she refuses to stray from her path.
Being used to having people follow her and taking care of people, she has a strong sense of responsibility for the people around her. Though she abhors violence and would always be reluctant to fight, she will protect people from those who seek to harm them, even though it may place her in harm's way.
Has taken upon herself a role of purity and has therefore chosen to abstain from any lovers and is extremely timid about sex, even though she is perfectly comfortable with nudity.

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Likes/Favorites

Food: She isn't picky and will accept most food.
Drink: Wine or water
Color: Gold
Music: She likes to sing prayers to her goddess, does that count?
Quote: "Hope is the belief that the future will be better"

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Miracle:
Ma'at: Se-Bast's firm belief in the Egyptian mythology and beliefs was made manifest in her miracle. The ever changing and extreme weather she now encounters in this world seems unnatural and wrong to Se-Bast and if her belief that the extreme weather is wrong is strong enough, there will be a calm sort of bubble around her, where the climate is the same as a calm day by the river Nile. Her worship of the sun lioness also allows her to gain energy from sunlight, lessening her need for food. There may be other aspects of her powers, should her faith and will be strong enough, but it would at least seem that none of her powers are able to hurt others.