Shreya The Blessed

"'My blood is boiling, If you want to call that hot.'"Boastful and terrifying, beautiful and demonic, Shreya the Blessed is the #1 pit fighter ever to set foot in Il Rais, capital city of both Dakdanil and of gladiatorial combat. Shreya herself has fought for both glory and titles, but also to settle disputes of city officials, inter-nation conflicts, and once, on the behalf of someone's incredibly wealthy romantic suitor. Shreya refuses to partake in team and partner fights.

Appearance
Standing fairly tall for a Tiefling, Shreya is also very muscular, a chiseled physique covered in scars from various fights. Nicks and scratches, to long welts and burns. Essentially, she's heavy set, built like a bodybuilder, a veritable brick shithouse with multiple sets of horns. Her primary set extend from her forehead and curl over her skull before careening into sharp points, while the second resemble more tightly formed, wider ram's horns. Her face is straight and sharp, with cat-like eyes, fangs and the many piercings common to Dakdani fighters. Her long nose is gently hooked, and bears the black septum ring denoting one as a devotee of Lumat. She possesses the beast-like legs and feet common to many tieflings from the west, as well as stark red skin and black eyes with gold pupils. Overall, a striking and terrifying person to see.

In a show of disrespect, Shreya also keeps her black hair very long, which in-tune with Dakdani culture, is an open invitation for any opponent of hers to try and grab it, indicative of her giving them a handicap. Typically before fights, she plaits it into a long, single braid.

Personality
Rude and uncouth, impolite is not a strong enough word. She ranges from mildly disrespectful to apathetic to self-obsessed in interviews. This means that Shreya often comes across as vain and arrogant, but of most mortals, she is the one most completely able to put her money where her mouth is. However, she is responsible, patient, and tenacious. On her own time, she is quiet, secretive, and quite prickly. She has few friends, especially compared to her number of enemies.

As a fighter, she's still known for being taunting and rude. However, though the list of unique profanities Shreya has called her opponents numbers in the hundreds, it's notable that she has not violated the rules of the arena either literally or in spirit since her career was re-instated. She may not be a polite opponent, but she will fight fairly and cleanly. Though she has never trained an apprentice or helped another combatant through single lessons, many attribute improvements in their fighting style to her, and hope that she may one day accept someone to train in her stead.

History
Shreya was born to unknown parents in the east of Dakdanil, close to the Empty Sea in the settlement of Ker. From a young age, she knew that her body changed when she got angry - limbs elongating, things changing shape and form. Assuming it was a curse, Shreya buried it deep within herself, and trained in a way that allowed her to hide it, which eventually lead to her training as a warrior and pit fighter.

A major setback in her gladiatorial career was the discovery of her status as a bloodrager over merely a fighter - intense conditioning and diligence preventing it from being revealed until a particularly dirty fight. Though removed from the ring for a few months to allow for paperwork and registration to be redone, it was significant for Shreya to learn that what she had considered a supernatural curse was actually a manifestation of magical ancestry.

Since, her fights have pulled spectators from across Bene with words of her prowess and fearsome showmanship.

Bloodrager Abilities
Shreya is an advanced bloodrager, seemingly of the 'aberrant' bloodline, both furthering her status as Lumat's chosen and implying that somewhere in her familial line, an individual had very close ties to aberrations. Though technically a caster, as a bloodrager (and especially as Shreya uses her magic), any spells serve to augment one's close quarters combat ability. Due to the magic in her blood, she gains teeth, claws, a misshapen and malleable form alongside any number of the casual spells available to more conventional mages.

Relationships

 * Paul 'The Tooth-Singer' Genois - Shreya's opponent who she has had the largest amount of repeat matches with. She has lost 3 out of 27 times. They appear to be on friendly terms, but refuse to spar - both claiming they have nothing to learn from fighting each other once again.
 * Karv Climber-Of-Ocean-Peaks - A tiefling magistrate of mixed heritage, and the current guess of many people to be Shreya's father. Shreya has not made a personal statement on this. Karv was the official to oversee Shreya's re-classification in the combatant registration from fighter to bloodrager.

Trivia

 * The title Shreya prefers to introduce herself with, 'the Blessed', was originally given to her as a childhood taunt: "how blessed, too coarse, too mean and too angry, awful enough to be abandoned by both parents and Lumat himself."
 * Ironically, Shreya is now considered to be one Lumat's chosen.
 * Despite being known as a fighter, Shreya is actually a bloodrager - a barbarian pulling additional power from magical heritage. This is not against the rules of Dakdani competition.
 * Many letters and interviews seem to imply that Shreya is lonely, but unwilling to sacrifice her image or her pride for attention.
 * The identity of Shreya's own parentage is up for debate - a debate that she has no interest in fuelling. Current bets involve Lumatian priests, summoned demons, and horrors of the night.
 * Shreya has a black ring septum piercing - indicative of intense devotees of Lumat.