Ateli-weird

(These are my working notes for Solan/Palani/Rochel; uploading here in time for the secret santa :])

Note these are copy-pasted from my working doc so apologies in advance for any weird/incomplete notes!

Notes on Vitalus vays

Palani

Palani’s generally a kind and welcoming vay. Privately she’ll probably complain to Roche about her father’s guests when they host dinners, but that’s the main exception. She’s not afraid to talk to whoever or stand up for herself/others; she’s also particularly good at making people feel welcome in groups or conversation. If she’s got presumptions about other people she’s smart enough to keep it to herself.

However, she’s rather sheltered in a lot of areas, and tends to make assumptions about people/vays based on her own lack of experience (for better or for worse). She often overestimates her own capabilities and sometimes lets her pride get in the way.

Palani hopes to become an adventurer and visit new lands, much like she imagines her father did back in his day (much to his chagrin). She’s so sure and singleminded on what she wants to do that she’s mostly deaf to suggestions otherwise. Her father has tried to threaten by telling her that her brother will be in charge of their business in the future but she Does Not Care. It’s not Real Adventure if you’re doing paperwork all the time, Dad!

Tl;dr: she has good social awareness (most of the sime) but is sheltered; she’s also pretty high energy.

Palani and Rochel

Palani likes and trusts Rochel; in reality it’s a servant-master relationship as Rochel’s employed by Palani’s family, but Palani doesn’t really take this into account and can push boundaries sometimes. She thinks she knows more about Rochel than she actually does; she tends to make assumptions about the relationship (E.g. “of course Rochel would do this thing for me.” But she wouldn’t say that because she’s not consciously aware of it.); she takes it for granted that Rochel is always going to be there for her and support her. This is (mostly) true, but means that Palani sometimes gets away with more than she should in terms of pushing boundaries/etc.

P’s Family

Trading fur & fabric for a long time, P’s parents have made good business with imports/exports between Vitalus and the other continents. P’s mother’s family were the first generation to do this (though mostly within Vitalus); P’s father worked helping them out for a while before falling in with P’s mother. P’s grandparents were happy with this arrangement and when they got older arranged for the two of them to take over the business; P’s father expanded it into a much larger business. Now he’s getting older he’s travelling less and delegating more, teaching P’s brother the ins and outs of it.

They probably have meetings fairly often with merchants and traders for distribution of goods; most of this is local though sometimes they host traders from other continents.

Rochel

On the run from her past, she’s been working for Palani’s family for a number of years now. Previously working as a household assistant, she was picked to serve Palani as they are similar in age (HC: R is slightly younger, but has had a much harder life leading up to working for the family). Palani’s mother is the one who employs the household staff and has a vague idea of R’s situation (Read: from the lower city, won’t talk about her past but has made it clear she has no love for the place.) Palani’s mother took a chance hiring her, but this paid off well in the long run. Treated mostly as staff by Palani’s parents, unlike the more personal relationship between R and P.

Somewhat brusque, is pretty no-nonsense and work-focused with other staff. Not pushy per-se but can be quite strict with some of the more junior members. Part of this is her nature but part of it is a (subconscious?) way to put up walls around herself; odds of servants finding out about her past is non-zero.

Not entirely sure what she did back in the lower city; possibly it was crime-adjacent (or at least not entirely above-board) but at some point she fucked up big time. Laid low somewhere for a while before the city called her back.. picked a job with merchants as she loves the city but lower city is dangerous for her, and has a long memory.

She probably also left people behind when she had to go on the run, and probably mourns this. She doesn’t wallow in it but it weighs on her mind in her darker moments.

Solan

A bit of a people pleaser, he’s kind of insecure about his friendships and his place in the world. Extremely grateful to Palani for how welcoming she’s been, though in some ways this serves to make the insecurity worse.

Generally pretty capable (or at least capable of teaching himself), he’s generally pretty poor at asking for help.

Not especially athletic, though he enjoys being outdoors. Generally content with what he’s doing in life now that he’s left the Beneath, though he does dream of living in a place with more sun (or does he? How dark is the Beneath compared to Ahrvain?). Currently taking the time to learn about the surface (through experience! :D), and figuring out what he’d like to do in the long-term.

Has a not-quite friendship with Rochel. R is grateful for the discretion he showed when she got injured in the lower city, and is less brusque with him than she may be with others. She’s still somewhat reticent with him but she’s let slip some small details about her past. Tl;dr they don’t talk a whole lot but they’re comfortable in each other’s company and each knows they can talk to the other if they needed help. In a group situation generally they just let Palani do the talking.