Layla Shula El-Amin

Discussion in 'Accepted Characters' started by Cataphractoi, Nov 9, 2015.

  1. Cataphractoi

    Cataphractoi Nanase is rebooting reg

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    Name: Layla Shula El-Amin

    Class: Iron Knuckle

    Race: Gerudo

    Age: 20, Date of Birth: 6/27

    Gender: Female

    Place of Origin: Gerudo Fortress

    PWC: 5/1/2

    Treasures:
    Racial Perk: Business
    Racial Perk: Warrior’s Training
    Racial Perk: Gerudo Dragon
    Profession: Knight Errant Lvl 1
    Iron Boots, Augmented
    Muscle Band
    Pegasus Boots
    Plummeting Blade
    Snowshoe Ring

    Rupees: 10

    Equipment:
    Raiment

    Unlike most Gerudo, Layla favors a thick and heavy set of plate mail which combines form with function. Most of its components are rimmed with bronze burnish and/or engravings, and include some padding to protect her skin.

    Helm & Coif
    Layla generally wears a double layer of armor on her head- a chainmail hood underneath, and a great helm over top of it. Her polished steel great helm follows the contours of her humanoid head, and bears a roughly ovular shape when viewed from the front. The mask portion of the helm displays five circular holes in a pentagonal formation- two positioned as eye holes, one in the center of the forehead, and two placed for ease of breathing. This mask may be entirely removed from the helmet, leaving Layla’s face visible. Horns protrude from the temples of the helm, curving outward at first and then back inward so that the tips point straight up. These serve a dual purpose- as ornamentation to make her appear even taller, and to deflect blows to the sides of her skull. The right horn reaches several inches higher than the left.

    Pauldrons, Rerebraces, Vambraces, Couter and Gauntlets
    Layla protects her neck and shoulders with a pair of massive pauldrons not dissimilar to those preferred by Darknuts. They drop down far enough to cover her upper chest at the sides, and totally protect her armpits except from directly below. As they approach her neck they shift upwards at a ninety degree angle, forming a barrier to her neck which rises to her mid-cheek. The pauldrons’ burnished bronze edges curve outwards, and are engraved with words in Ancient Hylian which Layla herself cannot read.

    Below the pauldrons extend several interconnected pieces of armor which make up the rerebraces, vambraces, and couter of Layla’s suit. They’re nearly as thick as her cuirass, and just as intricately engraved. The couter is fully articulated, offering full protection to her elbows with little loss of motion.

    Layla’s gauntlets begin at the wrists, and are slightly larger at the ends so that they slightly overlap her vambraces. From there they taper down to a shaped plate which covers her knuckles and the back of her hand, and then separate into jointed plates which cover her fingers from the top. Underneath, she wears chainmail gloves with inner padding to protect the bottoms of her fingers. Small protrusions are attached over the knuckles as backup weapons.

    Cuirass & Hauberk
    As with her helm and coif, Layla wears two layers of armor over her torso- a solid plate cuirass with a chainmail hauberk underneath to cover and gaps. The cuirass itself consists of two layers. The under layer is two simple, unadorned plates which cover her back and chest, which are strapped together along her sides and collarbone. The rear plate rises up to defend her neck from the back, filling in the space between Layla’s pauldrons, while the fore plate has a smaller collar that protects her neck without limiting her range of motion.

    Over this layer, and riveted to it, is a thinner layer which exists purely for ornamentation. Her breastplate bears four separate additions on both sides- one extending from the collar to the mid chest, two side-by-side which extend from there to the waist, and a final band which sits approximately at the height of a belt. The upper plate is covered in ornamental engravings, central to which is the Gerudo crest; the middle plates visibly display six rivets along the sternum (and spine, on the rear plates), and engravings along their edges; and the belt plate is burnished to appear bronze, with a line of Ancient Hylian running across it and wrapping around over its twin on her back.

    Faulds, Greaves, Cuisses, & Boots
    Layla’s lower armor consists of several overlapping components, most visible of which are the faulds. Her faulds run from her waist to her boots, and each successive plate is slightly larger than the one above it. The plates are in a rough T-shape and their stems overlap the next plate down, with the cross sections coming together top-to-bottom. There are three plates on each flank, and each is polished silver in coloration with a bronze burnish along the edges. These faulds attach to a chainmail skirt which provides cover from all directions, and the mail itself is disguised under a layer of cloth.

    Beneath the faulds, plate greaves and cuisses cover both upper and lower leg. These are silver like most of Layla’s armor, but otherwise undecorated, as they are not meant to be seen. Her boots are somewhat more decorated; though they are, by all appearance, simple steel-plate boots, close inspection shows wings embossed on the flanks- this is because they are, in fact, Pegasus Boots. She can replace these with Iron Boots at will, though they appear roughly the same…mostly because she had armor bolted on over the iron.

    Undergarments
    Beneath most of her armor components, Layla wears a set of fairly typical Gerudo attire- generally a tube top and harem pants, as she is quite fond of Gerudo fashion and accumulates such clothing with alarming rapidity.

    Muscle Band
    The Gerudo Fortress became host to many types of people after Ganon's invasion, including a number of knights stationed or traveling in South Hyrule. Layla's Hylian mentor was one such man, although even then he was too old to serve in battle...normally. It was at the tail end of her training that he revealed how he still kept up in battle: a Muscle Band, acquired as a young man, which he gifted to her as his successor. Her Muscle Band takes the form of a gold and silver belt, which can be- and is- used to hold up her pants much as any other belt could.

    Weapons
    Battle-Axe

    Layla is an enormous woman, so to say she wields a very large weapon even for her own size says quite a lot. Most people would not even be able to heft her axe; fewer still could wield it in battle. Blurring the line between axe and polearm, Layla’s battle-axe is as tall as she when stood on end, and each of its double heads is half the distance between her own shoulders- pauldrons and all- each with an edge easily three feet in length. The counter weight attached to the bottom of the handle is so heavy it could conceivably be used as a mace, as well. All in all, it is a suitable weapon for one her size.

    Longsword
    A claymore by any other standard, Layla’s “longsword” is primarily a sidearm…a very, very big sidearm. She is fully proficient with the weapon, but only employs it when her battle-axe would be utterly impractical to wield, such as in tight corridors or full-scale battles. As is fitting for such a giant, Layla wields this sword one-handed.

    Appearance: Layla is a truly enormous woman, even without her armor. At 6’ 6” and absolutely brimming with muscle, she weighs well over two hundred pounds stark naked- when decked out in her full plate armor, she easily weighs three hundred and fifty pounds, even without donning her Iron Boots. She is, in fact, so strong that she does not even need her Muscle Band to wear her armor; while wearing it, Layla could enter a fist fight with the average Darknut and win- and have a fighting chance against particularly strong Darknuts.

    Although Layla is not ugly by any means, her face is very rough and hard edged- a warrior’s face, through and through. Scars crisscross her body, and are left easily visible by her clothing on the occasions when she opts to remove her armor. No part of her body lacks visible muscle, and it is debatable whether any style of clothing could fully disguise her strength. Like most Gerudo, Layla is prominently red-haired and tanned. She wears her hair at waist length, but it is almost always tightly braided so that it will fit inside her helmet.

    Personality: Layla is perhaps the first classical Gerudo knight, and has a strong sense of justice and of pride accordingly. She is typically a very direct person, preferring straight, quick, and honest answers, and is prone to anger of quibbling and falsehoods. Layla has no problem leveraging her fearsomeness to intimidate people into cooperation when necessary, or to moderate between bickering parties. At a distance, or to evil-doers, she is a terrifying figure as a result.

    Beneath that, though, is a woman who became what she is for a noble cause. Layla’s driving motivation is her warmth and protectiveness; she is passionate about what she does and why she does it. Once she has pledged her support, Layla will follow through to the bitter end, and she can always be counted on to help or defend those in need. She places value in friendship and attempts to remain jovial at all times, and appreciates these qualities in others. Layla is boisterous without being silly; battle-hungry without being bloodthirsty; strong without being unreasonable.

    Additionally, Layla is rather smart, but this mostly lends itself to combat. Her greatest strength, tactically speaking, is leading knights on foot or on horseback, but she is skilled enough to handle lighter combatants and skirmishers if needed. Layla shows aptitude for larger scale command as well which will likely grow with time. Off the battlefield, however, Layla is somewhat less intelligent- she often believes absurd claims and will go along with general silliness without realizing it, often to absurd results.

    Background:
    Layla Shula El-Amin was a small child, still attached to her mother’s hip, when Ganon invaded. As a Gerudo child living in the Fortress, she was never in much danger personally, but she nonetheless grew up in a constant state of war, exposed to Hylian refugees and their alien culture. Gerudo possess a strong warrior culture, but prefer speed and maneuverability to durability and power. A Gerudo army seeks to outmaneuver its enemies, confound them, and kill them from afar. They have no heavy infantry, no tradition of armored combat.

    Hylians, however, do.

    Unlike most Gerudo before her, Layla grew up around refugees who told stories of knights. Of honor, of holding the line, of fighting the enemy head-on. She took these stories to heart, and aspired to be a knight- someone that lived to protect others, mastered her weapons, and strode into battle confident and invulnerable. Even as a child, she was the one who stood against the bullies. She stared down those resentful of the refugees in their midst; smacked down the children who preyed on the weak. Layla would be a knight.

    Needless to say, this career choice was frowned upon by her fellows. Oh, she did good deeds, and no one faulted her for that, but a Gerudo warrior did not serve on the frontline. However, Layla would not be dissuaded, and as she grew older, the objections rapidly ceased…because Layla was a veritable giant, even in childhood. Her interests were abnormal, but there was not a Gerudo alive who dared tell her so by the time she was fourteen. As she grew, she packed on muscle, quickly reaching the point where no Hylian man in the Caverns could even hope to match her in strength.

    Layla, well, got what she wanted. She trained in Gerudo and Hylian fighting techniques, in order to master both arms and armor. Gerudo weapon masters educated her in swords and polearms, while Hylian knights taught her the fine points of moving in plate mail, chivalry, and riding. Somewhere along the line she began to accumulate her equipment, whether from adventures as a squire or as gifts or on the battlefield. For a time she served on the walls, but her moment of triumph came when the decision was made to assault Ruto.

    The Gerudo, as a people, are not accustomed to siege warfare. Hylians have little more experience there, and most of it is on the receiving end. But they were determined to retake lost land; to turn the tides back against the forces of evil after years of being on the defensive. Layla was, well, an obvious choice for such a mission- even if she hadn’t volunteered outright.

    The siege was short, but vicious. Few Hylians or Gerudo can fight Darknuts and Moblins head-on, after all. Their army struck in the dead of night, dropping a powder keg at the gates while the guards, lulled by years of inactivity, slept at their posts. The blast rocked the very foundations of Ruto, and before anyone could process what had happened, Gerudo and Hylian soldiers poured through the gates, led by Hylian knights with Layla in their ranks.

    Ruto’s garrison tried to react, but failed. The guards on duty died in the first few minutes; the off-duty residents simply took too long to mount a resistance. The blins were slaughtered in droves; the few Wizzrobes present died rapidly to skilled Gerudo archers; the Stalfos and Lizalfos attacked with reckless fervor, but did not present a united front.

    In the end, the Darknuts and Lynels fought a desperate forlorn hope in the center of the fort. Outnumbered, but more skilled and stronger than their assailants, they fought back-to-back against an unyielding horde of oncoming troops. Layla and her fellow knights stepped to the fore, ready to enter the first real battle of the night, and engaged their foes.

    Amongst such a large-scale scrum, any one person’s contributions are inevitably small. For weeks following the siege, however, Layla’s fellows spoke of her feats- fighting toe-to-toe with towering Darknuts, bedecked in armor every bit as formidable as theirs and swinging a weapon equal in scale. Where the other knights used skill and their relatively small stature to their advantage, Layla stood, towering above them, trading ringing blows with giants. Her axe cleaved through Darknut mail like leather; her fists stopped blows from gargantuan Lynels as if they were children; her armor proved an unbreakable wall against everything thrown against it.

    When the dust settled, no Darknuts or Lynels remained standing. Many knights and soldiers lay dead with their foes. But Layla stood, undefeated, unbroken, and triumphant. Accounts differ as to how many she slew, with the numbers ranging from a mere dozen to a full hundred. Although proud of her freshman performance, Layla firmly denies the higher figures, but acknowledges she must have beaten many. She, for her part, did not keep a running tally.

    Layla currently serves as something of a knight errant, going where she is needed and awaiting the call to join her comrades in retaking Southern Hyrule once more.
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2016
  2. Cloud

    Cloud friend admin

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    this dick
    The verdict on Iron Knuckles is that they're essentially just incredibly strong people in armor.

    With that issue cleared up, I'd say that this is accepted, unless there are any issues that I'm unaware of.
    Guy likes this.