Griffon Albina Elena Greywing [READY]

[Slazer]

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria

Name: Albina Elena Greywing, typically referred to as Albina or just "El" by friends.

Sex: Female

Age: Young Adult

Species: Griffon

Eye Colour: Amber yellow

Coat: Albina's coat and feathers are a pale mauve, and are well maintained; her coat is smooth in all areas sans the slightly shaggy down along her neck and barrel, which appear that way because of her physical job. Her bird-like forelegs are a shade darker than the rest of her body, with slightly segmented appearance at roughly two-inch intervals.

Mane/Tail: Albina has a lion-like tail, extending about a foot from her hindquarters, and a short headdress of fur and down. The fur there, like the rest, is well brushed and has a slight sheen to it from natural oils she uses in her daily routine. Both the outer edges of her ears and the entirety of the fur on the end of her tail are dyed a vivid pink, a chosen contrast to the dull colors she was born with. Additionally, her left ear is pierced with polished silver rings on the inner side of the ear.

Physique: Albina's physique is quite good for a Griffon her age. She is a few inches above the average in height, and the muscles in her forearms, chest, and the base of her wings are well developed from constant use in her job- but not so much so that they appear disproportionate. Despite her flight-friendly musculature, she is only an average flier; the sky never held much interest for her, and she lacks experience in anything beyond casual flight as a result. Her talons are filed to a relatively dull tip, mainly so she can fit them into the metal tips she uses for her trade. The rest of her body is fit from years of labor, resulting in a healthy and strong appearance that can also be quite imposing at a glance.

Residence: Albina owns property in Rockwington, a combination store/workshop and single-story house.

Occupation: Albina works as a jeweler and metal-smith, creating jewelry, cast and forged statuettes, and other items both artistic and practical in her home-slash-shop in Rockwington. She frequently packs up her tools and travels to different settlements in Aquilla and beyond in the hopes of finding other crafts-griffons or crafts-ponies to learn from, oftentimes creating smaller pieces along the way that she peddles on the roadside.

Cutie Mark: Not Applicable.

History: Albina was born to a family of upper-class Griffons in Talonopolis, a wealthy and influential sort who lived just below the Crest in the traditional hierarchy. Her parents, Alexis Gervasii and Ouka Greywing, were the latest union in the long and distinguished Greywing bloodline line that had been vying for power in Aquellia since pre-Equestrian times, and had been brought together strictly out of convenience. Though neither initially wanted the marriage, they found out over time that they were quite drawn to one another, and eventually embraced the budding relationship they had formed. At the same time, however, they decided that any children of theirs would not grow up in the shadow of the family name as Ouka did. Thus, when Albina was born, Alexis and Ouka parted ways with their family on amicable terms, and left the hidebound society in Talonopolis for the artisan town of Rockwington.

In this new environment, Albina flourished. While her parents made ends meet managing a small general store, she attended a local school and quickly became known for her social skills and creative thinking; as a young gryphlet, she won an election for class president by making paper machete models of her plan to improve the school play-yard in conjunction with coercing her friends to campaign on her behalf. Her ability to sense the will and needs of a crowd only improved as she grew older- to the point where her parents begrudgingly admitted that the young socialite likely would have handled herself well in the unforgiving world of the Talonopolis elite.

As she grew, Albina displayed an increased affinity for creative and physical works. She was a difficult student in school, never earning more than average marks in her classes. The sole exception was crafts, where she displayed a natural talent for sculpting and forging from her mind’s eye alone, and having the finished product reflect the initial idea with accuracy not often seen in someone so young. Her parents wised up to the hints in her grades, and nudged her towards a local jeweler- a unicorn named Filigree- who willingly took her on as an apprentice. Albina learned the basics of the jeweler’s craft from her, and found she enjoyed it greatly; by her late teenage years, she had learned everything Filigree had to teach her, and decided to quit school to start her own small shop in Rockwington.

Her business had difficulty getting established early on, but Albina put her social skills to good use encouraging word-of-mouth advertisement, making friends in the right places to build up a customer base. By creating personal ties to other jewelers and metal-smiths in the city and selling them samples of her work for resale, she was able to get recommendations to tourists and natives alike through their shops and regulars. They, in turn, received more customers through her contributions, her network of acquaintances, and- in the case of metal-smiths- more bits as she bought raw materials in bulk for forging experiments. This unique web of mercantilism has proven very effective in providing business and revenue for Albina and other merchants alike, and the young jeweler has expressed a desire to formalize the arrangement in the form of a Crafter’s Guild based in Rockwington.

As she became more confident in her success, Albina began to take her tools and wares on the road: traveling to cities near and far to learn from the masters of her trade. Nowadays, she typically spends three months abroad and returns home for the rest of the year, applying what she learned to improve her goods and refine her methods. On most of these trips, she rents a small room somewhere as well as a pull-cart that she lugs around the roadsides, hawking some of her products.

Character Summary: Albina is a very shrew and observant griffon, always willing to take the initiative in situations- social, business, or personal- as well as easy to speak to. Her fine eye for detail extends to society as much as it does jewelling, and she is very good at sizing up ponies before formally meeting them. Even so, growing up in as diverse a city as Rockwington has exposed her to many different breeds of ponies and griffons; as such, she tries to avoid judging ponies and griffons she meets off of first impressions alone, and is more than willing to give them a chance to open up before deciding if she wants to associate with them or not. She can come off as unfocused at first, but there is a very good chance that everything she brings up in a given conversation will become relevant at some point down the line; as someone used to talking about a myriad of topics in a single discussion, she does not waste words. She enjoys being seen in a crowd and wears her own jewelry in a form of self-advertisement. She’s fairly averse to formal wear- but if the situation calls for it, she will bite her tongue and deal with it for the sake of her reputation or her business.

She is also a griffon of her word in all things; if she promises something will happen, it will happen come Tartarus or high water. One good example is the bid that won her the class presidency in her early school years: she was originally unable to get the help she needed to improve the schoolyard like she wanted, but she returned years later with a crew to finish the job and fulfill her promise to the school. She is a griffon who places a high value on personal integrity, fittingly enough for a business owner, and is considerably more open to friends who she knows have that quality.

Albina’s people skills are impressive, but it is a sad fact of her nature that she is far better at convincing others to do things she wants than she is at forming meaningful bonds. Few of the friends she had in her school days speak with her now, and many of her current ‘friends’ she considers little more than business associates. In her earlier years, these distanced friendships were enough for her; now a successful young adult, Albina wants to find more meaningful companions that she will want to know for a lifetime. She’s actively trying to overcome her personality problems, but old habits die hard and she often has to be reminded to consider the needs of others alongside her own.

If there is one thing to know about Albina, it is that- above all other things- she lives for her craft. Since discovering her talent for metalworking and jewelling, she has strived to push the art-form to new heights in her work. Starting off making crude metal sculptures in her backyard, she has since advanced to forging highly detailed talon-engraved statuettes of famous creatures and landmarks out of metals such as bronze, silver, platinum, and gold. Her ability to craft rings and pendants is second to none in Rockwington, having learned from every jeweler who would have her as a pupil, and she runs one of the better-known jewelry and metalwork shops in the city. Despite this impressive list of accomplishments, however, Albina is not content and continues to pursue perfection in her skills- though whether out of a desire to provide truly breathtaking art to her customers or for her own satisfaction is a question that, to date, not even she can answer.

Aside from her trade, Albina takes part in a few other activities- and she’s hardly afraid to get her talons dirty. She’s fond of foot racing, oftentimes challenging other ponies and griffons to sprints just for the fun of it. She’s partaken in mud wrestling on more than one occasion, and she participates in Iron Pony competitions whenever she finds herself in Equestria and comes across one. She’s also fond of activities that help improve her manual dexterity- archery, in particular- because of how closely that skill ties into her work.

For all of her skills and success, Albina is an oddly insecure griffon. She worries about her web of connections falling apart and sinking her business, and fears losing what she’s worked so hard to achieve. Even worse for her is the possibility that she is not as skilled as she believes herself to be- that her success was not of her own merit. Her heritage is also a source of unease for her: she’s well aware that her parents severed ties to one of the oldest lineages in Aquellia to raise her away from high society, but the fact that her best skill is in a trade in high demand by the upper class raises questions in her mind about if she can really run from her blood ties. She makes a point of averting as many stereotypes about nobility as possible in her life, though some aspects of her personality- such as her uncanny ability to play others like instruments- are more resilient to change than others.

Note: The included reference pic is off in a few areas because of the limitations of the creator I used. If anyone would be willing to draw a reference pic in the FiM style, please let me know.

[Armony]