I mentioned Caroline in the initial Anolis post, and one picture of her in a lineup of my Exiles from Wildstar was posted. But here's more of her. The Mordesh version of her from Wildstar, dran by Bittenhard. The moon elf version of her in a few of her different outfits, by @radlionheart. And her weretiger form because a whoopsie happened in the last D&D session I played her in, which Rad was DMing, also drawn by Bittenhard.
In Wildstar, Caroline Yashcheritsa (Pronounced karo-linne yesh-vit-za.) was a child when the Long Night began. While she didn't spend the full 17-year duration of the Long Night on Grismara, being lucky enough to be evacuated some years before the final rescue ships left, she did grow up in it. Honing her skills to sneak, hide, and squeeze into tight spaces to help collect supplies for her survivor camp and avoid the Ravenous. While she honed her skills as a spellslinger for defense.
As an adult in the Exile fleet, Caroline survived a second Ravenous outbreak. Where she watched her girlfriend at the time go Ravenous and attempt to eat her after having been secretly rationing her own vitalus to keep Caroline's supply steady. In Wildstar, Caroline is a heinously traumatized, 90+ year old woman who obsessively pursues her occupation as an "acquisitions specialist" and spends all her time not on the job partaking in acts of extreme hedonism in the form of sex, parties, drugs, and as much booze as she can down. Because to ever stop is to have to think. And to think is to remember. But she does a pretty good job of putting on a joyous facade.
In fantasy settings like D&D, Caroline is still a hedonistic thief and ruins-plunderer who prefers the title of acquisitions specialist. But her story is significantly less depressing, and she herself isn't really so depressed. Though she does hide some anger at her biological parents, and the law enforcement of Baldur's Gate for sending away her adoptive father.
She's a moon elf. As were both biological parents. And her parents were, to be blunt, complete god damned burnouts who didn't realize what was going on around them half the time. Much of her rearing came from other people who took interest in making sure she was doing well in the caravans her parents hopped between working. Eventually, while Caroline was still a child, her parents literally just forgot she was even a thing after losing track of her in Baldur's Gate. There was no malice involved- they're just completely mentally checked out. If ever reminded of Caroline, they don't even realize that they lost her as a child. They just think "oh yeah! We had a kid. I wonder where she's off to?"
Caroline was taken in by a dwarf charlatan after he found her and failed to find her family. He loved her as his own daughter, and taught her how to pick a lock, tell a good lie, and disappear into the night. Eventually he came to run and take care of a whole little gang of orphans, but Caroline was always the daughter.
After her father was finally caught by the authorities and sent off to prison, Caroline tried to run the gang but things didn't pan out. Eventually she joined a traveling circus as a sword dancer, performing by day and stealing by night before disappearing with the caravan. But when she was found out, she was expelled to prevent the heat from coming down on the circus. Today, she's an adventurer with a steady side hustle.
