Annaliese Kaelin

Appearance
When Annaliese isn’t decked out in her armor, she’s usually wearing a pretty dress or a blouse and skirt. Since most of her money goes toward protecting runaway slaves and other oddities, she rarely worries about owning the most fashionable of clothing. She is, however, very hygienic. Annaliese may not dress like Gwaren’s next top model, but she certainly takes care of herself.

If there’s anything that’s apparent about her physical appearance, it’s her hair. Annaliese’s hair is dark red and curly. When it isn’t held up in a bun, it reaches well past her shoulders. Her complexion is rather pale which accentuates her blue eyes rather nicely. Overall, she’s a pretty woman, but don’t be surprised if the corners of her eyes get a little wrinkly when she smiles. (She is getting on in years, after all.)

Personality
If there's anything that's obvious, Annaliese seems to always be smiling. Speaking in general terms, she's the type of person that comes off as an optimist. Perhaps that's the reason why her husband’s comrades believed that she dealt with his disappearance so well. However, facades are something Annaliese seems to be a professional at putting up, especially around people that she wants to be left alone from.

Due to her cheeriness, people have a tendency to mistake her for an airhead. Annaliese is the type of person that always seems to have her head in the clouds. Her comrades, when they first met, tended to not take her seriously until they actually saw her on the battlefield. However, when people underestimate her, Annaliese is quick to use those who make that mistake to her advantage. At times, Annaliese simply has to lie to save face, and over the years she has become a master of the art.

If you get past the exterior of her personality then you may come to find that she has a serious side. A very serious side. When it comes to work every little detail is important. Anna may not have a lot riding on campaigns anymore, but she’s a seasoned warrior and doesn’t like it when fresh meat balls things up. She tries her best to make sure that fights don't go sour, at least on her side. If they do it reflects back on her, even if she wasn't directly involved in the killing itself.

Despite her well known campaigns, Annaliese is extremely shy about knowledge outside of the battlefield. It's a sharp contrast in comparison to how confident and calm she is while slicing through Darkspawn and dragons. If a person so happens to hear her speaking in Qunari tongue or attempting to learn the elven language, then you’ll get a laugh and a dismissive wave. She expects people to treat her oddly for that, if only because she’s used to people expecting that she, as a woman, should get in the kitchen and leave the politics and fighting to the men.

Still, she's not all sunshine and rainbows. Although Annaliese tries to be warm and maternal when she's around others, the woman definitely has issues when it comes to certain things. She never let go of her husband’s dead, especially since she still cannot find the ones that killed him. The more time she spends attempting to find the killers, the more sadistic and ruthless she becomes. Torture isn’t beyond her. In fact, she enjoys it very much. If one so happens to walk in on one of her little interrogations, they’ll get to see quite the frightening side of her—a side that the party may wish to never see again. When it comes to someone she loves, the woman definitely isn’t beyond getting down and dirty to protect them.

However, to most she's just that smiley woman that (kind of) comes off as an airhead. Although she's friends with many people, only a select few are aware of how she really feels. When push comes to shove, she'd like to keep it that way. After all, without some form positivity she knows that she'd be dead, just like most of her comrades. In the end, all she wants is to find what it means to feel human…and perhaps come back to her former glory as a valiant warrior.

Biography
Born into a noble family, Annaliese grew up by the side of her betrothed. However, upon meeting a charismatic mercenary she became quite smitten with him. Determined to get the man’s attention, she challenged him to a duel and nearly won. They hit it off quite well and for some time they just consider themselves friends. After some time the man was forced to leave due to an assignment Upon him leaving she realized that she really did have feelings for him. Recklessly, she snuck out from home and eventually caught up with him. Angered, Matthius threatened to send her home. However, she challenged to yet another duel and won. Of course, by default, she stayed to fight by his side.

In the middle of their campaign, it was decided they would make a quick stop at Gwaren to make sure his small estate was in order. While there, Matthius and Annaliese had a quick, private wedding in a local Chantry. Of course, they wanted to keep things quiet, especially from Matthius’ fellow assassins. However, the two were quite happy with their dirty little secret.

At some point during their fights for glory and riches, Matthius was separated from the party when a a group of blood mages attacked. Barely escaping with their lives, all they could find of Matthius was a small amulet, a family heirloom that held quite a bit. Annaliese took it as her own and became determined to find her husband’s killers. After her husband’s funeral, Annaliese became far more distant with her comrades. It was at that point that she decided she would dedicate the remainder of her life to finding the killers. Eventually, she parted from the group and struck out on her own. Without much guidance, she decided she would head back to Denerim to see what was left of the family she deserted so long ago.

Upon going back to Denerim to see her family, she was hardly surprised to find that most of them were dead. However, a large sum of coin was left for her. She uses the coin only when she must, but ended up splurging and renovating her husband’s estate. However, she uses the manor to hide runaway slaves and other people that she can generally be sympathetic towards. After losing her husband and becoming less involved in politics, she has quite a hard time with relating to other nobles. However, she does tend to help those that merit her help.

When she isn’t traveling and doing the odd job to keep her name in high regard, Annaliese takes small respites in Gwaren. She’s always on the lookout for the blood mages that killed her husband and is more than happy to aid those that are willing to help her in return. Those that actually know that Annaliese is a Reaver often find it to be quite ironic. The irony is in fact something Annaliese takes pride in. Shortly after her husband was assassinated, the woman had a bit of an epiphany. If you're going to fight a blood mage, why not fight fire with fire? Using a man's greatest power against him is something that Annaliese takes pride in. It took quite a bit of effort to find a maleficar that would help her. Of course, money and a sharp tongue can get just about any greedy bastard to agree to a high stakes task. At the price of fifty gold pieces and a manor to hide in if the maleficar angered the locals, Annaliese became a Reaver.

And she's more than willing to use the very thing that drives blood mages to madness against them.