༉˚*ೃ 𝐁𝐈𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐘 ; 𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐀𝐄𝐋𝐀 𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐄𝐍
ᵗʰᵉʸ ᶜᵃˡˡ ᵗʰⁱˢ ᵖˡᵃᶜᵉ ⁿᵉˢᵃᵉˡᵃ'ˢ ᵗᵉᵃʳˢ.
𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 ;
nesaela was born and raised in kings landing, in the red keep. as a child, her life was comfortable. she never went hungry; had tutors and musicians come to teach her from across the seven kingdoms; slept on a bed with pillows made of the softest feathers in the world; and lived in a castle. her only downfall was that her father didn't love her. three failed miscarriages her mother had before birthing her: and she turned out to be a girl. so while her older brother rhaegar received all his love and attention, nessie was pushed aside to be cared for by her mother. it had always hurt, despite how much nesaela had tried to convince herself it didn't.
nessie grew up to be skilled in music, the arts, and poetry. a strange girl sometimes lost in the clouds of her own thoughts, she was downplayed by everyone around her as a silly, delicate little princess, lost outside of reality.
when she was ten, rhaegar had snuck her outside the castle's walls and taken her hunting. he'd placed a bow in her hands and they'd ridden through the forests, wild as the night. by the time the sun nearly rose, and they began their adventure back to the castle, nessie knew she loved archery. he'd gifted her a bow in the weeks after, a beautiful thing nearly as tall as she was, and strung with just enough tension that she could loose arrows without strain. it had become her passion-something which she could hide from her father and train with in secret.
nessie was around that age when she began having unusual dreams-dragon dreams, the targaryens of old had called them-of a great dragon with opal eyes. she dreamt of it each night: riding it through the sky, fighting by its side, the twisted metal crown which sat on her head and the fire in her veins, and a mysterious girl who never showed her face. visions, they were, visions of the future, both near and far away. though she couldn't have known that at the time, there had always been something about the dreams which had felt impossibly real, as if she'd always understood how a dragon's scales felt beneath her fingertips.
when the lannisters and baratheons tore down her home and murdered her family, nesaela escaped, running through fiery streets and bloody pavements with only a pouch of her family's heirlooms and her precious dragon egg. afraid and in tears, she mounted the boat of a sea-captain allied with the targaryens, who whisked her away from kings landing and westeros altogether. together, they sailed for ulthos: the land of the unknown; unexplored and deadly and dangerous. but the houses wouldn't come looking for her there. it's through that journey and exploration of ulthos that she truly becomes who she was destined to be.
𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 ;
following the typical targaryen bloodline, nessie has silver-white hair and lilac eyes. she has sharp cheekbones and a pointed jaw, appearing somewhat gaunt. nessie has a small gap between her front teeth and a pretty, toothy lopsided smile. unlike highborn ladies, she has freckles on her face and limbs from days spent in the sun. she has skin pale as milk, and her eyes are sweet and almond-shaped. her hair is long, trailing to her elbows. she's skinny girl and tall for her age, with long legs and arms and jutting collarbones. her height reaches 5'11" / 6'0", taking after the genes of her more ancient ancestors of rhaenora targaryen or visenya targaryen.
as she becomes older, she only becomes taller and her cheekbones grow more prominent and gaunt.
𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 ;
since childhood, nesaela has been a mostly quiet young girl, very timid and shy, unwilling to stand up to others. acting submissively and subserviently, she fears her father and the men around him, never quite trusting their words or actions. her fear controls her, often causing her to stay quiet in conversations and agree with whatever the other person is suggesting.
however, despite her timidness, nesaela is very driven. she fights for survival and justice, particularly surrounding the treatment of other living things. it's her wish to have all the suffering in the world end: she's seen enough war-torn, starving bodies to want anything else. she is soft-spoken and kind, always wanting to help those in need, even if it doesn't benefit her. she's quite observant and notices little details that most might miss. her instincts are usually spot-on, and drive her to do foolish, ambitious things which always turn out to be the right path of action.
nessie thinks poetically and often has moments where she breaks into poetic dialogue, lost in her own curious thoughts. largely due to this, she suffers from bouts of melancholy where she contemplates life and why she, of all people, outlived her family and those she truly loved. she has moments of insecurity and loneliness which gnaw at her, and cause her to act withdrawn or quiet.
throughout her story, nesaela grows to become stronger and more self-assured. though still merciful and gentle, her timidness wears away and she's no longer afraid to fight for herself. she becomes to trust her decisions and no longer doubts why she should be the one alive. despite the sadness which still pains her, she understands her duties to protect her people, and is a selfless leader who is willing to literally fight gods and monsters in order to save those around her.
𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐎𝐍 ;
nessie adopted the southern fashion of high-born ladies from kings landing, with silk, flowing dresses and hair pinned in braids. she particularly enjoyed wearing purple or sea-foam coloured gowns which pooled around her feet in waves of silk. she always wore a silver, three-headed dragon pin in her hair.
after escaping her home and travelling on a ship, she changed into men's clothing due to availability: a tunic, trousers and a coat to keep her warm, coupled with over-sized boots. upon arriving in ulthos, she first wears the simple garments which are given to slaves, torn clothing of various sizes redistributed after they'd previously been brought to ulthos by someone else. when she rises to power, nessie wears dresses once again, though this time in the ulthosi style: with high halters and gaping necklines, and sleeves which flow towards the floor. she wears armour beneath this to protect her at all times. at this point, her hair is mostly down or pinned in a few braids, with little care about her hair displaying status.
𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐒 ;
ᵐᵉʳᶜⁱᶠᵘˡⁿᵉˢˢ- nesaela's gentleness and determination to not be like her father sparks her mercy wherever she goes. while considered a virtuous trait, her willingness to spare those around her leads to greater problems, where she may become their next target. this mercy can be taken advantage of and manipulated in order to harm her in many ways.
ᵃᵇˢᵉⁿᵗ⁻ᵐⁱⁿᵈᵉᵈ- a large fatal flaw of nesaela's is her susceptibility to becoming wrapped up in thoughts and being unaware of her surroundings. though this gets mostly taken under control later in her story, she becomes wrapped in deep thoughts which she can't possibly find the answer to. wondering whether her family was burned or buried with the flowers, or if the dead dragons' souls returned to the sky are examples of these: where she contemplates for too long about mysterious things and forgets reality for a while. though seemingly just a silly, child-like daydream, after being enraptured in these concepts for so long, nessie can become distressed at the melancholic outcomes of the situations she thinks of, sending her into a spiral.
ᵗⁱᵐⁱᵈ ⁿᵃᵗᵘʳᵉ- nessie's timidness earlier in the story, means she finds it difficult to raise her opinions against someone else's. it holds her back against intelligent arguments she could win, and makes her afraid of conflict.
ᶠʳᵃᵍⁱˡⁱᵗʸ- while nesaela is only "fragile" in earlier stages of the story, it affects her deeply. though able to endure many things and still come out strong, she is fragile in the sense that small words and actions from people around her can break her. terribly afraid of her father, his hate and abuse towards her means she feels she might shatter like glass every time she's around him. just a word of his hatred against her creates instant fear and shame, making her feel like she's worth nothing.