Character Sheet -- Avengers Assemble!

[aa_valkyrie]

CHARACTER'S FULL NAME: Brunnhilde

CODENAME: Valkyrie

ALIASES/NICKNAMES: Val

RACE: Valkyrior: descendents of the Asgardian stock. They share many of the traits of the Asgardians, but are wholly female. The Valkyrie serve Asgard as allies and subjects, bending knee only to Odin.

GENDER: Female

AGE: Centuries Old. Appears to be in her late 30's, early 40's.

ORIGIN: The Valkyrie care for Valhalla, named in honor of Odin's Hall at the heart of Asgard. It is the place of honor to which they spirit the brave dead. Its sacred lands occupy a fragment of the continent of Asgard herself.

POWERS:

Strength and Durability:
Valkyrie is one of the strongest of the Valkyrior with a talent for combat that is matched by the Goddess Sif alone. Although her strength is not on par with that of Thor, so blessed by Odin as he is, but she is stronger than any mortal and far quicker than even an Olympic level athlete with exceptional stamina. The valkyries were meant to strike fast and hard when the fate of the battle was to be decided.

Due to her physiology, she is immune to the majority of terrestrial diseases and is resistant to most forms of injury. Like all her people, her tissue and bone are several times as dense as the mortal equivalent making her difficult to damage although not impossibly so. She greatly dislikes getting shot. It takes far more to kill her, but Val finds it unpleasant. As well as being difficult to remove the bullets without aid when they are /firmly/ wedged amidst dense muscle. It involves knives.

Slowed Aging:
Valkyrie is neither immortal not does she have the same godliness of the true Asgardians. As one of the Valkyrior she ages very slowly, looking only a few decades old despite her centuries of experience.

Task to the Dead:
Valkyrie can perceive the approach of death in the form of the 'deathglow' which surrounds a person's body as they approach their end. She cannot say what form it will take, only that it is imminent. A hero's glow differs from that of the average person -- differentiating the brave on the field of battle.

Valkyrie can transport herself and a dying or dead body to and from the realm of the dead (Valhalla) by willing it. Each of the valkyrior are gifted by Odin with this ability, their powers imbued to their weapons, tying the lives of the shield-maidens to their blades. They are gifted again by filter of perception to those that view them, leaving their presence unseen by those -- except for those to which they reveal themselves or those who have already been brushed by Asgardian presences.

Dragonfang: Said to have been carved from the tooth of an ancient dragon, old to even to the valkyrior's ken, the sword is a shining example of Asgardian craftsmanship. Like Mjholnor it is bound to its bearer, although the blade is far less powerful -- its strikes burn the flesh around the wound as if set aflame, hot enough to cut through metal like knife through butter.

HISTORY:
The Valkyrie do not speak of their own origins or how they became flesh and strength and blood, descending from Asgardian stock. It is whispered that they were once a colony, apart from the greater civilization of Asgard, before their swore their lives as Odin's blades. It is to him alone that they answer. Each Valkyrior daughter is blessed by Odin, the Allfather of Asgard, and committed to their task as the Choosers of the Slain.

Brunnhilde was selected by Odin to lead the Valkyrior in time without mortal measure, bringing the flight to appear over the battles of the mortals and choose which of the fallen were worthy to be taken to Valhalla, the land of the honored dead. Brunnhilde served capably in this capacity for centuries.

She also led the Valkyrior to battle when Odin and Asgard called to their arms to war. It was their duty and honor for the gifts which he had bestowed them. They fought harshly and valiantly. Brunnhilde proved herself not only an incredible warrior but a fierce and stern leader, compassionate in the death of her foes by granting it quickly.

However, these skills were not enough to keep her from earning Odin's ire in the time before his age and wisdom wreathed him more comfortably. In a time long before the truce with Frost Giants, she disobeyed an order and won them a significant battle. The victory did not calm the Allfather's rage and Brunnhilde was stripped of her arms and cast to Midgard; sentenced to live out a mortal lives until he was pleased that the punishment met the crime.

The stories of her years on Earth have become legends now. The story of the Rhinemaiden and Siegmund's betrayal embedded in story and song. Brunnhilde. Strength and Betrayal. The flight of the Valkyries. All tales carry a kernel of truth, after all.

After she threw her body on the pyre, Odin was finally appeased and return Brunnhilde and her strength to the Valkyrie. She remained stripped of her position as their leader, little left to her but war. Once the pact with the Frost Giants was settled, the wars became rote. There was no challenge in the battle alone, no thrill in following the orders of another. The heroes which to spirit to Valhalla became fewer and fewer as Asgard achieved as state that was as near to peace as it ever came and the memories of her humanity haunted her.

This time, when she threw herself down, it was at Odin's feet with a plea. She asked for permission to roam Midgard, collecting its new heroes in their evolving wars, with the promise to return when the banners of Asgard were called to war. To her surprise, he agreed.

Valkyrie has been wandering its fields in the centuries since.

Subject to change.