Alya Martios OC Portrait and Profile

Name: Alya Meyer Mártios
Meaning: In Arabic, Alya means “heaven”, “sky” and “loftiness”. In Hebrew, Alya means “to ascend”. Her surname Mártios is the Greek for “March” (the third month in the year). Meyer is her father’s surname which would traditionally be hers but hie chose to differentiate her and gave her a different last name, keeping Meyer as a middle name- it means “Enlightened”.
Age: 12
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Sephardi Jewish
Birthplace: Alya’s father was living in rogue valley Rogue Valley, Oregon at the time of her birth.
Current Residence: Camp Half-Blood. Prior to Alya’s move there they had resettled in Rogue Valley, putting an end to their travels around the Pacific North-West.
Previous residences: Rogue valley, Salem, Seattle, Burnaby and a lot of rented houses in generic but pretty Pacific North-West countryside.
Height: 5”1
Weight: 100 pounds
Blood Type: AB+
Birthday: 19th of March
Zodiac: Pisces
Eye Colour: Gray
Hair Colour: Dark brown, nearly black (wavy, just above shoulder length)
Physical Description: Relatively slender build; light for her size (partly down to her abilities). Her shoulders and hips are quite narrow. Alya has small hands and feet. Her height is composed more of herlegs than of the upper half of her body which is proportionately smaller. Alya has skin which is darker than the average white skin-tone due to her cultural heritage. Quite well-balanced facially but has eyebrows which are short and un-pronounced. Alya has a small smile rarely showing her teeth (although she is in the above picture due to my inability to draw lips) her teeth are relatively straight although she has smaller incisors than seen typically.
Alya prefers long tops (of the kind which are longer at each side and shorter at the front) worn with leggings. Loose garments in general are favoured for her over tight ones (perhaps as a nod to the velificatio her mother is known for).
Personality
Good Traits: Self-reliant, is used to; self-directed, is decisive and trusts herself enough to act on her impulse; courteous to everyone although seldom warm or confiding. Honest but guarded, she doesn’t pour her emotions and thoughts upon people but she is very honest about details and won’t keep something to herself that she thinks others can use; accepting of change, people and circumstance’s.
Flaws: Distant, guarded and can be almost indifferent at times. Reluctant to include herself in a group, although Alya is capable of working in a team she can feel uncomfortable in the group dynamic, she doesn’t define herself within it. Alya has no leadership skills. When Alya speaks it is to contribute information or ideas but almost never to share her emotions, she is very self-contained and will display her stance rather than her feelings on a subject. Alya is withdrawn in that way; being generally calm she has a lack of zeal and passion but views things without feeling involved. Lack of empathy with others, doesn’t apply herself to their viewpoint or try to help people.
Good Habits: Not easily angered and when she acts on impulse it is never unrestrained or out of control. Alya is also used to looking after herself and seldom makes any kind off demand. Alya spends a lot of time outdoors. Doesn’t overwork herself.
Bad Habits: Doesn’t open up to people. Is often blunt in her attempts to be objective and calm. Has a hard time relaxing or letting go of herself around others, instead seems constantly tense and alert. Unpunctual and can come in several minutes late. Finds it extremely hard to trust.
Any weird habits?: She sways as she walks subconsciously. She plays with the wind. Converses with it almost and laughs occasionally as it moves strands of her hair. Sometimes whistles when she inhales accidentally. Sometimes speak vaguely in metaphors which are considered extremely annoying.
Fears: being in an enclosed space with a group of people for two long unnerves her. It’s a combination of her ADHD, introverted nature and probably very mild un-diagnosed claustrophobia.
She also fears loosing herself, becoming someone that she doesn’t like or recognise. Alya relies quite heavily on her own sanity and competence. Similarly she really fears paralysis as the concept of having to rely solely on others for her survival terrifies her.
Large mobs and crowds also put her on edge, especially those which are frantic, panicked or busy.
Favourite Food: Tuna steak (quite rare with coriander)
Favorite Drink: Lemonade (still, sweet and cloudy in the American style)
Favorite Scent: Jasmine or possibly the air in autumn
Favorite Movie: The Phantom Of The Opera (the 2005 movie)
Favorite Song: Kathy's Song, Simon and Garfunkel
Favorite Band/Singer: doesn’t really have one, in general prefers instrumentals to lyrical songs.
Favorite Time of Year: Autumn
Favorite Time of Day: Early morning and dawn
Favourite Colour: Russet. This would surprise anybody who knew her. Alya has hidden depths
Best Subject (Camp): Enjoys rock-climbing and foot-racing as she considers them somewhat therapeutic. She likes Greek Speak as well and has an interest in Greek epics.
Worst Subject (Camp): Sword-play. I will talk further on this in the ‘battle’ section. Also dislikes at javelin-throwing and archery her skills at them are fairly mediocre but she doesn’t do as badly in them as her abilities help her accuracy.
Performance at school: Alya moved around a lot in her childhood so didn’t achieve stable academic success. Overall she was a fairly average pupil: quite bright but withdrawn and not animated enough to exhibit much flair. She did best in history, music and physics. She can paint fairly well with watercolours but isn’t otherwise good at art. She has something of an interest in poetry as her father brought her up with it around the house but she can’t write very well and isn’t as well read as she would otherwise have been if not for her slight dyslexia (milder than most half-bloods suffer). Her least favourite subjects at school were IT, textiles and technology. She probably dislikes technology most of these as she isn’t good with her hands and finds it difficult to apply her mathematical ideals (relatively strong) to a practical reality.

Family/Friends
Mother: Aura (goddess of the morning wind and the breeze)
Alya has been told this from when she first thought to ask. At first she accepted this but later decided that this was her dad’s version of her mother. Other people probably saw her mother as a person rather than a goddess but her father had a tendency to think in dreams and metaphors and so he could well be thinking of her in that way. Alya found herself thinking in a similar way to her dad, she felt like the breezes were part of her and part of her mother and she accepted this too.
She has never talked face-to-face with her mother but is content with the peace between them and doesn’t resent her godly parent. Aura isn’t absent in her life but only a minimum of her presence is reqired by her daughter.
Father: Absalom (Aby) Meyer
Rather a wind-swept, dream-bent man at the best of times. A poet –or, more practically, a bum- Aby was 19 when he first saw the dawn goddess in January 1999. He was good-looking with bronzed skin and dark hair falling in waves below his chin in an unruly manner. He views Alya with a scatter-brained fondness. She is self-sufficient and doesn’t mind that he is often removed from her life. They get along fine together. He home-schooled her for a month or so while she was in between schools. They read The Odyssey in a mixture of ancient Greek (Absalom didn’t know much, the idea was to learn it together) and English translation. He gives her the occasional poetry book or they’ll sit and paint watercolours together. They don’t talk much or interfere with each other’s lives but neither of them minds.
Step-Parent: None
Siblings: None
Closest Friends (Camp): none yet, for development’s sake Alya has literally just arrived. She seems quiet but more self-assured and less questioning or disbelieving than the usual new arrivals. She’s 12 and will be placed in the ‘other deities’ cabin so send me a note if your character might become close to her under these conditions. This girl could do with a close friend. Hlynn Lambert
The only person she knows at camp is Truman Fennel, a satyr with the appearance of a sixth former at her school and approached her with the truth one Tuesday after he smelled that she was a demigod. She doesn’t trust him particularly but went with him as she knew he was telling the truth because she had always been told her mother was a goddess and his story seemed consistent with this.
Closest Friends (Outside): Alya and her father travelled a lot while her father tried to hold down a job. Alya doesn’t make friends quickly and, whilst they learnt to respect her, her peers saw her as someone who liked to keep to herself (and they were right) she has had no close friends in the past although she is generally accepted by others.
Boy/Girlfriend: none
Past Relationships: none

Battle
Weapon: Throwing knives, celestial bronze, quite long blades and smooth, marbled handles.
Style: medium to long-range, quite defensive,
Alya will avoid an opponent’s blows and try to aim a knife with enough accuracy to bring them down. Will avoid close combat preferring to stay more than an arm’s width away from the opponent. If successful she is able to allow a combatant to exert themselves whilst staying out of harm’s way and throwing her knives which will injure them. If in a desperate situation and trapped in close range of an enemy Alya will stab them with a throwing knife or hurl it the short distance with extreme force.
Strengths: She’s nimble and light on her feet so can dodge with relative ease. Can help ensure her projectiles hit their target by manipulating air currents around them to a minor degree. Her aim is very good. She handles her knives with finesse and can use them to defend herself in closer-combat if forced to.
Weaknesses: bad at swordplay as can’t wield a sword to any great effect, when handling a sword her blows are weak and her blocks and parrying poorly executed. These are liabilities in hand-to-hand combat. Alya finds bows complicated and cumbersome, she thinks they take too long to aim and fire in a battle situation and she seems ill at ease whilst trying to use one naturally. Has a poor recovery time and will seem dazed and off-balance after being hit. Not very strong. Can’t multitask to much of a degree so is easy to defeat if she is trying to fight on opponent and is caught off guard by another. Doesn’t watch her back. Not very good at strategic planning, fights impulsively.
Abilities: Can ‘see’ breezes and air currents and interact with them. She can’t summon a gale but she can subtly sculpt the air around her or redirect a breeze. She treats the air currents in some ways as acquaintances, they all have a motion and a spirit and they respond to hers.
Alya can also ride the air to a minor degree. This can allow her to control a free-fall or lend her streamline if she is trying to move swiftly but she can’t use it as a means of transportation or carry others.
Fatal Flaw: Dissociation (withdrawal of oneself and emotion from current situations) and lack of personal loyalty.

Background
Absalom’s family weren’t happy when he came home 2 weeks before turning 20 with a baby in his arms. They blatantly refused to believe that the child was his, especially when he told them, straight off and self-righteously that her mother was a goddess. Absalom’s family was not particularly religious but traditional and with very close family ties. Aby still lived with his extended family but felt said that he felt ‘restless’ and a few months after his daughter was born he left home, unmarried and unemployed. The Meyer’s basically tried to brush away all thoughts of their youngest son but his mother still sent parcels of money from time to time as appeasement; to try and maintain a link with him and because she fretted about him and wanted him to settle nearby again more than she cared to admit. Aby had a boyish bond to his family but remained separate from them. He gave his daughter the surname Mártios almost to separate her from the world he came from. Mártios was chosen after the month he had spent with Aura before his daughter’s birth.
Alya grew up without much money, constantly travelling. It didn’t bother her as she enjoyed the simplicity of being able to pack up her things in her little canvas rucksack and see a new valley, have a new room to explore, a new view out of her window. A generally quiet new child doesn’t attract much notice and Alya was always happy to be left reasonably alone.
Alya was 7 years old and living in Seattle when she encountered her first monster. Absalom was scribbling a job poem feverishly in the study. A kobalos (the Greek mythology equivalent of a gnome or a dwarf, mischievous) entered their apartment and raided the money-box was greeted with self-righteous and stern propriety of Alya. She looked at the creature for a while and then marched in and picked it up by the ragged travelling cloak that it wore. As she marched it to window she spoke in a commanding voice “who are you?”
“A traveller”
“A thief!”
“That too” the Kobalos admitted
Alya shook out the cloth bag slung over the gnome’s shoulder. Out fell several coins from the 1960s, an assortment of metal bottle tops and a belt with 3 celestial bronze knives in it (see main deviation). Wordlessly, she picked up the belt. “Are there any more of you?”
“In Seattle, Yes. In this building, no”
“why did you come here?” asked Alya scornfully “There are apartments in this building with a lot more money than here”
“you drew me here girlie.”
“I see” (she didn’t) “do you have a name?”
“Just call me Kakó”
“all right, Kakó, can you get down from here?” she gestured to the window of the apartment, he nodded his grimy head “do then, and never come back”
The Kobalos scampered away and Alya didn’t think to mention it to her father. It wasn’t important.
2 years later, Alya met a monster whilst walking by the lake in Okangan valley where she lived at the time. There was a Ketos (cetus is the latinisation) which is to say a huge sea monster like a serpentine fish. Legend has it that agopopo another sea-monster lives in that lake but it appeared that it was in fact a Ketos, serpentine and sharklike. It snapped at Alya and nearly swallowed her but she narrowly avoided its jaws and rushed home. Her father asked her what the problem was and she told him there was a huge monster in the lake. He said “that is a problem” and (after a quick rational argument with himself) decided it was time to move on again.
Alya developed coping mechanisms quickly. She trained with her throwing knives in case a situation like the Ketos ever arose again. She got expelled a once when she was caught practicing with her daggers and the staff became suspicious of her which made her the ideal person to throw blame on for a bullying-ring but nothing too serious. However, Alya did not encounter anything out of the ordinary for more than two years. Alya and her father moved back to Seattle when she was 11 and Alya was placed in the same school as a local satyr, Truman Fennel, who told her about Camp Half-Blood. Alya told her father where she was going and he told her to ‘take care’ so she packed her canvas bag and left.
Alya Mártios has just arrived at camp half-blood.


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This is a very bad drawing of my Original Character, Alya Meyer Mártios. I’ve written the profile for #Rise-Of-Heroes-CHB if they’ll accept her. She may be slightly Mary-Sue-ish and I’ll welcome any suggestions, questions, character development ideas or comments in general from the group. I am new to this. I meant what I said in the 'friends (camp)' section. Alya could do with a close friend. Send me a note if you have one for her.

DO NOT USE THIS CHARACTER WITHOUT MY EXPRESS PERMISSION! I’ve grown quite attached to her.

Now, a word on art: it’s not good and I know it. I thought a bad picture would be better than none at all. I sketched her whole body on a piece of scrap paper, scanned it, noticed how bad the anatomy and proportions were (a hand was the size of one of her eyes) and deleted the rest of her. Colouring the head was pretty hard. I’m proud of the not-good-at-all result because it is so much better than anyone else I’ve drawn on the computer. I am new to that too.
Alya Meyer Mártios © Me
Camp Half-Blood © Rick Riordan