Korra Zerlinda Francisco

"They trained us to fight, and so we fight. Whether it's as a gladiator in an arena, as a mercenary seeking gold, or as a contracted soldier in war, the result is the same: Someone is going to die." ~Korra Zerlinda Francisco~

Korra Zerlinda Francisco is an orphaned swordmaster and natural-born Kumenza from the eastern fringes of East Aurum near its border with southern Sekuna near Kroggné. She and her brother Kuro are two of the last members of the Saitan-Mka, an organization famous for its masters of the blade.

While she is not amoral, she has been raised and reared as a killer, and so has little qualms with ending lives in combat. As a veteran of many gruesome wars and battles, she is a lot less mentally stable than her brother, and does what she can to cover this up.

Early Life
Korra was born in 4576 in East Aurum, exactly 382 days (1 year, 9 days) after her elder brother. Inspired by tactics used in Krippan Military academies, her parents trained her and her brother in the art of combat and swordplay from as early as 3 or 4 when they were first able to pick up a wooden sword. In truth it was a cultural tradition of a faction known as the Saitan-Mka, which was a culture of blademasters that had since fallen from a once-glorious organization into a scant few members who were mostly nomads or Kumenza.

When she was 14, her parents were slain in a purge from the Arakos who sought to retake this patch of land, and she and her brother were taken to Kroggné by Arakos where they were held as gladiators. Korra in particular became a crowd favourite and so was taken to the arena much more often than her brother.

Kroggñan Prisoner
Korra's training with the sword benefitted her in some of Kroggné's sadistic gladiatorial games, some of which also turned into days-long games of survival. Despite her young age, she became a proficient killer, and survived multiple sojourns in the Arakan arenas. It was not without cost though, and most likely because of her youth, Korra acquired various forms of PTSD from these events, which shake her even to this day. Notwithstanding these handicaps, Korra steeled herself and was eventually part of another rebellion that freed herself, her brother, and hundreds of other Kumenza from the Arakan tyranny.

Life as a Free Woman
Outside of Kroggné, Korra and her brother resumed their teachings under the Saitan-Mka once again, and by the time they came of age, both wielded swords with such deadly proficiency that they were sometimes referred to as "sword demons" for their fierce and deadly strikes. Despite her attitude and attachment to her blade, Korra cares deeply for the people she makes connections with, which has only exacerbated the emotional instability and trauma she acquired from her earlier life of combat, bloodshed, and life by the blade.