Senna Shafaa

Senekha

Many, though they have used forms of 'Senna' and 'Sienna' more frequently than most.

They/them

Last they checked, approximately 4998 - give or take a few years at least.

Therapist and 'Witch'

Dryad

They no longer remember; when pressed, they will usually celebrate it on November 20th or 24th for sentimental reasons.

Approx. 130 lbs

5'5 currently

A bright forest green streaked with autumnal orange-browns. It's natural, but passed off as dyed to not raise too many eyebrows.

Generally quite wild; whilst they do sometimes wear it up, or otherwise smooths and straightens it, the majority of the time, Senna's hair is a mess of curls and waves only barely tamed for professionalism's sake.

Oceanic blue; the swirls of colour in their eyes almost seem to shift with the light and their expressions, sometimes giving the illusion of waves moving beneath the surface.

Extensive; see Identifying Marks.

Well-rounded and heavily proportioned.

One of the most prominent identifying marks are the spiral patterns that line the majority of their body. The intricate markings appear much like the rumoured ancient Celtic knotwork, framing the features of their face, but they extend all over their body - Senna's marks detail down their neck, across every limb, over their torso and back, their hips, and even their hands & feet. Mostly simplistic, some areas feature more complex twists, spirals, and geometric patterns.

These are, in truth, their Gaia mark, patterned over with delicate needlework to better disguise them as tattoos; without the ink they are still visible to the naked eye, and are especially vibrant when using their magic. The ink however, has a special photoreactive substance designed to 'absorb' some of the glow, turning it from a very identifiably-supernatural lightshow into a more mystical, faint hum of light.

This is of course, still passed off as tricks of light and illusionary practices - Senna maintains the 'woods witch' persona for that very reason, as the more sceptical will simply dismiss them, and the ones who believe them don't tend to risk offending them by speaking of it.

A variety of styles suit Senna, as they have shifted cultures many times over the years. As of late though, they favour long dresses and full-body clothing accompaniments (especially winter sweaters and jackets); not so much to hide their markings, but simply enjoying the 'homely' feel of such styles, and the way it tends to be more inviting to people meeting them - very much helping them project the 'friendly mom' vibe.

Though they have lost many, Senna keeps a handful of tokens and trinkets beyond just their magical ones; memories of bygone eras and cultures, sometimes taken as mementos, other times given as gifts.

When pressed about why they, someone most people would suspect of middle-eastern descent, bears such extensive and intricate needlework akin to the tales steeped in Celtic folklore and druidic practices, Senna will remark that it was partly a fascination with old folklore, and to cover scars they have suffered previously - whilst some of this is very technically true, it's mostly a small lie they tell. Most of their scarring was done because of their existing Gaia mark, and the tattooing covered up both in the end.

Senna is a warm, kind-hearted individual with a near-fathomless sense of patience. They seek to be inviting, welcoming, and understanding in every aspect of their life - acknowledging that their level of tolerance can, and has been, occasionally harmful to them. They will do their best to protect others from such fallout, and with many years of experience, Senna is rather good at containing such outcomes to affect them alone - but they are not infallible either.

Ultimately, their driving ambition is to heal; physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually - Senna aims to help people heal, and to give them the tools to recover on their own. Professionally and personally, this outlook affects Senna's interactions with just about everyone they meet.

Overall however, the most common descriptor they have been given as that they give off a 'friendly mom' vibe; wholesome, welcoming, and generally someone in whom others can find support, recovery, and understanding.

• As can probably be expected, Senna adores nature and practically everything in it; it is often encompassed in their therapeutic practices and personal life, and as a Dryad, Senna cannot be away from nature for all that long before it causes issues, even for one as grounded and experienced as they are




• Music is a highlight for Senna; they possess a decent singing voice, but no other specific musical talent. Nevertheless, they thoroughly enjoy the way music expresses things, particularly emotion, and the ability to tell stories through such mediums




• Cooking! They have gotten remarkably good at it, particularly just about anything that doesn't require fire to work. Even then, they can reasonably cook conventionally, though they are incredibly careful about doing so.




• Senna has a very big soft spot literature about epics and heroes' journey style stories. They are a big fan of people giving it their all in quests to aid others, no matter how big or small, and their enjoyment of such stories often means Senna can be found with a novel somewhere within arm's reach




• Large cats! See more in Relationships.




• Cultivation of plants; Senna uses it for therapy sometimes, but just in general, they do a lot with the cultivation of flora. They are extremely careful with introductory flora however, including many Lotus species, despite personal attachments to them

• Uncontrolled fire; fire itself causes them some unease, but it is really only wild, raging fires that they dislike. Even then, Senna understands how fire plays a process in natural healing - but because of this, perhaps their strongest dislike is when intentional fires go wildly out of control.




• Cruelty for cruelty's sake; the world can be harsh, and Senna has plenty of experience coaching and reaching out to people who have seen the worst of it. However they are not inured to the suffering, and it always shakes them up a little with just how cruel people can be. Senna does understand however, that cruelty can be a response to trauma as well - hence why it the reasoning behind the cruelty matters to them.




• Interference or otherwise restricting people from self-discovery and healing; not just because of their profession, but just generally their outlook on life, Senna very much dislikes when it is others who hold back someone who is trying to recover and heal. There is sometimes well-intentioned reasons behind it, but Senna believes that being given the opportunity to discover for oneself is paramount - and so they do their utmost to facilitate such, and dislike others counteracting that facilitation.

Experience: Perhaps their single greatest asset is the sheer life experience they possess. On the verge of celebrating their 5000th birthday, Senna has lived through many, many things, and though their memory is not perfect, there is much for them to draw upon for inspiration, wisdom, and guidance.

Resilience: Senna is near-unflappable, and takes almost anything in stride. They have borne through not only their own suffering, but the vicarious suffering of others, and come out unshaken time and time again. When it comes to enduring and maintaining both hope and peace of mind, Senna excels.

Compassion: As mentioned, Senna attempts to practice compassion and tolerance to such a degree that it frequently puts them at risk of being hurt, physically and emotionally. There is always a risk of being taken advantage of, and manipulation of their compassion for others - something their sister utilised for many, many years. Whilst Senna has gotten better at dealing with such outcomes, it is still a significant weak spot that less benign entities can generate advantage from.

Additionally, and it is always a constant struggle for them, Senna teeters on the edge of having a Messiah complex - and they know it. As such, finding the boundaries of what they can and can't help with, and what they should help with, is a very ongoing struggle.

Webs of the Past: Living for such a long time also puts Senna at risk. They have made enemies over the years, and whilst many are gone, others are not (chiefly their sister), and some even have passed down vendettas through generations. Every cover they have used, every deed performed, every lie spoken to maintain the Statute or help another - 5 millennia provides near-endless ammunition to catch them out on, and it is a time-and-energy-consuming affair to deal with every day.

They have taken many lovers over the course of their lives, and would have likely been considered pansexual. However, for at least several centuries now, Senna has become less and less active in this way, to the point that they posit their attraction to others sexually has all but vanished.

Senna is a compassionate individual with a highly developed set of skills around dealing with emotional complexities and trauma - as such, they are often the person others turn to in turmoil. A 'mom friend' through and through, Senna is there to support others, and seems to find genuine happiness in seeing others heal and be happy.

Conversely, though Senna has had numerous enemies, their relationship to them is complex; their sister is an unique case of course, but for the most part Senna struggles to place blame or fault on others for antagonistic relations with them. In general, Senna may dislike things people do, even strongly, but they do not seem to have the capacity to hate anyone - and even strongly disliking a person has been reserved for perhaps a handful of individuals in their entire lifetime.

This is not to say they do not actively disrupt machinations of people acting against them, but rather, that they do so with a strange sort of calm and peace that lacks hostility towards their enemies.

Four or so millennia is a lot of time - Senna has had many relationships of all kinds in that time frame, though not a single one is still alive today, barring perhaps the handful of phoenixes they have loved who may still be living out reborn lives somewhere.

Nowadays, their love extends mostly in a platonic sense; friends are treated like family, and close friends are given just about every bit of their attention that Senna can spare should they want it. Senna will willingly put themselves in harm's way, sacrificing just about any aspect of their life, if deemed necessary to help such close relationships.

General Knowledge: Though their memory is not by any means perfect, there is still a lot of information for Senna to pull upon, and as such, they have a pretty good general knowledgebase.

Therapeutic Intervention: Healing is their speciality, and even more than that, Senna's greatest talents besides the miraculous healing magic they possess extends into dealing with trauma. They are constantly updating their methods with new research of course, but Senna's own experiences in dealing with trauma in others are so deep that they have developed several types of therapy pertinent to healing heavily traumatised individuals and giving them tools to be independent.

Skilled Magic-User: Experience is a fantastic teacher, and Senna has never been shy about using their magic. Unlike many Dryads, this even extends to their healing magic, but in general, Senna has mastered their inherent magic to a high degree.

Enchanting: Senna has no small skill with creating magical items, particularly wards and potions. Some have been scattered to the winds, distributed to loved ones or lost along the way, but they keep a large repository at home and can create more when materials are acquired.

Sleight of Hand: Mundane 'illusionary* practices are a skillset developed out of necessity more than anything else; Senna has learned that sometimes, it is easier to lean into occult stereotypes to ward away attention from genuine magic being performed. As such, they utilise this talent to play into the 'woods witch' persona and deflect away greater scrutiny into genuine supernatural phenomena that would otherwise risk the Statute - though Senna has a bad habit of toeing that line, particularly as someone who lived prior to its implementation.

Senna can often be found reading, taking walks through the Alaskan wilderness, or visiting patients amongst Snow Haven - checking on the well-being is as much a hobby to them as a professional matter, as it eases their heart to know how people are faring.

It's also possible to entice them with music of just about any kind, though they favour orchestral and non-synthesised sounds the most.

It is only in recent times that Senna has adopted the usage of neutral pronouns; for perhaps a few centuries or so, they have become increasingly reserved about their gender identity, but it was only as discourse developed around it that they could adequately describe and place things. As such, Senna sees themselves as non-binary, though their appearance often draws feminine remarks and pronouns - for the most part, Senna does not strictly correct others, and it is only when specifically asked or when dealing with friends that they more stringently request they/them usage.

Any shade of green! But they have a fondness for oranges, browns, yellows, and blues as well.

Not so much a possession, but they have a special bond to a number of trees not too far out from Snow Haven - trees that they planted with patients, as part of their recovery process, and a marker of their journey beyond Senna's care.

Senna's accent has slowly naturalised, having been in Alaska for a few decades now. They have varied a little over that time, purposefully, but not so much as to be wholly foreign.

Generally, their speech is soft-spoken and calming - they are occasionally quite clinical, but for the most part, warming and open in the way they speak.

Senna's parents are long since passed; both perished during some of the larger wildfires that ravished ancient Greece's natural landscape.

Senna has a sister - born Senem - who they believe to still be alive today as well. Due to stark differences in personality, they have not seen their sister in centuries now, and even then, only briefly over the last couple of millennia. However Senna believes Senem to be active, if only due to the perception of their sister as one who will survive by sheer will alone; Senem is driven to do things 'because she can', pushing boundaries that Senna has, in the past, had to try and fix long after.

However, after a point, this became less tenable - and actively dangerous, when their sister began to seek them out, if only to experiment on them. As such, Senna has been more recluse and careful, to a point - they have their own beliefs that prevent them from withdrawing from society altogether.

Senna has a fondness for large cats (lions, in particular, despite their extreme scarcity as a native population in Alaska), but in general likes animals. However, they do not tend to keep pets, only tending to injured ones long enough to see them return to their lives.

Senna may have descendants scattered around the world; not only of their line, but of their sister. It is not something Senna has actively sought out, but it is possible one day that family comes looking for them.

Senna does not remember; they often celebrate on either November 20th or 24th for religious reasons if pressed or otherwise trying to maintain a sense of normalcy.

Egypt, circa 3rd millennium BC.

A cottage northwest of Snow Haven, approximately 45 minutes away from the town outskirts.

They have a wide and deep breadth of education, but perhaps the most prominent modern ones include a multitude of PhDs and Masters pertaining to psychology, counselling, therapy, and biology.

Fluent - English, Arabic, German, Spanish, and French.
Passable - most other central European languages.
Rusty - eastern European languages, Hindi, and a number of the oceanic languages

Due to their advanced age, giving a proper overview it a time-intensive affair. Suffice to say, Senna has moved, lived, and suffered through various places and events around the globe. They have not quite travelled everywhere per se, but to many of larger countries in the world at the very least.

Their time in Egypt, and then Greece, was more than a little difficult during their earlier days, especially after the loss of their parents. Since then however, Senna has travelled for a variety of reasons - wisdom, experience, evading persecution, cleaning up their sister's messes, and self-discovery.

They have been in Alaska now for a few decades, and were already present in Snow Haven's proximity when the Call went out - Senna is well aware that the town is a strange place, as the very earth beneath it trembles with mystery and ancient secrets.

Natural born Dryad

Senna has mastered use of their Terra magic, and excels with all three areas even though their speciality lies in the healing portion. Unlike many other Dryads, they are not so reserved in the usage of it, though they still show plenty of discretion, using mundane means where possible.

Senna's home is filled with a variety of magical objects - most of which are of their own creation, aiding in a wide range of magical endeavours, though their favoured ones relate specifically to comfort and healing.

They do however, have a number of items given as gifts over the years - tokens of appreciation, gratitude, even payment for their services. Many are types of wards, or creature comforts of elemental magic they cannot use themselves - but a handful are specifically designed to protect their home and their, hiding it from prying eyes and interfering supernaturals.

Finally, and perhaps the most curious of their items, are a series of rings woven out of numerous kinds of plants - six in all, each possessing strands from different trees and other flora from around the world. The rings are bound to them, no matter the distance, to provide assistance when healing - specifically, to lower the impact it has on their body, mind, and spirit. They belong to an original set of 12, but six have already been 'burned' by overuse, rendered into ash and given back to the earth to recuperate. Senna uses them when they try to heal the most serious or complex types of wounds, be it physical, mental or otherwise.

Due to their accumulation of magical tokens, trinkets, and items, Senna has a habit of being seen as a kind of woods witch, accumulating power through external sources imbued with magic or designed to harness magic from the environment over time. Senna doesn't do much to disperse this notion, as it allows them to blend 'folk' healing into their work, and lends credence to their ability to heal in ways others cannot without strictly raising the kinds of suspicions that would break the Statute.

Or at least, that's the hope anyways.

Senna has a supernatural bond with Lotus flowers, though only some kinds grow in Alaska - their strongest tie is to a foreign kind known as the White Lotus, of which they keep a small specimen of on their person most of the time, woven into their hair or otherwise somewhere on their clothing usually.

Senna also has a habit of cultivating plants of varying heritages; these can be supplied to others, and it is a little something of a side business that they operate more or less for fun. It is, however, extremely useful for people trying to procure plantlife for potions - and so Senna has had contact with Nightfall for that very reason.