Mira Saltwillow – Half-Elf Tide-Priestess
“The tide remembers every promise ever whispered into it.”
Name: Mira Saltwillow
Race: Half-Elf
Role/Class: Tide-Priestess (Cleric of the Estuary)
Appearance: Mira Saltwillow is a slender half-elf woman with smooth olive-toned skin and long, dark hair braided with thin strands of sea grass, shells, and river pearls. Her ears taper gently, marking her mixed heritage without exaggeration. Her eyes are a striking pale blue-gray, like shallow water under clouded skies, and often appear distant—as if watching something far beyond the present moment.
She wears layered robes of linen and treated sailcloth in soft blues, greens, and bone-white hues, designed to move easily between shore and skiff. Her sleeves are embroidered with flowing tide-motifs, and her boots are water-resistant, stained permanently with salt and peat. Around her neck hangs a ceremonial tide medallion etched with concentric wave-rings, polished smooth by years of touch. When Mira speaks blessings, faint moisture beads in the air around her hands, as though the marsh itself leans in to listen.
Backstory
Mira was born where fresh river water meets the salt tide, the child of a wandering elven trader and a human net-mender from the marsh hamlets. From a young age, she displayed an uncanny sensitivity to the water—predicting sudden surges, sensing when fish would scatter, and calming frightened sailors with whispered prayers.
Rather than dedicating herself to a single god, Mira was trained in the old estuary rites: a fluid belief system honoring balance, memory, and the living currents that bind land and sea. Over time, she became a tide-priestess, blessing boats, guiding funerary offerings downstream, and interpreting the will of the waters through subtle signs—foam patterns, reed bends, and the taste of salt in the wind.
Mira avoids politics but cannot escape influence. Smugglers, merchants, and villagers alike seek her favor, believing that a vessel blessed by Saltwillow is less likely to be claimed by the marsh. Whether this belief is faith or fact remains unclear—but Mira has seen enough drownings to know that respect for the tide saves lives.
