PRIYA
Name: Priya
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Height: 7’ 5” / 2.26~ m
Weight: 231 lbs. / 104.8~ kg
Species: Human
Occupation: Martial Artist
Likes/Loves: Fighting strong opponents, Iris, tournaments, wacky T-shirts, art in general, drinking contests
Dislikes/Hates: Boredom, weak fighters, cheaters, a certain shop’s cherry pie, people who are all talk, going to formal gatherings, heights
Favorite Food: Kai yang (Thai grilled chicken), mu yang (grilled pork), and meat dishes in general
Favorite Drink: Hard beer (it takes a lot for her to get wasted), pink lemonade, boba tea
Hobbies: Carpentry, jogging, collecting jewelry


Background

At a young age, Priya's parents signed her up for Muay Thai classes due to her high-energy nature, and she took to Muay Thai like a duck takes to water. Finding it to her liking, she decided to make a career out of it as an adult. While she suffered from a string of defeats early in her career, she picked herself back up as her size and long limbs gave her more and more of an advantage. By the time she was around 15 years old, she had fought her way to the top and became a world champion of Muay Thai. At the age of 18, she challenged a man named Viktor, stated to be the strongest Muay Thai fighter in the world, and ultimately managed to defeat him, earning her the title of the “Monarch of Muay Thai.”

Ever since this historic victory, many more fighters have tried to take Priya’s title from her, and every single one of them fell at her feet. After a while, however, Priya grew bored—the competition in the Muay Thai circuit alone proved far too weak for her liking, her opponents often falling in a few hits. Thus, at the age of 25, she entered the world of Mixed Martial Arts in the hopes of finding a true challenge. Even there, however, Priya found little in the way of challenge. There were some opponents who could make her sweat, but those were few and far between. She quickly rose through the ranks and became a champion once again, and her many victories earned her the title of “Priya the Invincible.” Even she started to buy into the hype herself - in her mind, there was no one who could touch her! But as much as she enjoyed the hype in and of itself, the ease with which her battles ended left her feeling... dissatisfied. This combination of outward cockiness and internal boredom went on for about nine years or so.

And then… she met her…

During one of her usual romps through a local tournament, Priya’s audience included a woman with short, almost purplish hair wearing a long blue headband, who seemingly just wandered right into the stadium. The woman’s criticisms of Priya and the opponents that she had so effortlessly dominated irked the other spectators, so they forced her into the ring to put her money where her mouth was. Priya at first assumed that this same woman, going by the name of “Iris Bellerose,” would just be another addition to the long list of would-be challengers that she would crush under her foot. But then, when another fighter started jostling Iris’ dogi, the latter knocked him out in one headbutt. This caught Priya’s eye – whoever this “Iris” person was, there was definitely something different about her compared to everyone else who had challenged her thus far. She just had to take her on. The battle began in earnest.

Things seemed even at first, with Priya keeping pace and landing a few good hits, but Iris’ style and skill proved to be something way beyond what she usually deals with. Though Priya’s towering height gave her an obvious reach advantage, all she could do was delay the inevitable as Iris closed in. After that, Iris slowly but surely started to dominate the match, dodging and parrying all of Priya’s blows while countering with powerful hits of her own. Though Priya kept fighting, she was worn out from all the damage that Iris had done to her. One final roundhouse kick to the face was all Iris needed to finally put her down for the count. Priya was barely even conscious at that point, and no matter how much she tried to will herself back to her feet, her body refused to cooperate. All she could do was lie there and listen helplessly as she was counted out. She was invincible no more.

This was a truly sobering experience, with Priya feeling utterly humbled by the first defeat she had suffered in over nine years. At the same time, though… she hadn’t felt this alive in a long time. For the first time in years, Priya had finally found someone who could challenge her – a warrior worthy of her skills. This lit a fire in Priya that had previously been dimmed by years of easy victories. She wanted to train harder than before, to push herself to Iris’ level. She tracked down Iris in the hopes of learning more about her and establishing a friendly rivalry with her. Iris, not being the most social creature around, simply blew her off at first, but Priya proved persistent. As it stands now, Iris at least seems willing to tolerate Priya’s presence.

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Priya ©  ArrowDSparrow