Appearance:
Niri has a fairly wiry build, achieved from spending much of her youth exploring ruins with her father. She’s a little on the short side, but she gets by, though she actually lacks in muscle…it’s not due to a lack of exercise, but more a sort of natural wimpiness that causes her much annoyance. She usually wears short, sturdy black boots or comfortable, high topped shoes, trousers of denim or similar material, colorful blouses, and jackets over the top, sometimes favoring various geometric designs. Niri loves color, but she’s usually more interested in function than fashion. She almost always wears her purple hair up in a ponytail high on her head. Niri is near-sighted, so she wears glasses most of the time. She also has tattoos on her right cheek – two wavy green lines, one above the other, apparently made to emulate her father’s but with a slight variation. Niri has a bit of a pixie-ish, mischievous face, with a slightly upturned button nose and often a bit of an amused twinkle in her eyes. She almost always has a grin on her face or at least a pleasant expression, which reflects her natural cheerfulness; she doesn’t usually hide her emotions though, wearing her heart on her sleeve and her feelings on her face for the whole world to see. She is seldom sad, but when she is, she tries to act upbeat. She doesn’t hesitate to show anger or irritation, but she doesn’t like to let her own gloominess get other people down.

Background:
Niri is the only daughter of Hiro and Lucia Salyan, and though the family travels a great deal, they usually live in a comfortable, out-of-the-way home not too far from the Hylan Academy, in the reviving woods of former Pennsylvania. Niri is the daughter of celebrities, but she has not let that inflate her ego very much. On the contrary, she is often self-conscious and a bit afraid that she will do something to shame her family or damage their reputation.

Having grown up around celebrities, both her parents and their well-known friends, Niri is not too easily impressed by fame. She affords the great heroes a healthy respect unless they prove themselves unworthy of it, and she eagerly aspires to one day join their ranks, but she is well aware that they are ultimately only human. As a child, however, Niri believed her father Hiro could do anything. Now, as she approaches adulthood, Niri admits that, like other heroes, her father is only human – but deep down she retains an unshakeable faith in him. Niri has often accompanied Hiro on archaeological digs and expeditions, and she has picked up many tricks of the trade. She tries to emulate him in many ways, and she loves the adventure and excitement of exploration. Niri loves her mother, but she isn’t as close to Lucia as she is to Hiro.

Niri is very capable in many ways, but she’s somewhat sheltered. Hiro has always spoiled her a little, but Lucia has tried to make sure Niri has a basic education. Lucia’s favored subjects seem strangely impractical to Niri – art, literature, music, philosophy, religion, and history are all things Lucia deems important. Niri takes classes at the Hylan Academy, but she also has lessons with her mother. Some of her school subjects Niri finds boring, but she perseveres in order to please Lucia (most of the time). She does enjoy literature and history when reading the more exciting, adventure-filled texts, and she admits to a certain love of the written word. In fact, lately she has taken a particular interest in unearthing documents and writings of ancient times. She would translate and decipher more of them if she had the patience for it, but usually she and Hiro rely on the experts at the Hylan Academy for this. She does like to go back and pore over the finished translations, on the rare occasion that one can be made.

Of all the subjects in her education, however, the one Niri likes best is music. She has never shown too much interest in learning to play an instrument, but she enjoys listening to all kinds of music, and she has thrown herself whole-heartedly into singing. She has a very good sense of rhythm and the rare gift of perfect pitch. This gift can also be a curse, however, and she has found that her talent makes it difficult to sing in a group, particularly when performing a cappella. Much to her disappointment, she has resigned herself to rarely singing with a chorus. Instead, she takes private lessons with the songstress Haylee, and she has performed solo a few times. She loves to perform, and while she is a bit self-conscious still, this is rapidly fading, and there are many who believe that she has a wonderful career in solo music ahead of her, should she decide to pursue it. Still, a career in any kind of entertainment is somewhat frivolous and impractical in a frontier world such as this, even for the daughter of celebrities, and Niri has made no firm decisions about her future yet. She often ponders how to reconcile her many loves and interests in order to create a future and a set of reachable goals for herself.

Personality:
Because of her family’s fame and tendency to travel, Niri has no real close friends. She is well liked and gets along with others easily, but she finds it difficult to find the opportunity to get close to people. For this reason she often feels lonely, and when she does make a friend, she has to fight the urge to be clingy and overeager.

As mentioned, Niri is very open and tends to wear her heart on her sleeve. Most of the time she is very outgoing, energetic, and cheerful. She has an odd mix of confidence and self-consciousness; she feels very capable of her abilities in some areas, but is very afraid of failure in others. She would often rather not try than risk certain kinds of failure, specifically the kinds that could lead to being ridiculed or shaming her family in some way. Usually, though, she tends to dart in without fear of consequences (especially when working on a project or goal she is particularly passionate about). She tends to be a bit overeager sometimes, which leads to occasional silly mistakes…she can be quite clumsy because of this. She’ll dart into a ruin and trip and fall on a small stone, but she has good reaction time and can often dodge falling rock or a timed trap.

Niri is very friendly and likes to see others get along. When angered or irritated, she can be quite the spitfire, however, and she gets especially vehement when defending family or friends (verbally or otherwise). She gets particularly upset whenever anyone insults her dad! Niri likes music, stargazing, adventure stories and exploring, poetry, bright colors, and rich desserts. She dislikes losing arguments and spicy food.

Motivations:
Niri wants, above all, to be worthy of her heritage and her parents’ love and belief in her. This involves not just doing things for the family, but also making a name and a reputation for herself, and not merely riding on her family’s fame. She wants to make friends, explore and have adventures, learn about the mysteries of the past and answer the questions she still has, and find a way to put all her many interests and passions to use for a worthy goal.