Vaneria Thorneveil is a tall, narrow-shouldered high elf who moves with the careful grace of someone always listening for a second heartbeat in the room. Her skin has the faint sheen of polished ashwood, cool and pale except where old scars trace silver lines along her wrists and collarbone like hurried constellations. Her hair is black at first glance, but under candlelight it reveals a deep green-blue luster, worn in a long braid threaded with tiny brass keys that never seem to jingle. Her left eye is clear grey, while her right eye is a striking amber ringed with gold, an unexpected warmth that makes her gaze feel both kind and predatory. She dresses in layered midnight velvet over supple leather, with a fitted coat that has one elegant silk cuff and one sleeve reinforced with hidden lamellar plates. Her clothing is immaculate in silhouette but subtly repaired in too many places to count, giving her the look of a noble who learned poverty by necessity and never quite forgot it. She smells faintly of rain on stone, ink, and lamp oil.