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[light_of_the_world]

PLAYER INFORMATION

Player Name: Kat
Are you 18+?: Yes
Preferred Contact: Evilsalmon
Current Characters: Magnus Bane, Shadowhunters; Arthur Castus, King Arthur (application in process)

CHARACTER INFORMATION

Character Name: Hild
Canon: Hild by Nicola Griffith
Canonpoint: Hild comes from near the end of the novel, when she is just about to be betrothed to her half-brother.
Character Age: 18

Appearance: N/A

Background/History: Hild, daughter of Hereric, was both in early 7th century Britain. Daughter to a princeling with a good chance at the throne of overking, she should have become a peaceweaver, married off to another great princeling or king to solidify a political alliance. But that was never to be Hild’s fate, her wyrd, and this was learned at an early age.

Her father was killed when she was four -- poisoned by her uncle, Edwin, who became overking in his stead. Her mother, Breguswith, being a shrewd and political Kentish princess, knew to work quickly to assure the safety of her household. Kings throw away what they don’t have use for. Edwin, having only two sons, needed a peaceweaver. In lieu of a daughter, a niece would do, and Hereswith, Hild’s elder sister, became a trading piece. Hild, far from marriageable age but with a bright, sharp mind, became the king’s seer. Schooled by her mother and possessing her own boundless curiosity, Hild learned to observe everything, from bird flight to the posture of princelings; to sift the wheat from the chaff, knowing what mattered to kings and what mattered to farmers; and to see the pattern in the woven strands of life, to prophesy the future that she already knew would become fact.

Foretelling political intrigues and bloody uprisings, as well as good harvests and harsh weather, Hild became indispensable to her uncle. Hild used her position to learn, to grow, to keep herself and those around her safe. The ways of the woods and the farm were just as important to her as the ways of Christ priests and warriors, and she learned everything. Languages, writing, fighting, religion: she absorbed fully the bits from which life is made. Her friends were few, but cherished: Fursey, the Irish priest who taught her to write; Begu, the daughter of a lesser king who became her confidant; Gwladus, her bodywoman and sometimes lover; Cian, her childhood friend (and half-brother) who grew to lead the king’s warriors. And the dangers were many, of course. The king kept her always at hand, and so she was always watched, by those who wished her well and ill, by those who would profit by her favor or her death: the common people who saw her as a benefactor, holy and powerful; competing princelings who saw her as the last of a royal line; the black-eyed bishop Paulinus, always suspicious.

But even seers do not always prophesy bountiful harvests and peace. She can see how the pattern will unfold, that her king will fall. What she cannot see is what Edwin has in store for her, though she can see the plot forming behind his eyes. The chiefs assemble to discuss the war in progress, and later that evening they feast. It is just as Edwin is about to reveal his plans for Hild that she leaves, the words still unspoken, the deed not yet done.

Strengths:
+Quiet mouth.

+Bright mind.

+Protective.

Weaknesses:
-Stubborn.

-Sharp.

-Repressed.

Fatal Flaw: For all her knowledge, all her ability to see, Hild is blind when it comes to herself. She doesn't understand her own mind and heart the way that she does the thoughts and desires of others. This leaves her vulnerable, likely to spin off course and subsume herself in unpredictable emotions or incapable of seeing what is coming for her. For a long time, she had people to look out for her, even if they did not do the best job of it. But as she grew up, they sheltered her less and less until there was no buffer between Hild and her world. So when things strike at her, personally, they come as a shock and she cannot prepare for them the way she would a proper battle or a court intrigue. Case in point: She never saw that her uncle intended to marry her off to her half-brother, even though it was the easiest way to guarantee that the secret of her half-brother's lineage would never be known. She should have seen it coming and taking steps to protect herself, but she didn't and is now doomed to live a horrible lie for the rest of her life.

Driving Force: Hild is driven by a desire to learn all that she can and, most importantly, to use that knowledge to the benefit of her people. Everywhere she goes, Hild makes a point of learning as much as she can about the place, from the tree in the orchard that offers the best apples to the workings of the blacksmith or the old Roman fountains. She is a sponge for knowledge, never satisfied, and takes full advantage of the special place that she holds in her society. Because she is king's kin and because she is a seer, she is permitted certain luxuries that would never be given to her gender, such as the ability to ask questions and have them answered, to be heard when others would be turned away. She does not hoard this knowledge greedily inside of her, but parcels it out where it can do the most good: she offers counsel to her uncle the king as well as to the people in her own little town that is hers to protect. She learns so as to protect -- herself, her family, her friends, her people, her uncle (to an extent) -- and to improve.

Patron: Hild is meant for Minerva. Her mind is sharp as a razor's edge and she uses it to great ends, guiding her uncle with the management of his kingdom. She knows and understands patience, but at the same time she easily grows frustrated when others don't understand her cryptic prophecies and need things spelled out for them. She will not hesitate to twist the truth in order to suit the ends of herself, her people or her kingdom. She can be prickly as a hedgehog and, simply by the nature of the world she grew up in, she believes in classes of people, in respecting your betters and treating those less than you with noblesse oblige. She can be deadly as any warrior, but prefers to think outside the box to see her ends met. She holds grudges, however, and remembers everything.

GAME INFORMATION

Setting Suitability: Hild is like a bird trapped in a cage, only now realizing its situation and desperate to get out. For so long, she thought she was playing the game, sitting outside the board and moving pieces around. It's only recently that she's realized she is a piece, too, and needs to figure her own way out of this mess. She would jump at the chance to escape, even if only for a little while. What's more, she would love to experience something new. Her desire for knowledge isn't purely factual; she wants to know but also to feel and do. I hope to give her a chance to breathe a little more freely, be more Hild the woman than what is expected of Hild. There may be some recklessness to her, as befits an older teenager, but Hild has faced many a life or death situation. She has killed many men and has been through hell and back. She is more than fitted to a wartime scenario.



Sample: TDM 1; TDM 2