The New, Improved Character Survey of DOOM

[of_mindelan]

Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is she heavyset, thin, short, rangy? She's big. Tall, broad-shouldered, muscular. Big like bull, strong like ox, hitch to plow when horse dies. She can easily be mistaken for a boy - her chosen ES name, Peachblossom, wasn't consciously picked to remind people that she's a girl - it's actually the name of her gelding destrier - but it helps.

2. How old is she? She is just shy of twenty years old.

3. Describe her posture. Does she carry herself well or does she slouch? She makes no attempt to conceal her height and size - she doesn't make a habit of standing military perfect, but she does tend to have good posture.

4. How is her health? Is she fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities? Very fit. Lady knight, remember. She's managed to avoid lasting injuries and diseases.

5. How does she move? Is she clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid? Straightforward. If she'd stayed in the Yamani Islands and worked on the glaive the whole time she'd be more graceful, but she has a lot of power and it shows. She's not clumsy, but she does what works, not what looks good.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does she perceive herself in the mirror? Depends. She is, as I've said before, big. Unlike nearly every other female character with any muscle in fiction, she doesn't have a prominent bust. Her eyes are long-lashed and dreamy when she's not concentrating on something, her nose is yet unbroken, she has full lips and a bit of freckling...

She likes herself and how her body does what she wants it to do, but she doesn't see herself as attractive. She is aware that the kind of girls who are seen as pretty/beautiful don't look anything like her. Since finding a mate is very low on her list of priorities, this causes only minor unhappiness.

7. Describe her complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred? She's got some freckles. I picture her as dark for a Caucasian-analogue. She's got a lot of scars, particularly on her arms and hands, but not so many are visible on her face.

8. Describe her hair: color, texture, style. It's "mouse brown", which is a sort of pale blond-brown shade. Despite most of the icons making it somewhat longer, it's kept cropped rather short. She combs and washes it, but generally ignores it, and it doesn't get in her way.

9. What color are her eyes? Hazel. That is, brown-green, and some icons go with one color or the other.

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features? A "Yamani mask". To hide emotion, she assumes a neutral expression. Someone who knows her well can see it and assume she's hiding something beneath it.

11. What are her chief tension centers? When she's tense, she wears the bland, neutral expression. She's able to keep from wringing her hands or indicating it in most other ways, too.

12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does she have six of the same suit? Medievaly, I think. A tunic, undershirt, stockings, breeches. Boots or leather slippers. An overcoat if it's cold enough to need one. At some point she might get armguards.

They would be dyed, but she wouldn't care for the really bright colors. She'd have at least a week's worth. Different tunic colors, but the others would matter less.

13. Do her clothes fit well? Does she seem comfortable in them? Comfortable enough. She likes having clothing she can fight and move in and doesn't have to think too much about.

14. Does she dress the same on the job as she does in her free time? If not, what are the differences? Very similarly. As an Adventurer, she does a lot of trekking around. She's more likely to wear boots than slippers when on the job, the other way around at other times.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando? Loincloth - doubled piece of cloth slung under with a string circling the waist and tying there - and breastband, which isn't described.

Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse? She's got a relatively but not outstandingly low-pitched voice. Someone who sees her and assumes she's a boy won't be taken aback hearing it. She can pitch it and shout in such a way that it carries over distance and noise, if need be.

2. How does she normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does she talk easily, or does she hesitate? She speaks pretty evenly and clearly, though not as much or as often as some. When called on to make a speech, she doesn't have trouble.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics? There might be a mild Japanese-sounding inflection from her six years in the Yamani Islands, but it's not all that strong. She probably does have some other kind of accent, but it's mild too.

4. What language/s does she speak, and with how much fluency? She's very fluent in Yamani, which scans pretty well into Japanese. She can also read, speak, and understand Scanran, which doesn't have as clear an Earth equivalent, but I'll take a stab and say it scans as a Russian dialect.

5. Does she switch languages or dialects in certain situations? Not unless she's speaking to someone who uses that language. She may pray in private in Yamani, but this practice has dropped off since she was a first-year page.

6. Is she a good impromptu speaker, or does she have to think about her words? She's not bad on the spot, but she prefers to have time to think about it first.

7. Is she eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change? For someone who tends to be quiet, she's quite articulate. Maybe more so when the righteous anger starts up.

Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is she book-smart or street-smart? I think of her as fairly intelligent, leaning slightly more towards street-smart. She's certainly adaptive.

2. Does she think on her feet, or does she need time to deliberate? As with speech, she can think on her feet, can make difficult decisions quickly, and would prefer to have time.

3. Describe the character's thought process. Is she more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical? Ultimately I'd say there's a balance between logic and instinct for her. Typically she's methodical, but intuition influences her and can override.

She is an idealist. She can see the reality just fine, but she doesn't accept that it's right and decidedly rejects the idea that it can't or shouldn't be changed.

4. What kind of education has the character had? I assume home-schooling or tutoring to a point, since she wasn't exactly ignorant in her page year. Page training includes classes half the day, nearly every day, in things from law to mathematics to history. This lasts four years. Past that point her education was more informal, on the job.

5. What are her areas of expertise? What, if anything, is she interested in learning more about? Mathematics! She loves and is good at it. Also self-defense. She likes teaching. She also enjoys jousting and training on weapons.

6. Is she an introvert or an extrovert? Something of both. She's friendly and willing to meet new people, but she's also fairly quiet and doesn't give information out freely.

7. Describe the character's temperament. Is she even-tempered or does she have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven? She's remarkably even-tempered. Close friends are surprised whenever they see a hint of temper, and it's never explosive. Cheer or melancholy depends on the circumstances, but she's more inclined to be mildly cheerful. Calm though she is, she can be highly driven in some circumstances.

8. How does she respond to new people or situations? Is she suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic? She comes off as alert but calm, competent, nonjudgmental, and is pretty much stonefaced about showing anything else.

9. Is she more likely to act, or to react? Leaning towards react.

10. Which is her default: fight or flight? Fight.

11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does she appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks? She likes the occasional sarcastic remark and will make them back if she's comfortable with someone.

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does she deal with them? No.

13. What moments in this character's life have defined her as a person? Oy. I'm going to skip this. Too many things.

14. What does she fear? Heights, though less so than she used to. Not being able to protect beings that need protecting. Failing in her duty to people. Humiliation, a little. Evil machine things.

15. What are her hopes or aspirations? In ES, she wants to get through this. She thinks it's the inside of the Chamber of the Ordeal, and has concluded that it's going to build up to some kind of test, in time, and after it's over she'll be out. She really wants to be whatever she becomes after leaving, though she doesn't know that that's basically a knight.

16. What is something she doesn't want anyone to find out about her? In ES? She thinks that she came to this spooky jamjar of her own free will, in order to pass and become... something. She's figured out by now that few others think they came here voluntarily, and plenty of people are unhappy enough about being in ES that they might not need to know.

Also she's starting to crush on Cloud, a little, and no one needs to know that.

Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with her parents. Very good. Loving. She's still close to both parents. They're proud of her and her choices.

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like? Lots of siblings. Her oldest brother, Anders, encourages her. One of her other brothers, Inness, once said that she couldn't be as strong in the arms as a boy. Another brother, Conal, dangled her out of a high window when she was four, was nearly disowned, and forgot the whole thing, though he's a bit of a brat. Her sisters love her a bit remotely, but they also know that her presence sours the opinions of various conservatives they need to be not sour.

3. Are there other blood relatives to whom she is close? Are there ones she can't stand? She has a great-grandmother who's a matriarch of the family and formidable. At least one of her sisters-in-law told her once that she'd never get married, since she was built "like a cow". She's somewhat resigned around her horde of nephews and nieces, but willing to play with them and advise a nephew going into page training.

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom she considers part of her family? What are her relationships with them? Various. Her maid as a page, Lalasa, is someone she rescued repeatedly and considers part of Mindelan. Her boy groom, Tobe, is also a rescue. She taught various things to both of them. There are others. It would take too long, though, especially considering that I'm playing her in a memory-loss game.

5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet? Nealan of Queenscove. He was her sponsor as a page.

6. Does she have other close friends? The people who went through page training at the same time as her. Her animals. Some men of the King's Own. Her knight-master, Raoul.

7. Does she make friends easily, or does she have trouble getting along with people? She seems to do it pretty easily. Enemies too, though they're mostly enemies because they're opposed to the idea of a girl training as / being a knight.

8. Which does she consider more important: family or friends? Tough call. She's never had to choose or considered it. Ultimately, duty to people she's taken responsibility for before either.

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has she been married more than once? Single. She's been in a relationship, but it didn't last or go very far. She's had two unrequited crushes on two different people in canon; this will continue in ES.

10. Is she currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse? Nope.

11. Who was her first crush? Who is her latest? Neal. In ES, maybe Cloud, but one interaction's not enough.

12. What does she look for in a romantic partner? Height, good people, fitness, some attractive aspect, able to relax around. I've covered this already.

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does she relate to them? If no, does she want any? No. She only wants children in the distant future. However, she'll take responsibility for other people's children.

14. Does she have any rivals or enemies? In canon, yes. In ES, not yet; she's been pretty circumspect so far.

15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does she fall on the Kinsey scale? I'd say one, maybe two. She hero-worshipped Alanna, but only crushed on men.

16. How does she feel about sex? How important is it to her? She doesn't think about it that often. When she was in a relationship with Cleon, his reluctance to actually have sex gave her some doubts.

Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does she fit type? No idea!

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in her life? She's somewhat religious, praying to some of the Yamani gods and sometimes the Great Mother Goddess. It's part of her life, but not something she stresses over.

3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it? Yes. She believes that it's a noble's duty to support and protect those less fortunate, especially commoners under that noble's care. It seems to have been instilled in her early. Duty to the realm is also stronger than her self-preservation instinct, but less strong than duty to her people.

A lot. More than her own life.

4. How does she regard beliefs that differ from hers? Is she tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent? She's mildly curious and ultimately tolerant. People believe different things. In Tortall, where gods are real and manifest from time to time, it's a bad idea to be religiously intolerant.

5. What prejudices does she hold? Are they irrational or does she have a good reason for them? Very few. She's seen most of her country and been outside of it. She dislikes the contempt conservatives hold her and other women in, but she knows their minds can change. She didn't believe Joren when he told her that he'd changed, but he'd been such a bully before that this is not unwarranted.

She doesn't like pirates, brigands, or bandits, and doesn't understand how people can romanticize their lives, having actually seen what they've done and hunted them down.

Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is she rich, poor, comfortable, in debt? In ES as in canon, she's not wealthy but neither is she hurting for things. She gets by.

2. What is her social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected her? In canon, she went from youngest daughter of a minor noble house to knight to manager of a refugee camp, later a walled town. This happened as she was going from ten years old to nearly twenty, so... character development, I guess.

In ES, she's an Adventurer who feeds a lot of animals. Small lodgings, and she'd move somewhere bigger given the chance, but she wouldn't complain.

3. Where does she live? House, apartment, trailer? Is her home her castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does she share it with others? Section One, a little one-room thing with two bunks, and she lives with a lot of cats and dogs and maybe some miscellaneous animals too. It doesn't hold much importance with her as a place.

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does she spend her money on? Things for animals. Inks and brushes. She's saving for weaponry.

5. What does she do for a living? Is she good at it? Does she enjoy it, or would she rather be doing something else? She's an Adventurer. It's all right. She does like seeing different things, but sometimes she wishes there was more purpose to it.

6. What are her interests or hobbies? How does she spend her free time? She spends a great deal of time exercising. Running up stairs or uphill. Push-ups, sit-ups, vaguely-recalled unarmed combat drills. Once she gets a weapon bigger than a belt knife or a war fan, she'll practice with it.

She "patrols", a little, but she doesn't know what she's looking for. Usually she brings dogs with her. Sometimes she'll soak in the hot springs on Wellspring.

7. What are her eating habits? Does she skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods? She's not a fan of overly sweet foods. She likes fruit bread, eats her vegetables, remembers to eat regularly, and avoids alcohol because it gives her headaches. She's likely to get most of her food from cafeterias.

Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is her favorite:

1. Color? A pale jadelike green or a dusty blue, but her favorite is russet red.
2. Smell?
3. Time of day?
4. Season? Late summer, early fall.
5. Book?
6. Music?
7. Place?
8. Substance?
9. Plant? Oak leaves.
10. Animal?

END
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