Difference between revisions of "Fionnuala"

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{{Infobox character
 
{{Infobox character
| name          =    Niabh ni Dowd
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| name          =    Fionnuala
| title        =    None known
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| title        =    The Woman in Red
| image1        =    [[File:Niabh.jpg]]
+
| image1        =    Fionnfinal.png
 
| alt1          =    <!--character portrait alt text-->
 
| alt1          =    <!--character portrait alt text-->
 
| caption1      =    <!--character portrait caption-->
 
| caption1      =    <!--character portrait caption-->
| archetype    =    <!--character archetype-->
+
| archetype    =    Merry wanderer of the night
| hair_colour  =    Dark brown
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| hair_colour  =    Red
 
| eye_colour    =    Black
 
| eye_colour    =    Black
| height        =    5"
+
| height        =    6'2"
| build        =    Slender, waifish
+
| build        =    Statuesque
 
| features      =    Well-healed injury on left hand; missing ring and small finger
 
| features      =    Well-healed injury on left hand; missing ring and small finger
| age          =    19
+
| birth_date    =    137 AR
| birth_place  =    Unknown; presumably East Weald
+
| birth_place  =    <!--place of birth-->
 
| death_date    =    <!--date of death-->
 
| death_date    =    <!--date of death-->
 
| death_place  =    <!--place of death-->
 
| death_place  =    <!--place of death-->
| spouses      =    None
+
| spouses      =    <!--spouses-->
| children      =    None
+
| children      =    <!--children-->
| profession    =    Lady's maid
+
| profession    =    <!--profession(s)-->
 
| religion      =    <!--espoused religion-->
 
| religion      =    <!--espoused religion-->
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
'''Fionnuala''' is one of several names assumed by a fae creature residing in Myrken Town. It is not a name she uses publicly, and no one knows it. You don't either. You might know her as Niabh. Or Clara. Or Rabbadon. Or Jack. Or the Woman in Red. Or she might ask you to give her loan of a name, as she has none. Just don't give her yours.
  
 
==Description==
 
==Description==
Niabh is very slight and small; most of her weight seems to be in her long, thick, messy dark curls, which hang in a mane down her back. Her complexion is a natural medium brown, and her eyes are large, black, and slightly tilted. She is less conventionally pretty than striking, with strong, angular bones in her cheeks and jaw. In general, she is very cheerful, brisk, forthright, and confident, though her new surroundings often leave her anxious or confused. She is polite and courteous to strangers, to the point of sometimes being almost overly formal, though she quickly warms to people and becomes more playful and girlish.
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<blockquote>''"Do not think the fairies are always little. Everything is capricious about them, even their size. They seem to take what size or shape pleases them, who have no inherent form but change according to their whim, or the eye that sees them."''</blockquote>
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Appearances have little meaning to the Woman in Red, who changes her seeming as often as some women change their gowns. There is some evidence that her most common appearance is very likely as close to her "real" one as one is likely to see: a very tall, well-built young woman who appears to be in her mid-to-early twenties, wide-hipped and broad-shouldered, with a dark bronze complexion and brilliant red hair. Her eyes are solid black, with no sclera or visible pupils; these she is more likely to glam into normal brown eyes, as she had learned that this detail above all others unnerves humans. Her ears are tapered, better than a hands-length long, and lightly furred with gold hairs. Most other details are wholly decided by whim, vanity, and the necessity of the moment.  
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 +
<blockquote>''"Witness the nature of these creatures, their caprice, their way of being good to the good and evil to the evil, having every charm but conscience. Beings so quickly offended that you must not speak much about them at all, and never call them anything but ''daoine maithe,'' which in the common means "good neighbor," yet so easily pleased, they will do their best to keep misfortune away from you. Their evil [is] wholly without malice."''</blockquote>
 +
 
 +
The Woman in Red is a creature bound by the rules of her people. Playful, loving of games and sport, fiercely independent, quick to laugh; prideful, arrogant, mocking, cheerfully disdainful of human custom but at the same time fascinated by human company; incapable of guilt or regret, confused and revolted by the concept of weeping; lies with every other word, steals without compunction, but is faithful to a bargain. Those whom she favors may find themselves the victims of her generosity, whether they want it or not, and she does not take kindly to having her gifts rejected. Rudeness amuses her but artlessness she will not tolerate. She will retaliate swiftly to being touched without permission. She adores children and will tolerate (and in fact indulge) almost any mischief from them.
 +
 
  
 
==Background==
 
==Background==
 
===Origins===
 
===Origins===
According to Niabh, she was until late a servant in a large household, where she attended the daughter of a noblewoman. Due to some unspecified disaster, the house fell under attack, the noblewoman was killed, and the remaining members of the household fled. Niabh's sister, herself the house doctor, chose to remain to help the injured, while ordering Niabh far away for safety and promising to summon her as soon as the situation was stable again.
 
  
Niabh frequently and fondly talks of her family. She was raised by her elder sister and grew up with her sister's two children (Niabh invariably refers to this sister as her mother and to her children as her siblings). She has also mentioned a stepfather and a grandmother. She also left behind a sweetheart called Deirdre, whom she evidently still holds hope of seeing again, even though she has admitted that she doesn't know if Deirdre survived.
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<blockquote>''"There are those who say that the Tuatha are no more, and that the world is better for it, for never has there been such a race of remorseless deceivers, who seduce and bewitch as they will, who spin falsehood even when the truth would serve them better. And there are some who say there never were any such creatures, that they were the names ignorant men gave to their own covetous and lustful natures. But there are still others who say, The Tuatha have gone under the hills, to bide and wait until they are forgotten, and that one day, they will return to claim what once was theirs."''</blockquote>
 
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She has variously explained the injury to her hand as an accident with a fishing line or a door carelessly closed on her fingers as a child. Either way, the injury is clearly very old and doesn't seem to physically impact her.  
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The Woman in Red claims to have come from "over the sea." She has stated many years ago, her people lived on this side of the sea, but departed due to their irreconcilable enmity with humankind (or ''tultharian'', a slang term that, roughly translated, means "big clumsy people") and expresses dismay that there are a lot more ''tultharian'' here than she was led to believe. She does not actually speak the local language, but instead "borrows words" from whomever she happens to be speaking to at the time in an act of low-grade involuntary telepathy. She traveled alone for nearly a year before arriving in Myrkentown. She speaks happily and often of her mother and her two younger siblings, and she is unwavering in her certainty that sooner or later, her people will either come to collect her.
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===The Broken Dagger===
 
===The Broken Dagger===
Niabh claims to have traveled largely on foot from her old home in the East Weald to [[Myrken Wood]] at the behest of her mother. Why her mother would have specified this place in particular--or if Niabh simply chose it--is currently unknown, but Niabh seems confident that her mother knows where she is now and will send word for her at the Dagger when it's safe to return home.
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In the summer of 215, the Woman in Red appeared under the guise of a young serving girl named Niabh. She quickly became employed as a maid to Lady Patience, and just as quickly acquired a reputation for flirtation, sneaking out at all hours and reappearing exhausted at dawn, and befriending some of Myrken's more unsavory elements, including the madman Catch. When Lady Patience left the Dagger for town in the following year, Niabh parted ways with her and chose to quit the Dagger. "Niabh" occasionally appears at the Dagger, stating that she is now employed as maid to another noblewoman.
  
 
==The Present==
 
==The Present==
Niabh quickly found employment as a servant to Lady Patience and resides with her at the Broken Dagger, where she has gained a small but largely harmless reputation for hanging out with some of the shadier elements of the Dagger's patronage.
 
  
 +
The Woman in Red tends to appear in the Dagger only after dusk, though she no longer resides there. Her especially haunt seems to be the far end of the Lake, just outside the treeline. She has also acquired a dark-brown shire horse called Toirneach.
  
 
[[Category:Characters]]
 
[[Category:Characters]]

Revision as of 22:16, 7 December 2016

Fionnuala
Fionnfinal.png
Information
Title(s) The Woman in Red
Archetype Merry wanderer of the night
Hair Colour Red
Eye Colour Black
Height 6'2"
Build Statuesque
Notable Features Well-healed injury on left hand; missing ring and small finger
Born 137 AR

Fionnuala is one of several names assumed by a fae creature residing in Myrken Town. It is not a name she uses publicly, and no one knows it. You don't either. You might know her as Niabh. Or Clara. Or Rabbadon. Or Jack. Or the Woman in Red. Or she might ask you to give her loan of a name, as she has none. Just don't give her yours.

Description

"Do not think the fairies are always little. Everything is capricious about them, even their size. They seem to take what size or shape pleases them, who have no inherent form but change according to their whim, or the eye that sees them."

Appearances have little meaning to the Woman in Red, who changes her seeming as often as some women change their gowns. There is some evidence that her most common appearance is very likely as close to her "real" one as one is likely to see: a very tall, well-built young woman who appears to be in her mid-to-early twenties, wide-hipped and broad-shouldered, with a dark bronze complexion and brilliant red hair. Her eyes are solid black, with no sclera or visible pupils; these she is more likely to glam into normal brown eyes, as she had learned that this detail above all others unnerves humans. Her ears are tapered, better than a hands-length long, and lightly furred with gold hairs. Most other details are wholly decided by whim, vanity, and the necessity of the moment.

"Witness the nature of these creatures, their caprice, their way of being good to the good and evil to the evil, having every charm but conscience. Beings so quickly offended that you must not speak much about them at all, and never call them anything but daoine maithe, which in the common means "good neighbor," yet so easily pleased, they will do their best to keep misfortune away from you. Their evil [is] wholly without malice."

The Woman in Red is a creature bound by the rules of her people. Playful, loving of games and sport, fiercely independent, quick to laugh; prideful, arrogant, mocking, cheerfully disdainful of human custom but at the same time fascinated by human company; incapable of guilt or regret, confused and revolted by the concept of weeping; lies with every other word, steals without compunction, but is faithful to a bargain. Those whom she favors may find themselves the victims of her generosity, whether they want it or not, and she does not take kindly to having her gifts rejected. Rudeness amuses her but artlessness she will not tolerate. She will retaliate swiftly to being touched without permission. She adores children and will tolerate (and in fact indulge) almost any mischief from them.


Background

Origins

"There are those who say that the Tuatha are no more, and that the world is better for it, for never has there been such a race of remorseless deceivers, who seduce and bewitch as they will, who spin falsehood even when the truth would serve them better. And there are some who say there never were any such creatures, that they were the names ignorant men gave to their own covetous and lustful natures. But there are still others who say, The Tuatha have gone under the hills, to bide and wait until they are forgotten, and that one day, they will return to claim what once was theirs."

The Woman in Red claims to have come from "over the sea." She has stated many years ago, her people lived on this side of the sea, but departed due to their irreconcilable enmity with humankind (or tultharian, a slang term that, roughly translated, means "big clumsy people") and expresses dismay that there are a lot more tultharian here than she was led to believe. She does not actually speak the local language, but instead "borrows words" from whomever she happens to be speaking to at the time in an act of low-grade involuntary telepathy. She traveled alone for nearly a year before arriving in Myrkentown. She speaks happily and often of her mother and her two younger siblings, and she is unwavering in her certainty that sooner or later, her people will either come to collect her.

The Broken Dagger

In the summer of 215, the Woman in Red appeared under the guise of a young serving girl named Niabh. She quickly became employed as a maid to Lady Patience, and just as quickly acquired a reputation for flirtation, sneaking out at all hours and reappearing exhausted at dawn, and befriending some of Myrken's more unsavory elements, including the madman Catch. When Lady Patience left the Dagger for town in the following year, Niabh parted ways with her and chose to quit the Dagger. "Niabh" occasionally appears at the Dagger, stating that she is now employed as maid to another noblewoman.

The Present

The Woman in Red tends to appear in the Dagger only after dusk, though she no longer resides there. Her especially haunt seems to be the far end of the Lake, just outside the treeline. She has also acquired a dark-brown shire horse called Toirneach.