Scarlet Nightshade

[ScarletNightshade]

Name: Scarlet Nightshade
Age: 20 Years Old
Race: Werewolf
Height: 5’3” as a human. 30” tall at the shoulder as a wolf and 5’ nose tip to tail tip.
Weight: 120lbs as a human and 70lbs as a wolf.


Physical Description:
Human: Scarlet it petite and almost delicate looking in the harsh world she lives in. Yet, she is deceivingly strong from years spent working on the farms of Shim. Her dark red hair falls in straight sheets down to her hips on the rare occasions it’s not tied back into a simple braid. Her heart shaped face is pale white and pretty but unassuming until you meet her gaze. When she actually meets someone’s gaze her golden wolf’s eyes are almost startling. She has a small chest and nicely curving hips.

More striking, if more abhorrent, is the map of scars covering her body. Scarlet makes no effort to hide them and prefers to leave them uncovered. She is prideful and feels that she has no reason to be ashamed of the things that have happened to her. Tiny hairline scars from the teeth and claws of other wolves can be found all over her body but mostly on her arms. They are barely noticeable unless one looks for them. Her back is a lattice work of healed lash marks she got from an unfortunate encounter with a city guardsman. Deep puncture wounds and gouges mar her throat where a Hunter’s dog tried to kill her. His teeth and claws had been capped in silver specifically for hunting shifters. Four parallel claw marks from her left hip to her knee from the same animal.

Despite what other’s think of her looks, Scarlet sees her red hair and wolf’s eyes as a flaw even as she is proud of her scars. The rest of her birth pack were all unassuming and did their best to pass as human. Scarlet stood out as being very much not human. Some agree that she’s flawed and others find her exotic looks attractive. Scarlet only smiles if someone tries to compliment her but rarely does she ever agree with them. Overall she is always quick to smile and to offer help where she’s capable of doing so.

Scarlet usually wears a halter type shirt or a corset, both of which leave a large portion of her scars visible. She has a pair of leather pants for traveling, but around home and Shim she wears a more practical skirt that has a multitude of pockets.

Wolf: As a wolf, Scarlet’s fur is the same shade of red as her hair and she is tipped in black. The effect has her looking much more like a giant fox except she has no white on her. The fur hides most of her scars but for the ones on her leg and throat. She makes a small to average size wolf and looks almost gangly like a youngster who is just starting to fill out good as an adult.


Possessions:
Scarlet’s most prized possession is a small, palm sized dagger. While wickedly sharp, it’s very plain and of no value to anyone but her. She’s had it since she was a child and it’s never out of her immediate reach. She also keeps a small set of beautifully crafted throwing knives tucked away under her bed. They were a gift from a blacksmith whom she sheltered and helped heal. She has no idea how to use them but she’s determined to learn, at least someday.

Scarlet lives on a tiny farm tucked almost below Kaledin Manor. It’s got a decent back yard where she keeps a small flock of chickens and two dwarf dairy goats that live in a small lean-to. The garden is large and she’s worked diligently to clean the place up and make it nice. The front yard it planted with grapes and herbs, many she is unsure of how to use to their full extent, but she grows them anyway.

The house has only three rooms of which the kitchen/living area is the largest followed by the bedroom and washroom. Everything is sparsely furnished but well-kept and very comfortable. Beneath the house is a cellar.

Scarlet has very little in the way of money and most if it she uses either to improve the land or house or to help someone worse off than she. For everything else she needs, she prefers to trade with the locals of Shim and even occasionally strangers that pass through. Once or twice a year she will travel to Marn to sell off the things she doesn’t need and buy things she can’t trade for.


Powers or Strengths:
As a werewolf, Scarlet can shift between human and wolf form almost at will. She has a wolf’s heightened senses in either form. Scarlet is rather adept at using her dagger to defend herself but she’s had no training as such and her technique is rather crude and unrefined. She also has some rudimentary herbal knowledge but it’s limited to things such as reducing fevers and treating relatively minor wounds. She works constantly to try to improve her healing knowledge.


Weaknesses and Flaws:
Scarlet has no half form that is common among most shifters. While she retains a wolf’s senses she has no other gifts she has seen in others of her kind. She has normal human or wolf reflexes and while she has more strength than most women her size, it is only human strength. Since she was attacked, she also has an almost debilitating fear of dogs that borders phobia. It’s even forced her into a change after being rushed by dog that had been barking at her. While there’s a distinction between wolf and dog, she prefers to avoid all larger canines when possible. Pride often gets the better of her, causing her all sorts of grief when she finds herself unable or unwilling to bite her tongue when it would be much wiser for her health. She has no ability to infect anyone else and turn them into a werewolf. It can only be passed down through birth.


History:
Scarlet was born in Marn to a small family pack of werewolves who did their best to blend in with the humans so as to provide themselves with more opportunities and protect themselves against the many prejudices that are still found. It was apparent from the beginning that Scarlet would never be mistaken as human earning the angst of many of her family members. However, she was pack, and the way she was born was no fault of her own.

As she grew she earned another black mark against her when they all realized she would never have a half form like a normal shifter. All in all, she was weak compared to them and deformed as far as they were concerned. Scarlet was soon pushed to the bottom of the pack.

There she would have stayed but Scarlet found herself incapable of becoming a true omega. She fought back when the others pestered or attacked her and only submitted when forced. Out and about in Marn trouble seemed to always find her and often followed her home.

As a girl of fifteen she had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The tavern was well known for its drinks and loose women. One man stumbled out and, not seeing him in time to move, tripped over Scarlet and spilled what was left of his drink all down the front of his shirt. She apologized and tried to help him to his feet only to be shoved against the wall of the alley next to the tavern.

He was drunk and she could have easily slipped away from him but he sneered about her wolf eyes and her being less than worthy. Told her she should be grateful for what he was going to give her. Scarlet’s temper and pride got the better of her. She left the man doubled over in the alley clutching between his legs and wheezing.

The next day the same man was pounding at her parent’s door. This time he was sober and more than a little angry and he had the backing of other members of the City Guard. He accused her of using magic to try and seduce him but since she was only a girl and still a child, he consented that she only be whipped. It was supposed to be a lesson for her.

As she healed, she felt most of her family withdraw from her. It had been the final straw for some of them and in secret they conspired to send a Hunter after her. There were enough people in the pack protecting her that they couldn’t kick her out and driving her out had failed on more than one occasion. She drew too much attention to them and their way of life for her to remain.

Later, after the attack, the pack left her for dead. There was no way she would survive such a brutal attack on her own and they were not healers. Scarlet doesn’t remember much for those few days but she does remember waking up in an old healer’s house. He brought her back and kept her alive and though she spent nearly the first month with him as a wolf, she grew very fond of him and his kindness towards her.

Scarlet decided to live with him, being happier than she’d ever been with her pack. He taught her simple things and would have taught her more but he passed just a short year later. Scarlet took his surname and severed the remaining ties she had to her old family. After that, she moved to Shim where she worked any job she could find. She saved every bit of money she earned until she could afford her own place. It was small and too close to Kaledin Manor for most people’s taste but it was hers and that was all she cared about.

She’s lived there a little over a year now. It’s small but cozy and always open to the weary or those in need of help. Scarlet enjoys the small life she has built in Shim but she is often lonely and craves the companionship that a pack offers. Yet, she finds it difficult to trust and allow an emotional connection to form. Scarlet longs for the day she can belong and be a part of something. Maybe a family, or maybe a community, she just doesn’t want to forever be alone.

[Katona]

Welcome to Thar, Dawn!

Sorry for the wait. We've all just had our hands full with real life issues lately.

So overall I think the idea for this character works: a young woman who happens to be a werewolf, who has some family issues. Someone who's a little socially ostracized but still wants a social community to be a part of, because that's how she was raised. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems like the general basis of the character, right?

While that character idea is fine, there are some details I think should be reworked somewhat. Some of them may seem like minor points, but they are nonetheless important in preserving the setting and ensuring the character is well thought out. Let's just start with possessions.

Grapes aren't grown in this area of the world, but you can find a list of Shim produce here. As for her house, how did she afford such a nice place, and why would the person be so willing to sell to her? Shim has quite a xenophobic culture and they're not especially open to strangers, especially ones that look blatantly unnatural. I also don't see why she'd only go to Marn a couple of times per year. Marn is only a couple of hours away (by foot) and people might even travel there several times a week, if not daily, to work, shop, trade, and meet with people. I wonder as well why the dagger, of all things, would be her most prized possession. She's not likely to need it, and she can just as easily take on a wolf form for protection. Wouldn't she place greater value on something that actually pertains to her interests, or her daily life?

Now, with strengths and weaknesses, the first thing that I notice is she's not especially adept at medicine. There are other similar healers in Shim already who are less scary (for Shimians) to visit, so I'd be curious how she'd get any work as a healer, or why anyone would pay/reward her at all. Perhaps it would make more sense to give her a more viable profession? With her fear of dogs, how does she feel about her own form? How does it affect her to be scared of something that she also is? How would she react to seeing her family again, knowing they are also canines?

In her history you describe her family as being very wolf-like and behaving as a pack, as well as being very fearful of the prejudices of the xenophobic Thar Shaddin culture, so why is it that they live in this area, and why do they try so hard to be seen as human? If they want to be seen as entirely human, why do they act so much like wolves within their own family? Do they marry or have children outside of their family, and if so, how does that work out for them?

You say her punishment for attacking the guardsman was a whipping, but that isn't a type of punishment seen in Marn, except potentially in extreme circumstances. She may be treated unfairly, but if the guard makes her crime an official thing, she'd be more likely to get thrown in the Guardhouse jail for a few days, and perhaps face a civil court hearing. Unofficially, the guy might beat her and potentially finish what he started before she'd attacked him (depending on the kind of guy he is when sober), but that would technically be illegal on his part even though he's probably get away with it.

On the other hand, if the guards took the guy's accusations of magic seriously, there would be no simple agreement to let her off easy as the guard who made the accusation would have no say in her punishment. It would be taken out of the hands of the guards and she may be interrogated until they determined she was no mage.

I have some concerns about the details surrounding her family. Firstly, you make no mention of her immediate family, such as her parents or siblings. How is her relationship with individuals, such as her parents? And does no one in her family actually care about her? Considering they are also werewolves, why would they totally stop caring about the girl just because she's a little different? You claim they thought she drew too much attention, but Marn is a small city -- wouldn't everyone associated with the family already know about her? Wouldn't it raise more questions if she disappeared out of the blue?

What happened when they tried to explain to her that she was causing problems? Why did she say no when they asked her to put some distance between them? If they didn't ask her, why not, and why kill her before making a request that she move or stop contacting them? I assume the girl had no way of knowing the hitman was sent by her family, so why didn't she return home after healing? She still lives in essentially the same town (Shim and Marn are very close, as I've mentioned earlier) so why did none of her family ever come to visit her? Surely someone must still care about her, if they were protecting her to start with.

I'll note it's also a very extreme reaction to try and hire a hitman against your own child just because they're a bit troublesome. Even people who really hate their kids don't tend to do that. They're more likely to just send them to live somewhere else. Another thing I was curious about with the hitman: is he a professional werewolf hunter? If so, why was he in Marn and why did Scarlet's family trust him even though they're also werewolves? If he was a skilled killer, why did he not finish Scarlet off when he caught her? With the extent of the injuries she suffered, I find it fairly improbable that she managed to get away, so I'd definitely like to see that explained.

Lastly, I'll just point out that you haven't really described much in the way of her goals or her interests, nor her feelings about the world around her. Some idea of the types of questions to consider: What does she think of magic herself? What kind of education did she get? What's her general perception of people? Why doesn't she move to Eyropa? Does she ever socialize with locals, maybe even attend the market days in Marn? What does she love or hate? Does she have any actual character flaws (that show her bad side, not just make her a victim)?

When you're ready to have me look at this again, reply to this thread. If you have any questions, let me know in chat, via PM, or by replying here.