Alias: The Plague Maiden, The Barrow Wight
Picture:
Description: Myra's ghoulish appearance is the work of make-up, a ploy intended to inspire fear in her enemies. She has reddish-brown eyes, pale skin, and silky light blonde hair that reaches her shoulders. She wears a ruined cloak and bandages over her arms. She seeks to emulate a reaper, which is a common fear in the ancient barrow-lands in which she is from.
Age: 24
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: October 20th, 571
Birthplace: A small town in the northern hill range of Gweynura.
Current Location/Residence: Grewynura
Ethnicity: Irlean
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 130 lbs
Frame/Build: Thin
Hair Color: Pale Blonde
Hair Length: Shoulder
Eye Color: Reddish Brown
Distinguishable Markings: None
Complexion: Ghastly makeup, reminiscent of a corpse.
Voice Type: High and Raspy (as the Wight), High and Soft (normal)
Behavioral Quirks Afraid of her blood
Political Affiliation: None
Social Class: Poor
Occupation: Farmer
Religious Beliefs: Atheocrata
Family: Godford Ferrowe (Ex-Husband)
Personality: Myra is withdrawn, her traumatic wedlock driving her to desire vengeance on the men who did her wrong. Despite this, she is not a bitter person. Her natural, cheery state and love for peace still exists beneath the surface, a vestige of her past. When she assumes her role as a "reaper", she becomes brooding and intimidating, though she makes a conscious effort never to kill people. Around her husband, she rarely speaks for fear of reprisal.
Strengths: She is a natural intellectual and her life of manual labor has given her formidable physical strength for a woman. As she has practiced at length, her skill with the scythe has increased dramatically and, coupled with her natural skill, has given her enough ability to battle on equal terms with an elite warrior. However, she limits herself in her desire to avoid killing, and as such has developed unique skills in regards to intimidation, fore-planning, and utilizing her environment.
Weaknesses: In Myra's pursuit to never kill, she is at an extreme disadvantage when faced with enemies with good nerves.
Equipment: A dark, mottled cloak that conceals her face and a large field scythe she uses as a weapon. It's been customized with a hard wood handle which, while heavy, protects her weapon from being easily broken.
Biography: Born near burial lands in Gweynura, life was difficult for the young Myra. As a girl, her fate was sealed from the womb and rather than receive an education like her two brothers, she was forced to scrounge knowledge where she could. She taught herself to read using books she would steal from her father, who was a scholar and, unfortunately, an unmitigated misogynist. Spending her work hours in the fields, she would often recite lines of poetry, mathematical formula's, and other bits of trivia as she would work in the fields. During this time, she became well-versed in the usage of a scythe, and enjoyed the sheerness of the cuts she tore through the wheat; every swing cut away her worries.
Childhood doesn't last long in the fields, and as she grew, the fate that all young girls in Gweynura were born into drew near. Marriage proposals hounded Myra's father, who didn't much care to hear his daughter's opinion on the matter. Hardened by the death of his wife from disease, he blamed it on her innate weakness and grew to resent women. As such, Myra was met with a vile suitor--and her current husband. He took her away from her village to the next one over, an unfamiliar town that she grew to hate. Her new husband was tyrannical, keeping her working at all times other than when he slept, or he was beating her. Her life had stagnated and the days blurred as they passed monotonously and the thoughts she held as a child faded into memory.
Of the many stories she had read as a child, one was known by all of the villagers. As death was a very distinct part of life in the barrow lands, stories of death were distinct as well, and as such the story of the wights was particularly popular. Corpses reanimated with dark magics were a fear of all who lived near the graves, and though Myra never believed in such things, her husband, a dim and violent man, was terrified by them. When she felt rebellious, she would whisper in his sleep the tale of the wights, corrupting his dreams.
Her field work was a blessing, as she was often alone when she was working. Having found interest as a child in the ways of weaponry, she often practiced in secret with her scythe. After the many years, she had become very adept in it's use. These times in the field were also great for thinking, and plans of running away ran amok in her active mind. She often dreamed at night of the places she could see and the knowledge she could obtain were she free of her husband's grasp, and these thoughts were like a fountain without a drain; eventually they overflowed.
The beatings she received from her husband were particularly harsh, and her blood boiled with anger as she was hit. It culminated one night as she thought about the tale of the wights, a relevant topic as the village was poised for their annual festival of the dead. Remembering their description, she left the house with her scythe in the night, inspiration filling her. The next morning, all that was found was her bloodied clothing, alone in the fields. In the eyes of the village, she was dead. But she was not done.
On the night of the festival, Myra returned. Creeping in as they villagers celebrated, her corpse-like appearance was a mirror of the barrow-wight. With her face covered in make-up, she swung her scythe wildly, screaming her husband's name as she recounted the horrors he had inflicted on her for all of those days and nights. Fearing the tale to be true, her husband ran into the night, later found to have drowned in the nearby river as he could not see. She retreated back into the night, overjoyed with her new found power. If she could not gain respect through her gender, she would do so through fear. The corrupt peasants needed something to temper their cruelty, and she realized her calling in life. Myra decided to take up the appearance permanently, motivated to save others from the fate she had suffered for far too long. But first, she needed to sate her desire for knowledge, and there was no better place to do that than Cre'Est.
