Sonia Redwood
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Ethnicity/Race: Caucasian
Level of Faith: Sonia is a woman of moderate faith. After years of soul searching, she’s found a cause to believe in...though she does not agree wholeheartedly with Faithian doctrine, or all its professed tenants. Still, she believes in the Lord God, and her long years have led to her seeing some strange things. So she is more inclined to believe in the supernatural than others.
Years of Service: Ten years as a Dog, twelve years as Sheriff of Prairie Falls, and two and a half years in the US Army
Weapons/Equipment: Her trusty shotgun, two revolvers, a rifle, a hidden knife in her boot, the Book of Life, and a small locket that has a picture inside of it, showing a younger Sonia, a young Mexican man, three young boys, and a little girl.
Personality
Sonia is a woman hardened by her years of violence and war, but beneath her more gruff and hard exterior, lies a passionate and proud woman. She takes pride in her work and her past accomplishments; even her past sex work, to a degree. While the road to the present hasn’t always been pleasant, there is little she regrets, and she takes that approach to her everyday life. There is no room for doubt or fear in her mind.
History
When Sonia was a young girl, she was always free-spirited. She often got into trouble with her parents, who disapproved of their rebellious ways. The only person she got along with during her childhood, truly, was her older brother Caleb. The two of them were close friends, and he was seemingly the only person who understood her and accepted her. Unlike their father and mother, Caleb accepted Sonia’s more rebellious nature, and even encouraged it at times. Together, they brought a great amount of grief to their parents, but Sonia didn’t care about that at all. She hated the way her parents, especially her father, tried to stifle her and make her into a ‘proper young woman’.
Sonia was fifteen when a life-changing event occurred: the War between the States. Her brother was seventeen at the time, and soon after the war started, he was drafted into the Union Army. It was a painful event, separating from her sibling...not helped at all by talk from her father Sherman of arranging a proper marriage for her, now that she was of age. Years of constant rebellion against her controlling father culminated in her decision to run away: she would marry whomever she wished to, not whatever businessman her father wanted to hitch her to in order to advance their social station.
After running away, Sonia was at first unsure of where to go...until she remembered where her brother was. With her boyish looks and still developing body, it was fairly easy to disguise herself as a young boy. The Union Army was desperate for more soldiers, so the recruiters accepted her quite easily when she presented herself; though she was unsuccessful in getting placed with Caleb’s unit. Despite that failure, Sonia hoped to reconnect with her brother in the army, and she was successful to that end. After claiming Caleb was her cousin, she found out what unit he was in, and started exchanging letters with her brother soon after. Through the rest of the war they kept in touch, both siblings managing to survive the War of Southern Secession.
The war against the South was a harsh affair, and one that would forever stick in Sonia’s mind. People around her died all the time, often more due to infection than actual bullet wounds. The conditions of war were hellish, with constant gunfire and cannonfire thundering around her. And then, the few times she had to fight hand to hand...thrusting her bayonet into the stomach of a Confederate soldier close to her own age was an experience Sonia would never forget. It changed her, hardened her, made her into a different person.
Then, too, came another inevitability: while she did her best to hide her gender, the men of her unit discovered her secret soon enough. And, distasteful as the notion was, Sonia bought their silence with her body. Sonia slept with her fellow soldiers to stay in the Army, as well as a few other people higher-up in the chain of command, who discovered her secret. It was unpleasant for the most part, but a necessity if she didn’t want to be outed, and forced back with her parents.
By August of 1863, the war was over. The South had won, and the Confederate States of America was now an independent nation. The result disheartened many Union soldiers, and Sonia herself felt a sense of bitterness in the aftermath. Still, fighting in the army had given her a sense of purpose, and it had taught her how to defend herself. If nothing else, her time as a Union soldier gave her valuable life skills that would serve her well in the future.
After the war, Sonia reunited with her brother Caleb, and after some discussion the two of them ventured out West, to seek a new life away from their parents. The trek West was hard, and often they had to resort to various unsavory means to provide for themselves and stay alive: with Sonia often letting men sleep with her in exchange for supplies or money. Her brother wasn’t happy with the arrangement at all, but Sonia did her best to soothe his worries. Even if it wasn’t pleasant, it was what was needed to survive.
In the fall of 1865, the two of them settled in a small frontier town known as Prairie Falls. At first it was just a general stop in their continued journey Westward (with the goal of maybe settling somewhere in California), but that changed as Sonia and Caleb formed connections in the town. The people there were welcoming, and after some discussion, the two siblings decided to settle there. They managed to settle in at the town well enough, and Sonia soon made the acquaintance of the town’s bartender: a former Mexican soldier by the name of Miguel Castillo. Miguel was a man like no other, far as Sonia was concerned: he was a kind, gentle soul, and their shared bitterness over their nation’s loss in war helped them to bond further. The two of them became quite close, and after two years of flirtation and courtship, they were married.
After several years of marriage, however, another unexpected development occurred. In 1871, the Sheriff of Prairie Falls was murdered by a group of outlaws who were harassing the townsfolk. Sonia and her brother helped lead the posse that hunted down the outlaws in response, and during the fight, Sonia proved herself very well. After justice was served, the town needed a new Sheriff...and who better than Sonia Redwood to serve that role?
Sonia was deeply surprised by this development, but went along with the decision. For the next twelve years, she served as the Sheriff of Prairie Falls. And during those twelve years, she started a family with Miguel. Her first son was born in 1872, followed by two more sons in 1874 and 1877. In 1880, she gave birth to her first daughter, and her last child overall. During that time, her brother married as well, and started his own family.
During her tenure as Sheriff, Sonia oversaw a relatively peaceful and eventful period of Prairie Falls history. During the mid 1870s, a connecting railroad was built along the town, which contributed to its subsequent rise in population. Slowly but surely, Prairie Falls was transitioning from a small frontier town to a more developed railroad city. The times were a-changing, and in 1883, Sonia ended up changing as well.
The ‘Miracle’ Sonia witnessed in the Summer of 1883 is ill-defined, largely because she does not like to talk about it in detail. Regardless, some sort of event happened in 1883 that gave Sonia a newfound belief in God, and of the Faithian religion. This new sense of belief inspired Sonia to give her talents to God to use...and what better way for her to accomplish that, then to become a Dog? So it was that, after a brief discussion with her family, Sonia resigned as Sheriff and left Prairie Falls, bound for New Life.
With her history as both a sheriff and a soldier, she breezed through the Dog training fairly well, and was ordained within four months. Since then, Sonia has been serving as an active Watchdog, ready to deliver God’s justice (or mercy) when need be. Sonia is not as dogmatic as some of her fellows though, and her downright liberal views on sexuality, race-mixing, and a woman’s place in the world would scandalize many a New Life socialite. She’s good at her job though, and has developed a reputation in the Dog community as a fair but firm soldier of God.
Goals
Sonia’s goals are to see God’s will and judgment carried out in Man’s World, to live to a ripe old age, and see to it that her children live happy and prosperous lives.
Likes
- Her sons, Alejandro, Ethan, and Julio, and her daughter, Isabella.
- Dogs (the animal, but also Watchdogs)
- Her Husband and Brother
- Snow; a rarity in the climate of the Deseret, admittedly
- People of Strong Character
Dislikes
- Her father Sherman
- Holier-than-thou types
- Confederates
- Hypocrites
- Thunderstorms