"I was fifteen when they took me, so unlike the rest of the Wolves, I remember what it was like to be human."
Ophelia
Age:
75
Gender:
Female
Height:
5"4'
Dialog Colour:
#7D0541
[three paragraphs at least please]
It’s been so many years, around 60, so many winters and so many Kingdoms, and she still remembers as though it were yesterday. Seared in her brain are the events that took place one chilly morning at fifteen years of age. Ophelia was up and playing with the hounds, a little before dawn, hardly anyone in encampment had awoken. Feeding the hounds had been her job, first thing in the morning, so she was usually up before anyone, and it had become her favorite time of the day. That time when it’s new and crisp, the unobtrusive light beginning to pour in, so quiet that you could hear the birds as opposed to the bustle of a fully functioning camp. It was so peaceful.
She heard them before she saw them, their hoofbeats, but they never registered as dangerous in her child mind until it was much too late. They caught everyone by surprise, Ophelia didn’t see what became of her family, she was grabbed, as everyone was, and separated into a group of children, of which she was among the older. The men who came killed the men and women who struggled, and shouted orders at the rest. They interrogated the adults, asking around for what she later found out was herself and another boy, Gifted children. The nomadic tribe she was a part of had no superstitions about magic, only stories of the wonders it could do, and she had faced no queries about the magic in her until then. In the end the adults must have given her and the boy up, because they took them and left the rest, gone as quickly as they had come, leaving behind the people to pick up the pieces of what little they had. She never found out what happened to them, even when she had ample opportunity, too afraid of the answer, too afraid to let anyone who knew her see what she had become.
60 years it’s been since then, since Ophelia of the Rabbitfoot clan was taken from existence and made into Lady Ophelia of the Wolf Pack.
The first days were difficult, she fought, struggled against her captors, rebelled. The price she paid for her struggles was heavy, but it did not deter her. Eventually they found a way to make the young fool cooperate. Her teachers told her, the only way she would escape her capture was by growing strong, and if she grew strong enough to escape she could go back to her clan. This arrangement worked, her first sign of resignation that she has regretted ever since. Through this open door they indoctrinated her, making her responsible for other children, rewarding her triumphs, empowering her, convincing her that this was her home and purpose now. It worked, especially when they put her in a position of leadership. She was a natural, and had strong protective instincts to those in the same situation as she. Even if she could escape herself she could not leave them behind. This was their life now, all of them, they were a pack.
Blind hope came in the form of a prophecy four or five years later, she was still very young and new, but already she had grown hard. She and two others flanked their ruler as he stood in the room of Queen Judith. She was beautiful and confident, even in her scared and anguished state, the wild look in the Queen’s eyes left a lasting impression on Ophelia.
As I saw my Kingdom fall, so too shall yours.
Not today, nor even for many seasons. You will
succeed in building an Empire but it will never be finished.
Four gifted children will rise against you
and it will be your end.”
Everyone in the north knew, and feared, Queen Judith's gift of foresight. All that she foretold came to pass in one way or another. Whether she told this prophecy in falsehood as one last stab at Midas is unsure. Truly if her aim was to plague the conqueror's dreams she would succeed. The only thing that is sure, is that it was the last prophecy the Queen ever told. Ophelia herself slit her throat, which limited the amount of people who know the prophecy to four in total, Midas, herself, and the two other Wolves there. They were sworn to silence each of them, and though silent, Ophelia stored the prophecy away to the back of her mind, on her list of things never to be forgotten.
In a few years time she and other trainees were on the battlefield, tasting victory and putting their skills to good use. Ophelia was officially named head of the pack at 26, a General of Generals in her own right. They were young but effective, and had even grown hungry and savage for victory. They grew notorious, famous, and courts and nobles of all sorts were curious about them. Midas took this intrigue as an opportunity to ensnare his ally and take his Kingdom, using Ophelia as bait. She played along, Ophelia was a shit actress but her genuine blunt nature was what made the King interested in the first place. Getting him alone was not difficult, nor was getting him to invite the Wolf Pack to his court for a feast. The Wolves feasted on flesh that night, so the story goes, they didn't of course that'd be barbaric, but the floors and walls did get painted red. After this foreign nobles ceased their interest, Midas was not playing by any noble rules of decency anymore. He wanted their land, all of it.
They conquered, the Wolves of Drodor along with Emperor Midas' armies, one by one Kingdoms fell, children were added to the pack, both bred from Drodor and brought in from conquered land. Ophelia herself had the privilege of never being ordered to produce for the pack, until around 17 years ago. She did her duty of course, had no choice, nor did the father, but she was quite nearly distraught when she gave birth. Through her pregnancy she had kept her same stony demeanor, but giving birth weakened her countenance greatly. She had not sobbed so hard in so long before, not shed a tear since she was 15. It all came out then, they were sure she would die of childbed fever after, she was so pale. But Ophelia pulled through, and returned to herself, she knew what was to happen. She would not see the child again for years, until it started training. This was known to her, but it did not pain her any less. She told the Emperor herself in private that she would never bare a child again. He respected her enough to allow her that conviction.
Perhaps had the Emperor never forced Ophelia to bare a child and take that child from her she would never have run off, after 60 years no one would have thought that the head of the pack herself would be a deserter. None the less, 60 years later and she's finally done it, vanished without a trace and left behind every single person she's sworn to protect and lead. Ophelia has taken refuge in a place it is likely no one will pursue her, deep in a forest of colossal trees, The Giant's Thicket.
Ophelia has the ability to walk on solid objects no matter their alignment. AKA she can walk on walls and ceilings... sometimes up trees. But mostly the wall thing.
- About 17 years ago Emperor Midas ordered Lady Ophelia to produce offspring, the first time he had asked her to do so. She was paired with another male and bred. The child resulting would be her only.
- Weaponry goes here
- etc