[b]Name:[/b] Belle Osburn [b]Age:[/b] 24 [b]Sex:[/b] Female [b]Race:[/b] Human [b]Appearance:[/b] A tall, slender girl, Backlash's dirty, waist-length red hair crowns a pale, unhealthy face adorned by cold gray eyes. She wears a woven green shirt, gray or brown trousers, and farmer's boots, while a blue, hooded raincoat shield hers from the elements. If not the raincoat and scarf, then some other elements of heavy clothing; she seldom seems to care about the warmth. She wears a black bow in the collar of her shirt. There is a slight hump to her back, though since she doesn't stoop it isn't immediately apparent. [b]Occupation:[/b] Farmer [b]Skills:[/b] Plowing, seeding, harvesting, watering, agility, resourcefulness, fortitude, intuition [b]Powers:[/b] No innate supernatural abilities [b]Inventory:[/b] A well-made torch that will seldom go out once lit, and that can spread fire easily. A bag of sunflower seeds to chew on or to give to others. A wide-brimmed, rumpled brown hat to keep the sun off. [b]History:[/b] Belle hails from Northington, a rural, backwoods town fifty miles away from Tanjozo. Eleven years ago, Northington erupted into a violent crisis when a string of sudden, violent deaths among the young people sparked a panicked, frenzied hunt for witchcraft. Even when the killings stopped, the wild hunt raged on, becoming a tool for people to take out their anger, mistrust, and resentment on one another. This included Belle, who framed her sister as a witch using nasty vermin called Bone Worms from the expansive town cemetery. During her sister's public execution, an onslaught of Bone Worms caused a terrifying outbreak, during which Belle came to her senses and risked her life to save her sibling's before fleeing into the wilderness. In doing so, she escaped the catastrophic fire that raged through the village. Eventually, she came to Tanjozo, where she happily enlisted as a ranch hand and lived quietly. [hider=Full Version]About fifty miles away from Tanjozo lie the remains of Northington, a town lost to time and superstition. Eleven years ago it was in its heyday, and while the rest of the world reveled in the latest technological innovations and modern lifestyles the townsfolk of Northington clung doggedly to the past. They drew water from wells, sustenance from the ground, and strength from their kinship. All was not well in the town, however. The people were united by their indomitable faith, but when a young girl was murdered by her own bones in the streets one autumn evening the cry of witchcraft quickly erupted. Fear for loved ones fanned the flames, and Northington became suffused with the panic that drives ordinary people to violence. Accusations were made, and precious few of them in the name of holy righteousness. Goodwife Osburn was one of the first accused of witchcraft, and when she refused to testify to her alleged unholy practices, she was put to death. Her firstborn daughter, Laura -and her profitable match to the handsome son of the richest man in town- was the object of envy and hatred to thirteen-year-old Belle, and when accusations started becoming more prevalent (not to mention baseless), she connived to frame her older sister as a witch. Searching about the town cemetery one moonless night, she unearthed a colony of unnatural, repulsive creatures: centipede-like vermin, whose grotesque, alabaster-white bodies bore an incredible similarity to spinal cords.. After confronting her initial misgivings about the crawling wretches, she stuffed some into a sack and planted it among Laura's things. The Osburns' neighbors awoke the next morning to horrific screeching, and when they found Belle writhing within the house, they heard her condemnation. After a brief search they discovered the 'Bone Worms', decided them to be evidence of witchcraft, and seized Laura (despite her protests) before hauling her to the town jail. As was expected of her, Belle was at the head of the crowd that gathered to witness Laura's public execution: burning at the stake. With her insidious plan about to come to a grisly end, Belle was beside herself with a certain dark triumph. So enthralled was she in the blaze that she did not see the warning signs when the townsfolk brought the skeletal vermin to burn with her; at first, she did not notice when the centipedes squirmed out of the villagers' grasp and wormed their way beneath the skin. Only when some of the people went mad, twisted shapes emerging from their bodies, did Belle truly grasp her mistake. She ran, his pouring tears evidence of her gripping regret, but not before untying and saving her sister. Days later, in the aftermath of the disaster and the catastrophic fire that followed, it became apparent that those who survived had been forever changed. Belle, meanwhile, fled. She ran until she dropped, slept, and then ran again. Living precariously off of what she could find, she made her way across the land and ultimately stumbled into Tanjozo, famished and exhausted. She was found and cared for by the locals, and after getting better she gladly lived as a ranch hand for the local farmers.[/hider] [b]Point of Interest:[/b] The Charred Village, formerly known as Northington. Nestled in a deep valley almost narrow enough to be called a canyon, it lies in the middle of a large woodland. On the village's terraces, the disused fields are choked by weeds, and where there previously stood towering houses lie only burned husks shoddily rebuilt, tilting like looming shadows over the cobblestone streets. The ground is ashen and littered with fire-blackened bones; even the air, thanks to both fog and dust, can be stifling. The Charred Village is inhabited still, though its denizens rarely leave their homes and never leave the town. Though it trades with other settlements, it does so indirectly, and is not at all friendly to strangers. Its people are gaunt, dead-eyed, secretive, and aggressive to outsiders. Rumors abound about what evil acts may be going on in the hellish Charred Village, not the least disturbing of which are strange, bony growths sprouting out of some of the buildings.