Age: 17
Race: Human
Gender/Pronouns: She/her
Appearance: 5’5”, 130 lbs. Amelia is of average height and weight for a woman her age. She’s fit from a life on the road, with a somewhat masculine-yet-small build. She’s got a fairly athletic and boyish stance, feet shoulder length apart, shoulders thrown back, a broad chest for her size. She’s fairly pale and sunburns easily, much to her chagrin. She has freckles, especially along the brim of her nose and cheeks. She has a serious face with a prominent brow and small round ears that protrude from her mess of brown hair. She has a small, mousey nose and dark blue eyes. Her voice is fairly deep for a woman, and she speaks with a slight British accent (a remnant of her Talbor heritage).
Attire: Amelia dresses cheaply and plainly. She wears a simple brown tunic, trousers, and mid-calf height brown leather boots. She has a brown leather belt around her waist with a bollock knife on it, mostly a tool for cutting meat/cheese/rope, etc, but potentially also a weapon. When it’s cold, she wears a black hooded cloak made of bear fur, a gift from her father.
On the battlefield, Amelia wears half-plate armor: pauldrons, rerebraces, vambraces, gauntlets, armored greaves, poleyns, and a knee-length mail shirt. She wears a grey and black surcoat over her armor. She wears a close helm with a visor atop her head.
Outward Personality: In a word, Amelia’s a bastard. Growing up on the road surrounded by brigands and pirates, she’s developed a tough, rowdy exterior and a brash, aggressive disposition. She curses like it’s her job, drinks like a fish, and generally acts vulgar and irreverently. As a woman in the company of men, Amelia has spent much of her life having to prove she’s just as good as everyone else, and it’s left a serious chip on her shoulder. She has a quick temper, a head harder than steel, and a short leash for insults, especially when it comes to her gender, strength, or prowess on the battlefield. Amelia is someone who thinks actions speak louder than words, with little tolerance for bullshit. The words of nobles and politicians are designed to confound and confuse— bluntness is truth. At her core, Amelia is extremely emotionally-repressed. Her entire life, she’s been taunted for her femininity in the company of men, and such has made her afraid to ever really open up to anyone. In truth, Amelia is as exhausted as she is angry: why does she have to suffer because of a malicious culture outside of her control? Why can’t people accept enough is enough and let her prove herself for who she is?
While Amelia acts like a bastard, she’s by no means a bad person. She has a lot of emotional intelligence and an understanding of people’s limits— she’ll make fun of you for everything she can find, but if she can tell it’s starting to bother you she’ll cut the crap. Amelia has a strong moral compass as well: she despises bullies and malicious folk, and if you find yourself at the blade or fist of a villain she’ll be the first to your side. She loves fighting: while she’s smart enough to not pick fights, she’ll be the first to join them once they start.
Amelia is a lesbian, unable to muster up any attraction to men. On several occasions, she’s been caught flirting with tavern wenches or stable maids, which she’s gotten in various degrees of trouble for. The stigma in some parts of the world against lesbian relationships doesn’t particularly bother Amelia— everyone already discounts and despises her for her gender— why stop there? While she’s flirted with girls a few times, and occasionally stolen a kiss, but she’s never had a long-term relationship.
Goal: Amelia’s goal in life is to prove herself as a great warrior. She’d like to lead her own mercenary company someday, maybe take over the Iron Pride after Adam retires. Knightly roles don’t really interest her much— the pomp and circumstance of noble courts is like vomit in Amelia’s mouth.
Character Flaws: Amelia comes at life with a point of view that everyone she meets is going to discount and doubt her. As such, she has a lot of trouble trusting people, assuming that they will always treat her with the same distaste she’s used to. Furthermore, Amelia has a really short temper and is uncommonly stubborn, a mix that can get violent fast in the wrong context. Determination is one thing— bone-headedness is another entirely.
Backstory: Amelia was born in Talbor, but she doesn’t talk about or remember that part of her life that much. She had an education of some sort, was born in relative privilege, but left at a young age with her father. The circumstances of the Bradshaws leaving Talbor is not a topic Amelia likes to discuss or think of.
From then on, Amelia grew up on the road, traveling the land with her father as he tried to find a better life for them. Amelia idolized her father; he was everything that a knight was supposed to be: courageous, tough, but also kind and chivalrous. He treated Amelia like a queen, always making sure she had enough when times were tough, giving up his own meals or blankets or bedding so she could be comfortable. In exchange, Amelia worked hard to be the perfect child and to live up to her father’s expectations. When Adam went out on missions, Amelia would do exactly as she was told and resented mischief. To keep her safe, Adam taught Amelia basic knifework, just in case. Amelia practiced constantly; she loved being able to defend herself, knowing that it would give her father relief to know she was safe when he did what he had to do to put food on the table.
In those days, the Iron Pride was mostly composed of warriors from Talbor, old contacts of her father’s who had lost their noble titles or deserted, but those days changed. One by one, those men left, killed in battle or gone back to Talbor to fight in the war for this side or that. The men that came to replace them weren’t the same: they saw Amelia as a distraction, not as a person. A child had no place in a mercenary camp, they thought. Amelia was teased and mocked and humiliated for reasons outside of her own control. Several times the teasing got so bad that Adam stepped in, once even beating up a mercenary who had literally attempted to steal Amelia’s underwear from her hamper. For reasons outside of her control, Amelia was a target, and day by day it grated on her.
From the age of ten, Amelia was trained in combat, archery at first but then horsemanship and melee combat. Adam wanted her to be a hunter, if anything. Amelia wanted to be a soldier. She trained every day, rain or snow or blazing heat, with the polearm, axe, and sword, sparring with other mercenaries or Adam when she could. She was so proud to show her father what she’d learned from reading dueling manuals or from watching the moves of the other mercenaries. Amelia’s fighting style diverged from Adam’s pretty quickly; Adam was a knight, trained in honorable combat. Amelia saw no honor in war. She would kick, spit, throw sand, swing for the nether regions with blunted weapons. Once, while sparring an ostaran merc named Sionyn, known for harassing and belittling Amelia, she tackled him to the ground and beat his face in with the pommel of a training sword, breaking his nose and knocking out several teeth. Sionyn...left the company then under less-than-harmonious circumstances. Amelia’s catchphrase within combat became “fight me like a man!”, usually followed by a swift and definitive blow.
For a long time, Adam refused to allow Amelia to fight. He gave all sorts of answers: too impulsive, too young, too disobedient, but in his heart he knew the answer: she was his daughter, the only family he had left, and if anything happened to her, he’d be crushed. The argument went back and forth, Amelia feeling as if her father was treating her as all men did, as a weakling not meant for battle. All that changed a year ago, at what the members of the Iron Pride call The Battle of Cnoc Talamh.
The company was traveling through North Nepharie, guarding a royal carriage containing military implements bound for a fort in the Harvest Mountains. A rival mercenary gang was hired to intercept the shipment and, after careful espionage, ambushed the company while they were stopping to rest. A fight broke out between the two groups; Adam went out to face the enemy, ordering Amelia to stay hidden with one of the other mercs, who was instructed to defend her at all costs. The company was outnumbered; several members died, and Adam was wounded in a battle against two enemies. As one of those two ran to thrust his pike into Adam’s chest, he heard a scream from behind; Amelia had wrestled her way away from the merc ordered to guard her, grabbed the first weapon she saw, a massive zweihander, and ran to defend her father. In one fell stroke, the mercenary’s head toppled from his body. Amelia continued fighting by her father’s side and in the end they were able to repel the mercenaries, though at the cost of several members of their band and a Nepharie government official.
From that day on, there’s been a silent agreement between Adam and Amelia; so long as Amelia proves she is more than capable of defending herself and uses her head enough to keep out of stupid situations, Adam allows her to fight. The two still argue often over Adam’s tight leash on Amelia, but there’s a respect there that wasn’t there before, the kind of respect between a captain and soldier.
Skills:
Martial Training: Amelia has trained as a warrior since she could hold a sword. She’s a determined, skilled, and vicious warrior, trained in a combination of knight swordsmanship and mercenary scrappiness.
Horsemanship: Amelia knows how to ride a horse, though she’s no cavalier. Things such as charging in formation or fighting from horseback beyond basic moves are a bit too much for her. She also doesn’t have a horse.
Horsemanship: Amelia knows how to ride a horse, though she’s no cavalier. Things such as charging in formation or fighting from horseback beyond basic moves are a bit too much for her. She also doesn’t have a horse.
Magic: None.
Weaponry:
Zweihander: Enormous and imposing, the zweihander is the king of all swords. Boasting a mammothly 40 inch blade, an extra-wide crossguard, ring guards, and parrying hooks before the hilt, the zweihander is designed for combatting polearms on the battlefield. The section of blade between the crossguard and parrying hooks isn’t sharpened, allowing it to be used as a secondary handle for increased leverage. The zweihander is a recent development in Tithe, used often by mercenaries in Nepharie. This is Amelia’s favorite weapon and she brings it into most battles.
Flanged Mace: The ultimate evolution of the club, the flanged mace is designed to bust up armor. Consisting of a spiked steel head on a relatively short wooden shaft, the mace is a close-range weapon designed to focus its considerable weight onto a single point, strong enough to dent plate armor and lower an enemy’s mobility. Amelia uses the mace as a sidearm against heavily-armored enemies.
Rondel: The rondel is a thick 12 inch dagger that tapers to a needle point. The blade itself is triangular and is designed exclusively for stabbing, with the heft necessary to pierce chain mail, though it is useless against plate armor.
Flanged Mace: The ultimate evolution of the club, the flanged mace is designed to bust up armor. Consisting of a spiked steel head on a relatively short wooden shaft, the mace is a close-range weapon designed to focus its considerable weight onto a single point, strong enough to dent plate armor and lower an enemy’s mobility. Amelia uses the mace as a sidearm against heavily-armored enemies.
Rondel: The rondel is a thick 12 inch dagger that tapers to a needle point. The blade itself is triangular and is designed exclusively for stabbing, with the heft necessary to pierce chain mail, though it is useless against plate armor.
Other:
