We'd better get a good doctor soon, otherwise we might end up with someone like...

[hider=Amelie 'Matron' St Joan][b]Name:[/b] [color=silver]Amelie 'Matron' St Joan[/color]

[b]Age:[/b] [color=silver]63[/color]

[b]Appearance:[/b][indent][color=silver]Having lived a long and tough life, Matron has the complextion and character to show for it. Battered and wizened, the old crone's cold glare is often enough to stop even the most hot-blooded patient in their tracks and while her hands are twisted and mishaped with age they're just as tactile and dexterous as they ever were when they need to be. Her clothing likewise has seen better days, and the once fine grametns have become worn and faded over the years, and yet the stubborn old bat still clings to them with the same zeal as when she first received them.[/color][/indent]
[b]Personality:[/b][indent][color=silver]A thoroughly miserable and mean old spinster, Matron still hasn't forgiven the world for not delivering the rich, full and happy life she was promised as a small child. Instead she takes every opportunity to make those around her suffer as much as she has, and if it were not for her prestigious talents as a medical expert many would never give her the time of day.

Most of her healing skills come from age old remedies, poultices and nearly forgotten practices, since the hag has no time for the modern thinkers within her profession, much preferring the tried and true tecniques she's used for decades with moderate success. While some may consider her skills to be arachaic and unnecessarily painful for her patients, none can question their long-term effectiveness, even if it does mean they'll be screaming in pain for a few hours before salvation finally comes.[/color][/indent]
[b]History:[/b][indent][color=silver]Born in a town in France which technically no longer exists, Matron was raised by nuns after she was left as a baby on their doorstep mere days later. Brought up under harsh discipline, the girl soon became just as stern and singleminded as her guardians, although even they were offput by just how easily Amelie took up the reins of punishment when they were needed to correct the behaviour of her peers.

When conflict threatened to break out in the distant Orient the nuns immediately arranged to have their ward shipped out to assist in the aid efforts and soon the teenager found herself travelling halfway round the world surrounded by brave French soldiers. Over the following year Amelie saw many of those brave boys broken down under her medical care as she supported the medics and surgeons in their attempts to save the soldiers' lives, and in most cases failing after administering hours if not days of painful procedures on them. As she watched Amelie gained some sparse knowledge of the treatment, and with her interest enflammed began her lifelong studies of medicine.

Over the years the young woman travelled all over the globe, offering medical aid in the bloodiest of war zones to any who would help her expand her knowledge. As she gathered her training piece by piece, watching and learning myriad treatments and practices as she accepted those which saved lives and disgarded those which simply added suffering to the wounded, Amelie soon began to realise that most of her peers knew just as little as she did. From then on Amelie became far more vocal in her interactions, often contradicting her male superiors when she believed herself to be correct, with no thought to the consequences.

Given the weakness of her gender such behaviour was not to be tolerated, and soon Matron, as she came to be known, found doors closing in her face. Where once she was welcomed with open arms, now the aging woman found herself shipped off to more and more remote locations until finally it was clear that she was no longer to be welcomed anywhere. With nowhere else to turn, Amelie found herself carried to America by the winds of fate, following other French nationals settling in the Deep South. Attempting to live out a retirement of sorts, the old woman soon found herself acting as a local medicine woman, offering her brand of care and support to any whose need was too great or pockets too shallow to be able to find what they needed elsewhere.[/color][/indent]
[b]Speech Color:[/b] [color=3399FF]3399FF[/color] [color=silver]=[/color] [color=3399FF]"If you don't quieten down your screaming, I'll break the other leg for you as well."[/color]

[b]Traits:[/b] [color=silver]Doctor ([color=a2d39c]+3[/color]), Learned ([color=a2d39c]+3[/color]), Reputable ([color=a2d39c]+2[/color]), Bilingual: [i]French, English, French Creole, German, Italian, Cantonese, Mandarin[/i] ([color=a2d39c]+2[/color]), Ambidextrous ([color=a2d39c]+1[/color]), Sharp-Sighted ([color=a2d39c]+2[/color]), Weak ([color=f7976a]-1[/color]), Ugly ([color=f7976a]-1[/color]), Old ([color=f7976a]-3[/color]), Abrasive ([color=f7976a]-1[/color]), Foreign: [i]French[/i] ([color=f7976a]-1[/color]), Proud ([color=f7976a]-2[/color])[indent]Total = +4[/indent][/color]
[b]Inventory:[/b] [color=silver]Medical Journal, Surgeon's 'Tools' (collection of different sized scalpels, blades and saws), Pocket Bible (rarely used), Rosary Beads[/color][/hider]