Name: Liz
Age: 30
Contact: plurk @ ragweed; discord @ middlemarching#3396
Other Characters:  Kit Gandir, Atticus Vedici, Loghain Mac Tir
Interests: For Fern, I'm hoping for something approaching a little bit of the hero's journey narrative pattern (not reflecting it perfectly); e.g. a young person setting out on an adventure to seek their fortune, only to discover that the adventure isn't at all what she'd envisioned it to be while growing up. Fern is precocious and has an indomitable spirit, but I don't think even the most spirited young adventurer is quite prepared for the rigours of reality. (OOC note:  Fern can't join the Grey Wardens because I already play Loghain, but I want her to try, and then fail, and discover that not achieving this particular dream doesn't mean the end of all her dreams.)

I don't want to break her, but I want to see her resolve tested, and to see her come out the other side having grown stronger, and more sure of herself. 


 

Name: Fern Doirnáin
Canon/OC:  OC
Journal: wheretheferngrows
Race: City elf
Nationality: Ferelden (but came of age in Ansburg in the Free Marches)
Occupation:  Farmhand turned Grey Warden hopeful.
Division: Research
Mage or Not: Yes--an apostate. 
Age: 18

History

The middle child of five, Fern spent the first eight or nine years of her life on a farm well outside Denerim in Ferelden. Her mother, Hazel, was originally from the Denerim alienage, and had married Fern's father, Varian, an elf from the Free Marches, when they were both quite young. A fortuitous connection to a farmhand outside of Denerim meant that Varian was able to move his (at the time) small family out of the cramped, congested alienage before Hazel had their first child. This means that Fern was fortunate never to know the struggle of city living that her parents knew.

When word of the Fifth Blight began to spread across Ferelden, her parents struggled to make arrangements for themselves and their five children. The human farmer who had been so generous to them for so many years, was just as quick to abandon his responsibilities to his elven workers, abandoning them in his haste to remove his family and a select few human workers to a safer part of the region. The Doirnáins were forced to join the flood of refugees fleeing Ferelden for Kirkwall, but were turned away at the border with many other elves; desperate and out of options, Varian used the last of his meagre savings to smuggle his family to Ansburg, to where his sister Lorna had lived since they were children. Living with her would be a risk, however, as she was an apostate.

It was, however, a risk that paid off in a number of ways. Lorna, it appeared, had done quite well for herself, and was able to secure work on the farm where she worked for her brother and sister-in-law. And so it was on this farm outside the backwater city-state of Ansburg that Fern came of age, spending her time herding Farmer Heinrich's sheep or playing with the other elven farm children. While Varian had originally feared that their proximity to Lorna would cause them problems, her closeness turned out to be a blessing for the family; when Fern's magical abilities manifested, she received solid enough tutelage from her aunt such that she was able to control her powers, and also remain undetected by the Templars of the Ansburg Circle of Magi.

So Fern passed her childhood, one that was filled with plenty of hard work as well as play (and was, for the most part, safely insulated from much of the political strife taking place across the rest of the continent). However, when her parents began to make noises about having found a suitable husband for her in a neighbouring country farm, she make the impulsive decision to pursue her childhood dream of joining the Grey Wardens--who, conveniently enough, had recently relocated to Kirkwall. So, after sneaking out of her house in the middle of the night, she set out on her mule to just that--and caught a Fade shard in the process.

Personality

Cheerful and energetic, Fern is a spirited young woman with a butterfly-like attention span and a head full of dreams she longs to make real. While easily bored by repetitive work, she also craves the approval of the people she admires, and so will force herself through many tedious tasks if she knows that, at the end of it, someone she looks up to will respect her for it. In this way, it is also possible for her opinions to be deeply affected by the opinions of those around her--though this may be as much a direct result of her age as anything else.

What has defined her for most of her life has been her status as an elven apostate; these two core aspects of her lived experience are integral to her identity. While Fern was very young when her family fled the Blight in Ferelden, she was nevertheless old enough to recall that the human farmer and his family who had been so kind to her mere weeks before, seemed to have no compunction whatsoever in abandoning her and her family, simply because they were elves. As a result, Fern is deeply resentful of 'shemlen' and slow to trust them, even when they've shown her kindness. She delights in playing pranks on them just for laughs--though never anything that would draw truly hostile attention her way.

As an apostate, Fern has learned from her Aunt Lorna the dangers of practicing 'showy' magicks that might draw the eye or invite undue scrutiny from their human neighbours, and so is still easily spooked by demonstrations of more primal forms of magic. Fern views her ability as a precious secret, and a connection to a part of her history and culture that she believes she'll never fully be able to understand.

Opinions & Affiliations

The Chantry.  Fern's got a very lackadaisical understanding of her own religion and faith, but loosely describes herself as an Andrastian. (She'd be the kind of person who attends church on Christmas and Easter in our world.)

Mage/Templar War.  While this was certainly a conflict she's been insulated from, she's nevertheless a clear supporter of mage freedom. If nothing else, the war has made her less terrified of being caught practicing magic, and means her family won't be split up because of it.

Thedosian race relations. fuck shems tbh. (A bit more in-depth: she's quite curious about the Dalish, which is natural, but also kind of afraid of them based on Stories she was told growing up by her older brothers. Dwarves might as well be strange, subterranean animals for all she knows about them, and Qunari are large and terrifying and most definitely want to kill her because of her magic. And while she is mistrustful of humans on principle, she does tend to make exceptions for individual humans who earn her kind regard.)

The Grey Wardens.  An esteemed brotherhood of heroes, the warriors (and mages!!) who show up right before the night is darkest to save the world and slay the bad guys. She gets hearts in her eyes just thinking about them.

The Inquisition.  The people she's got to hang out around because of the glowing stuff in her hand.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths:

Apostate Mage.  It wouldn't be entirely correct to call her self-taught, as her aunt was her mentor, but Fern nevertheless has an affinity for magic that can't be denied. Her specific affinity is for creation magic.

Handy.  Growing up on a farm has given her an assortment of random skills. Garden gone to seed? Give her a shout, she can probably bring it back. Table a bit rickety? She'll loosen joints and tighten bolts 'til the wobble goes away. Lost one of your sheep? ...she'll probably dislike you for making her take up shepherding again, but you can bet your bonnet she'll find that sheep for you. She draws the line at darning anyone's socks but her own.

Amateur swordswoman.  She's definitely better suited to wielding magic in combat, but in a pinch she can pick up a sword and hold her own passably well.

Weaknesses:

Smol. She's physically lacking in strength and would be easily overpowered by a combatant even just a fraction stronger than her.

...Apostate Mage.  Against even a mediocre Templar or Circle-trained mage, her unique abilities don't stand much of a chance.

Elven.  In most circles peopled by humans of all walks of life, this isn't going to do her any favours.

Inventory

- a gelding mule named Rooster.
- a wood and steel staff that doubles as a rod for hauling her belongings about while on the road
- a knapsack with a handful of personal items in it

Motivation

Fern set out to join the Grey Wardens, not the Inquisition--but the Fade shard in her palm means she's got to stay in Kirkwall whether she wants to or not.


Two in one! Fern meets Inessa, and then Kattrin.