Name: Cordelia Susanna Murphy
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Appearance: Cordelia is a pale-skinned beauty, taller than most women of her time, standing at a solid 6 feet tall. By far the most distinctive thing about her appearance is her hair, it being thick, wavy and crimson, reaching almost to her knees in length. As dictated by her job, her hair is usually curled into ringlets and piled on top of her head in an elaborate updo decorated with rose hairpins, some of the curls left free to fall down her back, as well as frame her face. Her eyes are a light teal blue, framed with long lashes that are coated with dark mascara, and lids accentuated by dark eyeshadow. Her face is a slightly angular oval with a pointed nose and moderately thin brows. Cordelia's body is thin from a meager diet, growing up poor in Ireland, but lean-muscled, sturdy and strong from hard work, with large breasts, a flat stomach that is easily taken in by corsets and long legs. Her hands are rough and callused with numerous small scars, which her employer claims "would be the death of her appeal".
As dictated by her job, Cordelia dresses in an elaborate gown, consisting of a black corset with short black puffed sleeves that go off her shoulders, silver trim, and is laced up with sapphire blue strings. Her skirts are multi-layered, her inner ones being sapphire blue and raised up in front, reaching the middle of her thighs, while still remaining long at the back. Her outer skirt is black and in the same style, the front short and exposing her underskirts, and the back covering the inner layers. A sapphire blue ribbon decorates her back. She wears thigh-high sheer black stockings, as well as black high heels, which she finds very uncomfortable. As her hands are rough and her arms are scarred, her employer insists that she covers them up with long, black gloves. Her hair is decorated by red and cream rose hairpins. Cordelia however, would love nothing more than to be free from the restraints of corsets and heels, and to put on trousers rather than a dress.
Personality: Cordelia is a determined and passionate girl, with a love for life and new experiences. Being raised in a poor farming family in her native Ireland shaped this young woman to be resourceful with what she has, strong-willed, streetwise and fearless in the face of danger. She isn't threatened by taunts, and is more likely to fight back than take whatever is thrown at her. This sort of life also meant that she was never going to grow up to be a proper lady, and true to that, most of her gestures are more masculine than feminine. She still knows that she is beautiful however, and was trained to use this to her advantage. While Cordelia is more likely to deal with problems head on, she knows when opportunities present themselves to her and how to take advantage of them. This redhead also harbors distaste and mistrust towards Brits in general, mostly because of her family's British landlord.
Despite having a difficult life, Cordelia however remains adventurous and is a free spirit by heart, unwilling to be tied down by rules and orders. She might be forced to work hard, but she in reality, longs for a world and a life outside her work where she can be free to make her own choices, do what she wants, and love who she wants to love. She might be a hard worker, but that doesn't mean that she enjoys being just like that - a hard worker. Rather, she fancies the idea of life on the wild frontier, whether the rumors about the dangers and the spirits out and about are true or not. Fear was never her issue after all, and she did get to experience such freedom in Ireland, back when she was young and didn't have to carry out responsibilities and duties in the farm. Up to now, she still dislikes having to place work above her own happiness. Unfortunately, her employer was never the kindest man, and basically claims that he "owns" her. Still, she makes it a point not to bend fully to him, and does what she could to make her life bearable, until she could find the right opportunity to capitalize on, that is.
Entertainer she may be, but when Cordelia loves, she knows that it would be forever. Two years of being forced upon unsavory men and never did she have feelings for those she had one-night stands with. She might flirt and seduce to get what she wants, but when she does develop feelings for someone, expect her to be loyal, though she shows it in different, unconventional ways at first and would probably deny it if questioned.
History: Seamus Murphy was a rebellious Irish serf, despite the poverty that he and his wife Colleen lived in. Their extremely theatrical and vain landlord, Drake, was a cruel man, forcing them to labor for long hours on the farm, while taking away most of what they grew and harvested. However, Seamus taught himself and Colleen how to read and write, stole crops whenever he could, and named his three children with Shakespearean names as a jab towards his landlord. Cordelia was the middle child and the only girl of three children. Lear, her older brother, doted on her a lot and despite their difficult life, tried to make life better for her. While they had to attend to farm work often, Cordelia and Lear often went playing in the moors and the hills during their free time, mischievous Cordelia wanting to see more and frequently wearing her brother's old trousers instead of dresses, and Lear leading her in "quests", exploring woods and old ruins. The two sometimes even dared steal two of Drake's smaller horses (usually Cordelia's idea) and rode at night, trying to test their luck in spotting the Dullahan. It was at this young age that the redhead learned to fight and defend herself, as tricky leprechauns and grass monsters frequented the area. Her younger brother by six years, Cicero, was just as playful, though he always seemed to find himself at the wrong place and at the wrong time. Cordelia and Lear often defended him, insisting that they take the blame. Drake was not a kind-hearted man however, and often punished them physically, as well as forced them to work into the night at times. In time, the siblings were forced to work longer hours with their parents. Though they tried to find some time (usually at night) for themselves, life became more difficult, and the three had to resort to learning how to steal the way their father did in order to help the family survive. Cordelia grew up tough and strong, without fear for her landlord, knowing too much about his tendencies to do so. Every yell only managed to make her lash out in retaliation, and she never bothered to hide her anger from him either. Lear and Cicero were more patient, but no less strong-willed.
Seamus and Colleen knew that there was no future in staying in Ireland under Drake longer than Cordelia suspected. They had gradually been saving up to purchase tickets to America in order for the family to start a new life there. However, it was very difficult to do so, and by the time that Cordelia was twenty-one, Lear, twenty-four and Cicero, fifteen, they had only managed to have enough for two tickets. Deciding that Cordelia and Lear were old enough to take care of themselves, Seamus and Colleen purchased the tickets for them, and forced them to leave the farm the next night. They were hesitant at first, but the parents' urging won out, and they ran away, boarding the third-class coffin ship two days later, before they could be caught.
The trip took a month, and many died onboard. Cordelia and Lear managed to stay alive together as they arrived, and they settled in a cheap Boston tenement, taking up jobs as factory workers. Cordelia stayed for two months, working for very little payment and hating her job due to how much it enslaved her. She wanted out, and her opportunity came when two finely-dressed men struck up a conversation with her on the street as she was heading home from another long workday. They offered her a better job, claiming that she was "a rare beauty", with food and board separate from her pay, the only condition is that she move and travel with them. Cordelia decided on her own that she was going to take up the offer, thinking that it would free her of her current burdens, and that night, instead of going back to Lear and the apartment, she left with the two men on a train. She eventually found herself in a small frontier town in the dry West. The men owned a saloon, and she had actually been hired to be a multipurpose saloon girl. Taking up the name "Susanna Blue" from her own middle name combined with her eye color (as her employers thought that "Cordelia' was too cold and Shakespearean), Cordelia transformed from manual laborer to entertainer. She was taught how to use her charm and looks by the older girls, learned how to do things such as dance and read the Tarot, and most importantly, how to approach men and know what they wanted. For the past two years, Cordelia worked as Susanna Blue, eventually becoming one of the very few girls remaining, as the others disappeared. Though she had more at this point, she still felt tied down and enslaved, and longed for freedom, excitement and adventure, things that she just loved the thought of, and were things that for her, were worth throwing away money and stability for.