|
..................................................
|
▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ Name Imogen Urswick
→ Legally, Imogen Sofia Goneril Age 17
→ 7th Day of the Verdant Rain Moon 🌧, 1478 Country of Origin Leicester Alliance
Social Standing Commoner
→ Technically of House Goneril, but the Duke has repudiated her mother and has no knowledge of her existence. Crest Crest of Goneril
→ Imogen's Crest grants her the passive ability to sense incoming danger. She currently has no idea she has this ability and mostly reacts to its warnings instinctively. Starting Class Myrmidon
Weapon of Choice Sword
Strengths Sword, Lance
Weaknesses Heavy Armor, Authority |
PersonalityIf actions speak louder than words, then hers are screaming that she's a certifiable idiot. Then again, her words are probably telling you that, too. The Imogen you first get to know is a winsome goofball who seems easily amused by anything and everything. The sound of her laughter is something you'll get acquainted with very early on, genuine and fullbellied and probably directed at you. Imogen is incapable of nuance and often broadcasts her feelings in its entirety, even though her expressive face has probably beat her to it. If she's angry, she'll confront you; if she's sad, she'll cry her eyes out; if she's frightened, she'll be shaking in her boots and clinging onto the closest person.
Beneath the general obliviousness and harebrained tendencies lies a resilient spirit unafraid to keep trudging forward, even when things seem bleak. Imogen isn't a textbook optimist in that she believes everything ends with a happily ever after. She's had a fair share of misfortunes to know it isn't always true. But what she does know is that you can't just let things happen. Where luck is concerned, what matters most is what you do with it.
HistoryDuke Belarius Goneril is getting married again, word travels. Four wives prior and eleven children between them yet not a single one bore a Crest. They say he's never gotten over his own failure to inherit one, that he still envied his late sister for it. They say this continued obsession has deteriorated him into a shell of his former self. He's grown old and curmudgeonly, disagreeable in every roundtable conference, faltering and unreliable as a general.
Imogen is the only living child of Duke Goneril's third wife, and ninth overall. Her mother, Ophelia, was hopelessly enamored with the young general. His successes against the Almyran invasions had given him renown and set him in equal footing with the other Great Lords, despite his status as a Crestless. Although rumors swirled about his mistreatment of his previous wives, Ophelia was convinced she was destined for him. Soon enough, a chance encounter with the Duke—really a painstakingly planned endeavor—turned her dreams into reality. Her good looks and plain devotion secured his attention, and they were wed not long after getting to know each other.
It became quickly apparent that fate had other plans for them. Despite her convictions, Ophelia was unable to give him what he truly wanted: an heir. Her first child was born still and silent; the second arrived too early; and the third lost to illness at infancy. Belarius' poisonous ambition had roots too deep to banish, and with nearly two years gone and no heirs to show for it, the duke had reached a tipping point.
A few months after Ophelia's last miscarriage, Belarius broke things off, intending to find a more suitable wife. When Ophelia refused to leave, he banished her from the duchy, declaring her cursed. She was forced out of Goneril territory and into a small town to the east, at the base of Fódlan's Throat. Her many attempts to win back Belarius' favor were met with marked indifference at first, then hostility after desperation caused her to involve the duke's current wife. When she tried to tell him that she was months into another pregnancy, her claims were dismissed as the desperate ploys of a lovelorn lunatic.
Imogen's successful birth is the first in a string of good luck that would punctuate the tragedies in her life. Born healthy, even if it's to a heartsick mother who often looked at her with disdain, as if she was at fault for arriving too late. Surrounded by kindhearted neighbors, so even when she was left alone for weeks at a time, someone was there to care for her. Saved by the gruff ex-warrior everyone in town feared,
Caius Urswick, when a misstep caused her tumbling down the cliffside. While the accident caused her to be bedridden for nearly two weeks, Imogen considers it a net gain because it brought her Caius, her favorite person in the world. After her mother tried selling her to a supposed member of House Orderlia, all in exchange for an audience with Duke Goneril, Caius took her away from her wretched mother once and for all.
It happened so often, these tragedies circumvented only by some stroke of luck, that Imogen quickly learned to be immune to the extreme vicissitudes of life. As a child, it helped her to imagine an unbalanced scale, always tipping over one side or the other. If something bad happens, Imogen knew the 'something good' is just around the corner. She just has to reach for it.
The most recent instance of this strange phenomenon of hers happened the day a Crest scholar visited her small town. The scholar offered to test anyone willing and Imogen volunteered, thinking it would be fun. She couldn't have known that the results would be life-changing. News traveled fast through her small town, and upon hearing she carried a Major Crest of Goneril, her mother came to collect her. It had been years since she'd seen her last, but she looked more alive than ever before, a flicker of crazed hope in her eyes. Imogen knew what it meant: her mother found her way back to the duke, and she would do everything in her power to obtain it.
That night, Imogen finally accepted the offer Caius had presented to her many times before: a paid enrollment at the Officer's Academy. He had said it was a chance to escape from her mother's destructive obsession. A chance to figure out her place in the world, so she wouldn't feel beholden to Duke Goneril's toxic ambitions, should he ever try to claim her. Imogen had kept refusing his offer before because she didn't want to leave him behind, especially now that he's aging. But the scale has tipped far too long in the good side; she knew in her bones that something bad was coming for her. The least she could do was spare Caius from whatever it is.
Trivia❥ Onion Gratin Soup is her favorite food. After her accident, she had a hard time eating for a while. When Caius noticed, he made her this soup and said it was sprinkled with vulnerary to make her feel better. It worked and now she believes it's some magical cure-all.
❥ Imogen is exactly 5'. She styles her hair in a high half-pony to get a couple of inches out of it.
❥ She has no idea if Duke Goneril has found out about her. Her mother would have no doubt attemped to relay the information already, but she does have a bad track record there so Imogen has her fingers crossed.