Name: Dustin
Age: 18
Occupation:
1. Wilderness Guide: She knows her way around the mountain. Her best clients are gold-hunters looking to find gold without attracting the notice of Mr. Haversthon.
2. Herbalist: She sometimes sells specialty herbs and weeds. People know that she has special smokes for a variety ailments and experiences.
Species: Human, specifically from the “Burned Clay” tribe.
Appearance:
Dustin is a girl, but dresses like a boy. She is a woman of 18 years but her appearance comes across as a boy of 17. She wears a mixture of tribal and pioneer clothing.
Personality: Dustin is quiet and deliberate. She is not standoffish, but does work hard to keep herself as an outsider. She does not want to attract attention to herself for a number of reasons. She would rather keep her identity ambiguous. She does, despite herself, enjoy the saloon music. Especially the piano. She will spend time there to listen to the music, and to find clients. She also has an artistic side that has never fully realized itself. To relax she will carve bone when she is alone or trace patterns with charcoal.
History: Dustin is not her birth name, which is Dowanhowee. She was born into the Burned Clay tribe. She grew up raised by her grandparents (this is common custom within the tribe) and from an early age she was noticed by the healer of the tribe. He began to teach her as she got older. He called her ‘two-spirited’ and was training her to replace him when he died.
He was one of the first to die of the plague. The tribe was overtaken by a sickness that seemed to come from nowhere. Her grandmother forced her to leave the village with several other children who had not yet become sick. They were put in a canoe and sent downstream. She was 15 at this time.
Miles from home, the canoe was discovered by a group of settlers. It was quite the culture shock for the Black Clay children who had never seen outsiders before..There were a few missionaries in the group, they jumped at the chance to educate the savage children! She learned a little english but was very unhappy. One of the men adopted her, he was a gold panner, they separated from the group soon after that. The man re-named her Dustin, thinking it best that she best take a man’s name and trade. The Old Man found work in the mines in the mountains of Solomon. Dustin couldn’t stand the work, but found she could make a living as a guide for the diverse travelers passing through the town. She and the Old Man have been living in Solomon for two years.
Weapons:
Blades: She carries a wide knife in a buffalo hide sheath. It is a useful tool as well as something to remind her of home.
Firearms: She travels alone in the wilderness around. She carries a pistol and a rifle.
Skills:
Survivalist: She can survive alone in the wilderness on her own.
Herbal Knowledge: She can identify various plants and their uses.
Shooting: She is not a skilled shooter, but has the basics down.
Small Game: She was never a hunter, but can catch smaller game with traps.
Tracking: Following a trail and finding hidden paths are her specialty.
Stealth: Her line of work involves avoiding notice, she can make herself quiet and keep herself concealed when she needs to.
First Aid: Having studied under the Healer she has basic first aid skills, through, her training is incomplete. Sever wounds would require a more capable healer or doctor.
Sign Talk: She does not speak the languages of other tribes, only English and Clay, but the tribes developed a common sign-language in order to trade with one another. If she comes across other natives she can usually communicate to them with this sign-talk.
