Name: Jakobe Söderström
Gender: Female
Age: 14
Appearance:
5’2’’ and 105 lbs, Jakobe barely hits her recommended weight. Certainly not an imposing figure. Much less so with her soft features and scared grey eyes. Her long red hair is always pulled back in a ponytail, away from her eyes. She usually wears a simple t-shirt and jeans under her layers of winter clothes, her only form of accessory being a blue diving watch on her left wrist. It’s less for use than it is for sentimental value.
Personality:
Quiet, reserved, and jittery. Jakobe is a girl of few words. She’s grown used to have very few people to talk to, so she’s used to keeping her thoughts to herself. Extremely level-headed though easily flustered, Jakobe is a born survivor. She prefers being in the background, away from attention, safe in anonymity. She’s small enough to get her way in that regard. Her family drilled paranoia and cynicism into her as a means to keep her safe. As such, she isn't very good or trusting when it comes to people. She hasn’t seen many of them in her life, after all. But she is still a naïve child, and if you make her feel safe even a little bit, you’ll find her almost attached at your waist. She is desperate for company, terrified of being left alone. Alone, she’s defenseless.
Young as she is and so new to her powers, what with her ingrained skepticism, Jakobe has little to no faith in herself. Much less the prophecy. Like most of the people in her homeland, she finds it absurd, despite knowing of the powerful magic that exists in the world. All she wants is a home, somewhere to feel safe in. She's not really sure how far she'll go to get that.
“I’m not safe. I was once, but he took that from me. He takes it from all of us.”
Bio:
After years of the Elemental King’s infanticidal rule, Scandinavia's population has become small enough to be housed in few and scattered apartment blocks, sky-scraping behemoths, so tall that the only lightning that ever struck did so on their lightning rods. In Sweden, these are called jättetrakter. The people within these barely ever leave them. There’s nothing but miles and miles of desolate towns in between them. The jättetrakter are slowly becomes ghost towns themselves. Their inhabitants age, and without children, their numbers only grow smaller. With the exception of Stockholm, most jättetrakter nowadays are only half filled with people, whole floors left void of life.
One such jättetrakt, where Skogstorp once stood, is more than just brick and metal. In its foundations lie ancient spells, enchanted runestones whose magic muddles even the Elemental King’s. Its walls rumbled, power outages plagued it, and the skies seemed to be always ravaged by thunderstorms. It wasn’t long before the place was called haunted by its inhabitants. When enough of them died out, the few people who lived in it abandoned it, in favor for the Stockholm jättetrakt. It’s lonely silhouette was a grim reminder of the toll of the Elemental King’s rule. Yet, its walls hid a secret that threatened to tear down this same rule: a child. Fourteen years ago, Bengta Söderström fell pregnant. She, her husband, and mother sought refuge within these haunted walls, hoping their daughter would be safe from the Elemental King. It was a only one of hundreds of abandoned jättetrakter. Surely the King wouldn't think much of it. They’d all heard of the prophecy, that the Elemental King’s infanticidal rampage was due to his fear of eight children destined to overthrow him. Ridiculous. How could children overthrow a king? All they were sure of was that their daughter was in danger as long as she was a child. If they could just keep her hidden until adulthood, until she isn’t a threat to the king, she would be safe. All they had to do was wait, and hope Jakobe would grow to womanhood before she could fall into the Elemental King’s hand.
Jakobe, like most inhabitants of jättetrakter, never really saw the light of day, raised within the metal confines of her home. But she didn’t mind. She was never drawn to the outside world. Out there she could be seen. Out there she could be hunted. She was happy, safe, even if just with the company of her parents, grandmother, and Mattias, the sole survivor of a elkhound litter they found in the higher levels of the jättetrakt. No, Jakobe wasn’t lonely. What she was is afraid. The Elemental King’s power only kept growing, and her family only kept wasting away. She could tell her father’s knees didn’t work as they did before, the growing grey hairs on her mother’s head. Her grandmother grew weaker every day. The Söderströms were fighting against time. They were few, fading. None were warriors, and none could defend themselves from the Elemental King’s wrath should word reach him of the child they keep in secret.
Their worst fear became true when one night a group of rangers sought shelter in their jättetrakt. They found young Jakobe in the lower levels, and when they attempted to take her, her family came to her help. They lost. Her father, mother, and grandmother were all killed, and she was alone. One of the men grabbed Jakobe by the hair as she tried to escape and pulled. There was a blinding light, a sound like cymbals crashing together. The men fell to the ground, burnt and smoking, hearts no longer beating. Jakobe was next to her father’s body, digging her face in his chest, sobbing.
More would come, she knew that much. She had no choice but to leave her home, or she would surely be captured by the Elemental King. She couldn't save her family, but she could honor them and carry on their task by staying alive. With only some supplies and Mattias at her side, Jakobe left her home. She had no idea where to go, no idea what her newfound powers meant. She only knew she had to move. Nowhere was safe. Not as long as the Elemental King was alive.
Element: Thunder/Lightning
Power: Technopathy. Jakobe can communicate with and control technology, which made upkeep of the jättetrakt easy. It’s a power she doesn’t really know she has. Her family always thought Jakobe was just really good with technology, so that’s what she believes.
Location: Currently the Danish coast, just past the Øresund Bridge. She’s exhausted right now. It’s a long bridge.
Family: Åke Söderström (father), Bengta Söderström (mother), Catrine Nyberg (grandmother)
Friends: Mattias
Sentimental Attachment: A watch she took from her father's corpse
Other: Nut allergy. Oddly comfortable in confined places. English is like a second language to her. Thick accent,though.
Pet Name: Mattias (Mats)
Pet Age: 7
Pet Gender: Male
Pet Species: Norwegian Elkhound
Pet Personality:
Mattias, as any elkhound, is an extremely loyal, brave, powerful beast. Having been raised by Jakobe, he shows her complete dedication and would do anything to keep her safe. He would never back down from a fight for her sale, not even against creatures twice his size, as elkhounds do. Mattias has tons of energy and needs to release it, oftentimes in the form of bouncing along his master, running in circles, or even digging holes in random places. He is Jakobe’s only friend, and she his. Anyone that threatened either of them has hell coming.
