TheMoatedGrange

Collaborative High Fantasy World Building

! yes !

Cold Front

Mary-Louise Crawford

Mary-Louise 'Lulu' Crawford

^{Female | 25
5'4 | 130lbs
American | Flight Attendant}

Profile

---

Appearance:

Mary-Louise stands at just a little under average height, and is also of about average weight. She has an attractive face (one of the prerequisites for her job - getting posted on the international flights is only for the best of the best) with a smattering of freckles that she hides with make-up. Her hair is dyed blonde and kept closely cropped in a fashionable bob, but naturally it is auburn, a fact almost betrayed by her light green eyes and pale complexion. She has long, carefully manicured lashes and plucked eyebrows as well as a well-maintained manicure, all of which are signs that her job demands that she remain in peak physical condition on an aesthetic level at all times. Her teeth are straight and white, and on closer examination they show signs of relatively recent readjustment.

Her voice has a reassuring southern twang to it, and though in the cabin she scales it back to maintain a calm air of professionalism, when amongst friends she becomes increasingly southern to the point of incomprehensibility at times. Her manner is generally endearing, though, and it's obvious why she has been so successful at her job in the past.

Background:

Mary-Louise Crawford was born to a middle-class Baptist family of Scottish and German descent in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1944 to Reginald and Marietta Crawford. Her father was a US Marine who was killed on Okinawa before Mary-Louise was born, and she was raised by her mother's second husband Clarence Smallsford, who was a family doctor. She has three young half-siblings, the youngest of whom is fourteen years old now.

Lulu had a comfortable life growing up - she was popular at school, but unfortunately did not show the intellectual aptitude of her eldest half-sister Sylvia (who is currently attending Vassar College). Upon leaving, Lulu spent a lot of time soul-searching while working as a typist at her step-father's practice. After an engagement went awry in Wilmington, she decided that she had to leave and moved in with Sylvia for a few months while she searched for a new job. Eventually, she was picked up by Northwestern Airlines, and her warm, charming manner and general good looks meant that she was bumped up quickly to serving first-class on international routes. Leaving her family behind in North Carolina, she moved to Seattle, where she lives a newly liberated life as a bachelorette in the city with her flight attendant friends between jobs.

She has recently become engaged to a servicemen on deployment in Vietnam called Louis Speltzer, whose parents are French Jews who fled Paris during the Second World War, and was considering downsizing back to domestic routes so that she can consider eventually quitting and starting a family. Furthermore, her engagement to a Jewish man has already caused enormous problems with Louis' parents, and foremost in Lulu's mind has been how to break the news to her own, WASPish and traditionalist parents.

Personality and Outlook:

Fundamentally a Christian, Lulu is also generally quite laid-back and optimistic. Life has, so far, usually gone her way and though she is not necessarily an intellectual, she has developed great pragmatic and inter-personal skills that allow her to adapt easily to most social situations. Her optimism may have been damaged somewhat, however, by the deaths of the other crew members.

Lulu is an extrovert and a 'people person' and has worked hard over the years to deal with challenging social situations at work, so staying friendly with the other survivors and ensuring that communication does not break down is going to be one of her most important objectives.

Capabilities

---

Skills:

First aid training - Part of Lulu's work with Northwestern involved training for a variety of minor to major medical incidents, and she is going to be able to help with most small injuries accrued during the survivors' attempts to stay alive.

Navigational skills -Again, another crucial element of Lulu's training was developing navigational skills in the event of a crash. She will be able to lead the group in some direction or other at least.

Radio skills -If any section of the plane's cockpit survives, Lulu will be able to operate the radios to send out distress signals and other communications with passing planes.

Interpersonal skills - Definitely her strongest suit, and the reason why she was always so successful in her job. It might be important for her to keep up morale and mediate in disputes in the coming hard times.

Weaknesses:

Trauma - Lulu isn't in the best mental state directly after the crash - the other flight attendants and the pilots were people that she had personally known for years, and were people with whom she had flown the route many times before.

Lack of survival skills - Growing up in the city and being groomed to be an ultra-feminine stewardess didn't leave much scope for Lulu to develop her wilderness coping skills.

Lack of leadership skills - Though Lulu was instrumental in ensuring preparations as the plane went down in a calm and collected fashion, her ability to lead the group after the actual crash is going to be minimal - she is definitely likely to be more of a follower than a leader in this regard, as she looks for someone more authoritative and experienced than herself.

Inventory

---

- Stewardess uniform, slightly damaged.
- Fur coat, salvaged.
- First aid kit, slightly damaged.
- Purse, containing set of house keys, $24 US, a small postcard of a man's face.
- Change of shoes, socks, underwear, toothbrush.

Opinions

---

_{To be completed following selection.}

Avalon: A Tale of Arthurian Legend

The wind whispered soft sighs through the leafy glades of Hwethyd, which glistened vivaciously with morning dew. The castle stood atop the barony's tallest and in fact only real hill of significance, a low-lying granite structure that sprawled out across the plateau. Inside its walls, however, one would be apt to think themselves back in the forest - trees grew everywhere, wildly, within the courtyards, as did tall grasses and specifically fenced off cultures of various herbs from across Britannia and beyond.

That was where Lady Meredith could be found today, wearing a long, flowing green robe belted with a leather band studded with copper rivets. Her long auburn hair was left to sweep down her back and in tresses across her shoulders. Her dress was, in many ways, somewhat liberal for a woman of her stature, and it certainly would not have been appropriate in public, but for Meredith conforming to social convention was something that she had made a habit of avoiding.

On this particular day, the Green Woman was stooped low over a particularly earthy patch of land between the small chapel that she very rarely frequented and her own, personal library, which was stocked full of tomes pertaining to medicine, herbalism and - in a small compartment accessible only through a hidden staircase - mysticism and occultism. Meredith's fingers raked lovingly through the dirt, drawing up tiny little red bulbs that she placed delicately in a small wicker basket at her elbow.

There was a disturbance in the garden, and Meredith noticed immediately. The trees and bushes were not singing as naturally as before. She stood, hands still muddy, and turned to find her handmaiden, Éalla, a strong-looking Welsh girl with broad shoulders and a broader brow. "M'lady," She said, sweeping into a perfunctory curtsey. "A messenger has arrived from Camelot," She gestured towards the arches of the courtyard that led from the library, and Meredith turned to observe the messenger. He bowed tentatively, his eyes scanning around the garden wildly.

"I am not going to put a hex on you, dear man," Meredith said with a sly little smile. "If that is what they are saying in Camelot,"

***

Meredith rode for Camelot later that same day, her armour and various tomes of herbalism in tow, along with assorted jars, vials, pots and boxes containing a whole host of herbal remedies in a small cortege. Clad in the light-fitting leather armour and mail of the Saxon invasion, Meredith rode purposefully atop her horse, and all the way the peasants bowed low in their doorways, muttered to each other, and crossed themselves with fear.

Avalon: A Tale of Arthurian Legend

Post shall be up tomorrow morning.

Cold Front

I've made the adjustments - I'm going to add Opinions soon, too.

Avalon: A Tale of Arthurian Legend

Lady Meredith of Hwethyd
The Green Woman

31 ¦ Archer/Healer

Appearance:

Meredith stands slightly taller than average, and is willowy and thin, with a sinewy, muscular body made more for agility than for prolonged swordsmanship. Her eyes are a brown colour, and her hair is a shining auburn-red.

She is often apparelled in light mail armour mixed with leather pieces rather than anything heavier, and rather than wearing a full great-helm she often chooses to wear a helm without a visor, upon which she has had embellished green oak leaf decals. Her weapon of choice is the longbow, and so she is often found with both this and a quiver of arrows at her side. As for hand weaponry, which carries a thin, lightweight shortsword at her shin, to be used only in the most dire circumstances.

Background:

Meredith's background is murky and relatively ill-defined, and she herself is known to give conflicting accounts of her upbringing as often as she is asked. What remains clear is that she was born to a noble family, potentially of Gaul stock over the sea, a fact betrayed by the soft accent that still afflicts her speech to this day. Furthermore, it is evident that she was well-educated - perhaps even spending some time in Rome or Constantinople - but that circumstances that she is unwilling to divulge forced her to flee to the land of the Britons.

Her first experiences in Britannia were varied and fraught with danger, and she was run out of East Anglia after being accused of witchcraft by a local petty lord. She arrived in Camelot under these auspicious circumstances, bringing with her very little in the way of possessions but pledging her allegiance to the land's king as soon as she was able, in person. Though a woman, and so unconventional in this respect, Meredith soon proved her worth both as a knight and fighter but also as a healer - with an enormous and varied knowledge of medicine, poultices and wound care that led to her gaining a reputation as 'The Green Woman' in the armies that she was part of.

Opinions of Meredith varied during this time. Many found her strange and somewhat unorthodox social manner and her unbecomingly unfeminine knowledge of plants, healing and other learned matters somewhat disconcerting, and more than once did she clash with those who sought to displace her. Accused of witchcraft almost routinely, Meredith never became a figure of popular acclaim amongst the nobles and the peasant folk of Camelot, instead often attaching herself to the retinues of more popular and commonly chivalric knights.

During the Saxon attempted invasion, Meredith fought bravely, a fact that was commended by King Arthur, who finally knighted her in a ceremony as unorthodox as the rest of the women's service. She was granted a small fiefdom in the south-western corner of Camelot, and in Hwethyd she constructed a manor that allowed her to draw a regular income from her demesne. With this, she was able to finally put a tentative food in the door of Camelot's power structure.

Traits of Avalon:

∞-The Stag’s Eyes: You possess a keen and heightened awareness of things. In combat, your spatial acuity is above that of an average knights, and you are able to adapt and overcome with ease.

∞-The Falcon’s Talon: You are a master of the bow. The accuracy of your arrows is deadly and true, whether they be loosed from on foot, or from horseback.

Avalon: A Tale of Arthurian Legend

Hope no-one minds me trying my hand.

Sheet

Lady Meredith of Hwethyd
The Green Woman

31 ¦ Archer/Healer

Appearance:

Meredith stands slightly taller than average, and is willowy and thin, with a sinewy, muscular body made more for agility than for prolonged swordsmanship. Her eyes are a brown colour, and her hair is a shining auburn-red.

She is often apparelled in light mail armour mixed with leather pieces rather than anything heavier, and rather than wearing a full great-helm she often chooses to wear a helm without a visor, upon which she has had embellished green oak leaf decals. Her weapon of choice is the longbow, and so she is often found with both this and a quiver of arrows at her side. As for hand weaponry, which carries a thin, lightweight shortsword at her shin, to be used only in the most dire circumstances.

Background:

Meredith's background is murky and relatively ill-defined, and she herself is known to give conflicting accounts of her upbringing as often as she is asked. What remains clear is that she was born to a noble family, potentially of Gaul stock over the sea, a fact betrayed by the soft accent that still afflicts her speech to this day. Furthermore, it is evident that she was well-educated - perhaps even spending some time in Rome or Constantinople - but that circumstances that she is unwilling to divulge forced her to flee to the land of the Britons.

Her first experiences in Britannia were varied and fraught with danger, and she was run out of East Anglia after being accused of witchcraft by a local petty lord. She arrived in Camelot under these auspicious circumstances, bringing with her very little in the way of possessions but pledging her allegiance to the land's king as soon as she was able, in person. Though a woman, and so unconventional in this respect, Meredith soon proved her worth both as a knight and fighter but also as a healer - with an enormous and varied knowledge of medicine, poultices and wound care that led to her gaining a reputation as 'The Green Woman' in the armies that she was part of.

Opinions of Meredith varied during this time. Many found her strange and somewhat unorthodox social manner and her unbecomingly unfeminine knowledge of plants, healing and other learned matters somewhat disconcerting, and more than once did she clash with those who sought to displace her. Accused of witchcraft almost routinely, Meredith never became a figure of popular acclaim amongst the nobles and the peasant folk of Camelot, instead often attaching herself to the retinues of more popular and commonly chivalric knights.

During the Saxon attempted invasion, Meredith fought bravely, a fact that was commended by King Arthur, who finally knighted her in a ceremony as unorthodox as the rest of the women's service. She was granted a small fiefdom in the south-western corner of Camelot, and in Hwethyd she constructed a manor that allowed her to draw a regular income from her demesne. With this, she was able to finally put a tentative food in the door of Camelot's power structure.

Traits of Avalon:

∞-The Stag’s Eyes: You possess a keen and heightened awareness of things. In combat, your spatial acuity is above that of an average knights, and you are able to adapt and overcome with ease.

∞-The Falcon’s Talon: You are a master of the bow. The accuracy of your arrows is deadly and true, whether they be loosed from on foot, or from horseback.

Cold Front

<Snipped quote by TheMoatedGrange>

I must ask, time period and what not, as a southerner what would Mary-Louise's initial feelings about surviving alongside Julian be like? I understand she is a people person, but my paternal line originates from the south, baptist too, and they did not adapt quickly to the idea of a coloured child entering the family -- and that was in '91.

I do enjoy Mary-Louise. She is plays on the independent woman emerging around this time, making her move out from the south into a more forward thinking region even more understandable. I would love to see her skills making others comfortable and de-escalating people be applied in a high-stress situation like this.

@Lo Pellegrino

Well, Mary-Louise herself is probably the most liberal member of her family, and living in Seattle (and travelling all over the world - especially to the Far East!) means that she is probably more exposed to different cultures and races than most people back home in Wilmington.

So she is probably not actively racist. BUT, she has been raised in a typical, relatively well-off WASP household, and growing up she would have went to a segregated high school and had family staff who were all African-Americans. So her upbringing is inevitably going to color her relations with people of other races. Julian's status as a war veteran, however, would likely be thought-provoking for her.

Cold Front

Sheet

Mary-Louise 'Lulu' Crawford

^{Female | 25
5'4 | 130lbs
American | Flight Attendant}

Profile

---

Appearance:

Mary-Louise stands at just a little under average height, and is also of about average weight. She has an attractive face (one of the prerequisites for her job - getting posted on the international flights is only for the best of the best) with a smattering of freckles that she hides with make-up. Her hair is dyed blonde and kept closely cropped in a fashionable bob, but naturally it is auburn, a fact almost betrayed by her light green eyes and pale complexion. She has long, carefully manicured lashes and plucked eyebrows as well as a well-maintained manicure, all of which are signs that her job demands that she remain in peak physical condition on an aesthetic level at all times. Her teeth are straight and white, and on closer examination they show signs of relatively recent readjustment.

Her voice has a reassuring southern twang to it, and though in the cabin she scales it back to maintain a calm air of professionalism, when amongst friends she becomes increasingly southern to the point of incomprehensibility at times. Her manner is generally endearing, though, and it's obvious why she has been so successful at her job in the past.

Background:

Mary-Louise Crawford was born to a middle-class Baptist family of Scottish and German descent in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1944 to Reginald and Marietta Crawford. Her father was a US Marine who was killed on Okinawa before Mary-Louise was born, and she was raised by her mother's second husband Clarence Smallsford, who was a family doctor. She has three young half-siblings, the youngest of whom is fourteen years old now.

Lulu had a comfortable life growing up - she was popular at school, but unfortunately did not show the intellectual aptitude of her eldest half-sister Sylvia (who is currently attending Vassar College). Upon leaving, Lulu spent a lot of time soul-searching while working as a typist at her step-father's practice. After an engagement went awry in Wilmington, she decided that she had to leave and moved in with Sylvia for a few months while she searched for a new job. Eventually, she was picked up by Northwestern Airlines, and her warm, charming manner and general good looks meant that she was bumped up quickly to serving first-class on international routes. Leaving her family behind in North Carolina, she moved to Seattle, where she lives a newly liberated life as a bachelorette in the city with her flight attendant friends between jobs.

She has recently become engaged to a servicemen on deployment in Vietnam called Louis Speltzer, whose parents are French Jews who fled Paris during the Second World War, and was considering downsizing back to domestic routes so that she can consider eventually quitting and starting a family. Furthermore, her engagement to a Jewish man has already caused enormous problems with Louis' parents, and foremost in Lulu's mind has been how to break the news to her own, WASPish and traditionalist parents.

Personality and Outlook:

Fundamentally a Christian, Lulu is also generally quite laid-back and optimistic. Life has, so far, usually gone her way and though she is not necessarily an intellectual, she has developed great pragmatic and inter-personal skills that allow her to adapt easily to most social situations. Her optimism may have been damaged somewhat, however, by the deaths of the other crew members.

Lulu is an extrovert and a 'people person' and has worked hard over the years to deal with challenging social situations at work, so staying friendly with the other survivors and ensuring that communication does not break down is going to be one of her most important objectives.

Capabilities

---

Skills:

First aid training - Part of Lulu's work with Northwestern involved training for a variety of minor to major medical incidents, and she is going to be able to help with most small injuries accrued during the survivors' attempts to stay alive.

Navigational skills -Again, another crucial element of Lulu's training was developing navigational skills in the event of a crash. She will be able to lead the group in some direction or other at least.

Radio skills -If any section of the plane's cockpit survives, Lulu will be able to operate the radios to send out distress signals and other communications with passing planes.

Interpersonal skills - Definitely her strongest suit, and the reason why she was always so successful in her job. It might be important for her to keep up morale and mediate in disputes in the coming hard times.

Weaknesses:

Trauma - Lulu isn't in the best mental state directly after the crash - the other flight attendants and the pilots were people that she had personally known for years, and were people with whom she had flown the route many times before.

Lack of survival skills - Growing up in the city and being groomed to be an ultra-feminine stewardess didn't leave much scope for Lulu to develop her wilderness coping skills.

Lack of leadership skills - Though Lulu was instrumental in ensuring preparations as the plane went down in a calm and collected fashion, her ability to lead the group after the actual crash is going to be minimal - she is definitely likely to be more of a follower than a leader in this regard, as she looks for someone more authoritative and experienced than herself.

Inventory

---

- Stewardess uniform, slightly damaged.
- Fur coat, salvaged.
- First aid kit, slightly damaged.
- Purse, containing set of house keys, $24 US, a small postcard of a man's face.
- Change of shoes, socks, underwear, toothbrush.

Opinions

---

_{To be completed following selection.}

Hope you don't mind me slotting in an app!

[IC/OOC] God and Country - A low-fantasy renaissance NRP of religion and discovery

@TheMoatedGrange I think the person who is playing Sevanne has pulled out, so I think there's free.

Also, don't listen to them. Vohemia is no backwater, Vohemia is greatest country.

@LloydTurquoise

I'll happily work with that land if it's free.