Gwen

[Gazetteer]

Name: Gwen
Age: 22
Gender: F
Nation/Allegiance: Bern, originally



Appearance/Description: In spite of her tender age, Gwen exudes an aura of cynical bitterness that can be more than a little off-putting. She rarely smiles, comes across as bored and insolent even to her social betters, and has a sad history of not knowing when to keep her mouth closed.

She has angular features, fierce brown eyes, and keeps her vibrant red hair cropped short -- long hair gets in the way during flight and combat. While she's avoided scarring wounds to her face, her body is host to a number of small cuts and scrapes that still leave a mark, and one or two more ominous looking larger ones.

Her armour is still serviceable, but far from parade-ground ready -- it has deflected numerous arrows and sword thrusts and seen much repair work in her time since leaving the Bern military. The clothes she wears beneath it are in little better condition, prioritising warmth and sturdiness over aesthetics.

Freyja, Gwen's wyvern, is seemingly docile and pliant outside of combat. This non-threatening exterior hides the mind of a cunning and vicious predator, however, and in battle she has no issues at all with tearing a man's head off or clawing out the eyes of an enemy beast. Food left unattended around Freyja has a tendency to disappear as well, the habit of minor theft being something Gwen has never quite been able to break her of.

Bio/Backstory: Gwen was born into a proud military family. While common of blood -- the lineage can be traced back to a goat farmer pressed into military service centuries ago -- members of Gwen's family have fought loyally for Bern for generations. Her ancestors participated in nearly all conflicts Bern has been a part of in recent memory, and from a very young age Gwen knew she wanted to live up to that legacy.

Her parents were more than willing to encourage her in this endeavor; when her mother's wyvern laid a clutch of eggs, a seven year old Gwen was given a hatchling to raise and care for. The wyvern -- Freyja -- became a lifelong companion who is with her to this day.

At the age of 15, proudly outfitted in her first set of armour, Gwen took off on Freyja with her parent's blessing to enlist in the local wyvern rider detachment. It didn't take very long for the young girl to become deeply disillusioned with the glories of Bern military life. The local commander was shamelessly corrupt, and when Gwen went over his head to report several fellow soldiers for mistreating civilians, she found herself very much on his bad side.

Gwen endured two years of the scorn of her superiors, of receiving only the least desirable duties and assignments, with little or no chance of promotion or commendation. The fact that she was working to keep her country safe from bandits and the increasingly alarming Lycian military eventually became rather scant comfort.

Five years ago, Gwen deserted her post while on a night patrol, and hasn't been back since. In order to feed herself and Freyja, she has found that there is plenty of work for a trained wyvern knight to carry out as a lance-for-higher. Despite having been taught all her life that sellswords were honourless scum, the work is far less degrading than what she endured in the army.

Her and Freyja's skills now go to the highest bidder -- provided the highest bidder isn't someone Gwen finds utterly repulsive.