servility | application (fade rift).

PLAYER

Name: Trace
Age: 27
Contact:

watchtower or discord (trace#8911).
Other Characters: none!
Interests: Honestly, I'm in it for the intriguing character interactions more than any specific genre of plot, so I'm great with any plots as long as they foster neato CR opportunities. I like opportunities for danger (like action plots etc), but also opportunities for characters to chill and catch their breath (like intriguing social gatherings). I also am intrigued by the possibility of exploring the Dragon Age world in RP! :]

CHARACTER

Name: Brienne of Tarth
Canon/OC: Game of Thrones
Canon Point: end of 8.03
Journal: this one!
Age: late 30's

Canon World

Though the world of Game of Thrones is one shaped deeply by magic, few who live in it have actually experienced any form of magic firsthand, often believing it to be myth or legend rather than actuality. Day-to-day life tends to fall into the 'fantasy medieval' category, with much of the geography, politics, and technology inspired by late medieval Europe.

Politically, Westeros (where basically the entire story takes place) is known as the 'Seven Kingdoms', with seven individual regional monarchies (and a number of Great Houses under each monarchy) coming under the rule of one Lord of the Seven Kingdoms on the Iron Throne. I'm not an absolute expert on Game of Thones politics, but it seems to me like a lot of those kingdoms have since been wiped out or swallowed up by either the North (with the Starks and generally all of the rebels) and the South (with Cersei Lannister on the actual Iron Throne, so technically she's the queen in charge of everything, even if it doesn't quite work out like that a lot of the time).

Along the northern edge of Westeros is a wall, on the other side of which is the Land of Always Winter. The show starts off with legends of white walkers (ice zombies) North of the wall. Last season, they tore a big fuckin' hole in that wall with a newly-undead dragon they stole from Daenerys Targaryen. At Brienne's canonpoint, the dead have marched on Winterfell and massacred pretty much everyone gathered there, but ultimately the Night King and his army of dead was destroyed so who knows how that's going to shake out in the last few episodes. At this point, the political climate is 'Cersei Lannister, her knights, and the foreign army she hired .vs. the entire rest of Westeros'. As lopsided as that sounds, she might actually kick their asses and I'm very afraid.

Westeros has a number of primary religions, with The Faith being the officially sanctioned one (based on a single seven-faced deity) and is pretty much everywhere in King's Landing and the surrounding areas. The Iron Islands still worship the Drowned God, as they have for ages despite all attempts to convert them. The religion most relevant to the actual plot is that of R'hllor, the "Lord of Light", whose mythos basically outlines the existence and rise of the Night King (a la the white walkers in the show) and prophesies the individual who will stop him. R'hllor's followers are one of the only consistent sources of magic in the books, with 'Red Woman' Melisandre going so far as to bring Jon Snow back to life with a prayer.

Humans are the primary race by a long shot, though giants live (used to live? hard to say) beyond the Wall. There are also what's called Children of the Forest, who are the original inhabitants of the world and are mentioned often in lore but haven't been seen (by anyone but Bran Stark) in milennia. Flora seems about the same, but in many cases, there are animal sub-species that far exceed the species' normal size. Direwolves, for example, are as large as ponies. Speaking of nature: : Much of life in Westeros is also shaped by the unusual seasonal cycle - summers and winters last for years on end, and children born in the summer often don't know hardship compared to those born in the winter. (This is literally where "oh, you sweet summer child" comes from.)

History

Brienne of Tarth grew up on the sunny island of Tarth. She was the last living heir to Lord Selwyn Tarth, but was mocked due to her size and lack of conventional beauty, and she turned to swordsmanship in place of a romantic or social life.

We first see her in S2, swearing her sword ~~and heart~~ to Renly Baratheon, who was the first person to show her genuine heartfelt courtesy and respect. Brienne is soon framed for his murder, and is whisked from the camp by Catelyn Stark before she can be detained for it. So Brienne swears fealty to Catelyn, whom she guards until Catelyn orders her to smuggle the prisoner Jaime Lannister back to King's Landing in an attempted hostage exchange for the two Stark daughters.

Thus begins the Adventures of Brienne and Jaime, which mostly consists of him firing off targeted insults, occasionally interspersed with a combat altercation between them + bandits or sometimes just between them. They end up captured by House Bolton's men who were sent to take Jaime prisoner. Despite being her prisoner, Jaime rescues her from being raped by the men and loses his sword-hand in the process. It turns the tides between them, and from then on, they're generally working together and rescuing one another etc. Jaime gets her out of that Bolton mess and they end up making it to King's Landing, where she finds out that Catelyn Stark has been killed.

Brienne plans to continue to honor her oath to Catelyn by protecting Sansa and Arya Stark, whom she now needs to locate in addition to trying to avenge Renly by killing Stannis Baratheon, his actual murderer. This has her leaving King's Landing again as Sansa flees the city - in a moment of personal growth, Jaime sends her after Sansa, along with his sword and his brother's squire (Podrick, a Good Boy).

The search generally goes poorly. She finds and then loses Arya, then finds Sansa and explains her oath to Catelyn, but is sent away. She follows Sansa back to Bolton-occupied Winterfell, staying at an inn nearby in case she's needed. She ends up getting a message to Sansa, who actually wants her help this time, but Brienne misses the return signal because she's briefly detouring off to execute the nearby Stannis in Renly's name. Then she heads back and rescues Sansa, taking her to Jon Snow at Castle Black. Since then, she's been Sansa's sworn sword, doing a number of crucial duties for her when necessary. A lot of Neat Ass Shit happens but word count limit so!

This season opened with everyone we know and love gathered in Winterfell to prepare for the undead invasion. Brienne has been given command of an entire army flank, an incredible honor. The night before the wights arrive, she's knighted officially by Jaime (who left Cersei to fight under Brienne's command), becoming Ser Brienne of Tarth. Later that night, the Battle of Winterfell begins, and shit's crazy but she survives.

Personality

One of the first things you learn upon meeting Brienne is that she lives her life by a fairly black-and-white code of honor and knightly chivalry. She is honest, loyal, just, and extremely good on every promise she makes. She protects the weak, she deeply respects those whom she serves, and she allows a man to challenge her on his feet with his sword rather than killing him dishonorably. It's actually extremely impressive (to me personally, anyway) how steadfast her 'honor' compass seems to be - we very rarely see her at a crossroads in which she can't quickly identify what honor compels her to do. And this isn't just for show, either. She's ready to die for her honor. She's ready to fight those she loves to the death if honor compels her to do so (e.g. if that loved one is fighting for the army that Brienne is honorbound to face in combat). On the flip side, this can also lead her to be a bit judgmental at times, since she has Strong Opinions about dishonorable acts even if they're committed for good reasons.

At the same time, there are many things Brienne is much less certain of. Much of her life has been spent as the subject of ridicule (due to her 'ugliness' and 'mannishness'), both direct and in the form of false-niceness that turned out to be laughter behind her back, and though she quickly found a coping method in the form of throwing herself into swordsmanship, it certainly has had an impact on her as a person. Her self-image is not great, and it's hard for her to accept warmth or compliments (about anything but her skill in battle, at least) at face value due to the frequency with which she's been burned for it in her life. It has also left her without much by way of social skills - she knows how to navigate a formal conversation with relative ease, but as soon as it becomes conversational or informal, she's at a bit of a loss and tends to default toward being overly blunt and even curt for lack of alternatives. She's often seen as lacking a sense of humor, in part because much of her humor is delivered sarcastically in a way that may not come across as humor at all. On the plus side, her rocky social experiences haven't left her fragile or insecure - instead, she seems to have forged a new sense of bravery through them, able to face off against even the most intimidating foe in battle or to stand up in front of those in positions of power and to speak a controversial truth as compelled by her honor (for example, defending Jaime Lannister to Daenerys Targaryen in 8.02).

While many find her quite difficult (she has no end of stubbornness and doesn't mince words), the years of ridicule mean that she's actually fairly 'easy'. The slightest genuine compliment, expression of respect, or even sign of acceptance do an astounding amount in winning her over, to the point where she'll gladly lay down her life for them (e.g. Renly Baratheon, who showed her genuine courtesy one single time and she fell in love with him and swore her sword to him). Honestly, Brienne loves far more deeply than anyone really realizes.

(I have no idea how to write a short personality section, I hope this isn't a mess.)

Strengths & Weaknesses

Brienne's strengths include...
Swordsmanship and combat. She's been the 'sworn sword' to three different people now and done a hell of a job.
Training others in swordsmanship and combat.
Commanding military regiments in an unofficial capacity (at least in this latest battle).
Acting as a guardian or protector, in the bodyguard sense.
Very large, kind of tanky.
Driven by honor and honest/straightforward to a fault. It's incredibly hard to consider her 'untrustworthy', even if you aren't fond of her as a person.

Brienne's weaknesses include...
Oversized and aesthetically displeasing. (I personally don't think so, but this is driven home many, many times in canon, so I think we're supposed to pretend that Brienne is less attractive than any character played by Gwendoline Christie can ever actually be.)
Socially awkward. Not great at making friends or winning over anyone on social merits.
Can't go against her code of honor.

Suggested Nerfs

N/A, no supernatural abilities

Arrival Inventory

As I'm taking her from her first rest after the battle, I'm just going to say that her dream takes her back to the battle, meaning her inventory is:
Armor, gifted by Jaime Lannister
Oathkeeper (Valyrian steel blade)
a lot of white walker viscera coating her body

That's about it.

'Human'ization

N/A, regular human!

Fit

Basically, I really like the thought of cramming this renfaire into a different renfaire world, and I love the Dragon Age setting in particular (from what little I know, having only finished Origins and Awakening so far), so it seems fun! It'll be interesting to see how Brienne gets along in this new political world, and where her sense of honor leads her. I'm excited to see what group or individuals she ends up finding a sense of loyalty for.

SAMPLES

one (not in-game). --- (i didn't want to send y'all shippy trash to read, but the description specifically mentions internal narrative and that's my best example of her internal narrative in general so far)
alternate sample #1 if you'd rather skip the aforementioned shippy trash

two (from the tdm).
If that's not quite enough by the time you check apps (idk their tagging speed), I can write my own top-level!