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Naturally, next up we have Dawn's mother, Erdene. Admittedly, I haven't gotten Erdene's backstory as buffed out as Stede's just yet. I'm not even 100% what part of the globe I'd like her to hail from. She's at least partially Russian, I know that much, but her family primarily comes from somewhere in Central Asia, one of those former Soviet states. As it stands right now, I'm keeping her hovered around Kazakhstan, but I need to familiarize myself more with this corner of the world and its history to decide what truly fits best. I saw somewhere that Kazakhstan (specifically the Semipalatinsk Test Site) is the most nuked place on the planet, and I liked the idea of someone growing up around the horrid consequences of this and deciding they wanted to prevent that kind of suffering from ever reaching its climax.

So regardless of where she comes from, that's the idea behind Erdene's character. Seeking a way to become a powerful force for peace, she became a sanctioned agent of the United Nations. She was stationed in the Indian Ocean to try and find a diplomatic solution to the piracy problem. This is where she met Stede, Dawn's father, who at the time was a snarky recruit of the US Navy, and they kicked off on all sorts of wacky hijinks on the seven seas. Initially, though she was trained to defend herself, Erdene was completely opposed to violence in any capacity. Unfortunately, fighting pirates is a job that forces you into some extremely unfavorable circumstances. Erdene had to split more skulls than she was comfortable with, and ultimately became disenchanted with her mission. The only thing that kept her up was Stede, who despite teasing her for her naivete, saw her as his better half. He figured if the world's governments couldn't give her the peace she wanted, then he would. They moved to Stede's hometown of Eagle Crest, bought a little home, and eventually had their daughter: Dawn, who became their whole world.

Erdene is a little high strung and erratic after the whole fiasco in the Indian Ocean kinda left her with understandable PTSD, but though she could be strict with her daughter, she was never unkind. When she heard the news that Dawn had died in a car crash, Erdene was absolutely inconsolable. While Stede hid his grief behind a fractured smile, Erdene put up no such mask. She wanders around the house like a ghost, shaking, mumbling, and weeping. Every now and then, she makes the mistake of calling her sister, Varina, hoping to find some solace with family. Unfortunately, Varina is a bit of a nutcase, obsessed with conspiracy theories and undermining the ever-elusive “Them”. All she ever talks about is her new concoction of hoodoo bullshit that'll bring Dawn back from the dead if only she could get it past the Deep State. These attempts at reconciliation with her estranged sister always leave Erdene throwing her phone against the wall and feeling more and more alone in the world. All she wants is to hold her baby girl again, oh if only-

Design notes, this one was difficult, yet rewarding! Like I said, I'm not as familiar with Central Asian designs and cultures as I would like to be, so I really didn't even know where to start. I decided to just shotgun blast a whole bunch of reference images covering the broadest possible spectrum and see if I could get anything to stick to the wall. I looked at everything from modern Turkish fashion to traditional Mongolian clothing, while trying to keep the middle primarily reserved for Kazakh references. I'd wager anyone from the region would be able to tell how much of a mismatch of completely different steppe peoples this is, so if that's you, I apologize But please do share some local insights to help me get more grounded! Regardless, it's a mismatch I find to be quite beautiful. I'm especially happy with how her underdress turned out (even if my scanner really doesn't want to cooperate with all those little beads and strings). I think she came out really pretty, so hopefully her backstory won't have to be changed too much for this design to work anymore XD

Description
Naturally, next up we have Dawn's mother, Erdene. Admittedly, I haven't gotten Erdene's backstory as buffed out as Stede's just yet. I'm not even 100% what part of the globe I'd like her to hail from. She's at least partially Russian, I know that much, but her family primarily comes from somewhere in Central Asia, one of those former Soviet states. As it stands right now, I'm keeping her hovered around Kazakhstan, but I need to familiarize myself more with this corner of the world and its history to decide what truly fits best. I saw somewhere that Kazakhstan (specifically the Semipalatinsk Test Site) is the most nuked place on the planet, and I liked the idea of someone growing up around the horrid consequences of this and deciding they wanted to prevent that kind of suffering from ever reaching its climax.

So regardless of where she comes from, that's the idea behind Erdene's character. Seeking a way to become a powerful force for peace, she became a sanctioned agent of the United Nations. She was stationed in the Indian Ocean to try and find a diplomatic solution to the piracy problem. This is where she met Stede, Dawn's father, who at the time was a snarky recruit of the US Navy, and they kicked off on all sorts of wacky hijinks on the seven seas. Initially, though she was trained to defend herself, Erdene was completely opposed to violence in any capacity. Unfortunately, fighting pirates is a job that forces you into some extremely unfavorable circumstances. Erdene had to split more skulls than she was comfortable with, and ultimately became disenchanted with her mission. The only thing that kept her up was Stede, who despite teasing her for her naivete, saw her as his better half. He figured if the world's governments couldn't give her the peace she wanted, then he would. They moved to Stede's hometown of Eagle Crest, bought a little home, and eventually had their daughter: Dawn, who became their whole world.

Erdene is a little high strung and erratic after the whole fiasco in the Indian Ocean kinda left her with understandable PTSD, but though she could be strict with her daughter, she was never unkind. When she heard the news that Dawn had died in a car crash, Erdene was absolutely inconsolable. While Stede hid his grief behind a fractured smile, Erdene put up no such mask. She wanders around the house like a ghost, shaking, mumbling, and weeping. Every now and then, she makes the mistake of calling her sister, Varina, hoping to find some solace with family. Unfortunately, Varina is a bit of a nutcase, obsessed with conspiracy theories and undermining the ever-elusive “Them”. All she ever talks about is her new concoction of hoodoo bullshit that'll bring Dawn back from the dead if only she could get it past the Deep State. These attempts at reconciliation with her estranged sister always leave Erdene throwing her phone against the wall and feeling more and more alone in the world. All she wants is to hold her baby girl again, oh if only-

Design notes, this one was difficult, yet rewarding! Like I said, I'm not as familiar with Central Asian designs and cultures as I would like to be, so I really didn't even know where to start. I decided to just shotgun blast a whole bunch of reference images covering the broadest possible spectrum and see if I could get anything to stick to the wall. I looked at everything from modern Turkish fashion to traditional Mongolian clothing, while trying to keep the middle primarily reserved for Kazakh references. I'd wager anyone from the region would be able to tell how much of a mismatch of completely different steppe peoples this is, so if that's you, I apologize But please do share some local insights to help me get more grounded! Regardless, it's a mismatch I find to be quite beautiful. I'm especially happy with how her underdress turned out (even if my scanner really doesn't want to cooperate with all those little beads and strings). I think she came out really pretty, so hopefully her backstory won't have to be changed too much for this design to work anymore XD