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Description
Completed the "Profile" assignment for the Ninth Round in OC-training 's "Profile Task"!

Many of you correctly guessed that the firebird plays a prominent role in Gerda's life! And thanks to everyone for showing their support for Gerda!

Three Words summing her personality: Kind, Nurturing, Tenacious

Basic Profile:

Name: Gerda (Gerda Priborevna)

Age: 38 years old

Height: 5'1 (154.94 cm)

Weight: 182 lbs. (82.5 kg)

Ethnicity: A fantasy equivalent of Kievan Rus and Old Norse

Language: A fantasy equivalent of Old Norse with heavy Slavic influences

Time Range: A fantasy equivalent of the Kievan Rus collective and Scandinavian Viking Age

Occupation: Midwife, healer, and mage (Vedma)

Summary:

Gerda (Gerda Priborevna), an ordinary midwife and healer faces the upheaval as Feudalism establishes its rule. The knowledge of magic and magic healing is passed through Gerda's family, and Gerda studies diligently under her father and grandmother.

However, despite being learned mages, her family chooses to lead an ordinary life through farming and animal-keeping.

Gerda's family remembers a time when people openly embraced magic and the alliance of the Other Folk (Fae).

However, because many human mages and sorcerers abused their powers, this caused conflict between the magic-wielders/scholars and non-magic people. As result, non-magic people developed a distrust and disdain for magic practitioners, though reluctantly accepted magic-healing. Some nobles sought particularly gifted sorcerers and mages for their powers- to employ their powers in conflicts or battles.

Magic practitioners began dissolving their connections with the Other Folk, as the Other Folk began distancing their connection with the human world because they feared human conflict and maladies would invade their own world.

Nonetheless, Gerda, growing into an eager mage, has always possessed the gift of sight, that is, she can see and hear the Other Folk clearly. As a child, she befriended many a variety of the Other Folk, from the common small fae to the gigantic spirits of hills and mountains.

Time from time, she could call upon an Other Folk to aid her and her family, such as with a bad harvest or finding a cure for an illness or wound.

But as she grew older, the time for magic waned, and under her father and grandmother's warning, Gerda lessened her use of magic and concealed her abilities, as well as her alliance with the Other Folk.

Gerda became a midwife and healer. When Feudalism claimed her area, she found herself living in a serf village where her skills were in high demand. Her feudal overlord arranged a marriage with a woodcutter.

Though she knew love was a luxury only her parents knew in the past, Gerda was grateful her husband was a lifeless sort who ignored her for the most part. She witnessed many a peasant woman wedded to men who saw them as child-bearing punching bags.

One joy Gerda gleaned from her feudal life was the birth of her two sons. Her husband more or less ignored their sons, save for being grateful his wife gave him two sons instead of daughters.

Gerda always feared becoming deadened and hard as the peasants were. The daily grind of life dried any life or meaning in their lives. Gerda battled to keep heart under such an existence. She poured all her energy in her sons's welfare and those of children and infants in the village. She often served as a wet-nurse for tired, worn-out mothers, and often kept little ones while their parents tended fields.

When her husband passed away from an illnesses she could not cure, Gerda is sent to another village to work as their healer and midwife.

There, she is taken in by a reclusive, taciturn shepherd. A year passes. She and the shepherd marry. She learns her new husband isn't the common shepherd he appears to be. He was actually a powerful sorcerer who abused his power. To atone for his wrongs, he chooses to live an ordinary life as a shepherd. He also serves as the village undertaker.

Gerda finds happiness with the sorcerer turned shepherd, as she can share true nature and abilities, while her sons form a tight-knit with the quiet man, considering him more of a father than their own blood-father.

Her new husband teaches her more in depth of magic, including a powerful brand of magic she could use to protect herself and the boys.

For several years, Gerda and her family live in contentment. But when a noble wages war with another noble, the noble learns of her husband's true nature and orders his capture. The noble intends to use her husband for his powers to win battles.

Her husband escapes the noble's men, but is later found dead.

When word reaches the village of his death and the truth of his actual identity, the villagers reject and treat Gerda with disdain and suspicion.

The village, a month later, devastated by a plague that kills primarily the children, the villagers turn on Gerda. They assume, she being a sorcerer's wife, is a malevolent sorceress herself and cursed their children with the deadly illness, esp since Gerda's attempts to heal the children failed.

Because of their gratitude to her in the past (and fearing a great curse), they eschew killing, but choose to flog and drive she and her children from their village.

Gerda is flogged with the knout, and endures her punishment resignedly. But when the villagers attack and attempt to flog her sons, Gerda experiences rage for the first time. She employs a special spell her second husband imparted to her- she becomes a powerful firebird. Snatching her sons, she soars away from the village, her wingspan setting their roofs on fire in raging retribution for their persecution against her sons.

Escaping to the forest, a wounded Gerda transforms to her human self, terrified of her own powers and reeling in guilt of extracting so harsh a revenge on her neighbors.

Weakened from her injuries, her sons care for her and find a cave for shelter. There, a mother bear and her cubs willingly share their cave with the fleeing mother and sons.

A half-recovered Gerda realizes she and her sons must traverse far from the land and forge a new life. Along the way, they encounter a widowed mage who offers them a place in her cottage. But the news of Gerda's firebird transformation has reached many a noble's ear, and now many nobles ordered their men to capture Gerda. They wish to use her in battle.

When some noble's men raid the widowed mage's house, they kill the mage, and nearly capture Gerda and her sons-but Gerda again transforms into the firebird and escapes with her sons.

Winter is at its harshest pinnacle. Gerda and her sons trudge through snow and ice-choked forests. No allies, no shelter, food or relief in sight, Gerda desperately tries to keep her sons alive.

When the frost begins to claim their lives, Gerda sees the very reaper assigned to death by frost- the Frost Lord. She defends her sons against the great reaper, and the reaper, impressed with her tenacity, spares their lives- on the condition they serve him.

Seeing no way out alive, Gerda accepts the Frost Lord's proposal.

Spirited away to the world of the Other Folk, Gerda and her sons learn their way through this new world and find their own place.

But what is her ultimate fate? What is the fate of her sons? And her bond with the Frost Lord-what fate will that weave?

Description
Completed the "Profile" assignment for the Ninth Round in OC-training 's "Profile Task"!

Many of you correctly guessed that the firebird plays a prominent role in Gerda's life! And thanks to everyone for showing their support for Gerda!

Three Words summing her personality: Kind, Nurturing, Tenacious

Basic Profile:

Name: Gerda (Gerda Priborevna)

Age: 38 years old

Height: 5'1 (154.94 cm)

Weight: 182 lbs. (82.5 kg)

Ethnicity: A fantasy equivalent of Kievan Rus and Old Norse

Language: A fantasy equivalent of Old Norse with heavy Slavic influences

Time Range: A fantasy equivalent of the Kievan Rus collective and Scandinavian Viking Age

Occupation: Midwife, healer, and mage (Vedma)

Summary:

Gerda (Gerda Priborevna), an ordinary midwife and healer faces the upheaval as Feudalism establishes its rule. The knowledge of magic and magic healing is passed through Gerda's family, and Gerda studies diligently under her father and grandmother.

However, despite being learned mages, her family chooses to lead an ordinary life through farming and animal-keeping.

Gerda's family remembers a time when people openly embraced magic and the alliance of the Other Folk (Fae).

However, because many human mages and sorcerers abused their powers, this caused conflict between the magic-wielders/scholars and non-magic people. As result, non-magic people developed a distrust and disdain for magic practitioners, though reluctantly accepted magic-healing. Some nobles sought particularly gifted sorcerers and mages for their powers- to employ their powers in conflicts or battles.

Magic practitioners began dissolving their connections with the Other Folk, as the Other Folk began distancing their connection with the human world because they feared human conflict and maladies would invade their own world.

Nonetheless, Gerda, growing into an eager mage, has always possessed the gift of sight, that is, she can see and hear the Other Folk clearly. As a child, she befriended many a variety of the Other Folk, from the common small fae to the gigantic spirits of hills and mountains.

Time from time, she could call upon an Other Folk to aid her and her family, such as with a bad harvest or finding a cure for an illness or wound.

But as she grew older, the time for magic waned, and under her father and grandmother's warning, Gerda lessened her use of magic and concealed her abilities, as well as her alliance with the Other Folk.

Gerda became a midwife and healer. When Feudalism claimed her area, she found herself living in a serf village where her skills were in high demand. Her feudal overlord arranged a marriage with a woodcutter.

Though she knew love was a luxury only her parents knew in the past, Gerda was grateful her husband was a lifeless sort who ignored her for the most part. She witnessed many a peasant woman wedded to men who saw them as child-bearing punching bags.

One joy Gerda gleaned from her feudal life was the birth of her two sons. Her husband more or less ignored their sons, save for being grateful his wife gave him two sons instead of daughters.

Gerda always feared becoming deadened and hard as the peasants were. The daily grind of life dried any life or meaning in their lives. Gerda battled to keep heart under such an existence. She poured all her energy in her sons's welfare and those of children and infants in the village. She often served as a wet-nurse for tired, worn-out mothers, and often kept little ones while their parents tended fields.

When her husband passed away from an illnesses she could not cure, Gerda is sent to another village to work as their healer and midwife.

There, she is taken in by a reclusive, taciturn shepherd. A year passes. She and the shepherd marry. She learns her new husband isn't the common shepherd he appears to be. He was actually a powerful sorcerer who abused his power. To atone for his wrongs, he chooses to live an ordinary life as a shepherd. He also serves as the village undertaker.

Gerda finds happiness with the sorcerer turned shepherd, as she can share true nature and abilities, while her sons form a tight-knit with the quiet man, considering him more of a father than their own blood-father.

Her new husband teaches her more in depth of magic, including a powerful brand of magic she could use to protect herself and the boys.

For several years, Gerda and her family live in contentment. But when a noble wages war with another noble, the noble learns of her husband's true nature and orders his capture. The noble intends to use her husband for his powers to win battles.

Her husband escapes the noble's men, but is later found dead.

When word reaches the village of his death and the truth of his actual identity, the villagers reject and treat Gerda with disdain and suspicion.

The village, a month later, devastated by a plague that kills primarily the children, the villagers turn on Gerda. They assume, she being a sorcerer's wife, is a malevolent sorceress herself and cursed their children with the deadly illness, esp since Gerda's attempts to heal the children failed.

Because of their gratitude to her in the past (and fearing a great curse), they eschew killing, but choose to flog and drive she and her children from their village.

Gerda is flogged with the knout, and endures her punishment resignedly. But when the villagers attack and attempt to flog her sons, Gerda experiences rage for the first time. She employs a special spell her second husband imparted to her- she becomes a powerful firebird. Snatching her sons, she soars away from the village, her wingspan setting their roofs on fire in raging retribution for their persecution against her sons.

Escaping to the forest, a wounded Gerda transforms to her human self, terrified of her own powers and reeling in guilt of extracting so harsh a revenge on her neighbors.

Weakened from her injuries, her sons care for her and find a cave for shelter. There, a mother bear and her cubs willingly share their cave with the fleeing mother and sons.

A half-recovered Gerda realizes she and her sons must traverse far from the land and forge a new life. Along the way, they encounter a widowed mage who offers them a place in her cottage. But the news of Gerda's firebird transformation has reached many a noble's ear, and now many nobles ordered their men to capture Gerda. They wish to use her in battle.

When some noble's men raid the widowed mage's house, they kill the mage, and nearly capture Gerda and her sons-but Gerda again transforms into the firebird and escapes with her sons.

Winter is at its harshest pinnacle. Gerda and her sons trudge through snow and ice-choked forests. No allies, no shelter, food or relief in sight, Gerda desperately tries to keep her sons alive.

When the frost begins to claim their lives, Gerda sees the very reaper assigned to death by frost- the Frost Lord. She defends her sons against the great reaper, and the reaper, impressed with her tenacity, spares their lives- on the condition they serve him.

Seeing no way out alive, Gerda accepts the Frost Lord's proposal.

Spirited away to the world of the Other Folk, Gerda and her sons learn their way through this new world and find their own place.

But what is her ultimate fate? What is the fate of her sons? And her bond with the Frost Lord-what fate will that weave?