Name: Tempest
Age: 30
Contact: isadiya
Other Characters: River Tam [au]
Interests: Action scenes, digging into lore, moral choices for characters to weigh in on, and just getting some interesting CR in.


Name: Mia Rutherford
Canon/OC: Canon
Journal: lettersfromhome
Race: Human
Nationality: Ferelden
Occupation: Head of household, bookkeeper
Age: 36

History

We start with what we do know. Mia is the eldest of the Rutherford siblings, and has been the head of the household since the death of her parents during the Fifth Blight in an attack on their home village of Honnleath.

Prior to this she lead a quiet life, as one might expect. She was one of Cullen's most ardent supporters when he decided he wanted to become a templar, encouraging him to follow his dream and seeing him leave home to fulfill that dream at the age of twelve. She's written to him often over the years in order to keep in touch, though Cullen has been increasingly bad at returning said letters. When their childhood home was taken by Darkspawn she fled with her two younger siblings, Branson and Rosalie, to South Reach in the hopes of escaping the worst of the horde. When the threat was gone there was little reason to return to Honnleath, so they settled in South Reach to try and make the best of things. She's also put efforts into keeping tabs on Cullen, somehow managing to track him down whenever he disappears.

Here is where the speculation starts. Still unmarried and unlikely to change that any time soon, Mia takes care of herself and her family as best she can. She's well-read and incredibly intelligent, and managed the household affairs as well as taking up as a clerk, keeping accounts for a local shop. It keeps her busy and keeps food on the table, though it's as meager an existance as ever. Branson eventually marries and is soon to have a child of his own, and Rosalie seems to have a suitable suitor in tow, and now Mia's focus turns back towards their wayward brother and the Inquisition he now helps lead.

Personality

Mia's personality is easily read in her letters to Cullen, short as they might be. She's obviously very attached to her family, concerned for them and supportive, and it obviously pains her when she is too far out of reach to be of aid to those she cares for. Still, she is not above giving them an earful when they've been particularly foolish or stubborn. She does not suffer fools gladly, and she's prone to being very blunt when it comes to such matters. That steel will is born with the best of intentions, of course.

There's no shortage of strength in her, nor lack of will to survive, carting her siblings across the country to escape the worst of the Blight and keeping what remains of her family together at all costs. Loss has hardened her, strengthened her resolve, perhaps made her cling a bit too tightly to what remains of all she once knew. No one goes through a Blight unscathed, and she likely has her own share of nightmares to bear. She's also somewhat prying, though this could simply be due to lack of forthcoming details on Cullen's part, and he doesn't hesitate to accuse her of being overly nosy.

Her love and loyalty runs deep, and there is little she would not do in order to keep her loved ones safe. One imagines that she's every bit as stubborn as her brother, given her efforts to chase him down across the country just to make certain that he's safe, or at the very least in one piece. One woman in the midst of a war-torn country managed the resources to track someone across the continent not once, not twice, but three times. There speaks of resourcefulness and determination.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Mia's main strengths lie in her cleverness and her head for strategy, though it's been kept a chessboard for a long time. There's still a surprising amount of tactical knowledge stored away for a woman who's never once seen battle, though she'd put that down to simply being very well read on a number of matters. She has a gift for words and is well-practiced in writing and figures, having kept books as a profession. She's also very strong-willed and determined to get a job done once she's set her mind to it.
She is, however, not a fighter. If pressed she'll pick up a sword and defend herself, but she hasn't the training for battle and wouldn't be very useful in the field. She's also woefully ignorant on most accounts when it comes to magic, having very little experience with it and knowing only that mages are responsible for a good deal of a trouble in the world these days.

Inventory

Clothes ( a number of simple, pratical dresses and cloaks to keep warm ), books, writing parchment and ink, and a well-worn and well-loved chess set.

Motivation

Mia has sat on the sidelines for most of her life, watching the world fall apart and knowing that somewhere out there her brother is tackling a good deal of the trouble head-on. That's not a burden he should carry himself. There's also a growing sense that her life is mired there in the village by a sense of routine, and a duty she no longer needs to carry now that her siblings and grown and seeking families and lives of their own. It seems as good a time as any to pack up and head out to see what use she can make of herself a little closer to the action.


Here and here.