Captain Lona Pryde
Captain of the Imperial guard, Imperial bodyguard Lona Pryde (a.k.a. "Mamma" (to imperial guards only), "weapons rack" (to the emperor only))
Daughter of the previous captain, she was rapidly enrolled in the Imperial guard. Her friendship with Emperor Owin Baughan and the bond of trust they shared owed her to be chosen as his personal bodyguard.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Lona keeps herself in the best of shapes to better do her duty. Most of her weight is muscle. She is strong and agile, with no known afflictions or illnesses.
Identifying Characteristics
A straight scar runs under the left side of her mouth, from the chin to the cheek. She wears it proudly and never covers it with make-up.
Physical quirks
Lona is right handed, as one could guess thanks to the hand carrying her primary weapon. She keeps a straight posture and the chin up even when walking, although she is always on guard, frequently looking over her shoulders and ready to draw a weapon.
Apparel & Accessories
While Lona is not often seen wearing anything else than her uniform, she does possess a few gowns of a various qualities and styles, from noble apparels to oversized rags.
Her most beautiful dress is made of elven silk, in the colors of the empire, with which she likes to wear small fragments of light blue sunlight stones as earrings and a golden pendant engraved with the imperial motto. In contrast, she also has a completely torn out dress of low-quality wool.
No matter what she wears, she keeps a compass with imperial bearings at all times, as well as at least one dagger.
Specialized Equipment
As an imperial guard, Lona is trained in all kinds of equipment. She is used to wearing her imperial guard armor, and carrying a hallberd in her hand. Additionnaly, she has a parrying dagger on her right hip and a sword on her left, which she uses as a dual wielding, drawing each with the opposite hand. Finally, she wears on her back a shield and a claymore, which she is able to use individually or simultaneously.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Being roughly the same age as the future emperor, and daughter of the captain of the imperial guard, Lona grew up very close to Owin. They were good friends and hung out whenever they had the chance, which is why he chose her as his personal bodyguard after being named emperor.
As a child, she was forced to enroll in the guard, as her family had sworn an oath to serve and protect the emperor's lineage until death. Her father was so demanding, she trained much more than any other in the whole guard, until she became the best of them all.
When Owin chose her as his bodyguard, Lona's father decided to step down from the guard and give her the role of captain he felt she deserved.
Gender Identity
Female
Sexuality
Asexual
Education
Lona had an advanced military training, from strategy to fighting with swords, shields, halberds and bare handed. She has extensive knowledge of weaponry and human tactics.
She also received lessons in imperial history, and knows most of the emperor's family tree up to 14 generations, the conflicts and major events they took part in, and the most important laws they passed, those which changed the face of humanity.
Accomplishments & Achievements
After the death of the emperor's parents, opponents of the crown rallied the people against the throne, in an attempt to destitute the young emperor. Lona was badly injured during this revolution and gained several scars, including the one on her face, but managed to capture the head of the conspiracy.
While she let doctors and mages make her other scars disappear, she decided to keep the one on her face as a trophy. This is because she gained it by intercepting a rock launched at the emperor after he had tripped, so heavy and with so much strength her shield bounced back on her face. It was the first time she saved his life as an imperial guard and was very proud of it, and it is also what the emperor used as an excuse to name her his personal bodyguard.
Failures & Embarrassments
Despite her position and all her strengths, training and assets, Lona was unable to prevent the emperor from disappearing during her watch. Not many know of this yet, but those who do have started questionning her legitimacy as captain of the guard and as imperial bodyguard.
Mental Trauma
Lona fears of failing to her task in protecting the emperor more than anything.
Morality & Philosophy
Lona shares the emperor's care for the people, although she is much warier than him. As she is bound to protect Owin at all costs, she sees everyone as a potential enemy, ready to jump on him at any chance they get. She would do anything to keep him safe, as a friend and the emperor she considers to be the most generous in centuries.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Her highest priority is to keep the emperor safe. She has an unwavering loyalty to him.
She wishes to see the wonders of the world, but will never admit to it.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Lona is amazingly skilled at hand-to-hand combat, but she is terrible at socializing.
Likes & Dislikes
Loves going on diplomatic expeditions with the emperor, likes to make herself pretty from time to time.
Virtues & Personality perks
High sense of duty, kind, keeps composure most of the time, blunt.
Vices & Personality flaws
Very sensitive to anything offending towards the emperor, easily angered by any dishonesty or disloyalty towards him. Obsessed by her duty and the emperor.
Personality Quirks
Makes an imperial military salute whenever meeting someone new.
Social
Religious Views
Unlike most humans, Lona does not believe in any religious doctrine. She sees religions as unnecessary and sometimes parasitic organisms.
Social Aptitude
Due to her experience in the royal guard, one would assume she is quite comfortable talking to large crowds, but the opposite is true. Whenever she is addressing somebody outside the royal guard, she becomes shy and socially awkward.
Seeing her in and out of her uniform would be like looking at two different people. The first one being extremely confident, charismatic, even a bit arrogant from time to time, and who does not hesitate to be blunt or even disrespectful if she needs to, while the other is more reserved, nervous and overall more attached to etiquette.
The only thing the two have in common are there manners.
Mannerisms
Uses the imperial military salute to greet new people, and bows to those she knows when out of uniform. Likes to play with small objects as she speaks, such as her dagger. Mostly repects others, calling them "Sir" or "Madam" and their last name if she knows it until they have upset her. Always strongly looks in the eyes of the person with whom she is talking.
Hobbies & Pets
Has a mare called Empress, which she sometimes refer to as Owin to annoy the young emperor.
Spends a lot of time training, drinking at a tavern, sometimes both at the same time as she considers drunk tavern brawling as a training method.
Speech
Slight stutters when not in uniform, authoritary when in uniform. Refers to other members of the imperial guard as "ladies". Uses expressions and curses talking about shit. Is very greedy for compliments, only uses understatements as such. Similarly, is found of antiphrases as criticism.
Current Location
Species
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Lady of the court, protector of the empire
Year of Birth
12876
25 Years old
Birthplace
Children
Gender
Female
Eyes
Hazel
Hair
Long, wavy (done in a large braid from the forehead while in uniform), very dark red (appears black except on reflections)
Height
1.92m
Weight
83kg
Quotes & Catchphrases
"Duty before beauty"
"I will not falter"
"Even I have the right to feel good about myself sometimes"
"Just because I am a soldier, that does not make me any less a woman"
"I wonder if I could be precise enough to cut your tongue out with my hallberd"
"I do not appreciate you"
"Did you not hear mamma, ladies?"
"Stop talking. Now."
Appears in...
Interesting character ! There's two points I found a bit odd : Her training is supposed to cover all type combat, yet her equipment isn't very varied in use. She has a halberd (mid-distance combat), a sword with dagger or shield (close range, pretty agile) and a longsword (close range, heavy). She have nothing to fight in distance battle. maybe a bow, or some throwing weapons would complete her set ? (maybe some franciscas ?) Also, she's supposed to use the claymore with a shield, but the claymore is supposed to be a two-handed weapon, she must be incredibly tough to pull that out ! Second thing is, she call her soldiers "ladies" and a quote saying that being a soldier doesn't make her less of a woman, does that mean that women are not supposed to fight in this society ? If so, did she had trouble being accepted ? More-over, she have a very prestigious position : personal guard of the emperor AND captain of the guards. How well is it accepted ? Did she had to prove her value to her soldiers ? How does she manage to be both captain and personnal bodyguard ? Sounds like two full-time jobs. It's pretty good, keep it up =)
Thanks for the feedback! You make good points, and I must admit I can't yet answer everything but I'll do my best ^^' So first, regarding her equipment, I've always seen it as more of a personal choice, although she could probably carry some throwing weapons as well. For the claymore, I found it was a one hand and a half sword (basically can be held with one or two hands), in any case yeah she's really tough, though I might find another similar sword which can be held with one hand (maybe I just love claymores a bit too much). Now this is the part I'm not fully sure of yet. I'd have to say women are under represented in the human military (no exact rate yet, but probably less than 1% women in all forces), so it's typically seen as more of a man's job, calling her troops "ladies" kinda helps her feel more secure about her position and getting out of her own "lady" persona. Her position as both captain and bodyguard, now that I think about it, is indeed subject to controverse, particularly because of her father's legacy (he was the previous captain) and her proximity with the emperor, and she regularly has to kick some butts to remind people she deserves her role. I'm actually unsure how she can hold up those two posts, yet again, maybe she actually can't and it's starting to weigh on her? Or perhaps one is taking much more time than the other, or is more of an honorary title...I have to think on that. Hope I cleared things up a bit ;)