Gwyn Cadell Val

Gwyn Cadell is SsVivid's human character who started as a barmaid in Ardougne and, over the course of several monarchies, rose through the ranks until she married into the position of queen beside the (formerly) late King Greyson Val I. When she married, she converted to Zarosianism, but she currently also practices Karamjan Spiritualism. Varrock, Hemenster, Ardougne, and Shilo Village are her home cities respectively. Gwyn most closely aligns with Neutral Good. Her current age is 23.

Growing Up
Gwyn was born in Varrock. For the youngest part of her life, she lived in the southern half of the city with her father and his dirty dealings laundering crossbows for the Phoenix Gang. It wasn't the healthiest lifestyle, but it kept her alive and she learned where to put her fist in a mugger if she had to, so nobody ever really complained. It wasn't until an adolescent Gwyn was caught wearing makeshift chaos druid robes and vandalizing the Saradomnist church that her father sent her off. She spent the next eight years in Hemenster as an apprentice to the Ranged masters, learning about all manner of distance weapon and the deadliest ways to make and use them. As a result, her fighting style relies heavily on precision attacks.

Beginning Life in Ardougne
After completing her long and thorough apprenticeship, Gwyn finally returned to Varrock to find her father jailed for his crimes and nothing really left for her. Rather than sit around and do nothing - or the more appealing option, fire an arrow into her own skull - she took off again. Once she made her way clear to the other side of the civilised map, she found Ardougne. She had only ever been to this city a few times in her life, trading goods for Hemenster, but that wasn't about to change anything. At first, she held two jobs - a ranger and a barmaid for Marion, an old friend from the ranged guild, in the Poison Arrow - but on her twentieth birthday she applied for a promotion. Having shown loyalty to the kingdom and prowess at her fighting style, she recieved the promotion... and perhaps a little more responsibility than she had bargained for. Gwyn was promoted by Queen Saewyn into the position of Ranged Commander for the military, a level above what the young woman was expecting, but she soon settled nicely into the position.

She eventually started to considered herself to be a valuable and influential citizen of Ardougne and continued to developed a sense of protection for it and its people ever since seeing the King Silva fall. It left an impact on her, being that she was a part of the battle that led to that death. Despite the failure, though, she gripped her jaw and stayed with the force. As commander, she prospered and built up a sense of national pride over three entire monarchies in the kingdom. That might have something to do with why she accepted King Greyson's proposal.

Ruling
Gwyn took an authoritative position of rulership as Greyson's partner when he wasn't able to serve, including through Greyson's many absences. Over time, she established many things for the city, including a number of public facilities, services, and kingdom policies. She based a community center in Western Ardougne and free public housing for lawful citizens and visitors. Gwyn put all city healthcare providers on government salary, providing free healthcare to all non-hostile wounded within the kingdom limits. Under Gwyn's oversight, there was vast improvement in the health conditions of Western Ardougne and most of its rampant infectious diseases were eliminated. Furthermore, Gwyn held a firm non-aggression stance in foreign policy and believed heavily in the sanctity of the homeland, even for her enemies. As a politician, Queen Gwyn hailed herself as an ally of citizens and men, not of governments. In fact, it's because of this position that Gwyn so graciously stepped down from her throne when the citizens of her own kingdom revolted, unsatisfied with their absentee king and their queen who was more involved in foreign affairs than domestic.

In the aftermath of her reign, Gwyn spent a length of time serving as a commander for the military in the position she held even through her diplomatic period. However, after struggling to grapple with both her husband's (false) death and the frustration of no longer being treated with the respect of royalty, she handed over her position of influence and took common ranks among her fellow archers. As it turned out, even that wasn't enough distance for Gwyn to find herself again, so she resigned completely and left Kandarin for the depths of the Karamja jungle.

Getting Away from the Mainland
At last, content with her newfound lifestyle, she found a real adoration for the sport of big-game hunting and also a certain fondness for the simpler, more isolated tribal cultures of Shilo Village and Tai Bwo Wannai. Always having a fondness for practicing her archery on giants, she found great satisfaction with felling Jogres and has spent endless days challenging herself to become more efficient with her precise, deadly kills. Her thrill and pleasure was potent in this case that she even continued hunting once she realized a pregnancy was already a few months along. ''Maybe it's time I returned to Hemenster and became a master myself? Settle into a slower-paced lifestyle?'' she asked herself, thinking momentarily of the child. But Gwyn, settled? Not likely.

A year passed since Gwyn first arrived in the depths of the Karamja jungle and she was still a frequent in the area. Many residents recognized her at this point and valued her for the game she brought in to trade. Most had become used to seeing her toting around an infantile girl with curious purple-grey skin and what appeared to be tribal markings on her face. The girl was especially popular among natives, a local fascination.

Getting Back Into The World
Gwyn returned to Ardougne on a trade visit only to discover the truth of her not-so-late husband's false death. Not only was he alive, but he had married a new woman and was about to newly ascend the throne aside Regent and soon-to-be Queen Elizabeth. Together, they were expecting. Gwyn did not take this revelation well.

She recovered from the shock of her husband's betrayal, but still took months before she began to feel confident about her stance on his polygamism. Given the circumstances, she elected for the time to keep their daughter a secret from all except the close friend she found in Ivan Aleksey. She began to split her time widely over the western map, between interests in Ardougne, the ranger guild in Hemenster, returning to Karamja to mother her child (who was cared for the rest of the time by a native islander Gwyn paid to be her nursemaid), and several tasks and paid missions she accepted from the Ardougnan government.

Finding a New Home
However, it soon became clear that, with the continuing change of government in Ardougne - a city whose prosperity she couldn't help but feel she had a stake in - she couldn't be happy while being so helpless and lacking in control. Such it was that she slowly began to let go of most of her ties to the city. And with the death of Ivan, who had been her child's godfather, she slowly accepted a need to relax her lifestyle and practice fewer risks in her everyday activities. Driven by this motivation, Gwyn took to Misthalin.

She found a job as an instructor in bowcraft at an academy on the edge of the desert, where for a time she settled into a steady routine of work and travel. Inevitably, though, it didn't last. Only a few months had passed before Asurja, her daughter, came down with a worrysome illness, and she took her leave from the institution to go care for the child as intently as was in her power. Fortunately, the toddler recovered within a few weeks with no observable drawbacks and was able to return to normal growth.

Gwyn, however, did not take her place back at the academy when she became able. She felt, given the recent events, that she couldn't afford to spend so much time away from her daughter as she had been taking in the past. If the price of that was living as a native in the heart of the jungle and hunting wildcats and graakh for their meat and hides, she considered it well worth it.

More Time In The Jungle
For a brief time, Gwyn even found this undertaking to be prosperous. She began to build a reputation for herself among the natives, trading valuable hunted goods to many of the tribal settlements. Her reliable and valuable trading patterns gained her a free pass into even some of the more hostile tribes in the deeper regions. This became especially true after mainland forces representing northern Asgarnia plunged their hands into the jungle and started sucking out resources for their own gain that were keeping natives alive. She did her best to keep her situation steady, venturing more often into the depths of the Kharazi for her hunting and selling other services that she could provide. In a grand stroke of luck, she negotiated a deal with the Zuberi tribe that offered her experience with guerilla-style battle commanding in exchange for exclusive control over a few key points in their trade network, plus access to the rare and valuable runite mine held within their fiercely protected borders.

Gradually becoming wealthy in her own right through these methods, it would seem that Gwyn had managed to make the best of the difficult situation plaguing Karamja's tribal population, and perhaps she did. However, she had to again think of her daughter when their home settlement disbanded and the small chiefdom they had been calling home dissolved. Though her daughter was remarkably formidable in the depths of the jungle for a toddler, the thought of asking the child to live nomadically with the threats that lurked in the brush conflicted with Gwyn's better judgment. So it was that she rose up again to find a new home, and for the first time in Asurja's life, she brought the child with her. At least at this point Gwyn had come up with a fairly solid explanation for her daughter's peculiar looks.

Origin
She was nearly as reluctant to return to Varrock as she was to stay in the depths of the island. Varrock was her birthplace, her origin, and the one location that represented the dirtiest, most offensive part of her life. The last time she had seen the city aside from just passing through for travel or trade was when it was behind her, disappearing into the distance of the past, leaving her criminal father behind to rot in jail for the crimes he had neglected her to commit. And, before that, the last time she had seen it had been again behind her as just an eleven-year-old child being sent away to learn "something useful," a dirty delinquent whose father had to pay a man to take her away so that she wouldn't interfere with his own dirty business or bring any more guards to his door.

But as it was, Varrock was the most sensible place for her to try to live with the little girl. Its occupation by the Worshippers of the Dragonkin had finally ended, and the city was going through a sort of renaissance, a rebuilding,  and their infant military was sure to have openings in the sort of position that Gwyn was going to be looking for. In addition, so long as she managed to avoid the slums, it was a fairly pleasant location - even a low-crime destination. Uptown Varrock, as she understood, had a much lower crimerate than uptown Ardougne.

One interview and a laundry list of credentials later, Gwyn was employed as the military's new drill instructor, responsible for coordinating with the three combat triangle commanders and supervising routine training sessions for the military in the main street gym.

Equipment
She always has two pouches on her person, one with a few coins and one with a collection of tiny vials. The vials contain either karambwan poison or antidote, except for one which is full of 191 proof alcohol for disinfecting water. Typically she also carries some kind of bow and quiver and a basic, practical melee weapon like a machete or army axe. She is most talented a shooter with a longbow, and owns one that was crafted specifically for her needs. Presently, she carries around a jade-edged machete and a carving knife she uses for fletching.

Appearance
Gwyn is a youthful lady with pale hair that she keeps chopped short. Her face is softly rounded except for a pointed nose and chin, and her cheeks are lightly freckled. Most of her features have no strange surprises to them - no monobrows, no eyes-the-side-of-a-meteor. When gripped with compassion, she often appears to have very strong pride and confidence written on her face, and was surprisingly very much the vision of a powerful queen when the time came. Her eyes are grayish green.

She has a toned build, but only faintly (archery is not exactly a contact sport), and she stands at about average human height at 5'6". She has participated in many battles since she came to Ardougne, and has scars to prove it, including one on her left shoulder from a sword and a few pale speckles on her right thigh from shrapnel. Often she holds herself lackadaisically and does not obsess over her posture. More often than not, her reign was populated with visions of her reclining casually in her throne with one leg thrown over the arm of the seat, very comfortable in her place.

Personality
Gwyn is a saucy young lady who has an opinion whether she knows much about anything or not. She has a way of talking like she's got a clue, and she's not a bad liar, either. She's willing enough to throw around fierce words. Being from the wrong side of the tracks, sometimes the wrong choice of words can easily put her in a mood - and in her earlier days, a fight, though she's cooled off a little now that she's tasted responsibility. When handed that responsibility from the military and beyond, she started learning how to reel herself in and negotiate. Gwyn, taught to survive, not to honor, is definitely not too proud to shoot someone in the back from the shadows. Initially, she's not the most moral person you've ever met... still, she surprises herself and everyone else sometimes when it's revealed how well she really means.

Gwyn's Daughter


Gwyn's daughter, who until recently was kept secret, is named Asurja. Her daughter lives with her in Shilo Village and stays mainly under the care of a nursemaid named Sanyu while Gwyn is away from the settlement. This girl is currently around two years old. The child inherited her mother's flaxen hair color, pointed chin, and up-turned nose, while she inherited her father's strange blue-grey eyes and strong, defined jaw.

Asurja's father is Gwyn's husband, Greyson, and as a result the child is a half-mahjarrat. This shows itself clearly through her grey-purple skin, the tribal markings on her face, and the black jewels on her forehead. Her father is tasked mainly with providing the girl with the one thing Gwyn can't teach her, which is to control her capacity for magic. Her magical potential exhibited itself often even when she was infantile; little pebbles would fly randomly through space, and the air would warm around her on chilly nights.

Developmentally, Asurja is right on track. She has begun to speak usefully and can form short sentences with a few words at a time, though pronunciation is far from always perfect. She often plays games that involve identifying pictures, colors, or items, and has enough motor skills to stack six or seven blocks up at a time. In addition, she can perform most basic physical tasks - kicking a ball or walking down a flight of stairs - though it is sometimes still awkward. Asurja has reached a level of cognition where she is beginning to develop a sense of self-identity with words like "I" and "Me," and will ask things like, "Why?" on a regular basis. Her walking movements are smoothing out, and now understands how to open doors.

Trivia

 * Gwyn is passionately opposed to necromancy, though will make the rare exception for necromancy that doesn't disturb someone else's remains. Mainly, since a spirit is cursed to wander as a ghost if its remains are disturbed, she finds separating them cruel and immoral.
 * Though her marriage was initially for political convenience, she gradually grew attached to Greyson.
 * After spending so much time intimately in the presence of her husband, Gwyn has grown able to tentatively identify Mahjarrat. She can't blatantly sense them as other Mahjarrat can, but often describes a suspect as someone who, "has that familiar, domineering aura of power about him." Fortunately, she also knows how to be discreet about such things.
 * It's uncharacteristic for Gwyn to wear a long gown, since it limits mobility. It doesn't concern her that short skirts and pants are less proper.
 * Gwyn is mostly infertile and had difficulty becoming pregnant when she tried.
 * Her favorite colors are Rangers Aid Green and Sq'irk Red.
 * In her tribe in Karamja, Gwyn is often called "Vakasa" rather than her common name.