Catherine Watson

Catherine Watson is a Misthalin-born wizard and adventurer. She has worked on various fields of magic ranging from theoretical and practical applications of Telekinesis Magic to metallurgy and refinements to known enhancement methods. She is best known for being one of the few bearers of the Skillcape of Magic alive today in Gielinor and as a knight of Varrock, dubbed Dame Catherine the Dragonslayer by King Aaron Lansing of Misthalin. She was first created in 2007 and is roleplayed by Jill, whose current RuneScape user name is Amaterasu.

Childhood and education
Catherine was the only child of Cid and Maria Watson, born in a small village of no consequence named Greenhaven. With a fairly well off family, she had a comfortable upbringing and never wanted for anything. Her father was a strict man, who taught her much of their proud lineage of warriors, while her mother was a kind and honest soul, teaching her proper etiquette and manners. Even from an early age, spurred on by the stories her father would tell, Catherine was an adventurous girl. Many an evening she would return to the estate, caked in mud and bruises yet grinning ear to ear. For the most part, this behaviour was encouraged by Cid but Maria did not want her only daughter to turn out to be a violent rogue and endeavoured to raise her to be a prim and proper lady instead. Instead of attending the local school, Catherine was home schooled by her mother. As a result, she didn’t get many opportunities to interact with children her age and would come off a bit serious and mature for her age.

Adolescence
In her early teens, Catherine’s education began to lean more toward the physical and practical rather than the scholarly and ladylike lessons that Maria endeavoured to teach her. She was educated in proper fencing and swordplay by a renowned fencer hired by her father, and schooled in the various do’s and don’t’s of interacting with nobility. It took several years of practice before she could be considered a competent fighter, as she had been quite clumsy as a child and lacked the proper poise and balance needed to fight. It was only when she turned 16 without any real progress that Catherine started her once-infamous exercise routine and diet. Eating properly and a rigorous physical regimen helped her develop the necessary strength and stamina required to fight, though it infuriated her mother to no end that she put a comparatively enormous effort into her martial training as opposed to her manners and etiquette. Upon turning 18, Catherine attended her first official get-together of the locals, meeting with various young men and their families in the village. It was clear to Cid that Maria was trying to set up their daughter with a husband but there was nothing he could do to stop her. While she didn’t mind the social interaction after a while, she was initially quite awkward and didn’t get along with the various men she spoke to.

Early twenties and leaving home
After years of trying (and failing) to set Catherine up with a good husband, Maria caved to her daughter’s wishes and allowed her to pursue her childhood dream. Gifted with a fine sword and her family’s shield, which had been passed down for generations, Catherine finally left home with her parents’ blessings. She thirsted for adventure, and deep down nurtured a desire to become a famous hero. Upon reaching the nearby town of Varrock, she was given a simple job by the local guards to help patrol the road west, connecting Varrock and Falador. Eager to prove herself, she took to the job with great vigour. She didn’t see her first real fight until a week and a half later, when a small family of 5 were set upon by bandits that were holed up in a small fort nearby. Rushing to their aid, she was able to send them packing with the co-operation of the father and eldest son of the family who were both also armed. She came out of the fight alive with only a black eye to show for it. After a brief thanks from the family, Catherine continued on her patrol emboldened by her first victory and filled with pride. At the end of the day, as always, she was given a free night’s rest at the local inn for her work. She remained working under the local guards helping with patrols for several months, until she earned enough money to buy a small cottage just to the south of Varrock.

Her first great failure came at age 20 when a regular patrol turned into a bloodbath. Infuriated by the guards stepping up their efforts again and again to protect the road, the local bandits sent a large raiding party to violently ransack every cart or passer-by that dared to come near them effectively blocking off the road. Unfortunately, Catherine was among the adventurers and guards who were preyed upon and while guarding a young man and his pregnant wife, she was grievously wounded and the couple were kidnapped to be ransomed off. This failure shook her confidence to the point that as soon as she recovered enough to move, she left Varrock to return home. Scolded and consoled by her parents in equal measure, it took some time before her damaged pride would salvage itself enough to warrant another try on her own. Eventually, after significant coercion from Cid, she set off again back to Varrock. Since her defeat, she had seen how her pride had made her arrogant and gave her delusions of invincibility. It helped her mellow out and mature as a person and was one of the many events that shaped her into the woman she would become. For nearly a decade, Catherine dedicated herself to her training and helped the military finally eliminate the local bandit problem in a single focussed attack on their keep stronghold. With the leader dead, she and her fellow adventurers were rewarded handsomely for their work and Catherine finally decided to move on.

Adulthood and new career
Following her first defeat, Catherine realised that she relied too much on the sword and resolved to diversify her skills a bit more by learning how to use magic. In the beginning she was found to be utterly worthless, and her first teacher left in a rage since Catherine couldn’t even grasp the absolute basics. The difficulty of learning magic didn’t discourage her though; rather it urged her to work even harder. By the age of 30, Catherine had become a capable and accomplished mage, however her skill with a blade had suffered for it due to lack of continued practice. The loss wasn’t missed in the long run, as she found a great pleasure in both using and learning about magic. She settled down at her simple cottage and applied to join the Wizard’s Tower. It took 3 applications before she was finally accepted into the tower as a student and over the next 5 years she fully devoted herself to furthering her magical study. However, she wasn’t satisfied with just learning what was already known. She questioned the rules and established laws of magic, and endeavoured to push and bend them to see what else could be done.

The first breakthrough she made was the application of telekinetic magic as a kinetic barrier against projectiles. Though the spell wouldn’t see much action due to how very specific the applications of such a spell were without further development, it was seen as an impressive success for a simple mage. She went on to produce a number of studies on the relationships between each of the elements, published a paper on the Ancient Spellbook and developed a close working relationship with various influential businessmen during her work. Archaeological work came easily to her and she revelled in uncovering the long buried secrets of the innumerable ruins scattered around Gielinor. While exploring a recently uncovered ruin to the east in the Kharidian Desert, Catherine was trapped under falling rubble. Her right arm and shoulder were crushed beneath the heavy stone and her companions were on the other side of the cave-in. With no alternative, she had to saw off the destroyed limb with her sword. Driven by a fierce desire to live, she managed to crawl a ways back through the passageway before the rest of the crew were able to hear her screaming from inside. Dragging her off to the first aid tent they had set up, the damage was repaired but the missing limb couldn’t be replaced. For a number of months, Catherine had to devote herself day and night to learning how to work with only one arm. Since she was right hand dominant, her ability to write was practically non-existent for some time. Born from necessity and not without failure in the process, she developed powerful and precise control over telekinesis magic, able to make do using that instead. She also began keeping a journal of sorts, a notebook to store the collective wealth of knowledge she had amassed over the years.

The near-death experience spurred her to return to her wandering days. Catherine travelled aimlessly, ending up in a bar in Brimhaven. She was drunk, and stupid, but that night she conceived a child with one of the sailors who frequented the place. Giving birth to a healthy baby girl, Catherine saw the child was destined for a life of neglect and maybe an early grave too and made the hard decision to leave the baby with the druids of Taverley, whom she had become quite close with during her study into the nature of Summoning and how it was related to magic. While she regretted the decision in her later years, at the time she pushed those feelings down under the illusion that duty took priority over motherhood, and that her work was more important to the world than raising a daughter.

After recovering from the pregnancy, she took a boat to the west to find the Moonclan, a near-mythical group of barbarian mages with limitless power. It took several voyages, and almost every penny she had to her name, but they finally stumbled across the island. It took her some time before she even got to speak to one of their number, and even then it was a blunt “Leave” but it did not deter her from her path. She desperately sought the knowledge of their magic, and with dedication and perseverance (a little pity on the Moonclan’s part too) she was allowed to study under one of their people, a simple farmer named Kellah. Under her tutelage, Catherine learned much of how the Moonclan use magic to assist with agriculture and day to day life. She was in her late 30s when she left the island, enriched with the lunar mages’ teachings, and returned to the mainland refreshed after the hardships she had faced.

When she returned to the Wizard’s Tower and finished writing up her total amassed knowledge to that point in her journal (omitting the Lunar Magic research out of respect to her teachers) she realised that the collected information she now possessed could be misused by the magical community, and began to distance herself from the Tower and its’ politics in favour of more secluded research. While the various forms of funding that the Tower gave her were sorely missed, she managed to recover some of her money lost during the hunt for the Moonclan by returning to the adventuring life, at least enough to fund the odd project here and there. As a parting gift, the Tower awarded her the Skillcape of Magic. She once considered her greatest honour in life and it is a mantle she wears with respect, knowing full well the expectations and responsibilities that a title like “Master of Magic” places upon her.

Later years up to present day
With fewer projects available to her, Catherine found that she was idle and bored more often in her 50s. She decided to amuse herself with a “holiday”, travelling east to Varrock where she would later develop a working relationship with the Crown and eventually be knighted as Dame Catherine the Dragonslayer for her services. Her power meant that even though she was handicapped, she could still maintain a degree of usefulness and she relished the nostalgia of helping people once again. As the second God Wars began, she helped fight for Saradomin on the front lines of the Battle of Lumbridge, and again in the Bird and the Beast under Armadyl. It was here that her paranoia first started to manifest outwardly. Seeing the return of the gods as a great omen, she plotted and pondered on whether she could help thwart whatever plans they had for Gielinor to prevent what happened in Forinthry from happening again. The futility of her actions would not dawn on her until much later, after Armadyl crushed Bandos’s skull. Realising that the end was upon them all, she sunk into a depression and went mad in her little cottage. In moments of lucidity, she feared that she might one day go on a rampage and harm innocent lives and toiled away in secret, building a great prison beneath her home where she would lock herself away before things could go too far.

The turning point in her madness was entirely unexpected. Her thoughts turned to Circe, the daughter whom she abandoned years ago. The girl had since grown up into a troubled and impudent witch, scamming people who were down on their luck into believing she could grant their heart’s desires. She found a purpose to divert herself from stewing in madness and anonymously directed Circe to the king of Misthalin at the time, Aaron Lansing, in the hopes that she might make something of herself with his help. The plan went smoothly until she disappeared off the radar completely with nary a word. After over a year of digging, and pulling in a few favours from a merchant friend named Alphonse, Catherine managed to find Circe. She had joined the Void Knights, and risen to the rank of Commander. She appeared to have adjusted well to the training and it did Catherine’s heart well to see the girl succeed despite her failure as a mother.

As of now, at age 70, Catherine is starting to succumb to illness and accumulated injury. Her heart, weak from decades of exposure to magic and strain, threatens to give up on her and it’s unlikely that she will live to see another year, never mind 80. Nevertheless, she continues her life as a mage and scholar, ever devoted to unearthing the secrets of magic for the betterment of humanity. Her new-found maternal instincts push her to safeguard Circe in any way she can before she passes on while she finds time to aid the city of Varrock and its’ people whom she had grown quite attached to over the years.

Appearance
In her earlier years, Catherine was a slender and relatively tall woman at 5'9. With a fairly athletic appearance thanks to her early start with training, she has never been particularly “attractive” and only maintains her appearance as is necessary for a lady. Before age greyed it, she had dark brown, almost black hair usually tied in a ponytail out of the way. Piercing blue eyes and a typically passive and unreadable expression unwittingly gave her a stern look, even though she was a pleasant person inside. From her many injuries during her long years, she has broken her nose many times, scarred and bruised her face too often to count, and her skin is practically a patchwork of old wounds from head to toe. Age has done a number on her looks as wrinkles have begun to set in and her hair has almost turned white. Since losing her right arm, she tends to wear lose fitting robes, keeping the sleeve and letting it hang loosely as modifying clothing every time she needs to replace it would be absurd. She has also stopped wearing her hair in a ponytail, as without two hands it is an insufferable and unpleasant task and not worth the effort. Instead, she wears it straight, swept behind her ears and cut to just below the neck.

Personality
As a youth, Catherine was strong willed and impulsive. Ever ready to prove herself, she would charge head first into danger in pursuit of recognition as a hero. That pride has stayed with her all the way to her 70s and though she has mellowed out somewhat, she retains a bit of an ego and can be hurt by insensitive comments. Her general attitude has been compared to that of a butler on many occasions, usually silent unless spoken to and polite at all times, yet despite all that she exudes an air of authority and class. Her generally soft, and now slightly husky, voice has a habit of throwing people off when they hear her speak as it clashes with her battered and wizened features.

Abilities
Catherine is a master of countless forms of magic, having devoted practically 5 decades to her study. She has fully mastered the Standard Spellbook, with particular affinity toward Water magic, mastered Ice Magic as an extension of standard Water magic rather than any particular study in the Ancient Spellbook and is well versed in various utility spells from the Lunar Spellbook. Her skill with Telekinetic Magic is extraordinary. As a replacement for her missing arm, she has honed her skill with the Metamorphosis technique to allow her to form a temporary replacement limb using the element she assumes for the duration of the transformation. Before all that though, she picked up manners and decorum as well as basic swordplay, though that has since left her along with her dominant right hand. She’s an experienced archaeologist and adventurer, she knows various skills necessary for survival such as first aid, hunting and preparing food in the wilds. Arthritis and old age have done a number on her ability to fight, but she isn't so crippled yet as to be incapable of defending herself.