Lady (Formal) Mistress (Informal) Portia Warrick (a.k.a. The Squire)
Eldest daughter of Sir Gerard and Lady Evelyn. Cyrus (deceased) and Marcia are her younger siblings. She is in line to be the Countess of Carinthia.
Six Word Description: Doing God's Will, Best I Can
Words to Live By: I want to fight for the right and stand firm to the end.
Physical Description
OUTSTANDING. She is easily the most physically capable female warrior and athlete in the Eastern Marches. She is the equal of many of the smaller squires. The other handmaidens have given her the nickname "The Squire" because her physique resembles the physique of a teenage boy more than a teenage girl. She is more narrow hipped and broad-shouldered than a typical woman. She has impressive biceps and triceps (for a teenage girl) and she even has a bit of the triangular upper body shape seen among very fit men.
Her skin is as tanned as the men. Her shoulder length, yellow-blond hair is almost always worn in a ponytail.
Not unattractive but also not beautiful. Some would describe her as plain.
Burn on the outside of her left leg, runs from the knee down to the lower calf. She was burned in the stable fire by a burning rafter falling and hitting her while she was trying to rescue Cyrus. It took her a month to recover using the very best of Centurion medicine. It does not hamper her in any way, nor is it particularly ugly. It IS clearly noticeable.
She is left handed and has trouble sitting still. She is a high energy individual who loves to push her gymnastic abilities. She began lifting buckets of water at the age of 10 to increase her strength because she was not allowed to begin weapons training at that time. Over the course of two years it became an ingrained habit so that she has continued it (6 years later) even though she trains with weapons now.
Exceptional gymnastic abilities, Exceptional strength, she is very capable with nearly any thrown weapon, can fight like a little demon. Her fighting technique is exceptional which allows her to leverage her strength and maximize her power and efficiency in combat.
Bow, Arrows, Francisca, Scuta, Gladia, Double link, light chain hauberk. Later she receives her mother's Mail and Plate armor. She typically has one nice dress at any given time but prefers to wear pants and a tunic or even her armor when she is not training.
She eventually gets her mother's War Bow, a composite bow with a draw of 120 lbs. She is the only woman who can draw it, her mother can't even draw it anymore. Later she is given her mother's mail and plate altum steel armor.
Mental characteristics
Can't reveal all of the secrets.
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Portia can read and do basic arithmetic but she lacks the patience to be a good student and is indifferent to education other than military history or books on engineering (especially siege equipment and castle design). Her parents are trying (without much success) to give her a good education. During her literature and history classes she would often draw designs for castles and siege equipment. Her tutor quit trying to teach her poetry after only two poems, she wrote "Ode to a Ballista" describing a siege of a castle and "Death on Horseback" describing a battle between Centurions and Hungarians. Both were written from the first person perspective and both contained a lot of bloody details. Her math tutor had more success when teaching her arithmetic and geometry as they related to designing castles and military equipment.
She is a handmaiden (training to become a shieldmaiden) in service of the Order of the Centurion at Castle Warrick.
An accomplished warrior at 14 and an excellent rider and archer.
She failed to save her brother from the stable fire and it drives her to this day.
She still feels a deep guilt over her inability to save her brother. She is interested in the boys but very aware that they are not interested in her. She resents the boys for not being interested in her and she resents the girls for laughing at her and treating her like she is a freak.
She feels isolated and lonely and doesn't have any friends to speak of among either the girls or the boys. This begins to change as she develops a romantic relationship with Brendan and a friendship with Aurora. She is respected for her fighting prowess even if she ins't very well liked and she is learning to be content with this.
She feels a heavy burden to live up to the highest Centurion standards since she is the first born but she is painfully aware of her shortcomings. She knows that an arranged marriage is expected of her and hurts even more that her brother died since he could have been the heir and she could have escaped some of the political troubles that surround her.
Her parents have never criticized her or blamed her for not saving her brother, the pressure that she feels is all self imposed.
Intuitive and impulsive, she is an ESTP (The Doer). She needs to be around other people and is quickly bored (and her thoughts can get rather dark) when she is alone but she struggles to understand them and fit in so she often withdraws from social settings only to be drawn back a little while later. She is of average intelligence but frequently feels dumb around many of her peers because she doesn't always pick up on social clues or remember historical facts well. She is a kinesthetic learner who masters physical tasks with ease and can instinctively read a battle field by imagining where she should go and what she should do if she were the enemy.
Very high but her own impulsivity causes her to make mistakes and fall short sometimes. Her worst vice is a tendency to swear when she is upset about something, a habit she picked up from the grooms because of all the time she spends around the horses.
Personality Characteristics
Portia is driven to make herself almost superhuman so that she will not fail anyone else like she failed her brother. She feels deeply conflicted though because she is interested in the boys but they aren't interested in her so she sometimes spends her time daydreaming about being a slim, willowy Frankish noblewoman that everyone is fawning over because of her beauty. She also hears the whispers of some of the other more worldly girls who call her "The Squire" or "The Little Monkey" because of her masculine physique and her her incredible agility. She is torn because, on the one hand, she is proud of her physique and ability and how they help her to be a good Centurion, but on the other hand, she is ashamed of her body and her athleticism and how "unladylike" they make her look. She often feels stupid because she doesn't read social cues as well as the butterflies or accumulate knowledge like the scholars among the handmaidens. She loves engineering (especially siege equipment and castles) and military history, not the typical pursuits of a young woman. She is like many 16 year old girls who alternates between being proud of herself and hating herself as she tries to sort out who she is and where she fits in.
An excellent rider who has very good spatial visualization skills and a near perfect memory of every nook and cranny in the castle. She is a very poor cook (she keeps trying to learn but she doesn't have the patience to follow a recipe properly and she is prone to trying "shortcuts"). The opposite of the Jack-of-all-Trades, Portia is an absolute master at some things and a disaster at others.
She loves but doesn't always like her younger sister Marcia and washing dishes. She loves new weapons and gear. She loves horses.
She can make very quick decisions that are usually correct because of her intuition. She is courageous and always tries to do the right thing even if it is embarrassing or dangerous.
She is impatient and can be very impulsive at times. She is socially awkward and is somewhat limited in her ability to think calmly and logically. She is prone to swearing when she is angry or upset about something which adds to her reputation for being "unladylike".
She tends to play with knives, spinning them around in her fingers, when she is nervous.
She does all that is required to maintain good hygiene, and no more. She is bathed and clean but not "primped and polished". Her hair usually looks stringy because she doesn't put in the time to really take care of it correctly.
Social
She is the daughter of the Count of Carinthia (on her father's side) and the granddaughter of the Duke of Saxony (on her mother's side).
She is a devout Centurion Christian
She is not stupid about social norms but neither is she very graceful, socially. Prone to being blunt.
She can get squirmy when having to sit still for long periods (like a ceremonial church service, a formal dinner, etc.)
Lifting buckets of water to build her strength, running a homemade obstacle course. Intense combat training is a hobby that she will often engage in even on her off hours. She loves her warhorse Winter Storm.
Centurion women are usually more direct in their speech patterns than women outside of the Order but Portia is notably so and prone to being very blunt.
Best Friend (Vital)
Towards Aurora Zhen Boswick
Best Friend (Vital)
Towards Lady Portia of Warrick
History
Handmaidens together in the barracks for years, they respected each other but were not particularly close. Aurora had been praying how she could help Portia since she knew that Portia would one day be the Countess of Carinthia and one of the leaders of their Order in the Eastern Marches. Aurora recognized that Portia was dealing with some deep, personal issues. She got some advice from her Mother, Dr Zhen, and began talking to Portia. She helped Portia confront some issues about herself and the two decided that they were going to make some changes in the barracks to help get the rest of the girls up to speed.
Nicknames & Petnames
Portia calls Aurora "Sage" because she sees her as a very wise person who gives useful advice.
Aurora calls Portia "Centurion" as a sign of respect. Centurions are commanders and also the name of the Order and Aurora feels that no one works harder to be the ideal Centurion than Portia.
Relationship Reasoning
Both girls view themselves as outsiders from the rest of the group. Portia because of her relentless zeal in her physical training and her less than feminine appearance, Aurora because of her half Chinese heritage that make her look different from everyone else in the castle. Both girls need a friend that they can trust and both girls are devoted to the Centurion way even while many of the other girls are not.
Commonalities & Shared Interests
Physical training as warriors and upholding the highest standards of the Centurions. Portia also loves engineering projects (castle design, siege engine design, etc.) and Aurora has a strong interest in these things too (though not to Portia's degree). Aurora loves academics across the board and while Portia doesn't, she does at least see the value in them.
Shared Secrets
Both girls understand that much of what drives Portia's behavior is a response to the trauma of losing her brother Cyrus in the stable fire. She was trying to save him but was simply not strong enough.
Shared Acquaintances
They both know Priscilla and don't like her.
Betrothed/Fiance (Vital)
Towards Lady Portia of Warrick
Betrothed/Fiancee (Vital)
Towards Brendan of Constantinople
History
Brendan and Portia were initially not very friendly and even a bit competitive with each other, though there was some mutual attraction even from the beginning. For political reasons, Portia needs to marry soon and her father brought Brendan home as a potential suitor because the Lord led him to do so. The two began working together and depending upon each other until Portia finally proposed (VERY indirectly). Coming from Brendan's background as a thief (and a professional liar) he is working hard on being truthful with everyone and he is easily more honest with Portia than with anyone else in his life but he is still working on improving in this area.
Nicknames & Petnames
In private she calls him "Greek Boy" and he calls her "My Amazon". In public she will sometimes call him "Graecus" (the Roman term for a Greek) and he will sometimes call her "Centurion". Most of the time, however, they just use their given names and he refrains from calling her "Port" like her parents do.
Relationship Reasoning
As the eldest daughter of the Count of Carinthia she will be married for political reasons. Her father does not want her to fall into the clutches of the Duke of Augsburg (and his title and holdings, which are Centurion holdings falling into the clutches of the Duke) so he is trying to find a husband for her before he himself dies or is killed in battle. His standards are less about background and standing and more about character and ability. He felt led by the Lord to bring Brendan home as a possible suitor. The two initially clashed because Portia is very strong willed and Brendan is very different from anyone she has ever met before but after being forced to work together and depend upon each other they have come to trust and love each other.
Commonalities & Shared Interests
A devotion to Centurion ideals and duties and mutual respect.
Shared Acquaintances
Sir Gerard, Lady Evelyn, and Aurora.
Legal Status
Betrothed - which is legally binding and can only be broken by a formal divorce or annulment.
She has no personal wealth to speak of but her standard of living is good because of her father's position. She can, if necessary, spend money against her dowry, and she usually travels with a purse of 50 silver pennies for personal expenses.
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