Diary of Merrin

Dear Diary,

WINTER, YEAR 1

*Arrived in Rionnach with Rafiel.

* Met a mysterious woman named Nyx at Maiden’s Braid.

* Had a not-so-pleasant encounter with a Pythus at Tir Na Gog

SPRING, YEAR 2

* Was part of a Zyphear family reunion with Rafiel, Lilith, and met Edric for the first time.

* Saw the ocean for the first time and met a peculiar pirate with missing eye who was called Pan Salvatore.

* Met a veteran of the Imperial Soldiers called Argent. He tipped her off on the Imperial Army and let her know who to ask for about recruitment.

* Became lost in the Fae Forest in Rafiel in the midst of a haunting…saw the ghost of her own lost infant, Etherea, and met the ghost of a child that died of a plague.

SUMMER, YEAR 2

* Merrin arrived at the Imperial Barracks requesting an audience with Colonel Kvothe Immortalis, but instead met with captain Ramses Tarek.

Merrin Etherea

☪

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table by Yahtzee-Penguiduck [da], click for attributions

Merrin Etherea Detailed Backstory

~ We part too soon, but in our love…there’s a truth to find…
The end is new and tomorrow we must reach far to be heard… ~

Merrin Etherea was born into the world a treasured gift, a single child to a family most desperate for an heir to the surname Gavriel, a family name which she has since disassociated herself from. Her mother, Isolde, and father, Haakon, were a noble people of their pack home and their names were becoming common to the populace as they climbed the social ladder. There was an image to uphold and the burden of the twosome was passed onto the shoulders of their progeny.

From the very moment she was conceived there had been plans for her ‘written in the stars’ her mother would say. Every moment of her life decided by her mother almost down to each breath she took. Where she went, who she spent her time with, what she wore, how her like was to play out down to the exact time of day each event was to happen. Such a desired behavior was drilled into her as soon as soon as she could comprehend action and consequence, the discipline becoming a guiding force to mold her into the perfect child. Obedient. Seen but not heard. Speechless unless spoken to.

And of course, the girl was betrothed, as even her lineage outlined well into the future. It was at a young age she was paired with a gentleman of fine standing, plucked from the upper ranks to further elevate their succession. Married as soon as she could breed, she immediately became pregnant with pups that already had their futures scribed in a history that had yet to occur. Her first litter of three was precious to her and Merrin proved to be an exceptional mother, though something stirred within her when Isolde whisked her children away as soon as they opened their eyes. At this moment in time, she couldn’t understand the feeling, but as per usual she followed the motions with a trust in her mother that she had not yet realized was misplaced.

Her firstborn children were groomed and now that her strenuous schedule held some leniency while the pups were raised…she was able to observe all of this from a distance. Merrin began to struggle with internal emotions she did not know how to place into words to even begin to question…if it was not a part of her regiment, it seemed to her irrelevant. But there was still this nagging in the back of her mind that did not come to the forefront until she became pregnant for the second time.

The young mother witnessed the way each of her three children were placed inside their own figurative boxes until they aligned with her mother’s satisfactory alignment of who they should be. The more she watched their individual tendencies fade away to be replaced with personas they were not; all she could think of was the fate that awaited her unborn pups to come. When Merrin decided to voice her husband, she was completely disregarded and told that even questioning their way of life was disruptive.

She stewed on this for a time and then upon a night of dream she awoke with the sudden decision to escape it all in order to protect the pups she still held in her womb. Merrin spared nothing but a kiss to the foreheads of her first three children, her heart aching knowing she could not save them from what they had already become and that it was likely she would never see them again. The flame of hope in her heart for what lay ahead of her lit the way beyond the threshold of their territory, as she began taking steps beyond the lands she knew and ahead of her to places she could not have ever imagined she would be going.

In the earliest days of her travel, Merrin began to realize that she had only been brought up to learn the most basic of survival skills and that, unfortunately, they were taught in such a specific way that they still required her to be reliant on others. Yet there were no others and there was no one else but herself in this unknown wilderness…well, not quite. She also had lives within her that were depending on her to deliver them safely into this brighter future she envisioned for them. Something so simple as hunting for herself was far more complicated than it had ever been made out to be. Many times, she ended up picking off of carrion left behind by other predators leaving nothing to gain from it but a sour stomach and vomiting the remains.

Merrin’s health slowly declined and yet she pushed herself onward until her pads were bloodied and worn, and her skin was taut against her bones and pregnant belly. She rarely rested and, on a day, where she could hardly hold herself up on her feet anymore, she collapsed in the snow in the middle of an open valley in excruciating pain. Though time seemed to all blend together, she felt like this was too soon and it wasn’t right, yet the contractions forced her into her labor. Fear pierced her heart, as she attempted to recall the last time, she had felt the pups move around at all, and to her horror, she could not. The birthing of her second litter was far worse than her first had been, prolonged and agonizing. Once it was all over, Merrin lay there in a puddle of her own blood and fluids, joined by a single pup that had greeted the world with barely a peep.

Merrin was surprised to have only been carrying a pup so large that she had mistaken it for a sizable litter, but it seemed to be underdeveloped still. She worked to pull herself together, trying desperately to save the dwindling life it had. She sought to warm its body, encouraging it to nurse and when it latched on there was a brief period of relief, for she might yet still save the pup that clung to its existence.

For a single day and a single night, Merrin had another daughter, but the harsh winter spared her no mercy and she had barely the strength to carry herself and her child to adequate shelter from the violent storm. Merrin woke to find her darling baby girl, the light of her life, extinguished, never having the chance to greet the new morning. Whatever strength and resolve she’d built up along her journey had shattered completely and if any creature were within a few miles of her, they would hear her screams of anguish as she cried out for her dead child. She tucked the frigid, lifeless body to her breast as she let the unforgiving tundra numb her body to match her mind. She was truly alone now in this world.

‘This is not how your story ends.’

A voice resonated within her, shaking the very fiber of her being until she rose to its challenge. Merrin buried her pup as best she could in this valley that held pillar-like stones, the smallest of which marked her resting place, and when she could not cry another tear, she moved again, now heading North, to the lands inhabited by other wolves she would meet.

Once more, she was faced with the trials of her own survival, entirely weakened from all that she had so far endured. This time, however, she held a fierce determination to prove triumphant if not for herself than on behalf of her daughter, Etherea. In her honor, she also adopted Etherea as a surname to replace the one she’d held prior, for she would no longer be a girl unheard, but a woman discovering who she is.

As she carried on, she discovered a particular group of wolves, the Zyphears, that would help her begin to heal her physical and mental wounds, becoming so close to them that she considered family. They themselves were a bonded family of knights from another realm and each of them inspired the confidence in her to pursue becoming a knight herself.

While still in training Rafiel brought her to the remaining Kingdom nearby where he had grown up where they could find themselves a purpose in their pursuit of the greater good for all. In their travels, she became closest with her dear Rafiel Zyphear, who had become her mentor, teaching her the way of honor, valor, and of self-love and perseverance that gave her the confidence to become the heroine of her own narrative…

~ And I'm gonna stay with you, but I won't stray away from the truth…
And I am still living two worlds and you… ~


Merrin Muse Fuel for Her Backstory

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table ; bunny - - art ; Raven