---Player Information

Name/Alias: just call me Meridan, or Hallana if you'd rather, that's what some of my friends call me.
Gender: Female
Prior RP experience: wow, i feel like a newbie. only 8 months, but really intensively, i've been on at least 20 sites at one time, though many got deleted by the proboards people for no apparent reason. And i've been writing stories all my life, poems too...

---Character Information

Name: Meridan of Redrose.
Age: 15
Birthplace: the fief of Redrose, a small town just south of Port Caynn in the coastal hills near the ocean.
Heritage: 3/4 Tortallan, 1/4 K'mir on her mother's side.
Position: nobility-rider trainee

History: Meridan was born in Redrose, to parents of noble lineage. At an early age she displayed skill at hand to hand combat, as well as swordplay and archery. Her parents were quick to send her to be trained as a shang warrior. Unfortunately Meridan had a fiery temper and less patience than was required in shang. She also discovered that she had the Gift, which she first discovered in weapons training class, when she concentrated very hard on on blocking with her sword, and suddenly found herself, and it, surrounded by blue-green sparks. Meridan spoke with some professors at the University and found that she had a pretty strong Gift. It was not as powerful as her Grandfather's, but it served her purposes, and annoyed her teachers to no end, causing them to pick on her more than they would otherwise. She only reached the rank of dormouse (and Mithros knows, the title of Shang Dormouse doesn't strike fear in enemy hearts) before she decided she could bear it no longer, and went home. by this time she was fourteen, not yet old enough to join the Queen's Riders. Truthfully at this point, Meridan had had quite enough of training, and would gladly have settled down quietly and started a horse farm, for horses were one of her two great passions, the other being fighting, especially swordplay.

Meridan's parents were insistant however, that she should make something of herself, so for a year, they cajoled and pleaded and begged and finally ordered their daughter enlist with the riders. Meridan sighed, and said she'd think about it. Her parents, Iselle of Redrose and Jarreth Rydingsword were pleased, to say the least. This was the closest their daughter had come to consenting. Meridan however, had no time to contemplate joining the riders. If she wasn't flirting with the town boys, and every visiting knight that came through, she was riding her horse, Dalien, or reading in the library, or sparring with her father, who incidentally had been a rider himself. Her figure, by this time had fully developed, and that, and her maturity, led men to believe that she was older than she truly was. She was asked on many dates, and had to graciously decline proposals of marriage more than once. She was having so much fun that her fifteenth birthday rather crept up on her.

On the eve of that fateful day, Iselle and Jarreth had a long talk with their daughter. They told her that being a rider would combine everything she loved to do: Riding, obviously, and swordplay, and all other kinds of combat, besides, there was reading, and writing and drawing maps, besides, she could find someone to help her train her Gift, and learn its full capabilities. This, more than anything won Meridan over. She had barely any knowledge of her Gift, or of magic in general really, since neither of her parents were Gifted. She had gotten her Gift from her grandfather, Jerreth's father who was a magician and lived in the City of the Gods. Jerreth possessed the Sight, which he said was a fat lot of help, considering no one wanted to poison his food anyway, and he could always tell if Iselle was lying, and Meridan wouldn't lie to him in any case. This was not, of course, strictly true, since Meridan had been known to lie on occasion, though she had never been caught, save once.

It was when she was probably fourteen and a half, and was caught kissing a visiting knight in the barn. Iselle was the one who caught them. Meridan had not been a very good liar under pressure, so she immediately blurted out the first lie she thought of; "I was giving him mouth to mouth recessetation" (OOC: however you spell it) Iselle had been unconvinced, and unamused. Meridan had been confined to her room for a week.
"For Mithros' sake, child, he was five years older than you!" Iselle had screamed.
"He didn't know that." Meridan had muttered, not knowing her mother could hear her.
"That's it!" Iselle stomped from the room, and sent Jerreth in to tell Meridan of her punishment.
Though to Iselle's credit, she never told her husband that Meridan had attempted to lie, so of course, Jerreth was under the impression that his daughter was one hundred percent truthful. His was blind to her faults anyway, and she would have been terribly spoilt if her mother had not been a grounding influence.

Meridan could abide cruelty when it was someone she hated. With one she had a grudge against, she could be almost senselessly cruel, she had ruined one of her old schoolmasters in Shang, for he had been a hard and unkind man who publically humiliated her. Meridan had never forgiven him, and one day she had discovered, quite by accident it turned out, that he had been financing Scanran invaders who seeked to destroy Tortall. She exposed this, and the man was arrested. It turned out, later, that it had been his wife that was financing the Scanrans, and that the man himself was entirely innocent, however his reputation was entirely ruined, and meridan felt he had recieved his just reward.

Finally, the morning of her fifteenth birthday, Iselle and Jerreth tried one last time to persuade Meridan to join the Riders, they rattled off all the attributes they had previously named, adding, perhaps a bit untruthfully, that it was nothing at all like being in Shang, that the Riders had a relatively easy life in comparison. Meridan finally consented to go, partly because she wanted to get her parents to quit nagging her, partly because she really thought it sounded fun and interesting, and partly out of sheer desparation to get away from home. Besides, she had few good female friends, as there were hardly any girls in the village of Redrose, and there were bound to be lots of girl trainees who Meridan would get along with. So Meridan applied, and soonafter set off on Dalien, with her sword, named Leafall, to a brand new life in Corus.

Personality:The first personality trait most noticed in Meridan was her temper. It was fiery and downright frightening when she chose to unleash it. The good thing was that it usually took something major to set it off, though many who had fell her wrath, tread uneasily around Meridan. The main cause of anger for Meridan, was authority being misused. She did not take kindly to being told what and what not to do, and if someone, other than her mother, gave her a downright order, especially an unfair one, she became angry, and she held a grudge for a long time. She was very outgoing, and could in minutes, have complete strangers feel as if they had known her all their lives. That was just the sort of person that she was. Meridan had a quick mind, and excelled in anything except numbers. Especially the long problems that took a lot of time to figure out. Meridan had very little patience, something that exasperated her mother dreafully. Meridan also could not abide cruelty, especially to elderly people and children. She felt that the middle aged and young adults could look after themselves, but the old and very yound needed her help. Most bullies ran long and fast when Meridan came around. Meridan was loyal to the point of death, and a quick thinker in the face of danger. Valiant in battle for the most part, except when she saw a caterpillar and leapt up a nearby tree, therefore forfitting the Shang training match to her opponent.

Meridan feared all manner of insects, especially caterpillars and spiders too. She did not fear open battle, but she could not bear to be in an unfamiliar dark place where anything might leap out from around the next corner. She hated being surprised, except with presents, and that was a different matter entirely. She would never be 'it' at hide and seek, for more often than not, people would creep up behind and frighten her.

She had a tendancy to be selfish, and to sometimes unknowingly, sometimes knowingly trample others to achieve her goals. It was something she was trying to work on. She also swore quite a lot, (OOC: don't expect much swearing though, I don't know any Tortallan swear words) most likely she'd picked it up from being around men much of the time. Not her father of course. Jerreth rarely said anything stronger than 'odds bobs' or something of that sort.

Physical Appearance: Meridan had golden blonde hair with reddish highlights thatt fell halfway down her back, usually with the front pulled back and braided, and the rest hanging down loose. Blue-grey eyes that seem to change color in different lights, sometimes looking blue as the summer sky, sometimes as grey as a storm at sea. sometimes as blue-green as cool, clear waters. She was 5 foot 8, tall for a girl, and had a lovely figure, kept trim by daily workouts, and kept from being too skinny, by her love of good food. She was strong, with muscles like steel cord, though they did not give her a wiry, nor heavy muscled appearance. She had looks, she'd admit that, she'd also admit, somewhat grudgingly that they were one of the reasons that men flocked to her. She would prefer they liked her for her mind alone, or for her ability to beat them with most weapons, though she hated battle axes and her ability at spear throwing was less than was to be desired. She was well enough at archery, though the sword was her main foray.

Sample Post: Meridan flung open the door to Dalien's stall, tack box in hand. "I can't believe Ma would do something like that! And poor Da, trying to help me, ever so sweet of him, though he's got no control over her!" Meridan dropped the tack box and pounded her fist against the wall. She swore loudly, and the light chestnut started in alarm. "Sorry girl." Meridan said soothingly, stroking the horse's flank. "It's just that, how could she? He was such a nice man, looking for people to become players, and travel Tortall. Larre Martinsdale joined, and his father the head of the Guard of Redrose! If it's respectable for him, it's respectable for me." Meridan had finished currying the mare, and was now brushing her with short, angry strokes. "Just because I'm a girl. And a noble. Mother had to make such a big scene about it! And it's not like I really expected her to consent, but having her rudely inform him that it was not a suitable profession for a girl of nobility was dreadful! Now everyone is going to think I'm hopelessly stuck up. On my way here, one of the players stuck his head out of their wagon and yelled at me "'think you're too good enough for us, do you?" Now I doubt any of the village boys will be friends with me. Not that they were that great of friends anyway. My only good friend was Wynne, back at Shang, and now she's on her way to become the Unicorn I bet." Meridan flung the brush back into the tack box and began vigorously picking Dalien's hooves. "I may just join the Riders. There's bound to be someone who'll be my friend there." Meridan picked the last two hooves in silence. She straightened slowly, tears filling her eyes. "But for now, I guess you're my only friend, girl." She hugged the mare's golden neck and sobbed.

When the tears subsided, Meridan slipped the bridle of the horse's head. She didn't want to bother with a saddle now. The girl led her mare to the mounting block and mounted slowly, taking in the scent of the stable around her. Dalien walked out of the stable. She walked and trotted, her rider not really paying much attention until she found herself at the door of the Rider recruiting center. "Dalien!" Meridan cried angrily. "I've had enough of this whole rider business! I don't need it from you too! I've already got Da and Ma nagging me abou-" She stopped, a sudden thought had just occured to her. "Dalien! Maybe I should just join up! My birthday was three days ago, and there've got to be worse things to do with my life..." At this point the mare snorted in agreement. "And in any case, I won't have to deal with Mother anymore. I'll be able to make my own decisions about things. And I suppose if I don't like it, I'll just quit. Yes, I'll go join up!" Finally thought the Mare. A more stubborn human I doubt you'll find. Can't she tell the Riders is perfect for her?

I can add more if I need to, though right now my hands are tired...

I'd really like to have the Gift, I feel it's pretty important to the character. I can improve my sample post if need be.

Also, this is where I post my bio, right?