Freja Fireborn

Name: Freja Fireborn (Nicknames: Red, Lady Red)
Date of birth: Third Age - 2993
Species: Edain - Rohirric
Place of birth: East Fold - Rohan
Home: Edoras
Type of home/ neighbourhood: Edoras, specifically Meduseld, is safe and warm
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Het...a little curiosity along the way.
Height: Just shy of 6 feet - 5' 11
Build: Lithe, sleek, muscular
Job: Senior commander within the Shieldmaidens of Rohan - second to Captain Eriwyn.
Hobbies: Riding, training, military history.
Personality: Driven, bold, inclined to take risks, fatalistic. Stubborn. Courageous. Proud. Unyielding at times. Hard on herself. Inclined to get herself into trouble when bored. Freja does nothing by halves. When she commits, she does so fully. She's either all in or all out. And once she's all in, she will see something through to the bitter end rather than run. Freja is a tough as nails and possessed of a very warm heart. She wears this heart openly, on her sleeve. She is rarely cowed or silenced.
Strongest positive personality trait: Loyalty - when Freja is your friend, you have her for life.
Strongest negative personality trait: Bears a grudge - Freja is an enemy you will have for life.

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Appearance: Very red hair (unique to the East Fold) that is nearly always braided and decorated with her torcs of rank. It is thick and when unbraided, inclined to form loose waves. Unbraided, it falls to her waist. Braided, it falls longer still. She has even facial features. Remarkably green eyes and an expressive, full, mouth. . Freja does not considered herself pretty in the classical sense. That said, she is attractive and possessed of an unabashed sensuality that few miss.

Dress Style: Nearly always in a tunic, trews and boots. Usually also wearing a gambeson, chain and the unique leather armour of the shieldmaidens. Rarely without several knives on her. Almost never in a dress.

Skills: A superb warrior, considered one of the best in her generation, and a skilled strategist. She is a very fast study. Particularly skilled in cavalry and spear. Trained in open combat from an early age. Freja is, essentially, a one person army.

Family background: Contested - she is the eldest child of the Lord of the Eastfold and his first wife. Many consider her the best heir and successor given her military prowess and accomplishments. Her father, however, favours his much younger son.

Other close relationships: Éowyn of Rohan and her brother Éomer. She adores her captain and mentor, Eriwyn. She has close relationships with various Shieldmaidens and friendships, rivalries, with members of the Riddermark. Terra, Eriwyn's other protege, is her best friend and chief conspirator in various hijinks. She is generally held in good regard by the members of Théoden's council, with the exception of Gríma Wormtongue and his cabal.

Attitude to religion: Freja is sworn to one of the Valar as are all Shieldmaidens. That Valar is known as Béma in Rohan. The Elves and Dúnedain know him as Oromë (the Great Hunter). Freja is deeply devout, though the strength of her belief is challenged and wanes at time, by the events of the world.

Favourite past-times: Ale, song and mischief. When Freja is not on duty, she likes to make the most of life while she still can. She is a woman of appetites and she sings when she is happy, when she is riding to battle or when she is attempting to comfort herself. Fortunately, her voice is well suited to this pursuit. It has a deep strength and smokey quality. Freja can drink like a fish and is not opposed to recreational brawling.

Though a dedicated officer with a strong sense of duty and honour, Freja has a talent for mischief. When off duty, Freja is usually up to something.

Sense of humour: Alive and very well. The only thing that amuses Freja more than the foolishness of others is her own foolishness. Very self-deprecatory. She has an expansive, almost wicked laugh and a keen appreciation for cruder aspects of life. On any given day, Freja laughs frequently and freely.

Temper/disposition: Unless provoked, Freja is not a hot head. Fatalistic, like most Shieldmaidens (they do not expect to live long, happy lives raising children), she's pretty hopeful when it comes to the future of her beloved Rohan. She speaks her mind, without fear or favour. She is extroverted and charismatic.

Consideration for others: Freja is generous with others by nature. She puts others before herself frequently.

Best childhood memory: Training with her fellow Shieldmaidens, and getting into and out of trouble with Terra.

Worst childhood memory: Her mother's death (illness - whispers of poison unconfirmed).

Best adult memory: Gaining full Mastery as a Shieldmaiden - the youngest to do so in their storied history.

Worst adult memory: The explusion of the Shieldmaidens from Edoras (courtesy of Gríma Wormtongue) - the shame cut Freja deeply as it did many of her sisters.

Primary goal: Freja will say it is to restore Rohan's strength. What that means, however, is to return the Shieldmaidens to their rightful place: at their King's side.

Deepest fear: Failure and the associated shame.

Formative Years: Freja has always been an active, deeply physical individual. Her early childhood was relatively unremarkable for a time. She roamed the East Fold, running up and down it and riding all over it, carefree and utterly unaware of what was closing around her. That changed when her mother, whom Freja adored fiercely and absolutely, suddenly sicked and died. Freja was just six years old.

Almost immediately, her father (who had always been a remote and distant cipher to her) takes a new bride and within months, his new wife is with child.

Her mother's supporters were suspicious of the sudden illness that came over Freja's ordinarily healthy and robust mother from the outset. As the new Lady of Eastfold's belly grows, they became increasingly fearful for Freja's fate. This escalates when her father makes move to renounce her as his heir.

Young Freja is whisked away from her father to Edoras before she turns 7. This small, loyal collective of East Fold lords petition the King to intervene and protect this young Daughter of the Mark. The King, however, is reluctant to intervene in the East Fold's affairs. It is a contested land, frequently raided. He needs the Lord of the Fold's loyalty if Rohan was to hold back the Easterlings from spreading across Rohan's heartlands.

As the king reluctantly hears the petitions, word comes to Edoras of the birth of Freja's younger brother. Freja is formally renounced, declared a bastard by her father. Théoden does not want to blood of a child on his hands and so Freja's fate is sealed. She is taken in as King's Ward, under his protection, and made a part of his household. It is here Freja's kinship with Théodred, Éomer and most particularly Éowyn begins.

Unsavoury rumours of the circumstances her mother's death escalate and an attempt is made on Freja's life. The vigilence of the king's guards ensures the attempt fails. Investigations fail to establish whether this attempt was authored by her estranged father, Marshall of the East Fold, or by others acting in his name.

The notion of assassins roaming Meduseld's halls in search of his young ward does not appeal to King Théoden. Additionally, young Freja finds it difficult to adjust to her new life in Meduseld. She will not attend her lessons and constantly escapes to roam the plains around the city. She is restless, rebellious and worse still, charismatic. All of this adds up to a very worrisome influence on his niece - Éowyn. The two girls are as sisters, practically inseparable.

Thus, when young Freja takes it into her head to enter the ranks of the Shieldmaidens, he readily grants her permission. Freja has no notion at the time of what this means. Her motives are childishly simple: Shieldmaidens don't have to attend lessons, she thinks, and get to ride about as much as they want. This seems a very good thing to young Freja and again her life pivots. She is 8 years old when she enters the ranks as initiate and discovers just how much she does not know about the lot of the Shieldmaidens.

The Shieldmaidens are tightly disciplined and rigorous in their training. It seems an unlikely fit for such a rebellious child, however Freja has found her calling. She flourishes, develops discipline and above all a place and a purpose under the stern tutelege of Captain Eriwyn. She is finally in her element.

She displays diligence and works hard, driven to excel in a way few of her colleagues are. No one is surprised when Freja's prowless develops far past any seen in her peers. Freja rises to full mastery by 18 years of age, a remarkable achievement matched by few others over time. By age 20, she has her first torc and is bestowed still more rapidly by a King who is now both fond and proud of his ward. She feels whole.

Her life is one of service to Rohan. She knows and can conceive of nothing else. She is content, deeply satisfied with this, until Wormtongue gets to work. His scheming and lies starts with the most immediate threat to his master's plans, the very force that defends the King. Wormtongue begins a devious campaign to erode the trust in the Shieldmaiden.

He suggests that Captain Eriwyn is considering a coup to take Rohan's throne. Proof of this treachery is manufactured but the King is already beginning to be beset by dark paranoia. Still, Wormtongue cannot push as hard as he would like. Though he would like to see them destroyed, the people of Rohan will not yet permit it. They are revered, venerated. Thus, Wormtongue convinces the King to instead send them far away to the East Fold. There, their ranks will be depleted by the relentless attacks of the Easterlings. They will be too far from the throne to interfere in Wormtongue's work. Attrition and distance will do what Wormtongue dares not.

Freja's absolute faith and belief in their purpose and her King is deeply shaken. She feels the shame of their expulsion keenly. She cannot understand why they are being punished so. She feels they have been betrayed by their King who makes no move to intervene. The helplessness of their situation particularly galls her. Yet she cannot speak out. None of them can. Wormtongue will only pounce on their dissent as further proof. They cannot call the King of Rohan into question or to account. Freja is forced to bear this in silence. Within their ranks, she agrees with the whispers of her sisters. Something is very wrong with Rohan. A rot within its very heart has begun to form.

Once exiled to the East Fold and with far too much time on her hands, Freja decides that Wormtongue has to go. Two years after being sent to the Easter Fold, Freja hatches a plan that would ensure she is returned to Edoras to face trial - theft of horses that Wormtongue had begun to send to Mordor, of all places. It is not horse theft to her mind. The thief, to her, is Wormtongue. He is the one stealing horses from the royal herd and shamefully sending them to Rohan's Enemy as craven tribute. To her, the plan she launches will prevent theft and withholding succour to Rohan's foes. The tribute is Wormtongue's doing and to Freja, it proves his treachery. She sees it as her obligation to bring it to light. To force it out and into the open. She intends to use her trial for this. A trial she is confident she will win. What Freja cannot conceive, however, is that there will be no trial for her. At least, not a fair one. Captain Eriwyn, a far more experienced captain than Freja, knows all too well that Freja is unlikely to even reach her trial alive.

Reluctant to lose her best warrior, Captain Eriwyn banishes Freja for 3 years to Dale. Long enough, Eriwyn hopes, for the heat to die down. Eriwyn also rounds up the horses Freja diverted and sends them back on their way. No Shieldmaiden is happy about this. The notion of sending Méaras to Mordor is close to anathema to them. Yet, Freja has proven that they cannot hope to intervene without the protection of the king's council. It is yet another bitter pill the Shieldmaidens must swallow.

Freja is most disillusioned of all. Her confidence is dealt a heavy blow. Her path, so clear before, is out of sight.

To soften the blow Eriwyn knows this will be for her talented protegé, she sends Freja off with the most magnificent beast in the tribute. It is a princely gift, a boon, and that horse will save Freja's life more than once. But first, they have to establish an understanding of each other. A measure of wit and will.

It is on her first day of banishment that Freja encounters a certain Daleman - Videgavia. She is on the precipice of an identity crisis...a banished Shieldmaiden who cannot ride her own horse. She is far from those she loves, and all she knows, in a land strange to her. It will be a test of Freja's faith like nothing before it.

Other Notes: Freja expects to die in battle. This does not perturb her. Rather, it motivates her to ensure that her death in battle is an honourable one, in service to her king and Béma.

She is not resigned, suicidal or depressed. She is simply fatalistic. Or, given her circumstances, realistic.

Freja has no appetite for politics. She doesn't trust it, reasonable given the impact it has had on her. She is more than content to leave her father and her brother alone provided they do the same. This truce, such that it is, has held since Freja joined the Shieldmaidens and in doing so, effectively ended any claim she might have on political ranks. Shieldmaidens do not retire, as a rule. They die in battle or, very rarely, are expelled in shame.

However, Gríma ejects the Shieldmaidens from Edoras and sends them straight to the lands of Freja's birth. Thus her exploits there are on prominent display for the peoples of the East Fold. There are whispers that it is Freja who has proven herself most capable of defending and protecting their lands. They whisper quietly, and well away from Freja herself. She will not countenance any talk of it within her own hearing.

Her father's supporters ever have their ears turned to Edoras, watching for the return of their Lord's first child. Upon learning the Shieldmaiden's have been dispatched to the East Fold, Freja amongst them, they act.

Rumours start to circulate regarding Freja's mother. Claims arise that the Marshall of the East Fold is not Freja's father. Freja takes particular umbrage at that. She aggressive in defending her mother's honour. Whilst she will generally laugh off attacks on her character, she will aggressively and at times violently pursue attacks on her mother's.

Lastly, Freja is very superstitious. She has a deep and abiding fear of Dwimmerlaik. Into that category she places anything supernatural including Elves and Wizards. She has encountered neither but has heard all the tales of their terrible, mystifying powers. She is terrified of being helpless before such might.