I saw this trend on Tiktok and I had to give it a try!
Jane wouldnât be thee King, she would be a version of a King. I could see her as the head or the primary care physician. Probably in a fantasy kingdom, some sort of sacred land?
Lady Jane has her own study in the palace, appointed by the actual ruler to be the main medical provider. Her intelligence was a threat to many but to others, it was a gift. Janeâs power to serve others.
Then along came her son, Amir. An un-wed mother and adopted son, many turned their noses at the strange family. But Jane did not care. She kept to herself and remained a kind hand in helping all, despite the controversy of the different classes in this magical land.
. . . . . . . .
Honestly, I donât really know what this is but I enjoyed it. AND AMIR IS HEREđŤśđ
Hereâs the coloring book stage!
I wanted to keep Janeâs signature yellow, along with designing something that represented the ranking of healthcare. So, I created a crown with the Rod of Asclepius engraved on it, including a white veil. The reason why is because nurses used to wear these veil like headpieces between the mid-19th century through the early 20th century. I thought it would be a unique feature to include!
She also carries a leather satchel at all times, holding basic medical equipment , medicines and currency. Maybe even a small self defense weapon..
I could also see her bartering her treatments as a form of payment, this way no person is having to spend their hard earned money =)
âWhen you think they have found peace, I know that they have not.â
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Hello everyone, I have made a Red Queen OC :) Ahh Iâve been super excited to draw her!! I finally finished the ref sheet so meet Nell Freeman, a newblood born in Norta and bearing an ability called spirit-walking!
Her full info page (including general info, ability info, + backstory) is about 5K words (most of it being her backstory lmao) so I completely understand not reading it but if you wish to (I will love you sm), itâs located under here + a few zoom-ins from her ref above:
Some important notes about her backstory - she does have close connections to Jon and did find herself in the middle of Mavenâs path, then ending up helping the young king even though she never meant to. Sheâs also considered part of the Scarlet Guard, but sheâd never call herself one of them. Sheâs not a fan of taking sides⌠after all, everyone ends up the same way when it comes down to it.
General info:
Name: Nell Maddox Freeman
Age: 26 years
Height: 5â9â
Birthday: October 18th
Blood type: Newblood
Birthplace: Norta
Current residence: Montfort/undetermined, always on the move
Allegiance(s): None
Personality:
Nell is a reserved and quiet individual who has a constant sad look to her. She keeps to the backs of crowds, or avoids them altogether, instead content to sit and watch. Sheâs very aware of everything in her environment, despite people thinking opposite because she appears to be spaced out most of the time. Sheâs good at reading peopleâs emotions, always studying their faces, specifically their eyes. They say eyes are the windows to the soul after all. People often avoid her, both out of fear of her ability and because she is not very open or welcoming to an outside perspective. But she would never describe herself as lonely, she has plenty of otherworldly company. If someone took the time to get to know her, theyâd find sheâs a great listener and has a gentle kindness.
Ability:
Spirit Walking
Ever since she was 18 years old, Nell Freeman has been able to see spirits of the deceased. Her soul is connected to the spirit realm, allowing her to see, hear, talk to, and âtouchâ these entities. She can see spirits at all times and being able to see them does not involve her having to explicitly activate her powers. This comes as a result of her being tied to the crossway, the halfway point between the living and the dead. The only ones sheâs able to see are those who are stuck in the crossway as a result of unfinished business or them becoming lost on their way to the other side, commonly know as the afterlife. Part of her job includes trying to help these spirits settle so they may leave the living world and reach the spirit world. She can also guide those who are dying over to prevent such things from happening.
Her ability actually being âactivatedâ happens whenever she brings a living person with her into the crossway so that they may talk to a spirit; she would describe herself as a bridge of sorts in this regard. Doing this could be dangerous, since there is a possibility of wrathful spirits wishing to come after the person she brings. There is not much she can yet do about this issue besides refusing to host the connection between living and dead. When Nell activates her abilities, the sigils on her hands will begin to glow, as will her hair and the whites of her eyes. Her irises disappear and her hands will turn a bluish-white color, and this change in color will end up going about halfway up her forearms.
Though she would never wish to do so, she does have the power to trap a living person in the crossway. This could happen either on accident or on purpose, usually via the person letting go of her hands outside of the crossway or her of theirs. Such a thing results in the slow loss of their soul as they are left to wander for eternity or the forever torment from those after them, their body then left empty and paralyzed back in the living world. She can choose to get them out or not, and this has only happened once before. She wants for it to never happen again.
With time, she has discovered sheâs able to tell when someone is about to die, no matter what way it may come. And with time, she has learned never to tell someone when she knows. It is usually only mere hours before it happens or less. There will be a certain energy around the person, one heavy with the weight of death and it will leave a sinking feeling in her gut.
Since sheâs discovered what she can do, all sheâs wanted is to help people. It does not matter their blood color or their status, if someone wishes to speak to a dead loved one and get closure, then she will give it to them. She will spend her life helping these spirits until she one day joins them.
Backstory:
Nellâs story started as any average Red: born to a poor family, in a poor town, destined for the battlefields once she turned eighteen. She grew up struggling as a Red did: getting the bare minimum education, the food on the table being whatever they could scrape together, fighting to keep things afloat. Her mother, Edith Freeman, and her father, Jasper Freeman, were emotionally distant towards her, as if they never truly wanted the extra burden of a child atop all of their other struggles. Her father fought through his time at the war front for fifteen years, coming out with a lost arm and a permanent limp, and her mother worked as an apprentice to a Red cook within a lower Silver house. Nell did what her parents told her, she was a quiet child which to them meant she was a good child, and she did her best to exceed in her classes even though it wasnât ever very difficult. She wanted their attention and their love, but she never said as such, knowing sheâd never get it.
When she was seven, her parents had a son, Oliver Freeman. He was like her exact opposite. He was loud, messy, and could never sit still. He made friends quite easily, something she could never do; not like she ever really tried for that matter. He would attempt to play with her but he was always too much for her and she was too quiet for him, so eventually he stopped. Something Nell noticed was how different her parents treated Oliver. It was like a flip was switched. They gave him their love, they gave him their attention, they comforted him when he was upset, they listened to him, they did everything she had wanted but they never gave her. This built a resentment for her younger brother, though she didnât let it show.
As the years went on, she saw how her parents relationship deteriorated. She never knew why, but they started fighting more often, over the smallest things, getting louder and louder. One day when she was sixteen, it seemed her mother had had enough and she took a small bag of her belongings and left with Oliver without a goodbye, leaving Nell with her father. Nell never saw Oliver or her mother again after that day.
Her father became more bitter than he already was, taking his anger out on her. Heâd call her endless names; useless, worthless, a mistake, anything he could think of. He told her how she had to support the family, as if there was much of a family left to support. He constantly pressured her to find a job, telling her the horrors of the war and what would happen to her if she was sent out there. She was glad when she finally found a job that took her out of her home and away from her father. She was able to take a position within House Welle, the house of the greenwardens. It was the closest she ever got to Silvers, powerful ones at that. She wasnât scared of them like most Reds, she was more fascinated by them and their powers. However, she stayed out of the way of the Welles, simply doing her job and sticking to the shadows. She sent half of whatever measly money she earned back to her father and kept the rest within her safe box in her servants quarters. She was able to keep herself from the war, but another problem wasnât afraid to show itself when she was eighteen.
It first started with her dark, reddish-brown roots turning white. She already had some of the usual Red hair, gray and brittle at the ends from years of stress and hard work, but this was unusual. Luckily, no one paid any attention to another simple Red servant so she was able to keep it hidden until it began to spread. The second thing that came was the sigils and designs that appeared on her hands, made from light blue ink that seemed to be etched permanently into her skin. She woke up with them one morning and in a panic tried to scrub them off to no avail, then having to beg one of her fellow servants for an old pair of leather gloves they had to spare. From then on she kept them over her hands at all times. As time with these changes went on, she noticed her eye color changing and becoming duller, her normal light brown instead becoming a cloudy blue. It was like all of the color was draining from her, like her life was draining from her. She didnât understand what was happening to her, only that she could be killed for this. That was until she saw her first spirit.
She had been going about her job as normal, trying to avoid suspicion when she noticed someone next to her. She looked up at the person, a young woman, and she looked like a normal human except for the fact her body was transparent, slightly blue in color, and she seemed to be floating off the ground by an inch or two. Nell thought maybe this was some Silver ability she never heard of before, so she kept cleaning, looking like a dutiful Red with nothing weird going on. Then the woman spoke to her.
âItâs nice to meet you, Nell Freeman,â she had said. âWeâve been waiting very, very long for someone like you to be given to us.â
Nell had looked up again, confused. She didnât understand what the woman meant, or how she knew her name. The woman saw her confusion and went on to explain.
She smiled. âYou have a gift, my dear. You see, Iâm a dead woman, have been for the past fifty years. Youâre the only one who is able to hear and see me right now. Youâre able to see all kinds of spirits and talk to us. Youâre meant to help us.â
Nell could barely comprehend what she heard, she simply stared in shock before she hurried away from the woman with her hands shaking. That couldnât be right, could it? Seeing dead people?
After that day, she saw spirits everywhere. They were all ages and types, ranging from young children to elders and both Red and Silver, not like blood type really mattered much when they were all dead. They looked at her with interest, and she tried to ignore them, but luckily none of them tried to talk to her again like that first woman. She heard their whispering, their tales and woes in the back of her mind, she could feel their weight, it all kept her up at night. Though nothing had freaked her out more than when she opened her eyes once in the dead of night to find several of them bent over her bed staring at her. She had screamed in terror and demanded they never do that again and thankfully, they didnât. That was also the first time she ever spoke to them.
She was nineteen when she met the man with the red eyes, Jon. He came to her when her hair was almost all white, her eyes nearly completely blue, and she was out of ways to try and hide herself and avoid the spirits who followed her everywhere. Jon told her to trust him and come with him. He told her quite bluntly that if she didnât, sheâd be sentenced to death, and she couldnât argue with that. She decided to trust this strange man and follow him, leaving House Welle, her father, and basically anything normal about her life behind.
On the way to Jonâs supposed home, he explained who he was. How he was one of what they were calling âNewbloodsâ, people born with Red blood that have Silver type abilities. He explained how his ability was to see the future, every possible twist and turn and path that time could take, unlike an Eagrie who could only see bits of the immediate future. He told her how she was one of those, a Newblood, and that she was like him in a way. Born with an ability dealing with the otherworldly, something other people would never be able to understand. Thatâs why he wanted to help her, both so that her power didnât go to waste with her untimely death and so that she could use it properly.
She spent the next five and a half years of her life with Jon. She lived in his small, barely furnished cabin in a location she didnât know, sleeping in the spare room which was really just an oversized closet. It was better than what she was dealing with at House Welle, so sheâd take it. Jon was indifferent towards her, not showing any particular affection towards her but still being kind enough that she would consider him a friend. Her first friend. He was her mentor as well, as was more or less the whole purpose of their relationship. He taught her everything about her ability, how to use it, what to do, how to show the proper respect needed when dealing with the dead. She trained and she practiced, even managing to help a few spirits cross over to the other side. Doing that always filled her with good feelings, knowing that she helped someone at last find their peace. Some just needed help finding their way while others needed her help to complete one last thing before they could pass on, and she was happy to help however she could.
She was twenty-two when Jon took her to take someoneâs spirit and guide it over for the first time. He told her this was better for them, it kept the spirits from getting lost and becoming wanderers like the ones she saw around all the time. He brought her to a nearby village and to a young boy. The young boy was dying from an illness, and didnât have much longer to live. His parents knew this, and while they were sobbing over their child, they allowed Nell to do what she must. Jon guided her, telling her to do what she normally would to find the spirit world and to bring the boy over. After getting over her initial hesitation, she did just that. She comforted the boy who was far too young, telling him how much his parents loved him and how heâd feel better soon. She held his hand all the way, then passing him over to his aunt and grandma who were waiting for him on the other side. He had hugged her before he left. While it brought tears to her eyes, she was still happy to have been able to give the boy his peace.
Much of her training went this way, Jon taking her out to places to get hands on experiences. He was also out a lot as well, doing who knows what to change the course of who knows how many futures. It was like they were in their own little world, unbothered by the outside, by the divide of Red and Silvers. She even ended up helping a few Silvers along her journey, though they were only ever low Silvers, and they never knew she was a Red. Her skin had become pale enough that they could never tell. Jon had told her that one day itâll be all up to her who to help, who to go to, who to find, and how sheâll handle that responsibility. She had given him a small smile and told him she could do it and he gave her a smile in return, and with him she didnât know if that was good or bad.
She never knew her time with Jon was coming to an end until it was already over. Itâs not like he told her anything, after all. It had seemed like a normal day, though Jon was bringing her along on one of his trips without saying any specific reason. He brought her to an abandoned town covered in soot, the town of Rosen. She doesnât ask what happened to the town, she already had a feeling based on the amount of spirits she saw milling about the place. She was confused as to what they were there for until she heard a group enter the area, a group of five. Jon kept the two of them hidden until the time was right, but he still told her to stay behind when he went to go speak with them. Based on what she could hear, it seemed they werenât huge fans of the seer. Then it started to rain. The group was boarding an air jet, one girl trying to still speak to Jon, when he made Nell come forward. He told her to go with the group. She was confused, stricken with fear as he sprung this on her so suddenly. He put a hand to her back and with a smile on his face, told her this was her path to take. The last thing he told her was that he enjoyed his time with her before he turned and left as if he was never there. With no other choice, Nell boarded the air jet with the group who gave her suspicious glances and kept their guns at the ready.
After an awkward silence, Nell decided to introduce herself. Saying sheâs a Newblood seemed to ease the group a bit and the girl from before then introduced herself in turn. Mare Barrow. She explained who they all were, what they belonged to. A rebellion and revolution called the Scarlet Guard, built for the liberation of Reds across the continent. With her was a woman named General Farley, a young fisher boy named Kilorn, and the exiled crown prince of Norta, Tiberias Calore VII - but they all just called him Cal. Nell had heard whispers of what had happened within the palace, the death of the old king, but she never paid much attention to any of it and as such, barely knew what was going on. Mare said how they were collecting Newbloods like her, and that she was a Newblood herself; someone capable of controlling and creating lightning. When Nell spoke of her own ability, they seemed both surprised and a little off put. The prince denied that seeing ghosts was even possible, but Nell could see in his eyes that he had far more thoughts about it. Perhaps it was because he had someone who recently crossed over. An interesting group.
Being around the rebellion introduced her to the talk of war, and reintroduced her to the hatred Reds and Silvers hold for one another. A hatred that she did not share. With her abilities, she had learnt she doesnât favor one side or the other, she only wants to help people find peace no matter their blood color.
The sense of death around the Scarlet Guard as a whole was very heavy, as was a sense of anger from the realm beyond. There were clearly a few spirits who wouldnât mind taking vengeance on them. She never found too many spirits lingering with the rebellion, though she did try to help and speak with the ones she did see. They all died in the line of service it seemed. She wasnât a fighter by any means, which allowed her to simply stay back and out of most conversations which was just her style. She felt others eyes on her a lot, but they always looked away when she turned towards them. She guessed people werenât really fans of someone who could talk to things they wanted to believe were long gone.
It was almost her twenty sixth birthday when she was discovered by the king himself, Maven Calore. She had followed the Guard wherever they fled to after Mare got captured, but she went off on her own often to tend to the spirits or get a hold on her surroundings. Sheâd never seen so much of the country before. She had been doing just that when she ran into what looked to be a group of high ranking guards of some sort. It turned out she had been at the wrong place at the wrong time and said the wrong thing because next she knew she was being hauled off. She was taken to Whitefire, the size of the palace and the capitol city amazing her. What also amazed her was how powerful the feeling of death was. It almost choked her as she entered the city borders. She was then brought before a lonesome court, and there, sitting on a throne made of Silent Stone, was his majesty.
Sheâd only seen Maven once before when she was younger, in a broadcast. This version of Maven was wildly different. The first thing she noticed about him was his eyes. They were a bright, almost ice blue color but they were so⌠sad. Desolate. The stains born from sleepless nights beneath them held much the same story. His face was set in a displeased expression, brows slightly furrowed with a downturn to his mouth. She could sense the resentment and anger around the young king, and she felt powerful spirits wandering near him, both of them so terrifyingly fresh to the other side that they were no more than blue wisps to her eyes. It sent a shiver down her back.
âYouâre Nell Freeman, correct?â He had asked her. He sounded so tired, and slightly annoyed. She definitely had to be careful; dealing with a man who had all the power in the world and was tipping over the edge was a dangerous combination.
She nodded, all of her actions hesitant. âYes, sir.â
âAnd youâre able to interact with the dead?â
She paused. âYes⌠sir.â
His demeanor changed, he sat up a little straighter, curiosity sparking within the icy blue depths of his eyes. âAnd how can you do that?â
How could she do that? She wasnât really sure herself. She was acutely aware of her situation, the sentinels standing around, the king himself in front of her. She had no other choice than to try and explain herself. âWell, Iâm able to see those who have become recently deceased and talk to them. I can also allow others to talk to spirits. And I can help lost spirits pass on to the other side.â
He nodded, more to himself than anything. He was thinking about something. His silence was enough to make her hold her breath, mind racing with thoughts about if she was going to be executed. Then he spoke. âNell Freeman, I welcome you into my home, accommodations have been prepared for you to stay here. Youâll be called on again in a few days time.â
And with that simple statement, she was dismissed. She felt nothing but confusion and fear as sentinels herded her out of the room and down too many hallways before she was left in a room that she guessed was her new bedroom. With no belongings and nothing to do, she sat, listening to the spirits whispering around her. None of it was distinct, and she couldnât see the entities they belonged to, but it kept her busy.
She was welcomed to the dinner that night, something offered to most Newbloods that came through the palace, it seemed. But there she saw someone familiar.
âJon? What in the hell are you doing here?â She asked as she sat next to the seer.
He smiled his kind, slightly unnerving smile at her. âAh, I was wondering when you would finally arrive.â
No you werenât. She thought, knowing Jon knew exactly what second sheâd walk through the dining room doors. He sees this, chuckling to himself.
The dinner went smoothly. She didnât speak much, instead studying her surroundings and the Newbloods around her, wondering what their powers are. Every one of them seems to be so different. His majesty sits elsewhere in the banquet hall, making it easy to ignore the fact that someone who practically holds her life in his hands is in the same room as her.
Retiring for the night left a strange feeling in her gut, uneasiness about being in the palace keeping her tossing and turning throughout the night.
True to his word, the king called on her two days later.
Nell was brought into a private room where he was waiting for her. To say she was nervous was an understatement.
He wasted no time. âIf what you say about your powers is true, I wish for you to allow me to speak to my recently deceased mother. You can do that canât you?â
His mother. Queen Elara Merandus, if she remembered correctly; brought down by Mare Barrow in a gruesome end. She could see the uneasiness about the young king, his tense posture and eyes constantly scanning around him giving away more than heâd probably like. Back to the task at hand, she realized she had never attempted to call on a specific spirit before. She didnât know if it was possible, but perhaps if Maven was with her in the crossway, it would help.
Itâs not like she had much of a choice, so she nodded. âYes, I believe I can.â She held out her hands to him, palms up. âTake my hands and donât let go in this realm. If you do, the connection will break. I will lead us both into the spirit crossway and that should be where your mother is.â
He did as she asked with surprising ease. His hands were soft, but they were oddly cold for a burner. She closed her eyes, she took a deep breath, she concentrated. The markings on her hands began to glow softly, the color draining from her hands and turning them a bluish-white color. Her hair glowed as well, and her irises disappeared from her eyes. The room around them shifted, and they (or more specifically their souls) were transported to a ghostly valley covered in grass and trees and flowers, created by the spirits of said dead plants. Everything was in the different shades of gray, the only splashes of color being herself and Maven and the spirits within the valley.
Itâs strange, because if anyone was to walk into the room back in Whitefire, they would find them just standing there frozen, hand in hand, with the eyes of someone whoâs soul is no longer with them.
Maven was clearly unnerved, though he did his best not to show it. A spirit formed before them. It seemed his mother was making things easy. She didnât know how to describe the emotion she saw in Maven at that moment. Relief? Shock? Some wild determination? She wasnât sure.
She stepped back and let the two of them speak, not wanting to get involved with that in any way. The mother and son spoke urgently and for quite a while. Over time, she could feel her connection beginning to slip, caused by staying too long and her own stamina not being up to par.
âYour majesty,â She said. She held firm when he turned that icy gaze to her. âWe must get going. I canât hold this much longer.â
He said some parting words to his mother before joining her again. She breathed in and out and they were back in the room in the palace. She put a hand on the table next to her, trying not to fall over from the use of power. âYou may go. Thank you.â Maven said, and just like that she was being escorted back to her room.
She thought that that would be it, that he wouldnât need her anymore after that. She was sorely mistaken. He called on her at least once every other day, wanting to speak to his mother. It seems her council was more important to him than Nell realized. Despite all their time together, Nell never discovered anything about the king. It was all business between them, and he left no time for her to linger afterwards. She wasnât particularly upset with that.
She let this go on for perhaps too long, causing more harm than good. But she never saw how she could leave. Until there was a wedding.
It was chaos; Silvers running, guns firing, and lightning splitting the sky. She joined the other Newbloods escaping thanks to the Scarlet Guard, more than happy to leave Whitefire far behind her.
The next chapter of her life led her to Montfort, a free republic where Reds and Silvers could live in peace with one another. It was a land mostly unburdened by spirits, however the otherworldly beings would always find her no matter where she went. She made herself a home there, and even though sheâd spend the rest of her life going across the continent helping those that needed her, she always found herself going back.
I miss Vanyla so a post about random facts for her:
very much in denial of being a lesbian back when she was still a noble, since it was kind of expected that she was gonna marry and have babbys (Fereldan nobility seems like itâs still largely. heteronormative, tbh.) her first major crush was a visiting merchantâs daughter when she was 14, and her way of dealing with it was basically that âget out of my schoolâ tweet lol.
made her parentsâ life a nightmare when it came to finding her a husband, once again courtesy of being in the closet. insisted she would only marry for true love, and that no man had presented himself as being worthy of her yet. very big Jasmine from Aladdin energy.
idc what they showed in-game, my girlâs bedroom at the castle was a room w at least two closets for all her dresses and shoes, a four poster canopy bed, and a cozy fur rug. also whatever books from their library she was reading that week.
also, big on reading. if Thedas has brain teasers and jigsaw puzzles, sheâd like them too? I imagine her way of relaxing was taking a book out to the gardens and reading in solitude, or with her mabari Yeralt with her.
saying that she was unpopular at the castle is a bit like saying water is wet. my girl was a spoiled rotten brat who stomped her foot and threw tantrums if she didnât get her way - probably her family and a handful of the staff were the only people to like her. when sheâs developed and seen the world outside of her privileged experience during the Blight, she regrets how nasty she was.
âyou canât fight crime if you ainât cuteâ femme with a love of pink, makeup, and hair braiding. Leliana was the first person in the group she liked thanks to that convo they had about Leli missing Orlesian fashion lol.
I like to imagine that she escapes the castle even if Duncan isnât there! just kind of shoved out of the servantsâ passage by her parents in that timeline. :( since she doesnât have Duncan to take her to Ostagar, that version of her is a rogue on the run who kind of needs to take a crash course in learning to fend for herself while hiding from Howeâs men.
still becomes a kinder and more empathetic person in that âverse the same way she does as a Warden, and has some Robin Hood esque qualities. steal and give to the poor.
Okay so I've finished my reread of arc 2! The ending still has a lot of issues for me, and I still just do not like Winter fighting the NightWings alongside his family. But I was able to pick up on some things that I hadn't really my first read through, particularly Winter's extreme aversion to spells being put on him after what happened to Hailstorm. It makes perfect sense now I don't know how I didn't get that the first time around.
Turtle is still the most precious boy, though of course I already knew that.
