I NEED MORE MAID OF RAGE TELL ME HER BACKSTORY PLEASEEEEE 🙏🙏
YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT MY MAID OF RAGE??? MY?? PRESKA??? ohhh....
OKAY OKAYYY *runs in circles* AHEM
My Maid Of Rage is also known as Preska Zvotek ( inspired by the word peach on macedonian and croatian - i am making a troll for each ex yugoslavian country at this point lmao ) Her name was originally Praska, but I kept misspelling it because Peach(eng) = PrAska(mac) = BrEskva (cro), so eh, rolled with it. Inpiration for her were: Slavic goddess Vesna ( something akin to slavic Persephone / Demeter ), eggs, cottagecore, chickens and cows.
--- She's about 19-20 years old in the story, about 16 or so when she's brought to the ship, 19 when her relationship with the boatswain starts, and about 22-23 when she dies. Preska ended up on Calamitous Nero (Dualscar’s ship) through the slave trade when she was very young - about 7 sweeps (around 16 in human years). Being a bronze, she was assigned to work in the lusii pens on the lower decks by the ship’s boatswain. She was raised by three chicken lusii who were approved to board the ship with her - eggs and all.
She is timid and shy, but also deeply caring and intelligent. She has a tendency toward self-sabotage and often rejects common sense or painfully obvious truths, either out of fear or out of a wishful belief that things are not as grim as they truly are. She learned the ropes quickly, mentored by an older bronze known as the Herdsman (OC: @/a-study-in-spacey), who looks out for her. Her other friends include Olelum Olatil, a young, friendly cobalt engineer (whom I still need to write about), and Elyths (OC: @/mirthfulmoonshine), a tealblood who functions as something akin to a star navigator and fortune teller. Preska, Olelum and Elyths are pretty close in age so they become friends quite easily, as there are not many young trolls on the ship.
Some of her hobbies include making flower wreaths, her favourite flowers being dandelions and hydrangeas (flower symbolism, my beloved), crocheting and knitting, softly singing to her animals, and baking whenever she gets the chance to help out in the kitchens and spend time with Veriya. She rarely leaves the animal holding area, as she is afraid of running into higherblooded crew members. She also does not feel safe sleeping in the slave quarters, preferring instead to sleep in the animal holding area in her hammock, snuggled with her three chickens. c: She continues living and working there even after entering adulthood. That is when her life takes a turn for the worse. A cruel, notorious man, known for abusing lowbloods in the lower decks - takes an interest in her. To him, she is simply fun to scare and torment. When she arrived, he was rather nice and helpful to her, but soon, after a few sweeps he begins to torment and scare her, abusing her physically while manipulating her through love-bombing, and the poor girl falls head over heels for him, even though he rarely treats her well - using and abusing her for a long time. She tells no one about this. Instead, she keeps gaslighting herself into believing that he loves her.
(oc @/mirthfulmoonshine) Her best friend, Olelum, is nearing the end of his contract and has no intention of renewing it. He wants to travel and see the world - broader Alternia, beyond the confines of the Orphaner's fleet. He promises that he will buy her off Calamitous Nero, setting her free. After that, she can go her own way or come with him to see the world, if she wishes. She agrees to go with him. One important note is that the new contract of purchase is only valid once they reach dry land - until then, she still belongs to the ship. So, Olelum buys her off Dualscar, and just as they are about to finally leave, they are intercepted by the boatswain. He manages to manipulate her enough for her to run right back into his arms. He promises to pay for her freedom and tells her that her friend is lying to her, that he has no intention of setting her free. He tells her how much he’ll miss her, how he loves her, and so on - promising to buy her off Olelum and write her a contract where she is truly free (though he plans to include fine print where she is, in fact, not, and her freedom is almost as limited to that of a slave). He says that if she wishes, she can stay on the ship as a worker. And if this were a happy story, she would reject him and choose better for herself. But unfortunately for victims, it is very hard not to run back to their abusers - especially manipulative ones with sweet voices and seemingly sincere professions of love, promises of being officially quadded in red and such. Olelum, seeing that he cannot get through to her, leaves - taking neither Bacces’ money nor his friend with him. Preska is happy for a while, as the boatswain treats her well… until he doesn’t. Then everything becomes the same as it was before, for a long time. In the finale of the story, when Dualscar goes to GHB and the Rebellion attacks the ship, the highblooded crew are slaughtered indiscriminately, regardless of rank or age, while lowblood workers and slaves are set free - they may join the Rebellion or go on their merry way.
The boatswain manages to escape, but is later killed by someone known as the Saboteur (boatswain worked as Saboteur's spy on Dualscar’s ship -more about him in another post). The first mate (OC: @/mirthfulmoonshine / Vyeter Faible) also escapes and later joins the Rebellion. Preska and he do not interact during the Calamitous Nero arc, but she will recognize him later within the Rebellion. While the ship is under siege, masts are burning down, weapons clanking against each other in desperate attempt to defend or attack, blue and purple blood along with warmer hues painting the wood of the upper decks - Preska is cooped up in the animal holding area, clutching her chickens, too scared to escape even when smoke starts to fill the room and fire begins devouring the hay and bags of feed, making it hard to breathe. She is just such a Coward. Not even dying by her own means, not choosing anything for herself, only letting herself serve the whims of others and the environment she found herself trapped in. She lived as a coward. She will die a coward. Burn down with the ship and be forgotten forever, never doing anything of value for herself. Or at least, that would have happened, if one of her chickens had not baited a Rebellion member into the lower decks and led them to drag her out.
This is where The Coward dies and where The Warkirya is born.
She's dragged out of the burning ship, and not knowing what to do or where to go, she joins the Rebellion, helping them with animals and generally whatever needs to be done. She makes a friend there, a yellowblood doctor named Scilla (OC: @/mirthfulmoonshine), who is very caring and gentle. It takes a while for Preska to warm up to her, but they will start a very beautiful matespritship as time progresses. c: It is not easy to overcome past trauma and abuse, and Preska will have a long, painful road of recovery ahead of her. With the support she receives from her patient and loving matesprit and a few new close friends - it makes it easier. Her personality will begin to shine through more clearly, and she will slowly heal. Recovery from abuse is complex and cyclical, moving forward and back again. It's painful, and makes one question their reality - oftentimes leaving them feeling guilty and powerless. But, it's not impossible to recover and take control of your life. As she begins to see the truth of what was happening to her, her eyes will permanently turn red around the irises, representing the rage, the truth she is no longer blind to. Choosing, at last, to serve her own damn will, instead of the wills of others.
She'll become skilled in using a war axe "Axe of Perunn's Fury" slashing down anyone and anything that dares to stand in her way, or in the way of her friends - seeing his face in every enemy she cuts down. She becomes a leader, a general who trains others for the Rebellion, a fearsome interrogator, and, most of all, a person who has realized that she is allowed and more than capable to make choices for herself.
She is going to die on the battlefield, growling and screaming as she cuts down soldiers of the Empire until her last breath, until exhaustion finally takes hold of her.
She will fall to her knees and pass away, dying as anything, but a Coward.
---------------------- So that's her in short! I really hope you like her! <3
