I shouldn't be doing this... but I am. lol.


Your Name ∙ Roy/Spatzi
Contact Information ∙ e-mail or PM please
Time Zone ∙ CST USA


Character’s Name ∙ Emma Qiu Nguyen Song
Age ∙ 26 (July 173 HE)
Gender ∙ Female
Residing ∙ Highfields District
Character Class ∙ Commoner
Occupation ∙ Cook and Tavernkeeper for the Thirsty Duck, Rogue-by-Accident


Sexual Orientation ∙ Heterosexual
Gift ∙ Emma has a small Gift associated with fires. It was considered a good Gift to have by her family, since it could be used to start campfires, keep food lukewarm, or even help maintain a fire for working metals. Nowadays working in the Thirsty Duck, Emma primarily uses her Gift for cooking and baking. Among other things, Emma can light candles or produce small globes of light; if Emma is frightened enough, she can even burn at the touch––however this is something she cannot command and is more an instinctive defense.


Overall Personality ∙

Emma perceives herself as socially awkward. She finds it difficult to bond with people, and not because she is unpleasant or introverted, but because she cannot gauge whether or not people are interested, how to show she is interested, to infer from their tone what they are thinking/feeling, or what level conversation she needs to maintain. She is not necessarily shy but is easily intimidated by other people, especially people she is meeting for the first time. When a person makes her nervous, Emma has a tendency to babble rather than to keep quiet––this is because she always feels a pressure to say something even when nothing really needs to be said.

With people Emma is more familiar with, she is considerably more confident. Although she still has difficulties keeping and striking up a conversation, Emma is typically more relaxed even when she feels that they are expecting her to say something. When it comes to friends, Emma likes to make up for her social shortcomings by doing things for them––whether it be an errand, baking them a sweet, working their rounds in the tavern when they would much rather do something else. Emma has always had a habit of giving gifts to people she struggles to connect with; her mother used to discourage this habit by telling Emma that she shouldn't give someone something if she can't tell what they do or don't like.

Despite this, Emma has a very endearing, albeit eccentric personality. It tends to make her seem childish and weak, the sort of personality that is easy to forgive and the type of person that others easily jump to defend. Emma has never understood this and while she cannot always convey her gratitude the way she would like, she deeply appreciates the people who have the patience to befriend her.

As far as her work in the tavern goes, Emma thoroughly enjoys it. The Thirsty Duck is her safe haven, especially the kitchen, where she can bring her own special order to a world where otherwise she feels inept. Since she was a young girl Emma had always enjoyed cooking and baking, it became an outlet for her frustration and loneliness and a form of solace. It was always comforting to know that her food could fill somebody's belly or tickle their taste buds––especially at the Thirsty Duck where the compliments roll into the kitchen constantly.

It's not too unusual for Emma to become stressed or slip into a mood swing. On occasion, the other barkeeps and maids at the Duck tread around her as lightly as they can when they notice a shift in Emma's mood. A small tip in Emma's confidence can lead her to completely reorganize the kitchen or to scrub it clean from top cupboard to floorboard. These things are Emma's way of venting out her anger, since she has never been able to find a social way of communicating it. Other times, when she is more sad or confused than angry, she will become slightly absentminded or distracted.



Height ∙ 5'5"
Weight ∙ 124 lbs
Overall Appearance ∙

Emma may have a tiny frame and figure, but she is not nearly so petite as most expect of a K'mir woman. In the kitchen she makes the most of her height, often seeming to tower imperiously over the other cooks and maids while she works. Emma's body is also, for the most part, just fluff. Only her torso and arms have developed muscles, and that being because she is required to use them daily to haul heavy pots and guide hefty knives to do her precise and artful bidding.

To the Tortallan eye, Emma is often described as attractive. Her mother, however, lamented that she inherited what she called her father's "large nose" even when most would call it daintily arched. Her features are also remarkably soft and youthful, her smile especially gentle; making her quietly and refreshingly attractive even at her most serious. Her eyes are a warm, chocolatey brown and her hair a rich, luxurious black with hints of red-brown rather than blue.

On her right foot Emma has a colourful tattoo that is a symbol of her husband, --- Song, and his family. It is comprised of swirls of sky and clouds collecting around two mountain peaks and a six-legged horse. ---'s tattoo likewise is found on his left food and depicts a moon held by the talons of two birds in a red sky. As is custom, the two received these tattoos from a member of their in laws' family the morning after their wedding night at a celebratory banquet. Emma's tattoo was fashioned by ---'s cousin while his was designed by her brother, Danny.



Family History ∙ Emma comes from a family of travelers, or "tinkers", that came to Tortall from Sarain a little over a century ago. Her family isn't the only family, and there are many caravans that make their way throughout the realm. The caravan in which Emma grew up specialized in rugs and tapestries, which they wove by hand. Most of their rugs are made of the wool from their flocks, though they from time to time obtain silk to make finer rugs to sell to nobles. The family Emma married into was part of a much larger caravan of metal tradesmen, producing weapons, trinkets, ornaments and other goods from metals.

Family ∙

"Sam" Luyen Nguyen, Father
Kim Nguyen, Mother
"Danny" Danh Nguyen, Brother

---- Song, Husband
---- Song, Father in law
---- Song, Mother in law




Birthplace ∙ Like almost every child born in a tinker caravan, Emma was born on the road. In her case, it was likely somewhere near Tirragen.


Background ∙

Emma's childhood was spent constantly on the move, which probably is the foundation for her fondness for finally staying in 'one place'. That's not to say that Emma doesn't have her restless moments, or that she never feels more at home than feeling the sway and bump of a wagon, but for the most part she enjoys having a place to call 'home' for once. Growing up, there was a small generation gap between Emma and the other children of the caravan; for most of her childhood and adolescence she was the oldest unmarried girl and, by default, the caretaker for all of the younger children. As a result, Emma has always been very good when dealing with children and performing the everyday chores such as laundry and meal-making. Cooking was something Emma came to enjoy especially, and she was never afraid of learning from the older women or trying something new of her own. Her greatest satisfaction came not from the fact that the children would have to eat whatever she made, but when they actually enjoyed the meals she prepared for them. Her Gift came so naturally to her over the cookfire that she wasn't aware she even possessed it until she was old enough to be cooking over the evening fires with the women.

Year later, it was this same Gift that would catch the attention of her future in-laws. There came a year when another clan's caravan traveled Tortall with Emma's own clan, journeying from town to fief to city selling wares side-by-side. They were a metalworking clan and once the word spread that there was a girl who could work magic among them, all the families sent their boys after her. Easily flustered and confused by all of the attention, Emma evaded and avoided her suitors whenever she could. Even any other girl in her situation would have felt overwhelmed by the amount of courting and wooing Emma received at every turn, so the fact that Emma couldn't understand being romantic or desired did not help at all.

--- Song, while he and his family also found Emma's talents appealing and desired to make a smithwife out of her, decided instead to take a more delicate approach. He had seen how the other boys treated Emma and how easily upset she had gotten; at first he thought that she simply didn't want to get married or have anything to do with any of them. But slowly he began to understand that Emma was unsure of how to act, even when she knew full well what was expected of her. Therefore, instead of opting to sweep her off her feet as he initially planned, he carefully cultivated a friendship with her. He came to understand Emma in a way that few others did, not only by paying close attention to how she interacted with others, but by his growing fondness for her. By the close of the year, nearly everyone––including Emma herself––was convinced that --- was the man for the Nguyen girl. With the close of the year, the two caravans arrived for the --- Festival in Corus and outside of the city walls provided a rare and unique spectacle for the Corusians the following four days: the traditional marriage ceremonies and festivities of a K'miri wedding.

By the end of the --- Festival, Emma parted ways with her natal family and began her travels with her husband's family. Her in-laws immediately put her to work, teaching her the basics of smithing and constantly reminding her of how her Gift would be useful to them. As much as Emma disliked how her Gift was her only value to the clan, she worked and did what they expected of her simply because she couldn't possibly conceive refusing them. The highlight of her new clan's travels was not Corus, but Irontown, where they sold wares once every three years. Her first year with her new family was to work towards the fair in Irontown. The other fiefs and towns they visited over the building months only were shown a fraction of their craftsmanship; whatever was made and sold for these places were the scraps and practice pieces of what was to be sold in Irontown.

Very close to --- and Emma's first anniversary, the caravan arrived in Irontown and set out their wares. Their stay was to be two weeks, two weeks' of presenting some of Tortall's finest metalwork and smithing wares. Emma's family, the Songs, were locksmiths; --- was especially talented with designing different types of locks and safes and hidden compartments. In her first year, Emma's family really only taught her the basics of molding keys. They were most concerned with her ability to control the heat of their smelting fires so that they could produce more complex metals to work with and charm for their customers.

It was also in Irontown that year that --- and three other men from the caravan were approached and arrested on charges of conspiracy against the Crown. While Tortallans have always picked on the tinkers for petty crimes, these were very heavy charges laid down on the four young men. They were shackled and carted and hauled off to Corus, where they would be tried. Emma, who had been in the town market shopping for spices to replenish her stores, returned to the camp just in time to see --- loaded up and hauled away. Two days later, Emma and one of the other men's wives, harnessed two vanners and headed for Corus. When they arrived, they did not have the slightest idea where to go; frantically they asked around only to learn that some tinker rebels were to be hanged in the square. Dismayed and crestfallen, Emma and her companion made it to the square in time to see them hanged––only --- was not one of them. After the hanging, Emma helped her widowed friend pay the fare to claim the bodies of the three dead tinkers so that she may bring them back to their families for a proper funeral.

Emma, however, remained in Corus. No matter how hard she tried that day, she could find nobody who knew of what became of ---. After a few days, Emma decided to stay in Corus if she could find employment: luckily for her the Thirsty Duck was in dire need of a cook–– they hired her even though she was a lowly tinker girl. Despite her odd personality and her difficulty socializing with other people, Emma is a favourite both among the tavern workers and goers; nearly everybody who comes to the Duck knows Emma's story: if they aren't giving her a word of hope about finding her husband, they give her tips to buy herself a pretty dress or to help pay the rent on the room she lives in upstairs.

On her days off, Emma takes special requests for a certain type of cookie. Although traditional growing up in her caravans, they are a unique commodity in Corus: little cookies in which you can put in any little message you want. Emma makes a good deal of these, tucking in the messages her customers desire into a select number, and delivering a whole basket to whomever they so wish. Recently this caught the attention of the Rogue––one evening a scullery maid interrupted her cooking to announce a man had come with word of her husband. The man was let in to the kitchen and Emma's hopes were raised, but the man only had one thing in mind: dragging Emma's clever little cookie business into the Rogue exchange. He promised in exchange for her work, they would reveal to her the whereabouts of her husband. More scared than anything, Emma agreed, and has since been working a double operation––cookies she makes for profit, and cookies she makes and delivers to Rogues throughout the district. Her rogue snacks contain important notes––like watch times, where to meet who, the password to what––and all of this slipping under the radar of the Dogs because it's just a harmless tinker girl selling sweets for a pennies. Since being coerced into the Rogue these past few months, Emma has not learned a single thing about her husband; the only catch is, she's too afraid to get the Dogs involved...



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--Roy