Your Name ∙ Kim
Contact Information ∙ PM, idleclockwork on AIM, I have MSN but PM me for that!
Time Zone ∙ 8+ GMT (Australian Western Standard Time)


Character’s Name ∙ Issabel Wood
Age ∙ 17
Gender ∙ Female
Residing ∙ Tucker House on Petticoat Lane in the Lower City of Corus.
Character Class ∙ Rogue
Occupation ∙ Doxie/Prostitute


Sexual Orientation ∙ Heterosexual (though it depends on how much coin is offered)
Overall Personality ∙ As with most people, Issabel has different facets to her person that she shows only at certain times. She is overall a compassionate young woman, but a girl who is likely to hold a grudge for a long time if need be. If someone has put Issabel or her friends in danger she won't forget it, even if it seems as though she has. This could possibly be attributed to the fiercely protective nature she had to adopt when growing up in Cesspool, the most rotten place in all of Corus. In Cesspool the folk looked after themselves, but when your Ma taught you to love like Issabel's did, you tend to look after those you adore as well. For Issabel those others were her Ma, younger siblings, and a smattering of parentless children like her who survived by filching pockets or selling flowers. Over time the friendships disappeared, but Issabel still likes to greet them kids from back then who are still alive.

Issa's close friends get to see all of the tenderness and also the determination she has to do right by those around her. Most of her friends, if not all of them, are rogues who share her sentiment about the Conté king, who she couldn't care less about. He allows such poverty to fester in Cesspool and the rest of the Lower City when just a few districts over people have more money than they know what to do with. Issabel once saw a sculpture made all from spun sugar and though she was amazed, she didn't find it beautiful in the least because it was so impractical. Issabel's alliance is to the court and whichever king that rules it, while in contrast she has little interest in districts any richer than Flash. She hates noble lasses, but can't help having a fondness for noble lads as they're more likely to pay her beyond her worth. Merchants are passable, depending on what they deal in and whether their wives natter at her about her career.

Despite the distaste Issabel has for rich folk and their laws, she is for the most part a happy mot. While she cared for her sister she adopted so much responsibility that she didn't much get to be a child. Any chance of her developing into a girl with a respectable trade was taken away by her father, and she resented that for years. Since killing him she has felt little guilt as she believes he deserved it, but she does feel utter relief at being free. Her smiles in the past eighteen months have not been for show like they were before, and she never sports as many bruises as she once did.

Issabel likes to tease and joke, and her favourite activity of all is laughing. While she worries some about men who might like to trap her like her father did, she doesn't speak to others about the fear. In company she can quickly adopt the role of a clueless and efficient young woman whose only interest is in selling her wares and getting a good price, or otherwise a cheerful and joyful chit with a special glint in her eye. While to some she might seem too sweet a girl to be involved in such horrible business, Issabel knows better. Doxies, foists, even assasins, they're all just doing what they need to for survival. If the only choices are to do what some soft-handed lord decided was wrong, or to get by with what you have, you'd be stupid to just give yourself to the Black God.


Height ∙ 5'6"
Weight ∙ 51kg
Overall Appearance ∙ Issabel could be described as pretty or cute, but would never be referred to as stunning like those doxies who take care of the men in unicorn (who have more coin than sense). Though her delicate looking lips, chin, and figure might pass for classic beauty, her nose is too big on her face and her skin too pale and easily blemished. Issabel has dark blue eyes that are rimmed with pale lashes and set beneath softly arched brows, and though her expression so often reflects the hardships she has been through, they also convey her youth and sweetness. Her hair is kept long because it has more colour than she can afford to put in her clothes, and is often the thing that catches the attention of her clients. While working she keeps her hair free of restraint, letting it fall almost to her waist, but when she isn't looking for clients she finds that it is easiest to plait her hair and cover it with a cap, because it is easier for her to go unnoticed.

At just seventeen years of age Issabel already has the hard worn look that living on the street can give you, and though she effort to be tidy and clean (it brings in more business), more often than not she'll have dirt under her nails and grime on her hems. Issabel's way of locomotion is more meandering than walking, though she has a quick stride when she thinks she's in trouble or is in a rush. Most of the lower city occupants know by now how little money the girl actually, but being robbed or found dead is too big a risk for Issabel to not flee at the slightest hint of trouble. She has taken to nervously glancing over her shoulder before and after turning corners, even when she is in company. Better to have others think she has a palsy or sommat than to have something unfortunate happen.

The clothes that she wears aren't of the highest quality, but the stitches stay together most of the time and that's the important part. In the drier months of the year Issabel wears skirts that reach to the ground, but in the months surrounding winter she finds it easier and cleaner to wear skirts that stop at mid-calf combined with boots that cover to just below her knee. Wearing her corset and bodice tight and revealing her modest amount of bust is simply a matter of business- most men look at the body, not the face, and Issabel isn't game enough to call out her wares and prices like others so she has to let her body speak for itself. Issabel can't afford dye for her clothing so the materials are always earthy tones, sometimes with a touch of the least-expensive yellow or red. The girl loves colour though, and will often be found with a vibrant flower or two tucked into her hair or bodice.


Family History ∙ Issabel's father might have been a good man once, but by the time of his death he was absolutely deplorable. He was born in a poor village east of Hollyrose and when the going got tough he became a raider. After escaping an attack from the crown on the raider's camp, Corref came across the large town of Greenmark, and the pretty girls that lived there. For a few years he tried a few different trades- bricklaying, carpentry, even trying his hand at metalwork. All the while he charmed and romanced Darrah, a sweet village lass, and convinced her to marry him. He was 26 when Darrah had Issa, and 27 when Fulden was born. At the age of 30 he decided that trying to be an honest man wasn't all that it was made out to be, so he left his family to become a cutthroat in Corus. It was there that he became well known for being an expensive but effective way to take care of a problem.

Meanwhile, Darrah was the youngest girl in a family of eleven. Her father was a farrier and her mother would wash clothes in her spare time (though she didn't have much of that with so many children underfoot). When she was first courted by Corref she found him nice enough to look at and persistant enough that it was hard to say no to him. She married him with a small dowry and birthed him two children before he up and left her. In turn, she sold all of her belongings to get enough money to take her two children to Corus and find the man who she believed had been the love of her life. It was then that things turned sour for her, and she regretted having left Greenmark for the rest of her relatively short life.
Family ∙

• Corref Wood - Father - Deceased (aged 41) - Corref Wood had become Corr Blackknife by the time he was killed. A coin or two would buy you the not-so-gentle death of any man, woman, or child. Well, without skill in any trades it was only right that a man use his gift for cutting people up into a right state. His attitude to his family was less than admirable, beating them and using them as wicked men do. When Darrah stopped earning money Issabel was made to do so, and after years of using her own body to pay for Corr's ale, Issabel snapped and stabbed the man with his own blade. She tries not to remember Corref, but he's in the face of every bad man who won't let Issa alone.
• Darrah Wood - Mother - Deceased (aged 29) - While Darrah was alive she doted on her children, the first of which (Issabel) she had birthed at the age of 17. Her occupation when she lived in Cesspool wasn't one of her own choosing, but it was the only way for a single mother with two small children to get by without stealing, which Darrah was loath to do. After locating Corref he encouraged her to continue so that he could take her wage, and that is how she continued to live until she developed such a visible sickness that no man would pay her to lay with them. She died when Issabel was eleven, and the girl can only recall her mother with fondness.
• Fulden Wood - Brother - Fletcher (aged 16) - Issabel had always had a close relationship with her brother as he was born just a year after her and was always there, before and after their leaving Greenmark. He is now a fletcher though he frequents the court sometimes. Maybe it's for the superior drink, or maybe it's to see the sister he grew apart from after the death of their father. Issabel is always happy to see him, though it causes her to remember things she'd rather not so she's glad the reunions are rare.
• Jecinna _____ - Sister - ? (aged 8) - By the time of her mother's death Issabel was poisoned against the idea of them priestesses being any help to a girl, but she knew they wouldn't turn away a mere toddler if it were left in a temple, and that's just what Issabel did to her little sister. Jecinna was found a nice place to grow up and all seems to be well with her. Issabel watches Cinna sometimes, but doesn't let the girl catch sight of her, she doesn't even know whether Cinna remembers her time in Cesspool. Better that the girl doesn't remember, mayhap she'll be able to get a nice apprenticeship like Issa could never mannage.

Birthplace ∙ Town of Greenmark, close to the Gallan and Scanran boarders.
Background ∙ If she tries very hard Issabel can almost remember when she didn't live in Corus. There had been chickens, and a nasty goose who used to guard the gate of her grandparents' home. She can see Fulden petting a duck, whom she thinks was his pet, and Ma used to sing. Most of all Issabel knows that she came from somewhere other than Cesspool because she can still recall the feelings of surprise at the filth. Soon though, Issabel learned to cope with the dirt while her Ma learned to cope with renting out her body (though Issabel didn't realise that until years later). When Ma found Issa's Da she had thought that everything would change, but they didn't. Things got worse because Corref liked to drink too much and was eager to hit when he was drunk.

When Issabel was nine her Ma started getting bigger and bigger, while Issa knew to mean she was going to have a baby. From the screaming rows she overheard, Issa gathered that her younger sister Jecinna hadn't been something made on purpose, but that the woman who had magicked Ma's necklace hadn't been all that powerful, and the magic had run out. Darrah loved her new babe no less than her older ones though, and Corr hated the child just as much as he did his other children. For a year Issa and her brother looked after Cinna when her Ma was out or resting, which she did more of now that she started getting sick. While Issabel revelled in the responsibility, Cinna also served as a great asset to flower selling-- rich ladies were more generous with coin when they saw the squirming occupant of the sling on Issa's back.

Unfortunately the extra coins from selling flowers wasn't enough to cover the work that Darrah could no longer manage, and with Issa having got her monthlies that winter, she was pushed into working as a doxie by her father. Her body was hardly that of a woman, and Darrah protested from her sickbed, but Corr was too greedy to listen. Being a prostitute opened Issabel up to a whole new world. She had breathed the air of the Lower City for years, but never partook in the nightlife. Her father would take her to gambling sessions in case he ran out of coin, but otherwise she was to mingle with the rougues there and seek out clients.

Darrah died before Issabel was thirteen, and though Issa did all she could to keep her siblings fed and clothed, Corr was becoming more miserly with what the children earned as he gambled himself into debt. Issa decided that it would be best to give Jecinna up to a temple, and she followed through with the decision. Fulden didn't speak to her for a month afterwards but Issa refused to regret it. At least Jacinna would never have to sell herself, though it wasn't that bad. More often than not the men weren't horrible, but there were always them that were happy to exploit Corr's apathy towards his daughter, or who would beat her to try and provoke him. No matter the injury it didn't warrant Issabel going to the healers, or so Corr said.

It was his reluctance to see his children to a healer that was the end of him. After three years of being manipulated and controlled by her father as if she were a slave, Issabel had enough. At fifteen she was able to handle being fed on rations and living in squalor, but she wasn't able to comprehend why, when Fulden had two fingers near cut off by an inappropriate target for pickpocketing, Corr wouldn't spare the money for a healer. Issa knew that Corr had the money. Beyond the wages he earned for murdering folk, there was also the money Fulden stole and that she made by laying with men. The argument that was had between Issabel and the heavily drunk Corr that night ended with Corr's own knife, black and unwashed from numerous killings, buried deep in his chest. Issabel had a broken arm and jaw, and it was far too late to save Fulden's fingers, but Issabel considers killing her father is the second best thing she'll ever do. It took days for Issabel to return to the court, but no one really seemed to miss Corr apart from those he owed payment to.

Issabel has spent the past eighteen months working to repay debts that were never hers, so that threats against her and Fulden will never eventuate. Fulden was able to save his own money for an apprenticeship, and Issabel has almost paid everyone who was due. The extra debt means she has to be mindful of where her money goes, and it will be a relief when it is all gone. Issabel doesn't resent her career nearly so much as she used to because she controls it. She no longer rents the room in Cesspool but managed to secure a bed in Tucker House. When the debts are all paid she'll rent a room all to herself, but for now she shares her room with another young mot.


By submitting this application, I am also stating that I have read, and understood, the forum rules, and that I agree to follow them.

--Kim

Dear Kayte/Nori/Carrie, the edit was to remove my email from it so that Corus wouldn't show up on a google search for it. I'm sneaky like that.