OOC : Castle Märchen Character Prompts

[Spring-heeled Jack]

This thread will organize any character prompts I create.

You are free to use any of them or aspects of them that are not highlighted in red. (For instance, I may highlight an entire character prompt if I'm not sure that another attempt at it can be done without looking too much like the character profile of someone who has already submitted. Or if a prompt has many options and someone submits a profile using it, I may choose to take away the option for that one aspect of the prompt.) I leave the prompts intact so that in the future if a player stops posting for an extended period of time, I'd like to allow other players the option of using it instead.

Posts are organized by gender, but feel free to swap genders if you prefer. For the most part, these prompts are written based on actual fairy tales and are usually written true to the gender of the original. For others, I've intentionally switched them or made them 'unisex'.

More prompts will be written as I take the time to and you are always free to write a profile based on any fairy tale and most myths/legends, if they hold the same sort of fairy tale magic as these prompts.

Of course, everyone is always welcome and encouraged to write profiles for:
- Peasants who become servants,
- Little fae (pixies and gnomes) who owe Tribute to the lord,
- Knights on a quest or otherwise traveling and find their way here.

[Spring-heeled Jack]

Your father made a deal with Lord Märchen. In return for you coming to the castle for one year, the lord of the castle would spare your father's life...

You were a mermaid living a happy life under the sea until the sea witch came into your life. Now you're cast adrift on land with unfamiliar human legs that are painful to walk on. You know if you wish to return to the sea, you must find the answer in Märchen Castle...

You were one of twelve princess sisters who had been enchanted to dance the night away under the earth in the arms of a demon prince. You'd come home every morning, your shoes worn through and your body exhausted. The enchantment was broken and one of your sisters married the hero who broke the enchantment and slayed your demon prince - but after that wedding you felt the need to seek out more magic in your every day life. Märchen Castle seemed the place to go...

Your mother died when you were young and your father had the misfortune to marry a wicked woman with two daughters of her own. Not long after the new marriage, your father died and your life became difficult under your stepmother's tyranny. Your fairy godmother was able to help you escape her and come to Märchen Castle with your choice of one of the following items: a carriage, a magical ballgown, a talking pet, glass slippers that will never break and only fit your own feet, or a pocket watch that will send you "home" when the last bell is struck for midnight...

A frog, snake, bear, wolf or other off-putting creature brought you back a toy you discarded as a symbol that you had become an adult and demanded you marry them for the service. In spite of what they told your father, you never promised them any such thing as marriage, so you've run away to Märchen Castle...

When you were a young girl, you were asked to bring your grandmother some food and medicine when she was sick. You arrived to find your grandmother either eaten whole by a wolf or brutally murdered. You (and possibly your grandmother) were saved by a local huntsman or woodcutter, so you survived. But that incident was a major turning point in your life and has eventually lead you here to Märchen Castle...

You were just a regular miller's daughter who happened to be very good at spinning thread. Your father happened to meet the prince and, being prone to exaggeration, told the prince you could spin straw to gold. The prince (either believing your father or wishing to teach him a lesson) had you brought to his castle to spin straw to gold, threatening you with death if you failed or promising to reward you with marriage if it were true. A twisted dwarf promised you he'd spin the straw to gold for you so you could marry the prince - *if* you promised the first child born to him in return. Seeing no other way out of it, you reluctantly agreed. The dwarf spun and the prince married you. But before you could become pregnant, the prince died. Not feeling welcome in your husband's home, you've come here to Märchen Castle, wondering if the dwarf will come to you for a child if you do choose to have one in the future...

You were raised to be wild and violent by a band of robbers. Being the daughter and granddaughter of the leaders, you were always given your way in everything, so you expect to be given anything you like - and you always are. You like animals and you like pretty things and you make 'friends' easily if you like the way they look (if you can call someone a 'friend' after threatening them with death if they disobey you). You tease cruely, often with hints or threats of violence, but you can also be kind and generous - especially when none of the robber band are there to notice. One day you decided you were tired of staying at home and decided to seek your fortune in the world...

You are what is called a 'sea witch'. Perhaps you are a mermaid like any other or maybe you're a different kind of mermaid. In any case, you have magical powers that the other merfolk do not and you're willing to use them for the right price. Some call you evil because of it. Perhaps you are. But whether you're seeking a haven away from angry merfolk, wish to know what it's like on the surface, or have some other motivation, you've arrived on the sandy shores of the Sweet Sea in Märchenland...

You are a giant's daughter. You have a few small magic skills that help you in day to day tasks around your father's home, but your main skill is the ability to be either giant in size or human in size. Though your father is kind to you, he is brutal to any suitors you might have (human or giant), so you've decided to go where you may meet someone your father can't frighten away...

Your father, the king, loves you so much he kept you confined to your rooms for all of your life. Recently, the confinement chafed more than usual, so you complained to your maid or nurse. This woman was actually a fairy godmother or kind witch in disguise and had you ask your father for a wheelbarrow. The woman enchanted the wheelbarrow in order to let it take you wherever you wanted to go, as long as it were not magically protected from entry. You hopped in without a second thought and it trundled you eventually to Märchenland...

An ogre has taken a linking to you want wants you for his wife. With the help of a faithful servant and your fairy godmother, you were able to escape to Märchenland - but because of a misfired spell, it's in the form of some wild and at least somewhat dangerous beast like a bear, wolf, lion or boar. You can still speak as a human and Lord Märchen has lifted the misfired spell's effects enough that you can still live as a human from sunset to sunrise. You're hoping to find a way to remove the effects entirely - and hopefully find a way to deal with the ogre once and for all...

You were born a princess, but were born in another country because your mother was visiting her brother. Your mother thought you'd be safer back at home, so she had you and your wetnurse sail home where she would follow by the slower method over land. Unfortunately, that ship sank and your cradle washed ashore where an ogress and her husband took you in. She raised you as her own, calling on some animal to nurse you (a hind, for example) since she could not produce milk you could drink. Because of this, you can speak the language of that animal and call upon the help of any of them. When the ogress's sons came back from adventuring, they decided they could not have a human sister and would have eaten you if your ogress foster mother hadn't used her magic wand to send you to Lord Märchen for protection...

[Spring-heeled Jack]

Your king has been driven from his capital by an emperor who liked the port city. The king decreed that all his nobles must provide at least one person from their family to form the officers of his army or suffer a heavy fine. Your father while noble as they come is unfortunately old, poor, and has only three daughters - you being one of them. Your other two sisters were the first to volunteer, but were discouraged when on their way to the king's temporary capital city, they saw someone having trouble and stopped to speak to them and offer sympathy and the person thanked the "beautiful lady" or "sweet girl". When you went, you offered help rather than sympathy and the person having trouble revealed themselves to be a fairy godmother who offered you the advice to take a certain road and go to Märchenland so that you could train as a warrior instead of going unprepared. She would arrange it so that however long you stayed in Märchenland, you would arrive at the king's new capital in time to avoid the fine. She also advised you to try to conceal your true gender as long as possible, so that you would have practice by the time you went to help your king...

Because of various circumstances, you're a girl who must pretend to be a man in the court of your king. No one suspects a thing, but you make such an attractive man (and likely have an attractive and knightly temperment) that several of the ladies in the court have fallen in love with you (whether you return their affections or not). That in itself wouldn't be so bad, because you're in the position to refuse them without fear of reprisal if you wished, but the king's sister has also fallen in love with you and you most certainly do not return it. The princess hasn't taken 'no' for a final answer and claimed various things to the king: that you were bored of court life and wished to fight in a tournament (you were sent and came back having done well and not injured yourself and not asked her to intervene), that you wished to be sent to war (again you were sent and came back having performed well) and finally that you said you could kill a dragon that was currently rampaging in one of the valleys of your homeland. Here you were stuck because you didn't know how to slay this dragon and couldn't return the king's sister's love and have her cancel the appointment - so you left to find the way and found yourself in Märchenland...

You were born into the household of a minor noble or wealthy merchant family. When you were ten, a snake spoke to you in the garden and said that you were her sister and that if you listened to her, you'd be happy. You listened when she told you to bring a bucket of milk and a bucket of rosewater and bathed in them in the order she said. Because of it, you gained a special and unusual skill, like the ability to cry semi-precious stones, or to wash your hands and produce fish, or brush your hair and produce expensive flower petals, or laugh and produce pomegranate seeds. These skills came in handy a few months later when your family was driven from its home and had to live in a poorer environment. It took time, but your family used your special skill to produce a living for themselves and eventually was able to return to living a comfortable life. Maybe this caused someone you couldn't love to court you, or maybe your family grew ungrateful for your skill, or perhaps you just hated finding something to laugh or weep over and be used like a cow or chicken. In any case, you decided to leave hom and found yourself in Märchenland...

You were the youngest daughter of a tailor, but so very beautiful and kind that a prince fell in love with you and married you. Perhaps if he had stayed only a prince, you would have lived happily ever after. Instead, his father and older brother died because of illnesses and your husband became king. Your husband's nobles divided themselves between those who would accept you and those who wouldn't and he went to war. You quickly found yourself pregnant after he left and spent all nine months of your pregnancy largely isolated from everyone for fear of your safety. The fears were proven correct when after the birth of your child or children, you were told they were dead. Perhaps shortly after you found out your husband had also died. In any case, you went mad for awhile (or perhaps still are) and at some point were able to escape those watching over you. You've gone off on a search for your husband or children (there are rumors they didn't really die) or both. Your wanderings have lead you to Märchenland...

Your mother was a washerwoman and you and your sisters hoped for more in your lives than that. Your mother also encouraged this, so she sought and found a witch willing to help you. When you each came of age, the witch bade you go to her back door and go with whatever awaited you there. Your eldest sister found a coach with six bejeweled horses and was whisked away to whatever fate had for her. Your second sister found a sturdy coach with four brown horses and a handsome young man to greet her and went away with him. When you opened the door, a black bull stood there for you. He has become your companion and assures you he is a cursed knight but, no, he wishes to wed a princess, not a washerwoman's daughter. He is going to Märchenland and can take you with him on his back. If you pull on his left ear, you will find food and right ear you will find drink. Together you set off for Märchenland to seek your fortunes. (If you're not interested in playing the bull, I suggest he is killed trying to protect you on the way and all you are left with is a purse you made out of his ears, which retain the same qualities of providing food and drink.)

[Spring-heeled Jack]

Whether true or false, you were accused of murdering your previous seven wives and storing their bodies in your castle. The castle has been overtaken by your ex-wife and her brothers and now you are here at Märchen Castle because you...

You are a former soldier, over the age of 25, who was dismissed from your country's army for some reason. On your way to Märchen Castle, you found or were given a magical object...

You were created as a puppet by a master toymaker. Through a series of trials, you became a "real boy" thanks to a fairy who thought you had learned what it was to be human. Now fate has lead you to Märchen Castle...

You were once a prince. Now you have been changed to some lowly animal (perhaps a frog or hedgehog or bird) - though at least you can still speak. You hope to find the answer to your dilema here in Märchen Castle...

Born nothing more than a street rat, you happened to be a good enough thief to attract the notice of an evil magician who wished for you to steal a lamp for him from a cave. He thought you had died in the attempt, but you escaped.... not with the lamp, but with a ring that grants its wearer a special power. Now you've found yourself at Märchen Castle...
(Note: If you wish to play this close to the source material, rather than a European-based country, don't forget to specify the country you are from is a "far away land". If an Arabian or Chinese inspired country already exists, you should probably use it, otherwise feel free to create your own country.)

When you were a boy, you became the member of a band of Lost Boys, spending your days chasing natives and pirates and doing the things boys are wont to do (especially when lead by a charismatic young man). Unfortunately for you, while the leader of the Lost Boys is incapable of aging, you weren't. The leader brought you to Märchen Castle and wished you many great adventures in your new life as a member of (the much larger group) - the Found Boys. You may or may not run into other "Found Boys" - and you may or may not have ever met any of the other alumni of the group, even if they were delivered at the same time. (How strange...)

There was once a curse that affected you, turning you into some animal (perhaps a swan, crow or deer). Your sister searched for a way to cure you and was finally told that if she stayed silent for a year and made you an outfit out of stinging nettles you would be free from the curse. Your sister ended up married to a prince or king attracted to her beauty and your sister kept silent and wove your outfit while you waited. Unfortunately, someone wicked in court accused your sister of being a witch and she was to be burned at the stake the exact day the year of silence ended. Because of the events, she wasn't able to complete the outfit of stinging nettles, though she was able to throw it to you to put on before being tied to the stake. You were able to change back to human (barring one feature of the animal you were) and proclaim her innocence. Your sister is happy now, but you'd like to become fully human again. Your travels brought you to Märchen Castle...

You were - or still are - an Emperor of a kingdom. Like the people of your capital, you love nothing so much as fine clothes. You may or may not also be a fine ruler, but another country-wide obsession is being 'fit for office' and wise. Two con men used both to their advantage and set up shop, claiming they wove cloth that would be invisible to simpletons and those unfit for office. You couldn't resist. You ordered a suit of clothes at great expense to yourself and neither you nor your advisors could bring yourselves to admit there was no cloth to see. It took a child pointing out you weren't wearing anything for you to realize that you had been had. Now you've either gone on a Quest to repair your reputation or your citizens rose up and declared that you and your advisors really must not be fit for office if you were taken in by the con men and kicked you out until you could prove your worth again. You have stumbled upon Castle Märchen and hope that your experiences here will make you both wiser and more fit for office...

In your kingdom, princes are meant to marry 'true' princesses. There is a great emphasis placed on the various qualities of it, one of the most prominant being being very frail. Perhaps you don't buy into the idea, or maybe you take it as an obsessive quest for perfection, but your mother and father, the king and queen, take it very seriously. Once they thought they had found a bride for you and arranged an elaborate plan to test whether the girl were a 'true' princess - they stacked twenty feather beds on top of twenty mattresses and placed a pea underneath all of those to see if she'd sense it. The girl needed a ladder to get to the top of the pile of bedding. Unfortunately, she fell to her death during the night and whether you knew her and loved her or didn't know she existed until you heard of her death, the incident greatly affected you. You left on a great quest which has lead you to Märchen Castle...

You were a peasant or ex-soldier down on his luck. You are an extremely handsome man and even somewhat educated for a peasant/soldier and there are even some jobs where you would shine because of your face if you weren't the sort who wouldn't want to work there. Your wanderings to look for a job where you could earn an honorable wage lead you to stumble into Märchenland where you met Lord Märchen. Him being in one of his particular moods, he saw your face and decided to offer you this: You could be a guest in his castle and enjoy all the food and fine clothes you wanted, ride fine horses and hunt wild game for seven years and go home at the end of them retaining your youth and rewarded with a vast fortune if you did something 'unusual'. You had to spend the first year living in a tent in the woods and not initiate human contact, and during all seven years you couldn't cut your hair or shave during the seven years and could only clip your nails or bathe once a year. If you fail to follow these tasks and let vanity take over, he'll turn you into an animal of his choice. Desperate, you agreed and have been living the past year without meeting anyone in the forests. Now it's your last day of the first year and you're heading to Märchen Castle itself...

Though only a peasant, you are a man of extraordinary ability. You have the ability to either: drink enough to drain an entire lake, eat enough to eat all the food in a city, run fast enough that you wear a shoe with a tack in it so to give others a fighting chance at beating you in a race, keen-eyed enough that you wear a blindfold in order to give yourself a challenge when shooting with your bow and arrow, blow hard enough to make a windmill turn (or knock it over if you were too close), or strong enough to lift an elephant in each hand. In spite of these abilities, you live a simple life and simply wish to find your place in the world. A chance encounter with an old man in the wood lead you to Märchenland.

You are such an incorrigible thief that people call you "The Black Thief of (your home country)". You steal not necessarily for profit, but for the adventure of it and you like nothing more than to tell stories about your adventures. After hearing some of these stories, someone asked if you could steal the Lord Märchen's crown and you said you would. Whether you come under the guise of a regular adventurer or have attempted to steal and are being punished in some way by Lord Märchen, for now you are a guest.

You are called the Knight of the Glen - a strong knight whose control of horses is really second to none. Your favorite horse is called the Steed of Bells and while it is wild when awake and only you can control it, at night it is docile and will go with anyone that doesn't set off the bells it wears. (You, of course, could even ride it without making the bells sound.) You set off on adventure, or your steed was stolen and you followed it, or your king sent you on a quest and you found yourself in Märchenland...

[Spring-heeled Jack]

(more to come)

[Spring-heeled Jack]

Sometime in the past, you and a sibling were abandoned by a parent or both parents and captured by a witch. You eventually escaped the witch. Now you find yourself at Märchen Castle...

You were once a ghost that haunted Märchen Castle, but a spell has given you new life. How long will the spell last? Is there a way to make it permanant? Why were you a ghost?

You were once one of the invisible servants, tirelessly and thanklessly serving those guests who came to stay at Märchen Castle. Now Lord Märchen has made you human, free to live your life. Will life be sweet or bitter?

Your mother was the most beautiful queen known to live, but remained childless for a very long time. She asked for a child that had hair as black as coal, skin as white as snow, and lips red as blood. When you were born, you were named after your features with her last breath. Your stepmother became very jealous of you, being a very vain and beautiful woman. You have been chased out of your kingdom and come to Märchen Castle, hoping for...

Within a year of your mother's death, your father the king had remarried to a queen of a neighboring country. Your father died before you reached puberty, so there was no one to protest as your stepmother joined the two kingdoms and declared you a bastard, unable to inherit the throne. Now you find yourself at Märchen Castle...

You were a sorcerer/sorceress with quite powerful skills. Some accused you of evil (fairly or unfairly) and a fairy placed a powerful block on your powers. Until you convince 50 people to write in a silver book, convinced you won't abuse your powers again, you are doomed to have none at all... [Please note that you may get no more than 10 signatures from a single player. And invisible servants and shop assistants don't count.]

Deciding you were not cut out for the life of a farmer or farmer's wife (and your parents were wise enough to let you leave), once you were old enough, you set out to find your fortune in the world. Your parents brought you up properly to be respectful of those older than you, so though you didn't have much, when you met an old lady in the woods, you shared your meal with her. She was a fairy in disguise and granted you either the ability to speak to animals or an invisbility cloak. Then she advised you to go to Märchen Castle...

When you were a small child you fell through a rabbit hole into a world of magic and beautiful maidens and handsome princes. You remember a king made of gold and a queen made of snow as well as perhaps another few things like talking animals or playing with pixies and gnomes. You eventually returned home because the golden king insisted, but you hadn't been gone for more than a few hours, so everyone thought you dreamed it or were lying. Now you're an adult and you went looking for that rabbit hole again and once again fell into the world you remembered from a child. Only now you know that the "snow queen" was just Lady Reine and the king wasn't made of gold but was an aloof fairy lord called Lord Märchen...

You were born to a prince and princess, but at the age of seven, they gave you to a giant, dwarf, or witch to raise because of a deal they made when they were young and couldn't find a way around in time to keep you at home. Your master or mistress was not brutal to you, but was not kind either and had you work to earn your way. Your master or mistress had children of their own (probably three), one of which was always kind to you and helped you complete your tasks. Whether because you fell in love with the kind one or they fell in love with you or you simply did not complete a task to your master or mistress's satisfaction, the kind one gave you a pack and told you to leave in the night before their parent killed you during it. You now find yourself in Märchenland...

Because of your kindness or cleverness, a fairy godmother, witch, or wise old man gave you a magic bearskin. When you wrap it around you, you turn into a bear that can't be killed by normal weapons (though you can be injured by them) and can talk and do other things just as well as a human. You can remove the bearskin at will, though if you're seen removing our putting the skin on, you won't be able to switch forms for several days. In your travels, you happened to find your way to Märchenland...

You weren't very old when you realized the fisherman who raised you wasn't your real father. He was a very kind man, but his sons who were older than you teased you mercilessly about not having real parents. Not having anyone else to play with, you fed the birds and the kindness prompted them to teach you their language. Once you were old enough to seek your fortune, the birds advised you to find the Bird of Truth, who could tell you who your real parents were. They suggested you look first in Märchenland, though they admitted they had no further information after that. If you ask Lord Märchen, all he will say is that if you manage to find the bird, the bird may ask you to perform certain tasks first...

Everything started out to be all right. You were young and able and had gone out to seek your fortune. You met a wise old man or a fairy godmother and were kind to them and they told you to go east and you would find your fortune. Instead, you found a witch with a love of birds and she bade you find the water of many colors and bring back a jug of it for her. Expecting a reward, you brought it to her but were instead turned into a bird of some type. Eventually a hero or heroine got enough advice to solve the little riddle of the witch's request properly and free you and everyone else who had been transformed by the water of many colors. The experience left you with some mark of its passing. Perhaps you still have feathers or can speak to birds or have an eagle's eyes. But the experience has left you not quite normal and with the feeling of things left undone. The hero or heroine suggested you visit Märchenland, since that is where they got help in their own quest...

It was a simple mistake. Just a moment of inattention to detail while on a Quest that landed you in the Glass Valley. Though you tried and tried, you could not climb it and eventually you were told by the people in the Valley that the only way out was to buy iron boots from the blacksmith. The boots cost dearly and no one was willing to give or loan you their own, though they felt badly for your plight and helped you with food and shelter. The blacksmith finally relented and said that if you trained with him for seven years, he would make you a set of iron boots for your assistance. You did and he did and you climbed out of the Glass Valley with the set of iron boots. They were heavy and they could make your feet bleed if you wore them too long, but you could climb anything with them. Anything at all. When you came out of the Glass Valley you found yourself in Märchenland...

[Spring-heeled Jack]

(more to come)

[Spring-heeled Jack]

Just to be sure of it in case someone posts and I run out of text space in any of the posts above.