So, I got the idea that it would be wise to ask about this, too, after my hypothermia question. The same character that is under consideration over there has suffered an incredible amount throughout her life and throughout the progression of the story, and I am pretty certain that by now, she's probably going to be developing post-traumatic stress disorder and possibly split personalities and/or other issues. Let me know what you think... here's a list of what she's been through.
-Born a peasant under an extremely oppressive government, she was forced to work hard from a very young age to help keep the family alive.
-Forced into an arranged marriage at the age of twelve. Her husband was conscripted shortly afterwards and died in battle a year later. No longer a virgin but without any children, she was already destined to live the rest of her life a widow.
-A terrible disease (not quite a plague) sweeps across the country while it is still engaged in war. Family members die, and her best friend catches the disease but survives. She is lucky enough not to catch it. Simultaneously, slavers begin launching raids into the now poorly-defended border (the main war is on the other side of the country) and the king refuses to send aid, leaving her and those around her to live in fear.
-A few years later, the kingdom is at peace when she finds a noble half-dead on the riverbank. She cares for him, and when he comes to he warns her and her village that a rebellion is starting. Said rebellion doesn't appreciate being leaked to the public, and her entire village, including everyone she has ever known, ends up being slaughtered. Only she and the noble escape - at the cost of not warning anyone else.
-Beasts of war are sent to hunt them down. One tears up her legs and shoulders and bites off an ear before they manage to kill it.
-When she wakes up screaming from a nightmare, the noble explodes at her for holding them back and tries to drag her along, still horribly injured, through the woods in the middle of the night.
-When they finally move again and come across a town where they think they can get word of the rebellion to the king, they discover that they are wanted and are forced to fight for their lives. They are nearly killed, only to be saved by a soldier who has become disillusioned with the rebellion.
-The noble starts falling in love with her. It is a messed-up relationship.
-She's forced to fight for her life two more times. She's rather traumatized about killing people and about being in such constant fear for her life.
-She discovers that the soldier who saved them was in the unit that wiped out her village and was the one who killed her best friend. She flips out, kills him (he's wounded at the time, broken right arm), then learns that the rebellion she's been fighting to stop was designed to free and grant equality to the peasants, flips out more and tries to kill the noble. She believes she succeeds, and his last words to her make her regret it. A lot.
Next she gets dragged off to a POW camp, where a bizarre plague sweeps through with its own psychological effects. The next part I've yet to figure out, but the guards will probably abandon it out of fear and she may be forced to resort to cannibalism or other desperate measures until she can escape.
Wow, that was long. I wish they let you write that much for a query letter.
So what do you think the result of all this would be? I'll be off doing some research on the subject myself in the meantime...
-Born a peasant under an extremely oppressive government, she was forced to work hard from a very young age to help keep the family alive.
-Forced into an arranged marriage at the age of twelve. Her husband was conscripted shortly afterwards and died in battle a year later. No longer a virgin but without any children, she was already destined to live the rest of her life a widow.
-A terrible disease (not quite a plague) sweeps across the country while it is still engaged in war. Family members die, and her best friend catches the disease but survives. She is lucky enough not to catch it. Simultaneously, slavers begin launching raids into the now poorly-defended border (the main war is on the other side of the country) and the king refuses to send aid, leaving her and those around her to live in fear.
-A few years later, the kingdom is at peace when she finds a noble half-dead on the riverbank. She cares for him, and when he comes to he warns her and her village that a rebellion is starting. Said rebellion doesn't appreciate being leaked to the public, and her entire village, including everyone she has ever known, ends up being slaughtered. Only she and the noble escape - at the cost of not warning anyone else.
-Beasts of war are sent to hunt them down. One tears up her legs and shoulders and bites off an ear before they manage to kill it.
-When she wakes up screaming from a nightmare, the noble explodes at her for holding them back and tries to drag her along, still horribly injured, through the woods in the middle of the night.
-When they finally move again and come across a town where they think they can get word of the rebellion to the king, they discover that they are wanted and are forced to fight for their lives. They are nearly killed, only to be saved by a soldier who has become disillusioned with the rebellion.
-The noble starts falling in love with her. It is a messed-up relationship.
-She's forced to fight for her life two more times. She's rather traumatized about killing people and about being in such constant fear for her life.
-She discovers that the soldier who saved them was in the unit that wiped out her village and was the one who killed her best friend. She flips out, kills him (he's wounded at the time, broken right arm), then learns that the rebellion she's been fighting to stop was designed to free and grant equality to the peasants, flips out more and tries to kill the noble. She believes she succeeds, and his last words to her make her regret it. A lot.
Next she gets dragged off to a POW camp, where a bizarre plague sweeps through with its own psychological effects. The next part I've yet to figure out, but the guards will probably abandon it out of fear and she may be forced to resort to cannibalism or other desperate measures until she can escape.
Wow, that was long. I wish they let you write that much for a query letter.
So what do you think the result of all this would be? I'll be off doing some research on the subject myself in the meantime...