Syen

Former pilot of the spacefaring locomotive the Orphean, under Whitlock's employ. Following the captain's death, Syen resigned to live a quieter life with her wife, Siobhan.

A quieter life, for Syen, means raising hawk sized butterflies and discreetly passing along coded messages for the revolution. Sibbs is very on board, Syen knows her wife is cool.

Honestly, before they decided on that, Syen was finding it hard to adjust to the idyllic countryside life, as much as she wanted to. She originally planned to keep chorister bees, but Siobhan quite reasonably vetoed keeping sheep-sized eldritch insects capable of destroying trains. So, butterfly falconry was the next best thing.

Piloting the Orphean was a facet of Syen's personality, honestly. She made it hers. She had an almost uncanny understanding of that locomotive, of what it's limits were and how much further she could push it. Her style could be considered a little reckless, but that recklessness was born of justified confidence and skill. Syen could finesse the train through dense regions barely wider than it without so much as a scrape, and could continously run it at high and efficient speeds.

But, more than she loved that job, and that train, Syen loves her wife. And she respects herself, too. It was the right decision.

Being grounded and more stationary is weird, but she thinks she's settling into it now. One of her biggest concerns was that she could no longer do her part for the revolution, but Sibbs worked out some beautiful plans for covertly spreading information, and harbouring those in need of a place to lie low in their large property.

Syen started out like clay men typically do, besides the faults that mark her as an ‘unfinished man’, but she could hide that. She spent her early years just doing what was expected, too new to the world to have many aspirations besides beyond getting along with folks and the satisfaction of a job well done.

After Fallen London, her work in Albion was very similar, besides the fact that it happened in a workworld, where decades could pass for workers in the span of only a few outside years. Syen was in there for 25 years, and really began to develop into her own person. Not much happened to her in this time, as she didn’t stir trouble and endured the work, but the things she’s seen happen to other people make her furious. She developed quite the list of people she’d like to deck for the disrespect and abuse she’s witnessed, but she knew that getting herself killed doing something rash and stupid would change nothing and help no one.

She kept her head down and continued the act of obedience and complacency to give her more wiggle room to work with, all the while learning and planning and waiting for opportunities to slip something by those in charge. By the end of her time there, she was part of a process to smuggle people out of the workworld. She intended to stay behind and continue organizing these efforts from the inside, but on one occasion they were noticed and had to make a hasty escape. The other workers convinced her to join them, as she would otherwise be caught and punished severely. Everyone on that flight managed to survive and reach a safe port, thankfully.

Syen was a bit aimless afterwards, as all her plans had hinged upon remaining in the workworld. Coincidentally, Captain Whitlock’s crew had docked in the same port and were looking for new hires, so she signed on. She got a good vibe from them, and got the feeling they were maybe involved in the revolution.

They were not involved in the revolution. Not directly, rather, though Syen guessed right that they leaned that way, they still had ties to London they couldn’t sever without dire consequences.

Syen miiiight have possibly taken on a little work behind Whitlock’s back, wanting to contribute to the cause more directly. She arranged to convey messages discretely, and on one occasion tried to smuggle a little contraband among the crew’s other cargo. Whitlock absolutely noticed the discrepancy, but she turned a blind eye and feigned ignorance until the cargo was delivered. She then had a talk with Syen about putting the crew at risk without their knowledge.

Whitlock expressed that she admired Syen’s efforts and wanted to support her, but that dishonesty and secrecy were not how the team operated. She insisted the crew should be present for discussion about these matters, and the end result was that they would take on more small and passive work for rebels but they were not equipped to risk a more active role.

Syen will think about this interaction later, when all is said and done... She's a little bitter about it, sure. The hypocrisy stings, in hindsight.

Syen still feels that the Orphean crew on her family, and the time she spent with them was the first time she could meet every part of her self (and her love, as well), but every chapter comes to an end some time or another. Sibbs made the call first. Whitlock was taking serious risks and she didn't have the decency to tell her crew why. Sibbs wouldn't put up with it, and Syen felt the same, but she couldn't bring herself to leave when her family might need her most. So, one last mission, before she and Sibbs would reconvene and settle down as married women.

The mission was a disaster. Whitlock on her deathbed, the Orphean was barely holding together, and Syen's piloting prowess is perhaps the only reason there were not more casualties. And then it was over, and she had to keep her promise to walk away. If she stayed any longer than Whitlock's wake, she knew she wouldn't have the strength to go through with it.

• Syen is very verbally affectionate and she will gleefully and frequently tell her loved ones just how much she loves them. Extremely sappy.
• She's an appreciator of ironic humour.
• Syen really really loves bugs. All kinds of bugs! They're all just funky little (or large) fellows doing their own thing. She's very empathetic towards them.
• Honestly Syen vibes with the aesthetic of clocks, but any she owns will NOT be running on Albion Standard Time. She refuses to play along.
• She loves music. Specifically the music her wife plays on violin and lute.
• Getting a wedding ring that would fit comfortably on her large, rough hands was never really gonna work out. Fortunately, there are other ways to wear a ring.
• Her pronouns are she/her but she doesn’t consider herself strictly as a woman, she likes to play with gender a bit and mix nouns/titles. There’s definitely a certain amount of masc energy in the way she likes to present herself and wants to be seen. She’s not sure whether that’s in a ‘butch woman’ way or a bigender/genderfluid way. Ultimately she doesn't feel the distinction matters all that much.