Miranda

"The Emperor must have realized at some point that his 'clothes' didn't exist," her mother used to say.  "The Emperor realized at one point that he really was naked and parading himself around about town.  The clothes that only the wise could see never existed — but no matter how embarrassed and ashamed, surely the Emperor clung to his dignity with both hands and acted as if nothing was the matter at all."

Miranda Fousend
30 • Griswald, CO

Role in Story
Main Character.  Miranda is a reclusive inventor with many patents with degrees in electric and mechanical engineering.  She is also a best-selling author who uses fiction to convey facts to such an extent that her books are often used as supplemental reading in college courses.  

She becomes the First Contact for the Ayo’Yssamaea after she’s injured during their landing. That’s when she meets Enyk, an awkward, gullible, starstruck young man, much purer than any human she’s met in a very long time.

Goal
To live as far away from selfish, self-important, despicable people as possible.

She sees the necessity of the Ayo’Yssamaean efforts after learning everything from Enyk, and adopts a new goal of helping them tame humans, who she believes are often little better than animals.

Physical Description
Extremely long, warm-brown hair, with a few short, loose waves framing her face. Always wears a flat expression. Grey-green eyes. Pale skin. Thin and willowy, spare curves, average height (5’4”?). Beauty mark under her left eye. (?) Usually wears her hair up in a historical-style turban, likes late medieval to early Renaissance clothing. Likes dark jewel tones and soft, cool earth tones. Prefers gold to silver.

Personality
A graceful, hardworking person. A sweet spirit once you get to know her, few of whom do; she’s naturally kind and generous, though she smothers it. Polite. Dignified. Deeply intelligent. A little off-beat, because curiosity is her only true outlet and research her one great passion.

Guard up to the heavens, she trusts essentially no-one; a genuine misanthrope. Deeply suspicious and cynical. Expects no good, and is even blinded to good things by her misanthropy. Withholds her kindness because she sees it as a waste of effort at best, and weakness at worst. Struggles with a lot of self-hatred for her lack of interpersonal skills, even calling herself stupid when she knows she’s a genius.

Her hobbies are fencing, needlework, sewing, gardening, and writing.

Occupation
Inventor
Best-Selling Author

Habits/Mannerisms
Arranges with a local monastery to have trainee nuns come give her castle a thorough cleaning once a year, and otherwise maintains cleanliness between herself and several robots for small, regular tasks like vacuuming and mopping. She chooses this method because she thinks nuns are the least likely to cause harm while being willing to clean.

Background
Miranda was born after a difficult pregnancy to an cop and a coroner who devoted everything to loving her that they could. They created a solid foundation for her to stand on, and her mother’s mix of traditional feminine values and stolid, practical rules. Most importantly, her mother impressed on her that aggression would never get her what she needed, but imperious dignity would usually win the day in the oddest ways. Miranda took this teaching very seriously, and clung to dignity like a security blanket.

Miranda has absolutely terrible luck with people. Her deep-rooted misanthropy was established by a long history of shitty humans doing shitty things. She was nearly kidnapped once as a young child, and her “high school debut” after a summer break hit her so hard the entire school took notice in the worst ways. Her councilor tried to take advantage of her, but she told her father and the man was fired and arrested — an incident which completely derailed her life when, in revenge, the man broke into her home after getting out on bail and stabbed both her parents to death. Her father managed to shoot the perpetrator before dying from a pierced lung. In college, she was stalked by other students, harassed by her teachers, and was beaten by a teacher after she reported him to the dean for attempted sexual assault.

By the time she graduated, Miranda patented one revolutionary creation after another, and used the money to build a small castle in the middle of the Colorado mountains, and filled it with enough technology that she would never need to see or interact with human beings again if she did not so desire. She hired a digital assistant and a groundskeeper as her only two employees, and neither had permission to enter the house, though the groundskeeper had an apartment above the barn.

The story begins shortly after she fires her then-present groundskeeper, whom she might ought have updated her background check on.

Internal Conflicts
Very wary of weapons in any hands aside from her own.  She can’t even be around when someone else is cooking because it feels like everything they’re picking up is a weapon and strikes her as a threat.

Initially takes refuge in the notion that Enyk is “safe” because he isn’t “human.” So long as he isn’t human, she doesn’t need to concern herself. However, as his mastery of the language grows, she struggles with the skin-crawling disgust she has for the rest of humanity in deep contrast to the sweet spirit she knows he has.

Miranda must eventually make the decision to become the mediator for the Ayo’Yssamaean’s 82nd Battalion, but Miranda knows she doesn’t have the love, trust, or motivation to become the ambassador they need so desperately.

External Conflicts


Notes