Salvation: A Light in the Dark

Round 2: The Character Challenge

500 word character Bio plus greatest strengths, weaknesses, and fears...

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Name: Jemma Camden

Age: 17

Bio:

At 17 years of age, Jemma Camden is practically an adult, though she still lacks for a mate, making her the only unmated adult in her community. But that doesn't matter to independent Jemma. Who would want to procreate when there is nothing but an existence of suffering and desolation to offer a baby? Living the "World of Wreckage," as some now call Earth, Jemma has learned to grow up pretty quickly and she hardly wants to pass that horror onto another generation.

Only three-years-old when the Great Comet fell to earth, the memories Jemma retains of a time without ashen rains, death, and mutated wild things lurking in the dark, grow more faded by the day. There is never enough to eat even safe shelter is a commodity that is hard won for her community. But Jemma has learned to be as brutal as the world around her. Every day she and her father join the others foragers of their group in the task of shoring up their temporary shelter, hunting for food, and scouting new potential locations they might travel if the "dark things" manage to track them down.

Human packs in the "World of Wreckage" are relatively isolated and encounters with others are generally avoided. As a result, Jemma is highly distrustful of strangers, including the twenty people who joined their enclave more recently. Though they have been with the group for nearly two years now, the newcomers still tend to stay to themselves, a sign that seems to Jemma to be highly suspicious. She believes in her father's saying: "Those who don't integrate with the group? Don't belong as part of it." Jemma however, is proud of her service aiding with community tasks, taking care of whatever chores might need doing in their egalitarian society.

Jemma knows her family was mildly religious before the Great Comet. Her father lost his faith when the world lost everything but her mother still maintains that there is a god above who has not yet forsaken them. Mama isn't the only one who tries to hang on to some portion of their former religious beliefs.

Though the organized religions of the past have been slowly less important, many now hold to a new generalized belief that salvation will come. Creating an amalgamation of prayers drawn from the remains of their former religions, these members of the community send forth their supplication to the sunless sky daily, much to the scorn of those who consider this practice mere superstition.

Jemma herself doesn't know what to believe, torn between the harsh reality she knows, and the desire to hope for something better. It's easiest to just have faith in the group's integrity to keep them safe. Things become more complicated when "The Woman" arrives claiming to be the messiah the religious have prayed for. When the community is torn apart by insider fighting over the validity of this spiritual figure, everything Jemma has held true about the group itself falls quickly to disarray.

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Greatest Fear:

With the health of the community at the center of her life, Jemma's greatest fear is that she might become the weakest link that leads to their destruction. She has worked hard to be strong, and the fear that all of her efforts might not be enough haunt her. Protecting her friends and family is paramount and all of this becomes more complicated when her world is made less black and white. It's hard to know what "protecting the community" really means when the threat might be coming from within. Jemma is terrified of making a wrong choice that might cost them everything. If the community falls Jemma would lose the glue that sticks her world together. The idea it could be her fault? Its a horror beyond imagine ...

Greatest Strength:

Jemma is one smart cookie. She has had to fight for survival and the ability to think on her feet has served her well. Physically and mentally strong, Jemma is a true asset to any she chooses to grant her loyalty. Her ability to separate emotions from rational thought only allows her to hone her skills without too much excess baggage.

Greatest Weakness:

So set in her beliefs, Jemma has a tendency to be exceedingly rigid in her world view. Hesitation can get one killed and it's easier to make things simple. But when the world becomes more complicated than she hoped, it's also harder to adjust. Her world might be solid for now, but it won't take much to shatter the bubble of beliefs she has built for herself. If the community falls, Jemma's sense of self might just fall with it and those staunch world views might just turn out to be hollow. Rigidity might look strong on the outside, but the cracks in that wall can splinter pretty quickly.