Broken Bird

Basic Information

She's tough, she's competent, she's cyincal. And very guarded about her past. She'd rather you didn't know that she's a Broken Bird; that she was once more upbeat and optomistic; that maybe she was even an Ingenue; until Something Bad Happened. Maybe a tragedy; maybe a betrayal. Whatever it was, it hurt her deeply.

In some cases she has become angry and embittered. In others, mistrustful and careful. Sometimes she assumes a mentor role to less experienced companions so that they can take the inevitable Something Bad when it happens to them.

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes: Broken Bird

Game and Story Use

• A PC with a sufficiently-angstful backstory might be a Broken Bird
  • Since Broken Birds tend to be loners, make sure that she has reason to interact with the other PCs
• So might an NPC contact or mentor figure.
• The Broken Bird might be a good background for the Capulet Counterpart; the Something Bad was what drove her (or forced her) onto the Bad Guy's side.
• There should probably be a spear counterpart for this … it's a common backstory for various blood knights, anti-heros and the like.
  • As per the Charles Causely poem Lord Lovelace.