Original app!

[fighting_alena]

CHARACTER INFO
NAME: Princess Alena
CANON: Dragon Quest 4
REFERENCE LINKS: http://dragonquest.wikia.com/wiki/Alena
(Note that there were two translations of Alena's canon, the original
NES translation and the Nintendo DS translation. The latter changed a
few names and gave Alena's Kingdom a 'Russian' theme, but it doesn't
add to the story or characterization and it's distracting so I'm using
the original NES translation for all the names.)

CHARACTER INFO: Once upon a time in an old medieval ages-like setting,
there was a Kingdom called Santeem. The King was fair and kind, and
his wife the Queen was the same, and one day they had a daughter. The
daughter, Princess Alena, was a bit of a complication because she did
not take to any of the traditional habits monarchs must learn to be
good rulers. She wasn't cruel or mean-spirited by any means, but she
was utterly rebellious in nature. She took no interest in her studies.
She had no modesty or temperance and refused to learn either. Finally,
she loved to run around and do physical things to work off her energy,
something that didn't translate well to the setting of a regal castle
with priceless decorations and red carpets in every hall. Constant
scolding by her father and her caretakers as she entered adolescence
began to take its toll. At first, Alena yearned for a more simple
life away from all of the stuffy nobility. Eventually, from talking to
the common people who lived in the castle, she realized that a simple
life would be just as boring and constraining as the life she already
led. She instead began to yearn for the life of an adventurer:
wandering into the untamed parts of the country, fighting monsters to
test her strength, and earning admiration based on her abilities and
talent rather than reverence for her title. Her father the King, who
was now a widow, refused to approve of her plans to travel the world
and ordered the guards never to allow her to leave the castle grounds.
Frustrated to the breaking point, she kicked down a part of the castle
wall with her brute strength and sneaked out on her own, refusing to
resign herself to a boring life. The King finally recognized he
couldn't contain her and sent a wizard (an old man named Brey who was
her personal tutor) and healer (a young priest named Cristo who
secretly had a crush on her and admired her from afar) to at least
accompany her and keep her safe. His two caveats: she must travel
incognito, and they must never enter a foreign land where the King
could not monitor her through his contacts. Together, the three set
out on their journey. They wandered through the countryside, and
visited many remote villages in the kingdom that had problems none of
the ordinary townspeople could solve. Alena would take it on herself
to intervene, gaining their gratitude from her selfless acts and
personal contentment that she was becoming stronger. One day, soldiers
summoned her back to Santeem castle; the King had been cursed. After
retrieving a magical item from a deadly tower filled with monsters,
she broke the curse that was placed on the King. He realized stopping
Alena from traveling had been a mistake, and gave her permission to
travel the world freely with no restrictions. Alena then journeyed to
a Kingdom far beyond the influence of Santeem. She entered a fighting
tournament being held there as herself, "Princess Alena of Santeem."
She won, proving her courage and ableness to everyone, including
herself. For the first time, she felt satisfied with what she had
done; that she wasn't a nuisance her caretakers had to deal with, but
an inspiring example of courage and a strong fighter. She returned to
her home country only to find the castle was completely empty. As if
everyone in it had been kidnapped or spirited away by evil forces.
After the initial shock and panic of the situation wore off, she
decided to go on a new quest. Her new journey to discover what had
happened to the people of Santeem began.
During the course of her new adventure, she met the Hero of the World.
The person prophesied to defeat the Ruler of Evil. Realizing they
shared a common goal and destiny, she joined his party. What started
as a reckless impulse to prove her strength turned into an adventure
to save the world. Though the going was hard, the Hero succeeded in
destroying the Ruler of Evil and the curse was ended: the people of
Santeem returned unharmed. Though Alena returned to the castle, she
resolved not to stay for long as new journeys awaited her and this was
only the ending of one.

CONSIDERATIONS: Alena as an amnesiac would still possess her strong
vigor and impulsive nature she has in her canon. She'll charge
headfirst into new unfamiliar situations and always do what she thinks
is right, regardless of external pressure or expectations. However she
would be a lot less confrontational and stubborn with other people
because she would not remember her experiences of being told to
"settle down," "act properly," and "behave like a princess," that
dominated her early life. As she recovered memories she would likely
be, at first, stunned by the revelation that she was actually royalty,
before realizing that it was awful and she resented it. It would spurn
her to accomplish more at Aather as a way of telling herself that her
natural behavior and personality does have merit, just as in canon. If
she finds herself stymied or that she's explored all of Aather and
it's become boring, she'll likely grow frustrated as her wanderlust
kicks in. She'll try to find some sort of adventure or goal to set on.
Though this impulse will lessen as she remembers even more of her
memories of traveling around and saving the world in her canon.

SKILLS: Alena is a natural fighter, has great stamina and is very
strong, even without specialized training. She may possess (though
this is vague in canon) some power of precognition that comes in the
form of dreams about the future (because her father had such an
ability). She also is innately lucky, circumstances usually tend to
favor her.

WRITING SAMPLE:
OPTION 1: Write a traditional third person point of view sample of
about 300 words where your character does something.

It was an ordinary day for Princess Alena, or so she wanted to think.
She had awoken by the dawning sun, worked herself out of her
drowsiness by taking in the fresh morning air, hiked with her
entourage toward a remote village hidden in the hills, with pauses
only to find food and fight any monsters brave enough to attack them.
It was approaching noon, and she could tell it was going to turn out
to be a beautiful hot sunny day. Perfect weather for traveling! She
was enjoying every bit of the experience. Well, almost everything.
Brey wouldn't stop his grumbling about various things like the old man
he was, and Cristo looked like he was going to die of fright whenever
a monster appeared. But that was fine, they were simply there as
backup. This was her adventure.

She took the lead as they walked on. She absentmindedly wrapped her
fingers around her other arm's biceps to try to gauge how much
stronger she had become. There was obviously a long way to go...

"...and your mother, the dearly departed Queen was an elegant, refined
lady," Brey was lecturing, despite that Alena had his back to him.
"How her daughter turned out to be such an uncontrollable tomboy is
beyond understanding." Nevertheless, it succeeded in getting her
attention.

"Brey, you're really annoying. You've said the same lecture in a
hundred different ways since we left the castle," Alena grumbled.
"Can't you give my ears a break?"

"Well, if Her Highness would consider ending this ridiculous journey--"

"No!" Alena shouted, turning back to face the old man. "I refuse to
stop now! I'm going to travel as far as I can!"

"...until when?"

"Until... until I've seen the entire world!" Brey gave a deep sigh.

"The Princess won't rest until she's seen every inch of this
incomprehensible world. How absolutely reckless."

"Who cares?" asked Alena, her tone suggesting it was a genuine
question. "And it's not 'Princess', or 'Her Highness', just 'Alena'!"

"Um, Princess," Cristo said, fear in his voice. He was speaking up for
the first time. "I believe we have another problem to worry about."

Alena turned her head. A monster of some sort had appeared. It looked
similar to a wolf, only its body glowed with an unnatural fire, ichor
dripping from its open maw. She could hear its low, guttural panting--
then realized there was a pack of four more similar creatures
following behind their leader. All rabid, and charging right for the
Princess' entourage.

Alena smiled, pulling her gloves tighter in anticipation.

"Princess, we must run! I don't think we're strong enough to defeat
them!" Cristo pleaded.

"Heh... that just makes me want to fight them even more." Alena's
heart was racing, her muscles tensing with excitement. "Let's see who
is stronger! Get ready Cristo! Brey! We're a long way from a walk
through the castle garden!"