Koudelka Gwynne

From Condemnations

you've left me with nothing
but I've worked with less

Contents 1 ✗ Statistics 2 ✗ Character Information 2.1 back-story 2.2 in-game events 2.3 personality 3 ✗ Reality Manipulation 4 ✗ Relationships 4.1 the family 4.2 the husband 4.3 friends 4.4 the others 5 ✗ Random Notes

✗ Statistics

• name — Koudelka Niav Gwynne
• age — 28
• birth date — March 11, 1982
• height — 5'6"
• weight — 122lbs
• natural hair — Blonde
• current hair — Brunette
• eyes — Blue
• gender — Female
• sexuality — Heterosexual
• languages — Romanian [Native], English [Native], Irish [Fluent], Italian [Fluent]
• theme songs — Dilate Ani DiFranco & Twice As Bad As Love Ryan Adams & Just Hold Me Maria Mena & Après Moi Regina Spektor

✗ Character Information

back-story

A daughter of a member of the Irish National Liberation Army, Koudelka had no chance of growing up in an easy environment. Her and her twin brother, Kai, were born in a hectic time for both of their parents. Just nine months into their young lives their parents were involved in the Ballykelly bombing that killed seventeen people. There wasn't time where they were afforded a stable home, and the closest thing Koudelka ever had to look up to was her older sister. While her parents were off gallivanting with their pride and issues, it was Brigid who shouldered the responsibility of instincts for her younger twin siblings.

Koudelka was always the quieter of the twins, and for most people who stumbled across her seemed rather normal despite circumstances. It was a youth filled with it's own silver linings, and even without proper educations the three Gwynne children were given their own manner of it all. With family friends, and people that the children stayed with while they parents were out being activists, the story was always the same. Someone with strong opinions, strong believes, and an incredible sense of culture in their own way. Not one of the people was afraid to introduce the children to something new each time, and Koudelka was certainly not one to complain about it.

She welcomed the culture and the arts, and even as a youth she was greatly enamored with the arts and history. Music, paintings, novels and record books. All of them were a constant at her side, and her siblings always defended her right to it all. She was the silent sister, the one that kept a respectful tone and distance at all times, and somehow made sure to keep her presence very well known. It wasn't a picture perfect life, Koudelka will never lie about that, but up until the end of her childhood it was a time she enjoyed and thrived in. And it certainly wasn't anything that had prepared her for the things that were going to come.

At the age of eleven the Gwynne family was hit with dire consequences for their choices in living. Koudelka lost her mother in a demonstration gone wrong and, if that was not enough, her father was promptly arrested that evening for the same demonstration. In a instant her life was changed, but Koudelka clung tightly to her siblings to try and manage through it. It wasn't long after the news, however, when the siblings were traveling in hiding that they were captured and separated to orphanages. Brigid was taken away from Kai and Koudelka, which seemed to fit Kai just fine as he quickly took charge of being the care-giver for Koudelka in her youth. They spent hardly a year in the orphanage together before Kai decided it was time to run away - just as Koudelka was being looked at for adoption.

They snuck out of the orphanage in the middle of the night, completely unaware of where to go and what to do. But Koudelka had confidence, because Kai was with her and he would find a way. She put all of her faith and strength into him, and did all that he told her to without a question or hesitation. They made their way to London, England, where they started to be able to develop their own set of skills to survive. Kai taught Koudelka how to defend herself, however basic it was, and they found themselves being capable of living. It was in abandoned homes and all but on the street for the most part, but it was living.

Surviving as buskers for a long while in her teen years, Koudelka concentrated on her talents in dance to make money while assisting Kai in various other talents to get by. At the age of sixteen she began working a regular job as a waitress in a cafe, and Kai worked various odd jobs to help get by. Together they make their way through until they were eighteen years of age, at which point Koudelka had matured enough to decide that she wanted to get herself a better life. To this day she is left unaware of all Kai did to help her accomplish her goals, but she made it into a university and was able to work her way through the bills for it to get a proper education for the first time in her life.

In her second year of university Koudelka was told about being able to transfer, and despite the idea of money she began to fall in love with the notion. To see more, to expand. She didn't tell Kai about any of her plans, and silently applied while working enough extra shifts to afford all the fees on her own. He had always done enough for her up until then, and it wouldn't have been right to ask him for any of the money necessary for this all. It was her decision, after all, and her selfish wants - so she could do it all on her own. She got into university in America, with most of her fees and tuition paid for, and couldn't have been happier.

When she went to inform Kai about her plans things fell apart, and they had the biggest fall out of their lives. Koudelka ran off to America in anger, and for a good half a year she did not even dare to think about Kai. She made friends, concentrated on her studies, and worked hard to keep things in line. She met a boy in her time studying in America, someone that she could laugh with and relax with. A guy who was capable of giving her guidance without stifling her own opinions or wishes, and it gave her feelings she'd never before anticipated or experienced with someone. Clinton was just what she needed to help heal over her past, to forget and forgive everything that had come from her family and her life.

Kai wasn't someone who stayed away for long, however, as he eventually found his way to America. She was hesitant to talk to him again at first, but he proposed himself as truly apologetic and supportive, and since he was all that she had left in those moments she welcomed him back in. Kai and Clinton never got along very well, but both men were tolerable of each other which was more than Koudelka could ever bring herself ask of them. Upon her graduation from Yale Koudelka was met with a slew of strong blows for the second time in her life — but this time she counted all of them as good. Kai had been in touch with their eldest sister Brigid and, on the day of Koudelka's graduation, they were reunited face to face. Not moments after she stopped crying over being reunited with her sister did Koudelka turn around to see Clinton on his knee, asking for her hand in marriage.

She quickly accepted, and within a year they were married and living together back in Europe. Koudelka had a family now, a husband and her siblings, her siblings each with their respective spouses. She was happier than ever working as a professor at the University College London, and within a few years she was offered a permanent stay there doubled with other news. Her pregnancy was not really shocking to either Clinton or Koudelka, but it certainly was to most people who knew her. She hadn't planned on it, of course, but it didn't mean she didn't welcome it with all of her heart. Clinton was a husband that provided more than she could ask for, and had her living a life wealthy in all things, so having a family with him was an amazing prospect.

The Outbreak hit in the eighth month of her pregnancy. She was almost instantly thrown into labor from the fear and stress alone, and from it came nothing but bad. After it was stillbirth, to twins, Koudelka couldn't function. She was everything but the living dead outside, sitting alone in her room with Clinton and completely detached from the world. Her fear wouldn't quit, and everything around her seemed so surreal and constantly changing - little did she know it was her doing those changes to her surroundings. Eventually Clinton got through to her, and together with Kai was able to awaken her from her sorrow. It wasn't much, but they got her functioning within the comfort of her own home. It was Kai who, eventually, took note of her abilities and offered up the only option he could think of.

Koudelka was all but given up to the Revival Project, though under the pretense of assisting her in training and honing her abilities. She was trained, however, for much more once she was put into the building. She was tired of her dependence, however necessary others might have seen it as, and continuously asked for more training to further her independence. She mastered her abilities to a fine point, total control over her every desire and capability, and even fixed herself a position within the force groups after proving her physical capability. Between her athletic background and actual knowledge of basic fighting it didn't take long for her to pick up on her fair share of techniques, something she furthered with the help of her husband Clinton.

Toward the end of 2009 Koudelka made a quick paced decision. She was tired of having to see the sorrow in Clinton, though she knew she brought him happiness. Deciding that, perhaps, time apart was for the best she moved away. With only a note signed with a kiss left for him she made her way to Rome informing only her siblings of her location. Begging them to keep it a secret from Clinton, until he himself could manage to live without seeing sadness in her, she's made herself a bit of a life in the city while continuing her temporary work as a member of the force groups.

in-game events

—— 2010

june 13 — Started posting on the community.

july 20 — Helped in defending the city in a big attack from the infected alongside Valeria Antonelli.

august 10 — Helped where possible during the Second WWD.

september 05 — Thanks to cupid she fell in love with a Revival Project force group worker for approximately 24 hours.

october 24 — Worked the security details at the Beautiful World Concert.

october 31 — The world went to Hell and back.

personality

Koudelka has always been a capable human being. Whether she sees it in herself or not, she's more fit to lead a fulfilling and successful life all her own than most people around her. She has a steady head on her shoulders, valid opinions without letting them become overwhelming, and she is a person that always takes all things around her into account at all times. The trouble with her has, and forever will always be, the fact that she sometimes takes others into account too much. She can become easily controlled, in a manner of speaking, and sometimes silences her own thoughts and plans too much to be healthy.

There is a kind of sad wisdom in her life, something that she herself keeps mostly unaware of. Koudelka speaks freely when she does speak, and most times doesn't care to try and avoid the lines of judgment others might draw on her. She can pretty up her life as much as she wants, but she does not regret anything she herself has done or anything that has been done unto her. At least, she desperately tries not to regret any of it. Much in the same manner that Koudelka can be effected negatively by those around her, she is quick to cling onto hope because of those pillars of strength.

She's learned to allow herself to see the good in things, and people. She's learned over time to try and keep up with the times and adjust, to simply let things go and be able to exist. With all the sadness that can fill her eyes she carries a bright shine in them to match, a heart big enough to carry all the happiness it can manage in her fragile looking frame. Koudelka has never, ever, needed much to survive. She grew up with so little, so few things that people could mark as good or right, that in her now adult life she can manage to make seemingly endless supplies of hope out of nothing. Even one smile from a stranger in a week could get her through with happiness, because she is well aware of the rarity of a genuine moment of happiness in life.

Making the most out of everything is something she's learned to do well, and she does it without any conscious effort. Quietly she can make her own little moments, even when she's being completely detached and unnoticed to those around her. She holds her own careful set of values, a unique set of morals and viewpoints that she can swap around and utilize to her advantage at any given time. Just because she is a gentle and soft girl doesn't mean she can't carry the harshness her siblings do. After all, they all share the same blood.

When her sense of justice overwhelms her she can easily slip into the role of a leader more than a follower. When she really has to fight she holds back no punches, and she's more than capable of doing whatever is necessary for not only herself but everyone around her. She would easily throw herself aside to death if it meant protecting or saving something she loved, and it isn't a quality that is hidden in her. Even with her gentle smiles she carries a strong will behind her, and it is a part of her she does not like to let waver.

✗ Reality Manipulation

cobalt touch — The ability to manipulate reality to her every whim, Koudelka maintains such pinpoint control over reality that she can completely change everything she wants. Be it morphing a table into a dog, or making a key to a lock out of thin air, all of it is as easy to her as breathing. Doing things on a larger scale, however, tend to become a little more overwhelming — but not by much. The ability makes her train her mind more than the ability itself, because with every alteration she does to reality it eats away a little bit more at her sanity.

When Koudelka actually changes something around her — be it ridding an area of infected, bringing someone back from the dead, or even repairing massive damages from battle — she has to remember what the area once was. She has to remember as many details as she can, memorize everything that was real in order for her to actually change it the way she wants. She can easily free-fall her abilities, changing things only as they wished and salvaging her sanity completely, but it would bring about more chaos than it did anything else.

There is nothing that Koudelka can't change, only things that she herself would not. She imposes limitations on her abilities herself, and thus far has concentrated her ability on reacting with nature as a type of sorcery to simplify things for herself. Her ability, when released in a projected fashion, is recognizable for it's cobalt color signature — for which reason she's begun to call it her cobalt touch. She can channel energies, defy gravity, deny death and time, warp buildings and structures, and even make it so people or entire events never existed or occurred. It's something that, even with her control, still brings about a sense of fear in her for it getting out of control.

note ; Koudelka cannot effect the entire world at once in the game by no limitation of her own ability, but more-so by limitations imposed by other forces in the game.

✗ Relationships

the family

Mother — A woman of Romanian decent, and a former activist in Ireland. She died in Koudelka's youth, but over time Koudelka has grown to live with it.
Father — He is the real activist in the family, and a bit of a psychopath in the eyes of most people. He's been in prison for most of Koudelka's life and she's never tried to be in touch.
Etain — Her oldest sister and, with all due respect to her parents, the reason Koudelka exists. If Brigid hadn't been what she was in their youth Koudelka is certain she would have wound up dead on the streets as an infant. Koudelka tends to worry over her as if she was the older one, but she tries not to let it show too much.
Kai — Her twin brother and the closest person to her, even above Brigid. He has the greatest influence in Koudelka's life and she feels that after Brigid left he was her only savior. For most of her teenage years he was her everything, and the only person she would listen to at all times. Even now his words hold more sway over her than anyone else.

the husband

Clinton — Met him at Yale, and he is definitely the love of her life. He introduced her to more things than she can even recall, and in a way he is the complete opposite of everything she's ever known in her life. He lives without worries or regrets, and tried hard to teach her how to do the same. She still, still loves him more than she will anyone else. But she feels that right now he needs time without her. She blames herself for any sadness he feels, because she wasn't strong enough to have his children, and so until she can deal with that completely she wants to stay away from him.

friends

Kazuya Saito — A man she met while teaching at University in London, a language expert. Koudelka has always had a bit of an interest in language, knowing a handful herself, and was happily surprised by how friendly the man was upon their encounter. His sunshine smiles are pretty awesome for any day and she's always liked him better for it.
Natalie Fuentes — A friend Koudelka made when they were both teens and traveling. They struck up a friendship through their similar ways of needing to be on the go, and through the years they've stayed in touch despite where they've traveled and how far. One of the few steady friends Koudelka has had over the years for as long as she has.
Tayla Gentry — A woman she met through her husband, Clinton. She was striking upon first meeting, and despite her status in the legal field she was still personable and kind. Koudelka appreciated their meeting and friendship that came from it even if she's since dwindled it a bit after leaving Clinton, though she knows she can trust her to keep her location a secret from Clinton.

the others

Alexandra Hammond — Knew about her guild from her youth back in Ireland, and so when she wanted to keep tabs over her husband she reached out to them. Alexandra handled it and apparently there was some issues where something in London blew up thanks to it. She seemed to be a nice girl, weird news of the explosion aside.
Heathcliff Barton — She used to recognize his face occasionally in the crowds she would perform for, and she remembers he always gave a tip when he watched. It'd take a jogging of her memory to recognize him, but she could if she tried.

✗ Random Notes

— While she worked as a street performer she honed her talents in dance, acrobatics, fortune-telling and snake charming.
— As far as her dance abilities go, she stayed more folk-based things and excelled at belly dancing.
— Kai raised her to be an incredibly capable practitioner of street fighting which she reverts to even today.
— It was Clinton that taught her Silambam, Savate and Fencing techniques.
— Knows how to use various forms of firearms with incredible accuracy, but she prefers not to use them at all.
— She carries no distinguishable accent when she talks in any language, only traces. Most people guess Eastern European when they hear it.
— Still practices both belly dancing and acrobatics to keep her body in the form she likes most.
— Also a strong practitioner of both Tantric and Ashtanga Vinyasa forms of yoga.
— She has a taste for spicier foods, but she doesn't really have a favorite dish or even cuisine type.
— Has a Humanities Degree from Yale that concentrates on history — which is what she taught at University College London.
— Named Koudelka for the natural color of her hair when she was born. She's been dying it darker ever since she was 15 though.
— Her middle name of Niav means something like radiance and is also the name of the daughter of the Sea God Manannan.
— She is of both Welsh and Romanian bloodlines, but being born and raised in Ireland really only identifies as such.
— Speaks her mothers native tongue of Romanian with her siblings and no one else. Don't try to get her to, she just won't.
— Koudelka never took her husbands surname in marriage because she didn't like the idea of losing touch with her own past.