Embedded Files
Preferred fandoms: Turn: Washington Spies, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Downton Abbey, Bridgerton and similar shows that aren't overly concerned with accuracy and where she can still be a princess. Outside from Downton and Maisel, I'd like to avoid the 1900s, too close to reality and require having to adapt Emma to what was expected from women then and so on.
I have very little knowledge of the real American history and I'd rather follow a show's established theme and rules, with anachronistic modern values.
Disclaimer: You don't need to know the canon show or her fantasy verse to interact with this Emma. She'll always be a foreigner, to explain the different culture and behavior, and the daughter of Queen Mary Margaret and King David, nicknamed Charming (adopted by a rich/royal man).
To avoid destroying history by erasing a real kingdom to make space for hers, I made this map here! If she's a princess she has no last name, she's just Your Royal Highness Princess Emma of the White Kingdom (the country is Mysthaven) - she can use the Swan alias if needed. She goes by Emma anyway.
Being loved and extreme privilege explain 90% of her personality and my go-to is being a princess, but if I ever get to write in Mrs. Maisel, she's absolutely a singer and someone who is getting in a lot of trouble all the time there too.
meant for:
-Bridgerton, Turn: Washington Spies, Jane Austen-y type of characters, rarer plotted crossovers with rp partners who will plot them with me.
-Muses from fandom set before the 1900s (and the least historically realistic, the better).
-In the 1900s only for the Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Downton Abbey.
Personality (outside of her trauma, which is below)
Emma will be a very cheerful (spinster-aged) and very confident traveler, who is enjoying her life and having random adventures before her time runs out. She's all too happy, outspoken, ready to be stupid, affectionate (or petty, and aggressive, depending on the context), the way only people who can afford being anything they want can dare to be, however she's also seen enough to try to use her privilege to help others (and is hardly scandalized by most things, considering she'll hang out with anyone who is fun). While reckless with her health she's overprotective and sometimes decides what people or shouldn't know - she does get hurt often. Brave, violent, proud of her strength, stubborn, respects consent in general (that includes not prying into people's private things if they say they don't want to talk about them), very flirty, very ready to bed men and leave, always friendly until pushed to be otherwise, doesn't tolerate injustice.
If she's a princess she'll also expect some royal favoritism (to avoid a diplomatic incident a duke cannot attack her without risking a war), whether she'll get it or not is up to the plot we have, but being the future queen of a rich kingdom has definitely shaped her self-confidence when it comes to just being herself, outside of the romantic area.
She's an expert at swordfighting (in fandoms where it applies) and bare-handed/close quarters/no acrobatics but she'll beat you to a pulp fighting (in all fandoms). Her country allows women to fight. She has been knighted and keep the order, though it's trauma that pushed Mary to teach how to survive any situation from a young age, because Mary herself was forced to live as a criminal and on the run by her step-mother for years.
Traumas and romance in all fandoms
(Important even if you write a female character):
She has the scandalous secret of having had premarital sex (back when it still meant everything to her) with a man named Arian, one she believed she'd marry: he 'courted' her and emotionally abused her into being ladylike and submissive, trying to 'tame her' to win a bet.
He started to feel guilty along the way, with Emma trying to become the woman he wanted and humiliating herself, but only after they slept together Arian confessed the truth; that, and the pity with which he admitted that he just couldn't find in himself to love her put a nail in the coffin of her self-esteem when it comes to romance.
She told people that he broke it off 'because he had come to realize that he wasn't in love with her', fell into deep depression which left her terrified of trying again and convinced her she's weak and cannot afford it. Only one of her female friends knows the truth. She panics when reminded of it.
If she's a princess having been 'mentally ill' can be a threat to her throne, and that also scares her.
Any first attempt at romance will initially be a Greek tragedy since she doesn't want to be loved nor to be in love because sure the man will inevitably realize she's not good enough and she feels too weak to handle another loss after her first. If he convinces her she is enough for him, it will take time for her to learn to trust it to be true but she'll also unleash all the cute-feelsy sentiments she has repressed for years
Still, she needs a heir (and wants children) and a husband, and to her it means goodbye to her life and friends and -if she's lucky- being lonely but still in charge, as long as she self-arranges a marriage with someone who will agree to let her lead, so she's planning to find someone old enough to just want to retire. Her parents want her to marry for love, she can't imagine it happening. Time is running out and she's readying herself for a prison she's building.
Even if I won't be writing nsfw often, now she is very comfortable (and "resigned") about sleeping with men as long as it's 'just fun'. She'll do her best to keep men from thinking about romance which is why she jumps from flirting to friendly and back to flirty in a fun relaxed way.
[As for offscreen nsfw, check the rules.]If the show is set in the late 1900s it's not THAT much of a scandal but simply a secret, since it is still something she's very ashamed of. A trauma she 80% blames herself for.
Some extra details
Like in canon if she's not over-emotional she knows when someone is lying.
Notable scars: one on her chest (step-grandma's men trying to take her heart), two on her lower back and side/hip, from a "friend" with benefits (inspired by a canon villain named Walsh), a large burn along her spine from when she was 20 and too confident about taking down a pyromaniac by herself (obviously she failed)
Mary Margaret is canonically Jewish and I stand by that and by Emma having known both Jewish and Christian sides of the family. But I am not touching the Holocaust time and making it into a plot.
She adores children, princess Emma has had an 'orphanage' built where they can have a family/home and learn skills depending on their age, non-princess Emma volunteers in children wards.
She takes twice as long to learn school subjects that don't have a practical use for her, half as long for the ones that do. A+ at learning languages, would never pass a basic literature class. Astronomy and geography (to find her way around), probability/business-related math, medical books are "easy" to her, basic algebra, geometry, philosophy make her wish death. Doesn't have ADHD but has a milder attention deficit that can be overcome with enormous effort or if she's very motivated because what she's doing keeps people alive/ she loves the subject. It's also because she hates staying still too long and prefers group activities. Can't cook, knit, draw (can paint).
When it comes to mortal enemies (sorta following canon) her step-grandma Regina is still alive and wants revenge on her mother after losing her power/money, wants Emma's literal heart brought to her; adoptive paternal grandfather George meanwhile if not dead wants her to be at least permanently injured, possibly to end the bloodline there, to get revenge on her father; he has tried to poison Emma's mother into not being able to have children before, so that's an option. The magnitude of their crimes/power depends on whether they were royalty or not. Lily is her permanent rival, once a best friend who kept making horrible choices.
Obligatory potential darker development (to be placed in the 'future' after she meets your character for drama, this is a first draft)
Scenario: Grandma Regina takes back the throne, her parents manage to escape, their people say NOT AGAIN and this time take Regina down themselves by IMMEDIATELY storming the castle and all, but also don't trust that they won't be enslaved again, so they say 'enough royalty, democracy it is' and Emma has no throne to go back to nor war to fight, it's done. Her parents and her can join in the new council that decides what happens to the country.
And people do love them and would open their homes' doors because they were the 3 royals who actually cared for their wellbeing with all their hearts and they are repaid in kind, but Emma is in Trouble because her parents have each other and she's not about to third-wheel until they die, AND she's technically a spinster (who wants kids eventually and now she's supposed to find a husband without having a life of retirement to offer to make up for her personality and with a lot less money, she's still of royal blood and from an influential family but it's getting harder), AND her whole life was getting ready to rule so now what?? Forced marriage? Married to a friend who pity-proposes? Knight life for good? May be given a bit of land and allowed to keep the Summer Palace, have some decisional power? Travel randomly?
It wouldn't be a permanent point in time like the actual dark verse in the Enchanted Forest, but it's a potential variation and also makes future arranged marriages doable if the other person isn't a prince AND makes Emma turn into the one in need in verses with people who knew her from before.
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