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YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH SAYING THAT TO ME OVER THE INTERNET? THINK AGAIN. AS WE SPEAK I AM CONTACTING MY SECRET NETWORK OF SPIES ACROSS THE USA AND YOUR IP IS BEING TRACED RIGHT NOW SO YOU BETTER PREPARE FOR THE STORM, MAGGOT. THE STORM THAT WIPES OUT THE PATHETIC LITTLE THING YOU CALL YOUR LIFE. |
—Urtica, typing on the internet. | |
| Main |
Princess Urtica Swan is the daughter of Eliza from The Wild Swans.
The latest in a long line of women sewing thorns into jackets for their enchanted bird-brothers, Urt is sworn into a vow of mute silence until she completes her final jacket and turns her eleven brothers back into humans.
But staying silent is not the same thing as staying quiet. Urt writes constantly for her callout blog, "The Carrying Net", which covers cases of corporate whistleblowing, social justice trends, and humanitarian crises. From angry text messaging to her internet hacking, Urt will use every method at her disposal in her bid not to be silenced.
She is the cousin of Duchess Swan, and a Royal. She believes that Happily Ever Afters must be earned through hard work and dedication, and that the Rebels are a dangerous student movement, encouraging lazy people to "take the easy way out".
Character[]
Personality[]
Urtica is a sterling investigative journalist, as can be seen from the success of her blog. Inquisitive, attentive, and compassionate, Urt has written passionately for women's rights, internet-access for trolls, and even the BAE-Sytem's reindeer bribery case in her native Saudi Arabia.
"What the **** did you just ****ng say about me, you little ****? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals..."
She is vocal on the internet, and types entirely in ALL CAPS and swears very liberally, @$$#0!3.
Being unable to express herself properly (not everyone understands sign language), Urtica has a bad habit of bottling her rage... only to explode at inopportune moments. Like that one time in Grimmnatics, when she couldn't beat a combat dummy, she jumped on top of it and started stabbing it repeatedly with a knitting needle until the coach had to pull her off.
Despite disliking how her destiny forces her to shut up, she's a firm Royal - aware that the happiness of her entire family rests on her shoulders. She has a distaste for Apple White, though, ever since the day Apple said: "No one's forcing Urt to do this to herself!"
History[]
Urt has been aware of her destiny since she was a little girl, and has prepared thoroughly for the day she'd have to leave home, talk to no one, and knit, and knit, and knit, and knit...
If it wasn't obvious before, Urt truly dislikes her destiny.
Having been abandoned by her family, Urt's 'home' is now a one-room tenement on a shabbier side of Ever After. Her flat is a mess - she pays for her own expenses (they cut off her electricity constantly) and she never puts away her laundry. It's not the woods, but the wilds of human civilisation are a scary place for a kid like Urtica to live in.
When Urt was old enough, she applied to Ever After High all by herself. School is a relief from the duties of her fairytale, and Urt loves living in a clean student dorm during term-time. Her brothers visit her constantly, but are forced by instinct to migrate often.
Fairytale[]
| The Wild Swans
(H. C. Andersen's) |
In a distant kingdom, a king remarries. Out of jealously, the new stepmother curses her stepchildren - the eleven boys will be swans, and the only girl will live in the wild. The girl, Eliza, finds her brothers after years of searching, and discovers how to break the curse: she must talk to no one for years, knit eleven shirts for each swan out of stinging nettle, and upon wearing the shirts, her brothers will be human again.
To make a long story short, she can, and she does. They all live happily ever after. |
Where does Urtica come into this?[]
Urtica is the latest in the line of Eliza's. There's not much else to it.
Like most Eliza's, her mother died when she was very young (leaving room for a stepmother to come and curse them all), and Urt is aware that she, too, probably won't live to see her forties.
Relationships[]
Parents[]
Urt holding her youngest brother while text messaging.
Urtica barely remembers the last Eliza. In fact, Urt was closest to her stepmother, until the day she was forced to curse her step-children and fled the family out of shame. Her father cannot recognise his children under the curse. Urtica hasn't seen etiher of them since she left home.
Brothers[]
Unlike the historical Wild Swans, Urt's brothers are all-swan all-the-time. She cares for them like a shepherd cares for a flock, but they migrate constantly and never stick around for long.
They are bound by baser instincts and have animal minds, and don't always remember Urtica as their sister.
Dexter Charming has suggested that maybe her brothers are this way because the terms of their curse are changing, and that maybe Destiny is losing its control over Ever After. Urtica then punched him in the face for saying that.
Duchess Swan[]
Although Urtica's parents were always in contact with Duchess Swan's family, the cousins only really became close after attending Ever After High together. Duchess can translate Urtica's sign language, and the two are usually seen together on days when Duchess isn't "worried about my street cred!".
Though it seems the cousins couldn't be more different, Duchess and Urtica are both struggling to express themselves in a world where they have no choice but to follow terrible destinies. While Urtica bottles up her anger, Duchess takes it out on her friends. Neither of them are very emotionally-healthy people, but they'll learn... eventually.
"The Urt keeps itself in the air through sheer force of anger alone." Princess Hildy is much taller than her friend.
Gunnhilde Rasmussen[]
Princess Gunnhilde "Hildy" Rasmussen (destined to slay the Giant with No Heart) is the closest thing Urtica has to call a friend. Both girls are strong Royals with similar beliefs - the girls are determined to see their destiny through, no matter how difficult, because it's a duty they believe has to be done.
Gunnhilde and her were internet friends long before meeting in person... and were bemused to discover just how different each other looked. They make a good team, and picking on Urtica on the internet almost guarantees Hildy hits you in the face in real life.
As a member of the Frost Giants ice hockey team, Hildy is usually accompanied to the rink by Urt, who lends moral support, but disagrees with their team Captain, Mariya Moroz.
Others[]
Merana Little - Urtica keeps Merana's name on her phone as "TAFFYREGRET". Not knowing what (and how much!) 'two pounds of saltwater taffy' was, Urtica accepted a dare to eat it all at Merana's Parent's Day booth. It didn't end well. The two are awkward friends, but at least they're friends. (Apparently, Merana thinks of Urt as a hungry/angry person, and Urtica is listed in her phone as "HANGRY".)
Albeart Fitzroy - A polar bear prince that hangs around Hildy often, Fitz has come into contact with Urt more than she'd like. His undying enthusiasm for life and everyone he meets is often the complete opposite of how miserable and angry Urt always feels. She does tolerate him, however.
Appearance[]
Like her cousin, Urtica has distinctive white hair - but with just a single, dark, stripe running down its length. Urtica refuses to tell people whether black or white was her original hair colour.
Her ears tend to stick out from either side of her head.
Outfits[]
Having been used to a much warmer, desert climate, Urtica is fond of sweaters and long billowy outfits. Her 'mori-girl' aesthetic is entirely accidental - she's not dressing up on purpose, she's literally throwing whatever she owns onto her body and calling that an outfit. Sometimes she doesn't even wear shoes.
She's usually seen in shades of gray, with her family's swan motif and nettle-leaf patterns.
Trivia[]
- She speaks to people through text messages, or sign language. Pick your poison.
- When 'talking', Urtica's voice is distinguishable by the fact that she writes "ENTIRELY IN CAPS!!!"
- People initially think Urt "has her act together" better than Duchess because she's quiet. They're wrong. She's just as angry. SO ANGRY.
- Urtica maintains a small mountain of trashy shapeshifter romance novels, because they're the only things she can afford to read: "The Minotaur's Mighty Grasp", "Romanced by the Bear Shifter" and "Lion licking at Midnight" are the most dog-eared and bookmarked. She claims it's 'cultural research' to understand the enchanted princes in the school.
- H.C. Andersen describes Urtica's homeland as "the land to which the swallows fly when it is winter" (i.e. Africa and the Middle-East). Her old home is a small landlocked-nation somewhere in what's now modern Saudi Arabia.
- She's a non-practicing Muslim (and quite possibly agnostic).
- And, yes, this is the Urtica plant. Yes, they are nettles.
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