Application for The Village

[livener]

PLAYER INFO

Name: Sophie
Age: 25
Contact: snapples or PM

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Beth Greene
Canon: The Walking Dead
Canon Point: Season 5, episode 8 "Coda"
Appearance: scrawny & scrappy zombie apocalypse survivor
Age: 18/19

Character snapshot: Beth is a young woman that hasn't been completely tainted by the harsh cruelty of the world she has been forced into. After growing up on a farm with a strict religious upbringing, Beth is kept sheltered by her family from the virus and zombies that infest the world. After her family is forced to flee their farm, Beth learns how to adapt and survive by becoming a nurturing figure that is the primary caregiver of the children of the survivors. Despite the fact she's incredibly naive and physically weak, Beth finds a way to make herself useful by taking care of everyone else. She cooks, cleans, and acts as a little songbird that sings hymns to try and keep the peace. What she lacks in strength and an understanding of the world she makes up in positivity and hope. She truly believes people are inherently good and the world is destined to become a better place once again.

World description: Typical modern Earth setting with your generic virus & zombie apocalypse story. There isn't anything like magic or super powers in her version of Earth. Just lots and lots of death and the undead. Everything is in shambles and everyone's life is hard, but there's still some places that have electricity and running water. Technology really isn't a thing anymore though, so Beth will have no issue adjusting to life without it in game.

History: Beth was born and grew up on a farm in southern Georgia. She was kept sheltered from the world well before the outbreak of the virus and the zombies that came after. Her father wanted Beth to be raised free of so many of the temptations and evils that other children grew up with. She went to school, she went to church, and she helped work the farm. That was essentially her entire life until the outbreak. After that, her entire life was staying safe on the farm with her family and her boyfriend Jimmy. After Rick Grimes and the rest of his crew stumble on their farm and into her life, Beth's view of the world is shattered. After the death of her boyfriend and stepbrother she quickly comes to realize that nothing is as safe as she thought it was, and her father and older sister Maggie were keeping the wool over her eyes in order to keep her innocent for as long as possible.

After a fire wiped out her farm and they had to flee in order to survive, Beth began to rapidly gain independence as she was subjected to violence and the horrors of the real world. She grew up quickly after that, and took on a caretaker role while their group lived in the West Georgia Correctional Facility. After Judith Grimes was born, Beth became her primary caretaker. She was like a mother to the baby, and finally felt as if she had a real role and purpose among everyone else. She began to come out of her shell more, and even found a boyfriend in a young man named Zach. Once he died, Beth began to realize that she had to fight to keep the people she cared about safe. So she began insisting on learning how to fight, and tried to be a part of supply runs. She was kept back from doing so by her father and her sister Maggie. They still wanted to keep her safe and innocent, and the others in their group seemed to want to do the same.

It wasn't until they were attacked at the prison that Beth was put in a position where she had to quickly learn how to stand up and be independent. After fleeing the prison and searching for the others with Daryl Dixon, Beth was taken hostage by a woman named Dawn. She was forced to stay at Grad Memorial Hospital until her friends arranged a trade off for her safety.

What are your character’s mental/emotional strengths?
- hopeful - Beth constantly is telling her father, sister, and the others around her to not lose hope. She tells Carl Grimes that he has to be hopeful for a better future for his baby sister Judith, and she is there to support Rick as he deals with the death of his wife while having a new baby to care for. She offers hugs and support to Daryl when she thinks he needs it. She's always got a positive word of hope to give to people she sees succumbing to darkness.

- caring - She's left in charge of baby Judith and takes on 100% of the responsibilities. She also watches after Carl Grimes, and some of the other children that wind up in the prison as well. She helps cook meals and mend clothes, and asks after the people she cares about in order to find ways to take care of them.

- determined - Beth's determination is often on show in more subtle ways, such as her working hard to find ways to make herself useful in an attempt to appear strong. Other times it comes out in more obvious ways, such as when she argues with her father or Daryl to let her come along on supply runs. She finds herself often arguing with others about things she wants to help with that others think isn't safe. When she's trapped at Grady Memorial, she's determined to create a plan and find a way to escape. Nothing stops her from doing it.

- faithful - Beth's faith in God is a core trait that is shown throughout her entire run. She prays, she sings hymnals, she points out to all the others that there's always light even when things are at their darkest. She relies strongly on her faith to pull through dark times, and tries to share that light with others so they can pull through too.

What are your character’s mental/emotional weaknesses?
- wants to please others - Beth desperately wants to please others. She'll take on more than she can handle around the prison just so she can be useful and make everyone else happy. She does want to lessen the burden on them, but also wants to be seen as useful. She's a people pleaser, and this often can lead to Beth getting overworked and burnt out. It can also lead to her trusting the wrong people and ending up in dangerous situations.

- naive - She was kept sheltered her entire life. She knew nothing about the rest of the world until she had to flee her family's farm. Because of that, she comes across as simple in some aspects. Even with the zombies and violence all around her, everyone works hard to keep Beth innocent. They don't want her having to fight or do things that might break her.

- timid - She is a very meek girl when she first shows up in canon, and often is spoken over or seems afraid of others. It isn't until she leaves her family farm and she makes the conscious decision to live and have hope that she starts to be less meek. But she's always slightly timid around others at first, simply because she isn't sure if they're going to harm her or not. This can lead to her being seen as weak.

- wears her heart on her sleeve - Beth's emotions are always clear as day. Everything she feels she feels deeply, and can't hide it from others. When she's sad, she crumples and cries. When she's happy, she tries to share that joy with everyone around her. This often leads to her being taken advantage of in various ways. Rick doesn't mind having Beth parent his daughter because she seems to enjoy his baby's company. Dawn is able to completely manipulate and control Beth using fear thanks to recognizing how Beth's emotions are so unguarded and easy to sway.

What events or circumstances in your character’s past have impacted them the most?
cw: suicide



- After Rick & the others come to her family's farm, it's soon found out that Beth's father is keeping her zombified mother and stepbrother locked in the barn. He's been filling Beth with hope that they can find a cure and fix them. Once it's revealed there is no cure and Rick permanently kills them, Beth's entire world is shattered. She's still only sixteen at this point and their loss traumatizes her completely. She slips into depression and such a dark place that she tells someone that she wants to kill herself. When another person enables her to do so, Beth does hurt herself. But she makes the active decision to live. She chooses life over death, and embraces her hope and faith from that day on.

- Shortly after Beth chooses life over death, her family farm is overrun by walkers and they're forced to set things on fire and flee. Beth loses half of her family, her first boyfriend, and her childhood home in one swoop. The loss of the farm is essentially the death of the innocence that Beth's father fought so hard to give her.

- As Beth and what was left of her family travel with Rick and the others, they become like a big family. They wind up settling in a prison and try to make a life out of things there. Beth grows up quickly while living there, and takes on a great responsibility after the birth of Judith Grimes. When Lori Grimes dies during childbirth, Rick isn't sure what to do. Beth takes charge and begins to care for baby Judith. She's essentially that child's mother for the first year or so of her life.

- During her time at the prison, Beth bonds with everyone. But she becomes close to two people in particular. The first is Carl Grimes, a boy that's about five years younger than her. He has a crush on her, but she tries her best to just be a friend for him. She listens to him when he needs to talk, and tries to offer him guidance. She also does whatever she can to keep him well fed, safe, and happy. The second friendship that makes a huge impact on Beth is Daryl Dixon. While he sees her as a little girl that needs protecting from the world, he often acts as a pillar of support for Beth when she needs someone. She gives him her hope and positivity in return. When they escape from the prison after they're attacked, it's only Daryl and her. They don't know the fate of everyone else, and have to work together to survive. Daryl teaches her a lot about survival and standing up for herself during this point, and Daryl seems to take on more of a familial role in her life.

- Right before she and Daryl escape from the prison, Beth witnessed her father being brutally murdered. Beth was horrified by what she saw, but never really had time to process or deal with it. It was the first time Beth had ever been broken but had to pick herself right back up and keep going in the name of survival. It was really the first time Beth had ever been shown with that kind of incredible resolve.

What impressions do others tend to have of your character and how do those impressions differ from who your character truly is? Beth's role on TWD is generally to be the sweet younger sister figure that everyone falls over themselves to protect from harm. Strangers that encounter Beth usually pick up on the fact that she's physically weak, and assume that because she's young she must be mentally weak as well. Because of her obvious religious upbringing and southern accent they think that she's simple minded and sweet, and there isn't much to her. But Beth is very intelligent and proud of the fact that her father pushed her to learn all that she could growing up. She's observant and very good at reading others. She's had to learn how to judge situations so she could figure out signs of danger quickly, because she's not able to beat most people in a physical fight. She's had to compensate for that fact by coming up with ways to defend herself that rely on outsmarting in order to escape and survive. She is a sweet person, but she's developed some edge to that sweetness in recent months. She's not going to sit by and let someone put her in the role of cute little girl any longer. She's an adult woman, and is determined to be one that isn't taken down by the harsh conditions of her environment.

What motivates your character? Proving that she's strong in her own unique ways, and showing that she's capable of far more than most people give her credit for. Survival and the safety of her friends & family are also big motivators for her.

How does your character handle crisis or adversity? Beth doesn't shy away from the fact that she relies on her faith to get her through tough times. She doesn't pray as much now as she used to, but she still sings the hymns that she grew up singing in church with her sister. She'll play the guitar and sing because she knows it gives her strength and gives others strength too. And she's amazingly skilled at being almost blindly optimistic. She knows that if she gives up hope that things will get better, that everyone around her will too. She's far less jaded and broken than so many of the people that have

Skills, abilities, and physical weaknesses: Beth is an average human with no special or unique powers. She can die the same as any other person can. She is physically weak due to years of improper nutrition and dealing with lots of trauma. That combined with her generally small stature makes her an easy target for anyone or anything that may want to harm her. She is skilled at working with animals and knows how to run a farm. She's skilled at riding horseback. She can play the guitar and sing beautifully, and is good at playing peacekeeper in large groups. She's a good spiritual leader for those that need someone to remind them they aren't alone in the world. She's also become very adept at making large meals using minimal ingredients. She's definitely someone that is in the supportive caretaker role, but she's good at nurturing others and taking care of people. She also recently received some basic medical/first aid training. She isn't particularly skilled, but she's learning how to fend for herself with a knife and a crossbow.

Inventory: Just the filthy, gross clothes on her back.

HORROR INFO

What aspects of your character are you most interested in exploring in a horror setting? The mental aspect of Beth being taken away from everything and everyone she knows and put in a brand new kind of horror is intriguing. I like to explore her optimism and her faith in God, and want to see how those things adapt and change as she grows as a person in game. I'm also very interested in having her reach rock bottom and a dark point so she can work her way out of it using something other than blind optimism.

What is your character’s mental state upon entering the game? Beth has been through a lot coming in from her canon point. She recently had watched her father die, only to have to separate from the rest of her friends and family. She and Daryl had barely escaped alive from the prison they were all living in and weren't sure anyone was left alive. While they were on their way through the woods they were attacked and she was taken, and brought by another group to Grady hospital. There, she was subjected to both mental and physical abuse at the hands of their leader Dawn. Beth managed to survive her treatment there and thought she was about to be handed over to her friends and family. Only she pulled a reckless move in order to protect them, and wound up being shot in the head. She'll definitely remember that moment, even if it won't be clear. And obviously she won't have her entry/exit wounds upon awaking, but the rest of her injuries obtained during her time in Dawn's captivity will still be present. She won't be sure if anyone she loves is still alive, and will feel utterly alone. She's going to be very disoriented and unsure of everything. She's not to the point of hitting rock bottom, but it likely wouldn't take much more to get her to start free falling in that direction.

What unsettles and frightens your character? What sort of encounters would chip away at your character’s psychological stability? Beth has become pretty desensitized to violence and gore, but seeing someone she cares about be harmed terrifies and upsets her greatly. The idea of a child or animal being harmed also unsettles her. She's a gentle soul at heart, and she would deteriorate quickly with nonstop trauma coming at her in the form of having to deal with things alone. She's definitely someone that needs other people around just to feel like she's part of something. Without that, she likely would give in to darkness or her fears that God isn't real and she's entirely alone in the world.

What horrifying events or genre elements would you like to see utilized in the game? I don't have any specific events in mind at this time, but I would love to have Beth come to terms with the loss of her family through more unusual horror elements. Rather than seeing them as the undead or in a spiritual sense, having Beth have to atone for her self-perceived sin of not being strong enough to save them or prevent their deaths would be satisfying. It could be in the form of hallucinations or a breakdown, or items that remind her of their loss and have her dealing with the trauma in the form of a more manic episode. I also wouldn't mind revisiting Beth's conscious choice to live rather than die. While I don't have a great interest in playing out suicidal thoughts/feelings, or the act itself, I would like to visit a mindset where someone comes up to the brink and makes active choices to stay alive. I think Beth finding that she's stronger than she was 4-5 years ago would make for interesting growth and self-actualization.

SAMPLES

Test Drive: tdm
Log Sample: tdm
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