MiRan Hyeon
She/Her
27 years old
Violent
53 kg
Personality
To Meridian, words are more valuable than gold, and actions even moreso.
Coming from a wealthy Korean family, she learned from a young age that the most powerful thing in life wasn’t money, it was the influence it bought you. Due to her upbringing, she is a woman of few words and even fewer chances. Very little will move her emotionally if she has no desire to hear it out, a gift given by her intense and overbearing parents. What is not immediately useful to her is often deemed not worth her time, and she has gone to great lengths to build a persona around her talents, ensuring that, outside her closest friends and family, the world sees her only for what she wants them to: a symbol of strength and resolve. She is incredibly devoted to that which she sees as useful or beneficial, sometimes to a point of unhealthiness. What may seem like a persona dipped in callous indifference toward those outside her inner circle is, in fact, a long-simmering rebellion against the world of duty and honour in which she was raised, and now that she has her freedom, she will do anything to retain it.
Be that as it may, though, there is still a wide-eyed girl eager to learn and explore buried underneath the years of PR training and high society damage.
For those she trusts, she maintains a general kindness and openness she never received as a child, always worried that what she has will be lost if she does not do everything possible to retain it. For the members of her adoptive family, the Children of the Night, she reserves a rare, warm, and near-obsessively protective side of herself for them and them alone. She may believe herself to be only as valuable as her abilities, but she'll do anything she can with those abilities to protect those she cares about and loves.
Appearance
Meridian is every bit the look of wealth. A combination of a wealthy childhood, a regimented self-care routine, and consistent gym training has left her looking like an athlete-turned-model, stolen from the runway and thrown into the apocalypse. Her skin is clean of marks, lightly tanned, and stretched finely over a surprising amount of hidden muscle. Her eyes glow a brilliant amber, and her well-kept auburn hair is always tied up in a messy ponytail or braided down her back. Calloused hands are the only evidence of her actual career in architecture and carpentry. As a final act of independence, Meri has a back tattoo that stretches from shoulder to shoulder and neck to waist, depicting a great eldritch bird with its wings spread. Multiple faces, symbols, and other designs from various mythos can be seen surrounding the main image. Additional tattoos stretch up her neck from this one, thin tendrils of ink that curve and writhe like snakes to her jaw, where they flatten into fangs.
Background
Meridian was born into a palace made of glass - immaculate, breathtaking, and always only a hair away from shattering. Her parents called it power; Meridian knew it as silence.
The Hyeon family empire was one of status and grandeur, and they saw their daughters as winged-angel ornaments to grace their skylines. They were proof of bloodline, wealth, and genetic triumph - they were barely considered individuals. Mi-Ran grew up a treasured trophy, someone raised not by the love of their parents, but the cold indifference of tutors, photographers, stylists, and all manner of people paid to refine her into something to be shown up behind glass and stone. She was dressed like a promise, walked like a headline's dream, and smiled like a hostage.
She learned very early on that her value was not in her abilities, but in her persona; what she was to the outside world was all her parents cared about, and over time, they instilled in her an ironclad belief that her only purpose was to be their ceremonial sword. Something to be admired for its potential and status, but never given use. She learned martial arts, but only so she could move with grace. She had a strict workout and health plan, but only so she didn’t risk any imperfections in her smile on the screen. She had all the capability she could want, and yet felt powerless to do anything with it. She had to watch as her siblings were sent away, and she could do nothing to stop it.
But at 18, she found a lifeline. A one-off application that turned into an acceptance letter from a US university. She took it without a second's hesitation, knowing the moment she stepped foot on that plane, she ceased to be her parents' daughter and became only a family secret. It was a price worth paying, in her eyes.
Her time in the United States did not save her as she’d hoped, but it stripped away the illusions she’d been forced to live under. She started going by Meridian, as an American version of Mi-Ran. She loved her classes, and the freedom she now had, no longer trapped under the claws of her name, became apparent at the same time as the harshness of reality that had been hidden from her by her life of wealth. Once again, she was struck with the same feeling of powerlessness she’d felt her entire childhood. Every injustice she saw rewoke the helpless girl she’d once been, and over time, rage settled in her bones.
So she went back to the only thing she’d had as a child - training. She trained twice as hard, funneling all the pent-up frustration and rage from her life into martial arts and running. She sharpened herself into something strong, but only so she could protect those she loved in the way she couldn’t as a child. But it wasn't enough.
She began to get into fights, both to protect those who needed it and to prove to herself her capability; her strength outside of an image. Until one day, she got into a fight that was reckless, and left her broken and bleeding. It was only the grace of fate that her friend found her and saved her life.
Recovery was slow and painful, and she realized anger without purpose would eventually destroy itself. Her strength alone was enough. She needed direction; she needed somewhere to belong.
She found it in the Children of the Night. A group of outcasts, similar to herself. They accepted her with open arms, saw her bruises as beauty, and her hardships as something to be worshipped. For the first time, Mi-Ran was valuable for more than her abilities, and she became hopelessly devoted to her new family, especially to the woman who had introduced her to them, Aglaia Makri. In return for their acceptance, Mi-Ran offered everything she had, including her strength to protect them.
Once she graduated from University, Mi-Ran would find work during the day as a member of a prestigious architecture firm, using her connections to help the Children of the Night find and settle into good locations, and to aid any expansions they may desire for their properties. It also allowed her to earn a good paycheck to support herself, her new family, and her continued martial arts training. She continued to learn carpentry. She grew closer to her new family, to its members, and gave her nights protecting the club.
In the years leading up to 1993, Mi-Ran settled into a job at a new firm closer to the club, helping the Children of the Night to establish a permanent club venue in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, in the county of Knox. There she would reside with her family at the club, working to help them expand the venue and keep the doors open, while continuing to train martial arts and moonlighting as security for the club.
Nothing could have prepared her for when, in March of 1993, her new life and the world would change suddenly forever. When the rifts opened and the undead destroyed their club, Meri hefted her ax and joined the surviving CotN members on their way to the mall, honouring her oath to protect her new family.
Preseason Ticket Type: Economy Class
