Cadence Stone

**Cadence Stone** was a female Borealan Human noblewoman and a member of House Stone. She was one of the many children of Milo Stone, who once ruled over the planet Borealis as its Sentinel. Cadence helped found Faulkner Keep, a colonial outpost settlement on the planet Octus, alongside Theodore Faulkner of House Faulkner, his wife Triona Faulkner, and a laborer named Oscar Balsam.

Cadence eventually married Oscar Balsam, with the two of them later having a daughter together named Melody Balsam.

## Biography

### Early Life: Born to Nobility

In 5857 ASA, Cadence Stone was born on the planet Borealis to a Borealan noble house known as House Stone. During her lifetime, Cadence's family held the most power on Borealis out of all of the other noble houses, thanks to then efforts of her father Milo Stone. Ever since she was a child, Cadence was taught the ways of self defense at the request of her father. Having learned many forms of martial arts, Cadence quickly became a nimble and experienced fighter who could hold her own in hand-to-hand combat rather easily.

When Cadence was a young adult, her father passed away, and so the title of Sentinel was passed down to her elder brother Edgar Stone, who was two years older than her. Throughout the course of her life, Cadence's older siblings were either killed or mysteriously went missing, which all turned out to be part of an elaborate scheme by Edgar to seize power and become first in line to the seat of House Stone.

### Settling on Octus

In 5890 ASA, Cadence's close friend Theodore Faulkner (a member of the noble House Faulkner) invited her to join in on an opportunity that would take her away from the noise of Borealis. Having witnessed such terrible yet petty violence plague her own familial house, Cadence gladly accepted her friend's offer and joined him on a mission to establish a colonial outpost settlement on the planet Octus, which was over two dozen thousand light-years away from Borealis.

Along with Theodore, Cadence was joined by his Tarrthailese wife Triona Faulkner and a laborer named Oscar Balsam, the latter of which was a commoner not born of any noble family. The four of them founded the settlement of Faulkner Keep, in honor of House Faulkner and the group's Borealan roots. Within the first year of Faulkner Keep's foundation, Cadence found love in Oscar Balsam and the two entered a romantic relationship.

## Personality and Traits

Cadence Stone was a Human woman with black hair, light-toned skin, and silver eyes. Many considered Cadence to be a rather beautiful woman.

Although born into what some would consider a nest of vipers, Cadence was a rather optimistic individual tolerant of others from all different backgrounds. After witnessing the petty violence plaguing her noble house at the hands of her brother Edgar, Cadence seldom cared for or regarded all the excruciatingly intricate expectations of nobility. She kept an outwardly stoic and reserved appearance, which made her difficult to read at times. Nevertheless, Cadence was a measured, coordinated woman who was respected for her organizational skills and for her idealism. While Cadence was primarily attracted to women, she found herself only incidentally attracted to men.

## Skills and Abilities

Cadence was skilled in a number of different things, which made her a valuable member of Faulkner Keep's community. She was a skilled cook, constructor, and negotiator, the latter of which was particularly useful when trading with other factions on Octus. Because of her self defense training as a child, Cadence was extremely adept at fighting. Most who fought her in hand-to-hand combat fell at a staggering lost. Cadence was also capable of using firearms and other forms of long-ranged weaponry.

## Trivia

* Cadence is based off of a randomly generated colonist character from the sandbox video game *RimWorld*.
	+ Cadence's original procedurally-generated name was "Caitlin Stirr," which is a backer-submitted name.
* Cadence was born exactly a hundred years before the year 5957 ASA, when many stories in the Modern Era take place.