Marya Junková is Emily Axford’s character in Cloudward, Ho!.
Description[]
Marya is gaunt with starvation; not of the body, but of the soul. Her skin appears to cling to her bones by spite alone. She wears huge tinker’s goggles that magnify her bloodshot eyes. Her attire – a silk shirt and a tactical corset – is typically befouled by grease, wrinkles and scratches. Often seen perched on her shoulder like a pirate’s parrot is Kočka, a rat with clockwork wings.
Background[]
Marya is from Scrapsylvania, where she is the owner and proprietor of Marya’s Toys and Trinkets and Other Drivel to Distract You From Life’s Tragedies: A Toy Store. The shop offers such wares as Slinky; indoor hoop-and-stick; jack-in-the-coffin; and an all-black Rubik's Cube.
In her youth, when the audience first meets her, she is the youngest member of the Wind Rider Society, being between the ages of 18–20.
Her last voyage ended in violent tragedy when Marya and her comrades encountered Straka, a massive, mechanical, flying engine of war that old husbands’ tales say is the spirit of what you've thrown away returning to throw you away. Marya was the only survivor, and she subsequently broke her covenant with the sky. The encounter with Straka haunts her, and she nurses a bitter vendetta that she believes will never be sated.
Marya had a protégé named Ludmila Ryczanek, whose picture Marya keeps in her bag, but notes when Olethra MacLeod and the crew goes through it that they “weren't supposed to see that”. Ludmilla is labeled on her character chart as Marya’s “former” protégé, which implies that she either left from under Marya’s metaphorical wing, or that she died, potentially as apart of Marya’s last voyage where her whole crew was killed.
While on the Zephyr, Marya kept some silkworms – she loved silk shirts so much that she wanted to have a chance to have a silk shirt even if something catastrophic happened.
History[]
When Maxwell, Olethra, and Daisuke enter her toy store, Marya is initially in disbelief. She seems to be very proud of her work and the half-smiles she puts on the faces of the local children. She thanks them for the trip down memory lane, but when Max tells her about the trip to Zood, she seems embittered by the fabled continent and tells the others she has broken her covenant with the sky.
Daisuke gets a look at her workstation, which is a pastiche of pictures of Straka, a behemoth mechanical crow. Her bullets also have the beast’s name carved on them. Marya also tells the others of the disaster that was her last flight. However, as she sees Comfrey’s notes on the Effulgent Biangle, she becomes curious enough to join the mission anyway. The Gotch family retainers are beyond excited to welcome her aboard. Marya then tells the rest of the party that she needs a bosun – if they want her, they have to get Van.
During their first encounter with Lord Kensington Mordecestershire, Marya secretly locks the captain’s quarters. She doesn’t think she’s the right person to man the helm of the Zephyr, considering herself cursed and cast out from the sky, but thanks to Monty’s encouragement, she returns to pilot the ship once more. She calls out to the crew to brace (referencing the quest for the Fruit of Immortality) and goes for an emergency rise. She proceeds to ram the Imperial wasps and does not take further damage in the fight.
After the fight, Marya looks at the items Olethra found and realises the sextant is for a world where different physics apply, and begins to figure out when their best chance is to intercept the Effulgent Biangle.
Later, Marya joins up with Monty and Olethra to look at the logbook Olethra took from Comfrey’s quarters. Her contributions to their shared sketchbook are all of the numbers (though some of the multiplication was from Daisuke). She had also imagined that there would be a place where all the things that got thrown out and had no use in Gath anymore would go and find use again.
In the South Pole station, Marya tries to use the keys on everything, but is initially not successful. As the first torpedo hits, she runs deeper in for one final run-through of the station. She finds a lichen-covered stone wall from a castle that someone had to have brought there. She tries the keys on its metal door, and one of them works. Inside is a hole that drops into darkness, and Marya dives into it. She seems to see light at the bottom of the hole, like a furnace, and has vision of being in Straka’s throat. She panics, using her boots to transport back up. She then shoots her gun into the hole.
Olethra checks up on Marya when back on the Zephyr and brings her some of her silkworms that she found on the ship. When looking at the ceramic Max took, Marya realises it corresponds to her theories about Zood – it is from another world, a ceramic with the properties of steel. Marya also brings up the rumor that Van had been working with the Confederated Imperial Republic, but she says it’s a false one – she’s rich enough without it.
As they approach the Biangle, a storm rises, and Imperial wasps approach, Marya guides the Zephyr through it all with help from Monty and Van’s cracking of the code, and directs the ship to the land of Zood.
Trivia[]
- Her surname is most likely a tribute to Czech car racer Eliška Junková.
- She was the youngest pilot in Wind Rider Society History.
- Comfrey calls her the scrappiest kid from Scrapsylvania she’s ever met.
| Cloudward, Ho! Characters | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player Characters |
Daisuke Bucklesby | Marya Junková | Maxwell Gotch | Montgomery LaMontgommery | Olethra MacLeod | Vanellope Chapman | ||
| NPCs | PC Families & Pets |
Comfrey MacLeod | Hutch MacLeod | Artemisia MacLeod | Cadswitch Gotch | Longspot Gotch | Samwell Gotch | Blanewell Gotch | Roywell Gotch | Hatwell Gotch | Wealwell Gotch | Johnwell Gotch | Bert Chapman | Zuzana Junková | Kočka the Rat | Ghost Dog | |
| Antagonists | Lord Kensington Cosgrove Mordecestershire | ||
| Misc. | Akabana DiMarco | Beckers Polaxmius | Harry Ergh | Haruki Norwich | Haunch Saxon | Jackway St. Niles | Lady Greypace | Ludmila Ryczanek | Ouroboros Codswallop | Ramona Diaz | ||