Description 

A goofy, choatic spitfire packed into a tiny 4' 9" body. Known for wearing a conductor hat she inherited from her late sister's belongings. Ex-circus performer open to new adventures and opportunities.

Early Life 

Calliope actually doesn't know a whole lot about where she came from, other than that she was adopted as a baby. She grew up in a traveling circus, raised by her fellow performers, who were the only family she ever knew. Her family was made up of a unique menagerie of people, including fire dancers, sword swallowers, snake charmers, fortune tellers, animal tamers, magicians, and more. They traveled slowly across the country, providing side show entertainment for small mining and fishing towns. She learned acrobatics at a very young age and was a fairly talented tightrope walker and trapeze artist, which she performed consistently with her fraternal twin sister, Eloise.

Around the age of thirteen, the family circus caught the attraction of investors, and the business grew. They brought on bigger animals, better performances, and even split the family into multiple traveling shows in an attempt to churn more profit. While their new owners were happy to line their pockets with cash, the family was miserable. They hated being apart from each other, and over time their performances suffered. Calliope herself fell into a deep depression for a few years, after the circus managers decided she and Eloise needed to be split apart into two different shows. While the twin act was popular, the girls looked less alike as they grew into young adults, and the owners decided it was best to pivot and have them learn alternative skills instead. Calliope picked up animal taming, but after a significant injury she ended up transitioning back into trapeze as a solo artist. She did this for a few years, only seeing her sister occasionally and exchanging letters in the post.

Unfortunately right before the girls 18th birthday, Eloise and several other circus performers fell incredibly ill and ended up dying of pneumonia. To recoup the loss, the circus owners merged their multiple shows back into one, which caused a major rift in the family. After several months, some of the performers banded together to form a coup and murdered the circus owners, ending the years of managerial tyranny that had initially ripped the family apart. The remaining cast attempted to keep the show together, but without investors, they ended up disbanding due to financial debt. Devastated by both the loss of her family and her livelihood, Calliope left the show behind, traveling into the West to pursue new opportunities.

Present Life 

Since moving to New Alexandria, Calliope has spent most of her time doing odd jobs and socializing in several saloons. You might catch her doing supply runs in the Valentine / Rhodes / St Denis area, or traveling with her horse Cobbler and her dog, Dumplin.

Affiliations 

N/A

Quotes 

"You might be three heads taller than me, but I'll still fight you"

Trivia 

The circus company she ran with was called Chipperfield & McCoy until 1893, when it was acquired by additional stakeholders. The company was rebranded with the name Cirque Du Lion D'or (Golden Lion Circus) and split into multiple shows that traveled across the US from 1893 - 1898.