Brief Overview
Sian is a Black Irish-American woman as well as a stud (masculine Black lesbian). She drifts from romance to romance, but has recently entered a more dedicated relationship with a femme musician named Annalies Brekker. Sian cares very deeply for her chronically ill younger sister, Moira O'Farrell, and is a good aunt to Moira's children.
History & Family
As the elder of two children and the only able-bodied one, the responsibility of helping her parents manage their small farm and look after Moira fell squarely on Sian's shoulders. She gravitated towards masculine interests (such as hunting, fishing, and prizefighting) from an early age, emulating her father, Andrew Henderson, with the goal of becoming a similar reliable provider. Sian was never overtly discouraged from masculine dress, hobbies, or mannerisms… but she always had the lingering suspicion that her parents would have preferred a boy or a more traditionally feminine girl instead of the firstborn that they ended up raising. This suspicion was aided and abetted in large part by the distaste and lack of understanding shown towards her by her mother, Maeve O'Farrell, who also barred Sian from engaging in witchcraft and other esoteric activites as she did herself. This widened the gap between mother and daughter.
In 1914 during a particularly difficult season, Sian took her father's hunting rifle and went into the woods to see what game she might be able to bring back for her family. While in the wilderness, Sian stumbled upon three white men who immediately sought to do her harm. Sian lost the rifle during her escape, and in backtracking to retrieve it she found a strange, dark orb hidden in the mud of a creek bed. Sian took the orb, hoping to show it to Moira and perhaps Maeve as well. The orb immediately kidnapped Sian's senses and beset her with a vision where, in the future, Moira is killed and eaten by her vampiric white husband, whom she later recognizes as Farley Havelock. When Sian's senses returned to her, she was safe from her pursuers and sitting under a tree near her family home, with the rifle in her hands rather than the orb.
When Maeve died during the influenza outbreak of 1918, Sian helped prepare her mother's body for burial and became a stoic caretaker for her family. However, Sian's destiny was never to be confined to her family's farm in the backcountry of North Carolina; when the opportunity arose, Sian left with Moira and headed northwards to New York City, participating in what would come to be known as The Great Migration. She took work where she could in slaughterhouses and factories in addition to helping out with Moira's bootlegging racket. Sian greatly disapproved of her younger sister's burgenoning relationship (and later marriage) with Farley Havelock in NYC—in part because of his status as a white man who could do her great harm and be excused by the law, but also because she recognized him from the orb's vision. The tension and resentment between the two sisters eventually resulted in a terrible argument that ended with Moira remaining with Farley in NYC and Sian taking passage aboard the next ship headed for Europe. She found herself in Berlin, and reconnected to her sister via letters and postcards.
Appearance
Sian is a muscular Black woman who stands six feet (183 centimeters) tall. She wears men's clothing whenever possible and keeps her curly black hair in short locs. She has dark skin and dark brown eyes.