In For the Record, the main character of Mrs. Brisby is surrounded by materialistic characters. For balance, I invented Plummet, the mystic. I have a general idea of the character's history, but I can't decide on the matter of gender. I've got two different life histories for the character, based on whether I make Plummet male or female. The male version is more thought-out, so I'll cover it first. One thing to note is that Plummet himself (or herself) is the only source of the following histories, and his beliefs on certain matters are so strong that it is possible that he is deceiving himself at times.
First, a background on hawk society that is common to both histories. The animals encountered in The Secret of NIMH all had a Western European cultural background, despite the fact some of them were from species native to North America. Inspired by a few different sources, I decided to give the hawks a society resembling that of the American Indian (or my own pitiful understanding of such a society). The hawks of the Thorn Valley area are divided into a handful of tribes, each of which has a totem and a chief. The tribes compete for territory, and the warriors in each tribe compete for prestige. Each tribe is made up of warriors, caregivers, and shamans. Most of the male hawks are warriors, and most of the female hawks are caregivers. The shamans make up a tiny minority of each tribe, but they are responsible for the spiritual well-being of the tribes. They are also the mediators during conflict and the originators of new tribes.
The most powerful and ruthless tribe in the area is the Man tribe, which have recently come into the area and are rapidly absorbing the smaller tribes. The main force opposing them is the Silver Hare tribe. The Man tribe adopted their totem based on the ruthless efficiency of the human race, but the story behind the Silver Hare is more interesting.
Ages ago a shaman was the sole survivor of a forest fire that destroyed the rest of his tribe. The shaman traveled to the end of the earth, where he met the gods. Taking the forms of silver hares, the gods taught the shaman how the hares and other prey species think. The shaman took this knowledge with him back to the world of hawks. Once he had demonstrated his hunting superiority, he was soon able to form a new tribe. From that time to this the Silver Hare tribe has been the favorites of the gods, and the gods would periodically visit their favored tribe in the form of silver hares, to impart new wisdom to them. This sense of superiority was shattered by the sudden invasion of the Man tribe, which won nearly every battle against the Silver Hare tribe.
The "male" version of Plummet's history begins with a battle. Several years ago, the young chief of the Silver Hare tribe gave his life during a massive battle that finally turned back the Man tribe, a defeat that would take the Man tribe years to recover from. On that same day the only egg the chief ever fathered hatched. Because the newborn hawk was so exceptionally small, he was named Runt. By the end of the day, one of the warriors had wooed Runt's mother and had been elected chief. This made Runt the least significant hawk in his tribe.
Runt spent his childhood in abject misery--his small size made his dives naturally shallow and slow, and it is by diving ability that a warrior who has never seen combat is judged. Runt wanted more than anything to be a warrior like his father, so he kept to himself the frightening dreams he was always having, dreams that were usually the signs the gods gave to their chosen shamans. Through a combination of observation and trial and error, Runt figured out the principles of aerodynamics, and in this way made himself the best diver in the tribe. As a result, when he was initiated into the ranks of the Warrior class he received the new name of Plummet.
With his initiation, Plummet's worries seemed to be at an end. His dreams stopped bothering him, and he had the love and admiration of all those who had once hated him. Unfortunately, he allowed the praise to go to his head. He put on airs and abandoned those who stood by him in his years of suffering. These heady days came to an end when Plummet demonstrated a spectacular dive that ended with the death of a silver hare.
The entire tribe took this as the worst imaginable omen, and no one was more horrified than Plummet. He exiled himself permanently from his tribe, a punishment more severe than he would have received if he waited around to be judged. He found a dark hole in a tree to live in, and he stopped eating meat. On the verge of starvation, he was found by the family of the hare he had killed. Incredibly, they adopted them into their home and nursed him back to health. From them he learned about Janusism.
Janusism is a fictional animal religion I invented a few years back. The basic tenet is that there is a balance to the universe and a reason for everything, no matter how awful. This is demonstrated most forcibly by the mutual relationship between predator and prey. The religion was founded by a long-lived Louisiana mouse who named himself Janus because of the dualistic nature of his beliefs. Janusism is practiced almost exclusively by prey animals, and the most noticable practice of the religion to non-believers is the custom of giving their lives to predators when they became tired of living. Janusism is not a very popular religion, and some of its believers have been persecuted for their beliefs.
During his time with the hares, Plummet resumed his strange dreams. These dreams compelled him to seek out a mouse named Nicodemus. This was apparently the mouse who had always been in Plummet's dreams and who was therefore his spiritual teacher. Once Plummet had recovered, he tried to find Nicodemus. His first stop was the tree of the Great Owl. It was the Great Owl who had come upon the hare patriarch years earlier, an encounter that had led the family to Janusism. Now the Great Owl was dying. Plummet put off his quest for a few months to make the last days of the wise hunter as peaceful as possible. Unknown to him, Nicodemus had died the same instant as the Great Owl.
Once the Great Owl was dead, Plummet continued his search. One night he found the Thorn Valley sanctuary and was confronted by the guards. His calls for Nicodemus attracted the attention of Justin, and after they talked together for awhile he was admitted into the ranks of the Sky Patrol, a small number of birds who monitored Thorn Valley from the air. Plummet was the only predator in the Sky Patrol, and before too long he found himself the group's captain. This is the situation at the beginning of the story.
Plummet is a very taciturn character. Almost no one knows anything about him, but he is universally admired and trusted. He has a strong interest in anything to do with the culture of the Rats of NIMH and he is very attentive to anything said about Nicodemus. At least at this stage in his life, Plummet is very certain of himself. He is currently waiting for his spiritual teacher to arrive. He would not be surprised if this teacher came in the form of a ghostly Nicodemus, a series of dreams, a spirit quest, or the arrival of Mrs. Brisby (about whom he has heard a lot). If there's anybody that he tells any of his story to, it'll be Mrs. Brisby.
If I decide to make Plummet female, then she becomes a mirror for Mrs. Brisby. Her birth name is Elizabeth, just like Mrs. Brisby. She is born the same day Mrs. Brisby is, under the same circumstances (in this version, her mother betrays the tribe to join her lover, a Man tribe warrior). The rest of her history would also have to mirror Mrs. Brisby's--there's a marriage and widowhood in there somewhere. Besides the idea of "a mirror for Mrs. Brisby", I know next to nothing about this version of Plummet.
Plummet's job in the story (regardless of gender) is to help Mrs. Brisby in her spiritual journey. Unfortunately, I also have Elizabeth and even Janice Simmons for this very role, so despite having such a wonderfully-detailed character, Plummet's rather superfluous. Actually, the (male) life history looks like a sketch for a NIMH role-playing character. For best effect, this would be played out over the course of months or even years of role-playing, as a peripheral hawk character moves from a bane of the forest creatures to their protector (assuming the house rules allowed this kind of avatar-ship).