Albert Rowe (affectionately called Pop) renamed the farm Stardop Fields after 50 years because he found one of the strange fruit after making it deep into the mines in his search for ore. Upon tasting it, his mind was engulfed in the thoughts of his late wife, Margie.
Previously, Pop worked in a steel mill off on the east coast by the Chesapeake Bay. He grew tired of his life there, the danger and overworking weighing heavily on his soul and his health. He gathered every penny of his savings and bought a plot of land in the Ferngill Republic, quickly falling in love with the life of farming. Soon after, he pursued the heart of Margie (despite the initial reluctance on her part).
Al was 24 when he moved to Stardew Valley and married Margie after just 6 seasons of living there. They were married for 49 years before Margie suffered a stroke and passed away. He quickly took to art in his spare time, drawing and painting anything that took his interest. He loved to draw self-portraits and ads (whether parodies or realistic) for some of his favorite products. He even won a small bit of gold in a contest for a shaving company. Naturally, he had that portrait framed.
Together, they raised two children, both girls that were raised in a home full of love and hard work. Amelia's mother, Joy, was the younger of the two, being 31 when Amelia was born. She has one older sister, Helen. Her aunt, Janet, was 4 years older with two children, Jane and Eliza.
She didn't talk to her aunt or cousins very often. She got closer to Eliza when Aunt Jane passed away during an unfortunate complication during surgery. Given that her uncle was estranged and committed, Amelia's mother adopted Eliza, 13, at the time of her Mother's death. Amelia was 10. Jane, already 24, had gone off on her own, living in another state with her fiancé. Unfortunately, all contact had been lost.
Amelia's father was nothing short of abusive toward both Amelia and Helen, though he seemed to take out most of his anger on Helen. Joy had been married to Dan for 10 years before he cheated on her with an employee. Joy found the text messages in a second cell phone he bought without her knowing. She endured most of his verbal abuse, and the infidelity was a welcome out from the marriage.
Amelia immediately became depressed, her grandfather having passed only 2 years prior. He was her hero, introducing her to art. She would spend a week or so every summer in Pelican Town, learning the basics of farming. Her favorite moments were when Pop spent time teaching her to draw and paint.
Within just two years after leaving Dan, Joy had ran in to an old friend, soon rekindling an old friendship that turned into a marriage. Charles was an incredible man, quickly taking the father role for Eliza, Helen, and Amelia. They loved him as such, though he was very clear that while he loved the two of them like his own children, he could never replace their biological fathers. He didn't want them to think he was trying to assume that role, which Amelia found more than admirable. After 5 years, Amelia worked with her mother to go through an official adoption process with him. He was a large, burly man, but he definitely was a softie at heart. He most certainly shed happy tears on that day.
While Amelia grew up battling depression and anxiety, she managed to get it under control during college. She went to a private college, studying both biology and theater as her majors, the latter to her mother's disapproval. She had dreams of Broadway or going on tour with a travelling theater. Her mother was a doctor in an emergency room, growing to be an inspiration as well. Joy taught her many things about advanced first aid in hopes that she would follow in her footsteps. Amelia wasn't so dense as to think that acting was a definite for her career, so she pursued biology as a backup. She fully intended to go forward into medical school, but she found herself overwhelmed with the workload and dropped the major altogether.
Because of this decision, she ended up working for Joja Mart after college. She searched for years for ways to join the actor's equity union or ways to be on stage at all. She acted in community theater productions, but after college, they seemed campy an, for lack of a better word, amateur. She found herself cringing at the basic rules of the art being broken as well as craving the professional part of the life. Unfortunately, she fell back into a depression, feeling discouraged and losing all motivation to do anything but work, eat, and sleep.
At 24, she met Kristoff. They hit it off immediately and fell into a whirlwind romance. Before she knew it, she was living with him. It was four years later and she was deeply unhappy, finding herself in a consistent state of feeling numb. She had stopped doing any performing at all. Behind closed doors, Kristoff was controlling. If there was an argument or something went wrong, it was always her to blame. Kristoff was one of the biggest managers in Joja corp, and yet she was still only an assistant manager in a small, grody store on the west side of Zuzu. In public, he was a model boyfriend. After all, appearances were everything.
She moved to Zuzu city with big dreams. She wanted to sing; if not in the theater, then in some way, shape, or form. Kristoff would never let this happen, though he once told her that maybe she could sing at an upcoming Joja event; She hadn't been that excited in years. As it turns out, it was a way for Kristoff to discourage her enough to give her whole life to Joja as he had. There were many arguments in the time after that. The more bold Amelia got in defending herself, the more angry Kristoff got. The yelling and throwing things led quickly to him slapping her or grabbing her by the arms, an attempt to shake sense in to her by force. Even their sex life grew violent. He never forced anything on her, but it was as if she became a toy: nothing but something to get him off... and he was rough, which Amelia didn't mind at first. He seemed to like how it felt to express his anger in this way, the shocked, almost scared look in her eyes the first time his fingers found her throat quickly becoming his favorite thing. If he wasn't choking her as he fucked her, she was on her knees with a fistful of her hair in his hand and tears brimming in her eyes from the treatment he gave her throat. She often was bruised; the main place often being her hips or waist. She knew how this would look to someone on the outside looking in, but she never did say no. She didn't stop him. She kissed him back for the fraction of a second he allowed that affection. She even begged when he asked her to. He was always so stressed and she loved him, so she didn't mind helping him release that tension. Even if she had to finish on her own. She was just being there for him, right?
She had become complacent.