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 Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:04 am
Senshi: Duna, Senshi of the Oasis
Name: Iolani Kempf
Nicknames: Lani
Age: 18
Birthday: June 23
Sign: Cancer
Blood Type: B
Fav. Food: Grilled salmon with pineapple, teriyaki glaze. YUM.
Hated Food: Anything made from quadruped meat. Cows, Sheep, Pigs, Deer, Rabbits, etc. are way too cute to kill and eat, mmkay? ;A;
School: Sovereign Heights
Hobbies:
Roll to See if I'm Getting Drunk! - Lani's been gaming since she was 10. And unlike most gamers she didn't start off with D&D. No, her very first game was a particularly weird Werewolf: The Apocalypse campaign. She played a were-lizard. She remembers it was fun. From there, she branched out into Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu and Warhammer. But it wasn't until she was 15 that she stumbled into the blissful brainchild of Gary Gygax, Dungeons and Dragons. Each of her characters is a carefully planned out seed that grows over the course of each campaign and culminates in a beautiful child by the time the game ends. Sometimes she'll play other games, but it always ends up feeling as if she's cheating on her lover and she'll run right back to D&D, hugging her sourcebook tight and promising never to stray so far again.
And They Lived Happily Ever After - Books are Lani's greatest treasure and each worn, dog-earred paperback she owns is a dear, dear friend. Lani will spend HOURS reading, getting blissfully lost in each world and the lives of its inhabitants. Had a bad day? Lani's cure is a fluffy blanket, a mug of hot potato soup and a copy of Dune. Feeling bored? Curl up in the window and get lost in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. In Lani's world, every book is a friend. Except for Twilight. Her literary soul snarls and shrivels a little every time she sees the cover to that housewife spankfest at the local book store.
Riddle Me This - Riddles, crosswords puzzles, word games, logic puzzles, these serve to sharpen Lani's mind and she prides herself on how quickly she can usually finish one. She knows she's intelligent. Her games and puzzles help to prove this to anyone who might doubt her mental might.
Gemstone: Pearl (Birthstone), Ruby (Zodiac Stone)
Virtues:
Explain It to the Newbie! - Got questions? Concerns? Just don't get what the book, GM or Prof was trying to explain? Well, have no fear! Lani can take rules, formulas, theorums and translate them to simple, plain English. Need someone to explain turns or class merits to the new guy in the game? Drag Lani over and have her sit down with him. Not only will she explain things in such a way that a halfwit would grasp, she will go the extra mile and guide him through the process to ensure that he can apply what he's learned. And she will not lose her temper once should extra explanations be needed. She will just go at the problem from a different angle, remaining sweetly patient until an understanding is reached. Let's face it, Lani is one of life's natural Teachers.
Knowing is Half the Battle! - Learning has always come easily to Lani. She rarely requires more than one explanation or demonstration to get something set in her brain. Granted, she's not the best at every possible subject, and she knows it. However, this doesn't stop her from giving her best and gleaning as much information as possible from the lesson. She's been on the Honor Roll every year since 5th grade and she's in the top 10% of her class. However, Calculus still makes her want to cry sometimes. If you want to see where she really excels, sit in on her English and History classes sometime, particularly the History classes that deal with ancient battles or civilizations. And if you want to know where she devotes the majority of her intellect to, sit in on a gaming session. Lani soaks up information and is not at all adverse to spouting it back out when there's a need.
Yo Man, I Got This One - When Lani knows the answer or feels that she's on familiar ground, she can be aggressively self-assured. She knows she's right, by Cthulhu! and no one is going to argue her down. She doesn't rely on the opinions of outsiders or even her friends to validate herself. She's willing to stand on her own and take the accolades or falls as they come.
Flaws:
I Can't Leave! I Have Game Tonight! - To put it kindly, Lani is a shut in. She has shunned our warm and kindly mother star. She refuses to leave her room for anything less than an emergency. Or to go gaming at a friend's. Okay, she goes out to buy groceries too. But that's it! If she doesn't have to leave home, she won't. This has left her with... well... a somewhat skewed social life. She's not necessarily agoraphobic, she just prefers to not leave the comforts of home. After all, she has the internet for her clothing needs and a tidy little trust fund from her parents keeps her from having to brave the real world for a job. Outside of the classroom or her small group of friends, Lani has no idea how to act or behave or even FUNCTION out in the real world. Her life is her books, her puzzles and her D&D sessions. She's spent so much time in the realm of the fantastical and the intellectual, that people out in the real world confound the hell out of her. Among her friends, she can be open, smiling, charming. However, put her out amongst John Q. Public and she freezes like a deer in headlights.
Lani will sweat, shiver and damn near hyperventilate if forced to deal with people she doesn't know. Only the familiarity of school and the grocery store keep her from bolting when confronted by someone. If forced into an unfamiliar place with total strangers, Lani is scoping out the nearest exits and plotting ways to get to them with minimal contact with other people. She tends to expect people to be on the same mental and emotional wavelength she's riding. And when they aren't, when she's confronted with those who are stupid or petty or overly emotional or willfully ignorant, she bolts. And if for some reason she cannot escape, she resorts to sarcasm or jokes that no one outside of a basement geek mentality would get. Anything that will get those awful people to leave her alone and let her go.
It's All Bluster, Baby - This is Lani. This is Lani's brain when she doesn't know the answer. Please be prepared for blustery fits and squalls of uncertainty. If you thought Lani was bad when she knows the answer, wait until she doesn't. Then, you too may witness the mother of all temporizing snits, tear bright eyes and frantic smiles as she tries so desperately to force the topic of conversation back to something she knows.
My Rose-Tinted Goggles Have a +5 Against Reality - Tying into her I Can't Leave flaw, Lani's disconnectedness from the majority of people, her inability to truly function in the real world has led her to build up some rather elaborate inner fantasies for herself. More and more she will find herself thinking in terms of What would 'insert character name here' do? rather than What will I do?. She tends to lump the people she doesn't know into D&D categories of Lawful, Neutral, Chaotic, with no room for grays or qualifiers. She truly and with all her heart believes that the outside world follows the same basic codes of honor and behavior that she finds in her games. And when it's driven home to her that they don't, she falls apart, scrambling to repair her rose tints and set her world back in order.
Challenge: Your evil will find no shelter here.
Attack #1 (Senshi)
NAME: Sheltering Palm
[What it does] Sailor Duna lifts her arms above her head and the aspect of a transparent, glowing palm tree with Duna acting as part of the trunk appears. Following the span of three turns, it will refresh the energy of any ally within a 20 foot radius, allowing them one extra attack. At first, Duna will only be able to refresh starter attacks. Once she reaches Eternal, she would be able to refresh first and second level attacks.
[Weakness] While Duna is using this attack, she is terribly vulnerable to attacks from outside. While the 'tree' will shield her from some damage, she can still be hurt and her own attack brought to an early end.
Attack #1a (Super)
NAME: Caravan Crossroads
[What it does] Duna still takes on the aspect of a palm tree, however, besides refreshing her allies, it also now acts as a beacon for any other allies in the area, creating a glowing mirage of an oasis to draw them in. The mirage beacon lasts for 2 turns. The normal effects from Sheltering Palm will carry over.
[Weakness] While Duna is using this attack, she is terribly vulnerable to attacks from outside. While the 'tree' will shield her from some damage, she can still be hurt and her own attack brought to an early end.
Attack #2: (Eternal)
NAME: Sweet Springs Flow
[What it does] Duna kneels and touches the ground. Around the feet of her allies, a small, silvery, glowing spring will burble out of the ground at their feet...
[Weakness] Duna must remain touching the ground for at least 1 turn. This does leaves her vulnerable to attack and interruption if she is forced to move before that turn is up.
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Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:06 am
Fuku: Feel free to have fun with this. All I ask is that her glasses NOT be included and that she have some kind of flower/leaf/etc accents or accessories to her. And if it could be oddly sexy, that'd be amazing. <3 THIIISSSSS For her Fuku. Just with the Oasis-y accents and perhaps in pretty, desert-ish colors. And no horns, lol. But yes, this basic design, just Natsu-fied lD
Physical Description:
Body - In spite of her shut-in, somewhat sedentary lifestyle, Lani manages to maintain a fairly slender 5'8" figure. However, we blame this on the fact that she has the metabolism of a hyperactive ferret. She is not super curvy, nor is a boy-ish. Her figure is somewhere between the two. Also, due to her avoidance of the sun, her skin isn't just fair, it's white. It ******** glows in the moonlight! Oh, and she has freckles.
Eyes - Lani's eyes are her best feature and are a lovely, vibrant shade of pinkish-purple and are almond shaped with long, dark lashes. She also has thick, very slightly curved eyebrows.
Hair - Since Lani doesn't get out much, she's learned to trim her own dead and split ends off. However, because she never does more than trim only when needed, her hair has reached to mid thigh. Her hair is fairly straight, thick and is that lovely bright blue-green you only seem to see in the tropics. It also fades from darker (roots) to lighter(ends). Hair is styled like this, just with the big silver clip adjusted a little bit?
Accessories - She has an eyebrow piercing, a lip piercing and three piercings in each ear. She tends to prefer silver jewelry with jeweltone accents. She also has a pair of silver wire frame glasses.
Fashion - Is it clean? Yes? Comfy? Okay, good. That's all that matters. She will occasionally delve into more form fitting clothing, but usually only when it helps her get into character.
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Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:08 am
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Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 6:47 pm
Okay, to start off with: I love the voice you have, writing this character! You've got seriously excellent presentation, A+, would read again! I also liked how you used her hobbies to support her character and show us that they're meaningful to her, not just an activity she happens to engage in.
Just as a head's up; there is a character named Lani already in play, from Barren Pines. I think she's in a coma - I don't know if that's permanent or not - so it might not matter, but it's something to weigh in about.
Reading through this, I really got the idea that you know what you want to aim for with your character. I do think, though, that you haven't gotten a chance to explore too much depth with her yet, and that's where you should be focusing next. Right now, most of the traits that you see with this character are traits you'd expect to be associated with the archetype you've chosen for her. In order to distinguish her more, we need to go into more detail on some pieces and find less common personality offshoots.
The first thing that I thought of was that you might consider splitting up her Explain it to the Newbie! virtue into two; one that focuses on her intelligence by defining things like favorite subjects or scholastic achievements (because nobody's the smartest in every subject - there's usually one that excels above the others or has special meaning, right?), and the other on her superior communication skills (which is actually a more unusual and defining trait, which is why I'd like to see it get more significance in her character). The second virtue seems solid for her character, so I won't concentrate on it at this point.
Flaws, I just plain want to see more. It's All Bluster, Baby, I really like, because it provides an interesting take on an inevitable situation. I sort of feel that I Can't Leave! and Social Leper are two sides of the same coin, though, and that there isn't much character depth being explored by having these as two separate flaws. Moreover, though you suggest that she has trouble relating to regular people, you don't really give us a clear picture of what happens when she tries. What is it that she expects from people, that they fail to deliver? What situations force her to socialize, and what happens during them? Does she tend to go on about subjects that other people can't relate to; does she just go quiet, or start hyperventilating; does she start saying stupid things in the hopes of seeming funny or suave? That's the sort of thing that we'll be seeing in RP, and let's face it - unless you're going to be playing her strictly with an in-group, she's going to be constantly exposed to new people and awkward social situations - so we need to see a lot of thought in this area for her to be a solid, working character ready for the RP world!
Now, attacks! I obviously like the structure you used. They're all cohesive attacks, making sense for her sphere and connecting to one another. There's a lot of questions that go unanswered in their descriptions, though, so let's get cracking on those.
For attacks 1 and 1a: At what point do allies recover their attacks? Is it at the end of the attack duration, or at any time during, so long as they get within range? Also, the palm tree is the "source" of the power here, right? So what happens if it is torn up or cut down by a rampaging youma - would that end her attack prematurely? (Alternatively, can it be used to shield from damage?)
For all attacks: What level of attack are we talking about restoring? Just first-level attacks, or can Eternal attacks be restored by these abilities? Can you trade two restored attacks, as in attack 2, to recharge either one third attack, or two first- or second-level attacks?
That's probably enough to think about for now. Again, I really like how this character is shaping up, and you sell her awesomely - keep at it! <3
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Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 6:55 pm
ACTUALLY: It is Laney. I do not think there is a Lani yet. smile
...and Arrien's crit is amazing, you should listen to it :V Now... I think she is the Newbie Liaison. :T AND HIGH FIIIVE
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Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 6:26 am
ILU both. XD
And yes, Arri is totally the Newbie Liason. <3 I knew something was missing, so I am incredibly happy for your crit, Arri. Thank you! I'll work on getting those points fleshed out today.
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Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 7:58 am
Okay, made some changes, compressed, elaborated and otherwise switched some stuff around. Still wanting lots of critttssss <3
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Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 4:23 am
 Reading through, got a few questions, suggestions and problems. I think most will be easily fixed, though. Does Lani avoid all red meat, or only beef? Are sheep and pigs too cute to kill and eat? Or is she only crazy about cows? I'd like to see another hobby where she can interact with others. I get that she's a shut-in, but hobbies are mostly about the potential for RP interactions, so something besides D&D that allows others to be involved would be useful. Not necessary, but useful n.n Virtues are good. Weakness isn't required anymore, so you can just move it up to Flaws for a total of three (which WAS going to be my next recommendation, but the weakness takes care of a third flaw for you). Challenge is cute. First two attacks are great. Unfortunately, the Eternal attack is exactly the same as BirhanIsat's - restoring energy to full, and gifting extra attacks. So that's the one thing that I really have to stamp a no for. I'm enjoying her profile, though, so it's almost all there ^_~
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