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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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 Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 8:34 am
Name: Ara
Age: 16
Gender: female
Sexual Orientation: hetero
Craft: farmer
Rank: farmer by default/candidate
History: Ara grew up terrorized by her mother's green wher, Brisk, who viewed her as competition for her attention and despised her even before she was born. Her father, a farmer, began taking her to work with him in the fields as soon as he was able to spare her Brisk's venom. Ara's mother, Bri, was initially content to let this be the arrangement, but she did not allow Brisk's antipathy for her daughter to prevent her from spending time with the girl. She saw to it that her daughter didn't grow up a heathen, making time to teach her about feminine things.
Ara's early life passed with her days spent at her father's side in the fields and her evenings spent playing at being a lady with her mother. When she was old enough to attend lessons with the harper, she learned dutifully, and while she displayed no special skill for any part of harpercraft she did acquire an appreciation for music. As an older person, singing helps her pass the time in the fields, and her voice doesn't exactly make others run for cover.
As soon as there was a clutch laid following her twelfth birthday she stood on the sands, but she didn't Impress. As far as Ara was concerned, that was that and she could get about the business of the family business. Ara has worked as a farmer in some capacity all her life, though not with any of the beasts, who she learned early on don't much like her. Oh, she'll still stand at an occasional hatching, but she's really come to love farmcraft. She likes being out in the sun all day, working with her hands and knowing that it is her work that helps feed everyone in Ghenza. It is an important, necessary job, even if it doesn't win one glory or require particularly skilled labor.
When she was fourteen Ara got her first real crush, but nothing much came of it besides some furtive hand-holding, a few awkward kisses, and a truly embarrassing talk with her mother about the facts of life, a subject on which she had previously been ignorant, despite her work as a farmer. She spent her time in the fields, after all, and there wasn't a whole lot of obvious sexing going on between the plants. However, armed with this new knowledge of the possibilities, Ara decided it would be all right if she had more beaux, providing she didn't go too far. When she was sixteen she had her first serious boyfriend, as it were, and she is currently still with him. They're coming up on their two month anniversary.
Appearance: Ara is basically average in form. She's of average height and proportionate weight, though she's not satisfied with her appearance. She wishes her breasts were larger and her cheekbones more pronounced. She also wishes her eyelashes were longer, but doesn't care enough to wear any sort of cosmetics, which would be perfectly silly since she spends most of her days sweating in the fields. She hates the fact that she tends to get acne around her hairline. Speaking of, Ara has light brown hair that she likes to call blonde but which is truly brown. She usually wears her hair in a braided crown around her head, but when it's loose it falls to about mid-back in waves that may or may not be from the braid. She says that her dark brown eyes are just to spite her, since everyone knows blondes are supposed to have light colored eyes. However, the dark eyes and brown hair go well with her skin, which has more or less a perpetual tan from her work in the fields, where she wears the most functional and comfortable clothing she can. While not at work Ara likes to dress nicely, but doesn't go overboard with it. She's not much more vain than any other teenage girl, after all. She just likes to look nice when she's not sweaty and dirty. The fact that her boyfriend prefers her in a dress may have something to do with that.
Personality: Despite the fact that Ara doesn't seek fame, it can hardly be said that she lacks ambition. She simply has different ambitions. It is her ambition to be the best worker in her crew, for instance. And she would like, someday, to convince Brisk not to hate her, though a large part of her remains convinced that will never, ever happen. And she has lots of dreams of adventure, but she's sensible enough to realize and accept that some people are destined for world renown and others, like herself, are destined to grow the food that sustains them while they're off being famous. Nevertheless, she can't help dreaming that someday a handsome bronzerider will sweep her off her feet, even though she has a boyfriend and he's not a dragonrider. It's just a harmless fantasy, right?
In her dealings with familiar folk, Ara is generally very accommodating, and will undertake any task that is asked of her, and will fret if she can't accomplish it. This is partly because she knows (or at least suspects) that she sometimes comes off as cold and she thinks that if she does things for people to make them like her they won't get the wrong idea about her. It also makes her fairly easy to take advantage of. She doesn't like to say No, and only does so in two instances: she won't let a boy push her too far and she won't knowingly hurt someone else. For anything else, you can take her initial No, no matter how firm it sounds, as an eventual Yes.
Ara is basically unaware of the fact that she's made herself into a pushover and can be very gullible, but she does know when people are being unkind or rude to her, and when she sense that is the case she becomes extra polite with them, in effect freezing them out. Because there are few strangers in Ghenza, it is difficult to say how she reacts to new people. Most of the time she is polite to a fault, taking such care to be courteous that she may come across as cold or disinterested to people who don't know her well. Whenever she's unsure of herself or the situation, her fallback is to become very polite and be on her best behavior.
There might be some who view Ara's extreme good manners as a form of haughtiness or arrogance, but in actuality she's a very grounded young lady who plans to one day marry and have children. Maybe not with her current boyfriend, but with someone, someday. Secretly, she's a romantic, as her fantasies probably demonstrate. She likes to play matchmaker in her head and imagine how people's lives would go if they got married and had children, even guessing what the children would look like. Her own future is the exception to this because she walks a fine line between accepting that she won't live a romantic ballad and desperately wanting to. She has a tendency to fall in love easily, which is something her boyfriend's not exactly comfortable with, just as he feels vaguely threatened by her grandiose romantic fantasies, which is part of why she keeps them to herself.
Other:
+ Ara is afraid of her mother's wher. This is basically Brisk's fault, since at night she would whisper to Ara what sort of things she would like to see done to her, and would do herself if she was allowed.
+ Ara prefers bronze dragons simply because they are the least like her mother's green wher and they are fairly majestic looking.
+ I'm planning to have her fall for and then follow B'shir back to High Reaches when they leave.
+ Therefore, I would rather she didn't Impress at Ghenza.
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 9:28 am
I think I need help clearly defining Ara's flaws and not-flaws. That's specifically what sort of feedback I'm requesting, but I'd like to hear anything else you think is worth mentioning.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 9:43 am
^^ Only one question, is there any particular reason she dreams a rider (specifically bronze) will sweep her off her feet? Given the way dragons are seen in Ghenza it wouldn't be as common a fantesy as elsewhere (I don't know if Ghenza tends to view the bigger dragons as better or not?). Does she just happen to like dragons and riders (maybe because of the contrat between them and her mother's scary wher? XD)
Other than that query, she looks good to me!
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 9:48 am
Mostly because that's what's in the histories and the teaching ballads. Dashing, heroic bronzeriders. That's a good point, though. I do think it's mostly that's the kind of character who gets the most credit in history. Those and goldriders, which she does not aspire to be at all.
Though the contrast between dragons and Brisk is something I hadn't considered. Maybe she views dragons as less feral/ferocious? Or at least less threatening and more civilized.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 9:56 am
*Nods* They certainly seem to get all the credit, everyone loves the awesome bronzes because they're awesome and bronze XD, I'm just not sure how strongly these ballads are taught in Ghenza. Probably something to ask the staffers?
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 9:58 am
Yah. I'll toss a question into the FAQ I suppose. Just because they don't get special treatment now doesn't mean they aren't lauded in song and all. Or maybe they just downplay that part? Something to ask, definitely.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 2:03 pm
Okay. I think I've explained the bronzerider thing well enough. Anyone else have any crits?
-looks around hopefully-
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 2:31 pm
XD I'm afriad nothing spings to mind, I'm not all that good a crits I'm afriad.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 2:34 pm
Ah well. Thanks, Tawny. I think you're good at them.
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:05 pm
Mmm... I like her. I particularly like the romantic dreamer aspect she's got going. If I were to suggest anything, I'd say I'd like you to take that a bit further, indeed, I'd just like you to take her just a bit further in general.
By which I mean, well, she's a romantic. But she's a secret romantic. She's a pushover, but she knows when to say no. These are perfectly reasonable traits for a person to have. I just think they'd be more interesting if they were allowed to flourish fully.
The super-polite to the extent of seeming rude bit is great. The only trouble I can see there is getting other people to perceive her that way. Meaning, with you be able to get her to come across as polite to the point of coldness in roleplay?
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:26 pm
I see what you're getting at, particularly with the secret romantic versus open romantic. There's no good reason for her to be a secret romantic at this point in her life except that her fantasies make her boyfriend feel uncomfortable and probably inadequate, and she wants to spare him that. In the instances when she's single she's probably more open about her romantic tendencies. Which I should include in her profile, probably, since you mention it. (I think that was what you were getting at, kind of?)
As for making her come across as cold in roleplay...I don't know. I like to think I'm good enough at roleplay to manage it, but I may not be and a part of it will depend on the person I'm roleplaying with and their character. Some people will go to nearly ridiculous lengths to prevent their characters from disliking people. It should prove a challenge, if nothing else.
-fixes bit about being a pushover so that it's more extreme-
I had forgotten I'd even written in a part that tempered her pushover-ness, actually. Glad you called attention to it.
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:31 pm
I agree that you're a good enough RPer to pull off the polite thing, and you actually nailed my concern right on the head. I worry that regardless of how chilly you make her come off, your RP partner might not be willing to run with it. But, that says nothing about the actual character you've created. And... I'm probably just being cynical on that front.
And that's exactly what I was getting at on the romantic front. Also an excellent counterpoint. If she knows that it makes her boyfriend uncomfortable it would make sense for someone of her personality type to try and downplay it.
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