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Name: Iarlaith; Iarla for short. (YAR-lath); (YAR-la)


Gender: Neutral; lacks sexual organs, but appears to be an effeminate male at first glance. I.e., his physical build looks male (no breasts) but he is slender, and his face soft (no facial hair as a male would have). (Reasoning for this in the myth evidence section.)


Mythbase: Irish myth - The Children of Lir.


Link to a source on the mythbase: My main source is from a book that I sought out and purchased, written by a renowned Irish author on the Tuathe De Danann myths (as described in my quest thread). However I have a few online links that verify my written source as well:

Online Source #1
Online Source #2


Link to Fa'e quest thread: Iarla of the Children of Lir


Appearance: Hair - Hair is a few inches past shoulders. It begins as a minty-green color, fading into a golden yellow at at the tips. Hair is thick; the bottom is feathery and a little wild. Idea on what the hair would look like from the front (not the right colors, obviously): Click here. Ideas on what the hair would look like from the back (again, not correct coloration): Click here. Ideally "his" hair would be a bit unruly and never quite cooperate.

Face Markings - Across Iarla's eyes and stretching across the bridge of his nose are the markings of a mute swan. In essence, the black that circles a swan's eyes and circles around its face to the other eye are present on his skin. The black thins as it crosses the bridge of his nose and widens as it encircles his eyes.

Feathered Ornament - In his hair would be a feathered ornament, specifically this (or something very similar). This would be an obvious throwback to his time as swan. He would retain this no matter what outfit he's wearing.



Powers: Corresponding weaknesses for each of these powers are listed in my quest thread, should they need to be looked at.

Water Manipulator - Iarla can control water. He can shape it into certain forms, although in the beginning this power is fairly weak and he is only able to accomplish forming small spheres. As he continues to discover his power, eventually he will be able to create much more advanced forms -- although it will be some time before these will be able to "act" on their own, independent from him. When that level is reached, he will be able to shape water into a form of his choice, and create many of these, so as to distract and weaken a target. This is Iarla's main power in human form.
This power inspired by: Lir, and his ability to control ocean currents and waves, as well as move entire bodies of water by a simple command.

Swan Form - Swan form is both a blessing and a curse. It is an echo of Iarla's previous enchantment in his last life. Every three weeks, Iarla is forced into swan form for a period of 9 days. Physical, mental, emotional exhaustion, and extreme pain will force Iarla to slip into swan form as well, and he will be trapped for 9 hours' time. In this form the only magic that he can use is Swan Song, although he can still speak.
This power heralds from: Fionnuala, Aedh, Fiachra, and Conn

Swan Song - Iarla retains the De Danann power of song as a swan. The song at its strongest will be able to soothe storms while it is being sung, calm choppy waters, and create an enchantment-like effect over human and animal listeners. The song generates the ability for others to feel the emotions that are being sung about, such as a sad song making tears come to one's eyes, etc. While in swan form this ability is at its height.
This power heralds from: Fionnuala, Aedh, Fiachra, and Conn; all of the De Danann.

Wild Instinct - Animal-like sixth-sense that senses impending danger, especially via the weather. He can instinctively feel a storm before it happens, such as animals can, and can usually perceive when something is attempting to deceive him, for example, glamours and illusions. Although he might not be able to break the illusion, he will feel that something is not right. This also applies to strangers or anyone with an evil intent on their minds, seeking to do harm.
This power heralds from: Fionnuala, Aedh, Fiachra, and Conn as swans (animal instinct)

Curse Resistance - Ability to perceive, throw off, and resist curses; after living with Aife's enchantment for 900 years, this power is very developed.
This power heralds from: Fionnuala, Aedh, Fiachra, and Conn



Personality: Personality Weaknesses - Iarla is mistrustful of strangers; avoids seeking solace in others when he has a problem; is cautious by nature and suspicious of anything unknown and different. He avoids sharing his inner thoughts and feelings with others readily. Anyone he does not yet know is a potential threat before they are a potential friend. Iarla avoids outright violence when possible, due to his power weaknesses. Yet if he is backed into a corner, he will react, even if it is only to escape or make a show of seeming more aggressive than he is. Iarla invests himself completely when finally giving his trust to someone, which can be dangerous for him. He is very superstitious, often quietly relating things to ill/positive omens or the will of gods. He is afraid to the point of phobic of overly loud sounds, especially prolonged ones like thunder or sirens (see his personality weaknesses in the quest thread to what overexposure to such sounds will do to him.) Iarla's interest in beauty -- usually not of himself, but of things, objects, or other people -- can also be considered a flaw. He also likes to write poetry, although it's alarmingly bad.

Personality Strengths - Iarla puts others before himself, always. He is firm in his beliefs (although he may not voice them) and will do absolutely anything to keep a promise he has made. He's usually musingly/dreamily thoughtful, is generous, courteous and honest; respectful. He's a wanderer. No place can hold him for long, for he feels like he does not belong. Although he is introverted and mostly passive, if something concerns a friend, his fierce loyalty to them will emerge. He has a fascination with beautiful things and objects. He is meticulous and can spend a lot of time perfecting the details. He prefers a close circle of trustworthy, dedicated friends rather than a large group of them. He retires to solitary pursuits like reading, sketching, and writing when calm and other projects such as practicing with a sword when he's tense.



How does the characters personality, appearance and powers and your character relate back to your chosen mythos?: Myth Evidence for Hair Colors - In the myth, King Lir's beard and hair are green like the ocean and its inhabitants that he lays claim over. Fionnuala is mentioned as having a green tint to her hair, and her brother Aedh is sometimes portrayed with minty-green hair. All of the children are portrayed as having golden hair in most artistic interpretations of the myth, and the tips of Iarla's hair reflect that as well. As for the wildness of the hair, it is a throwback to the constant storms the children went through in their time as swans, as well as their 'feral-ness' if you will of living as animals.

Myth Evidence for the Swan Markings - The children never actually have these markings on their face, but since they spent the majority of their lives as swans, Iarla bears the markings even in human form as a testment to that.

Myth Evidence for Feathered Ornament - I chose this mainly as a throwback to, again, Iarla living so much of his past life as a swan. He is drawn to beauty and beautiful objects (bit of an indirect reference to the Tuatha De Danann's magical treasures and their lifestyles), and this ornament is certainly an example of beauty. The fact that is feathered in white is a bit of irony on my part. The ornament is also a bit of a feminine decoration, lending to the further confusion of Iarla's gender.

Myth Evidence for Neutral Gender - Fionnuala's bond to her brothers is extremely strong; the children were never separated, even when enchanted. When being reborn, Fionnuala takes the form of what appears to be a male with slightly feminine characteristics, being that there are three brothers and one sister.

Myth Evidence for Personality - Iarla's personality is something of a reflection of all of the childrens' personalities as well as a swan's personality, even though "he" is Fionnuala reborn. Because of her strong ties to her brothers, even when leaving them to come into this world Fionnuala is touched by them. The meticulous part of Iarla's nature comes from Aedh, the one with the sharpest mind; Iarla's fears come from Fiachra and Conn, the youngest of the siblings, and Iarla's fierce loyalty comes from Fionnuala and her fearless nature. Both Iarla's extremely cautious nature and his tendency to act when clearly threatened stems from a swan's behavior. His superstitious character traits mainly go back to people of the time period he was from in his past life -- gods and magic explained everything then.

Myth Evidence for Powers - Each of the powers listed has a note on who it "heralds" from, and if there is not direct evidence in the myth for the power the note reads "inspired by" and has an explanation.



History: Iarla was in his past life Fionnuala, the eldest of the Children of Lir and the only girl among them. The children's father, Lir, was Lord of the Sea. When their first mother died, Lir took a second wife named Aife. Consumed with jealously from the love Lir bestowed on his children, Aife was determined to get rid of them. The children couldn't be killed, but using extraordinary power Aife laid a terrible enchantment upon them. She transformed them into swans, forcing them to live out 900 years of the curse in three different bodies of water around Ireland. At the tolling of a church bell, the children regained their human forms once again. They were baptized by a priest of St. Patrick before they died, and then faded from the world.

Reason for Being Reborn - (Summary of a written piece that I wrote to describe his backstory...) The De Danann people wish to return to this world, but because of their limited power, they can only send one. They look to those of their people that were on the last on earth before Fading, and that is the Children of Lir. The De Danann make a plan to send one of these four to the other side as the Tuatha De Danann embassy in the new world. This embassy will scout the world and see if it is ready for the De Danann's return, then return and tell what he has seen. Hence, a Fa'e is created. You can view the IC writing that concerns this (it's quite long) through a link in my quest thread.

Life After Being Reborn - Will go into this in more detail in the prompt. He grows up a part of Kuraino's family, but still sheltered, due to the politics of the planet. "He" identifies himself as male, since he appears to be one and was addressed as such. There is still some confusion for him over his identity in that aspect, as it's quite obvious he is different from everyone else. It will take the revealing of his past life to really push him into a crisis over it, but as it stands he is at least comfortable on a day-to-day basis to refer to himself as male. Growing up on Nemesis, he is taught what would typically be taught to a member of the royal family, except that he is home-schooled and does not attend an academy. Mainly the family attempts to shield him from the public eye, as Iarla has no clan symbol (every natural-born Nemesian has a clan symbol except in certain exceptional cases) and it's thought that there's some kind of scandal about where he came from. No one can really explain Iarla's appearance, so they merely try to hide him from the public as best they can. Having no clan symbol is another point of confusion for Iarla (every Nemesian has one, unless they were born from at least one parent that was not Nemesian.)



Guardian: The Guardian is Kuraino Risth Hasturien, [adopted] daughter of Adamant and Asteris Hasturien, fourth in line for the throne of Nemesis. She is a Sorcerer, the class bestowed to those who are the strongest of all in magic. She's highly opinionated, outspoken, and stubborn. Iarla is something she can't explain, and she doesn't know where he came from or what he means. She can understand that there is some kind of bond between them. She hates dealing with children, but she can grasp that Iarla is somehow her responsibility, and so she assumes a "big sister" role with him more than anything. Her own mother and her sister play the biggest role in helping her to take care of Iarla as a child. Kuraino worries about how Iarla will affect her relationship with her Bonded [lover], Azure [adopted sister]. No matter how hard she tries, Kuraino cannot explain how Iarla came to her, and she has a sense of foreboding that he has a part to play yet in something bigger than herself.



World: In another universe, Nemesis is the tenth planet from the sun at 10 billion miles away. The goverment is a constitutional monarchy, with a royal family and a Senate existing at the same time. The peoples are divided into clans; the clan that you are a part of is identified by a birthmark -- a clan symbol -- that is on a child's forehead at birth. The ruling clan is Black Moon, where Kuraino's grandfather is currently King and her father Prince (next in line for the throne). Nearly all of the people on Nemesis have some kind of magical ability. The inhabitants on Nemesis are somewhat shielded from the crippling cold of the planet by the power of a magical dark crystal. Nemesis itself has no environment; it is mostly black rock and was originally uninhabitable. Before the universe was riven into pieces and then put back together, demons roamed the far side ( the "Dark Side" ) of Nemesis freely. They are all but gone now. The people speak Nemesian, with various "loan words" from the Japanese language as those that colonized Nemesis originally spoke it. (Japanese became the official language after the current Queen of Earth ascended the throne.) There is no real religion on Nemesis, but most people make an offhand reference to multiple gods. There are intense and age-old rivalaries between the hundreds of clans on the planet. The typical dresswear is akin to cloaks, gloves, capes, long-sleeved shirts and pants, all mostly in dark colors. The people rely on an integration of sophisticated technology and magic to live their daily lives. Children, especially those born in the royal family, are taught a number of skills include swordsmanship and horse-back riding, among other medieval-esque pursuits. Nemesians have a greater lifespan than those on current-day Earth, for they live till approximately ~150 years and age very slowly. For Iarla's story, Nemesis exists in 00?? [exact year unknown] New Era [the time after the universe was riven and then put back together] of The Fifth Age of the world.



Writing samples:




I can't remember the last time I wrote anything. Or the last time that I slept. It's like a dream again, even though I know it's real. Something happened. I still don't know if it's good or bad, but right now it's mostly Bad. I found something -- someone -- by accident, just days ago. And I don't know how to explain what it is. At first I thought it was a bird, but it wasn't a bird. I brought it to oniisan's room, and right in front of my eyes it turned into a child. It's not like I don't know what shape-shifting looks like, okay? But this wasn't the same. Not like Uncle Tal, not like Auron. He -- I'm calling him a he -- even had markings on his face just like the swan.

And he has no clan symbol.

This is insane. I don't know what to do. Everybody can tell he reacts to me; it's like the four-year-old-thing. He cries when I'm not in the room, or near him. But he doesn't have a clan symbol! It doesn't make any sense. No one is supposed to know about him, but you know they're all going to. It will look horrible. Nobody can explain him. Maybe I should have just left him where he was. Oh gods I'm not even making any sense writing this.

Kuraino threw the pen on the paper, shoving her face into her hand. Writing was supposed to help make her feel better, but it wasn't working. Nothing was working. I shouldn't have even brought him back here. But how was I supposed to know? It looked like a bird. And even if it had looked like a child, she couldn't have just left it there where she'd found it.

"Dammit," she hissed tearfully, crumpling the paper in her glove. From the other room, she could hear him crying again, and Mama trying to help soothe him. Every time I leave the room, he cries. This isn't fair.

She shoved herself away from the desk. The crumpled paper ball was left there.



She slipped back into the adjoining room, closing the door behing her. Mama stood close by, in her long blue dress, walking across the floor and bouncing the baby in her arms. It did nothing. He continued to wail, no matter what she did. Kuraino knew nothing was going to work until she came back, and that made it all the more worse.

Mama turned to her. "How did the writing come?" she asked. The doubt in her voice was obvious. It couldn't have been five minutes -- Kuraino knew it.

"Crappy." Kuraino dropped onto the couch against the wall, trying not to look at the baby through her fingers. Yet there he was, wrapped up in a blanket, wearing clothes they'd somehow found for him. The markings across his face crinkled as he cried. His forehead remained bare. Kuraino had hoped that somehow a clan symbol would appear on his forehead, as if by some miracle. It would make the explaining a lot less complicated. But there was nothing there.

Mama lowered herself down on the couch, still holding the baby to her chest. Kuraino could barely look at him. Already his cries were quieting again.

"What are we gonna do," Kuraino whispered. Her eyes felt like they were burning again. And there was the baby, quiet as ever now, looking innocently around him. That such a thing so small could cause so many problems seemed amazing. No clan symbol, no explanation -- but babies didn't just appear out of nowhere.

"We'll think of something," Mama said. Kuraino stared up at her -- that face that she had always wanted to be able see again. Her mother's face. She wanted to trust her, but it didn't feel possible.

"Mama," Kuraino said, the baby being handed to her as she said it. It laid on its back in her lap. Kuraino didn't want to touch it, even though it was the only thing that ever kept him calm. "...There's nothing to do about this. We're going to get in a lot of trouble." Kuraino flipped one side of the blanket over the baby's face. The urge to cry just like him was painful. You heard what Papa said...you know how bad this is...nobody can explain it...

Mama's deep blue eyes looked serious. "Everything will be fine. We'll think of something." She was always so sure of everything. But how could she be sure this time?

Kuraino did her best to not move, nor even breathe, just to stop the baby on her lap from crying. She didn't have the heart to answer aloud anymore, so she lapsed into her thoughts instead. He doesn't have a clan symbol. They're going to say something happened in our family to explain this. Even if he did have one it'd still be wrong. Everyone outside, all the people that had something against Black Moon -- they were going to use all of it to their advantage. The rest of Nemesis wasn't so forgiving.

"Kuraino," Mama said, placing her arm carefully on Kuraino's glove, "worse things have happened before now. We've gotten through all of what happened in the past. I'm sure we can get through this, too."

Kuraino couldn't meet her eyes. She stared tearfully at the baby sitting in her lap. A baby. She didn't want to deal with this. Why did I have to find him? Where did he even come from? A tear rolled down her face as she dangled one of her gloved fingers above his face. The baby, somehow amused, batted lightly at her hand, curling his tiny fingers around hers. It was the only time he was happy.

Kuraino knew there was some kind of connection between them. She could feel it when she searched herself for it. But there was no explaining where it had come from, just like there was no explaining the baby. He didn't even have a name, yet. Naming things meant attachment to them, and Kuraino didn't want to be attached, if she could help it. I don't even like kids.

Mama must have found that thought funny, because she laughed a little. "Everyone is a kid some time." She raised an eyebrow, fiddling with the baby's blanket a little. Her expression was soft.

"But usually they come from somewhere, not just appear out of nowhere." Kuraino frowned, trying not to let herself think of the implications again. No clan symbol...it was going to be a scandal. No one could hide him forever... Her eyes began to sting. "I've brought shame to Black Moon," Kuraino said, trying not to cry -- and failing. The entire clan would suffer because of this. Because she had to go find an apparently dead swan and haul it back home.

"Kuraino, no," Mama said immediately, putting her arm around Kuraino's shoulders. Her long sleeve draped down to where the baby began to play with it. "...You didn't do anything wrong --"

"Yes I did." She stared down at the baby, now laughing quietly to itself. It looked so strange. The markings, the hair -- and it had no gender. Nothing. That made it all the more alien. There was simply no explanation. It shouldn't have even gotten into the Palace, because the Palace was magically sealed... People were going to make up stories. There were going to be rumors...

"There's nothing we can do about it now, except try and work with what we have," Mama said. Her voice sounded a touch stern, but still sympathetic. She leaned her head against Kuraino's, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly. "He's here now, and he needs someone to take care of him, too. That's the best we can do."

Kuraino shut her eyes. She knew all of it sounded right, but that didn't change one thing: "But I don't want to take care of a baby," she said, her voice hollow. Mama laughed, hugging her a little tighter with her arm. "Well...I can help you do that. But you need to help, too, because you're the only one who can keep him calm, right?"

Kuraino paled, but nodded. The baby began to giggle to itself, pulling on Kuraino's glove. Instinctively she yanked away, fearing he was going to pull it off. There was nothing like unleashing a curse while trying to have a little bit of fun.

The baby's expression crumbled, his lip trembling. Grudgingly Kuraino handed back her hand to him, muttering, "Then don't try to take it off." But he couldn't understand that much; it was just a game to him -- he started playing with it again, just like he had before. Kuraino frowned. He had no idea how much trouble he was going to cause.