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 Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:28 pm
//Black night is falling...Windigo
The White Firefly
What does the past tell?
-The Who and the How-
-The Where and the What-
What does the future hold?
-The Means and the Change-
What does the present show?
-The Notes and the Path- ... The sun is gone to bed//
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:38 pm
//If I only could...-The Who and the How- Identification
Full name: Windigo
Last name: Igo
First name: Wind
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Species: Iego'aru
Language: Lusorie and Soul Tongue
Occupation before joinning the troupe: Peacelight trainee
World: C
Body (complemented with information about species on a separate post)
Height: 7'5'' on a normal stance, 10' with her legs all straight
Hair Color: Sea bluegreen
Hair Style: Most of her hair is short and spiky, a la porcupine, but not all, as her face is framed by a pair of bangs, that reach down to her collar bone, and a portion of the hair set high on the back of her head, that is permanently fastened into a ponytail with a white wrap, almost reaching the base of her tail. As noticeable by the long pieces, it's completely straight.
Eyes: Larger than the human eye, and with light sensitive slit pupils (dilate into roundness with weaker or no light at all). However, her iris is completely white, except for a black outter ring.
Ears: Four, as usual for her species, only they are a lot longer, having 4'' more than the verified standard, and sport three hook like dents on the inferior border.
Fur and Markings: Completely white, save four black slash like markings on each of her face's sides, starting wide on the cheek bones and streaking down her cheeks until disappearing, much like stretched triangles.
Build: At first sight, one would doubt whether Windigo is male or female, from her waist up at least. Broad shouldered, fairly toned muscles and a small chest, barely noticeable under her loose clothing, give her a masculine feel, while her soft featured oval face might say otherwise, her lips and nose small, her angular chin being the only adult-ish characteristic in this area. Taking in the general picture, though, Windigo's hips make it pretty clear she is a woman, as they are, along with her leg and foreleg muscles, fairly develloped due to a requirement of her talent: the need to generate a strong impulse to jump high into the air. All the rest are characteristics of her species, even though some are enhanced to support her bigger height, as in longer tail and larger toes to give her balance.
Mind
Personality: It would be hard for someone with the kind of life Windigo had to remain cheerful and bubbly. Even though she might have been so, it changed after becoming orphaned and brought to her uncle and aunt's care, turning into a low profile person... when her temper doesn't flare.
It wasn't a transformation on which the young one had a choice: the treatment she was subjected by most of the other villagers, old or young, labelling her as an oddity, a freak, a plague, ranging from verbal to physical violence when gotten a hold of, relinquished her to live apart from the majority, either staying home, playing on the forest away from everyone's eyes, or completely covered in concealing clothing when going to visit her tutor, silent as a mute and always taking the most discrete ways when forced to cross the village's streets. However, when discovered and pushed around, with no way of escaping, Windigo wasn't one to lay low on the corner and whimper, fighting back the agressors until either someone intervened or she managed to get away.
Only the few friends Windigo had and her remaining family's incentive managed to keep her from turning into a completely anti-social creature. So, instead of hiding permanently in the shadows (which, if she did, would have made it quite impossible for her to step out and join the Cirque in the first place...), she gives those that approach her a cold and wary welcome, marked with suspicion and a touch of paranoia that translates into a silence only broken by sparse words, easily leading to the opinion that Windigo is deeply challenged, doesn't understand or is simply ignoring them (which can happen...). Past that initial barrier, two things can happen. Either she decides the person is worthy of trust and bearable... Or they rub her off on the wrong direction and, from that, spans a range of options from purely ignoring them, to angering her, or to running away from them on eye/hearing range from that point on. Discretely or not. And, of course, there are likely to be ones that will start right off from the wrong foot. Will her opinion be difficult to change? Yes. They had their time. And they wasted it.
Within the tribe, she wasn't prone to acting so 'openly', giving people a chance, but being on a place where oddities from everywhere tend to gather and living among them, where she's unlikely to be shunned for her appearance, made Windigo more sociable, within her limited skills and untalkative demeanour, of course. The realization that her height makes her stand out hugely, though, will keep her rather uncomfortable until managing to get used to it, not only for the fact that she'll have to spend most of the time basically kneeling to have direct eye contact, go through doors or even sleep, as it, well... makes her stand out! And that isn't something Windigo appreciates too much, given her experience...
Sexual preference and thoughts: As it's the most commonly mating seen on nature, and with the jungle tribes' culture revolving around said nature, Windigo has a tendency towards the female/male kind of relationship. It isn't something set in stone though, as her experience on this matter is... zero. Not even a fleeting crush, nothing. And, since she doesn't view it as a part of her life, it isn't something Windigo's exactly looking for... after all, if making friends will already be hard... a lover will be quite the herculean task, which I seriously doubt anyone will be up to, unless, for some reason, they're swept off their feet.
Now, about her view on others. She might find same gender relationships odd at first but, after the initial suprise, it'll be blown in the wind. Windigo couldn't care less about anyone else's love life. It's their business, after all. As long as she isn't constantly annoyed with pointless chitchat, it doesn't matter.
Likes:The silence, the night sky, being respected (or at least not frowned upon), aerialism, honest and humble people, being around the animals and people considered freaks or outcast by others. If their personas clash though, no kind of partiality will get you on her good graces... On another tone, Windigo has a sweet tooth too.
Dislikes: Being stalked, startled or jumped on without notice. Annoyingly loud, vain, hyperactive, spoiled, depressed or arrogant types. Don’t expect Windigo to warm up to you much. Unless she isn’t on her straight mind, of course, as in after being tricked into drinking alcohol... Even so, she hates seeing others suffer wrongly. Hates. So, even if it’s someone who she hates utterly, it’s as if an unknown force shoves Windigo to help them, driving her out of whatever she was doing. A hero complex, perhaps. Or the thought that it will prove her worth, even if only to herself, by being above things such as annoyance and hatred, and doing the right thing. Oh, and never forget the utmost hate: being considered as some sort of monster, the eyes of others only considering the shell. From this, it is pretty much obvious Windigo will refuse to be set as a sideshow freak. No matter how it's put.
Hobbies: Playing a type of wooden flute from her home world, trying to learn how to read English and to not hit gateways while walking, spending time around the animals.
History
In a world where variety is law and color one of the keys to survive, Windigo couldn't be anymore out of synch. She was born with odd, never before seen mutations. The tuft of hair had a lovely greenblue color, but that was the only taste of the rainbow the newborn had. Her eyes, her fur were white, and streaking her cheeks were black, pit black stripes, the only marking present on her entire body! She wasn't even an albino! She was really white! Should it have been others, her life would have ended there and then, and the world would have never again seen a sign of the genetic scramble. But such wasn't meant to be, and she lived on, loved by her parents, a Peacelight and her Guardian. They weren't fools, however, and, before setting off with the newborn, only told the news to the Peacelight's brother, his wife, and an old friend of theirs, those who they were sure would be understanding and supporting. After that, they left for their treks around the world, with Windigo on their back.
For the ensuing four years, the child grew happy and bubbly, away from her kin and discovering new, dazzling sights every day. Windigo's white eyes saw many things most Iego'aru only dreamt of and knew through books and tales. However, it came to a a premature end.
Due to the nature of their job, not everyone liked to see Peacelights around. Sometimes the enough to orchestrate their death. And many times they succeeded. The family was struck while they returned to their home village to deliver goods and recieve new tasks, at the border of the rainforest. Windigo's mother died on spot, her father only lasted long enough to get her near the village borders and give a few indications of where to go, along with their last words. 'Stay strong and makes us proud.' From that day on until her 18th birthday, she became Wind. Just Wind.
Despite the love she was welcomed with by her uncle (the aunt was deceased) and her parent's friend, the odd orphan was looked down upon and scorned by the rest of the village. She had no color related abbility, therefor she was a burden, a useless grain of sand in the machinery. A product of the disdained City dwellers. Yes, it had to be it. And, as such, it was worth absolutely... nothing. The first times were very hard on the poor child, having to get used to stay out of sight or at home when she her playground before had the size of the world. The adults looked at her with veilled threat, treating the orphan as if she was the embodiment of a plague, but the worst were those of her own age, constantly picking on her, teasing and, in the worst of cases, hitting her.
Wind then began to change, the sweet little girl buried under layers and layers of anger and a wall of silence. Glare first, speak much later. On her first encounter with the tribe's kids, one of them flung a rock at her, making her forehead bleed, and she curled against the back of the wall, crying, until her uncle shooed them away and took her home. Later on, she'd fight them back instead of standing as a mere target, and it was their parents that took them away before they got anymore hurt, or she managed to run away from them. The weariness about overly energetic people the girl gained comes from a particular other kid that particularly enjoyed toying and teasing Wind. She was very arrogant, with the energy of someone who's hyped on sugar, loud enough to burst anyone's ears and overall annoying as hell. Problem: she was the chief's spoiled daughter, with a mini troupe of followers of her own. Unfortunately untouchable and allowed to do whatever she pleased. After having had to deal 14 years with such a pest, it was only natural Wind would gain an aversion.
One has to mention, though, that, despite the common villager repelled her and the hardships that come along with it, Wind wasn't alone in the world. As already said, his uncle was a loving person, and her cousins were like true younger siblings. A handful of others, also picked on by the spoiled chief's daughter and her gang, became the girl's friends. Lastly, her other 'protector' was a respected tutor on the village, providing her the usual education (correspondent to elementary) and even more. For the white one had a dream, a dream that came from the times when the little child travelled all over the world: to become a Peacelight like her mother. To again thread the planet and discover new horizons, away from the short sighted people surrounding her, to help others and recieve a smile in return, to be respected as a hero, to prove... she was better than those who stepped on her.
The youngster fulfilled and even surpassed the pre-requisites, so she went through the training to one day become one of the ambassadors of peace. Day after day, month after month, year after year. Much to her luck, there had only been one Peacelight from her mother's demise until the day of her 18th birthday, and he, well... didn't last very long. And so, time continued to unfold, until it hit the big day. The day of her big test. The day where everybody else would be surprised by what her, Windigo, the anomaly, the freak, could do. And, for a full day's time, off she went.
...
"... What?"
A matter of seconds. It was all it took to shatter Windigo's dreams, as she stared in cold disbelief at the judging council before her. She had practically aced the test by it's rankings, convincing a pack of ravenous and very dangerous creatures similar to a cross between a T-Rex and a Kodiak bear on growth hormones to follow her calmly from deep inside the jungle to the village. Where had she gone wrong?
"It is as you heard. You cannot represent this village as the Peacelight. You cause only uproars, never complying with rules and not trying to fit in. You have even raised your fist against our beloved chief's gracious daughter! But, most of all... you are an anomaly shunned by the gods! You should have been dead long ago!!"
They were crushing her dream... because of that? The supposedly 'wisest' people on the entire tribe... overlooking her skills because of THAT??? Most of the excuses had been mere sucking up to the chief, as some of the other advisors roled their eyes in disgust. But... because she was a freak? It was the last drop, the rotten cherry on top of a sour pie that had been cooked over the years, and forced down her throat. Windigo's head drooped, her white eyes glued to the barren ground. They had taken her down, and this time she couldn't fight back.There was no more future for her. She had failed.
The gazes that fell upon her on the street had varied reactions. Some were relieved, others pitied the girl as she made her way through, running away from the crowd.
... shelter you from that pain//
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:56 pm
//Time, it takes a tear to fall, a serpent to shed it's skin...-The Where and the What- World
The planet is called Manta. It has many other names, but this is the one that most sentient beings and creatures acknowledge, due to being spread far and wide by the travelling Iego'aru Peacelights, also being the most common species. Translated to english would correspond roughly to 'Quilt'. Why such a name? It has to do with one of the most primitive beliefs that cultures tend to develop, that they live on a flat surface. Also, like a quilt is made of many different patches, Manta supports a wide variety of kins and regions, so, even after the belief was broken, the name had already become stuck.
Manta is a planet very much like Earth, orbiting around one sun in a steady orbit, it's axis sporting a slightly lower inclination, making its seasons a little more extreme, the land takes 50% instead of 30% and having double the size. However, as it's density is the same, the planet's gravity doesn't change as well. It sports a wide variety of ecosystems and climates, from giant rainforests to scorching deserts, going through savannahs, swamps, massive icebergs, mountain ranges and intensely active volcanic areas, all teeming with life as varied as the system itself.
Evolution seems to have gone wild, maybe because there is so much area to be occupied and the many possible niches that were created over time but, whatever the reason was, a great number of beings, of many forms and shapes, attained a fair degree of intelligence and conscience, with many of these continuing their devellopment and organizing themselves on stable societies and cultures, with their own morals, ideals, religions and technology. An interesting peculiar detail is that there seemed to be, on various levels, some sort of paralel evolution, where physiological, cultural and even linguistic aspects are quite similar to some found on our Earth, much like a bat and a bird's wings...
In all the biodiversity, though, one thing is constant on Manta's animal kingdom: color. Even if with different effects, sometimes in even just more than mere appearance, depending on the beings/creatures, down from the primeval... blob that could be called an animal, they all carry genes that give them at least a touch of the rainbow. If not more. This has, as predictable, generated many myths and legends surrounding this theme...
Where there is conscience, there can be ambition, greed, or simply a drive to rule and dominate, and even though most strive to live in peace or simply never had the urge to go beyond their backyard, there are some kins that harbour a warring wish. So, quarrels and skirmishes are not rare between different kins, populations, villages or even families, though, fortunately, it has never scaled beyond that, and those with the strength to cause mass damage have their sights aimed at pursuits other than dominion over world, such as knowledge and spiritual enlightment. The ones who do have such intentions, which are, let's say, very rare, never manage to get too far though, as the wilderness tends to react to being invaded. Which is very dangerous, considering the average size of some of the creatures...
I could speak, chronicle, verse, ramble if you will about every single creature that's stepping on the planet... But! That's not the point. And so... Moving on to the most important.
The Iego'aru
Physiology: They are a bipedal species, caracterized mainly by their very long pelvic limbs, two sets of ears and a long tail (similar to a kangaroo's), at a first sight glance.
The long limbs allow them to make long jumps from tree to tree, as the environment they are originally from is the tropical rainforests' borders, having depended (and most still do have a degree of dependance) on their resources to feed and gather most necessary materials for living, not to mention get out of possible hungry carnivores way. Aside from the normally long bones (femur, tibia and fibula) already being longer than a human's, the foot bones (tarsal and metatarsal) are very stretched and mostly fused together, being almost as long as the femur. Only the four toes actually set on the ground, much like a cat's paw, and so the Iego'aru could be classified as digigrade. To provide the necessary strength for their leaps, support the strain and their own weight at the same time, the limb's muscles are very strong and capable of generating an enormous quantity of energy for their apparent size. However, this requires some hard training, and the full potential isn't something anyone can achieve. The difference, however, is large: hunters on their finest go from mere 8'3'' (which corresponds to the average height) to the triple, totalling some stunning 25'!
The ears, long and mobile, provide a very acute hearing, another resource contributing to their survival rate, though having been more useful when they were a primitive recollector civilization and were more prone to, er... be eaten. Their length is usually the same as the diameter from the nose tip in a straight line to the back of the head for the upper ones, while the less develloped are an inch and a half shorter than them.
Finally, the tail, very muscular, essential for their equilibrium. An Iego'aru without their tail can't jump, run or even walk around normally without very probably falling flat on their faces, as they are digigrades and bypedal. Such a little base and a high gravity center combined, without anything else to counterbalance... is not good. The tail's also slightly preensile, which helps when you're about to fall from a tree branch, and strong enough to pick large objects, like a table. Of course, they'd have to be hanging onto something or well, they'd fall on their butts... Moving on.
There are other physical aspects that should be noted. Their thumbs have a spear like claw that almost reaches the index finger's length, of conical shape and sharp enough to pose a serious threat if lunged at someone. Instead of eyebrows there's a bone plaque on each of their corresponding areas, not a whole mass, but composed of small scale like pieces that shift under the skin with the muscles movement, acting on the eyebrows' place. Finally, they have wide eyes, their pupils capable of narrowing into a sleet or extending to almost the complete iris in total darkness, their night vision further enhance with a membrane of tapetum lucidum, causing their eyes to shine, again, like a feline's.
The Iego'aru's body is covered with a short layer of fur that usually sports three colors. A main one, another secondary for 'underbelly' type areas (basically belly, chest, face, but not restricted to; usually a gradation of the main color, though other colors aren't uncommon), and a last one for markings (designs commonly placed on the opposite of the secondary color). Hair and eye colors vary greatly as well, even if commonly being different than the one's present on the body.
Aside functioning as an unconscious appeal to those of opposite sex and coloring, the main color reveals something else. Its gene shares the same locus with another one, the one that defines a Iego's abbility, and so the presence of one means the presence of the other, a color corresponding to a certain 'gift'. Meaning, for example, Iego'aru with a yellow main color have the capability of gathering electrons and manipulating them, due to a high metallic concentration on their fatty layer under the skin, resulting in electricity. This is just an example though as, in reality, exactly what generates such effects is unknown. Cases of albinism and melanism ocurr, and they aren't exactly rare, but they are related with yet another gene that only affects the expression of the colors, and not the abbility itself. Other mutations can happen though, and what comes from these is completely unpredictable.
[Culture]: The Iego'aru were, as said, original from the tropical rainforests of Manta. However, with time, their technological advance propelled them from the simple village life into a city, a city that develloped almost at a blinding speed, aided by knowledge achieved and brought by other races. Something went wrong though as, while generations passed, their body grew feebler and weaker, first very slowly, then at a steadfast pace, and so did the mind. Psychological illnesses seemed to take over the majority, like bipolar and depression, and the death rate rised to troubling levels. Movements spread like fire on the shining city of metal, voices clamoring this had been due to forgetting the helping hand of nature and relying solely on technology's cold touch. And so, two populations were created as this majority rebelled against the savannah city's tainting kiss and went back to the edges of the rainforest. The City and the Jungle variety.
The City Iego continue on their high perches, now the shimmering metal threaded mostly by species other than their own, but they live on, trying to solve the questions of the world through their looking glass, with science, and only science, being right pathway. In exchange, though, their height has decreased in relation to their counterparts, the bones more frail, and their colors lost vibrance and hue, most only sporting the main one, their abbilities a shade of what they once were. They continue to try and figure out a solution though, relentless, on their strange labs and computers, ignoring that what can solve their problem is one little plant... and too hard headed to pay any heed to the others' advice.
Windigo is one of the Jungle's brethren, the time of the exodus having been buried many generations before her. These live on small villages, belonging to tribes, interconnected by pathways that cross through their life giver, the rainforest, with many of them living on islands of tree-less land found within. Jobs are given according to one's skills, and apprentices learn their trade with the masters, many times sons perfecting skills under their father's eye, while daughters carry out her mother's tasks. There is no division though, and the jobs one gender can take are also available to the other, should their call lie on more or less harsh trades. They have a set way to distinguish who does what, though, as every element that carries out a certain profession possess an item or have a style only given to those of that share the same task. Hunters on Windigo's tribe, for example, are required to keep their hair short, maximum length to their chin's, and have a small portion of their hair encased on a brown and green cuff.
Food is attained from the products of the hunt and the harvest of fruits and nutritious leaves grown on the lush tree tops, along with some minor trading between each other and not too far away civilizations (including their own city). Despite this though, the tribes' most important source of nutrients is a vine like plant, with thick conic leaves, called 'Vidina'. Due to their high speed metabolism, the Iego'aru need a source of concentrated calcium to maintain their skelleton top notch which can be found on the leaves, much better than the milk they could possibly obtain from the existant tameable creatures. Also, they provide a high amount of glucose, along with other nutrients, ideal for their high energy burn organism.
There is a main language every Iego'aru uses, that is Lusorie. It consists in one of the strange cases of paralel evolution, as, other than the fact that the letters used to write it difer from the alphabet, it is exactly the same as Earth's Portuguese, give or take some expressions. The other language consists of Soul Tongue. And this is far harder to explain than Lusorie.
Apparently, there is one more extrasensorial capacity that this species can have, that is a strange kind of telepathy/empathy. The mecanism remains obscure, but it seems to have some sort of relation with percieving brain waves, and what it does is to allow comunication between two people, even if they speak completely different tongues and never heard each other on their entire life. The Soul Tongue user's brain, when spoken to, automatically processes the words in a language they can understand and, when they reply, the person will 'hear' it on their own tongue as well, possibilitating a means of comunication with every organism that has a coherent sonic language. Still, it requires for the ST speaker to direct their speach at the person/people they want to talk with, as the sounds that actually come from their mouth are a random mix of consonants and vowels impossible to figure out...
[Peacelights]:
... a rose to grow a thorn//
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:00 pm
//for you to forgive me...-The Means and the Change- Talent and evolution on the Cirque
... and I am so sorry//
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:09 pm
//And I just did what I had to do...-The Notes and the Path- Ooc blabbering and disclaimers.
... And I just did what I had to do//
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