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Magdalene "Blind Mag" Defoe
Nicknames: Mag, Blind Mag
Gender: Female
Status: Single
Children: Kindle, Magnus, and Lirona
Cert: [X]

Personality Basics:
- Motherly (Prefers the company of yearlings)
- Kind (Rarely has anything mean to say about anyone)
- Sings (Excellent singing voice)
- Heartbroken (Mag feels a great many things in her life have been her fault and has become something of a recluse preferring the happier memories of her past to interaction)

Powers:
- Her eyes are capable of recording both video and audio of anything Mag 'sees'
- She can project holograms of things she has recorded as well as things from her memory or imagination however the later causes mild headaches or horrific migraines.

Story:
Magdalene DeFoe was born a blind yearling in a distant land far north of the Dead City. The Dead City was not the only one of it's kind and Mag came from a place where humans had once thrived and built great technological empires. The land was devoid of most life but there were many mions and a group of Herla. The leaders of the Herd were obsessed with bettering the species and they believed that to do so the humans old technology had to be blended into the bodies of the Herla. There were often many gruesome experiments, but the frightened stayed because there was no place else to go. The land yielded scraggly trees and tufts of grass that managed to survived and push up the concrete and metal in it's path. Things were hard for the whole herd, but not as hard as they were for Mag, her blindness meant less food, little water, and cruel treatment by the other yearlings. Her only comfort was her own voice and often she would hide in the great steel and glass caverns and sing to herself pretending that it was her parents singing to her though they were long since gone.

Many of the herd were 'gone' mysteriously after volunteering for experimentation, some returned with strange new features or scars, but some never returned at all. Mag had begged her parents not to go, but access to more water and lush vegetation that grew where the herd leaders kept council was a temptation none could avoid. Soon Mag could no longer ignore the deep ache in her stomach, she was no yearling now and growing fast she needed more than what the stone and steel city offered.

Going to the elders was terrifying and when they told her to place her hoof into what felt like mud she felt a deep wrenching in her heart as if she had just signed her own death warrant.

"You will be rewarded richly for allowing this little Blind Mag...we've never been able to work on the eyes before..." They murmured to her reassuringly, but it was hardly reassuring.

Still she had little to lose, she couldn't see anyway, and she was slowly starving to death, she needed this. She stepped into a room that echoed and smelt of dust and metal. Her heart pounded in her chest as she heard the approach of hooves and the little scampering sounds of mion, if she had been able to see the white room splattered in blood, the instruments they were going to use, the red masks, she would have probably stopped, but she could see none of it and soon a mion crawled up her leg and poked her with something sharp, there was a spark and she gasped. Mag felt her legs go under her and the faint thump of her body striking cold hard ground.

When she awoke her head throbbed, everything hurt, her whole skull felt on fire, but the mion came and the spark followed and time and pain were lost to her.

The next time she awoke it was startling, she opened her eyes and there was...color...movement...grainy and flickering, but there. She could hear other herla talking around herd words like 'incredible, recovery, ghosts, control?' and then the mion returned, the spark and darkness, familiar darkness.

Finally Mag managed to wake and move herself onto her shaking legs, she spread her wings and gave them a mild flap against her back, everything felt strange. How long had it been, and what had they done? She slowly opened and closed her eyes a few times and gasped softly, vision, sight, images and color...she could see. Her eyes felt tender, but for the first time she was able to capture her surroundings not just in sound or smell but with sight!

She walked in a slow circle gasping at the dusty bloody room she was in and then noticed the glass on the wall. She walked towards it her heart racing as she took in her reflection. It was a challenge because she had never seen the surface of water or glass and mirrors were foreign to her as well. She raised her hoof and the delicate creature in the glass did as well, she knew she was looking at herself if only because her nose told her there was no other herla standing before her. She longed to capture the moment, the memory of herself and tried to focus her eyes. What happened next shocked her so badly she didn't realize the herd leaders had come to watch. Her eyes made a strange sound like a slow clicking and whirring that hurt her head. Then suddenly as she turned away from the glass she saw herself still, but a ghostly echo of herself wherever she aimed her eyes.

"Stunning isn't it little Blind Mag? Not so blind though now...those eyes...those eyes..." The leaders all sighed with satisfaction and a strange longing.

As time passed Mag grew slowly, her early years of lack of food and water made her smaller than most herla, but now she didn't seem the bedraggled yearling. The leaders adored her, they watched her possessively as she learned to use her new eyes. They encouraged her to sing and every herla in the herd gasped with delight whenever Mag used her new eyes to perform her special trick able to conjure up beautiful pictures and share things she had seen with others. The Mions delighted in combing her hair with their little claws as it grew back and covered the scars of her surgery. They found scraps of lovely fabrics and adorned her, the leaders even gifted her with beautiful stones that matched the tips of her wings, she was the darling of the herd now. Everything was beautiful and new to her and she enjoyed taking long walks and looking at everything. In the rubble she found sharp curved Talons unknowing what creature they had belonged to, these became adornments as well. She could see, she could sing, her projections awed others into volunteering for other experiments. If only she could see the jealous longing and desire stirring in some of the leaders she would have seen what was to come...

Mag was grown now and she had mastered the strange technology of her eyes, it was not magic after all, but sometimes it still felt like it to her. The leader of the herd came to her one night and with a stamp of his hoof the mions scattered from where they had been coming her hair. She smiled and turned with a dip of her head the look faltering as she saw the strange look in his eyes.

"You were very brave to allow us to experiment with your eyes dear Mag, but the gift was found and it is unique...it is time now to return it so that the leaders may use it properly."

She thought for a moment she had mistaken his meaning, but then she saw the little mion with a blue vial and backed away shaking her head. It all happened so fast then one moment she was uttering her denial and pleading and the next she had lashed out trying to hold him back with a strike of her hooves. She had forgotten the lovely talons that adorned her front legs and gasped when she saw the leader falter, the mions scattered, and she ran. She ran from her herd and the city and tried to block the sight from her head, but she couldn't. The city of stone and steel was easy to escape, but it was on the great stone paths leading away that Mag often faltered. Her tongue was dry and she fell upon even the most brown an shriveled bits of vegetation when she found them. She ran from danger and learned to use her eyes to trick predators away from her, but survival seemed impossible. Ironic that she had saved her sight only to be able to watch herself die, but Mag was fortunate and death was not her fate. She found other herla, she found the meadow, and finally a home. There was no desire to share where she had come from or why she had left...and fortunately that was accepted by most.
~
Once settled in the Hartlands Mag was happy to start making genuine friends and adored playing with the yearlings or watching over thickets. Nothing pleased her quite as much as singing for and entertaining the young Herla of the Hartlands. In time Mag met and fell in love with Suvius a strong charming hart who had escaped from his own darkened path. Both were eager and pleased to start a family of their own and soon Mag gave birth to Magnus, Kindle, and Lirona. Mag quickly realized that her first born son was born as blind as she once had been. Worried about Magnus Mag spent most of her time teaching him how to cope without sight, she taught him how to mimic expressions and turn his head towards noises as well as body language and smells. Focused on her son Mag failed to realize that her mate was showing interest in another. Mag never realized until too late that Suvius' heart was truly inclined towards males, and so she found herself with only Magnus her other children grown and moving on with their lives. Feeling a failure and a fool for what had happened and lamenting the loss of what she had believed to be such a happy family Mag fell into a deep depression.
~
After a time Mag realized that her eldest son never left her side, realizing her somber mood was affecting him she encouraged him to leave her and explore. In an effort to convince him she started to venture out a but more, but her socializations were now only with fawns and yearlings. Still heartbroken Mag now struggles to find joy in her life though of late it has become increasingly difficult as her sleep is plagued by nightmares...

RP Log:
Oh So Sweet...(inc)
Love Is MoreThan Just A Game For Two (inc)

Approval: [X]

Plots:


Themesong: [Chase the Morning]

Magnus
Nicknames: None
Gender: Male
Status: Single
Children: None
Cert: [X]
[Thicket]
[Fawn]
[Yearling]

Personality Basics:
- Gentleman (Very polite and respectful of ladies and his elders)
- Untrusting (Takes a while to actually warm up to others and his trust does not come easily)
- Mama's Boy (Sticks pretty close to his mother/worries about her feelings and safety)

Powers:
- Magnus body temperature is very high, he can be touched but if he were in contact with something (or someone) for too long they would be burned/set fire. (He gets very tired and sluggish in the cold)
- He is pretty heat resistant and could probably walk through a fire without sustaining any real damage but a little singed hair/feathers.
- Not a 'power' but Magnus has learned how to sense slight vibrations around him and his hearing is a little sharper than most Herla because of his blindness.

Story:
Magnus was born in the comfort and relative safety of the Wildflower Meadow with his brother and sister. He inherited a heightened body temperature and resilience to heat from his father, but from his mother he inherited blindness. From a young age Magnus had to learn how to cope with his lack of eyesight and because of it remained closer to his mother learning her tricks for picking up sound and vibration as he could. He was raised with a sense of honor and respect towards others and chivalry towards ladies. His guardian remained a somewhat quiet presence in his life never truly letting themselves be heard or known and only offering that mild sense of comfort in the knowledge he was not completely alone.

As he grew older Magnus father left his mother for a buck, because of this turn of events in his life he grew distrustful of other males. Hearing the unhappiness in his mother also changed his outlook in life, where before he had thought to explore now he was determined to try and stay relatively close to console her. Magnus believes that love is a dangerous and painful emotion and while he is always polite and willing to be friendly with females he has too much fear of having his heart broken or breaking some poor doe's heart to put any effort into trying to find love. With his view on love he also has no hopes of ever becoming a father and fears that even if he were to have children of his own he would never be able to see what they looked like, protect them, or worse he may pass on his blindness to them. He is also somewhat ashamed about his lack of vision considering it a weakness he won't ever fully overcome and angry about being left unable to defend his mother or himself properly, it has led him to often look for ways to fight and train despite the risk.
~
As time passed Magnus mother encouraged him to leave her side and explore the world around him. Magnus began to venture out alone and though it was a challenge he started to train to defend himself strengthening his muscles and meditating to help his concentration. In his wanderings he came across a small fawn, Asher. The fawn was frightened and had trouble walking, she let off a fog whenever she was afraid and Magnus instantly felt the tugging need to protect. He charged himself with ensuring the fawns well being and spent much of his time with her helping her walk and protecting her. Magnus began to feel less useless, his blindness was no longer a source of such sadness for him he felt strong enough to protect Asher. Unknown to Magnus and Asher however was the fact that the two were half siblings, Blind Mag couldn't bring herself to confess to Magnus that his father had sired other children with his new love and begged Magnus' brother Kindle not to reveal Asher's parentage either. Asher grew and as she grew so too did a secret love for Magnus, when both of them found out that they shared the same father Asher was heartbroken and Magnus was ashamed. Once again his blindness became a source of bitterness, if only he had seen Asher he might have known she was his relation. Having hurt Asher also destroyed all his confidence in his abilities as a protector and hardened him even more again love, he could not trust himself with any doe's heart.
~
Magnus has taken to wandering alone in areas where his heat is less of a danger due to the recent dry climate, he seeks out the comfort of warmth and visits with his mother but no longer remains constantly at her side.

RP Log:
I Shall Protect You Lil Fawn
What Cannot Be Seen

Approval: [X]

Plots:

Themesong: [Precious]

Shego
Nicknames: None
Gender: Female
Status: Single
Children: None
Cert: [X]

Personality Basics:
- Self Serving (If it doesn't help her why should she bother?)
- Fighter (Loves to pick a fight...and win)
- Bitter (Hates having to have left her home and gets touchy about family/homes in general)

Powers:
- Due to extremely high levels of Power Plant radiation Shego has the ability to shoot green 'flames' from her hooves. The flames are actually just a quick radioactive blast that cause a burn and not a sustainable fire. Due to the need to concentrate on this ability she cannot use it if she is mentally distracted/knocked out/delerious/asleep/etc.

Story:
Shego was born the only female in an abnormally large thicket of five yearlings deep within the Power Plant. Her early years with her brothers were very difficult and they lost their parents to the Ghavials that surrounded them almost constantly. The group had to learn how to defend themselves and because of their intake of contaminated water and vegetation from the Power Plant they were aided. While her brothers all gained significant and unique talents of their own Shego soon manifested the ability to burn the Ghavials with green flame. Soon she grew tired of aiding her brothers and longed to leave the constant strife of the battle against the Ghavials who ever threatened to overwhelm and wipe them out.

Shego abandoned her brothers and left the Power Plant fighting through the area and swamp and swearing to never return. Since then she has quietly observed some of the Herla in the Hartlands and found herself unwilling to merge herself into their society. Her guardian has been oddly silent and almost absent in her life, or perhaps it is that faint voice which keeps her from doing any serious harm to other Herla.

RP Log:

Plots:

Themesong: [Let It Go]

Tsamsiyu
Nicknames: None
Gender: Male
Status: Single
Children: None
Cert: [X]

Personality Traits:
- Paranoid (He's a little paranoid about strangers and ulterior motives)
- Protective (Fiercely protects his home and herd)
- Monolingual (Tsamsiyu only speaks the tongue of his island)

Abilities:
- Bioluminescent: As with most herla from his island his fur has small areas that glow in darkness
- Warrior: Tsamsiyu has had combat experience and training to fight against large predators and other herla but he fares poorly against technology or advanced weapons (more advanced than a spear)

Story:
Tsamsiyu lives on a small distant island far from the Hartlands, the area was once tropical rainforest before the humans radiation slowly mutated it. Between climate shifts and the slow evolution of the herla and other creatures living there it is now quite unique. Most of the vegetation on the island has become bioluminescent and indeed so have many of the herla who were born on the island. Tsamsiyu lives in a clan in which every member shares out loud the wisdom of their guardians, they believe that in always sharing one another's minds, mistakes, hopes, goals, and dreams they can keep each other and their home safe. Tsamsiyu was born on the island and given his name by the elders, he grew and soon became a hunter slowly improving his skills and learning to avoid the predators on the island.
However there came a day when new Herla ventured to the islands, Herla who had been exposed to human ruins and embraced human technologies. These Herla did not want to embrace the philosophy of the island to share and live in harmony, they wanted to take and use the islands many resources and change it to make it more habitable. Tsamsiyu and his herd were disturbed by the newcomers attitudes and soon the tension broke and the two herds came to war. Tsamsiyu was forced to put his skills as a hunter into the training to become a warrior, he fought in a great battle to drive away the other herd back into the sea from where they came. Now he watches warily wondering if others will come and determined to protect his home and herd.

RP Log:

Plots: - Note Tsamsiyu does not live in or near the Hartlands but rather another region and thus cannot meet with your Herla unless they are off exploring.

Themesong: [Savages]

Cadmar
Nicknames: None
Gender: Male
Status: Single
Children: None
Cert: [X]

Personality Basics:
- Loyal (Once you have his loyalty he will lay down his life for yours with little or no questions asked)
- Wary (More like observant, Cadmus takes in his surroundings carefully and notices small details that others might pass over)
- Tactician (His view on the world is a bit slanted from having grown up during a period of strife and reaching adulthood during The Talon Wars, even in times of peace he thinks of rations and favorable terrain.)

Abilities:
- Battle Frenzy: As a survivor of the talon wars and a hardened seasoned veteran Cadmar isn't willing to just lay down and die but rather goes into a complete frenzy fighting to his last breath with heightened adrenaline.

Story:
Cadmar was born and raised in the Hartlands in a clearing near the Meadow, his paternal ancestry offered him a slightly different body type than the usual Hartland bucks. His legs were built a bit more for the sprint than the jumping frolic, but with all the varieties of Herla he never stuck out. Growing up Cadmar was trained by his father how to defend himself and how to take orders, times were not so peaceful and tensions were high. Finally the day came when war fully broke out, Cadmar was not yet fully grown when he saw both his parents head off to fight. His father had spoken to him, told him that he had been taught all he needed to survive and explained that duty was above all else for those who failed in their duty were failing to protect their homes, lives, and loved ones. His mother pulled him aside as well and explained that though she might not be a fighter her place was with her mate and helping the others who fought by bandaging them up, she loved him but he was no needy yearling. Both his parents expected him to stand strong alone, and so he nodded and held his voice in check when he had so many frightened things to say.
Sadly Cadmar's mother was slain by Talons as they broke the ranks and managed to get to the civilians and war camp, enraged by the death of his mate his father tore through a group of Talons but eventually was brought down. As the war raged on the Hartland Herla were faced with a difficult choice, leave their home or fight to defend it. Soon most of the bucks including the royal family were embroiled in the battle against the Talons. Close quarter fighting made the war deadly, but the herla were giving as good as they got. Cadmar knew he had to choose, to return to the desert home of his ancestors or stay and fight for his parents home, his home. Cadmar enlisted and fought, a combination of skill and luck kept him alive through the first skirmishes and by the time he hit his first real battle he was able to hold his own alongside most of the more seasoned bucks. Cadmar survived again and again as he put his life on the line, he came to feel pride and an increased sense of loyalty as he rose in the ranks and soon helped in leading and coordinating the battles. Finally Cadmar was placed by General Ragnarr in charge of a small band of Herla holding the left flank of the Moss Bridge, it was here however than Cadmar fell.
During a brutal push in what would later be known as The Battle of Moss Bridge the Talons broke through the front lines and Cadmar and his forces found themselves being overwhelmed by the unexpected savagery of the attack. Cadmar leaped to defend a hind who's back was exposed and a Talon sunk it's teeth into his neck. In an almost fatal moment Cadmar pulled back and lost his footing sending himself and the attacking Talon off the bridge and into a perilous plunge into the Verdant Ravine. Luckily the fall caused the Talon to release Cadmars neck and when they both landed in the river it was only Cadmar who surfaced for air. Badly injured and with his front leg mangled by the fall Cadmar dragged himself to the riverbank and laid down. After struggling to stand and finding it impossible he realized he would die if he didn't fight to stay alive. The following days were agony as he dragged himself from the river and proceeded to suffer a period of deliriousness and infection. Somewhere along the line he lost the lower half of his leg knowing that if he didn't make the sacrifice the infection would destroy him. Finally Cadmar recovered and after a long struggle returned to the Meadow, the news however was heartbreaking. King Johan, Prince Maro, General Ragnarr, and two of his sons all dead. Yet the war was finally over.
With a new queen and court and many of the original militia injured, dead, or unwilling Cadmar stepped forward and volunteered to bodyguard the court. He received a simple prosthetic scrap for his leg and regained his strength slowly. Despite all he went through Cadmar is only slightly wary of potentially dangerous situations, he considers his survival a gift and a blessing and is determined to make his life count for more.

War Casualties:
Catheld - Father - Killed near Brightscale Glade after the death of his mate.
Althea - Mother - Killed near Brightscale Glade while accompanying Iggepa.

RP Log:

Plots:

Themesong: [Citizen Soldier]