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 Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 1:15 pm
Welcome to the original birthplace of Iona This journal is maintained by DareDelvil  Height: 15h 3" Iona's Stats Skill level: 10Power: 12 pts Strength: 8 pts Intelligence: 6 pts Wisdom: 13 pts Courage: 5 pts Luck: 5 pts Speed: 14 pts Agility: 8 pts Adaptability: 12 pts Stamina: 9 pts
Personality: Hounded by fears and bad past experiences of all kinds, anxiety-ridden Iona is a somewhat dramatic soul who has become adept at running away from life. When threatened she is far more likely to flee than stand her ground, and she often views her frequent misfortunes as punishment for her perceived multitude of inadequacies.
Location: Yisi Rishunesafarina, with trips to D'ob to feed - she occasionally wanders to the foot of Fyhi tel Oren, but has never summoned the courage to climb it.
Iona's Tree is located in the Western Quadrant 
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:03 am
02 - a tree, a concept, some rules and a way forward
~*~*~*~
A tall, slender tree rises among its brethren, its trunk covered with a flaky grey bark. Thin purple leaves, some variegated with delicate white designs, hang in spirals from the twigs and branches. The owner is nowhere to be seen, but her marks can be seen all about: purple feathers lying discarded among the grass, purple hairs caught in notches on the wood. Here and there, the hairs are joined by longer ones, shimmering grey, dark as lead, smooth as fresh-spun silk.
~*~*~*~
This tree, like Iona, is completely experimental - it deliberately deviates from my usual single-character journal format, and strives to grow from a small starting point as a chronicle of the character's development. In a sense, it is a record of the undirected creative process. I never set out to create Iona, and I had no solid idea in mind when I began. Thus, everything you see here has been done as a mostly unplanned response to some already existing action - in sharp contrast to Libra, whom I meticulously planned from conception through certification to stat rolling and journal creation.
The contents page you see here is less of a thread map than an updates section: as I find out more about Iona, this post will be updated.
A few rules:
- You may post here, unlike in my other character journals: this experimental space is for the use of anyone interacting with Iona. RP may also be conducted here if appropriate.
- No yoinking of anything that's not yours: that goes for art, writings and anything else you may find here.
- Please be polite and considerate, and don't spam up the journal with one line posts simply because I've said you can post here.
The contents:
01 - a picture, some statistics, a little about Iona
02 - a tree, a concept, some rules and a way forward <-
03 - a festival, a gift, a Nequus conceived
04 - an image, an island, a set of statistics, a character
05 - a roleplay, a friend, an accented mimic, new hope dawning
And some acknowledgements:
- Lines, colour, cert by Kealdrana Sasaiuni
- Shop concept by Kea and lostlinx
- Character of Iona by DareDelvil
- All other characters by their players
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:05 am
03 - a festival, a gift, a Nequus conceived
My story begins amid the excitement of the biggest shop event I have ever seen: the Nequus Winter Festival, in which games were played, contests were entered, raffles and auctions were held and many beautiful Nequus were won by more than myself. I entered the event with a single Nequus, and left it with five Nequus and a Rit - that alone should suggest the scale of the celebrations, and the sheer multitude of new owners who joined the ranks of the fortunate.
Within the first few pages Kea was already holding an impromptu roleplay contest, and, being the avid roleplayer that I am, I dived straight into the mix. The prompt was this: we were to roleplay as a Nequus whose lover had left them, and then returned asking for forgiveness, saying she was wrong, wanting to be together again. I was instantly inspired by the fact that the Nequus' gender was not given, though their lover was openly said to be female. Suspecting that the other entrants would assume a male, I did no such thing. This was my attempt at answering the prompt.DareDelvil My heart cries weakly at the sight of her. She is so thin. I remember when she was hale and healthy, laughing with me as we danced together in the sun. I remember how careless she was, how the derisive shouts of the other mares washed off her like so much summer rain. I remember when she used to look me in the eye. "...how is it, then?" I ask, softly, bitterly. "How is the world of the acceptable and good?" She swallows hard. "It has been cruel to me, my heart," she answers, "and I would you ask me no more. The stallions...they are not what I expected them to be." I shake my head, my breath leaving me in a ragged sigh. "Nequus seldom are, little dove." Her resolve to keep her composure seems weakened by the use of the old name. Well, it is only fair if she will do the same to me. "You wish to return to me, then? To the outcast's life?" It is a question I never thought I would have the chance to ask her. She bows her head and responds, just as for so many years I desperately dreamed she might. "...I...I was wrong, my heart," she mumbles. "I was young, young and afraid of ridicule. They stung me too many times - I am not made of stone like you, I could not stand it. Please, understand...I have missed you as I miss the touch of the rain, the light of the sun, the peace of the night. I want...to go back to where we were." Oh, and those last words are a human knife in my gut. How many times I myself have wished for that same thing! But, nonetheless: "...we cannot." And to say it almost tears me in two. "We can only start afresh, try again, attempt to be adults this time instead of young fools. The past is dead, dove. We can only shoulder our courage and carry on." "...Then I wish for that. For another chance to carry your heart. Please. If...it is still yours to give." And then the rain begins to fall, and it runs like tears down my cheeks as I manage, for the first time in months, a genuine smile. "What," comes my voice, soft as the raindrops upon the grass, "you thought I could give it to anyone else?" Slowly, slowly but surely, she begins to laugh. And I, for I cannot help but to do so, laugh with her.
The mare's voice was not to leave my mind so easily, though, and when I entered the colouring contest she quickly stepped into the steel shoes of my dark, brooding entry. I was left then to contemplate the identity of her lover, the repentant returning sweetheart who lacked the courage of the almost unshakeable speaker. A Jala or an Ichsa would suit her, I decided, but I gave up almost all hope of gaining an Ichsa on the spot: only just released and very rare, the new breed was hardly the best candidate for the character.
A stroke of luck then came my way in the form of galloprider, henceforth referred to as Gallo (and "she", though do please correct me if I err). This generous soul gave Secret Santa gifts to people she saw in the event thread, and I was one of them - she gifted me a randomly coloured Nequus, for which I could choose either gender and one of the first three species. Being by now determined to gain the speaker in some way, be it through winning the colouring contest or commissioning Kea for her later, I decided that a female Jala would nicely fit the role of her erstwhile lover.
The form was sent, I bought a fractal dragon egg as a return gift for Gallo, and the waiting began. Having no idea of what to expect from my new Jala-to-be, I thought little more on her character until the day I first set eyes upon her. That, as I shall recount, was when Iona began to form.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:07 am
04 - an image, an island, a set of statistics, a character
Opening day rolled around, and my eyes were greeted - I do not exaggerate - by one of the most beautiful Nequus given out all season. A rich purple, her yellow eyes and delicate white face markings accented her appearance perfectly. I was mightily pleased with her, and almost at once settled upon the name Iona. This has always been among my favourite names, and suggests to me a wildness mixed with elegance that was well-suited to her appearance. Finding a background for her certificate was child's play after that: the scene depicted there is an image from the island that shares her name.
Once she was certified, I hurried off to generate her vital statistics. What I saw both delighted and amused me: I had essentially been given the makeup of a professional coward, which suited the story nicely. Her strength of 8 and stamina of 9 made her slight for a Jala at 15h3; her courage of 5 made her almost certain to flee in the face of fear. Her power of 12 and speed of 14 gave her the uncanny might of the desperate and the breakneck speed of the truly terrified, while her wisdom of 13 and adaptability of 12 made her capable of keeping herself safe in a dangerous world. Her agility of 8 made her slightly clumsy, and her luck of 5 said everything about her life to date. The only thing that jarred me briefly was her intelligence of 6 - while not foolish, she was certainly no intellectual. It became clear that the poetic manner in which she had originally spoken was no longer appropriate: thus I began to develop a new voice for her based on what I knew about her, and put the eloquent speech from the RP entry down to educated Libra's telling of the tale. This short piece of writing, prompted by pumpkinchao and written by me, illustrates her perspective fairly well.DareDelvil Libra/Iona - withoutShe would tell me better than I am. I remember her. She tells meat on my bones, shine on my coat, sparkling eyes. She tells clever words, light steps, wide wings, clean feathers. She tells lover. She tells friend. She tells beauty. But I am not clever like she makes me. I do not have words always ready as she does - even this is hard. I stammer sometimes. I am skinny, weak, stumble-footed, scared, only fast from running away, have dull eyes, dusty wings and coat. I am not beautiful. She would tell me With. But I am Without. (100)
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:10 am
05 - a roleplay, a friend, an accented mimic, new hope dawning
Iona's first proper roleplay came in something of a hurry - it was settled upon, set up, played out and completed within a single afternoon. I admit to choosing Diego after a conversation with TawnyAngel on breeding pairs: patterned purple and gold, anyone? The log can be found here. In summary, a rather bedraggled Iona met with Diego while the latter was on his way home. Iona, while initially frightened, soon came out of her shell: she made quite an impression upon the proud stallion with her simple, honest nature, and the two agreed to go looking for Libra together.
During the course of playing Iona, I quickly discovered that she possesses a rather thick accent. It seems to be closest to a Cockney accent: no, d**k Van Dyke's accent in Mary Poppins is not a good enough Cockney to use for comparison. I also stumbled upon her endearingly strange way of thinking - a river laughs "wiv ya", and that is why it is called "wiv-vah" - and her talent for mimicry. Despite the aforementioned Cockney twang, she can reproduce her former lover's clear-cut, cultured tones almost exactly.
Her history is fleshed out a little herein as well. It is likely that she has been with several stallions during her separation from Libra, even garnering something of a poor reputation from such habits, and it appears that she was once more given to intelligent thought than she is now. Perhaps her intellectual side has atrophied somewhat through lack of use - she states, in fact, that "none of the stallions had wanted thought or reason". I hold out hope that she will regain at least some of her capacity for that as her acquaintance with Diego progresses.
Iona makes the following actions:
- set Destination to Fyhi tel Oren
- add Become Brave to Goals
- add Find Libra to Goals
- add Diego to Friends
- set Companion to Diego
- set Mood to Hopeful
What will come of this new friendship remains to be seen, but, like Iona, I have high hopes for their future.Current Status Mood: Hopeful
Destination: Fyhi tel Oren
Companion: Diego
Goals: Become Brave, Find Libra
Friends: Diego
Enemies: None
Injuries: A few bruises
Inventory: Nothing
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