Faderift ♦ Application

[notacrow]

PLAYER

Name: Emmy
Age: 29
Contact: gravenrose
Other Characters: N/A
Interests: Action, adventure a bit of mystery and intrigue. Also enjoy interpersonal relationships and the organic drama that comes from a lot of different people being put together in trying situations.

CHARACTER

Name: Myira
Canon/OC: OC
Canon Point: N/A
Journal: notacrow
Age: 19

Canon World

Myira's world is much like what might be called the 'normal' Earth though. Her part of it, specifically, resembles northern Europe in the early Middle Ages in the rather traditional fantasy sense. People live on farms and in small communities, the spaces between towns and cities are vast, dark, and dangerous. Magic and spirits criss-cross the land, making being out at night a dangerous proposition. At least for humans. Ravens are part of the magic of this world. Living in matriarchal societies, they pass down their own ancient magic of divination and weather control from mother to daughter, each learning all the histories of their lineage and the lessons of magic so that they can pass it on to their own hatchlings (or those of their brothers and sisters).

Magic is not easy and can be dangerous. It involves contacting forces that may be beyond your control and possibly giving of yourself to them. Despite ravens association with such things, it is not something that is undertaken likely even by those who consider themselves the wisest of birds.

History

Myira hatched from her egg on the night of one of the fiercest storms that her flock had ever seen and which had not been seen in any of the grandmothers' days. She hatched from her egg as the wind roared through the pine boughs and threatened to rip lesser trees from the earth. When fledgling Myira finally saw daylight, the storm had passed. This storm hatching was thought to mean she would be particularly able with raven magic.

She spent her early days in the nest. She couldn't see most of the world from there, but she learned. She heard stories of how the Skies had come into being first and made the winds, birds, clouds and other flying creatures. They needed somewhere to nest, so the Skies had created the Earth and the Earth had made all the things that lived on its surface that did not fly. She learned the magic passed down from mother to daughter throughout the many generations of the ravenfolk. She learned how to divine the weather, and how to speak to the winds. Finally, when she was deemed old enough, she learned how to change her feathers for skin so that she could walk the Earth. An old trick, first learned by the grandmothers in days long past so that they could teach humans a few things now and then.

Initially Myira found the whole thing ludicrous. Walking? When she could fly? A visit to a farmer's field changed that. Myira saw a young woman about her age as humans go. She was the most beautiful creature that Myira had ever seen. Myira was so struck she began to take on her human form more often to befriend the girl, careful not to reveal her true self.

Slowly, she and Aelia became close friends, closer than Myira had dared hope. She found that she hoped for more even if Aelia seemed ignorant of the feelings her mysterious friend held for her. Myira taught her of the ways to feel the changing of the weather. One day she held Aelia's hand in her own and thought that perhaps she did not want to go back to being a raven if it meant staying with Aelia.

It wasn't to be.

A cousin spied Myira with her friend. Brought before the grandmothers to give account, Myira was admonished.Talking with humans was permitted, but this sort of closeness was dangerous. Threatened with exile, Myira was forced to refrain from visiting.

Aelia wondered what had happened to her friend and why she so often found raven's feathers and pretty stones on her windowsill.

Myira's fascination with the world of men turned into contempt because she could not be part of it in the way she wished. She began to look down on humans and found only faults with them. Why had she ever liked the girl in the first place? It was a way for her to disguise the ache in her heart, nothing more.

Personality

Myira is fiery and sharp. She has a cunning mind and can think on her feet. A creature of her passions, she is quick to make judgement of people and places and tends to work in extremes. She either loves you or she despises you, there's really no middle ground with her. If she doesn't have an opinion of you, it is only because she doesn't have enough information to work with to form one. Myira tends towards fiery outbursts of temper and deeply felt mood-swings. Laughing and chatting one moment, a misplaced word might have her spitting invective and threatening to curse your crops to die or your tail feathers to fall out the next. That's not to say that she's completely unhinged. If she likes you, she'll be more patient and less likely to snap at you off the cuff. If she dislikes you, you'll know it any time she's near you. Myira, especially in her human body, is not good at concealing how she feels though she does have a talent for telling selective truths and feels happy to lie about anything and everything if she thinks it benefits her.

Though she is an emotional, mercurial creature when it comes to people, when it comes to magic she seems a bit more sedate. Magic is a precise thing and you must be able to carefully consider it before you make a move towards making a plea to the winds or casting a spell. She has a sharp, analytical mind though when it comes to humans and their culture, calling her ignorant might be an understatement. In warm weather, she would rather wear no clothes than bother trying to find something to wear--it's easier that way. And she's comfortable. She has no inclination of what money is and the concept of an economy based on currency, whether based on precious metals or on fiat is a foreign concept to her entirely. She sees nothing wrong with taking some seeds or sprouts from a human's field or just picking up a piece of fruit from a merchant's cart and chowing down. It's food, it's there to be eaten and it's easy to get. Why wouldn't she take it?

Proud and a little snooty, Myira outwardly looks down on humans. They're strange, clumsy things that have no wings and are stuck walking the Earth without the chance to commune with the skies and it's really just silly to expect them to be on the same level as a raven even if you give them the chance. This arrogance and distance is in part promoted by Myira's desire to avoid becoming too interested again. The last time she did, she was told off and made to stop seeing her human friend, so it's better to just make sure none of them get close enough to want to be friends by being a distant little jerk.

Strengths & Weaknesses

• Divination: By performing the correct rituals and listening to the whispers of the winds or looking into still waters, Myira is able to get glimpses of things that may yet be, though seeing them does not assure that she sees a complete picture, that they will happen in the way that she sees it or that they will even happen at all.


• Shape-changing: Myira can take off her feathers and walk in a human form. When she does this, she seems to remove a cloak of brilliant black feathers that she guards with her life. Without this cloak, it is impossible for her to return to her true form. If the cloak is totally destroyed, she will grow sick and eventually die as her connection with her true self is cut off forever.


• Warding magic: Given the right materials and rituals, Myira is able to ward places and things against harm from magic, pests such as insects, or bad fortune. Inversely, she can also hex or curse places, things, or people to suffer from bad luck or to suffer illness.


• Weather magic: By invoking the names given to the winds and the clouds by the Skies themselves, Myira can call down rain and call up mighty winds almost on the level of a hurricane. This takes time, preparation, and materials which she must find herself and are not always available.


• Weather knowledge: Myira knows what it means when the wind shifts and the temperature drops. A bit like a human (or avian, rather) barometer, she always seems to know when it's about to rain or when the weather is going to take a turn thanks to her attunement with and knowledge of the wind and weather patterns


• Generally Pretty Sharp: Myira, despite not being well-versed in human customs/ideas/society, is still a sharp, intelligent creature who knows her own areas of expertise quite well and can pick up on other subjects if she puts her mind to it. The question is whether she will.

Suggested Nerfs

Myira and her magic best fit into the slot of the "hedge mage" or "witch." Specifically, she would become a shapeshifter. Her human form would become her default body and she would only be able to transform into her raven form within the limitations of that specialty. In order to prevent her from simply hanging out as a raven 24/7, I would suggest that she be given a time limit of some sort--staying in her raven form longer than 4 hours is possible for her, but is difficult and exhausting when she finally switches back to her human body, and must then spend at least 12 hours as a human in order to regain her strength.

Her other magical abilities would be basically unchanged for the most part, though her weather magic might be harder for her to perform and while she can manipulate the weather, she is unable to call up serious thunderstorms or hurricane force winds as she might have been able to back home.

Arrival Inventory

Regardless of whether she keeps her shape-shifting abilities, Myira will arrive without a lick of clothing except a long cloak that reaches almost to her ankles made of black feathers.

'Human'ization

In her normal body, Myira is an apparently normal raven in all respects. Arriving through the rift she will take on her human form: a bronze-skinned girl with an aquiline nose, messy dark hair, and a tattoo across her back and shoulders of a pair of feathered wings. This is done in intricate style, if someone had this tattoo done it would have been a long, painful process. An image can be found here (Slightly NSFW because sideboob).

Fit

I'd like to kind of dig into what it's like for Myira to really have to adapt herself to living in a human society without much of an option of NOT being in it. Alienation, frustration at not having her powers, integration, romantic and platonic connections with the others and generally exploring the world of Thedas.

SAMPLES

Sample 1
Sample 2