EffYank Posted Sunday at 00:50 Posted Sunday at 00:50 BYOND Ckey: EY Discord username: @effyank | EfficientBiesellite Character names: Anastasiya Ismat, Beatriz Santana, Niqqi Iiliskk were among my most prominent and personally beloved characters. Species you are applying to play: Unathi ------------------------------ General Whitelist Requirements What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: Tza Cold-Red | #541C1C Have you read the lore pages for the species you wish to be whitelisted for?: Yesss. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question. Why do you wish to play this species?: I’d always been drawn to Unathi — their ostensible warring nature, monarchical caste-adjacent esoteric culture had its claws in me since I've set my eyes on them, but at some point I have deemed their lore too intimidating to start reading, postponing actually getting into it indefinitely — until recently, when my creative draught had somewhat waned and I wanted to try for someone radically different from my usual and most comfortable characters. As I read along, I couldn't help but start one doc after another, with a million ideas on how to play on the billion different facets of what comprised sinta life. What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: A lot! Mainly, their focus on their religion, how their society structured – from the the quasi-gender Trinary to clan dynamics and hierarchies, the guilds' interplay with them — all had enamoured me in a special way during the reading. That is not to mention the vast biological differences and their implication and how they inform the decisions they make, nor the scarred history and Hephaestus' undisentangleable role from the contemporary lore. ------------------------------ Character Application Character Name: Khed'lyssan Zhadmo Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon. Khed’lyssan of Clan Zhadmo’s story began earlier yet than his hatching amid the Contact War. Historically, Clan Zhadmo enjoyed a fairly cushioned place in Tzonia’s life, having long laid a scantily contested claim on a particular peak dubbed “Ilzhsstar’s Twins”, as well as overseeing a surmountable portion of the city’s seafaring trade, marine transport and having a solid foothold in several allied clans’ fisheries. Even before the Firebrand Summit’s conclusion, as soon as intentions of the nations, that would ally themselves into the Traditionalist Coalition, were made clear and preparations underway — Clan Zhadmo’s logistical prowess secured its members’ place farther from direct combat, while maintaining such a critical position in times of war. On such a front leg, Clan Leader Chlissk Zhadmo — Khed’lyss’ father-to-be had tethered a lesser, but nonetheless prominent and up-and-coming Clan Zhek’thnari into an alliance by marital bonds. Well over a year of warring in, the clan grew wider, as its spearhead didn’t fall behind, with a female that would be Khed’lyssan (christened partly so, after one of the previous Saa leaders of the Clan, believed to be particularly tempered and fruitful in his pursuits) eventually hatching — among two other males, of a healthy clutch of three, as the year 2444 came to a close. As per the Tza Basin’s tradition, Khed’lyssan in his earlier years strode in Chlissk’s steps, observing the somewhat mysterious, yet important work of a Clan Leader; Khed’lyssan’s siblings were raised by the Chlissk’s spouse — once-Zhek’thnari Kazhi’tek. The following two years consisted mainly of that: as many of Tzonia’s clans thinned, not for their unimportance in the city’s life, Clan Zhadmo secured many beneficient alliances with other clans, having to do with matters from power generation to fishmongering and even imposing taxation. Luckily for his sire, Khed’lyssan showed great interest in the art of leadership from a young age. When the monumental year of 2446 came, however, along with the news of the Praire King Hutay’zai’s death came a decisive change of guard, in all the senses — as the new King bent the knee to the Karszekani, the others were expected to follow suit. And while the most, famished by the Contact War’s worst excesses and the insurmountable loss of their kin, did so unwaveringly, some remained steadfast in their alleigances and beliefs. Thus, marking Khed’lyssan’s third year at life, in a precedent-setting time in Unathi history, so were Zhdamo entrusted to fill a power vacuum formed — Chlissk Zhadmo was appointed Clan Lord and subsequently granted a seat at the Closed Council of Tzonia as an incidental Lord of the Waves, both of which he accepted with grace. Three years after the Contact War came to a close, in 2452, Khed’lyssan and his siblings had had their Hatchling’s Annointment at last, him marking it by getting to negotiate a contract on Clan Zhadmo’s behalf and seeing to a resolution of several, pettier disputes of lesser Clan Leaders — overwatched by his sire, and yet undertaken mostly by him alone, a venture that had seen his excitement fulfilled and then-slight pride — stoked. Following that, Khed’lyssan was not only taken under the wing of the Clan Elder, who was in truth, a confidant of Chlissk and a past Th’akhan shaman not much older than himself, entrusted to co-raise the heir presumptive, but also a combat mentor — one of Khed’lyssan’s earliest and most incessant wishes. As Khed’lyssan continued to grow of age, so too, did his impatient excitement at reaching adulthood — a trait noted by his carer as undesirable and a sign of an ill spirit having attached itself after him. A trait, which later bloomed into sparks of pridefulness, evident lack of temperance and at worst — unadulterated folly and fickleness. Eventually, at the age of 12, a difficult, but not insuperable Penitent Journey was decided to take place, to temper and ground Khed’lyssan. However, he completed the summit not only largely unchanged, but even more fuller of himself than before. It was then, when Chlissk first started to even consider Khed’lyssan’s siblings as more suited to lead in accord with the Clan’s ideals rather than the child that he sired himself. Still, a hope that such qualities were only a passing matter, prevailed, while, with the completion of the Penitent Journey, Khed’lyssan had proceeded with school, for him, however, in a less common fashion — having to attend it as often as the peasantry, even though devoted to higher intellectual pursuits, while keeping at his training with interchanging combat mentors. Sensing a slight disdain from both his parents, siblings, and mentors — even if only on an unconscious level, rather than willingly entertaining the possibility, the teen Khed’lyssan’s motivation both academic and martial started to wane while his vices started to take his grip over him. As the young Khed’lyssan reached 15 years of age, the Trials of Riz’dabari took place, from which Khed’lyssan returned majorly wounded, after he attempted — and succeeded at taking a wounded, albeit armored Punished with his bare claws, discarding his weapons into the sand. Home, he was met with scorn, seeing as he was ready to risk the Zhadmo successor’s life to secure vain glory. While scant anything was mentioned of this incident the months after, it was well-ingrained into Clan Lord Chlissk’s mind, as he looked to his other, two Kaa-apparent children to secure the succession. At the completion of his and his siblings’ Ascendant summit, Khed’lyssan, already having the prior summit experience, as well as high expectation on the Clan Lord’s childer, not to mention the technological upper hand, having managed to successfully undertake it by the first try, was met at the foot of the mountain with an ultimatum — either be wed into a lesser clan as a Kaa, presented with an already-perpared contract and serve the Zhadmo thus, or, relinquish the claim to the Clan Lord’s title willingly and go on to “seek glory to our clan’s name elsewhere”, both being wee short of a full exile. And so, Khed’lyssan’s first act as an adult was to take the latter part of the poposal literally, and took it through the mountains and the Moghresian Sea’s coast to pledge himself to the Karszekan, having presented it as a call of his Guiding zo'zyola persistent ever since him being a hatchling — but truly intending to fully spite his sire by applying his woefully underappreciated talent in Skalamar. As a Zo’saa, Khed’lyssan’s next 3 years life were comprised mostly challenges of increasing difficulty, earning most of his wage up until 2464 by collecting bounties, warding off raiding Gawgaryn among other humbling activities — having started out roughly, bouncing from fortress to hold, until remaining at Camp Integrity. As the scars along with the time spent in the radioactive sands piled up, his youthful arrogance had not as much disappeared, as it changed and matured with him — it being just as stubborn as he is. Fourth year into the endeavor, two years as he has been signed as a guildsman of the Fighter’s Lodge — a staunch air of regret started to materialize about him. Still, beholden to his former ideals, he couldn’t allow himself to come back, largely empty-handed. With set goals remaning the same, he decided to reach them another way — leave the Wasteland in lieu of taking to the stars, as many other Zo’saa — even more experienced ones, have. Since early 2465, for nigh 4 years he had been away, he has been signed with Ringspire, the Lodge acting as a proxy. The acclimatisation had, surprisingly even for Khed’lyssan himself, fared relatively smoothly, with him treating the Internship as another mountain to summit. Not having carved his name into this mountain quite yet, he’s accustomed himself to the wider Spur enough to please the Ringspire’s paying clientele in face of the SCC’s flagship, continuing in his trend of moving the needle in spite of his collaboration still remaining unseen. How has the recent events of the Orion Spur impacted your character? Events such as the Phoron Scarcity, the Solarian Collapse or even the Invasions of Biesel for interstellar-wide affairs, while region-specific events such as the Peacekeeper Mandate, The Titan Rises or even Cold Dawn may impact your character. Khed’lyssan had from a young age drove the conclusion that wherever there is conflict, there is a side to be on, to either profit or minimize the losses. A tenet inegral to the Tza Basin’s history, he took it to heart, not overly emburdened by morals and bolstered by his employer further at that. The happenings since 2465 had seen Khed’lyssan’s broader views placated. Even Hephaestus, which he had in younger years eyed with a generous amount of suspicion, started to get appreciated by him, along with the Nralakk Federation and their eager attempts to mend the relationship between the two species. How does your character view the megacorporation they work for? Khed’lyssan views most of Ringspire as worthy to butt heads with — that is to say, cordially. While viewing the work as not the most noble, he’s deemed his talents appreciated well enough and the deployments — just chequered enough to sate his tastes. Perhaps unwittingly to him, but Ringspire managed to instill in him a part of the values that his Clan had tried — and largely failed to, in its own Ringspire way. That being said, Khed’lyssan longs for the day that he, now without much, if any snark — may come home and be met keenly and with a warm welcome, a wish known and kept only to himself, however.
evandorf Posted Monday at 18:11 Posted Monday at 18:11 Hello, and thanks for applying! Your app is pretty solid and I appreciate the fact that your character’s clan leaders chose to avoid him for characteristics that often play into unathi stereotypes. You mention it briefly, but I’m curious how his time in Ringspire changed him where his mentors failed. You also mentioned his clan was mostly Th’akh, with one of his mentors having been a shaman. How has the transition to Skalamar and a Sk’akh prominent culture affected him?
EffYank Posted Monday at 21:17 Author Posted Monday at 21:17 3 hours ago, evandorf said: I appreciate the fact that your character’s clan leaders chose to avoid him for characteristics that often play into unathi stereotypes. Exactly! I think it might be worth to mention that I intended for Khed’lyssan’s story to be one of re-discovery. How the challenges that both Moghes and life after his departure presented him, made him both – look back on the beliefs that Tza culture tried to instill on him, and see his own values reshaped and transformed. At the present point in Khed'lyssan's story, I feel like he himself would only just have started to consider just how much exactly his own beliefs and personality changed, and in what way. With regard to Ringspire, I feel like it would have been a continuation of an ongoing change since his leave to Skalamar; Though the sinta there may be closer to what he himself would be able to resonate with more directly — seeing the hardships of the world: beginning with his ventures in the Wasteland, and continuing past him treading into the most foreign territory, the outer Spur; attaining experience in dealing with other cultures (on his own terms — being more mature himself as well as Ringspire featuring more fiery spirits akin to himself, which would have helped with the transition) — would see his genuine, yet juvenile ambish transform into something more akin to philotimio, along with having him place more import on the values of grit and determination — something that wasn’t as much taught to him past the move to Eridani, but the absolute necessity of which was demonstrated to him by experience. 3 hours ago, evandorf said: You also mentioned his clan was mostly Th’akh, with one of his mentors having been a shaman. How has the transition to Skalamar and a Sk’akh prominent culture affected him? Being as boneheaded as he was, I imagine Khed’lyssan coming into a culture that looked down upon the beliefs he held as axiomatic, and which was a major source of his own self-confidence was not without pain. Certainly, the difference further fuelled any conflict and disagreement that may have risen, but with time, Khed’lyssan had stopped trying to bash those that viewed him with spite just on the fact of his beliefs alone, rather keeping to Th’akh by himself, where he was in clear minority. It would have been one of his more important lessons in acceptance, strengthened in his later tidings by Th’akh being generally more tolerant, in many aspects that are useful to keep to in the broader Spur.
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