@Balthazar007 What are the means of transport that Mutrenu people have access to? Planes, ships, etc I assume exist. Are more mystical means, like teleportation portals etc also available?
Appearance: In her humanoid form, Zara is a reptile beast-folk with pitch onyx scales that shimmer in the light. These scales start from the top of her hands and extend up all the way to her shoulders, chest, back, and shoulder-blades, seamlessly transitioning into a slender, dark-skinned, toned and athletic torso that stands at a respectable 5'6". As for her legs, her scales start from somewhere in the middle of her calves, extending all the way to her pelvis. On her face she has bright, snake-like citrine eyes that sparkle with a degree of intelligence and curiosity not necessarily found in her fellow reptile brethren, who are known for their more cunning ways. Zara has long, black hair that she keeps braided and tied back with a leather cord.
In terms of wardrobe, Zara favors practical, comfortable clothing that allows her to move freely. She typically wears a black leather jacket and jeans, along with a pair of sturdy boots. She carries a dagger/knife blade sheathed and clipped onto her belt, and has a small satchel filled with useful items like a map, a compass, and some basic medical supplies. She also wears a number of small charms and trinkets around her neck, each one representing a different adventure or accomplishment. Overall, Zara's wardrobe reflects her adventurous and independent spirit.
In her beast form, Zara's body becomes long and slender, taking on the appearance of a black mamba snake. Her pitch onyx scales become even darker and more iridescent, allowing her to blend into her surroundings and avoid detection. Her citrine eyes remain bright and piercing, giving her excellent vision and allowing her to spot potential prey or threats from a distance.
In this form, Zara's black hair sheds off, leaving her with a smooth, glossy snakeskin under her scales. She also regains her long, prehensile forked tongue that she can use to taste the air and detect the presence of potential prey or threats. Her head becomes elongated and pointed, with sharp fangs that can inject highly potent and lethal venom into her prey.
Key Items:
Her dagger, which is a relic of her time in the fighting pits. It was given to her as a reward for exceptional performance. It is made of a peculiarly strong and hard metal, keeping its sharpness despite the wear and tear of time.
TBA
Crystal: N/A
Current Location: D9 Stallo City. Currently getting ready to leave with the merchant family for Sutisu. Current Status: Active.
Race: Beastfolk: Black Mamba Allegiance(s):
Primary: Rakssarak
Secondary: Poison Fang Tribe
Tertiary: Her 'employer'.
Age: She looks like a 25 year old female in her human form. Gender: Female Occupation: Bodyguard Personality:
Zara is a curious and adventurous reptile beast-folk, who is always eager to explore new places and experience new things. She is intelligent and resourceful, with a quick mind and a strong sense of self-reliance. She is also confident and self-assured, with a strong sense of independence and a willingness to take risks.
However, this readiness to take risks can also backfire, making her reckless, impulsive, and at times prone to act on instinct and intuition rather than careful planning and consideration. This can lead her to make rash decisions or take unnecessary risks, which can sometimes backfire and put her in danger. She can also be stubborn and headstrong, refusing to back down or change her mind even when faced with evidence to the contrary. This can make her difficult to reason with or persuade, and can lead to conflicts with others.
Furthermore, unlike many of her fellow reptile beast-folk, Zara is not fond of the constant state of war and conflict that plagues her homeland. She believes that there are better ways to solve disputes and achieve goals, and is often at odds with those who favor cunning, backstabbing and generally stealthy tactics. As a result, she is often distanced from her more traditional brethren, who view her as a traitor or a weakling. Despite this, Zara remains fiercely loyal to her people and her heritage, and takes pride in her reptile ancestry.
Biography:
Zara was born and raised in the remote, wild, swampy lands of Rakssarak (pronounced rahk-sah-rahk in the native tongue of the Poison Fang Tribe, Ssarik (pronounced sah-rik)). Meaning "the land of the serpent", the native name of Zara's homeland is indicative of the fact that 98% of the population living there consists of reptiles and reptilian beast-folk. The name is often used as a term of pride and respect by the inhabitants of Rakssarak, who view their homeland as a sacred and protected place. It is also used as a rallying cry or a battle cry by those who would defend Rakssarak from outside threats – those few, rare times, of course, that the reptile beast-folk would put aside their differences, coming together to fend off outside threats.
From early age, Zara was known for her intelligence and her curiosity, always eager to explore the world around her and to learn new things. She also possessed a strong sense of independence and self-reliance (an instinct drawn from her reptilian heritage), and was not afraid to venture out on her own or to take risks. As she grew older, Zara became increasingly aware of the war and conflict that plagued her people. The Bloody Divide, as it is more widely known amongst the humans that make it their battlefield, had not been an easy place to grow up in.
She saw firsthand the destruction and the suffering caused by the ongoing battles between the different factions of her kind, and she began to question the wisdom of this constant state of war. She also became aware of the outside forces, namely Sutisu and Riotifu, that were, no doubt, manipulating and exploiting her people, and using them as proxy soldiers in their ongoing generational conflict. This constant aggression from two fronts quickly wore her down both mentally and physically, and by the time she entered her late teens, she'd had enough. Had it not been for one fateful event, she would have left her homeland on her own at some point.
Zara had been out, trekking the deep marshes of her homeland in a bid to train her body. Just as she was taking a break from exercise, her eyes caught smoke rising up high above the forest canopy. Having practically made those swamps her turf, she'd instantly known that the direction the smoke was coming from had been where her village had been located at. This sent her mind racing, and she'd instantly bolted for her home, only to find one thing upon arrival: chaos.
Homes burning, voices crying for help, and the pained moans of the injured had pierced her eyes, ears and heart, all in in equal measure. Her village had been under surprise attack from a much larger force vying for territory, which spelt certain doom for her and the rest of the villagers. Conquest usually means that everything would be razed, and everyone would be either killed or captured for labor. Usually, the logical thing to do when one is faced with such a predicament is to flee. Unfortunately for Zara, she had not - and still isn't - that much of a forward thinker. Ergo, she had dived straight into the fight.
Now a question: what happens when a hormonal teenager, barely past adulthood, that is determined to defend their home, stands up to a flood of raving invaders looking to conquer them? If your answer was a mountain of corpses right in the middle of the town square, then you would be correct. By the time Zara collapsed from exhaustion and summarily captured, she had killed more than 50 grown-ass lizard-men. The commander of the army, impressed by her performance, decided to spare her life in favor of selling her off as a combat slave.
For most of the following four days, she had been pumped full of tranquilizing venom - more than enough to exceed whatever level of resistance her species provided her with - and shipped off inside a crate to the Mutrenu Continent, eventually finding herself inside one of the most well known underground fighting arenas. Zara fought as a gladiatrix for the better part of four years, beating opponent after opponent under the promise that, were she to accrue enough wins, she would be eventually freed.
Her actual freedom, however, came about not when she'd fulfilled this number. On the contrary, it had only come when said underground arena was raided by the Mutrenan authorities. The ringleaders were arrested, and all the, then, active group of fighters - constantly vying for dominance within their own little, isolated world - suddenly found themselves with no money, no purpose, and no connections, dumped into a society that had replaced human labor with robot labor.
It took some time for Zara to adjust to this new life, however a person of her skill-set would never go unnoticed for long, wherever in the world she might find herself in. A protection gig fell right into her alley when a rich, yet insufferable, Mutrenan merchant hired her as his family's bodyguard during their little winter vacation trip to the northern hemisphere.
Name: Ssarik (pronounced sah-rik) Description:
It is a serpentine language, with a hissing, sibilant sound to it. It uses a complex system of clicks and tongue-flicking to convey different meanings and nuances in its spoken form, while it is written using a series of intricate, flowing symbols. Spoken Ssarik sounds different depending on whether the person speaking it is in their humanoid or beast form. In the beast form, it sounds more or less like how it was described above, however the physical differences between the two forms affect the way the language is produced.
This means that humanoid reptilians speaking their native language end up sounding quite different to non-native speakers. The clicks and tongue-flicks that are a crucial part of the Ssarik language are difficult or impossible to produce in human form, as the mouth and tongue are not as flexible or as agile as in beast form. As a result, the spoken language sounds more muted and less rhythmic when spoken by a reptile beast-folk in human form.
Additionally, the hissing and sibilant sounds of the language become harder to produce in human form, as the mouth and throat are not as well-suited to it. As a result, the language ends up sounding more guttural and less snake-like. Despite these differences, Ssarik spoken in this way is still recognizable by other reptilians as the same language, as the basic grammar and vocabulary remain the same. The spoken language simply sounds somewhat different, depending on the speaker's form.
The Ssarik alphabet contains all the standard 26 letters of the English alphabet, as well as four additional letters (Ss, Tt, Uu, and Vv) that are used to represent the unique clicks and tongue-flicks of the Ssarik language. The letters Ww, Xx, Yy, and Zz are also used in the Ssarik alphabet, but are pronounced differently than in English, reflecting the unique sounds and rhythms of the Ssarik language.
For example, the phrase "Hello there, I am named Zara" would be translated as "Ssarak issa, Zara naissarik." This would be pronounced as sah-rahk iss-ah, zah-rah naiss-ah-rik. While the phrase "The weather is cloudy today, I should take an umbrella with me." would be translated as "Rakssarak issa ttakkak, issa rrissarak uulissarik." This would be pronounced as rahk-sah-rahk iss-ah ttak-ak, iss-ah rris-ah-rahk oo-liss-ah-rik.
Inventory
Coins: 45000
Backpack with extra clothes & Mutrenan energy packs for sustenance on long journeys.
Her employment papers, although she is not terribly attached to them.
Non-Magical Abilities:
Strength, Agility & Dexterity several levels above a normal reptilian beast-folk. Especially her reaction speed, which on top of being honed by herself during combat, had already inherently been leagues above a human's, mainly due to her being a snake beast-folk.
Deadly venom in her fangs and nails, which she can turn into scaled claws. Titular characteristic - 2 drops can kill an adult human should they have no antidote or magical resistance to said venom. Nothing more to say here.
Possesses the ability to detect infrared radiation, enabling her to create a thermal image of the world. this means that she can differentiate between living and non-living things in the dark, effectively giving her night vision. This is done through the pit organs: special membranes contained in two, tiny holes situated on her face, next to her nostrils.
Magical Abilities:
Multiple transformations. Zara has trained herself to be able to transform into more than one form. Anything from turning her head into that of snake while keeping her body a human, to turning only her lower body to that of a snake, to even turning her arms into snakes that can snap at or constrict around her enemies according to her will.
Berserk rage. She can rapidly burn her magical reserves, gaining a massive boost to her physical abilities for a short while. This puts an immense strain on her body, and she is left incapacitated for some time after the duration has run out.
If I'm being honest... your character, Zara.... well... let's put it this way. It's fucking brilliant mate! That being said, if anyone else is reading this, do not think that you have to go into nearly as much detail as @Vec here did. If you do however, this is the way to do it, using hiders to masterfully shorten your post into bite sized chunks.
I'm going to say, as a traveling bodyguard, you can start her off with anywhere between 30,000 coins to 60,000 coins. Depending on how she's been spending her money over the years.
I am glad you like her. Do you have any feedback on the power-level of her abilities? I don't want to make her too powerful just as we are starting out.
Appearance: In her humanoid form, Zara is a reptile beast-folk with pitch onyx scales that shimmer in the light. These scales start from the top of her hands and extend up all the way to her shoulders, chest, back, and shoulder-blades, seamlessly transitioning into a slender, dark-skinned, toned and athletic torso that stands at a respectable 5'6". As for her legs, her scales start from somewhere in the middle of her calves, extending all the way to her pelvis. On her face she has bright, snake-like citrine eyes that sparkle with a degree of intelligence and curiosity not necessarily found in her fellow reptile brethren, who are known for their more cunning ways. Zara has long, black hair that she keeps braided and tied back with a leather cord.
In terms of wardrobe, Zara favors practical, comfortable clothing that allows her to move freely. She typically wears a black leather jacket and jeans, along with a pair of sturdy boots. She carries a dagger/knife blade sheathed and clipped onto her belt, and has a small satchel filled with useful items like a map, a compass, and some basic medical supplies. She also wears a number of small charms and trinkets around her neck, each one representing a different adventure or accomplishment. Overall, Zara's wardrobe reflects her adventurous and independent spirit.
In her beast form, Zara's body becomes long and slender, taking on the appearance of a black mamba snake. Her pitch onyx scales become even darker and more iridescent, allowing her to blend into her surroundings and avoid detection. Her citrine eyes remain bright and piercing, giving her excellent vision and allowing her to spot potential prey or threats from a distance.
In this form, Zara's black hair sheds off, leaving her with a smooth, glossy snakeskin under her scales. She also regains her long, prehensile forked tongue that she can use to taste the air and detect the presence of potential prey or threats. Her head becomes elongated and pointed, with sharp fangs that can inject highly potent and lethal venom into her prey.
Key Items:
Her dagger, which is a relic of her time in the fighting pits. It was given to her as a reward for exceptional performance. It is made of a peculiarly strong and hard metal, keeping its sharpness despite the wear and tear of time.
TBA
Crystal: N/A
Current Location: D9 Stallo City. Currently getting ready to leave with the merchant family for Sutisu. Current Status: Active.
Race: Beastfolk: Black Mamba Allegiance(s):
Primary: Rakssarak
Secondary: Poison Fang Tribe
Tertiary: Her 'employer'.
Age: She looks like a 25 year old female in her human form. Gender: Female Occupation: Bodyguard Personality:
Zara is a curious and adventurous reptile beast-folk, who is always eager to explore new places and experience new things. She is intelligent and resourceful, with a quick mind and a strong sense of self-reliance. She is also confident and self-assured, with a strong sense of independence and a willingness to take risks.
However, this readiness to take risks can also backfire, making her reckless, impulsive, and at times prone to act on instinct and intuition rather than careful planning and consideration. This can lead her to make rash decisions or take unnecessary risks, which can sometimes backfire and put her in danger. She can also be stubborn and headstrong, refusing to back down or change her mind even when faced with evidence to the contrary. This can make her difficult to reason with or persuade, and can lead to conflicts with others.
Furthermore, unlike many of her fellow reptile beast-folk, Zara is not fond of the constant state of war and conflict that plagues her homeland. She believes that there are better ways to solve disputes and achieve goals, and is often at odds with those who favor cunning, backstabbing and generally stealthy tactics. As a result, she is often distanced from her more traditional brethren, who view her as a traitor or a weakling. Despite this, Zara remains fiercely loyal to her people and her heritage, and takes pride in her reptile ancestry.
Biography:
Zara was born and raised in the remote, wild, swampy lands of Rakssarak (pronounced rahk-sah-rahk in the native tongue of the Poison Fang Tribe, Ssarik (pronounced sah-rik)). Meaning "the land of the serpent", the native name of Zara's homeland is indicative of the fact that 98% of the population living there consists of reptiles and reptilian beast-folk. The name is often used as a term of pride and respect by the inhabitants of Rakssarak, who view their homeland as a sacred and protected place. It is also used as a rallying cry or a battle cry by those who would defend Rakssarak from outside threats – those few, rare times, of course, that the reptile beast-folk would put aside their differences, coming together to fend off outside threats.
From early age, Zara was known for her intelligence and her curiosity, always eager to explore the world around her and to learn new things. She also possessed a strong sense of independence and self-reliance (an instinct drawn from her reptilian heritage), and was not afraid to venture out on her own or to take risks. As she grew older, Zara became increasingly aware of the war and conflict that plagued her people. The Bloody Divide, as it is more widely known amongst the humans that make it their battlefield, had not been an easy place to grow up in.
She saw firsthand the destruction and the suffering caused by the ongoing battles between the different factions of her kind, and she began to question the wisdom of this constant state of war. She also became aware of the outside forces, namely Sutisu and Riotifu, that were, no doubt, manipulating and exploiting her people, and using them as proxy soldiers in their ongoing generational conflict. This constant aggression from two fronts quickly wore her down both mentally and physically, and by the time she entered her late teens, she'd had enough. Had it not been for one fateful event, she would have left her homeland on her own at some point.
Zara had been out, trekking the deep marshes of her homeland in a bid to train her body. Just as she was taking a break from exercise, her eyes caught smoke rising up high above the forest canopy. Having practically made those swamps her turf, she'd instantly known that the direction the smoke was coming from had been where her village had been located at. This sent her mind racing, and she'd instantly bolted for her home, only to find one thing upon arrival: chaos.
Homes burning, voices crying for help, and the pained moans of the injured had pierced her eyes, ears and heart, all in in equal measure. Her village had been under surprise attack from a much larger force vying for territory, which spelt certain doom for her and the rest of the villagers. Conquest usually means that everything would be razed, and everyone would be either killed or captured for labor. Usually, the logical thing to do when one is faced with such a predicament is to flee. Unfortunately for Zara, she had not - and still isn't - that much of a forward thinker. Ergo, she had dived straight into the fight.
Now a question: what happens when a hormonal teenager, barely past adulthood, that is determined to defend their home, stands up to a flood of raving invaders looking to conquer them? If your answer was a mountain of corpses right in the middle of the town square, then you would be correct. By the time Zara collapsed from exhaustion and summarily captured, she had killed more than 50 grown-ass lizard-men. The commander of the army, impressed by her performance, decided to spare her life in favor of selling her off as a combat slave.
For most of the following four days, she had been pumped full of tranquilizing venom - more than enough to exceed whatever level of resistance her species provided her with - and shipped off inside a crate to the Mutrenu Continent, eventually finding herself inside one of the most well known underground fighting arenas. Zara fought as a gladiatrix for the better part of four years, beating opponent after opponent under the promise that, were she to accrue enough wins, she would be eventually freed.
Her actual freedom, however, came about not when she'd fulfilled this number. On the contrary, it had only come when said underground arena was raided by the Mutrenan authorities. The ringleaders were arrested, and all the, then, active group of fighters - constantly vying for dominance within their own little, isolated world - suddenly found themselves with no money, no purpose, and no connections, dumped into a society that had replaced human labor with robot labor.
It took some time for Zara to adjust to this new life, however a person of her skill-set would never go unnoticed for long, wherever in the world she might find herself in. A protection gig fell right into her alley when a rich, yet insufferable, Mutrenan merchant hired her as his family's bodyguard during their little winter vacation trip to the northern hemisphere.
Name: Ssarik (pronounced sah-rik) Description:
It is a serpentine language, with a hissing, sibilant sound to it. It uses a complex system of clicks and tongue-flicking to convey different meanings and nuances in its spoken form, while it is written using a series of intricate, flowing symbols. Spoken Ssarik sounds different depending on whether the person speaking it is in their humanoid or beast form. In the beast form, it sounds more or less like how it was described above, however the physical differences between the two forms affect the way the language is produced.
This means that humanoid reptilians speaking their native language end up sounding quite different to non-native speakers. The clicks and tongue-flicks that are a crucial part of the Ssarik language are difficult or impossible to produce in human form, as the mouth and tongue are not as flexible or as agile as in beast form. As a result, the spoken language sounds more muted and less rhythmic when spoken by a reptile beast-folk in human form.
Additionally, the hissing and sibilant sounds of the language become harder to produce in human form, as the mouth and throat are not as well-suited to it. As a result, the language ends up sounding more guttural and less snake-like. Despite these differences, Ssarik spoken in this way is still recognizable by other reptilians as the same language, as the basic grammar and vocabulary remain the same. The spoken language simply sounds somewhat different, depending on the speaker's form.
The Ssarik alphabet contains all the standard 26 letters of the English alphabet, as well as four additional letters (Ss, Tt, Uu, and Vv) that are used to represent the unique clicks and tongue-flicks of the Ssarik language. The letters Ww, Xx, Yy, and Zz are also used in the Ssarik alphabet, but are pronounced differently than in English, reflecting the unique sounds and rhythms of the Ssarik language.
For example, the phrase "Hello there, I am named Zara" would be translated as "Ssarak issa, Zara naissarik." This would be pronounced as sah-rahk iss-ah, zah-rah naiss-ah-rik. While the phrase "The weather is cloudy today, I should take an umbrella with me." would be translated as "Rakssarak issa ttakkak, issa rrissarak uulissarik." This would be pronounced as rahk-sah-rahk iss-ah ttak-ak, iss-ah rris-ah-rahk oo-liss-ah-rik.
Inventory
Coins: ?
Backpack with extra clothes & Mutrenan energy packs for sustenance on long journeys.
Her employment papers, although she is not terribly attached to them.
Non-Magical Abilities:
Strength, Agility & Dexterity several levels above a normal reptilian beast-folk. Especially her reaction speed, which on top of being honed by herself during combat, had already inherently been leagues above a human's, mainly due to her being a snake beast-folk.
Deadly venom in her fangs and nails, which she can turn into scaled claws. Titular characteristic - 2 drops can kill an adult human should they have no antidote or magical resistance to said venom. Nothing more to say here.
Possesses the ability to detect infrared radiation, enabling her to create a thermal image of the world. this means that she can differentiate between living and non-living things in the dark, effectively giving her night vision. This is done through the pit organs: special membranes contained in two, tiny holes situated on her face, next to her nostrils.
Magical Abilities:
Multiple transformations. Zara has trained herself to be able to transform into more than one form. Anything from turning her head into that of snake while keeping her body a human, to turning only her lower body to that of a snake, to even turning her arms into snakes that can snap at or constrict around her enemies according to her will.
Berserk rage. She can rapidly burn her magical reserves, gaining a massive boost to her physical abilities for a short while. This puts an immense strain on her body, and she is left incapacitated for some time after the duration has run out.
@Balthazar007 Good stuff. On a different note, what is the sentiment around beast-men among the human population? Do they view them as equals or is there discrimination? Outright slavery (captured in the war/conquest) is a thing?
@Balthazar007 Interesting. How much in contact with the advanced civilizations are they? Do they have modern conveniences/technology or are they literally a tribal society that are completely isolated?
Just as humans grow and change with time, interests change as well. I wish I had the urge to roleplay like I used to...
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Just as humans grow and change with time, interests change as well. I wish I had the urge to roleplay like I used to...</div>
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