Istas (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
laceandcarnage) wrote2015-08-20 10:07 am
laceandcarnage) wrote2015-08-20 10:07 am
Entry tags:
Synodiporia - Application
P L A Y E R;
NAME: Blue
AGE: over 18
PLAYER JOURNAL:blue_rampion
TIMEZONE: UTC +10
CONTACT: blue[dot]rampion[at]gmail[dot]com |![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
blueflowers
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: Matthew Swift (being switched out for Istas)
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Istas
CANON: Seanan McGuire's InCryptid novels
POINT IN CANON: After the short story "White as a Raven's Wing" (which is set after several other short stories and the book "Midnight Blue-Light Special")
AGE: Mid to late 20s
APPEARANCE:
As a shapeshifter, Istas has two forms. Her humanoid form appears as a chubby Native Canadian of average height. With the exception of teeth that are much too sharp, in this form Istas appears to be completely human. She also dresses exclusively in Gothic Lolita clothing, and is always immaculately presented.
In her beastly form however, she appears as a ten-foot tall wolf-bear. In overall shape she is closer to a wolf, but she has a grizzly bear's size and flexible paws. Strictly speaking, while she spends most of her time in human form this is actually her 'default' form.
CANON HISTORY:
Istas was born high in the Canadian tundra, in the middle of a litter of five. But as Waheela, and in order to survive, she and her brothers had to eat her eldest sibling, and the smallest of them also did not live.
As she grew older, Istas desired to leave the brutal world of the Waheela, where hunger is constant and family members are considered a source of food. Helped by her aunt Miali, who lived among humans, Istas reshaped herself into someone who might be able to live in civilization, and escape to journey across the continent to New York.
There, she got a job waiting tables at the extremely unclassy club, "Dave's Fish and Strips", where the owner was a boogeyman and many other cryptids worked. Later Istas tagged along to her coworker Verity's battle against a snake cult which had been kidnapping and ritually killing cryptids to try and control a dragon. In the process, their employer Dave betrayed them and they were nearly sacrificed themselves before they fought back, saving themselves and the dragon. Istas also struck up a bond with her coworker Ryan, who came to help them during the battle.
Some time after that, when Dave's bar was now Kitty's "The Freakshow" (still unclassy, but without the stripping), Istas again joined in on Verity's battles when the Covernant (a religious order dedicated to wiping out cryptids) came into town. For a time she and Ryan had hidden from the Covenant with Verity and others, but when Verity was captured by the Covenant Istas helped to rescue her.
Later, when Ryan proposed to her, she decided that she needed to resolve her long abandoned family issues. Waheela custom dictated families were ruled by a mated pair - and when female died, the next eldest would replace them. With Istas's mother dead, by this custom her father was now her husband. So that she would be free to marry Ryan, she returned to Canada and killed her father.
CANON PERSONALITY:
The first thing to know about Istas is that she isn't human. And more than that, she's a predator. Her ways of thinking are very different from a human's, and so are her behaviours. From her, a smile is not a friendly gesture. When she insists on eye contact with you, that's when you should be worried - as a predator, from her eye contact means that she is assessing you as a potential threat. It's when she doesn't feel the need to constantly watch you that you know that she's in fact comfortable with you.
Like most Waheela, Istas isn't particularly comfortable with interpersonal interaction. But unlike other Waheela, Istas does actually make an effort. Compared to the rest of her species, she's practically a social butterfly - sometimes, she can not only talk to six people in a day, but do so without murdering them. But while Istas might be the most chill Waheela ever, compared to a human her social skills are notably lacking. If she says something that sounds sarcastic, it isn't. Her form of speaking is highly formal (when she's not just grunting or growling at you). She can react in odd ways to new and strange things sometimes, being rather resistant to things that "should not exist" before developing into curiosity. And, the frequent threats of violence tend to be rather unsettling for humans. Of course, those threats are genuine, but if they don't come with claws than it's at least friendly threats.
She can't handle crowds constantly - no Waheela does, but Istas has learned to tolerate being surrounded for shorter periods of time as she likes to watch fashion trends. But in cramped and overcrowded spaces, it is a good idea to give Istas some space before she bites someone's head off. On the flip side, personal space is something she tends to forget about.
As a predator, Istas has a very different attitude towards violence. For her, violence is not something to be avoided - she enjoys it, and before a battle she will feel a great deal of excitement and anticipation. She greatly dislikes strategic thinking, instead preferring to just barge straight in and start ripping heads off. She is constantly assessing whether new people are a threat, and has a tendency to talk to people's jugulars - violence is always under the surface with Istas. But, this violence is the violence of a predator, not a psychopath. She doesn't attack at random - only to those who deserve it, or are a threat to her and the people close to her. And more than that, Istas is in fact constantly fighting the constant Hunger that is inherent to her species. While other Waheela are feral beasts, Istas has managed to, in her own way, tame herself. She takes great pleasure in violence, yes, but she does not let her instincts rule her, and she works hard to try and use it only when it is appropriate.
And as a kind of barrier to her own savage nature, Istas uses her clothes and her fashion. In the frozen North, Waheela would have no care for clothes, if they ever wore any. But by wearing the beautiful and elaborate clothes of Gothic Lolita fashion, Istas projects her identity as a tame, civilised Waheela. For her, they are the very representation of her new life, of her transformation into a Waheela who does not give in to their own beastly instincts. As such, she takes great pride in her clothes and possessions, and takes great care in always striving to wear what is most appropriate.
POINT OF DEPARTURE:
Istas has previously appeared several times in Synodiporia, where she participated in the following jaunts:
ABILITIES:
Istas is a waheela, a shapeshifting species from Northern Canada. She has two forms: a human form, which looks just like the Canadian First Peoples but with slightly too-sharp teeth. But this is not technically her 'default' form: that is actually the shape of a huge, ten feet tall wolf-bear. In overall shape she is closer to a wolf, but she has a grizzly bear's size and flexible paws.
She is very strong even when in human shape, and can take incredibly amounts of damage and keep going. But even when in her beastly form, she can move quietly when she wants to. Her sense of smell is excellent, while she herself is almost impossible to smell. Waheela 'smell like the cold', their scents being indistinguishable from freshly fallen snow. In fact, they only leave meaningful scents when they are wounded. All in all, Waheela are incredibly powerful predators who are hard to track. And as native cryptids of the frozen north, they are unaffected by the cold, with no fear of frostbite of freezing.
But for all their strengths, Waheela possess one very significant weakness - the Hunger. They are creatures of 'endless appetite', and it is virtually impossible for them to ever be fully sated. In New York, Istas is able to eat great amounts of food, which helps her to control the hunger - but even then it never goes away. In the frozen tundras, the Hunger looms ever large, with food being very scarce.
The end result of this is a savage, brutal tradition. In order to survive their first winter, some of the cubs in a little must eat one or more of their siblings. That is, if their parents do not eat them first. Some Waheela live in small family groups, but this is generally a transitory state on account of the tendency for Waheela to be eaten by their family members. Usually, the weakest is eaten first. Those that remain stay because for Waheela the option is death by family or death by the merciless outside - and they choose death by family. On top of this is a unforgiving tradition, where the eldest male and the eldest female rule and the others obey. And when one of the eldest pair dies, this tradition demands that the next eldest become their made, and nevermind the incestuous relationship.
Istas, having fled her homeland and this tradition, has instead learned skills completely alien to the other Waheela. This includes the ability to wait tables without eating anyone who dares to touch her, and the ability to sew and design clothes that can be easily unzipped and unclipped while one transforms into a giant wolf-bear.
During her previous time in the game, Istas also picked up a number of skills, which can be found here
INVENTORY;
Istas has a number of items she keeps in her hammerspace, which largely consist of clothes, some make-up supplies, sewing supplies, and parasols. These she either brought with her originally, or picked up while on jaunt.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? NA
M A R K S;
Istas has previously been marked by Tower.She will be disappointed to learn that she did not get to help kill him.
S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE:
Link to post
PROSE SAMPLE:
Istas was hunting.
Of course, she no longer hunted as she once did, high in the frozen wastelands of the north. Then she hunted with teeth and claw, for food and for survival. In New York it was different. Not only was food plentiful, it was amazingly easy to acquire. No, she did not hunt for food here. She hunted for an altogether different prey.
Anticipation hummed through her as she stalked her target, moving with single-minded purpose and determination. She reached out, her prey within her grasp...
...Only to find it snatched away, as a human woman snatched it before her an squealed. "Oh my god, this skirt is just gorgeous!" She declared. In her hands was Istas's target, a beautiful dark blue ruffle skirt with black lace trimmings. It was the last one in Istas's size.
In the hunt, it didn't matter which predator killed the prey first. Only which one got to eat the prey.
Istas growled, a low deep rumble that promised imminent violence. The woman turned, and paled as she saw Istas. Perhaps if Istas had been someone else, the woman would have stood her ground, and held onto her prize. But humans had instincts of their own, for all that they tried to deny them. And the woman's was telling her this: Istas was dangerous. Istas was a predator. Istas was in fact generously giving her the opportunity to give up the skirt before she took it off her by tearing it and her arms from her.
The woman surrendered her prize. Istas said nothing. She simply took the skirt and stepped away. Another successful hunt, indeed.
NAME: Blue
AGE: over 18
PLAYER JOURNAL:
blue_rampionTIMEZONE: UTC +10
CONTACT: blue[dot]rampion[at]gmail[dot]com |
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: Matthew Swift (being switched out for Istas)
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Istas
CANON: Seanan McGuire's InCryptid novels
POINT IN CANON: After the short story "White as a Raven's Wing" (which is set after several other short stories and the book "Midnight Blue-Light Special")
AGE: Mid to late 20s
APPEARANCE:
As a shapeshifter, Istas has two forms. Her humanoid form appears as a chubby Native Canadian of average height. With the exception of teeth that are much too sharp, in this form Istas appears to be completely human. She also dresses exclusively in Gothic Lolita clothing, and is always immaculately presented.
In her beastly form however, she appears as a ten-foot tall wolf-bear. In overall shape she is closer to a wolf, but she has a grizzly bear's size and flexible paws. Strictly speaking, while she spends most of her time in human form this is actually her 'default' form.
CANON HISTORY:
Istas was born high in the Canadian tundra, in the middle of a litter of five. But as Waheela, and in order to survive, she and her brothers had to eat her eldest sibling, and the smallest of them also did not live.
As she grew older, Istas desired to leave the brutal world of the Waheela, where hunger is constant and family members are considered a source of food. Helped by her aunt Miali, who lived among humans, Istas reshaped herself into someone who might be able to live in civilization, and escape to journey across the continent to New York.
There, she got a job waiting tables at the extremely unclassy club, "Dave's Fish and Strips", where the owner was a boogeyman and many other cryptids worked. Later Istas tagged along to her coworker Verity's battle against a snake cult which had been kidnapping and ritually killing cryptids to try and control a dragon. In the process, their employer Dave betrayed them and they were nearly sacrificed themselves before they fought back, saving themselves and the dragon. Istas also struck up a bond with her coworker Ryan, who came to help them during the battle.
Some time after that, when Dave's bar was now Kitty's "The Freakshow" (still unclassy, but without the stripping), Istas again joined in on Verity's battles when the Covernant (a religious order dedicated to wiping out cryptids) came into town. For a time she and Ryan had hidden from the Covenant with Verity and others, but when Verity was captured by the Covenant Istas helped to rescue her.
Later, when Ryan proposed to her, she decided that she needed to resolve her long abandoned family issues. Waheela custom dictated families were ruled by a mated pair - and when female died, the next eldest would replace them. With Istas's mother dead, by this custom her father was now her husband. So that she would be free to marry Ryan, she returned to Canada and killed her father.
CANON PERSONALITY:
The first thing to know about Istas is that she isn't human. And more than that, she's a predator. Her ways of thinking are very different from a human's, and so are her behaviours. From her, a smile is not a friendly gesture. When she insists on eye contact with you, that's when you should be worried - as a predator, from her eye contact means that she is assessing you as a potential threat. It's when she doesn't feel the need to constantly watch you that you know that she's in fact comfortable with you.
Like most Waheela, Istas isn't particularly comfortable with interpersonal interaction. But unlike other Waheela, Istas does actually make an effort. Compared to the rest of her species, she's practically a social butterfly - sometimes, she can not only talk to six people in a day, but do so without murdering them. But while Istas might be the most chill Waheela ever, compared to a human her social skills are notably lacking. If she says something that sounds sarcastic, it isn't. Her form of speaking is highly formal (when she's not just grunting or growling at you). She can react in odd ways to new and strange things sometimes, being rather resistant to things that "should not exist" before developing into curiosity. And, the frequent threats of violence tend to be rather unsettling for humans. Of course, those threats are genuine, but if they don't come with claws than it's at least friendly threats.
She can't handle crowds constantly - no Waheela does, but Istas has learned to tolerate being surrounded for shorter periods of time as she likes to watch fashion trends. But in cramped and overcrowded spaces, it is a good idea to give Istas some space before she bites someone's head off. On the flip side, personal space is something she tends to forget about.
As a predator, Istas has a very different attitude towards violence. For her, violence is not something to be avoided - she enjoys it, and before a battle she will feel a great deal of excitement and anticipation. She greatly dislikes strategic thinking, instead preferring to just barge straight in and start ripping heads off. She is constantly assessing whether new people are a threat, and has a tendency to talk to people's jugulars - violence is always under the surface with Istas. But, this violence is the violence of a predator, not a psychopath. She doesn't attack at random - only to those who deserve it, or are a threat to her and the people close to her. And more than that, Istas is in fact constantly fighting the constant Hunger that is inherent to her species. While other Waheela are feral beasts, Istas has managed to, in her own way, tame herself. She takes great pleasure in violence, yes, but she does not let her instincts rule her, and she works hard to try and use it only when it is appropriate.
And as a kind of barrier to her own savage nature, Istas uses her clothes and her fashion. In the frozen North, Waheela would have no care for clothes, if they ever wore any. But by wearing the beautiful and elaborate clothes of Gothic Lolita fashion, Istas projects her identity as a tame, civilised Waheela. For her, they are the very representation of her new life, of her transformation into a Waheela who does not give in to their own beastly instincts. As such, she takes great pride in her clothes and possessions, and takes great care in always striving to wear what is most appropriate.
POINT OF DEPARTURE:
Istas has previously appeared several times in Synodiporia, where she participated in the following jaunts:
- Lightning Age: Here Istas was an investigator and she had no idea what was going on at all. So, naturally, she decided that she would follow along with Byerly and allow him to tell her when carnage was necessary. This plan went a little off the rails when Byerly was kidnapped, Istas decided carnage was necessary anyway, and somehow at the end of it no one was required to die.
- Children of the Night: Istas infiltrated as Stasya, one of the warwolves in werewolf activist Baadur's pack. During this jaunt she destroyed the hideous wardrobe of Hajime's overlay and fellow pack-member Joker, and was a staunch supporter of Baadur's election campaign. Which ended up being rather awkward, as out of Jaunt Baadur was in fact Lyall, the werewolf she'd tried to murder previously for being a werewolf. After this Jaunt, Istas had to accept that what she knew from her own world - particularly about werewolves - might not be the same in others.
- Escape from Junkworld: Investigating once again, Istas was convinced by Hajime to pretend that they were aliens native to this universe known as the Lord of the Bugmen and the Wolf-Bear of Doom. Somehow, no one ever questioned the absurdity of this plan, although that might have had something to do with the fact that Istas spent her time in her beastly form and was thus generally too terrifying to question.
- Code of Dishonour: Infiltrating as Izanami, daughter of the Gyakusatsu clan, Izanami began her jaunt out by murdering Byerly's overlay for daring to get mud on her clothes. This later got her murdered in revenge by his family, but not before she raged at the dragons for having allowed her family to take away her daughter Yuki, and give her to the Shinjuu to be forged into a tool - and receiving a Mark from Tower as a result. Now herself again, Istas decided to pretend to be her own ghost, murder the Shinjuu, and take Izanami's daughter to freedom. She also decided to perform carnage on an entire attacking army, because why not.
- Lightside/Darkside: Istas infiltrated as Isolda, Council Enforcer. Isolda's most notable actions were arresting Drizzt and inadvertently leading Zak and Elphaba to have a pretend marriage that ended up being real.
- Olympus Unended: Istas briefly returned before this jaunt and investigated, but largely remained in the background and disappeared soon after.
- It's Tough to be a God: Istas infiltrated as Shall-Not-Suffer-An-Unbeliever-To-Live, devout and rather fanatical seamstress who secretly longed to be more fabulous than the strict rules of their religion allowed.
ABILITIES:
Istas is a waheela, a shapeshifting species from Northern Canada. She has two forms: a human form, which looks just like the Canadian First Peoples but with slightly too-sharp teeth. But this is not technically her 'default' form: that is actually the shape of a huge, ten feet tall wolf-bear. In overall shape she is closer to a wolf, but she has a grizzly bear's size and flexible paws.
She is very strong even when in human shape, and can take incredibly amounts of damage and keep going. But even when in her beastly form, she can move quietly when she wants to. Her sense of smell is excellent, while she herself is almost impossible to smell. Waheela 'smell like the cold', their scents being indistinguishable from freshly fallen snow. In fact, they only leave meaningful scents when they are wounded. All in all, Waheela are incredibly powerful predators who are hard to track. And as native cryptids of the frozen north, they are unaffected by the cold, with no fear of frostbite of freezing.
But for all their strengths, Waheela possess one very significant weakness - the Hunger. They are creatures of 'endless appetite', and it is virtually impossible for them to ever be fully sated. In New York, Istas is able to eat great amounts of food, which helps her to control the hunger - but even then it never goes away. In the frozen tundras, the Hunger looms ever large, with food being very scarce.
The end result of this is a savage, brutal tradition. In order to survive their first winter, some of the cubs in a little must eat one or more of their siblings. That is, if their parents do not eat them first. Some Waheela live in small family groups, but this is generally a transitory state on account of the tendency for Waheela to be eaten by their family members. Usually, the weakest is eaten first. Those that remain stay because for Waheela the option is death by family or death by the merciless outside - and they choose death by family. On top of this is a unforgiving tradition, where the eldest male and the eldest female rule and the others obey. And when one of the eldest pair dies, this tradition demands that the next eldest become their made, and nevermind the incestuous relationship.
Istas, having fled her homeland and this tradition, has instead learned skills completely alien to the other Waheela. This includes the ability to wait tables without eating anyone who dares to touch her, and the ability to sew and design clothes that can be easily unzipped and unclipped while one transforms into a giant wolf-bear.
During her previous time in the game, Istas also picked up a number of skills, which can be found here
INVENTORY;
Istas has a number of items she keeps in her hammerspace, which largely consist of clothes, some make-up supplies, sewing supplies, and parasols. These she either brought with her originally, or picked up while on jaunt.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? NA
M A R K S;
Istas has previously been marked by Tower.
S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE:
Link to post
PROSE SAMPLE:
Istas was hunting.
Of course, she no longer hunted as she once did, high in the frozen wastelands of the north. Then she hunted with teeth and claw, for food and for survival. In New York it was different. Not only was food plentiful, it was amazingly easy to acquire. No, she did not hunt for food here. She hunted for an altogether different prey.
Anticipation hummed through her as she stalked her target, moving with single-minded purpose and determination. She reached out, her prey within her grasp...
...Only to find it snatched away, as a human woman snatched it before her an squealed. "Oh my god, this skirt is just gorgeous!" She declared. In her hands was Istas's target, a beautiful dark blue ruffle skirt with black lace trimmings. It was the last one in Istas's size.
In the hunt, it didn't matter which predator killed the prey first. Only which one got to eat the prey.
Istas growled, a low deep rumble that promised imminent violence. The woman turned, and paled as she saw Istas. Perhaps if Istas had been someone else, the woman would have stood her ground, and held onto her prize. But humans had instincts of their own, for all that they tried to deny them. And the woman's was telling her this: Istas was dangerous. Istas was a predator. Istas was in fact generously giving her the opportunity to give up the skirt before she took it off her by tearing it and her arms from her.
The woman surrendered her prize. Istas said nothing. She simply took the skirt and stepped away. Another successful hunt, indeed.