![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Raksura Social Interactions
Jan. 9th, 2016 09:42 pmNote that because we mostly see the point of view of Moon in the books, this is biased towards Aeriat Raksura. That and I play Jade.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Important Jade/Raksura Links
Jan. 9th, 2016 09:39 pmFrom the author's LJ and the world snippets she posts at Patreon...
Jade and Balm, shortly before Moon arrives at Indigo Cloud in TCR -- regarding Raksura social interactions
The Death of Dash: In the Time of Indigo Cloud's Return to the Reaches -- regarding a queen's link to her Court.
Jade and Balm, shortly before Moon arrives at Indigo Cloud in TCR -- regarding Raksura social interactions
The Death of Dash: In the Time of Indigo Cloud's Return to the Reaches -- regarding a queen's link to her Court.
App for Synodiporia
Dec. 31st, 2015 09:00 pmP L A Y E R;
NAME: Stareyes
AGE: 31
PLAYER JOURNAL: beccastreyes
TIMEZONE: US Pacific time
CONTACT: beccastareyes @ gmail
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/a
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Jade
CANON: Book of the Raksura
POINT IN CANON: In between The Siren Depths and the novella The Dark Earth Below.
AGE: Jade is about 40-45 years old, but equivalent to a very experienced late 20s/early-30s. She's taken an adult role and has for a handful of years, and is starting a family.
APPEARANCE: http://www.marthawells.com/serpentseafull.jpg
CANON HISTORY: Jade is a member of a species known as the Raksura, a group of shapeshifters. Jade grew up in the Indigo Cloud Court, a group of Raksura who had left their ancestral home generations ago. Raksura can be born as wingless Arbora or winged Aeriat; Jade was born as a queen, a fertile female Aeriat who traditionally rule Raksura courts. When this was revealed, Jade's role in the court was assumed: if no other Raksura queens were born in her generation, she would become the ruling queen once Pearl and Amber, the older queens, stepped down or died.
Indigo Cloud was a small, struggling court, so Jade had a lot of exposure to other Raksura castes as Raksura are usually raised communally. Trouble persisted all through her childhood and young adulthood. Both Amber, and Rain (Pearl's consort) died, as did many warriors and Pearl, in her grief, refused to do her job. As Jade was the only alternative, her great-great-grandfather Stone and the leaders of the Arbora, attempted to press her into the position. However, Jade knew she would only have support to challenge Pearl once she had a consort mate.
Stone went out to negotiate a consort from a neighboring court, and returned with Moon, who he had found wandering around and who had been apparently orphaned as a child. Moon knew almost nothing about Raksuran life and wasn't sure about being tied down. Jade persuaded him to help her negotiate with neighbors for flying boats to move the colony to their ancestral home. Then the Fell, a species similar to the Raksura, attacked the colony, and Jade helped Moon get a poison he remembered from his travels. After retaking the colony, Moon flew off in pursuit of Raksura kidnapped from the colony, and Jade went to pull his ass out of the fire. Moon and Jade agree to be mated.
The move was uneventful, but the old colony site, a giant tree, had its seed stolen, which would kill the tree. Jade as put in a traditional role for a junior queen: diplomat to other courts. After consulting with the Emerald Twilight Court's seers, they learned the seed had been taken to a city built on a giant sea monster on the nearby ocean. Moon and Stone went to scout, but Jade led the backup party. Jade had to cope with fighting to get their seed back, dealing with the loss of one of their party, and another Raksuran stray that Moon picked up (who had been exiled for being a serial killer).
Then Moon’s mother and birth court, Opal Night, discover he’s alive and demand he come back. While he and Jade are mated at this point, they don’t have kids so Indigo Cloud doesn’t have much choice. Jade pretty much tells Moon she’ll go properly court him to get him back as soon as she can… and then she breaks an arm so can’t make the trip until she heals. By the time she gets there, the Fell are up to something, which leads to more adventure before Jade can make the case to Moon's mother that she'll be an awesome mate for Moon.
CANON PERSONALITY: Jade defaults to being serious and driven, given most of her interactions with strangers are diplomatic. Jade effectively grew up in a small town where she knew everyone and everyone knew her, and everyone knew she was the hope of the colony, especially after Amber died. This put a lot of pressure on Jade, and made her feel like she couldn't set aside being a daughter-queen or sister-queen, especially as her peers settled into adult jobs.
Jade's biggest confidante was her clutchmate, Balm, who was one of the sterile Aeriat warriors. Jade was probably closer to the warriors in general, as most of them had few duties in a small, isolated court, unless they had an in as Pearl's advisers. She was more willing to relax around them, though she defaulted to a leadership role. She also was pretty sarcastic at them, especially the young males. (Raksura tend toward matriarchy, though this mostly shows up in the Aeriat.)
Behind Jade's mask, though, she is hoping no one notices she is making it up as she goes. Moon's general saaviness and the fact he was technically her equal (though consorts take a more mediator role to queens' leadership) was one thing that Jade found attractive. She could appreciate he wasn't a typical consort (who are highly sheltered) even as she wished he'd stop being so damn reckless or would not need something explained to him on diplomatic positions.
Jade does take her position seriously, and dislikes Raksura (queens and warriors, msotly) who mostly seem to treat politics as a game, rather than as the serious matter of 'someone has to be running this place and trading with others'. This is because, unlike a large, established Court, Indigo Cloud has been focused on survival and can't afford to have queens bickering more than necessary. Jade bickers with Pearl (who has regained her interest in being queen), but mostly about practical matters. Jade is very interested in practical matters, and does whatever she has to for the Court.
Given how different Raksuran society is, Jade (unless an Infiltrator) will be pretty culturally blind to most humans. This can make her a terrible liar: Jade just knows very little about life outside a Raksura colony, besides a few trips and what Moon has said or told as stories to the court. This can manifest as anything from monogamy (the closest Raksura come is that consorts mate with one queen) to capitalism (Moon is now in charge of trade, as Moon knows how to bargain).
POINT OF DEPARTURE: N/a
ABILITIES: Jade's shapeshifting abilities allow her to shift from a tall, light-boned, winged form to a shorter, stockier wingless form. This involves some sort of dimensional manipulation to let her trade mass.
Jade can't sleep in her winged form, and any injuries will transfer on shifting.
Other Raksura can store their clothing (or even weapons and other objects, though a spear-sized weapon is a challenge) with their other form, so it seems likely Jade as this ability.
Jade can fly, even carrying another Raksura (or human).
Jade has keen sight, hearing and scent: in particular, Jade's sense of smell is good enough to pick out individuals by scent. (Using this outside her species will take practice)
Jade's tail is prehensile and can support her weight.
Jade is temperature tolerant: Jade doesn't need clothing, even in snow.
Jade has retractable claws on hands and feet. They are used for climbing and hunting/flighting.
Jade has some mental powers. She can 'shut down' shapeshifting, and even influence others to agree with her. This doesn't affect non-Raksura.
INVENTORY; Jade has her jewelry (rings, bracelets, armbands, necklaces and a belt). That's it.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW?
S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE: http://synodiporia-ooc.dreamwidth.org/155704.html?thread=6755384#cmt6755384
∫http://synodiporia-ooc.dreamwidth.org/155704.html?thread=6775608#cmt6775608
PROSE SAMPLE:
Jade had realized from the primer she managed to get from another investigator that she was, in short, in deep trouble if she wanted to keep her cover. The location was 'Heartbreak Academy', which at first didn't seem so hard. It was something like the teachers' halls in the colony tree, where young Raksura lived until they started to assume adult duties to the court.
Only the politics made it feel like... well, like the first time Jade had stepped into Emerald Twilight and realized the difference between a small court like Indigo Cloud, and a full, prosperous Court where half the queens and most of the warriors had too much damn time on their hands. Perhaps crossed with her trips to groundling cities, because, while Jade knew her status as a queen had separated her from other Raksura her age that were not her clutch mate, Balm, there hadn't been this many unspoken rules. Hadn't there?
She'd learned most of her politics from the records kept by the mentors, which at least hinted at some of the factions another Rakusran court could have, so she had decided to hit the library, and do some reading. "So, Ami-chan is infatuated with Sato-kun and Takahashi-kun. But for some reason she can't like both of them." Jade couldn't tell if the people in the book were old enough to be having sex, and the first thing she had learned from Moon about groundlings was that sex was often a major taboo to talk about, and to never bring it up on her own. Which made the whole thing an exercise in frustration. She wished Moon was here... even if Moon trying to pretend to be a groundling was like watching a grasseater who had caught a whiff of predator. At least Moon had experience, and Jade had ways of making him calm down.
Well, maybe it was like queens and consorts, and Ami-chan just had to pick one. Not that Jade could see why that was the case... "Oh, and now Sato-kun was a female pretending to be a male, and somehow that puts her off-limits? Why was she even doing that?" Jade remembered that it was rude to damage books someone had copied out, but she was ready to just give up...
NAME: Stareyes
AGE: 31
PLAYER JOURNAL: beccastreyes
TIMEZONE: US Pacific time
CONTACT: beccastareyes @ gmail
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/a
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Jade
CANON: Book of the Raksura
POINT IN CANON: In between The Siren Depths and the novella The Dark Earth Below.
AGE: Jade is about 40-45 years old, but equivalent to a very experienced late 20s/early-30s. She's taken an adult role and has for a handful of years, and is starting a family.
APPEARANCE: http://www.marthawells.com/serpentseafull.jpg
CANON HISTORY: Jade is a member of a species known as the Raksura, a group of shapeshifters. Jade grew up in the Indigo Cloud Court, a group of Raksura who had left their ancestral home generations ago. Raksura can be born as wingless Arbora or winged Aeriat; Jade was born as a queen, a fertile female Aeriat who traditionally rule Raksura courts. When this was revealed, Jade's role in the court was assumed: if no other Raksura queens were born in her generation, she would become the ruling queen once Pearl and Amber, the older queens, stepped down or died.
Indigo Cloud was a small, struggling court, so Jade had a lot of exposure to other Raksura castes as Raksura are usually raised communally. Trouble persisted all through her childhood and young adulthood. Both Amber, and Rain (Pearl's consort) died, as did many warriors and Pearl, in her grief, refused to do her job. As Jade was the only alternative, her great-great-grandfather Stone and the leaders of the Arbora, attempted to press her into the position. However, Jade knew she would only have support to challenge Pearl once she had a consort mate.
Stone went out to negotiate a consort from a neighboring court, and returned with Moon, who he had found wandering around and who had been apparently orphaned as a child. Moon knew almost nothing about Raksuran life and wasn't sure about being tied down. Jade persuaded him to help her negotiate with neighbors for flying boats to move the colony to their ancestral home. Then the Fell, a species similar to the Raksura, attacked the colony, and Jade helped Moon get a poison he remembered from his travels. After retaking the colony, Moon flew off in pursuit of Raksura kidnapped from the colony, and Jade went to pull his ass out of the fire. Moon and Jade agree to be mated.
The move was uneventful, but the old colony site, a giant tree, had its seed stolen, which would kill the tree. Jade as put in a traditional role for a junior queen: diplomat to other courts. After consulting with the Emerald Twilight Court's seers, they learned the seed had been taken to a city built on a giant sea monster on the nearby ocean. Moon and Stone went to scout, but Jade led the backup party. Jade had to cope with fighting to get their seed back, dealing with the loss of one of their party, and another Raksuran stray that Moon picked up (who had been exiled for being a serial killer).
Then Moon’s mother and birth court, Opal Night, discover he’s alive and demand he come back. While he and Jade are mated at this point, they don’t have kids so Indigo Cloud doesn’t have much choice. Jade pretty much tells Moon she’ll go properly court him to get him back as soon as she can… and then she breaks an arm so can’t make the trip until she heals. By the time she gets there, the Fell are up to something, which leads to more adventure before Jade can make the case to Moon's mother that she'll be an awesome mate for Moon.
CANON PERSONALITY: Jade defaults to being serious and driven, given most of her interactions with strangers are diplomatic. Jade effectively grew up in a small town where she knew everyone and everyone knew her, and everyone knew she was the hope of the colony, especially after Amber died. This put a lot of pressure on Jade, and made her feel like she couldn't set aside being a daughter-queen or sister-queen, especially as her peers settled into adult jobs.
Jade's biggest confidante was her clutchmate, Balm, who was one of the sterile Aeriat warriors. Jade was probably closer to the warriors in general, as most of them had few duties in a small, isolated court, unless they had an in as Pearl's advisers. She was more willing to relax around them, though she defaulted to a leadership role. She also was pretty sarcastic at them, especially the young males. (Raksura tend toward matriarchy, though this mostly shows up in the Aeriat.)
Behind Jade's mask, though, she is hoping no one notices she is making it up as she goes. Moon's general saaviness and the fact he was technically her equal (though consorts take a more mediator role to queens' leadership) was one thing that Jade found attractive. She could appreciate he wasn't a typical consort (who are highly sheltered) even as she wished he'd stop being so damn reckless or would not need something explained to him on diplomatic positions.
Jade does take her position seriously, and dislikes Raksura (queens and warriors, msotly) who mostly seem to treat politics as a game, rather than as the serious matter of 'someone has to be running this place and trading with others'. This is because, unlike a large, established Court, Indigo Cloud has been focused on survival and can't afford to have queens bickering more than necessary. Jade bickers with Pearl (who has regained her interest in being queen), but mostly about practical matters. Jade is very interested in practical matters, and does whatever she has to for the Court.
Given how different Raksuran society is, Jade (unless an Infiltrator) will be pretty culturally blind to most humans. This can make her a terrible liar: Jade just knows very little about life outside a Raksura colony, besides a few trips and what Moon has said or told as stories to the court. This can manifest as anything from monogamy (the closest Raksura come is that consorts mate with one queen) to capitalism (Moon is now in charge of trade, as Moon knows how to bargain).
POINT OF DEPARTURE: N/a
ABILITIES: Jade's shapeshifting abilities allow her to shift from a tall, light-boned, winged form to a shorter, stockier wingless form. This involves some sort of dimensional manipulation to let her trade mass.
Jade can't sleep in her winged form, and any injuries will transfer on shifting.
Other Raksura can store their clothing (or even weapons and other objects, though a spear-sized weapon is a challenge) with their other form, so it seems likely Jade as this ability.
Jade can fly, even carrying another Raksura (or human).
Jade has keen sight, hearing and scent: in particular, Jade's sense of smell is good enough to pick out individuals by scent. (Using this outside her species will take practice)
Jade's tail is prehensile and can support her weight.
Jade is temperature tolerant: Jade doesn't need clothing, even in snow.
Jade has retractable claws on hands and feet. They are used for climbing and hunting/flighting.
Jade has some mental powers. She can 'shut down' shapeshifting, and even influence others to agree with her. This doesn't affect non-Raksura.
INVENTORY; Jade has her jewelry (rings, bracelets, armbands, necklaces and a belt). That's it.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW?
S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE: http://synodiporia-ooc.dreamwidth.org/155704.html?thread=6755384#cmt6755384
∫http://synodiporia-ooc.dreamwidth.org/155704.html?thread=6775608#cmt6775608
PROSE SAMPLE:
Jade had realized from the primer she managed to get from another investigator that she was, in short, in deep trouble if she wanted to keep her cover. The location was 'Heartbreak Academy', which at first didn't seem so hard. It was something like the teachers' halls in the colony tree, where young Raksura lived until they started to assume adult duties to the court.
Only the politics made it feel like... well, like the first time Jade had stepped into Emerald Twilight and realized the difference between a small court like Indigo Cloud, and a full, prosperous Court where half the queens and most of the warriors had too much damn time on their hands. Perhaps crossed with her trips to groundling cities, because, while Jade knew her status as a queen had separated her from other Raksura her age that were not her clutch mate, Balm, there hadn't been this many unspoken rules. Hadn't there?
She'd learned most of her politics from the records kept by the mentors, which at least hinted at some of the factions another Rakusran court could have, so she had decided to hit the library, and do some reading. "So, Ami-chan is infatuated with Sato-kun and Takahashi-kun. But for some reason she can't like both of them." Jade couldn't tell if the people in the book were old enough to be having sex, and the first thing she had learned from Moon about groundlings was that sex was often a major taboo to talk about, and to never bring it up on her own. Which made the whole thing an exercise in frustration. She wished Moon was here... even if Moon trying to pretend to be a groundling was like watching a grasseater who had caught a whiff of predator. At least Moon had experience, and Jade had ways of making him calm down.
Well, maybe it was like queens and consorts, and Ami-chan just had to pick one. Not that Jade could see why that was the case... "Oh, and now Sato-kun was a female pretending to be a male, and somehow that puts her off-limits? Why was she even doing that?" Jade remembered that it was rude to damage books someone had copied out, but she was ready to just give up...
Meeting Moon
Mar. 19th, 2015 08:57 pm( You didn't tell him. You didn't tell him he was a consort. You didn't tell him why you were bringing him here. )
What She Learned
-- She actually has her name back, so she might just go to Jade.
-- Her species is Raksura. There are different types. She knows consort, and Stone mentioned Arbora. She also associated 'queen' with herself. She knows that consorts and queens at least are recognizable by looks. The consort should have identified her as a queen, but didn't.
-- Jade can probably put together that this is Stone. Stone is, in fact, a pain in the ass. She doesn't remember that she's related to him. Also Stone's shifted form is huge.
-- A bit about Raksuran aging: they tend to go grey in hair and skin (in both forms). Stone is old.
-- The consort she remembers knows about groundlings because he's lived with them since he was little. He doesn't even know basic things about his people.
-- A bit about the (first) colony -- it's a ruin they took over, it's located in plains and light forest, and there's a river.
-- She knew Star Aster was another Raksura settlement, but there's politics between them that meant her taking a consort from there would put their settlement at a disadvantage.
What She Learned
-- She actually has her name back, so she might just go to Jade.
-- Her species is Raksura. There are different types. She knows consort, and Stone mentioned Arbora. She also associated 'queen' with herself. She knows that consorts and queens at least are recognizable by looks. The consort should have identified her as a queen, but didn't.
-- Jade can probably put together that this is Stone. Stone is, in fact, a pain in the ass. She doesn't remember that she's related to him. Also Stone's shifted form is huge.
-- A bit about Raksuran aging: they tend to go grey in hair and skin (in both forms). Stone is old.
-- The consort she remembers knows about groundlings because he's lived with them since he was little. He doesn't even know basic things about his people.
-- A bit about the (first) colony -- it's a ruin they took over, it's located in plains and light forest, and there's a river.
-- She knew Star Aster was another Raksura settlement, but there's politics between them that meant her taking a consort from there would put their settlement at a disadvantage.
Skill 0/Memory 0
Feb. 24th, 2015 08:41 pmStarting Skill: Shapeshifting
Jade's a shapeshifter. Queen Raksura have only the ability to shift from winged to unwinged forms. Jade looks a bit more humanoid without wings (she has fewer spines and frills as well as no wings, and is shorter and stockier). Other Raksura have a form that passes as human.
Starting Memory: Traveling with Moon
( You lived in places like this? )
What she Learned
-- She doesn't know if the other shifter is her consort. Maybe he's supposed to be. But he's surly even if they are working together.
-- She knows other species live in their world, but she hasn't spent much time with them. And she knows that some of her customs might alarm them.
-- 'Fell' are one species and they are trouble, and the other shifter isn't one but might be mistaken for one.
-- Shapeshifting. Her species do it, though not all the same way. Also, she can fly.
-- She gets some names: Stone and Pearl. Pearl is apparently in charge. Stone does what he wants.
-- Dammit, why do people cook perfectly good meat?
Jade's a shapeshifter. Queen Raksura have only the ability to shift from winged to unwinged forms. Jade looks a bit more humanoid without wings (she has fewer spines and frills as well as no wings, and is shorter and stockier). Other Raksura have a form that passes as human.
Starting Memory: Traveling with Moon
( You lived in places like this? )
What she Learned
-- She doesn't know if the other shifter is her consort. Maybe he's supposed to be. But he's surly even if they are working together.
-- She knows other species live in their world, but she hasn't spent much time with them. And she knows that some of her customs might alarm them.
-- 'Fell' are one species and they are trouble, and the other shifter isn't one but might be mistaken for one.
-- Shapeshifting. Her species do it, though not all the same way. Also, she can fly.
-- She gets some names: Stone and Pearl. Pearl is apparently in charge. Stone does what he wants.
-- Dammit, why do people cook perfectly good meat?
Memory Registry
Feb. 24th, 2015 05:56 amPriority: Skills until I get Jade's memory registry sorted.
Memories
Neutral Significant
First seeing Moon
Fighting with Pearl about the move and deciding to go behind her back (94-105)
Positive Trivial
Getting a flying boat (134-142)
Neutral Trivial
Traveling to the Yellow Sea (107-115)
Traveling with Moon
Negative Trivial
Courting Moon (82-83)
The cloud-walker (115-124)
The palace (125-134)
Skills
Shapeshifting
Flight
Retractable claws
-- climbing
-- ground fighting
-- aerial combat
Tail-hanging
Temperature Tolerance
Better sight
Better hearing
Better smell
Diplomacy
Memories
Neutral Significant
Fighting with Pearl about the move and deciding to go behind her back (94-105)
Positive Trivial
Getting a flying boat (134-142)
Neutral Trivial
Traveling to the Yellow Sea (107-115)
Negative Trivial
Courting Moon (82-83)
The cloud-walker (115-124)
The palace (125-134)
Skills
Retractable claws
-- climbing
-- ground fighting
-- aerial combat
Tail-hanging
Temperature Tolerance
Better sight
Better hearing
Better smell
Diplomacy
Name Avi (Aviatrix) // Jade
Age 30s?, but that seems to be a younger adult in Raksura terms
Team Sterling
Height/Build tallish and skinny
Hair Color/Eye Color No hair -- she has a mane of blue spines and frills. (I don't know her eye color)
Notable Traits Not human looking at all. Blue-and-silver scaled person with claws and a tail. And sometimes wings.
Other Jade's a shapeshifter. When she loses the wings, her form shifts to be a bit shorter and more solidly built, and her mane gets a bit less impressive.
Age 30s?, but that seems to be a younger adult in Raksura terms
Team Sterling
Height/Build tallish and skinny
Hair Color/Eye Color No hair -- she has a mane of blue spines and frills. (I don't know her eye color)
Notable Traits Not human looking at all. Blue-and-silver scaled person with claws and a tail. And sometimes wings.
Other Jade's a shapeshifter. When she loses the wings, her form shifts to be a bit shorter and more solidly built, and her mane gets a bit less impressive.
