Post by Kilnarak on Aug 1, 2010 1:00:31 GMT -8
Name: Ma'ro (Mashiro)
Age: 24 (as of Spring, Year 59), late winter
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Pansexual with asexual tendencies - he doesn't care one way or the other about gender, although he has little interest in relationships currently.
Rank: Winglet, Bravo class; Hunter; Herbalist
Hometown:Sumeru (near Itnala)
Personality:
Upon first meeting Mashiro, one of the first words to come to mind is generally stoic. He tends to keep a fairly reserved demeanor, particularly around people who are only acquaintances; he usually opens up a bit more around people he considers friends or family (and he has a very broad idea of family, generally blurring the concept of friend with that of family) - his expressions are still fairly minimal, however. While he might smile, the expressions are always very slight and rarely seem to touch his eyes. He is usually very serious and not the sort to joke around, and thus when he does crack the occasional joke it can be surprising.
Given his usual unmovable appearance, it is hard to imagine that Mashiro has much of a temper - but he does. He doesn't express his anger very well, biting back on it, bottling it up until he explodes. He occasionally uses his profession as an excuse to deal with his temper, leaving humanity to find solitude in the wilderness, in the practical art of stalking prey and hunting. He tends to prefer to make full use of his time, and thus in periods of rest and relaxation he will generally insist upon doing something with his hands - working with hides, carving, practicing penmanship.
For all his reserved demeanor, Mashiro is generally fairly easy to get along with. His temper is slow to rise, and generally he won't take offense unless someone goes out of their way to make him take offense. He doesn't much like people invading his personal space and he doesn't like being touched, however in either situation he is more likely to point out the issue and move away than become angry about it - of course, if one insisted upon pushing his boundaries, he would of course take issue. He isn't a total recluse, and has no problem making small talk with new acquaintances - however, he rarely encourages much beyond it.
Given his appearance, he is used to being ostracized and getting odd looks. While he rarely shows it, he is a touch self-conscious about how he looks - he has come to assume that people will be unsettled or think him unlucky, and so he distances himself from them. His own parents thought his birth an ill-omen. He sees his dog, Yukimori, as his only real friend - she does not care what he looks like because he is her 'pack'. Given his tendency to avoid close contact, for all that Mashiro is well into adulthood he has never partaken of any intimate relationships with women or men, and thus-far he has had no real inclination to do so.
Appearance:
Mashiro stands at a slight height of 5'6" and holds a fairly unimposing build. He is fairly slender, possessing a lithe and streamlined body - while physically fit, his musculature isn't easily visible, particularly given his preference toward loose and relatively formless clothing. If one happened to catch him shirtless, one would find his arms and torso covered in a large variety of scars - the most of them are fairly small, the claw and bite marks of small prey animals. The most noticeable scars, however, are a good deal larger: bite marks of a decidedly canine appearance upon his right shoulder and collar bone. There are no signs of larger wounds, however - no marks left by Pohono's native giant-lizard species.
Mashiro's facial features show hints of Asiatic heritage: high and prominent cheekbones, slanted almond-shaped eyes, and a somewhat pointed chin. His lips are full, giving him a somewhat feminine appearance. His complexion is usually very pale, and his skin is nearly translucent, turning a decidedly noticeable pink when he flushes. His pale skin, similarly snowy-hued hair, and pale blue-gray eyes mark him as either albino or leucisitic. His hair is usually worn fairly short, although on occasion he allows it to grow long enough to cover his neck, just below his shoulders - usually at this point, however, he cuts it off again.
He tends to prefer loose and free-flowing clothing in cool and neutral colors. He also has a tendency toward wearing furs and leathers - among his favorites is the dull blue-gray furred hide of a native medium-sized scavenger/predator which he has fashioned into a cloak. Mashiro tends to carry a hunting knife and a bow on his person at most times, as well as another decorative blade that seems to have been carved from bone, and a number of pouches containing a small variety of useful herbs.
Family:
Mother - Akemi ( 38, weaver/dyer)
Father - Masaru ( 40, leatherworker)
Uncle - Cain (35, hunter/warrior)
Brother - Tarou (17, hunter)
Sister - Yuu (19, dyer)
Pets:
Yukimori - F - white medium-sized hunting dog, based on a kishu inu. Yukimori is 20 inches tall at the shoulder and weighs roughly 55 pounds. Her fur is a snowy white color, her coat thick upon most of her body, but thinner about her black nose - the sight of her dark skin beneath gives her muzzle a grayish tint. Her eyes are dark brown and her short pointed ears are more often than not pricked forward and alert. Her tail is fairly short and is carried curled up over her back. Yukimori is a muscular dog, she is quick and agile. She is fiercely loyal to her owner, however she is wary toward strangers and prone to snarl if they get too close. Oddly, while she acts hostile towards adults and juveniles, Yukimori is generally fairly gentle - if standoffish - around small children. She has a strong prey drive, and will generally attempt to hunt smaller animals.
Kittenph - F - gray tortishell turkish angora cat. She is Hummiph's cat, he found her as a kitten in the Eyrie and decided that he was her protector, since she is a gray. Despite Ma'ro trying to explain to him that cats do not work like that, Hummiph is firm in his belief that she is something special and that she chose him. Kittenph herself does not seem to have any issue with this. She has become accustomed to having her large blue furniture around, and occasionally grooms his feathers or plays with his tail. She is of an average size for a cat her age, and she still possesses a fair amount of kittenish inquisitive playfulness. She is a fair-tempered cat, and is relatively friendly to non-threatening people. Simourv are another matter - for the most part, aside from the one that is Hers, she views them as giant moving furniture.
Simourv Name: Hummiph
Simourv Color: Blue; 45425E
Simourv Age: 1
Personality:
Very Insecure, Indecisive, Skittish, Needy, Responsible
(two or three paragraphs on behavior and mindset of simourv, at least 200 words)
Appearance:
(one or two paragraphs on how simourv looks, at least 100 words)
Parentage:
Tawny Altaph x Blue Wegmeph
History:
Among the settlers to Spiderland, some communities chose to branch off away from the major cities created by their peers. Mashiro came from one such community, who chose to create a home for themselves some distance north of what now is Itnala, in the forested and mountainous terrain. They named the area Sumeru, referring mainly to the mountain, but also to their own little town as well. Without the security offered by a larger community, they made their homes in well fortified areas - hollowing out small caverns and crevices into livable spaces. Originally, they lived within the mountain, however as time passed they came to build temporary living structures outside of the caverns, and only retreated to the caverns themselves while under threat. Primarily a hunting community, they did not cultivate much by way of crops, instead relying upon the edible plants of the forest around them and their hunters to bring back meat. They did bring with them a large number of hounds, however, which were often used to assist hunting as well as for guards and to alert them of danger.
As with any community on Pohono, there were attacks by xymokoxi upon the settlements - and occasionally, in the dawning days of Sumeru, guardian simourv swooped down from above to deal with the threat. However, more often than not the people of the village fled to their cavernous sanctuaries to wait out the assaults. There were always casualties after the attacks, both human and animal, however the village was lucky in that for the most part they were minor.
Mashiro was born in the year 35 to Akemi and Masaru, a pair of craftspeople. His parents were young, and while the birth had not been planned, they were excited by the prospect of their first child. When the child came into the light, however, his pallid appearance struck his parents, as well as other members of the village, as an ill-omen - just born and he already looked like a ghost. Despite this, his parents raised him as best they could - and if they were a bit superstitious, they tried not to show it. Of course, as a young child Mashiro noticed the strange way in which he was treated, but he had nothing to weigh it against.
When Akemi became pregnant with her second child, a healthy daughter they named Yuu, Mashiro came to realize how differently he was treated. While they had wanted a son, Yuu was treated with a good deal more affection than Mashiro himself - not intentionally, of course. His parents did not truly intend to neglect them, but they were so happy their second child was healthy, normal. Akemi's third pregnancy graced them with another son, Tarou, which only further left Mashiro feeling pushed to the sidelines. For all that he felt jealousy toward them, Mashiro did not truly begrudge his siblings. Tarou, in particular, looked up to his big brother, and often tried to emulate him. Similarly, Mashiro found he could not begrudge his parents, and despite their detachment from him, he respected them - his stern father in particular.
When he was old enough, Mashiro requested to be apprenticed to one of the village's hunters; he wanted to prove that he deserved a place among the people of the village, that he could fit in. His father decided it best to place him under the tutelage of his brother, Mashiro's uncle Cain. Throughout his childhood, Cain had often watched after Mashiro, as well as Yuu and Tarou. The man had never married, and had no children of his own - he seemed to like being able to care for his nephews and niece, and was one of the few people who didn't treat Mashiro particularly differently based on his appearance.
Under his uncle's supervision, Mashiro learned to hunt and also learned a bit about the native plants in the surrounding area. His mother, Akemi, taught him a bit more of plants, as she often worked with them to dye fabrics. For a time, Mashiro tried to fit in to the village, bringing back useful plants and meat. Tarou, who became a bit more distant from Mashiro as he aged, still followed his brother into the profession and took up a sort of rivalry against him - often vying to prove himself better than his older brother. While Mashiro tried not to encourage the rivalry, a part of him couldn't help but respond and compete - another part mourned at the degrading relationship with his little brother.
Roughly 4 years ago, Cain declared Mashiro fit to act as a full fledged hunter, no longer an apprentice. To mark the occasion, he gifted Mashiro with a hunting dog, or rather, a pup that would grow to be one. Mashiro was smitten by the small white bundle of fur, naming her Yukimori, and trained her to hunt with him. The dog was taught to help him seek out some of the more pungent herbs, as well as to drive and herd prey animals out of hiding and into range of his bows and spears. An intelligent dog, she learned quickly and became a near constant companion for Mashiro, rarely leaving his side.
However, as Mashiro grew more acquainted with his new canine companion, his feelings of being ostracized from his society only became more obvious to him. Only a year had passed since he had been gifted Yukimori, when Mashiro decided that he should like to leave his village - to travel and see how the people of the large cities lived, to see if he could fit there better. His goodbyes were brief, and he only truly confronted his family and the village elder before leaving with a small caravan bound to trade with Itnala. He found that he did not leave the village alone, however - his uncle, Cain, chose to accompany him - intending to make sure his nephew didn't leave just to fall prey to the reptillian menace of Pohono. They remained in Itnala for a few months, before taking with a ship to Sayaie. The pair remained in this larger city for nearly 2 years - Mashiro was struck by how different the environment was, with all of the flat farmland, and how lively the city was. He made a living there, selling the hides, bones, and flesh of prey animals, as well as herbs found growing in the wilderness, and occasionally taking out contracts to eliminate pest animals that preyed on farmers' livestock. Eventually, however, driven by wanderlust, Mashiro and Cain moved north to Chydyn. They only remained in Chydyn for roughly a year before continuing on further north to find themselves at the Eyrie.
Mashiro has chosen to offer his services to this budding community since arriving, both with hunting the forests outside of the canyons, as well as in assisting in the creation of various poultices and the cultivation of herbs. For the moment he is comfortable enough with the Eyrie - the people being vastly varied and different enough that he does not feel too out of place. The great birds, the simourv, interest him. In his home, he had heard legends of them, however he had never actually seen one until he came to the Eyrie. He arrived at the Eyrie a few weeks before the first hatching, and was thus able to watch from the sidelines as the newborn simourv chose their human companions - it seemed chaotic to him, a curious practice, and he was left wondering if it was always that way. He sees the simourv as impressive, beautiful creatures - however he also thinks it strange that they are so few. He would like to study them, and perhaps sometime in the future seek out wild specimens to examine - surely others must exist?
