Last Eden Application

[carried_away]

OOC INFORMATION.
PLAYER NAME: Stareyes
CONTACT: Beccastareyes
CHARACTERS ALREADY IN-GAME: N/A


IC INFORMATION.
CHARACTER NAME: Bramble of Indigo Cloud
CANON: Books of the Raksura
CANON POINT: After The Harbors of the Sun
AGE: Unspecified; Definitely well out of her childhood and young adulthood, but nowhere near old.

HISTORY:
Okay, so Bramble is a Raksura, a shapeshifting species that live in large family groups. Raqskura have two forms (for the most part): a 'groundling' form that appears roughly human (though with sharper teeth, among other things) and a scaled form that has a tail and a mane of spines and frills (tendrils that hang more like hair). Legend has it, Raksura became Raksura when a winged shapeshifter species known as the forerunners met a wingless species of shapeshifter in the forest Reaches, and interbred enough to become one species where some individuals have wings and some don't. Bramble herself is an Arbora, a Raksura born without wings. Aerial Raksura are born with wings, but most are sterile 'warriors'. Fertile Aeriat females are known as queens and have mental abilities that connect them to the whole court of Raksura. Consequently, a queen leads the court. Fertile male Raksura are known as consorts and are usually the ones who leave their birth court at adulthood to carry their bloodline to allied courts as only a consort and a queen can have more consorts and queens as offspring. Aeriat and Arbora can interbreed, but the result is always Arbora and warriors (though it is believed those Arbora are more likely to develop the magic that lets them become mentors).

Bramble was born to Indigo Cloud, a group of the Raksura that had travelled east from their ancestral home in the forest Reaches due to population pressures and general politics, long before Bramble was born. We don't know much about Bramble's history, but we can infer the basics from what we know about Rakusran life in general. Bramble was an Arbora, the wingless Raksura that do most of the day-to-day business of the settlement. She was raised communally with the other children her age. As an Arbora, Bramble could choose what she wanted to do, and she became a hunter (one of the Raksura tasked with bringing in meat and wild plants for the colony).

While Indigo Cloud had never been prosperous, things started to go downhill when Bramble was an adult: many of the court's leadership died, and Pearl, the reigning queen, drove off the remaining consorts, and showed little interest in fixing the problem. Jade, the only remaining queen, was too young to challenge Pearl for leadership. Stone, Pearl's great-grandfather and an ancestor of Bramble's (among other members of Indigo Cloud), spent most of his time traveling. The Arbora were undecided if it was best to wait for Jade to grow up or Pearl to get her shit together, until Chime, one of the court's mentors, suddenly transformed into a warrior. Given how weird that was, it prompted the Arbora to shift to encouraging Jade to take on more leadership and think of ways to move the court back to the Reaches (a plan of Stone's, the only member of the court who remembered their home). To be taken seriously, Jade needed a consort mate, and Stone managed to solve this problem by dragging in Moon, a consort he found wandering around alone (something no Raksura willingly does, and no consort would even be forced into).

Then, because there was enough shit going on, the Fell (another species descended from the forerunners) invade Indigo Cloud. Bramble was outside when the attack happened, as part of her duties as a hunter, so was part of the group left to figure out a way to clear the Fell out. Thankfully, Moon, Pearl, Jade and Stone were all outside. Less good was the news that somehow the Fell could block shapeshifting, a new power that only Raksuran queens had. The group can't settle on a plan, so Jade goes off with Moon to do her idea anyway. Bramble spends time keeping an eye on the colony as well as hunting, and is picked to help carry out Jade's plan on their return: Moon knew of a poison that worked on Fell and Raksura and they had gone to get the recipe. Bramble was part of the group that dropped the supply into the river that fed the colony's wells... and it managed to not just knock out the Fell, but kill many of them. The colony packed up and took off on the flying boats Jade had negotiated for.

Stone led them to the their old home: a mountain-tree which had been magically sculpted to hold a small town's worth of people. It needed a lot of work to fix, and of course the colony couldn't get down to things like replanting their gardens and clearing out drains (so many clogged drains!) -- first the seed that served as the heart of the tree was missing, then Moon's birth court found him and wanted him back. But things mostly worked out. Bramble adapted well to a new ecosystem with new animals and more reliance on warriors for transportation and to keep an eye out on predators and was considered one of the court's best trackers. This came in handy when Jade and a group of warriors went missing on a diplomatic mission to COURT, and it was decided that some hunters should accompany Moon, Stone, a representative of COURT, Merit (one of the court's mentors) and a group of warriors. Bramble was able to successfully figure out where Jade's party had gotten trapped in an old spell, and Moon and Merit were able to get everyone free.

Bramble's experiences with Weird Things also meant that she was selected to go along on a mission to the coast off of Imperial Kish, which had a ruin that may be a forerunner ruin, or may be one of the Kishan foundation-builders. Indigo Cloud was concerned about this, as the last forerunner ruin they found in the ocean was a prison for a horrible monster. Bramble was excited by new things and got to know many of the crew of the flying boats. Because she and Merit did most of the camp chores (while Jade, Moon, Stone and the warriors stayed out of their way), Bramble learned that a few of the Kish-Jandera along mistook Arbora for a servant caste. Moon and Jade instructed the others to pretend they didn't understand Kedic, the trade language used in Kish, and kept communications in Altanic, the trade language more common in their area.

On arrival to a city built on a seamount, with a clear dome on top that the Aeriat risker could reach but not get through, the expedition seemed to be making no progress (to Jade and Moon's secret delight). However, two Fell flights were lurking around anyway, which called the Aeriat away to deal with that. Then Bramble accidentally found the door inside the seamount while she, Merit, and their friend, Delin of the Golden Islanders were pondering what looked like a port entrance. They were chased inside by the Fell, and their group got caught in a trap that funneled them to a mysterious artifact that had a compulsion to pick it up. Despite strong attempts to put it down, the artifact ended up in Briar, a warrior's, bag. The plan was to have Stone drop it in the ocean on the return trip... but then reinforcements from the Hians, one of the races involved, decided they wanted things for themselves and they kidnapped Bramble, Merit, Delin and the head scholar of the Kish-Jandera using drugs to knock them out and Fell poison to block Raksura shape-shiftng

Bramble deduced that the Hian leadership weren't going to change their minds readily, and that they thought Bramble was the weakest member of the party, as a servant without Merit's special power, and they still didn't know that Bramble and Merit spoke Kedic. She and Delin deduced that the artifact was a piece of a weapon, but that would work on any descendent of the foundation builders or forerunners (which was why it was locked away). The Hians, refugees from the Fell that and fled to Kish, wanted it wipe out the Fell, and probably intended Bramble and Merit as test subjects (as the Raksura had been quite clear of their shared kinship). By pretending to be sick, Bramble was taken to the physician on-board several times, and Delin was able to translate the warning labels on the stored substances. The second time, Bramble managed to surprise their guards and get away with a waterskin full of poison, which she dumped into the flying boat's water tank. Conveniently, that was when Moon and Stone were mounting their own rescue, which was the weakness in Bramble's plan (getting out). After her adventure (and jumping off the flying boat to be caught by Moon was pretty terrifying), Bramble was willing to sit back on Delin's people's flying boat and let everyone else save the day.

PERSONALITY: Bramble is a highly curious person. That ranges from things like 'trying to figure out how to open a door even before she's sure it should be open' to a vast number of hypothetical situations about other people's motivations. If Bramble lived in the 21st century, she'd probably be the sort who enjoyed arguing conspiracy theories without actually believing any of them (or at least the ones that didn't rely on science-breaking things). She had found out about what a servant was by talking to the various groundlings she met, and had to be told not to ask Rorra, a sealing that worked on land, about how she ended up so far from home (and injured enough that she couldn't swim well). Bramble isn't too sure on the concept of privacy, as Raksura don't use it all that often (and can be direct about telling other people to get lost).

Bramble couples this with good observation skills, which are further trained by her being a hunter and one of Indigo Cloud's best trackers. For example, when she was captured, Bramble made sure to notice what was written on the various simples the Hian physician kept around, despite not having a definite plan and being unable to read the language herself. Bramble figures that if you take in all the details and remember them, you might be able to come up with a plan later (or at least improvise). It might be tempting to think that Bramble chose being a hunter over a teacher because of some lack of intellectual skills, but that is not how it works. It is more that Bramble likes being outside the colony tree and experiencing new things, rather than inside (or close to the tree, tending the gardens). On hearing about archeology and the lost writings of the Kishan foundation-builders, Bramble came up with a plan to record the court's history on the lower levels of their colony-tree, in three languages to make sure it isn't lost and that even non-Raksura could learn it (and use it as a primer on the written Raksura language).

Bramble is also detail-oriented. Again, an example is that she and Merit took down a tent loaned to the party by the Kish Jandera, dug drainage, and pitched it better. They were mistaken for servants, as they were quick to assume the warriors were too lazy and unskilled to manage anything (and Moon and Jade and Stone were also unskilled, but also had things to be doing, like keeping the warriors out of trouble). When told to hide under the sand during a Fell attack, she dug them in about 3-5 feet underground and you can be sure that she left proper ventilation without being conspicuous. If Bramble does a thing, she does it right (or as right as she can given the time).

Bramble can be stubborn. The orientation on detail is one sign, as is planning a rescue despite being locked up on a flying boat and regularly fed poison to keep her docile and unable to shift. Despite her love of conspiracy theories, she's also puzzled when people don't just act sensible and do things like talk to one another. Near the end of the events of the Harbors of the Sun, there were a lot of complex feelings due to a death and injuries among the party, and when Moon was trying to sort through things (as he had been separated from the group), Bramble was very much a 'yes, everyone is crazy except me' as a reaction to the drama and people not talking to other people, and Root stomping around because he thought no one else was grieving for Song. She also had this reaction to the discovery that Balm and River were Not Talking To One Another after events from years ago.

ABILITIES: All Arbora are shapeshifters, to a scaled form with claws and a tail that can't fly but is incredibly good at climbing. Their tails are prehensile, and their clawed hands and feet are quite sharp (and retractable). Raksura can carry small objects and their clothing between forms, so Bramble doesn't lose clothing if she needs to shift. Raksura are also very temperature tolerant (to the point where they can wander around barefoot and in a single layer of clothing, without scales, when it is snowing). They have good scent, hearing and sight, but best in their scale form. Given how often Bramble mentions scent, it is easy to assume it is better than a human's. They also have a natural compass and a sense of where the Sun is (independent of how much time seems to have passed -- Moon could tell how long they'd been in a trap that messed with their time perception by the Sun).

Bramble is trained as a hunter and tracker, so can kill and dress game, as well as set up camps and blinds. She also has a fair grounding in edible plants, and some knowledge of the other skills needed by Raksura. She seems to have some interest in carving. She speaks three languages and is clever enough to observe foreign behavior and figure out a plan based on that. Moon taught her a bit of fighting unarmed in groundling form, but she's not yet very good.

INVENTORY: Bramble has a pack with some food (dried meat and seed cakes), a few knives and a whetstone, a waterskin, and a flint for starting fires.

FACTION: Spring. First off, Stone chose Spring and Raksura don't do well alone. Given her last major encounter with non-Raksura lead to her nearly being killed, and the very clear idea that the Hians didn't see her as a real person, if Bramble didn't select Spring, she'd switch right away. On the other hand, Bramble is gregarious enough that once she and Stone are certain that things are safe, she can venture out to meet people. (Stone is family, but Bramble does like to talk to people who are not the cranky line-grandfather.) I don't want to be the person who only RPs with canon-mates, so picking a character that gets out and does things is good.

Frankly, Spring will sound the most comprehensible to Bramble. Her people grow crops and use forest management to make sure there is enough game for the colony's population. Raksura don't form cities larger than a colony, which is one very complex family, and spend their time both getting food and making pretty things. They tend to be crummy at trading, because they don't have a good sense of value, and have never needed to do anything like currency, as they mostly deal with other colonies, trading things in bulk.
OBJECTIVES: Bramble will be interested in the nature spirits, since she is the sort of sensible person who finds 'how do we keep everyone fed' as more interesting than the politics of nations. Investigating why they are in decline and trying to build better farming devices and forest-management techniques will be things she naturally falls into. Bramble also considers sexism rather inexplicable when she encountered it among the Hians (in that case, towards Hian males). (Aeriat Raksura do have a bit of sexism, but that is seen as the consequence of the queens' connection to their courts being only a queen thing rather than a queen AND consort thing; as Arbora Raksura have small differences between males and females, treating them different would be weird.)
ANYTHING ELSE: Any other information that you'd like us to know. Put a gif here if you feel like it.

SAMPLE.
Bramble with Stone mapping, and Bramble versus Capitalism
Bramble is used to other races seeing things she can't