Isrydia
Mar 22, 2013 18:23:34 GMT -5
Post by Quetzal on Mar 22, 2013 18:23:34 GMT -5
Full Name: Isrydia
Other name: Stargazer (on account of how often she was found staring at the stars or talking about what they are)
Race: Human
Side: Neutral
Birthplace: Kuasta
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Birthday: 3rd January
Eyes: Blue/grey
Hair: Dull blonde verging on brown, gently waves, reaches a few inches past the shoulders
Weight: 56kg
Height: 5'6"
Magic User: Yes, but she doesn't know a word of the Ancient Language yet so it's not much good to her.
Preferred Weapon(s): Light, quick swords and shields, relying a lot on her agility. She owns a small iron shield and a narrow steel sword with a hilt crudely decorated with vines she calls Nettle. She also has a bow, but detests fighting with it and so just uses it for hunting.
Appearance: Isrydia looks like a regular member of the general peasantry. Her skin is naturally pale, but is usually slightly tanned from spending a lot of time outside. Her nose is small and slightly upturned, her eyebrows thin arced lines above her round eyes, her fringe swept round and tucked behind her ears to stop it getting in her eyes. Sometimes she uses a piece of brown cloth to hold her hair back. Her face is overall quite plain and open, not unfriendly.
Isrydia's frame is thin, seeming almost fragile, but is actually fairly durable, speedy and agile. She will wear dresses if need be, but hates how they restrict her movement, so prefers to wear trousers and leather armour for protection and movement. She often wears armour if she goes hunting or suspects she might be engaged in combat. In cold weather, she wears a thick faded green hooded cloak for warmth. She had a gedwëy ignasia on her right hand, marking her as a dragon Rider.
Personality: Isrydia comes across as stubborn, passionate and even a little obnoxious. She tends to be wary to show people what she is really like when first meeting them, treating them with high suspicion. Once her trust is earned, she will be fiercely loyal. She does tend to take a long time to think things through when making a decision, be it to trust a person or take a certain path. While this does give her a good ability to think critically and makes her observant and unlikely to miss any one factor out of a decision, it does mean she takes an awful long time to make her mind up about something, and in the meantime can change her opinions frequently.
Once she allows someone to get to know her, Isrydia is a very kind person with a strange air of innocence about her in her wonder at the world around her. She will often talk excitedly of animals or some strange sight she has seen recently, wondering why or what or how. She cares for people and thinks herself the mature comforting friend people need, but has a tendency to think too highly of herself; she isn't the amazing fighter she thinks she is (although she isn't bad and has potential); and likewise she is more childlike than she thinks. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. She asks many questions and so learns much from those around her, and her wonder at the world in general can be a lovely thing to witness.
Likes: Animals, stars, learning about the world, discussions with just a couple of other people
Dislikes: Prejudice, very hot weather, crowds
Strengths: Quick learner, agile
Weakness: Doesn't know her own limits, indecisive, proud
Family: Mother - 42 - Ailea
Father - 41 - Vaern
Brother - 16 - Jarod
History: Raised, born and bred in Kuasta, Isrydia grew up somewhat isolated from the large majory of Alagaesia, cut off by the mountains of the Spine in their own little valley walled by the sea and the mountains. As the birthplace of Brom, the people of the town often talked of his adventures and those of the other Dragon Riders. Isrydia was deeply interested by the Dragon Riders, but they almost seemed like an imagined concept, despite her knowledge that they were still around - Galbatorix didn't exactly give them a good name until Eragon turned up. For the most part, as interested as Isrydia was in stories of magic, elves, and the Dragon Riders, they has nothing to do with her and so they remained just stories. True stories, but stories none the less.
Isrydia's family were like any other in Kuasta. They kept a few chickens for eggs to eat and sell, and a goat for milk. Her father was a candle maker, supplying the entire town aside from the few richer nobles who bought candles from more skilled makers who could make the candles last longer with magic, give off pleasant smells and look more decorative. Her mother would help when her father left to go hunting for meat, and Isrydia would occasionally join her, more so when she was older, although at first she was more of a hindrance than a help as she was not too good at the craft until her teens. She would cook, clean, and care for the animals with her mother, the remainder of her time spent demanding tales of the Dragon Riders from the storytellers, especially those decended from the uncles and aunts of Brom himself, playing in the streets or at the beach with the other children, and exploring the nearest mountains of the Spine with her brother and a few of the braver children.
When Isrydia was very young, she used to imagine that it would turn out she was related to Brom; one of her parents might admit to being his sibling, or niece or nephew, but she knew that this was not true. A common game among the children was reenact Brom killing members of the Foresworn, or to pretend to be dragons, spreading out their arms and roaring at unfortunate nearby chickens. Jarod, Isrydia's brother, joined in these games when he was two and Isrydia was four. He joined them as they became more daring, venturing outside of town to heavily inhabited nearby areas, such as the beach, where the fishermen would enthrall them in accounts of how they were nearly eaten alive by sea serpents which were obviously completely made up to all but the young children in their audience. The children would listen wide-eyed, and their admiration and belief was often reward by a few of the smaller fish the fishermen knew wouldn't sell. They taught themselves to swim in the cold sea under close supervision of the fishermen, who frequency pulled out panicking kids. The children learned tips from the fishermen, too; they knew which seaweed they could eat, and would collect it, wash it and boil it as a salty snack.
When Jarod was seven and Isrydia was nine, their father brought back a small wooden sword, shield, and bow from the market. This delighted his son, who began training with them right away. Isrydia was jealous; her other male friends had similarly been given training in weapons from a similar age. Jarod was poor with the sword and shield, failing to grasp basic defensive concepts, but excelled with the bow. He was hitting the targets every time from early on, and even managed the occasional bull's eye with his father's help. Of course, he was too small and too weak to manage holding and pulling back the string of a bow that could kill, but his father promised when he was older the two of them would go on hunting trips together. The idea was for Jarod to go out hunting so that his father would not have to hand the work over to his mother, which always meant worse and fewer candles, a dirtier house and unhappy chickens.
Isrydia at this point was starting to find she enjoyed the company of the animals, loving to stroke the chickens' soft feathers and to take care of the goat. Her mother found that the chickens tended to lay more eggs when they spent more time with humans, so she encouraged it. There was something Isrydia would rather be doing, however; training with weapons like her brother. She was a girl, so she was told she had to work in the house. However, she at least wanted to try.
"Jarod, you know how dad gave you that sword a few weeks ago?" Isrydia said in the excessively polite tone that gives away when a young child wants something.
"Yes...?" Her brother responded, lowering his bow. He hadn't been using the sword much; it was resting against the wall of the house with his shield.
"Could I try it out?"
"You know what mum and dad say. You're a girl, and girls shouldn't need to fight." Jarod replied, unsure.
"But I still want to know how to use one! For fun! Pleeeeease? If I learn to use a sword, we could go into the Spine together, and we could see what the forest is like! What if there's elves in there - the storytellers say elves live in forests." Isrydia begged, knowing her brother had always wanted to go into the Spine.
The seven-year-old boy frowned, then sighed. "I don't think elves live in the Spine... but OK. If you promise we'll go there." she nodded eargerly in agreement, so he walked over and handed her his sword and shield. "So, I'll teach you some of the basic moves I know..."
A few weeks later, Isrydia was as good with a sword as her brother, and Jarod was desperate to explore the Spine. The two asked their friends if any of them wanted to go, and while most muttered something about Urgals and scary black forests, two boys joined them. After returning to their homes for a hurried lunch, the four children met on the edge of town, the two boys and Isrydia equipped with swords and shields, Jarod with his bow and some arrows. Together they set off for the Spine for the first time.
For the most part, the trip was quiet and uneventful, but for the children venturing into the wilderness for the first time, it was the most exciting thing they had ever done. They climbed the mountain through the trees, occasionally scrambling up a taller one to get a view of where they were so they would not get lost. They got about a quarter of the way up one of the smaller mountains, but still looking down on the town they'd spent all their lives in was incredible. At that point, one of the boys from the town thought they heard a rustling nearby, and the group lost their nerve, assuming it was an Urgal, racing back down to Kuasta.
After that, Isrydia had a taste for the Spine. She and her brother got to know the mountains nearby well, even reaching the peaks of some smaller ones. Jarod knew the mountains better than she did, as he went out more often since as he grew he began to accompany his father hunting, at first to watch and learn, then later killing small game himself. Some of the older boys in town taught Isrydia sword fighting, and she became just as good, if not better, as they were. It was then that she developed a keen curiosity, especially where stars were concerned. She would spend nights staring out the window, or standing outside, staring upwards, looking at star maps and drawing her own, watching how they moved during the year and plotting their paths. They were completely unknown to everyone around her, which was why they were so exciting to her; something completely undiscovered but there every night. All this earned her the nickname 'Stargazer', sometimes used mockingly as a taunt, sometimes used to show respect for her willingness to learn.
At the age of 16, Isrydia was not satisfied with just looking at the stars from sea level. They were so far away, so maybe from the top of one of the highest mountains in the Spine she would be able to reach them or at least see them better. Maybe she would even be able to see what they were. She gathered supplies to last her a week, dressed in the leather armour had reluctanty allowed her when she argued she should at least have some protection from weapons, borrowed an iron sword and shield off a friend as well as one of her brother's old hunting bows (he was now hunting by himself so had various bows and arrows lying around), and set off for the tallest mountain she knew of.
Some way through the second day of her travelling, Isrydia reached a point on the mountain beyond which she did not recognise. She was travelling further than she ever had before, and the altitude made the air cold and thin. She stopped for the night just below the clouds, not wanting to venture inside for fear of what they would be like. On the third day of her journey, she had no choice but to go through the clouds; to her relief, it was no worse than incredibly dense fog, and while it was unpleasant, wet, cold and didn't allow her to see much, she passed through unscathed. To her surpise, there were still cloud above her; clouds must lie at different heights in the sky. She hoped they would clear before nightfall, since the mountain's peak was in sight and she wanted a clear view of the stars.
The sun broke through the clouds mid-afternoon, as Isrydia found the highest point on the mountain. She spent hours taking everything in; how different the plants growing this high were, not to mention how far she could see. Northwards, the Spine stretched as far as she could see. To the East, she could see Kuasta beneath the peaks of other mountains below, her hometown tiny. The vast sea reached out from there seemingly forever. To the West and South she could see the blue pool of Leona Lake, Dras-Leona, Belatona, and vast plains beyond which stopped as though the world ended where she knew it carried on Uru 'baen and Feinster. She was curious about this but could not say why this was so; although she did not know this, it was due to the curvature of the planet lowering the plains below the horizon.
As night fell, Isrydia eagerly nestled herself in her bedroll and blankets, it being bitterly cold this high up despite it being June. The starmaps she had worked on and bought over the past few years lay spread out all around her, along with a pen accompanied by sheets of paper for more starmaps. She had even taken, without permission, a magnifying glass her father used for etching fine details on candles that could tell how much time had passed since it was lit depending on how low they were burning.
When disappeared past Dras-Leona, leaving the world in darkness aside from the glittering sky, Isrydia was disappointed. This disappointment soon turned to one of wonder and astonishment as she realized the meaning of what she saw. The stars were exactly the same size as they had been way down on the ground, but there were hundreds, even thousands, more. These were dimmer than the stars she was familiar with, she supposed meaning they were either smaller, further away, or even that their light couldn't pass through the thicker air below. A fat strip reaching across the entire sky which she noticed usually was more dense with stars than the rest of the sky appeared like a gleaming, twinkling cloud - this, although she did not know it, was the galaxy she lived in.
Isrydia sat there, staring, for a while, then began to plot new starmaps with all these new stars as she comtemplated what this meant. The strip bulged in the centre - maybe there was a big star there, the King of Stars, or some great and powerful God? The strip proved to her that for some reason, the stars liked to be near each other. Perhaps they were near in order to be able to converse easier. The new stars distorted the constellations, clouding them. Maybe they weren't as important as people thought they were. Perhaps the most important thing she noticed was that even this high up, they weren't any nearer. Even when she used the magnifying glass, all that happened was they appeared like big bright circles of blurry white fire, way too far away to be in focus. The stars must be so far away, perhaps even above the sky. If there were all these dim stars she hadn't seen from the ground, maybe there were still more stars hidden, unthinkably far away. Even the moon didn't seem any closer; perhaps it was as far away as the stars, a giant gleaming ball. This didn't seem right, since the stars didn't cluster around it like they did around each other and that huge strip.
Isrydia spent one more night on the mountain peak, then made her way home. Her descent was much faster than her journey upwards, taking two days instead of three. She thought more about the stars as she approached Kuasta, coming to a conclusion which excited her, making her desperate to tell someone.
Jarod ran up to her as soon as she arrived home after returning the items she had borrowed. After a quick scolding from her parents, whom were really just relieved to see she was fine, and whose opinions of her abilities to fend for herself seemed to have improved by her proving herself in this way, she and her brother discussed what she had seen. After giving him an account of her journey and what the night sky had looked like, showing him the mostly-completed rough version of her new starmaps, she explained what she now thought of the stars. "They give off light. The only thing I know of that gives off light is fire. Some of the stars look red or orange, so they must be like candles. Most stars look white, and when you heat something, the lighter it is, the hotter. Same with father's candles, the red bit is hot, but not as hot as the yellow or white bits. The blue bit's even hotter, but there aren't many blue stars. I think the same is true for the stars; the white stars must be really hot. Even that high up, they didn't look any closer, so I think they must be really far away. For us to be able to see them, then, they must be really, really, big. I think they must be giant, huge fires in the sky - like the candles the Gods use to see in the dark. They like to be near each other, so that the Gods holding them can talk to each other," she explained her thoughts.
Her brother smiled. He didn't know much about stars, but that seemed plausible. After all, at night-time, the Gods too would need some way of seeing their world, and that would explain why the stars were only visible at night, too. "That makes sense," he said slowly, "But that must mean there's an awful lot of Gods."
Isrydia nodded, "There are so many! Gods for every feeling, every tragedy, every joy, every creature... I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a guardian angel for every person in Alagaesia up there," she said excitedly. It was a nice feeling, that there was someone up in the sky looking out for you and only you, talking to the angels looking after the people around you to find out how best to protect you.
Months later, Isrydia turned seventeen, and started showing signs that she wanted to leave. She frequently asked about the wider world; the sight of other, larger cities from the mountaintop gave her an urge to visit them. She was most interested in learning the ways of the elves and the dwarves, admiring the other two races for their grace and strength. She strove to be as fast and agile as an elf, and as strong and sturdy as a dwarf, but of course came nowhere near. She longed to see the huge forest the elves called their homes, as well as the mountains taller even than the Spine where the dwarves resided.
Eventually, in July at age seventeen, she left to explore with the promise that she would return. Jarod was supportive, even boastful of all the adventures he was sure his sister would have, while their parents were less so. They argued she was needed in Kuasta, and she should find a husband, settle down and start a family. To this, she argued she might find the right man for her in some far-off town or city, although she presently has no interest in that sort of relationship or starting a family. It took her a while, and her father even demanded teaching her to read and write so she could right home, but eventually, her parents could see that they would either let her leave or refuse and have Isrydia run away from home with soured memories. Letting her leave seemed the better option, since it made her more likely to return from homesickness.
When Isrydia left, she took with her brand new leather armour, a large satchell containing blankets, clothes, writing instruments and provisions, a hunting bow and quiver of arrows, and a brand new shield and sword. Her brother named Nettle, saying the name suited it because of the vines around the hilt and the way it was more of a stinger than a slasher, just like a nettle. And so Isrydia left Kuasta, reaching Belatona after a couple of months of wondering. This was the second town Isrydia had been in in her entire life, and it was so different from Kuasta it shocked her. She realized there that her hometown had some strange customs laughed at elsewhere, but she couldn't bring herself to turn her back on them, instead ignoring any comments about them.
For the few months leading up to the moment in time Isrydia is at now, she wondered from place to place around the south-east of Alagaesia, learning about the culture differences there and more about the area she lived in, as well as the ideas about the world held by the people there. She was lonely at times, so tended to stick to main paths she would find other people on, writing home often and earning a few coins by telling stories from Kuasta, stories most people had never heard before owing to Kuasta's isolation. She seeks a purpose, though. Knowledge is something she wants and enjoys, and improving her skills with a sword is something important to her, but she does not really know what to do with her life. For the moment, she is content travelling and telling stories, but she does not know where that might take her.
Anything extra: I would like her to be a Rider, but not just yet - I think it'd be fun to RP her getting the egg and see how she copes with the situation as she tries to learn. I'm not entirely sure if I'm applying for this right, so please let me know if I'm doing something wrong!
Name: Arlyn
Age: A few weeks
Physical description:A very pale blue egg veined with sky blue, seeming to be glowing almost white inside.
Young dragon - His legs and wings seem bigger than they should be, making him look quite clumsy. This is just because he's still growing, but he is self-conscious about it. His scales are a pale, icy blue, almost white at the edges, making them seem almost like knives of ice in the sunlight. His wings are pale, looking like wing-shaped clouds against the sky. When light passes through them, the major blood vessels are visible through them. His eyes are a rich, deep, blue, standing out from the rest of his pale form. He is considerably smaller than he should be, being the size of a dragon several weeks younger than he is, due to a wound inflicted by a Shade near Dras-Leona. All his energy was focused on keeping himself alive and healing himself rather than growing until he could be healed by the elves, so his growth was stunted. This also means his muscles are not as developed, and as such he is more frail than other dragons, but it regaining strength fast.
Fully grown - Retaining the same colouring he had as a young dragon, he appears stronger and sturdier. His wings no longer appear as blood vessel-lined membranes in light, instead being more almost-white thick leathery sheets. His proud face hides wickedly sharp teeth, his talon equally deadly. He does not have as many spikes as some dragons, a line of them marking each vertebrae down his spine, enabling him to use the upper side of his tail as a large serrated blade. A few spikes sprout above his eyes and below his jaw, deterring any dragons from biting his jaw and giving him a stinging headbutt.
Where they hatched: The Spine
Personality: Arlyn is very calm. Not much phases him, and so he will remain annoyingly level-headed in most any situation. He is very patient and rarely loses his temper, although a quick way to make him do this is to make foolish choices against his advice or to insult his appearance. When provoked, Arlyn loses control, rampaging, shouting at whomever insulted him with his mind, roaring and generally being very intimidating. Normally, he can be careful and sensible, with the exceptions being when he wants to learn something or explore - or if he's feeling hungry and wants to get to food. He has a deep wish to learn as much as he possibly can, and will sometimes be uncharacteristically daring just to 'see what happens'.
Other name: Stargazer (on account of how often she was found staring at the stars or talking about what they are)
Race: Human
Side: Neutral
Birthplace: Kuasta
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Birthday: 3rd January
Eyes: Blue/grey
Hair: Dull blonde verging on brown, gently waves, reaches a few inches past the shoulders
Weight: 56kg
Height: 5'6"
Magic User: Yes, but she doesn't know a word of the Ancient Language yet so it's not much good to her.
Preferred Weapon(s): Light, quick swords and shields, relying a lot on her agility. She owns a small iron shield and a narrow steel sword with a hilt crudely decorated with vines she calls Nettle. She also has a bow, but detests fighting with it and so just uses it for hunting.
Appearance: Isrydia looks like a regular member of the general peasantry. Her skin is naturally pale, but is usually slightly tanned from spending a lot of time outside. Her nose is small and slightly upturned, her eyebrows thin arced lines above her round eyes, her fringe swept round and tucked behind her ears to stop it getting in her eyes. Sometimes she uses a piece of brown cloth to hold her hair back. Her face is overall quite plain and open, not unfriendly.
Isrydia's frame is thin, seeming almost fragile, but is actually fairly durable, speedy and agile. She will wear dresses if need be, but hates how they restrict her movement, so prefers to wear trousers and leather armour for protection and movement. She often wears armour if she goes hunting or suspects she might be engaged in combat. In cold weather, she wears a thick faded green hooded cloak for warmth. She had a gedwëy ignasia on her right hand, marking her as a dragon Rider.
Personality: Isrydia comes across as stubborn, passionate and even a little obnoxious. She tends to be wary to show people what she is really like when first meeting them, treating them with high suspicion. Once her trust is earned, she will be fiercely loyal. She does tend to take a long time to think things through when making a decision, be it to trust a person or take a certain path. While this does give her a good ability to think critically and makes her observant and unlikely to miss any one factor out of a decision, it does mean she takes an awful long time to make her mind up about something, and in the meantime can change her opinions frequently.
Once she allows someone to get to know her, Isrydia is a very kind person with a strange air of innocence about her in her wonder at the world around her. She will often talk excitedly of animals or some strange sight she has seen recently, wondering why or what or how. She cares for people and thinks herself the mature comforting friend people need, but has a tendency to think too highly of herself; she isn't the amazing fighter she thinks she is (although she isn't bad and has potential); and likewise she is more childlike than she thinks. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. She asks many questions and so learns much from those around her, and her wonder at the world in general can be a lovely thing to witness.
Likes: Animals, stars, learning about the world, discussions with just a couple of other people
Dislikes: Prejudice, very hot weather, crowds
Strengths: Quick learner, agile
Weakness: Doesn't know her own limits, indecisive, proud
Family: Mother - 42 - Ailea
Father - 41 - Vaern
Brother - 16 - Jarod
History: Raised, born and bred in Kuasta, Isrydia grew up somewhat isolated from the large majory of Alagaesia, cut off by the mountains of the Spine in their own little valley walled by the sea and the mountains. As the birthplace of Brom, the people of the town often talked of his adventures and those of the other Dragon Riders. Isrydia was deeply interested by the Dragon Riders, but they almost seemed like an imagined concept, despite her knowledge that they were still around - Galbatorix didn't exactly give them a good name until Eragon turned up. For the most part, as interested as Isrydia was in stories of magic, elves, and the Dragon Riders, they has nothing to do with her and so they remained just stories. True stories, but stories none the less.
Isrydia's family were like any other in Kuasta. They kept a few chickens for eggs to eat and sell, and a goat for milk. Her father was a candle maker, supplying the entire town aside from the few richer nobles who bought candles from more skilled makers who could make the candles last longer with magic, give off pleasant smells and look more decorative. Her mother would help when her father left to go hunting for meat, and Isrydia would occasionally join her, more so when she was older, although at first she was more of a hindrance than a help as she was not too good at the craft until her teens. She would cook, clean, and care for the animals with her mother, the remainder of her time spent demanding tales of the Dragon Riders from the storytellers, especially those decended from the uncles and aunts of Brom himself, playing in the streets or at the beach with the other children, and exploring the nearest mountains of the Spine with her brother and a few of the braver children.
When Isrydia was very young, she used to imagine that it would turn out she was related to Brom; one of her parents might admit to being his sibling, or niece or nephew, but she knew that this was not true. A common game among the children was reenact Brom killing members of the Foresworn, or to pretend to be dragons, spreading out their arms and roaring at unfortunate nearby chickens. Jarod, Isrydia's brother, joined in these games when he was two and Isrydia was four. He joined them as they became more daring, venturing outside of town to heavily inhabited nearby areas, such as the beach, where the fishermen would enthrall them in accounts of how they were nearly eaten alive by sea serpents which were obviously completely made up to all but the young children in their audience. The children would listen wide-eyed, and their admiration and belief was often reward by a few of the smaller fish the fishermen knew wouldn't sell. They taught themselves to swim in the cold sea under close supervision of the fishermen, who frequency pulled out panicking kids. The children learned tips from the fishermen, too; they knew which seaweed they could eat, and would collect it, wash it and boil it as a salty snack.
When Jarod was seven and Isrydia was nine, their father brought back a small wooden sword, shield, and bow from the market. This delighted his son, who began training with them right away. Isrydia was jealous; her other male friends had similarly been given training in weapons from a similar age. Jarod was poor with the sword and shield, failing to grasp basic defensive concepts, but excelled with the bow. He was hitting the targets every time from early on, and even managed the occasional bull's eye with his father's help. Of course, he was too small and too weak to manage holding and pulling back the string of a bow that could kill, but his father promised when he was older the two of them would go on hunting trips together. The idea was for Jarod to go out hunting so that his father would not have to hand the work over to his mother, which always meant worse and fewer candles, a dirtier house and unhappy chickens.
Isrydia at this point was starting to find she enjoyed the company of the animals, loving to stroke the chickens' soft feathers and to take care of the goat. Her mother found that the chickens tended to lay more eggs when they spent more time with humans, so she encouraged it. There was something Isrydia would rather be doing, however; training with weapons like her brother. She was a girl, so she was told she had to work in the house. However, she at least wanted to try.
"Jarod, you know how dad gave you that sword a few weeks ago?" Isrydia said in the excessively polite tone that gives away when a young child wants something.
"Yes...?" Her brother responded, lowering his bow. He hadn't been using the sword much; it was resting against the wall of the house with his shield.
"Could I try it out?"
"You know what mum and dad say. You're a girl, and girls shouldn't need to fight." Jarod replied, unsure.
"But I still want to know how to use one! For fun! Pleeeeease? If I learn to use a sword, we could go into the Spine together, and we could see what the forest is like! What if there's elves in there - the storytellers say elves live in forests." Isrydia begged, knowing her brother had always wanted to go into the Spine.
The seven-year-old boy frowned, then sighed. "I don't think elves live in the Spine... but OK. If you promise we'll go there." she nodded eargerly in agreement, so he walked over and handed her his sword and shield. "So, I'll teach you some of the basic moves I know..."
A few weeks later, Isrydia was as good with a sword as her brother, and Jarod was desperate to explore the Spine. The two asked their friends if any of them wanted to go, and while most muttered something about Urgals and scary black forests, two boys joined them. After returning to their homes for a hurried lunch, the four children met on the edge of town, the two boys and Isrydia equipped with swords and shields, Jarod with his bow and some arrows. Together they set off for the Spine for the first time.
For the most part, the trip was quiet and uneventful, but for the children venturing into the wilderness for the first time, it was the most exciting thing they had ever done. They climbed the mountain through the trees, occasionally scrambling up a taller one to get a view of where they were so they would not get lost. They got about a quarter of the way up one of the smaller mountains, but still looking down on the town they'd spent all their lives in was incredible. At that point, one of the boys from the town thought they heard a rustling nearby, and the group lost their nerve, assuming it was an Urgal, racing back down to Kuasta.
After that, Isrydia had a taste for the Spine. She and her brother got to know the mountains nearby well, even reaching the peaks of some smaller ones. Jarod knew the mountains better than she did, as he went out more often since as he grew he began to accompany his father hunting, at first to watch and learn, then later killing small game himself. Some of the older boys in town taught Isrydia sword fighting, and she became just as good, if not better, as they were. It was then that she developed a keen curiosity, especially where stars were concerned. She would spend nights staring out the window, or standing outside, staring upwards, looking at star maps and drawing her own, watching how they moved during the year and plotting their paths. They were completely unknown to everyone around her, which was why they were so exciting to her; something completely undiscovered but there every night. All this earned her the nickname 'Stargazer', sometimes used mockingly as a taunt, sometimes used to show respect for her willingness to learn.
At the age of 16, Isrydia was not satisfied with just looking at the stars from sea level. They were so far away, so maybe from the top of one of the highest mountains in the Spine she would be able to reach them or at least see them better. Maybe she would even be able to see what they were. She gathered supplies to last her a week, dressed in the leather armour had reluctanty allowed her when she argued she should at least have some protection from weapons, borrowed an iron sword and shield off a friend as well as one of her brother's old hunting bows (he was now hunting by himself so had various bows and arrows lying around), and set off for the tallest mountain she knew of.
Some way through the second day of her travelling, Isrydia reached a point on the mountain beyond which she did not recognise. She was travelling further than she ever had before, and the altitude made the air cold and thin. She stopped for the night just below the clouds, not wanting to venture inside for fear of what they would be like. On the third day of her journey, she had no choice but to go through the clouds; to her relief, it was no worse than incredibly dense fog, and while it was unpleasant, wet, cold and didn't allow her to see much, she passed through unscathed. To her surpise, there were still cloud above her; clouds must lie at different heights in the sky. She hoped they would clear before nightfall, since the mountain's peak was in sight and she wanted a clear view of the stars.
The sun broke through the clouds mid-afternoon, as Isrydia found the highest point on the mountain. She spent hours taking everything in; how different the plants growing this high were, not to mention how far she could see. Northwards, the Spine stretched as far as she could see. To the East, she could see Kuasta beneath the peaks of other mountains below, her hometown tiny. The vast sea reached out from there seemingly forever. To the West and South she could see the blue pool of Leona Lake, Dras-Leona, Belatona, and vast plains beyond which stopped as though the world ended where she knew it carried on Uru 'baen and Feinster. She was curious about this but could not say why this was so; although she did not know this, it was due to the curvature of the planet lowering the plains below the horizon.
As night fell, Isrydia eagerly nestled herself in her bedroll and blankets, it being bitterly cold this high up despite it being June. The starmaps she had worked on and bought over the past few years lay spread out all around her, along with a pen accompanied by sheets of paper for more starmaps. She had even taken, without permission, a magnifying glass her father used for etching fine details on candles that could tell how much time had passed since it was lit depending on how low they were burning.
When disappeared past Dras-Leona, leaving the world in darkness aside from the glittering sky, Isrydia was disappointed. This disappointment soon turned to one of wonder and astonishment as she realized the meaning of what she saw. The stars were exactly the same size as they had been way down on the ground, but there were hundreds, even thousands, more. These were dimmer than the stars she was familiar with, she supposed meaning they were either smaller, further away, or even that their light couldn't pass through the thicker air below. A fat strip reaching across the entire sky which she noticed usually was more dense with stars than the rest of the sky appeared like a gleaming, twinkling cloud - this, although she did not know it, was the galaxy she lived in.
Isrydia sat there, staring, for a while, then began to plot new starmaps with all these new stars as she comtemplated what this meant. The strip bulged in the centre - maybe there was a big star there, the King of Stars, or some great and powerful God? The strip proved to her that for some reason, the stars liked to be near each other. Perhaps they were near in order to be able to converse easier. The new stars distorted the constellations, clouding them. Maybe they weren't as important as people thought they were. Perhaps the most important thing she noticed was that even this high up, they weren't any nearer. Even when she used the magnifying glass, all that happened was they appeared like big bright circles of blurry white fire, way too far away to be in focus. The stars must be so far away, perhaps even above the sky. If there were all these dim stars she hadn't seen from the ground, maybe there were still more stars hidden, unthinkably far away. Even the moon didn't seem any closer; perhaps it was as far away as the stars, a giant gleaming ball. This didn't seem right, since the stars didn't cluster around it like they did around each other and that huge strip.
Isrydia spent one more night on the mountain peak, then made her way home. Her descent was much faster than her journey upwards, taking two days instead of three. She thought more about the stars as she approached Kuasta, coming to a conclusion which excited her, making her desperate to tell someone.
Jarod ran up to her as soon as she arrived home after returning the items she had borrowed. After a quick scolding from her parents, whom were really just relieved to see she was fine, and whose opinions of her abilities to fend for herself seemed to have improved by her proving herself in this way, she and her brother discussed what she had seen. After giving him an account of her journey and what the night sky had looked like, showing him the mostly-completed rough version of her new starmaps, she explained what she now thought of the stars. "They give off light. The only thing I know of that gives off light is fire. Some of the stars look red or orange, so they must be like candles. Most stars look white, and when you heat something, the lighter it is, the hotter. Same with father's candles, the red bit is hot, but not as hot as the yellow or white bits. The blue bit's even hotter, but there aren't many blue stars. I think the same is true for the stars; the white stars must be really hot. Even that high up, they didn't look any closer, so I think they must be really far away. For us to be able to see them, then, they must be really, really, big. I think they must be giant, huge fires in the sky - like the candles the Gods use to see in the dark. They like to be near each other, so that the Gods holding them can talk to each other," she explained her thoughts.
Her brother smiled. He didn't know much about stars, but that seemed plausible. After all, at night-time, the Gods too would need some way of seeing their world, and that would explain why the stars were only visible at night, too. "That makes sense," he said slowly, "But that must mean there's an awful lot of Gods."
Isrydia nodded, "There are so many! Gods for every feeling, every tragedy, every joy, every creature... I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a guardian angel for every person in Alagaesia up there," she said excitedly. It was a nice feeling, that there was someone up in the sky looking out for you and only you, talking to the angels looking after the people around you to find out how best to protect you.
Months later, Isrydia turned seventeen, and started showing signs that she wanted to leave. She frequently asked about the wider world; the sight of other, larger cities from the mountaintop gave her an urge to visit them. She was most interested in learning the ways of the elves and the dwarves, admiring the other two races for their grace and strength. She strove to be as fast and agile as an elf, and as strong and sturdy as a dwarf, but of course came nowhere near. She longed to see the huge forest the elves called their homes, as well as the mountains taller even than the Spine where the dwarves resided.
Eventually, in July at age seventeen, she left to explore with the promise that she would return. Jarod was supportive, even boastful of all the adventures he was sure his sister would have, while their parents were less so. They argued she was needed in Kuasta, and she should find a husband, settle down and start a family. To this, she argued she might find the right man for her in some far-off town or city, although she presently has no interest in that sort of relationship or starting a family. It took her a while, and her father even demanded teaching her to read and write so she could right home, but eventually, her parents could see that they would either let her leave or refuse and have Isrydia run away from home with soured memories. Letting her leave seemed the better option, since it made her more likely to return from homesickness.
When Isrydia left, she took with her brand new leather armour, a large satchell containing blankets, clothes, writing instruments and provisions, a hunting bow and quiver of arrows, and a brand new shield and sword. Her brother named Nettle, saying the name suited it because of the vines around the hilt and the way it was more of a stinger than a slasher, just like a nettle. And so Isrydia left Kuasta, reaching Belatona after a couple of months of wondering. This was the second town Isrydia had been in in her entire life, and it was so different from Kuasta it shocked her. She realized there that her hometown had some strange customs laughed at elsewhere, but she couldn't bring herself to turn her back on them, instead ignoring any comments about them.
For the few months leading up to the moment in time Isrydia is at now, she wondered from place to place around the south-east of Alagaesia, learning about the culture differences there and more about the area she lived in, as well as the ideas about the world held by the people there. She was lonely at times, so tended to stick to main paths she would find other people on, writing home often and earning a few coins by telling stories from Kuasta, stories most people had never heard before owing to Kuasta's isolation. She seeks a purpose, though. Knowledge is something she wants and enjoys, and improving her skills with a sword is something important to her, but she does not really know what to do with her life. For the moment, she is content travelling and telling stories, but she does not know where that might take her.
Anything extra: I would like her to be a Rider, but not just yet - I think it'd be fun to RP her getting the egg and see how she copes with the situation as she tries to learn. I'm not entirely sure if I'm applying for this right, so please let me know if I'm doing something wrong!
Dragon Bio
Name: Arlyn
Age: A few weeks
Physical description:
Young dragon - His legs and wings seem bigger than they should be, making him look quite clumsy. This is just because he's still growing, but he is self-conscious about it. His scales are a pale, icy blue, almost white at the edges, making them seem almost like knives of ice in the sunlight. His wings are pale, looking like wing-shaped clouds against the sky. When light passes through them, the major blood vessels are visible through them. His eyes are a rich, deep, blue, standing out from the rest of his pale form. He is considerably smaller than he should be, being the size of a dragon several weeks younger than he is, due to a wound inflicted by a Shade near Dras-Leona. All his energy was focused on keeping himself alive and healing himself rather than growing until he could be healed by the elves, so his growth was stunted. This also means his muscles are not as developed, and as such he is more frail than other dragons, but it regaining strength fast.
Where they hatched: The Spine
Personality: Arlyn is very calm. Not much phases him, and so he will remain annoyingly level-headed in most any situation. He is very patient and rarely loses his temper, although a quick way to make him do this is to make foolish choices against his advice or to insult his appearance. When provoked, Arlyn loses control, rampaging, shouting at whomever insulted him with his mind, roaring and generally being very intimidating. Normally, he can be careful and sensible, with the exceptions being when he wants to learn something or explore - or if he's feeling hungry and wants to get to food. He has a deep wish to learn as much as he possibly can, and will sometimes be uncharacteristically daring just to 'see what happens'.
