They are still TBD. For the most part the pairings are random, but we are taking into account writing style, adult content wants, and pairings that would be hilarious/ traumatizing.
Most of the girls in the line up held onto each other for strength. Every one of them seemly about to break under the weight of the task placed upon them.
These were the same girls who, only yesterday, were boasting clothing of the brightest colors and the latest styles. The usually over dressed girls of the capital were now wearing drab clothes saved for the reaping. Most of their faces bare and the few that did wear make-up used it to accentuate a particularly unpleasant feature. More than a handful showed clear signs of not having bathed in a while.
All common tactics used by the higher class women. Many of whom need not have bothered.
Compared to those girls, Bree shown like an ember in a dying fire. Her auburn hair twisted and pulled back after having been done up in curls. Her outfit, expensive silks. Created for traveling comfort and cut to accentuate all the right places. Her mother had gifted it to her the night before at her farewell party. A Lamary tradition dating back since the start of the reaping. Or nearly.
Bree and Allie held onto each other in eagerness. Hands twisted together with both nerves and excitement. It took a great deal of effort to keep the smile off her face. Finally, after so many years, the day had arrived.
The drakken made a show of selecting brides, and by the time they finally got to Aubree’s part of the line, she was more than ready to just be done with it. She watched as the head reaper whispered something into a guard's ear before gesturing towards her. The drakkan walked over, taking her arm and pulling her away. Only to feel an unexpected weight. He looked down and noted that the girls hands’ were still intertwined. The force of his pulling on Bree having dislodged Allie from the line as well.
“Release her, or we will have to bring her too. You don’t want that,” The drakkan kept its voice gruff, intimidation apparent.
“Yes I do,” said Bree, her voice holding an air of irritation towards the drakkan guard, as though he was missing some painfully obvious fact. The drakkan, who had been so dismissive before, stared at the fire gem in confusion before glancing at his superior.
“No, we aren’t bringing the other one,” Snapped the Head Reaper's voice in irritation. “Just get the Lamay girl in the carriage, we need to go," With that, Bree felt her hand wretched from Allie’s and found herself stuck in a small carriage. Her trunk already inside, as well as another Gem with a red blotchy face, trembling from crying.
“No--, you don’t understand. I need to talk to him,” said Bree, trying to weasel past the guard to get back to the Head Reaper “There's been a mistake you forgot-,”
“Stop resisting,” came the Drakkan Guard's low growl of a voice.
“I’m not resisting, you just-,” She didn’t get the words out of her mouth before the carriage door slammed shut. Bree reached over and yanked the curtain away from the small window. Her eyes hardened and narrowed at the back of the retreating guards back. She then shifted her eyes towards the female figure, still standing just out of line and Bree’s eyes softened at once.
Allie. She stood there, still and in shock. Behind the girl somewhere were Bree's parents and brothers, but they were just more faces in the crowd. Allie was all that she could see. Bree raised her hand and pressed it against the glass. Allie raised her own and waved, speaking something that lost among the roar of the events taking place outside the carriage. But Bree could guess what she said. She was saying it too. I’ll fix this, We’ll be together soon. And just as the carriage started moving. I love you.
The sobbing Gem in the corner tossed her arms around Bree, pulling her into a sopping wet hug.
“Off,” muttered Bree, shoving the girl to the side. “And be quiet, I need to think,”
---- The ride to Castle Worth was long and uneventful. The first couple times they stopped, Bree attempted to speak to the Head Reaper, but she was always simply pushed back into her carriage before she could even get close. She soon stopped trying. As the days passed Bree and the girl she shared her carriage with (she never bothered to learn her name) came to an understanding. The girl was to sit there and be seen and not heard and Bree wouldn’t lose her temper at her.
The stop at Castle Worth was...unexpected. Everything that Bree knew about the selection implied that the Gems would meet the drakken here. That, soon after arrival, the girls would be fought over like ...a prized.
It was nice though, to get her own room. After a few days of having no one besides the crying air gem for a constant companion, the isolation was welcomed.
It was also the first time she got to really examine the situation. Clearly, the plan had gone wrong. She went over it again and again, trying to pinpoint the moment it went south, but there were just too many variables. Besides, there was no point in worrying about the past.
And...the last thing she needed to do was lose sleep over it. A foggy morning mind would solve nothing. ----
The clothing that was provided was...comfortable. Far less fine than anything Bree had brought herself, but it was clean. Also, somewhere amongst her dreams, she made the decision to simply be the very best gem among the girls. In theory, that should get her the very best husband. Possibly one with a little pull when it came to the choosing. For now, it was the best and only course of action she could see.
She did what she could to tidy her appearance with the limited supplies.
Most of the rooms were empty by the time Bree entered the hall and the crowd of girls had thinned somewhat as most of them were now crowded in the dining hall.
There were only a few seats left by the time Bree entered the dining hall. Bree took a seat across from an..interesting looking gem. While the girl was very pretty, there was a vague masculine aura about her. Whether it was from her mannerisms or simply the way she held herself. At the very least the girl wasn’t crying. Better yet, there was also a chance that her masculinity would help accentuate Bree own femininity by comparison. Every little thing helped.
“Hi,” said Bree gently, but firmly. “I’m Aubree, Bree if you will. I don’t mean to be a pain, but you haven’t happened to see that drakkan that seemed to be in-charge last night anywhere around this morning?” a throwaway question really, she wasn’t sure what she would do if the drakkan was here, but the main focus was giving this girl a reason to stay near her.
When you try to talk to the drakkan manager, only to find that drakken don't have managers. So you are stuck with a cry baby and no girlfriend all the way to a stupid castle where you have to befriend the butchest girl you can find.
Rya kept an uneasy eye on the prince’s retreating figure. His large group of drakken guards easily parting their way through the chaos of the lowtown market. Any smaller drakken standing near the guards were unceremoniously shoved out of the way.
A crowd of a different sort had formed a short distance away from Azilon and the prince. It was mostly comprised of a herd of thuggish drakken. The sort that looked irritated that they hadn’t been in a good fight since this morning. One of the largest ones had a gloomy faced gem connected to his wrist via silver chain. More than one of them had a fair spattering of blood on his clothing already.
Luckily for the pair, the pack seemed to lose interest the second the prince wandered off and they vanished into a passing crowd. Clearly the tiny gem and the irritated drakkan was not the fight they were looking for. Although a final passing glance shot an ice spear straight through Rya's stomach.
It was only well after the danger had passed that Rya reached up and removed Azilon’s forgotten hand from her mouth. “When I first came here, there were Gems who thought he was kind because he was prettier than his brother,” her voice keeping the same almost monotonic, dreamy rhythm that happened whenever she felt the need to narrate a situation. A habit she developed around month three of isolation. “And the um...” She raised her hands to the side of her head, mimicking horns for a moment before dropping her hands to her side. “I think they were very wrong. He is an asshole,”
She held the silence for another moment before her face wrinkled in confusion. “Wait...Did I just get married again?” Her voice taking on an entirely different tone. One closer to earth than any she had used since running into Az. She pulled herself out of Azilon’s shadow; looking him up and down as though he was commodity she was debating the purchase of. She opened her mouth but then froze and took a breath, catching whatever words she was about to say, she struggled to reform them.
“You shouldn’t have lied for me...you don’t even want one bride. Or at least not me as a bride,” She bit her lip, her mind quickly jumping around faster than her mouth could keep up.
”And now you are getting a second one? But… I promise I’ll make this right. She could stay with me...the cabin might not be so bad with a friend. O-or I guess you could still sell us, later. I’m sure the prince….the prince wouldn’t notice-” Rya’s voice cut out for another moment as she tried to process all of the new information at hand.
Suddenly all the questions she wanted to ask came rushing out as once She made a few more distressing sounds before she managed to choke one out “Who is Salazar? Is he your... brother?”
Greatest wedding of the ages. Also...some other stuff happens.
Ehkota had entertained the idea of inviting the Kinner to the castle itself. With his brother off dealing with the gem brides, there would be little risk of being found out by him. But if his childhood had taught him anything, it was that his brother's ears were everywhere.
The Kinner’s chosen cafe was not one that Ehkota had frequented himself. The area itself was one of those hidden spaces that oozed out of Železna Kri. Unremarkable, but pleasant enough.
The Kinner was pointed out by a guard, sipping some sort of lemon drink. A strange juxtaposition to be sure. However, looks weren't everything.
With a gesture of his hand, the closest sitting drakken were swifty removed from the cafe and replaced by Ehkota's personal guard, surrounding the Kinner on all sides.
Ehkota gave the man an analyzing once over, a mocking ghost of a smile sitting boldly on his lips. “Most would have bothered to bow,” said the prince, a hint of challenge in his voice. The guards around his tensing, sense the danger in the room.
“But there is no need for such formalities,” The prince took the seat across from the Kinner. “So, you are the one who brought down the great Krisov Harin. I would have said we were acquaintances, but I doubt he would have recalled me at all,” The story of how the great warlord had fallen was common knowledge if the right people were asked. They type of people the prince made a point to know.
“But enough small talk,” (as though the prince had given Kagan much room to speak as it was). The prince cast another longways glance around the room, making sure that his trusted guard were the only ones close enough to hear.
“I’ll get to the point. It is a matter best said bluntly," Although royal secrets were not often shared with outsiders, this particular Kinner was selected in part, because of the death of Krisov. But more so because this particular Kinner could till be easily misplaced. "The king has not made a public appearance in some time. I think people are starting to notice,"
"The King is and was a great man. Whether you support him or not, only a fool would say otherwise. I need to keep it that way, the king deserves that much. He deserves honor".
The Prince paused another moment.“I want you kill him,”
As awesome as it would be to have you. We can't accept you at the moment. We are trying to get the rp going and set a deadline for CS sheets that expired yesterday. However, we will be accepting more in the future, so if you want to PM a character that you want to possibly use later, you are more than welcome to do that and I'll be sure to ping you when we open again.
Rya Mire Race: Gem Age: 18 Element(s): Earth Height: 5’6”
Bio:
Within Gemenia, there are small pockets of Gem's who have rejected the view of their kin. Living life their own way, in accordance with their own histories, laws and religious practices Or rather la k of them Depending on who you asked, the people from Rya’s village believed that the Goddess Vivari had turned her back on the Gem's because of how they sacrificed their daughters for protection —abandoning them they way parents abandon their daughters. There were others that argue Vivari had never existed at all. Regardless, the belief is the same. There are no gods. Not any more anyway.
Which lead to the belief that life was placed in the hands of those who lived it. It was extended to the belief that is was the Gems' responsibility to understand the world and, eventually, build it into a vision of their own creation. But first they had to understand it. They believed that knowing how everything connected would reveal the map of life and give its seekers understanding of everything.
Or at least, that is what they tell people. In reality, it was more of a lot of chasing animals through swamps and poking flowers with sticks. And of course, writing their findings down. Most Gems are unaware of this subset of the abandon gods, as they were so few in number that the few who knew of them believed them to simply be that 'odd family' over there.
That didn't exclude them from paying the toll to the Drakken. Their small community was often overlooked, even by people in their own society. But every once and a while, they were called to pay their dues. Every time a daughter was taken, they would call it the disappearance and try to forget. The girl was never mentioned again and she was erased. Most weren’t even allowed to mourn. It was considered the ‘kinder’ way-to forget and accept things that cannot be changed and spend time focusing on things that can.
The reaping itself was something that was only mentioned to the girls. And only by their mothers. And only on their fifteenth birthday. A secret left to fester for a decade, after that point the daughter would be free. Keeping the secrets for her own daughters’ fifteenth birthday. They were told a beautiful story of silent sacrifice. How their hurt would help keep the vision alive. A whispered opportunity to map the unknown area of the world.
Rya wasn't the first in living memory to disappear. Eight years earlier, an unknown pretty cousin simply wasn't around one morning. She was never brought up in conversation and all prying questions from curious children were hushed away. She was forgotten. All that Rya could recall, was the feeling that her cousins absence brought.
A vague sadness. And a sense of relief.
Relief brought forth because,while there was no exact science to how brides where selected, it was simply unlikely that a family and community as small as theirs would lose another daughter for many years to come.
So, life went on. Rya and her brother and sister grew up, learning to live from the swamp near their house. Learning to hide in its depths when the Reapers drew near. Rya learned to garden with her mother, working to domesticate the wild swamp plants for medicinal and recreational usages, like her family had been doing for many years. She also spent much time in the depths of the swamp. Rya’s father seemed convinced that, somewhere in their swamps murky depths, among the caiman, bugs and trees, there was the secret to all their problems.
Plants that could stop a womb from quickening and plants that would cause visions to appear for hours at a time. Plants for healing and hurting and something in between. Like her mother and father, she thought she’d have the rest of her life to explore its wonders.
But sometimes children have to find out that parents can be wrong. That they can lie. That Rya and her sister Ayr were not guaranteed the right to grow old in their swamp just because their cousin had been lost. That telling children to hide wasn’t just a fun game or a way to stay out from underfoot. Especially when the Reapers seemed to know what they were looking for.
Rya’s own exit was slightly more dramatic than her cousins. The Reapers appeared, like monsters from a nightmare. Monsters who, with a point of their finger pulled her from the swamp, still covered in slime. Monsters who allowed her to return home to pack a trunk. She didn’t take much, just clothing, her journal of discoveries, stuff to remind her of home. And a small bag of seeds. To “Take a piece of home to wherever that may be”. Rya can’t remember what she had said, but what ever it was, it was the wrong thing to say. Probably “I love you” or “It’ll be okay” But once the shock was over and the anger set it, she knew what it should have been.
What it should have been was “Don’t let me disappear”
That was last year.
She could have never foreseen the events that unfolded.
She was more or less resigned to her fate by the time the choosing ceremony had ended. She went with her husband back to his keep. Kept sweet and docile and wasn’t nearly as unhappy as she thought she’d be.
She was her husband's first wife. He wasn’t anyone of importance. The facts that he got a wife at all was some what remarkable. His property was small, little more than a hovel really. Far away from most other forms of civilization. He wasn’t a hermit, per say, but he liked his space. Living with her had been as much of an adjustment for him as for her.
Was she happy? No, but she had created a life for herself. Her husband and her had come to an arrangement. There was no love between them, but they made it work. She was allowed to wander the forests and the terrain. Make her notes. Spend her days as she pleased. So long as she always came running when he called.
It was lonely. While Rya didn’t know a huge number of people back home, she was always with someone. Usually her brother and sometimes her sister.
Her husband was content to go on extended hunting missions with his ‘friends’. A lot of them choosing to remember what life was like before the Gems by purposely chucking themselves in front of every dangerous creature they could. And she would be left by herself. Initially tied up for days at a time, but he eventually found it easier to trust that she wouldn’t run. And if she did, she wouldn’t get very far.
Once a week they would dine together on a meal made by Rya’s hands. Most other nights, they were content to keep to themselves. It was one such night that she discovered that her understanding of Gem flora wouldn’t always be helpful in this harsh and cold lands.
It was a stupid mushroom. One that she had used in a thousand different dishes back home. But the dark lands here had twisted it and made it lethal.
Her husband died, choked on his own blood. She nearly did. Why she stayed alive and he didn’t, she will never know.
She hadn’t planned to get freedom this way, or at all. The idea overwhelmed her. A different Gem might have used this opportunity to run. But Rya knew the dangers that lurked in the forests. She knew that venturing too far from the hovel would be a death sentence for herself.
So she simply stayed put. Perhaps the Drakken would be understanding if she explained herself.. It was clearly an accident and not some act of rebellion. But no one ever came. No one even noticed.
Rya had spent weeks practicing her begging for forgiveness speech. Jumping at every sound thinking it was the Drakkan coming to kill her for insighting a rebellion. But nobody came. It fact, her husband had been dead for six months before she saw another person, Drakkan or Gem.
His name was Az.
A Drakkan unlike any she’d ever met before. Or perhaps it was only because she was half mad by the time she met him. Possibly both.
The first time she saw him, she assumed he wasn’t real. For she had been alone for for long that it was easy for her to forget that other people existed in the world. A part of her wanted to hide, to stay away from this creature. But another part of her, the part feeding the madness, refused to be alone any longer.
Az wasn’t exactly accepting of the crazy Gem. He didn’t need a bride and he wasn’t about to be stuck with one. But no matter how hard he tried to push her away, the stupid girl kept coming back. Eventually pity took over and he agreed to at least drag her back to civilization. Back to the gathering.
Other The effect of the poisoning has left Rya with a vague tremble that will become apparent when she gets tired.
Bio: It had never been a question on if Aubree was selected, only a matter of when. From the time she was old enough to know that she was pretty, Aubree knew that her fate and future lay not in her homeland, but that of their neighbors and overlords, the drakken.
It was a common thing that occurred for female members of the Lamay family, which had only survived though the male line. It was a sick joke that the Lamay's mothered half the Drakkan alive today. Since the history of the deal, none had ever bore a Gem. An oddity that was occasionally poked at by well meaning friends, but the fathers and brothers of Lamay would promptly shut the conversation down. Who were they to speak about a family as wealthy as the Lamays?
If she had ever been sad about it though, it passed the day she met Allie. The shy girl who blushed something fierce when Bree told her she was pretty. But it was the truth, from the first time Bree saw her, she knew Allie to be the most beautiful girl in Bree’s entire world. Together, they convinced themselves that the selection was not something to fear, but rather, the start of their true lives. Free from the scorn that their love would bring in their homeland.
Much of Bree's childhood was filled with all the learnings of the drakken that were available to the Gems. She was well versed in the history, lore, religion and most of the prominent culture traits. Taught to her to make the transition as smooth as possible. All of this information she shared openly and freely with Allie. As soon as they were old enough, the two girls took their studies even further. Researching how things such as how brides were selected and basic psychology of the Drakken race. After all, if they were going to be selected together, they would have to be prepared.
They planned for every thing that would occur after they were selected to be brides. The best course of action to ensure they were selected by the same drakken husband. They choreographed exactly how the first night would play out, creating a system to ensure they would always have enough time for each other at the end of the day. They studied different plants that could be turned into balms that would keep tried husbands sleeping while the mice played. Beyond even that, they discussed at length the various methods they could be used in training a Drakken without him noticing, often using angry bulls as testers for their techniques.
As the year passed, and their time drew nearer, their plans became more vivid, discussing at length all the things they would do to each other, beyond kissing. Having planned to save each other for their first night of sisterwives. Whatever had to happen with their husband was always thought of as a price to pay for being able to love each other fully, each and everyday.
When the day came though…all their plans fell apart.
They didn’t choose Allie. They didn’t even look twice at her. They just took Bree and left.
It took the whole journey for Bree to figure out what her next step was: She was going to spin a tale of the most beautiful girl in the world. One her husband couldn't live without. It might take a year, maybe two, but she would have her love again.
Adult preference: I usually won’t. But if I am really feeling the moment I am all for it
The Widow
Rya Mire Race: Gem Age: 20 Element(s): Earth Height: 5’6”
Bio:
Within Gemenia, there are small pockets of Gem's who have rejected the view of their kin. Living life their own way, in accordance with their own histories, laws and religious practices Or rather la k of them Depending on who you asked, the people from Rya’s village believed that the Goddess Vivari had turned her back on the Gem's because of how they sacrificed their daughters for protection —abandoning them they way parents abandon their daughters. There were others that argue Vivari had never existed at all. Regardless, the belief is the same. There are no gods. Not any more anyway.
Which lead to the belief that life was placed in the hands of those who lived it. It was extended to the belief that is was the Gems' responsibility to understand the world and, eventually, build it into a vision of their own creation. But first they had to understand it. They believed that knowing how everything connected would reveal the map of life and give its seekers understanding of everything.
Or at least, that is what they tell people. In reality, it was more of a lot of chasing animals through swamps and poking flowers with sticks. And of course, writing their findings down. Most Gems are unaware of this subset of the abandon gods, as they were so few in number that the few who knew of them believed them to simply be that 'odd family' over there.
That didn't exclude them from paying the toll to the Drakken. Their small community was often overlooked, even by people in their own society. But every once and a while, they were called to pay their dues. Every time a daughter was taken, they would call it the disappearance and try to forget. The girl was never mentioned again and she was erased. Most weren’t even allowed to mourn. It was considered the ‘kinder’ way-to forget and accept things that cannot be changed and spend time focusing on things that can.
The reaping itself was something that was only mentioned to the girls. And only by their mothers. And only on their fifteenth birthday. A secret left to fester for a decade, after that point the daughter would be free. Keeping the secrets for her own daughters’ fifteenth birthday. They were told a beautiful story of silent sacrifice. How their hurt would help keep the vision alive. A whispered opportunity to map the unknown area of the world.
Rya wasn't the first in living memory to disappear. Eight years earlier, an unknown pretty cousin simply wasn't around one morning. She was never brought up in conversation and all prying questions from curious children were hushed away. She was forgotten. All that Rya could recall, was the feeling that her cousins absence brought.
A vague sadness. And a sense of relief.
Relief brought forth because,while there was no exact science to how brides where selected, it was simply unlikely that a family and community as small as theirs would lose another daughter for many years to come.
So, life went on. Rya and her brother and sister grew up, learning to live from the swamp near their house. Learning to hide in its depths when the Reapers drew near. Rya learned to garden with her mother, working to domesticate the wild swamp plants for medicinal and recreational usages, like her family had been doing for many years. She also spent much time in the depths of the swamp. Rya’s father seemed convinced that, somewhere in their swamps murky depths, among the caiman, bugs and trees, there was the secret to all their problems.
Plants that could stop a womb from quickening and plants that would cause visions to appear for hours at a time. Plants for healing and hurting and something in between. Like her mother and father, she thought she’d have the rest of her life to explore its wonders.
But sometimes children have to find out that parents can be wrong. That they can lie. That Rya and her sister Ayr were not guaranteed the right to grow old in their swamp just because their cousin had been lost. That telling children to hide wasn’t just a fun game or a way to stay out from underfoot. Especially when the Reapers seemed to know what they were looking for.
Rya’s own exit was slightly more dramatic than her cousins. The Reapers appeared, like monsters from a nightmare. Monsters who, with a point of their finger pulled her from the swamp, still covered in slime. Monsters who allowed her to return home to pack a trunk. She didn’t take much, just clothing, her journal of discoveries, stuff to remind her of home. And a small bag of seeds. To “Take a piece of home to wherever that may be”. Rya can’t remember what she had said, but what ever it was, it was the wrong thing to say. Probably “I love you” or “It’ll be okay” But once the shock was over and the anger set it, she knew what it should have been.
What it should have been was “Don’t let me disappear”
That was last year.
She could have never foreseen the events that unfolded.
She was more or less resigned to her fate by the time the choosing ceremony had ended. She went with her husband back to his keep. Kept sweet and docile and wasn’t nearly as unhappy as she thought she’d be.
She was her husband's first wife. He wasn’t anyone of importance. The facts that he got a wife at all was some what remarkable. His property was small, little more than a hovel really. Far away from most other forms of civilization. He wasn’t a hermit, per say, but he liked his space. Living with her had been as much of an adjustment for him as for her.
Was she happy? No, but she had created a life for herself. Her husband and her had come to an arrangement. There was no love between them, but they made it work. She was allowed to wander the forests and the terrain. Make her notes. Spend her days as she pleased. So long as she always came running when he called.
It was lonely. While Rya didn’t know a huge number of people back home, she was always with someone. Usually her brother and sometimes her sister.
Her husband was content to go on extended hunting missions with his ‘friends’. A lot of them choosing to remember what life was like before the Gems by purposely chucking themselves in front of every dangerous creature they could. And she would be left by herself. Initially tied up for days at a time, but he eventually found it easier to trust that she wouldn’t run. And if she did, she wouldn’t get very far.
Once a week they would dine together on a meal made by Rya’s hands. Most other nights, they were content to keep to themselves. It was one such night that she discovered that her understanding of Gem flora wouldn’t always be helpful in this harsh and cold lands.
It was a stupid mushroom. One that she had used in a thousand different dishes back home. But the dark lands here had twisted it and made it lethal.
Her husband died, choked on his own blood. She nearly did. Why she stayed alive and he didn’t, she will never know.
She hadn’t planned to get freedom this way, or at all. The idea overwhelmed her. A different Gem might have used this opportunity to run. But Rya knew the dangers that lurked in the forests. She knew that venturing too far from the hovel would be a death sentence for herself.
So she simply stayed put. Perhaps the Drakken would be understanding if she explained herself.. It was clearly an accident and not some act of rebellion. But no one ever came. No one even noticed.
Rya had spent weeks practicing her begging for forgiveness speech. Jumping at every sound thinking it was the Drakkan coming to kill her for insighting a rebellion. But nobody came. It fact, her husband had been dead for six months before she saw another person, Drakkan or Gem.
His name was Az.
A Drakkan unlike any she’d ever met before. Or perhaps it was only because she was half mad by the time she met him. Possibly both.
The first time she saw him, she assumed he wasn’t real. For she had been alone for for long that it was easy for her to forget that other people existed in the world. A part of her wanted to hide, to stay away from this creature. But another part of her, the part feeding the madness, refused to be alone any longer.
Az wasn’t exactly accepting of the crazy Gem. He didn’t need a bride and he wasn’t about to be stuck with one. But no matter how hard he tried to push her away, the stupid girl kept coming back. Eventually pity took over and he agreed to at least drag her back to civilization. Back to the gathering.
Other The effect of the poisoning has left Rya with a vague tremble that will become apparent when she gets tired.
Xaelia Talamor
Race: Gem Age: 20 Element(s): Water Height: 5’6”
Bio: The Spine is a hostile environment where even the Drakken are reluctant to to linger. There are rumors of animals far more terrifying than any found in either land. Large cats with rows of teeth designed to tear and rip. Birds that seems closer to lizards than anything else in this great and beautiful world. The tiny animals survive there because their ferocity out matches that of the larger creatures. Bees the size of your finger, whose stings make our bees' worst feel like a lover's nip in comparison. Worst still are the beautiful animals of the Spine. The ones that draw you close. The ones with the bites that cripple with unstoppable pain until death is the only choice left. The rodents who blind with the musk they use to attract all the unwary. And the spiders...
The great mother created these monsters to guard the Spine, in hopes it would deter her children from crossing and destroying each other themselves. But since when do children ever listen to their mother?
Tucked along the foot hills of the Spine is a clan of entertainers. Storytellers, musicians, composers. While they travel much throughout the year, visiting as passing entertainment in small villages and as honored entertainment in the capital. Yet, despite all their fame and ability to live anywhere they choose, they always returned to the base of the Spine
Once, long before any of us were alive, our people lived here. Not because we wanted to, but because we were placed here by the gods themselves. Our ancestors looked to the Gods. Asking why, when the country had so many beautiful places, would we have been placed with danger to our backs. Why be placed in the Great Shadow where crops are stunted and the winters harsh? Why give us a large lake to depend on in the summer, then freeze it solid during the winter? Every day the Gems asked and every day no answer came.
Then one day, in the middle of winter, a mother sat in the snow, crying as she held her child. An animal from the Spine had wander from its high home and had bitten the boy. Only the freezing temperature of the snow seemed to sooth the fever that raged through the child's small body. The mother sang, both to comfort the child and to use the song to once again question the gods.
It was Naia who answered, for the women's song had reached her. "You do not have to stay," She told the woman. "But we wish you would. One day, your songs will offer comfort to those who need it most. Just as you comfort your child. This land we have given you will never give an easy life. But you will live. It will never bring you comfort, but you can provide the comfort it lacks. We placed you here for a purpose and we wish you would stay."
The words confused more than they comforted, but the appearance of the goddess cemented our people to this land. While we will venture from our home often, we would alway return to it.
Then the war with the Anathos happened. And what followed. The only passible pass across the Spine was just above our town. It connected to a path that our herbalist would use occasionally when certain illnesses struct and the need for the certain plants would far out weigh the danger that the collectors would be in by daring to set foot on the Spine. A road was built, called 'The Gate'.
All other trials our ancestors faced paled in comparison to the one the Drakken brought. Every Gem who was taken would pass through this town. The last hope. The cries of the Gems would keep the villagers awake and leave them hopeless. Years pass by with the reaping coming and going.
Our village was often looked over by the Drakken, surprisingly enough. Either because when coming through they wanted to see if there were better finds deeper in or because they had filled their quota upon return. But every once in a while, a daughter would be taken.
It was one such occasion when a daughter was taken while a father was out that the tradition started. The carriage had already started the climb up the mountain by the time the father returned. Destroyed at never having the chance to say good-bye, he did the only thing he could.
He sang. Louder and louder. Letting his daughter know she was loved. She was missed and she would never be forgotten. More and more voices joined until it was said that the song reached Vivari herself.
So that is why we stay here. So that every year, during the reaping, we can bring some comfort to those we have sacrificed. So that our songs will be a final memory of the country that loves them. Of the home they once had. A warmth to carry them into the Spine itself.
Xaelia grew up seeing Drakken. Seeing and experiencing the reaping from as far back as she can recall. Because of their close proximity to the Spine, her people are somewhat familiar with the plants and animals of Drakken, as the Spine is the blending point of the two areas and occasionally there is some spill over on either side.
She has also experienced much of Gemmenia through her travels. It was well known that Xaelia tended to linger in the places that were both warm, sunny and had a seaside.
For herself, Xaelia never took to singing, instead, she started her training to be one of the villages Storytellers. Had she not been reaped, she would have been made a Master Storyteller by the summer and would have started traveling the country as more than an assistant.
But it wasn't meant to be. She was actually selected on the Drakken's way in and the village leader, knowing full well that the village had never given their fair share of Gems, could do little. She wasn't made to leave right away, instead, she was left with a Drakkan guard that prevented her from leaving the village, but other wise left her alone until the other Gem's started coming in. She was the first Gem to leave this year and trigger the parting song.
Although she knew it was impossible, a part of her swears she heard it until the gates slammed shut at Castle Shadow Worth.
Other: Xaelia has memorized thousand of stories. They range from tales of the Gem's Gods to short stories she created herself. While she typically has the usual features of a water gem. Her wisdom is usually wasted in her stories and not always put into practice. She would often do things 'because it'll make a better story'.
Adult Content Preference: Usually fade to back, but also down for what ever.
@eclecticwitchyou should come to the ooc, I keep forgetting to check here. I mean, I would say neutral. Most of the gems are actually from more isolated places.
TheDoctor
StarBoi
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