Name | Yala Jarra-Binalku
((Yah-lah Jah-rah-Bin-ahl-koo)) Gender | Female
Age | 23
Appearance | Yala is of medium height and was quite lanky in her youth but has since filled out as a young woman. She has the dark features expected of the Ansharin except for her eyes, which are a lighter brown with discernable amounts of green. Yala was born with her fathers hair which she wears in long locks that are most often tied back and unadorned for convenience, unless participating in a ceremony.
Personality | Quiet by nature, Yala is a woman of few words preferring to listen and observe, although she is not slow to action when it is called for. However, this has the unfortunate effect of making her seem cold and distant to others when really that is not case. Yala is quite affectionate towards those she comes to know well and shows a motherly concern over those younger than her. Sadly, she does not find a lot of time for making friends her age and spends most of her time with her mentor, Kirra. She is usually quite focused and her patience is long but not limitless, and her anger can be fierce when it's provoked.
Skills |
Dream Keeper (in training) - Yala has devoted much of her life to developing a deep and exact knowledge of the Dream. All Ansharin are familiar with the Dream, both young and old enjoy retelling the lore of their people, and always in ways as unique and alive as they are. However, knowledge cannot be stay true if it changes with each telling.
To ensure that knowledge remains consistent, a few individuals are selected from every generation to learn the Dream as it has been told since The Silence. They might not make for the most enthralling recountings but this process is what keeps the Dream intact and to Yala there is nothing more important than that.
Painting - Yala's favourite form of interpretation of the Dream is art. With a steady hand and eye for detail, Yala paints the symbols and imagery illustrating great stories on sand, instruments and on the bodies of others when certain ceremonies call for it.
Equipment |
- Woven shoulder satchel
- Ochre and dyed powders + associated painting utensils
- Small waterskin
- Small Ngarlak tusk knife with a rounded end for grinding
Biography | With two of her grandparents being Elders and her late father a brave hunter that is remembered within the Dream, Yala grew up with the esteem of most in the tribe. At first, it was expected that she would become a hunter like her father but, while she did show some natural talent, Yala became more inclined towards the pursuit knowledge.
In her fifteenth year, Yala was chosen to become one of her generation's Dream Keepers. Whether or not either of her grandparents had to do with the choice – as is sometimes quietly suggested by the tribesmen and women – none can say she did not take to her new duties with dedication. Under the mentorship of Kirra, Keeper of her mother's generatine, Yala spent the next seven years learning the tales of the Dream she herself would eventually pass on.
One day however, she overstepped her boundaries and asked her mentor about The Silence. Kirra's usually kind face immediately turned stony. Her words were spoken with thin patience as she told Yala she would never inherit that information. In fact, Kirra herself would not either. The current Elders had made a decision that, for the safety of the Ansharin people, their knowledge of the time before The Silence would die with them.
Yala heard but could scarcely believe. The Elders do not need to be told the Dream is the history of their people, the world; it contained lessons on what to hunt and what to leave be, Songlines which told the hunters what paths the animals would follow in certain seasons and where the other tribes of the Dreamscape lied in relation to their home. You cannot simply cut out what you do not wish to... Yala could not understand. When she argued as much to Kirra, she was harshly dismissed and told to meditate on her transgression; after all, she was by no means above the taboo.
Disconcerted, she returned home. Yala had always thought the Elders right in keeping dangerous knowledge a secret but it is one thing to safeguard against misuse, this was another entirely. Yala followed her mentor's advice and thought deeply about that days' lesson.
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Ok, CS up, finally. I took some creative licence with some Ansharin traditions and some actions of the Elders, let me know if it's not in line with what's going to be happening in the IC and you want me to tweak anything.