Post by Kilnarak on Dec 27, 2011 15:26:45 GMT -5
Name: Ma'ro (Mashiro) of Blue Hummiph
Other Names: N/A
Age: 24 (as of Summer, year 59), late winter
Gender Male
Sexuality: Pansexual with asexual tendencies - he doesn't care one way or the other about gender, although he has little interest in relationships currently.
Rank: Blue-rider, Chydyn Night Watch
Place of Birth: Sumeru (near Itnala), Northern Continent
Hometown: Sumeru
Place of Bonding Northern Eyrie
Rider Appearance: Ma'ro stands at a slight height of 5'6" and holds a fairly unimposing build. He is fairly slender, possessing a lithe and streamlined body - while physically fit, his musculature isn't easily visible, particularly given his preference toward loose and relatively formless clothing. If one happened to catch him shirtless, one would find his arms and torso covered in a large variety of scars - the most of them are fairly small, the claw and bite marks of small prey animals. The most noticeable scars, however, are a good deal larger: bite marks of a decidedly canine appearance upon his right shoulder and collar bone. There are no signs of larger wounds, however - no marks left by Pohono's native giant-lizard species.
Ma'ro's facial features show hints of Asiatic heritage: high and prominent cheekbones, slanted almond-shaped eyes, and a somewhat pointed chin. His lips are full, giving him a somewhat feminine appearance. His complexion is usually very pale, and his skin is nearly translucent, turning a decidedly noticeable pink when he flushes. His pale skin, similarly snowy-hued hair, and pale blue-gray eyes mark him as either albino or leucisitic. His hair is usually worn fairly short, although on occasion he allows it to grow long enough to cover his neck, just below his shoulders - usually at this point, however, he cuts it off again.
He tends to prefer loose and free-flowing clothing in cool and neutral colors. He also has a tendency toward wearing furs and leathers - among his favorites is the dull blue-gray furred hide of a native medium-sized scavenger/predator which he has fashioned into a cloak. Ma'ro tends to carry a hunting knife and a bow on his person at most times, as well as another decorative blade that seems to have been carved from bone, and a number of pouches containing a small variety of useful herbs.
Distinguishing Features: His pale skin and hair color are fairly distinguishing - he's the only person like himself he has ever seen, at least. He has a number of scars across his chest and arms - scratches, canine bite-marks - although nothing particularly serious looking.
Rider Personality: Upon first meeting Ma'ro, one of the first words to come to mind is generally stoic. He tends to keep a fairly reserved demeanor, particularly around people who are only acquaintances; he usually opens up a bit more around people he considers friends or family (and he has a very broad idea of family, generally blurring the concept of friend with that of family) - his expressions are still fairly minimal, however. While he might smile, the expressions are always very slight and rarely seem to touch his eyes. He is usually very serious and not the sort to joke around, and thus when he does crack the occasional joke it can be surprising.
Given his usual unmovable appearance, it is hard to imagine that Ma'ro has much of a temper - but he does. He doesn't express his anger very well, biting back on it, bottling it up until he explodes. Before bonding, he would occasionally use his profession as an excuse to deal with his temper, leaving humanity to find solitude in the wilderness, in the practical art of stalking prey and hunting. Since bonding he has found this more difficult, however now that Hummiph is old enough to fend for himself, it has once again become an option. He tends to prefer to make full use of his time, and thus in periods of rest and relaxation he will generally insist upon doing something with his hands - working with hides, carving, practicing penmanship.
For all his reserved demeanor, Ma'ro is generally fairly easy to get along with. His temper is slow to rise, and generally he won't take offense unless someone goes out of their way to make him take offense. He doesn't much like people invading his personal space and he doesn't like being touched, however in either situation he is more likely to point out the issue and move away than become angry about it - of course, if one insisted upon pushing his boundaries, he would of course take issue. He isn't a total recluse, and has no problem making small talk with new acquaintances - however, he rarely encourages much beyond it.
Given his appearance, he is used to being ostracized and getting odd looks. While he rarely shows it, he is a touch self-conscious about how he looks - he has come to assume that people will be unsettled or think him unlucky, and so he distances himself from them. His own parents thought his birth an ill-omen. He sees his dog, Yukimori, as his only real friend - she does not care what he looks like because he is her 'pack'. Given his tendency to avoid close contact, for all that Ma'ro is well into adulthood he has never partaken of any intimate relationships with women or men, and thus-far he has had no real inclination to do so.
His views haven't changed much since bonding to Hummiph. He takes responsibility for the blue, cares for him and acts as a pillar of strength for him. Still, Hummiph is not a friend as Yukimori is a friend - he loves Hummiph more than he has loved anything, but Hummiph is more family than friend. He is a responsibility, and one Maro would die for - but he finds he cannot be wholly open with the blue, not all the time. Perhaps one day, but not while Hummiph is so young and fragile. One day, perhaps, when Hummiph has grown stronger, then he can be truly open with him.
Rider Likes: Yukimori, Hummiph, Kittenph, his uncle Cain, solitude, the forests, being active, hunting, learning new things
Rider Dislikes: Large crowds, being looked down on, being ostracized, public displays of affection
Simourv Name: Hummiph
Simourv Color: Blue; 45425E
Simourv Age: 1
Simourv Parentage: Tawny Altaph x Blue Wegmeph
Simourv Appearance: Hummiph is on the smaller side for a blue - certainly not the smallest, although he often carries himself as such. He is fairly slender, his appearance almost gangly and adolescent. He carries himself low to the ground usually, slinking as if he would rather hide.
Hummiph's feathers are dark and dull, and if not for his size and bearing, he might be mistaken for a black. His head, wings, and the tip of his tail are the darkest, a deep navy blue. The majority of his body is a slightly lighter blue-gray. His scaled legs are also a dark navy blue, nearing black. His beak, horns, and claws are predominantly black, however the lower jaw of his beak is white. Hummiph's eyes are a pale brown, and wide. His dark ears are often pricked up and alert to the smallest sound, however they're quick to pin back should a larger or louder simourv look his way.
Simourv Distinguishing Features: Hummiph walks with a slight limp, his leg having been broken during the earthquake. There is also a noticeable kink in his tail that interferes with his ability to fly. He can glide well enough, but he isn't capable of more delicate aerial maneuvers. He doesn't dare fly too high, for fear of losing control and falling.
Simourv Personality: Born near as dark as a shadow, Hummiph tends to prefer their company to that of his kin. The blue is a nervous creature, holding himself below all of his siblings - so bright and beautiful, while he is so dark and drab, without even the regal bearing of his black-feathered brethren. If he weren't so used to it, Hummiph would likely jump at his own shadow. He's skittish and insecure, and requires the constant presence of his rider to feel even slightly comfortable. He needs encouragement from his Ma'ro, needs His' love and company. He is more than a little bit clingy, but he knows that without his Ma'ro, he would die. He needs Ma'ro to make decisions for him, to tell him what to do - else he finds it difficult to come to his own conclusions. He questions himself too much to come to a quick decision on anything.
Hummiph's few close relationships, thus, aren't with other simourv - they are with his rider, with Yukimori and with his Kittenph. He loves all of them, and draws strength from all of them. If Ma'ro is not able to be with him, he has learned to make due with one of the two animals for companionship. Hummiph isn't sure he'll ever be comfortable with other simourv, however he does not mind those younger than him nearly as much as those his age or older. He sees other humans as similar to other simourv - he feels they will always judge him and find him lacking.
Still, even with these things, Hummiph feels a good deal of responsibility. Even if he isn't sure of his ability to do so, he feels that he must fulfill all of his duties to the Eyrie. He follows orders from other simourv - nearly any other simourv - often cringing as if he fears being struck.
Hummiph's insecurities have only increased after the earthquake, after his injuries. He doubts his abilities to fly, his abilities to fulfill his responsibilities to the Eyrie. He feels that whenever anyone, simourv or human, looks at him, they see all that is wrong with him. They see a burden. And even though Ma'ro tries to assure him otherwise, he cannot fully make himself believe it. It hurts him, to question His Ma'ro - he feels guilty, he feels terrible, and he tries however ineffectually to push it from his mind.
Simourv Likes: Ma'ro, Yukimori, Kittenph, Ma'ro's things, being safe and warm in their Eyling
Simourv Dislikes: Change, being looked at, simourv that are larger than he is, being injured, being broken, that he couldn't do anything to help the Eyrie.
Winglet Class: Bravo
Family:
Mother - Akemi ( 38, weaver/dyer)
Father - Masaru ( 40, leatherworker)
Uncle - Cain (35, hunter/warrior)
Brother - Tarou (17, hunter)
Sister - Yuu (19, dyer)
Pets:
Yukimori - F - white medium-sized hunting dog, based on a kishu inu. Yukimori is 20 inches tall at the shoulder and weighs roughly 55 pounds. Her fur is a snowy white color, her coat thick upon most of her body, but thinner about her black nose - the sight of her dark skin beneath gives her muzzle a grayish tint. Her eyes are dark brown and her short pointed ears are more often than not pricked forward and alert. Her tail is fairly short and is carried curled up over her back. Yukimori is a muscular dog, she is quick and agile. She is fiercely loyal to her owner, however she is wary toward strangers and prone to snarl if they get too close. Oddly, while she acts hostile towards adults and juveniles, Yukimori is generally fairly gentle - if standoffish - around small children. She has a strong prey drive, and will generally attempt to hunt smaller animals.
Kittenph - F - gray tortishell turkish angora cat. She is Hummiph's cat, he found her as a kitten in the Eyrie and decided that he was her protector, since she is a gray. Despite Ma'ro trying to explain to him that cats do not work like that, Hummiph is firm in his belief that she is something special and that she chose him. Kittenph herself does not seem to have any issue with this. She has become accustomed to having her large blue furniture around, and occasionally grooms his feathers or plays with his tail. She is of an average size for a cat her age, and she still possesses a fair amount of kittenish inquisitive playfulness. She is a fair-tempered cat, and is relatively friendly to non-threatening people. Simourv are another matter - for the most part, aside from the one that is Hers, she views them as giant moving furniture.
History:
Among the settlers to Spiderland, some communities chose to branch off away from the major cities created by their peers. Ma'ro came from one such community, who chose to create a home for themselves some distance north of what now is Itnala, in the forested and mountainous terrain. They named the area Sumeru, referring mainly to the mountain, but also to their own little town as well. Without the security offered by a larger community, they made their homes in well fortified areas - hollowing out small caverns and crevices into livable spaces. Originally, they lived within the mountain, however as time passed they came to build temporary living structures outside of the caverns, and only retreated to the caverns themselves while under threat. Primarily a hunting community, they did not cultivate much by way of crops, instead relying upon the edible plants of the forest around them and their hunters to bring back meat. They did bring with them a large number of hounds, however, which were often used to assist hunting as well as for guards and to alert them of danger.
As with any community on Pohono, there were attacks by xymokoxi upon the settlements - and occasionally, in the dawning days of Sumeru, guardian simourv swooped down from above to deal with the threat. However, more often than not the people of the village fled to their cavernous sanctuaries to wait out the assaults. There were always casualties after the attacks, both human and animal, however the village was lucky in that for the most part they were minor.
Mashiro was born in the year 35 to Akemi and Masaru, a pair of craftspeople. His parents were young, and while the birth had not been planned, they were excited by the prospect of their first child. When the child came into the light, however, his pallid appearance struck his parents, as well as other members of the village, as an ill-omen - just born and he already looked like a ghost. Despite this, his parents raised him as best they could - and if they were a bit superstitious, they tried not to show it. Of course, as a young child Mashiro noticed the strange way in which he was treated, but he had nothing to weigh it against.
When Akemi became pregnant with her second child, a healthy daughter they named Yuu, Mashiro came to realize how differently he was treated. While they had wanted a son, Yuu was treated with a good deal more affection than Mashiro himself - not intentionally, of course. His parents did not truly intend to neglect him, but they were so happy their second child was healthy, normal. Akemi's third pregnancy graced them with another son, Tarou, which only further left Mashiro feeling pushed to the sidelines. For all that he felt jealousy toward them, Mashiro did not truly begrudge his siblings. Tarou, in particular, looked up to his big brother, and often tried to emulate him. Similarly, Mashiro found he could not begrudge his parents, and despite their detachment from him, he respected them - his stern father in particular.
When he was old enough, Mashiro requested to be apprenticed to one of the village's hunters; he wanted to prove that he deserved a place among the people of the village, that he could fit in. His father decided it best to place him under the tutelage of his brother, Mashiro's uncle Cain. Throughout his childhood, Cain had often watched after Mashiro, as well as Yuu and Tarou. The man had never married, and had no children of his own - he seemed to like being able to care for his nephews and niece, and was one of the few people who didn't treat Mashiro particularly differently based on his appearance.
Under his uncle's supervision, Mashiro learned to hunt and also learned a bit about the native plants in the surrounding area. His mother, Akemi, taught him a bit more of plants, as she often worked with them to dye fabrics. For a time, Mashiro tried to fit in to the village, bringing back useful plants and meat. Tarou, who became more distant from Mashiro as he aged, still followed his brother into the profession and took up a sort of rivalry against him - often vying to prove himself better than his older brother. While Mashiro tried not to encourage the rivalry, a part of him couldn't help but respond and compete - another part mourned at the degrading relationship with his little brother.
Roughly 4 years ago, Cain declared Mashiro fit to act as a full fledged hunter, no longer an apprentice. To mark the occasion, he gifted Mashiro with a hunting dog, or rather, a pup that would grow to be one. Mashiro was smitten by the small white bundle of fur, naming her Yukimori, and trained her to hunt with him. The dog was taught to help him seek out some of the more pungent herbs, as well as to drive and herd prey animals out of hiding and into range of his bows and spears. An intelligent dog, she learned quickly and became a near constant companion for Mashiro, rarely leaving his side.
However, as Mashiro grew more acquainted with his new canine companion, his feelings of being ostracized from his society only became more obvious to him. Only a year had passed since he had been gifted Yukimori, when Mashiro decided that he should like to leave his village - to travel and see how the people of the large cities lived, to see if he could fit there better. His goodbyes were brief, and he only truly confronted his family and the village elder before leaving with a small caravan bound to trade with Itnala. He found that he did not leave the village alone, however - his uncle, Cain, chose to accompany him - intending to make sure his nephew didn't leave just to fall prey to the reptillian menace of Pohono. They remained in Itnala for a few months, before taking with a ship to Sayaie. The pair remained in this larger city for nearly 2 years - Mashiro was struck by how different the environment was, with all of the flat farmland, and how lively the city was. He made a living there, selling the hides, bones, and flesh of prey animals, as well as herbs found growing in the wilderness, and occasionally taking out contracts to eliminate pest animals that preyed on farmers' livestock. Eventually, however, driven by wanderlust, Mashiro and Cain moved north to Chydyn. They only remained in Chydyn for roughly a year before continuing on further north to find themselves at the Eyrie.
Mashiro chose to offer his services to this budding community, both with hunting the forests outside of the canyons, as well as in assisting in the creation of various poultices and the cultivation of herbs. He was comfortable enough with the Eyrie - the people being vastly varied and different enough that he did not feel too out of place. The great birds, the simourv, interested him. In his home, he had heard legends of them, however he had never actually seen one until he came to the Eyrie. He had arrived at the Eyrie a few weeks before the first hatching, and was thus able to watch from the sidelines as the newborn simourv chose their human companions - it seemed chaotic to him, a curious practice, and he was left wondering if it was always that way.
Shortly after the hatching while he was working with a caravan visiting the Eyrie, Mashiro found himself confronted by a green simourv, a search-rider Muraaph. She chose him, as well as another of the boys in the caravan, a dark young man named Silvanus, to stand as candidates for the next clutch. Mashiro was initially uncertain - he thought he had found his place, working with his uncle, traveling. Eventually, however, he agreed to follow the path of the Candidate.
Roughly half a year after being chosen as a candidate, Mashiro stood before the next of the Eyrie's clutches. In Spring of Year 58, Tawny Altaph and Blue Wegmeph's clutch of three had hatched, and Mashiro found himself bonded to a small, shy blue. The blue, Hummiph, renamed him Ma'ro, and the pair became Winglets along with Ev'yn of Green Clymeph and Am'ra of Tawny Philomeph. In the celebration following the hatching, Ma'ro found, to his dismay, that he seemed to be the center of attention. A date auction was held, and he found himself on the block, the highest priced bid. He was won by Ros'n of Blue Wegmeph.
The new blue pair trained as best they were able - Ma'ro found that he had to be equal parts strict and kind to push his nervous Hummiph to action. While he was still fairly young, Hummiph found and adopted a gray kitten. He named her Kittenph, because she would not tell him her name. He loves his Kittenph nearly as much as he loves his Ma'ro, however she has occasionally drawn him into danger - he left to search for Kitteph after she went missing once. The pair later found her when the returned to their rooms, rolling on the floor, and shortly Hummiph found that it had been his Kittenph's first Flight. She later gave birth to three kittens, which Ma'ro gave to others in the Eyrie once they had grown old enough.
Hummiph had only just begun learning to fly when the earthquake struck the Eyrie. Hummiph and his Ma'ro had been practicing flying, leaping from low hills and rocky outcroppings. Ma'ro had stood off to the side, watching and offering up encouragement, when the ground had begun to shake. Ma'ro was quick to move, getting away from the cliffs to firmer ground. Hummiph wasn't as quick. The blue had stumbled mid-leap and had fallen to his side. The outcropping he had been leaping off of crumbled away beneath him and trapped one of his hindlegs and a portion of his tail amidst a mess of tumbled rock.
Hummiph lay trapped for hours, his Ma'ro too small to free him from all the rocks. His frightened, pained calls eventually attracted the attention of the red Teimoph, who had been ordered to sweep the Eyrie for survivors. With the red's help, Hummiph was freed. The blue came away from the tragedy more or less intact, however his leg was broken, and a section of his tail had been crushed. And while his broken leg would eventually heal, the damage done to the nerves in his tail has proven enough to interfere with his ability to fly - he found himself unable to control his flight.
When the others left, the wounded blue and his rider stayed behind, waiting for their injuries to heal. Ma'ro has some interest in seeing the South, however he fears the flight there will prove too taxing for his Hummiph. Hummiph is terrified of the idea of the South, despite the presence of his gruff savior there. While Teimoph had helped him, the red's irascible temperament did not win him Hummiph's friendship.