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Selene Curare
Race: Symenestra
Gender: Female
Age: 27 years
Height: 5''5
Profession: Weaver
Duties: Weaves and repairs bags, baskets, fences, and blankets that a Syka citizen might need. She will be learning to weave clothing in due time.
Birthday: 17th, Autumn, 492AV.
Birthplace: Kalinor
Location: Syka
Housing:Sykan Bungalow
Fluent Language: Symenos
Basic Language: Common
Poor Language: Fratava
Appearance
"Offender profile" - What guards would use to find Selene in the middle of a crowded Syliras market or Zeltiva's docks (In Syka, pale and clawed would probably suffice)
Selene is emaciate with a long pale face. Her cheekbones, chin and nose are sharp upward crests formed of parchment that wrinkles with an almost audible crinkle with each expression. Set deep in the black recess of her eye sockets, accented with thick kohl rims, are Syna inspired discs of gold. Her black hair is pinned severely into a chignon, and topped with a wide-brimmed hat or bonnet (Victorian style for those hat fanciers out there). She appears to meet the bare necessities of humanoid form, with the only excess her thick red stained lips and the amount of musky perfume she dabs behind each ear. Beneath her knee her left leg is missing and a spiderweb of pink scars make their way up her left side to her hip. In its place is an ill-fashioned strap-on wooden stump.
Mannerisms
Often when contemplative or intently listening Selene will squint, exaggerating her already pinched features. She is punctilious in all exchanges, but often made clumsy with errant awkward limbs. She goes about her tasks meticulously, with the kind of meditative appreciation for focus and consistency learned by artists whose modality demands repetition. When at work, her aimless jerkiness becomes the precise sharpness of a hummingbird; carefully dipping fabric into the narrow empty slots between other strands the way a hummingbird navigates a tunnel of petals.
Her gaze is unwavering and hands prone to elaborate gesturing during discussion. Her chin unconsciously jerks upward when she disagrees with a speaker and tilt sideways slightly when she agrees. She sits or stands with an eager, almost militant, lean forward in most situations. Her speech is typically elevated and courteous with strangers, with a tendency to condescend. She rarely resorts to slang, unless it’s to make the conversation between other weavers more efficient.
Character Concept
5 main characteristics:
Idyllic
Patient
Zealot
Secretive
Hero Complex
Idyllic, Selene believes in a future where Symenestra can leave Kalinor and are welcomed in any city. She believes the only way to achieve this is to stop The Harvest, trade freely by participating in the limited globalism of Miz, and encourage the creation of Dra so that they may breed with each other and create a race of Symenestra whose babes are not so toxic that they kill the Sym that carry them. In trying to keep Sym bloodlines pure they create increasingly toxic creatures, and evolve their own destruction. Instead, with the tempering of human blood she believes Sym have the potential to create a race that can procreate with their own safely.
Symenestra have resettled twice before, carving out a new civilization for themselves – proven colonizers. The process of settlement, government formation, law, and cultural celebrations have always been of interest to Selene. She learned, through diaries and oral tradition of the way that the Symenestran culture changed with each resettling, and the value of recording ones history. Inspired by these rare tales, she wishes to record the development of Syka and the stories of the settlers within.
NPC's
**If you'd like to use either of them in a thread, let me know and feel free
Especially if you're interacting with the Oceangem's**Both are a part of the pod that Selene was with when she travelled from Lhavit to Syka and they grew inseparable on the journey. Selene is pregnant and Pelly is a new mother, having given birth shortly into the trip. Pelly has doted over Selene, and Selene over Pelly bonding over their shared first pregnancies. Selene has found her presence comforting and has learned how to change a diaper and breast feed a child by watching Pelly.
I have a thread in progress where Selene will not be well received by some of the Sykans and will break down for fear that she won't be able to find someone to care for her own child when she gives birth next season (and when she thinks she will die giving birth to them). I would like for her to finally reveal to Pelly the truth, that she is likely to die giving birth, and the resulting pressure to bond with someone enough that they are willing to care for a baby Sym.
Pelly refuses to believe that the Sym will die, but for her friends sake she offers to stay and help Selene find an appropriate adoptive mother.
Name: Pelican (Pelly) Oceangem
Race: Svefra
Role in Selene Life: Friend; Roommate
Meeting Location: Escaping Lhavit to Syka
Skills: Sailing 10; Swimming 10; Cooking 10
Titles: Sailor; New Mother
Appearance: She has wildly curly blonde hair and stands at almost 6 feet tall. She is broad shouldered and broad hipped she is rubenesque. Like all the Svefra she has the sea in her eyes, but so pale Selene often refers to them as wading shallows (an unkind reference to the woman's intellect).
Personality: A sunshine girl, Pelly never takes anything seriously. She respects others secrecy and actually prefers not to have to deal with the discomfort of others emotions or darkness. Her whole life centers around being a mother and with Crane, her first child, on her back she's well on her way to the large family she's always wanted.
History: Granddaughter to the Lia, Pelly has grown up in relative comfort (well...compared to other Svefra...life on the seas is still hard and she isn't afraid of a hard rough and tumble life). Pelly met Selene on the trip from Lhavit to Syka and befriended the young woman over their shared first pregnancies. She is the one who nicknamed Selene "Seal", which was adopted by the entire pod.
Race: Svefra
Role in Selene Life: Friend's first son
Skills: Singing 5 (How Pelly refers to his screaming)
Meeting Location: Escaping Lhavit to Syka
Titles: Newborn Svefra
Appearance: little crests of brunette hair, dark blue eyes, and rosebud pink lips.
Personality: An "easy" child, Pelly is fortunate that Crane is easily quieted whenever stirred. However, if there's too much going on around him and he can't see - he'll start to fuss. He likes to be the center of attention.
History: Pelly's first child.
Character History
Upon finding out she was pregnant, Selene was catapulted into the life she had fantasized but been to fearful to act upon. Knowing she was about to bring another life into the world, and likely die doing so, she fled to Lhavit under the guise of helping return a Lhavitian historian after a Gleaning and boarded a Svefra ship bound for Syka before their escort could return to Kalinor. She brought silks from Kalinor in trade for her passage, and expected to spend much of her time seasick during the many months before they would spot land again. However, though she did not develop any love for the sea, her stomach handled the rocking better than expected (perhaps because the swelling sea in her stomach embraced the sea around her) and she made intimate friendships aboard The Zealot.
Pregnancy having forced her from fantasizing into immediate action to avoid her child being raised to Harvest, Selene fled to Syka. Having heard Syka, the first new civilization in remembered history, was being settled in Falyndar where the Symenestra originated the destination seemed prophetic of the future she imagined. She plans to settle in Syka, endear the colonizers to Symenestra before she dies in childbirth, leaving her child to a Sykan who can raise the Sym baby to think of humans as her family and a family to consider a Sym their child until her sister arrives to care for the child.
_________________________________________________________
Pre-Flee History
Selene grew up Kalinor with two other sisters and her father. Her father was highly respected for his ability to procreate and his success at the harvest. Their family was named Curare for their use of paralytics during the harvest for time immemorial - but they have also become known for producing largely female children, fluting and hypnotism.
All three daughters learned both fluting and hypnotism at their fathers hand. Both were skills their father had used to be so successful at the harvest and so became fundamental aspects of Selene's youth. The flutegun was her fathers weapon of choice, and was only effective if one could indeed convincingly pass for a competent performer.
Hypnotism was an entirely different creature. Although it had been instrumental in his success at the harvest, it had become an intimate aspect of their family relations. Each morning one of them would lead a meditative exercise, often interlaced with stretching and breathing exercises. Each morning was different, a combination of maneuvers inspired by something they had seen or dreamed the previous day. Following this they would practice hypnotism on each other - receiving and giving emotions and thoughts. It became an aspect of how they understood and knew each other. It influenced fights, make-ups, childhood crushes, frenemies, and forced a painfully truthful and open connection with them all. They were all vulnerable and all weaponized against each other.
Skills
| Skill | EXP | Total | Proficiency |
| Acrobatics | 10RB | 10 | Novice |
| Hypnotism | 5SP | 5 | Novice |
| Intimidation | 1 | 1 | Novice |
| Logic | 1 | 1 | Novice |
| Meditation | 5SP | 5 | Novice |
| Observation | 3,5 | 8 | Novice |
| Persuasion | 1 | 1 | Novice |
| Sailing | 2 | 2 | Novice |
| Socialization | 4,5 | 9 | Novice |
| Storytelling | 1 | 1 | Novice |
| Weapon: Flutegun | 5SP | 5 | Novice |
| Weaving | 26SP | 26 | Competent |
| WS: Subterranean | 9SP | 9 | Novice |
Lores
History: The resettling of the Symenestra
WS: Using friction to make fire
Socialization: playful banter
Seal: lore of the root of Selene's nickname
Pelly: namesake
Lore of traditional Svefra sea song
Logic: the strategy behind Baby Pelly's name
Lore of the necessity of tidiness at sea
Sailing: securing cargo rigging
Lore of how to tie a simple papoose
Location: Swing Beach
Location: Tidepool Bar
Selene Oceangem: new moniker
Intimidation: disturbing friendliness
Captain James Chaliva: Co-founder of Syka
Storytelling: personal history
James Chaliva: a warm welcome
Syka Unwritten Law: give more than you take
Ledger
Profession: Competent Weaver (6GM/day)
Mizas: 562.25 GM
Mizas: 562.25 GM
| Purchase | Cost | Total |
| Starting | +100 GM | 100 GM |
| Cashed In Starting Package | +500 GM | 600 GM |
| Belt + Pouch | -1GM 2SM | 598.8 GM |
| Thin lavender silk scarf with red embroidered apples and fruit bats | 30 SM | 598.5 GM |
| Kohl (1 oz) | 1 SM | 598.4 GM |
| Red lip stain (1oz) | 1 SM | 598.3 GM |
| Musky perfume, Uncommon | 3 GM | 595.3 GM |
| Flutegun | 15 GM | 580.3 GM |
| Flutegun, needles (20) | 5 GM | 575.3 GM |
| Blank Book | 3 GM | 572.3 GM |
| Quill | 5 CM | 572.25 GM |
| Black Ink Vial | 1 GM | 571.25 GM |
| Frame lap loom | 5GM | 566.25 |
| wide-brimmed hat | 4GM | 562.25 GM |
Heirloom
Rook Chess Piece: Wailing human woman giving birth to a Symenestra baby. Carved from obsidian.
Rook Chess Piece: Wailing human woman giving birth to a Symenestra baby. Carved from obsidian.
Equipment :
* Starting package
Template Credit to Luminescence
