Liminal, Prufrock was the first poem I read and adored. It changed the way I view poetry, really. I adore Eliot. And thank you, both of you, for the very kind welcome.
I read a lot of the lore before I joined Mizahar. I looked at the forums, read threads in certain cities (most cities, actually), and read every single one of the race articles and city articles before I finally typed in a username and signed up for good. Even when I joined, I had no clear character concept, no race in mind, no city that I wanted to start in. I was simply enamoured of the expanse and thought that had gone into the concept of Mizahar, the intricacies and little details that make it such a solid world to play in. Those who were in Chat know that I changed my name ... about four times (from Meyasi, to Himneska, to Vona and finally to Johanne) before I settled on a final concept. I started off as a Chaktawe, but wasn't at all settled on that concept, before I turned Jo into one of the most popular races not only here, but in fantasy literature as a whole - a human.
Don't get me wrong, I know I'm only new here, but I am very very excited to play Jo's humanity to her fullest extent. I think for someone starting out in such an alien world as Mizahar, something so original and different, human is the very easy choice to make. We know how they think, feel, move. We know how their bones click together, what their thought processes are. As a writer of novellas and short stories, I always write within a modern day context, never veering off into fantasy. Humanity is what we know best, it is what we are surrounded with every day of our lives. We know them. They're easy to grasp but so unpredictable. They're fun to play with their ambitions and drive. That's why I think human is often the obvious choice to make.
I think in a fantasy world, even being a human is unprecedented and exciting. Whilst their physical and psychological make up may be known to us, we're thrusting these human characters into a world we know nothing about, haven't experienced in any way save through words on a screen (and it's a testament to the Lore, that these words are so immersive). That's what is exciting about being a human in a fantasy world. We don't know how they'll interact with a world so different, so infused with magic and strange places. We're questioning our humanity by contrasting them with everything inhuman.
But in reading the Lore, it was not the human race that stood out to me the most. There were three races that made my heart skip a beat, with their strangeness and beauty and pure fantastical nature. They were the Akvatari, the Ethaefal and the Symenestra. And from what I gather, they're a little bit rare, both IC and OOC, and a little bit special. The Ethaefal are these ethereal beings, with an identity in flux and separated from everything dear to them. The Symenestra wrestle every day with their own fragility and yet fierce drive to survive, to continue their race. And the Akvatari... I can't really describe how much I love the Akvatari. They are so very strange, with their wings and fur seal tails, and with their melancholia and need to create to bring meaning to their sudden existence. They have no connection to the cataclysm that has shaped meaning for the rest of the world, and so are set adrift in a world which is struggling to survive in the aftermath of an event the Akvatari have no first hand understanding of. They're strange, beautiful and I gather there's not a single active player of the Akvatari race.
Maybe if I stick around long enough, and progress Jo from an archetype to a living breathing being, I'll move onto the Akvatari. Try to breathe some life into them. (Because I think they're too wonderful to go unplayed.)
I am not criticising those who choose human without a second thought. I chose human, too. I adore this race we love and despise in a self-loathing kind of way. But I think if we're roleplaying in a fantasy world, you can take a leap, discover something you never knew, mess up along the way as you completely massacre the original meaning and intent for the race, and then redeem yourself by playing with a human integrity a race that is not human in the least.
Welcome to Scrapbooking. May yours be filled with wonderful things.
