Closed Welcome Home [Solstice]

[Sophia Sunshore]

12 Summer, 518 a.v.

Sophia curled her toes into the soft sand she stood upon, tiny grains sticking themselves to her damp feet. Blonde hair floated round her face as she gazed upon the open ocean before her, a large ship just in her peripherals to the right. A small smile curled the corners of her mouth. She could like it here.

Sophia had just arrived at Syka having sailed with a trading ship from Riverfall. It had been nice to be back on the decks of a boat again even if it was only for a short time. She had missed the open seas and the feeling of salty wind whipping through her hair. Pearl had missed it too, she knew. Riverfall had been a wonderful place to spend time, and it was close to the sea, but Sophia had ended up spending more time inland as that was where most of the things one needed happened to be located. Not that she had a problem with being inland as that was where plants were generally found, but she at least liked to be able to hear the sea from where she was staying.

She didn’t know a huge amount about Syka, only that there was a small handful of people living here. Turning to face inland, she swept her gaze across the various buildings – if one could call them that. It appeared that the structures had been built fairly recently and most likely from the trees that Sophia could see around. There weren’t many people about at the moment, although this place appeared to be the main area where they might gather. The captain of the ship she had arrived on was speaking to someone she didn’t recognise but he was the only person she could see that had not come with her.

Hiking her bag onto her shoulder she made her way over to one of the nearer buildings where she thought she might find someone else to point her in the right direction. Pearl, seeing that Sophia was moving off, flew over from the ship and landed near her feet.
Sophia peered up at the buildings.
“Hello? Anyone about?”

[Solstice]

Syka was always a lush and tropical land, but today she shone particularly brilliantly. The sky meeting the sea was wide, brilliant, and the purest of blues without a drop of clouds in sight. It was hot, as to be expected in Summer, but a gentle breeze blew up from the coast, cooling both sweat soaked skins and fiery tempers alike. It was hard not to relax here. Syna and the sand invited warmth, and the rhythmic beat of the waves against the shoreline soothed.

As it so happened the nest of buildings through which Sophia now peered contained a large raised platform settled among the trees where the wind coming off the shoreline could effortlessly blow away lingering warmth. The lofted deck contained tables and chairs scattered in a lackadaisical fashion. In attachment to this deck was a secondary portion of the area, this section covered by a slanted rooftop. A similar lounge area to the outdoor section provided tables and chairs as well. A small group of people lounged in the shade of the roof, untangling netting, trading gossip, and in general enjoying the weather, and unaware of Sophia’s curious prying eyes.

However, one man in particular did notice. Understandably so; it was part of his job after all! Randal Zor, one of Syka’s three Founders and overall handyman and carpenter for the settlement, peered over the edge of the railing and smiled and waved at the young sverfra.

“Hey there! Welcome!”

The sun bronzed man would wait for the young woman to ascend the stairs leading up to the Commons area and would greet her with a smile and a hearty handshake.

“My name is Randal Zor. I’m one of the three Founders of Syka,” he said, voice rich and warm.

“You’re a new face. There’s not many people here so we get to know everyone, even our regular traders. I don’t suppose you’re planning on living here are you?”

Randal’s kind but discerning eyes took in Sophia’s appearance at a glance. Sverfra blood, if those eyes and her bird friend were anything to go off of. Laviku’s seafaring children were always welcome in Syka, as trading partners and residents. It was hard to find people more suitable for life here than them.

[Sophia Sunshore]

As Sophia drew nearer to the building, she began to hear voices, although she couldn’t see who they belonged to. The structure was raised, built among the trees and appeared to be some sort of platform. She heard a small burst of laughter and figured that this was perhaps a social area, seeing as it was so open and large.

”Hey there! Welcome!”
Sophia squinted up at the speaker as he looked down over the edge of the railing. She smiled when he waved, and took her cue to start climbing the stairs. Pearl fluttered up next to her, not quite flying, and generally getting under Sophia’s feet. She rolled her eyes at the bird.
She shook the proffered hand and nodded.
“Hi! It’s good to meet you!” She paused as Randal, she now knew, continued to speak. “Ah, yes if you can have me! I heard of this place from Riverfall and I got curious.” Her eyes drifted for a moment to the dense trees around the building. “They were a little sparse on the details though – nobody told me quite how lovely it is!”
When the man’s eyes flicked to Pearl she smiled again. “Pearl is self-sufficient, so she can look after herself, although sometimes she’s a bit annoying.” Sophia chuckled.

She took a moment to look round the building properly. The large platform was scattered with chairs, and another, slightly more sheltered section was adorned with more chairs and some tables. It was here she saw a few people – the source of the voices she could hear. She watched one of them for a moment as they fixed a net, something that was all too familiar to Sophia. Not wanting to be caught staring, she quickly returned her attention to Randal.
“Did you build all of this?” She assumed he must have given that he introduced himself as a ‘Founder’.

[Solstice]

Randal was warmed by the young lady’s enthusiasm, and he grinned at her good naturedly. “Ah from Riverfall? Maybe you’ve heard about the trading trips the Veronica makes there.” The man’s eyes flashed with worry for a brief moment as he thought of the missing ship and James, but he forced the thoughts away with a smile to focus on the matter at hand.

“Well, we’re always happy to welcome new people. The bigger the settlement grows and the more skills we have to offer the citizens here, the better.”

The playful seabird elicited a softening around Randal’s eyes. “Ah, Pearl is it? Well it's nice to meet both of you. And what would your name be?”

Once Sophia offered her name, Randal would nod. At her question the man grinned, perhaps a little sheepishly. “The majority of buildings that have been built here in Syka were done by me,” he explained. “I’m the primary carpenter here, so if you want something built and don’t want to have a hand in it yourself, you’ll probably be relying on me. That said…”

Randal put his chin in his hand and gave Sophia a thoughtful glance. “Here in Syka, it’s important that everyone is able to make contributions to the settlement. Everyone has to have some sort of job that brings help or revenue here. In addition to that, it’s important that you have the abilities to live here, or you’re on a fast track to learning them. It’s beautiful here, but Syka is more dangerous than it appears at first glance. The beach is mostly safe, but if you don’t know how to survive in the jungle then things can get very dangerous quickly.”

He chuckled. “Not to scare you off. There are plenty of people here who can teach you the things you need to know. And if you can contribute and learn to live here then we’ll offer you five acres of land, anywhere you want that hasn’t already been claimed, and provide you with loans if you want to build something or start a business. Speaking of which, what drew you to Syka? Do you have skills that you think will be of use here?”

[Sophia Sunshore]

Sophia nodded as the man spoke. She had vague recollections of a ship by the name of Veronica, but she had never seen it. It was one of the suggested passages mentioned to her by the people of Riverfall, along with the trading ship she had ended up arriving on. “Yes, I recognise the name.” She smiled again.

She started when she realised she had forgotten to introduce herself. “Oh, sorry! I’m Sophia Sunshore.” If her eyes and Pearl hadn’t told him already, the name would definitely give her Svefra heritage away. Sophia’s eyebrows rose a little in surprise. She imagined he had at least contributed to the buildings as a Founder, but to have done most of it himself… Impressive! “Goodness, how on earth do you find time for anything else!”

She paused as he scrutinised her for a brief moment. Sophia nodded one or twice as he spoke of Syka, letting his words properly sink in. Of course she would have imagined that a community such as this would be pretty self-sufficient. Sophia hoped that her limited skills would be at least somewhat useful. Her eyes flicked to the tree line briefly as Randal spoke of the dangers. She could imagine all sorts of creatures lurking in there and nothing she conjured up was remotely nice. The corner of her mouth twitched as he laughed, which then broke into a smile at his next comment. Nothing would be scaring Sophia away from all these beautiful and unknown plants.

5 acres of land? Was that a lot? Sophia had no idea, but it sounded like a lot.
“What drew me here?” She smiled again and gestured at the deadly rainforest. “The nature. I went to Riverfall to study plants, but someone there told me of Syka and all of it’s mysteries and I couldn’t keep away.” She raised one shoulder in a light shrug, the smile still turning the corners of her mouth.
"I also might be able to help in other ways..." Sophia moved a little, so that the mark covering her left forearm could be seen. “I am not sure how useful that is to you, especially as you are clearly not on the plains, but I suppose once I have gotten to know some of the flora I could help to put it to use?” A pause. “I also spent most of my life at sea, so I can fish too I guess.” Sophia was suddenly feeling a little less useful that she had been on her way over.

She continued, a little quieter now. “I am always willing to learn anything I can to help though. If I can be useful I will.” A sheepish expression crossed her features. “However, I have never built a chair, let alone any sort of dwelling so I might need a hand if I am to stay. I’ll help if I won’t get in the way though? I can learn for the future?”

[Solstice]

Randal laughed at Sophia’s exclamation. “Well, truth told, carpentry is most of what I do here. There isn’t really much time for anything else!”

Randal nodded as Sophia listed off all of her talents, and the gnosis mark in particular made his eyebrows raise up in surprise and delight.

“The talents of the gnosis marked are always appreciated here,” Randal said. “We’ve got another witch living here now as well. Iolara. She’s a charoda, one of the ocean living people. Her region is underwater. The two of you should get to know each other, I’m sure you could find some interests in common. As for the plant-finding, hmm well…”

Randal pinched his chin between his thumb and forefinger. “You should be able to work for Uta. She’s our resident botanist here in Syka, and always happy to take on apprentices. I’m sure you can learn a lot from each other.”

Randal smiled and tented his hands. “To manage here, you’ll need to know how to use a weapon, how to hunt and gather food from around the area, and how to survive in the jungle. But those are all things you can learn as you live here.”

He listened closely to her query about carpentry. “It might be easier to take the loan and have me build for you, but if you’re really set on building the house yourself there will be plenty of people who would be happy to teach you, myself included.”

[Sophia Sunshore]

Sophia smiled as Randal laughed. "How many of you are there here?" If all he had the time for was building structures she imagined there must be a good few more about to help with all the other things one needed to do when running a town. Not that Syka was a town. Settlement was definitely the appropriate word in this case.

The woman's eyes lit up at the mention of another marked by Mother Caiyah, sapphire blues sparking with joy. "Oh really? I have never met another Witch before." Sophia practically buzzed with excitement at the prospect of interacting with a fellow Witch. It seemed that neither of them were called to the rainforest here, although the charoda's habitat certainly fitted much better than her own.

She paused as Randal went into his thoughts for a moment. A fellow botanist? It appeared Sophia had found her true kin on this land. She smiled again. "That sounds perfect! I can hopefully put my mark to use to at least see if any new discoveries are edible or otherwise." That much Sophia was sure she'd be able to do. She certainly wouldn't be able to understand and heal the lands like in Cyphrus, but she could still speak to the nature of things. She was very much looking forward to discovering the hidden secrets this jungle had to offer.

"Should I just... go and find Uta then?" She was getting a rather carefree feeling for life here and assumed that would be the way to go about it. She gestured to her hip. "I have this cutlass, though I can't say I'm very adept at using the thing. Like I said though, I'm more than willing to learn to live here."

Sophia smiled sheepishly. "I think that I may have to take you up on your generous offer. I am afraid that whatever I could build would fall on my head! I'll lend a hand if you would like an inexperienced one, but I'm more than happy to get out of the way too." The Svefra was happy - she had only been ashore a handful of chimes and already she was feeling right at home.

[Solstice]

Randal ran a hand through his sweat streaked hair and smiled pleasantly. “All told, we’ve got about forty people living here. It’s not a big settlement at all. You learn to know who everyone is pretty quickly.”

He grinned at Sophia’s eagerness to get started. “I haven’t seen Uta today, but if you ask around someone should be able to point you in the right direction. This place is too small for anyone to go missing for very long. I’d go look around for her. While you’re looking you can survey the area and see if you can find a nice location for your five acres. Uta might even be able to give you a tip as to where. Beach front is very popular, but it’s your call.”

He nodded in agreement to the woman’s request for help building. “No problem. Just submit to me an idea of what you want once you’ve found where you want to build it, and we can work out how much you owe us Founders. I should be able to get the work done by the 60th of this season.”

The carpenter set his hands on his hips. “I think that’s about it Sophia. Did you have any questions before you head out?”

Secret :

Unless you have any other questions you need Randal to answer, I think one more post from you and we should be good to go!

[Sophia Sunshore]

Forty people... Truth be told that was more than the young woman had been expecting him to say. So in theory the settlement would have good amount of skilled people for her to learn from. She definitely liked the sound of the small community. Back on the seas the Svefra tended to, at the very least, recognise different Pods that they happen across while travelling and besides, all Svefra are family. She hoped that this community was as close-knit.

Sophia nodded as Randal went on to speak more about Uta. At least her enquiries as to the botanists whereabouts might serve to get herself acquainted with some more of the settlers here. She paused as the man continued. "You mean... I can just pick anywhere I want? Amazing!" She definitely wanted to be near the beach. Or on it, actually. It would help her feel closer to her family to be near the ocean. "Ah good idea, I will ask her when I eventually find her!"

She hefted her backpack a little higher on her shoulders as she prepared to collect her other belongings - including a tent - from where the trading ship had docked. "Good job I picked one of those up..." She beamed at the carpenter. "That's incredibly generous of you, thank you! I'll be sure to come and find you again when I've figured it out." In truth, Sophia didn't mind at all how long it took to have somewhere built. She was used to living on a ship after all. A tent all to herself would be almost luxurious even if just for the privacy!

"I can't think of anything right now. I suppose... just point me in the direction I need to go!" She smiled again as Randal gestured off up the beach before giving a small wave and heading off to collect her tent.


oocSorry this is so bad! I'm not feeling too great but I wanted to get something written for you.

[Solstice]

Grades are here!

Sophia Sunshore

XP Award:

• +2 Observation
• +4 Socialization

Lore:

• Syka: A Small Settlement
• Location: Syka Commons
• Randal Zor: Personality, Traits
• Veronica: A Ship From Syka
• Syka: Settlers Need to Contribute
• Randal: A Carpenter
• Location: Syka
• Syka: Settlers Need to Learn Skills to Survive
• Skya: Founders Offer Loans
• Syka: Settlers Receive 5 Acres of Land
• Iolara: A Charoda Witch
• Uta: Syka’s Resident Botanist

Rewards and Penalties:

• None Present

Note: An excellent start to a return to roleplay! Welcome to Syka, Sophia!