Post by Leto on Aug 15, 2013 12:22:11 GMT
(c) to me
Name: Na'hina
Name meaning: -
Nickname: Hina
Race: White lion
Gender: Female
Age: Older Adolescent, Esti: 17-19
Powers:
- Can see and interact with spirits; like apparitions, ghosts, angels, demons, poltergeist, and revenants among others
The appearance of a spirit is decided by several factors; age, levels of power, and what type of spirit it is
For example: In the terms of ghosts the older the ghosts are the more spectral they appear, the recently deceased would appear as if they were still alive; sometimes covered in blood and displaying the injuries that killed them if they died a violent death
Other kinds of spirits like revenants and demons appear as incorporeal masses of shadow given typically an animal form the more powerful the demon the less shadowy it appears, angels like demons also always appear in the form of an animal, while summoned to the mortal plane; but are celestial and always emit an aura of warming light the higher in hierarchy the angel is the brighter the aura and the angel is as such more powerful. Other spirits appear as wisps, small silvery orbs of light; wisps is essentially a raw emotion or idea given manifest, and usually all that is left behind by very, very ancient ghosts, and sometimes demons or even angels that have been near completely destroyed, wisps typically embody a vice or virtue respectivly. Wisps are generally harmless, but also the most easily beckoned and banished.
- Can beckon a spirit to reform various tasks that impact the material world to varying degrees all depending on the strength of the spirit in question; so a simple wisp cannot reanimate a corpse, unlike a demon or recently deceased can, who can even possess the living, an angel will always refuse to possess a living entity. Other applicable tasks are but not limited to, move objects and even attack an assailant, she can also banish/exorcise spirits provided they're not too powerful, so there's always a danger she may not be able to expel the spirit should it choose to disobey her, this is a particular danger regarding maleviolent spirits such as vengeful ghosts or demons.
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Alignment: Lawfully Good
Sexual Orientation: Homosexual
Occupation: Slave
Rank: Upper Slave
Master/Owner: Nafsi (c) Zorayda
Height: 2,5 ft
Weight: 95 kg
Personality:
Despite the sufferings in her past she’s a surprisingly cheerful and optimistic young girl, almost to the point of naivety. She counters the horrors of the world with a bright smile and happy-go-lucky attitude that’s almost infectious, not saying she’s not capable of sorrow or grief she just prefers to not bring up negative emotions if she can help it; that being said she does have her scars and troubles, depressing thoughts often linger behind the smiles and cheerful attitude.
She’s for one very conscious of her appearance and the horrendous scar that mars her face; though this grotesque visage is concealed beneath a stained grey cloth tied over her once beautiful eyes is a cause of deep shame for her, and the source behind a relatively low self-esteem.
Due to this she’s a very sensitive young girl, and takes things to heart easily; though instead of being outright angry when offended or mistreated she’s more likely to break down in tears. Despite being a sensitive soul she’s remarkably tough and resilient given what she’s had to go through even displaying uncharacteristic bravery and resourcefulness when faced with danger, and despite how cruel the world has been to her she retains an exceptional kindness and compassion towards others.
Strength/Weakness:
+ Exceptional singing voice
+ Quite fast and agile despite her blindness making it difficult to utilize it
+ Some knowledge of healing/poisonous herbs, as well as the application of mundane medical treatments
+ Notably heightened senses of smell, touch, and hearing, evolved to compensate for her lack of vision
+ Can utilize echolocation, generated by producing high pitched clicking noises with her mouth, this allows her to navigate her environment through acoustic way finding
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- Completely blind, due to being subjected to a horrendous religious ritual, were her eyes were gouged out
- Due to being blind, and despite her use of acoustic way finding through echolocation, she can't hunt and as such is forced to live off carrion, this has given her a frail physique and stunted her growth
- The cold blue flame at the tip of her tail is her soul, should it get extinguished she'd potentially die it’s the only way to permanently kill her, the intensity and brightness of the flame is a good indicator towards her mood as well as health
History:
Raised in an isolated mountain-valley pride, Na’hina’s cubhood was as happy and free of worry as a child could wish for, particularly for an orphan and foundling. The tribes’ isolation meant that they had very little contact with the surrounding lowlands, indeed the nearest pride land to theirs was several days travel over treacherous mountain passes. As such the prides customs and culture differed a lot from those of the surrounding prides, the pride considered themselves as guardians of the titular Gates of Hell, a blackened abyss that extended deep into the mountain range.
This Gate of Hell was a boundary between this world and spirit world or realm of the dead, known collectively as the Beyond and to placate the spirits and keep the surrounding lands safe, from a threat everyone but they had forgotten they often preformed elaborate rituals, due to their close presence to the spirit world the shaman’s of this pride held great power and essentially acted as the leader of the pride both politically and religiously. The pride was ruled by a council of shaman’s elders that saw to the spiritual and also mundane aspect of pridal life.
Na’hina was raised in this world were contact with spirits in some form or another was part of everyday life, even so she was shown at the early age to have a exceptionally strong bond to the spirit world; and as such she was practically raised by the Council, the one who was to become future master was pretty much like a mother to her. She would be along with other similarly gifted cubs chosen to be trained as future Shaman. The process of becoming a shaman was surrounded in myth very little fact about the entailing rituals and trials ever made it out to the public. A few of the shamans wore decorative bands in front of their eyes; it was believed that simulated blindness increased one’s connection to the spirit world.
Regrettably this was only half the truth, being groomed into the life of shaman apprentice was a lonely affair particularly for Na'hina who had spent her entire life in it, despite it being one of the greatest honors one could achieve in having their son or daughter chosen for this path; the trainees lived apart from pride society, they hardly enough saw each other most of their time was spent trailing their appointed master. The shaman’s were expected to live a life entirely devoted to the protection of the pride from spirits that wished to harm them, or the surrounding lands, thus they practiced celibacy; any prospect of getting a mate or seeking romantic company was forbidden to shaman’s and thusly their apprentices, believing that such frivolities would distract from their everlasting vigil.
Na'hina's adopted mother and master was pretty strict on these rules, at the same she demanded and pressured her daughter to perform with perfection, nothing but the best of the best was ever good enough. This vexes Na'hina and slowly starts souring their relationship as she gets older. Even if Na'hina is fully aware that this is what's expected of all shaman's the lack of praise from her mother even when she succeeds in her trials makes her understandably upset.
Upon coming of age Na’hina was growing more and more excited towards her inauguration and her training’s completion mostly cause that meant she'd be free of her mother's shadow, even if she wouldn’t be a shaman yet; but she’d be expected to take her masters place when she eventually died and this alone awarded her high status of honor in her pride.
Na’hina was considered an unusually gifted girl; her attunement towards the spirits had been apparent from the day the pride had taken her in but as she grew her affinity towards the spirits just increased to the point where she could beckon spirits, even some of the more powerful demons into preforming tasks very few shaman’s had ever managed. Some of the oldest shaman’s suspected that the girl was a soul reaper; more specifically the recent reincarnation of an ancient extremely powerful entity, known unambiguously as Death.
Unfortunately with her skill also came danger, the more skilled a shaman were with spirits the greater the danger were that they’d attract demons, and demons could possess shaman’s twisting them into fearsome monsters capable of terrible destruction and cruelty, particularly powerful shaman’s were like beacons to demons seeking a permanent entry into the mundane world. Her position as shaman was not considered forfeit but she’d had to be subjected to a highly secret, gruesome religious ritual in order to prevent the chance of a demon possessing her. And if she truly was a soul reaper, though this made her virtually immune to possessions, if it did happen great calamity would befall the world.
Due to this threat her inauguration, which was usually a public festival had been ushered forward a few days. Curious to what this meant Na’hina was lead towards a sacred grove close to the foot of the mountain that held the spirit gate. The fact that it was nighttime was also considerably odd as the festival itself usually beings at first light; being surrounded by the entire shaman council, many of whom she considered to be family they finally explained why she was brought before them; the eyes were thought to be the gateway to the soul, thus this she had to sacrifice in order safeguard the pride. Horrified and scared at the revelation of what they would do, the girl tried to flee but her path was blocked, she begged to her mother for help but she didn’t even flinch an emotion, stating that this was for the safety of the pride.
She was thusly forced to the ground, held down as the eldest shaman, a baboon closed in on her, in his hands he held a wooden mask carved with strange symbols though through the eye pieces there driven stakes! Screaming for help and trashing Na’hina was desperately trying to get free staring up at the baboon as he lifted the mask above his head and brought it down on her face; this would be the last thing she’d actually see. A pained cry of agony shook her through the blackened void, upon feeling the pressure holding down her body subsiding the mask was eventually removed giving her even more pain, hands then cupped her face as she could feel something being tied over her eyes, a blindfold, covering her bleeding disfiguration.
Her whole body shook with pain, fear and anger; she could feel the salty tears stinging her eye sockets, the circle around her dissipated leaving only her mother there. She could smell her, hear her breathing to, she whimpered a ‘why’ towards her, she stated that she had not enjoyed what they had been forced to do, trying to console her daughter with the fact that she was hardly the only shaman apprentice that has ever gone through this necessary ritual.
Horrified to learn that not only had her mother not defended her from this vile mutilation, she had been the one who had even suggested it the first place! Grieved, shocked, and terrified Na’hina took off out of the clearing and ran and ran almost until her legs could carry her no more, but she tripped over a small rock crashing face first into the mud. She lay there whimpering and crying, until the sound of cheerful laughter caught her ears, she could see nothing but void, but somewhere in distance a hazy white form seemed to be running disappearing between various features in the landscape, curious and with a burning urge to get away from this place and one she once called mother Na’hina set off after it, crying for it to wait for her; this led her further and further away from the mountain valley.
Other: Is normally seen in company of a raven named Phyxavin, looking like a zombie/half-mummified bird. Phyxavin is a consequence of a reanimation gone awry. Phyxavin is an incubus demon Na'hina met as a cub though he had actually been watching her since her unique power manifested in early cubhood; he has become her guardian and protector, though he only revealed himself to her when Na'hina was mourning the death of a raven she used to play with who had fallen foul of predators seeing it as an oppertunity to better protect his charge if he had a more physical presence; sensing the potential dangers she could be exposed to, due to the nature of her powers. The lowly demon boasted he could bring the raven back to life with Na'hina's help. The demon did indeed bring the raven back but something unexpected happened which fused his essence with the raven corpse, essentially trapping him in the corpse. The zombie raven is visible to anyone, yet usually only Na'hina can hear him speak given they share a telepathic bond, though Phyxavin can talk he often refrains from doing so.
And although principally trapped in a corpse, he can revert to his true form. However he chooses to remain in the form of a raven, unless Na'hina herself is terrible danger, or her life and well being is threatened. As revealing his true form might pose a danger to his ward; leaving her a target for the supersitious and fearful to hurt her even further than they already have. He blames himself for not being able to save her from the gruesome blinding ritual she was forced to endure.
Although she was actually supposed to have a guardian angel, no such being ever made themselves present rendering Phyxavin, a demon to take up the charge.
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Premier Pride, History:
Na’hina’s earliest memories consist of dark and cold stone floors, and equally cold stone walls, and a crowd of legs, with felines always milling about, and with this lots of intelligible noise. These first, vague memories entail of her days as an infant living in the slave cub dens near the foothills of Mt. Kotori. However her first solid memory consists of accidentally running into one of the soldier's stationed to watch them and receiving a lot of pain, and with it an injury which lasted for weeks. Na’hina’s life was hardly unique in terms of various fates found within the slave pride, nor was it pleasant the only thing it provided was safety from the outside world from what she had been taught was even worse, but the discipline received at the paws of the supervisors for disobedience was sever, however sometimes the beating she got from her fellow slaves in the competition for food, or out of spite and malice was even worse.
An orphaned cub had few prospects and hopes of survival, especially one as conspicuous as her. She spent her childhood mostly alone, or in solitude as none of the other slave cubs wanted much of anything to do with her the adults too made a habit of avoiding her, due to her ‘weirdness’ as they called it. The other cubs would often deliberately try to snuff out the fire on her tail by stepping on it causing considerable discomfort and agony for the poor girl, however the supervisors would always intervene in their cruel games, not out of a sense of pity for Na’hina, but merely practicality as after all slaves were forbidden from outright killing other slaves.
Na’hina’s cubhood might’ve seem lonely or sad, but in truth she had all the friends she could ever wish for unfortunately only she could directly see them though the spirits themselves could impact the material world, to others it would often seem like she was talking to herself, playing and laughing as she was chasing invisible forms through fields, as if playing tag with her own shadow. These friends are real to her as the trees and the grass, they are spirits; wisps curious and playful would lead her on adventures other cubs could only dream of, angels and demons of virtue and vice would comfort her in grief, listen to her pain, and share in her small moments of joy, the ancient ghosts of the departed would offer knowledge, council and insights of times long since forgotten. She never feared the sprits and as such the Mt. Kotori graveyard quickly became her favorite place, visiting it as often as she could, though slaves barred from access meant she could only make fleeting visits.
This behavior unfortunately only increased her alienation from the rest of slaves in the pride, conjuring fearful murmurs among some of them that she was dangerous, malevolent, and evil, although they had no solid evidence or proof that she even had any powers what so ever, even if the flame on her tail was a suspicious sign.
This all culminated in a vicious attack, one night while sneaking back from a visit to the summit graveyard they stalked her, she was cornered and alone when they surrounded her; slaves of her pride a group of teenagers, far older than her. They gave her no chance to defend herself fearing for what unspeakable evils she could unleash on them they struck fast and hard, as she lay on the cold ground beaten and bloody, her throat hoarse from the screams for help, the cries of agony, in a short window of respite as her attackers debated amongst themselves how to finished her off, she tried to crawl away; but her back leg had been badly twisted leaving her unable to walk.
One of the attackers noticed her attempted escape and pounced to stop her, in was in that moment a large shadow came out of nowhere knocking the assailant away. Na’hina was borderline delirious with pain, glanced over her shoulder, fearing she had accidentally called forth a demon during her subconscious flight response, however it was no demon that was defending her. The young, handsome lion was a sight, indeed as far as Na’hina was concerned he could’ve been an angel, even though he didn’t look the part. As the assailants fell one by one, Na’hina tried to push herself to her feet only to find her legs failing to support her, the large lion approached her humbly and respectfully she lowered and diverted her gaze in deference she knew a Premier lion when she saw one, and this was one of her betters; she felt shame welling up in her core, that he had to see her in such a state it was not becoming of a slave of the Empire.
To her surprise the lion helped her up and of all things took her to see a healer, with much explanation the healer eventually agreed to treat Na’hina but considered it a waste of resources putting his skills to use on a slave, a suspiciously unusual slave at that. This male, whom she later learned was named Nafsi didn’t even seem to care about her tail-tuff, on the contrary he seemed almost intrigued; for the first time in her life, Na’hina was facing someone who was interested in /her/, not only that but this lion had saved her life; her, the life of mere slave.
In that moment she threw herself onto the ground by his paws, muttering how she had not deserved his salvation, the male seemed pleased and promised that from this day forward she’d no longer have to fear her fellow slaves as he would her master, and any attack on her would be an attack on him. The little girl almost started crying, but caught herself she had to be on her best behavior, she was a Premier Pride slave, the best of the best. And so began Na’hina’s life of servitude to Nafsi, it was pleasant at first he treated her nicely and better than any slave could dream of; but slowly but surely darker sides to his personality was starting to reveal itself; he did not tolerate failures nor any misdemeanors of any kind, would often become angry and aggressive over minor and petty transgressions. However if she broke his rules, the punishment would be sever often even brutal, yet Na’hina felt she deserved it, there was a reason behind the beatings she had shamed or embarrassed her master, the master to whom she owed her life, literally.
But the worst was yet to come, during a celebration Na’hina walks in on Nafsi having his way with what was clearly not another servant girl, startled and frozen in place she quickly diverts her gaze but Nafsi is immediately onto her, starting berating her, yelling and roaring at her to get out but the little girl can’t take eyes off the other, thoroughly ravaged lioness in the room, which causes Nafsi to question her on just how much of it she saw; Na’hina is too startled if not scared to give a credible answer, this only vexes Nafsi who in the end pins her to the ground and claws her eyes out in a fit of anger and his own desperation at getting caught. Na’hina is left lying there in the darkness, shaking, bleeding she even vomited on the floor due the extreme pain Nafsi’s torture inflicted on her.
The white cub hears the lions voice who has calmed down considerably, but his tone is still harsh telling her that if she ever breaths a word of this event to anyone, her life… the life he commands is forfeit. Though as a small act of mercy and perhaps the first surface of a tinge of regret he ties a brown stained blindfold over her mutilated eyes to hide the gruesome disfiguration he caused to her, mostly for his own sake as seeing the state of her eyes is turing his stomach. Now blind, Na’hina is now more than ever dependent on her master’s protection, despite having lost her physical sight, she can still see and beckond the spirits, her friends and constant companions but now with even greater clarity due to the lack of obstructing visual stimuli. The act of blinding her, has strangely slightly enhanced her powers.
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Theme Song(s): The Gravel Road by James Newton Howard (The Village OST)
Odin's Sphere Theme by Basiscape (Odin's Sphere OST)
Voice Actor: Jennifer Hale
Name meaning: -
Nickname: Hina
Race: White lion
Gender: Female
Age: Older Adolescent, Esti: 17-19
Powers:
- Can see and interact with spirits; like apparitions, ghosts, angels, demons, poltergeist, and revenants among others
The appearance of a spirit is decided by several factors; age, levels of power, and what type of spirit it is
For example: In the terms of ghosts the older the ghosts are the more spectral they appear, the recently deceased would appear as if they were still alive; sometimes covered in blood and displaying the injuries that killed them if they died a violent death
Other kinds of spirits like revenants and demons appear as incorporeal masses of shadow given typically an animal form the more powerful the demon the less shadowy it appears, angels like demons also always appear in the form of an animal, while summoned to the mortal plane; but are celestial and always emit an aura of warming light the higher in hierarchy the angel is the brighter the aura and the angel is as such more powerful. Other spirits appear as wisps, small silvery orbs of light; wisps is essentially a raw emotion or idea given manifest, and usually all that is left behind by very, very ancient ghosts, and sometimes demons or even angels that have been near completely destroyed, wisps typically embody a vice or virtue respectivly. Wisps are generally harmless, but also the most easily beckoned and banished.
- Can beckon a spirit to reform various tasks that impact the material world to varying degrees all depending on the strength of the spirit in question; so a simple wisp cannot reanimate a corpse, unlike a demon or recently deceased can, who can even possess the living, an angel will always refuse to possess a living entity. Other applicable tasks are but not limited to, move objects and even attack an assailant, she can also banish/exorcise spirits provided they're not too powerful, so there's always a danger she may not be able to expel the spirit should it choose to disobey her, this is a particular danger regarding maleviolent spirits such as vengeful ghosts or demons.
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Alignment: Lawfully Good
Sexual Orientation: Homosexual
Occupation: Slave
Rank: Upper Slave
Master/Owner: Nafsi (c) Zorayda
Height: 2,5 ft
Weight: 95 kg
Personality:
Despite the sufferings in her past she’s a surprisingly cheerful and optimistic young girl, almost to the point of naivety. She counters the horrors of the world with a bright smile and happy-go-lucky attitude that’s almost infectious, not saying she’s not capable of sorrow or grief she just prefers to not bring up negative emotions if she can help it; that being said she does have her scars and troubles, depressing thoughts often linger behind the smiles and cheerful attitude.
She’s for one very conscious of her appearance and the horrendous scar that mars her face; though this grotesque visage is concealed beneath a stained grey cloth tied over her once beautiful eyes is a cause of deep shame for her, and the source behind a relatively low self-esteem.
Due to this she’s a very sensitive young girl, and takes things to heart easily; though instead of being outright angry when offended or mistreated she’s more likely to break down in tears. Despite being a sensitive soul she’s remarkably tough and resilient given what she’s had to go through even displaying uncharacteristic bravery and resourcefulness when faced with danger, and despite how cruel the world has been to her she retains an exceptional kindness and compassion towards others.
Strength/Weakness:
+ Exceptional singing voice
+ Quite fast and agile despite her blindness making it difficult to utilize it
+ Some knowledge of healing/poisonous herbs, as well as the application of mundane medical treatments
+ Notably heightened senses of smell, touch, and hearing, evolved to compensate for her lack of vision
+ Can utilize echolocation, generated by producing high pitched clicking noises with her mouth, this allows her to navigate her environment through acoustic way finding
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- Completely blind, due to being subjected to a horrendous religious ritual, were her eyes were gouged out
- Due to being blind, and despite her use of acoustic way finding through echolocation, she can't hunt and as such is forced to live off carrion, this has given her a frail physique and stunted her growth
- The cold blue flame at the tip of her tail is her soul, should it get extinguished she'd potentially die it’s the only way to permanently kill her, the intensity and brightness of the flame is a good indicator towards her mood as well as health
History:
Raised in an isolated mountain-valley pride, Na’hina’s cubhood was as happy and free of worry as a child could wish for, particularly for an orphan and foundling. The tribes’ isolation meant that they had very little contact with the surrounding lowlands, indeed the nearest pride land to theirs was several days travel over treacherous mountain passes. As such the prides customs and culture differed a lot from those of the surrounding prides, the pride considered themselves as guardians of the titular Gates of Hell, a blackened abyss that extended deep into the mountain range.
This Gate of Hell was a boundary between this world and spirit world or realm of the dead, known collectively as the Beyond and to placate the spirits and keep the surrounding lands safe, from a threat everyone but they had forgotten they often preformed elaborate rituals, due to their close presence to the spirit world the shaman’s of this pride held great power and essentially acted as the leader of the pride both politically and religiously. The pride was ruled by a council of shaman’s elders that saw to the spiritual and also mundane aspect of pridal life.
Na’hina was raised in this world were contact with spirits in some form or another was part of everyday life, even so she was shown at the early age to have a exceptionally strong bond to the spirit world; and as such she was practically raised by the Council, the one who was to become future master was pretty much like a mother to her. She would be along with other similarly gifted cubs chosen to be trained as future Shaman. The process of becoming a shaman was surrounded in myth very little fact about the entailing rituals and trials ever made it out to the public. A few of the shamans wore decorative bands in front of their eyes; it was believed that simulated blindness increased one’s connection to the spirit world.
Regrettably this was only half the truth, being groomed into the life of shaman apprentice was a lonely affair particularly for Na'hina who had spent her entire life in it, despite it being one of the greatest honors one could achieve in having their son or daughter chosen for this path; the trainees lived apart from pride society, they hardly enough saw each other most of their time was spent trailing their appointed master. The shaman’s were expected to live a life entirely devoted to the protection of the pride from spirits that wished to harm them, or the surrounding lands, thus they practiced celibacy; any prospect of getting a mate or seeking romantic company was forbidden to shaman’s and thusly their apprentices, believing that such frivolities would distract from their everlasting vigil.
Na'hina's adopted mother and master was pretty strict on these rules, at the same she demanded and pressured her daughter to perform with perfection, nothing but the best of the best was ever good enough. This vexes Na'hina and slowly starts souring their relationship as she gets older. Even if Na'hina is fully aware that this is what's expected of all shaman's the lack of praise from her mother even when she succeeds in her trials makes her understandably upset.
Upon coming of age Na’hina was growing more and more excited towards her inauguration and her training’s completion mostly cause that meant she'd be free of her mother's shadow, even if she wouldn’t be a shaman yet; but she’d be expected to take her masters place when she eventually died and this alone awarded her high status of honor in her pride.
Na’hina was considered an unusually gifted girl; her attunement towards the spirits had been apparent from the day the pride had taken her in but as she grew her affinity towards the spirits just increased to the point where she could beckon spirits, even some of the more powerful demons into preforming tasks very few shaman’s had ever managed. Some of the oldest shaman’s suspected that the girl was a soul reaper; more specifically the recent reincarnation of an ancient extremely powerful entity, known unambiguously as Death.
Unfortunately with her skill also came danger, the more skilled a shaman were with spirits the greater the danger were that they’d attract demons, and demons could possess shaman’s twisting them into fearsome monsters capable of terrible destruction and cruelty, particularly powerful shaman’s were like beacons to demons seeking a permanent entry into the mundane world. Her position as shaman was not considered forfeit but she’d had to be subjected to a highly secret, gruesome religious ritual in order to prevent the chance of a demon possessing her. And if she truly was a soul reaper, though this made her virtually immune to possessions, if it did happen great calamity would befall the world.
Due to this threat her inauguration, which was usually a public festival had been ushered forward a few days. Curious to what this meant Na’hina was lead towards a sacred grove close to the foot of the mountain that held the spirit gate. The fact that it was nighttime was also considerably odd as the festival itself usually beings at first light; being surrounded by the entire shaman council, many of whom she considered to be family they finally explained why she was brought before them; the eyes were thought to be the gateway to the soul, thus this she had to sacrifice in order safeguard the pride. Horrified and scared at the revelation of what they would do, the girl tried to flee but her path was blocked, she begged to her mother for help but she didn’t even flinch an emotion, stating that this was for the safety of the pride.
She was thusly forced to the ground, held down as the eldest shaman, a baboon closed in on her, in his hands he held a wooden mask carved with strange symbols though through the eye pieces there driven stakes! Screaming for help and trashing Na’hina was desperately trying to get free staring up at the baboon as he lifted the mask above his head and brought it down on her face; this would be the last thing she’d actually see. A pained cry of agony shook her through the blackened void, upon feeling the pressure holding down her body subsiding the mask was eventually removed giving her even more pain, hands then cupped her face as she could feel something being tied over her eyes, a blindfold, covering her bleeding disfiguration.
Her whole body shook with pain, fear and anger; she could feel the salty tears stinging her eye sockets, the circle around her dissipated leaving only her mother there. She could smell her, hear her breathing to, she whimpered a ‘why’ towards her, she stated that she had not enjoyed what they had been forced to do, trying to console her daughter with the fact that she was hardly the only shaman apprentice that has ever gone through this necessary ritual.
Horrified to learn that not only had her mother not defended her from this vile mutilation, she had been the one who had even suggested it the first place! Grieved, shocked, and terrified Na’hina took off out of the clearing and ran and ran almost until her legs could carry her no more, but she tripped over a small rock crashing face first into the mud. She lay there whimpering and crying, until the sound of cheerful laughter caught her ears, she could see nothing but void, but somewhere in distance a hazy white form seemed to be running disappearing between various features in the landscape, curious and with a burning urge to get away from this place and one she once called mother Na’hina set off after it, crying for it to wait for her; this led her further and further away from the mountain valley.
Other: Is normally seen in company of a raven named Phyxavin, looking like a zombie/half-mummified bird. Phyxavin is a consequence of a reanimation gone awry. Phyxavin is an incubus demon Na'hina met as a cub though he had actually been watching her since her unique power manifested in early cubhood; he has become her guardian and protector, though he only revealed himself to her when Na'hina was mourning the death of a raven she used to play with who had fallen foul of predators seeing it as an oppertunity to better protect his charge if he had a more physical presence; sensing the potential dangers she could be exposed to, due to the nature of her powers. The lowly demon boasted he could bring the raven back to life with Na'hina's help. The demon did indeed bring the raven back but something unexpected happened which fused his essence with the raven corpse, essentially trapping him in the corpse. The zombie raven is visible to anyone, yet usually only Na'hina can hear him speak given they share a telepathic bond, though Phyxavin can talk he often refrains from doing so.
And although principally trapped in a corpse, he can revert to his true form. However he chooses to remain in the form of a raven, unless Na'hina herself is terrible danger, or her life and well being is threatened. As revealing his true form might pose a danger to his ward; leaving her a target for the supersitious and fearful to hurt her even further than they already have. He blames himself for not being able to save her from the gruesome blinding ritual she was forced to endure.
Although she was actually supposed to have a guardian angel, no such being ever made themselves present rendering Phyxavin, a demon to take up the charge.
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Premier Pride, History:
Na’hina’s earliest memories consist of dark and cold stone floors, and equally cold stone walls, and a crowd of legs, with felines always milling about, and with this lots of intelligible noise. These first, vague memories entail of her days as an infant living in the slave cub dens near the foothills of Mt. Kotori. However her first solid memory consists of accidentally running into one of the soldier's stationed to watch them and receiving a lot of pain, and with it an injury which lasted for weeks. Na’hina’s life was hardly unique in terms of various fates found within the slave pride, nor was it pleasant the only thing it provided was safety from the outside world from what she had been taught was even worse, but the discipline received at the paws of the supervisors for disobedience was sever, however sometimes the beating she got from her fellow slaves in the competition for food, or out of spite and malice was even worse.
An orphaned cub had few prospects and hopes of survival, especially one as conspicuous as her. She spent her childhood mostly alone, or in solitude as none of the other slave cubs wanted much of anything to do with her the adults too made a habit of avoiding her, due to her ‘weirdness’ as they called it. The other cubs would often deliberately try to snuff out the fire on her tail by stepping on it causing considerable discomfort and agony for the poor girl, however the supervisors would always intervene in their cruel games, not out of a sense of pity for Na’hina, but merely practicality as after all slaves were forbidden from outright killing other slaves.
Na’hina’s cubhood might’ve seem lonely or sad, but in truth she had all the friends she could ever wish for unfortunately only she could directly see them though the spirits themselves could impact the material world, to others it would often seem like she was talking to herself, playing and laughing as she was chasing invisible forms through fields, as if playing tag with her own shadow. These friends are real to her as the trees and the grass, they are spirits; wisps curious and playful would lead her on adventures other cubs could only dream of, angels and demons of virtue and vice would comfort her in grief, listen to her pain, and share in her small moments of joy, the ancient ghosts of the departed would offer knowledge, council and insights of times long since forgotten. She never feared the sprits and as such the Mt. Kotori graveyard quickly became her favorite place, visiting it as often as she could, though slaves barred from access meant she could only make fleeting visits.
This behavior unfortunately only increased her alienation from the rest of slaves in the pride, conjuring fearful murmurs among some of them that she was dangerous, malevolent, and evil, although they had no solid evidence or proof that she even had any powers what so ever, even if the flame on her tail was a suspicious sign.
This all culminated in a vicious attack, one night while sneaking back from a visit to the summit graveyard they stalked her, she was cornered and alone when they surrounded her; slaves of her pride a group of teenagers, far older than her. They gave her no chance to defend herself fearing for what unspeakable evils she could unleash on them they struck fast and hard, as she lay on the cold ground beaten and bloody, her throat hoarse from the screams for help, the cries of agony, in a short window of respite as her attackers debated amongst themselves how to finished her off, she tried to crawl away; but her back leg had been badly twisted leaving her unable to walk.
One of the attackers noticed her attempted escape and pounced to stop her, in was in that moment a large shadow came out of nowhere knocking the assailant away. Na’hina was borderline delirious with pain, glanced over her shoulder, fearing she had accidentally called forth a demon during her subconscious flight response, however it was no demon that was defending her. The young, handsome lion was a sight, indeed as far as Na’hina was concerned he could’ve been an angel, even though he didn’t look the part. As the assailants fell one by one, Na’hina tried to push herself to her feet only to find her legs failing to support her, the large lion approached her humbly and respectfully she lowered and diverted her gaze in deference she knew a Premier lion when she saw one, and this was one of her betters; she felt shame welling up in her core, that he had to see her in such a state it was not becoming of a slave of the Empire.
To her surprise the lion helped her up and of all things took her to see a healer, with much explanation the healer eventually agreed to treat Na’hina but considered it a waste of resources putting his skills to use on a slave, a suspiciously unusual slave at that. This male, whom she later learned was named Nafsi didn’t even seem to care about her tail-tuff, on the contrary he seemed almost intrigued; for the first time in her life, Na’hina was facing someone who was interested in /her/, not only that but this lion had saved her life; her, the life of mere slave.
In that moment she threw herself onto the ground by his paws, muttering how she had not deserved his salvation, the male seemed pleased and promised that from this day forward she’d no longer have to fear her fellow slaves as he would her master, and any attack on her would be an attack on him. The little girl almost started crying, but caught herself she had to be on her best behavior, she was a Premier Pride slave, the best of the best. And so began Na’hina’s life of servitude to Nafsi, it was pleasant at first he treated her nicely and better than any slave could dream of; but slowly but surely darker sides to his personality was starting to reveal itself; he did not tolerate failures nor any misdemeanors of any kind, would often become angry and aggressive over minor and petty transgressions. However if she broke his rules, the punishment would be sever often even brutal, yet Na’hina felt she deserved it, there was a reason behind the beatings she had shamed or embarrassed her master, the master to whom she owed her life, literally.
But the worst was yet to come, during a celebration Na’hina walks in on Nafsi having his way with what was clearly not another servant girl, startled and frozen in place she quickly diverts her gaze but Nafsi is immediately onto her, starting berating her, yelling and roaring at her to get out but the little girl can’t take eyes off the other, thoroughly ravaged lioness in the room, which causes Nafsi to question her on just how much of it she saw; Na’hina is too startled if not scared to give a credible answer, this only vexes Nafsi who in the end pins her to the ground and claws her eyes out in a fit of anger and his own desperation at getting caught. Na’hina is left lying there in the darkness, shaking, bleeding she even vomited on the floor due the extreme pain Nafsi’s torture inflicted on her.
The white cub hears the lions voice who has calmed down considerably, but his tone is still harsh telling her that if she ever breaths a word of this event to anyone, her life… the life he commands is forfeit. Though as a small act of mercy and perhaps the first surface of a tinge of regret he ties a brown stained blindfold over her mutilated eyes to hide the gruesome disfiguration he caused to her, mostly for his own sake as seeing the state of her eyes is turing his stomach. Now blind, Na’hina is now more than ever dependent on her master’s protection, despite having lost her physical sight, she can still see and beckond the spirits, her friends and constant companions but now with even greater clarity due to the lack of obstructing visual stimuli. The act of blinding her, has strangely slightly enhanced her powers.
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Theme Song(s): The Gravel Road by James Newton Howard (The Village OST)
Odin's Sphere Theme by Basiscape (Odin's Sphere OST)
Voice Actor: Jennifer Hale
It's a nice character though. :3
Also added Christmassy snow and banner :3
I'm currently getting some uni work done before heading to the post office. What's up with you?