World of Illidia - OOC

Was only in for about five minutes yesterday. Nightmare scheduling atm.

Anyways, more serachrin have beaks rather than mouths - exceptions tend to be those that are 'based' on smaller common birds like sparrows, wrens, robins and so forth. You can call it a result of minor speciation if you like, as the earliest serachrin would've been beaked and they are subconsciously predisposed towards finding beaks desirable, as their culture venerates the (beaked) hamakei.

I hadn't planned on my character having a beak, more like her teeth are all connected (Like how a bird doesn't have individual teeth) Or maybe having a slight point to her jaw.

Well, there are always exceptions. All serachrin are still able to breed with each other, so it's not like full speciation has occurred yet. You might not have been expected to need help in breaking out of your egg though (unless you had an egg tooth), which, if your parents were both beaked, might have been cause for a bit of schoolyard bullying and light workplace ribbing.

Same principle as a human not being deliberately conceived or causing their parents a lot of stress by taking a very long time to actually be born.

The thing I want to write up is basically a guide for how to roleplay the Serachrin's emotional displays- what wing movements mean what, what the subtle changes in the eyes mean(which would be far more important, and nuanced, than in human culture) how stance fits into it, that sort of thing. Because they're probably the farthest, save those insect people, from humans, and I actually have some ideas for how to do their emotions.

Thank would be really cool cursive :3

So reading an earlier post again, I'm not sure if S'rylvis was a person I was supposed to go see or simply the person who compiled the almanac. If that was just a background name I wasn't supposed to follow up on, then I suppose I'll stop trying to follow up on it.

DB wrote:

Thank would be really cool cursive :3

Welcome to the realm of the obsessive tendency to focus on background issues that aren't important to anyone.

Thank you, thank you, I know, I do good work.

"Supposed to" aren't really words that apply in this game. I'll throw out names and details that have immediate relevance, so if you want to follow up on them for whatever reason, you can. You may find trying to meet up with someone results in a good thing, a bad thing or nothing unusual happening. Or you may not.

Much as how Real Life works.

So yeah. Decided that logically, Dusi isn't using his real name in any sense. It can be furnished upon request to you, Chaos, or Patches if he needs it. Otherwise I need to finish finding a good name.

Something I've been curious about: Who, if anyone, owns K'hitssatha, and where does the title of Elecutor stand in the broader context of Caarth society? I might ask IC, except that this is something Syrrynon would already know.

I am doing a bad job of posting here...

I'll try to get it written tonight :/

K'hitssatha occupies, for you, a very unfortunate racial and political position - kassistra are the only servitor race with intelligence to rival that of the caarth, making them the most prized servants for the upper echelons of society...provided they are obedient. You may notice that this guy is somewhat less that respectful towards you, which would not be tolerated in most of his kind.

And that's where the other half of the problem lies. Elocutors are chosen specifically because they have incredible verbal skills, mental agility, mnemonics, the works - their job is to provide advice (especially when it is unsought), announce changes to legislature or declarations of war, serve as ambassadors between cities and generally use their mastery of the language in the most expedient possible ways.

In effect, K'hissatha is a cross between a diplomat and a spin doctor, with a certain measure of independence: he is owned, effectively, by the state, not by an individual. Most kassistra will never achieve half of what he has, and indeed he can well be considered an experiment of sorts - if he serves well in his post, it will open up doors in the future for the kassistra that follow him.

Needless to say, the caarth populace as a whole is somewhat less than thrilled by this prospect. The downside of living in a predominantly meritocratic theocracy: "worship Sithera and be good at your job and you'll be rewarded, end of story," sort of thing.

Technically, Syrrynon is more important as he is a caarth - in practice, K'hitssatha will not hesitate to run rings around you so long as he isn't too open about it. The kassistra have a major chip on their shoulder about being second-class citizens...

fuck that worked well.

Okay, so I managed to get that done.

Oh, and before I go to the effort of trying to write it into a book-style thing that could exist in canon, here's some basics.

In terms of facial expressions, there are two primary groupings in Serachrin culture, denoted by their primary facial feature- those with teeth and the hard, keratin encrusted lips have a tendency to sublimate any instinctual facial twitches in the area of their mouth, resulting in them being much harder to read. They do this because when they attempt to emulate the expressions of the terrestrial species the effect is incomplete, and when they emulate beaked Serachrin they fail to make the correct motions and sounds due to fundamentally different mouth configuration. Instead, all facial expression falls into the area around their snub noises, eyes, and crest. Many of the more mild emotions- happyness, sadness, and so on are identifiable by anyone with a basic understanding of how to read the eyes of others, but the difference between anger and rage can seem subtle to a non-avian species. The primary difference is, of course, that their crest- the ridge of feather along the peak of the head- flattens. A more direct observation would find that this trend continues all along their backs, reducing their air drag and allowing them to move faster whether they choose to fight or flight. When agitated, embarrassed, nervous, or generally uncomfortable, the feather along the crest will ruffle up, similar to a fear response. Indeed, the only visible difference between nervousness and fear is often the behavior of the wings- spread wings indicates fear, as, again, their body is preparing to take off at the slightest threat. The wings are far more expressive that the faces of non-beaked Serachrin, however it is considered rude for anyone who is not a mate to pay the wings of another attention, and as such it is recommended that you ignore them unless you notice they are visibly spread.

Serachrin who lack beaks and grew, or spent a lot of time, among terrestrial species have a habit of picking up things like smiling, but the comparison between their actions and the intended effect is significant. It is not uncommon for those unused to dealing with Serachrin to mistake their smiles for a grimace or scowl, which tends to result in those who do begin to smile, frown, and any number of other mouth based expressions learning to school their mouth.

Their noses, while not very expressive, like that of most species, they are a key sign of curiosity. Like many of the more animalistic high races, they have a strong sense of smell, and when curious about something they instinctively begin to sniff the air, adding to the information they have. Not that, being avians instead of mammals, they do not "huff" when they become angry, and they are mostly incapable of flaring their nostrils.

Thoughts on that bit? Beaked serachrin is coming along, but it's a bit more complicated than describing how the crest behaves, because they have an entirely new set of expressive features.

Oh god I have no idea what to do now.

fuck I made a serious error in choosing to go with a student character like this. I don't understand half of what you're saying. So he's saying the magic might WANT to do this, and it's not the intention of the magic? Though I'm not sure why that would change the options for the source of the power.

Please, god, PLEASE put something in my way to draw me into something else while I work on it. I just... I can't force my character to do something he wouldn't(not really a point of honour, I'm just obsessive) but I can't do all this right now. :/

I've been a little constrained by the setting, true, but I think something will present itself as soon as you head outside of the lecture hall, don't you worry about that!

oh thank god. Now I just need to write up him being caught in his thoughts and slowly walking from the room.

(cautiously nudges thread)

Don't worry, update coming now. Workload (and cold) too much the last few days.

You are a gorgeous man.

Heh, I was originally going to pull a Solo and say "I know"...



...then I thought worse of it. Ah, my humility is truly boundless. [/bullshit]

So, how's everyone been, anyways?

It's a good thing we have Wade to compensate for that, right?

I've been okay for the most part. We got some rats from the pet store and I'm super happy. Mine doesn't have a name yet, but we're pretty sure she is going to be either Dixie or Pocket.

Hey, someone mentioned me! Whoo-hoo! And here I was thinking you'd all forgotten about little me...

So, ah, what took you? Cos ya know, I've kinda been stuck here and stuck there for a while now and it's been a real bummer! I mean, here I am, possibly the universe's sexiest Ryan-Reynolds-with-a-non-terminal-all-body-cancer lookalike...and you guys just aren't paying me any attention?

Seriously, dudes, what's up with that? That's not cool.

Ugh, Chaos, could you maybe use a different font this forum around? Leave the orange. I like orange. Orange and blue are both excellent colors. Mmmm, orange and blue, eh? That kinda makes me hungry.

...damn you to hell and back, Stinky, for waking him.

Cake, anyone?

Wtf am I reading

Is a long story, let me explain...

[thinks]

No, still too long, let me sum up:

I played Deadpool in one of murtagh's "Sanctuary" RPs.

So because you played deadpool, the character is now irrevocably in your brain?

Kind of reminds me of what happens with every character I play.

... Man I wash I knew what happened to my Pinkie sig.