Karteria | Application

[lumberlady]

OOC INFORMATION

Name: Rizu
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact: stormcoming, #waxwinging, PM
Other characters: N/A
Permissions & opt-out: Permissions, Opt-out

IC INFORMATION

Name: Konoha
Canon: JINBA ("Centaurs")
Age: 23 (Not stated in canon but she is considered a working, sexually mature adult who is becoming something of an old maid by her species and culture, so I go with this.)
Gender: Female
Species: Centaur
Appearance: HERE. A seven-foot-tall centaur of light draft breed build with a bay coat and matching brown skin, black hair and tail, and amber colored eyes. She wears robes belted at the "waist" and prefers to wear a "skirt" around her equine rump for modesty.
Canon point: Part 2, Chapter 10

History: The world of JINBA is that of Japan- the one key difference between this setting and the actual historical one is the existence of jinba, (essentially centaurs). These creatures lived deep in the wilderness where they were revered in the past as gods/divine creatures who occasionally shared their wisdom with humans, taught them to harness the properties of nature, and answered calls to deal with dangerous beasts. For many centuries man and jinba lived in harmony, rarely meeting or coming into conflict... until humans discovered war. Soon enough the thought was born to harness the power of the creatures of legend... and over time, the peaceful race of jinba became nothing but tools to humanity.

Part One of the manga deals with the Warring States period (16th century), when countless local warlords were locked in power struggles with each other over land, political power, and control of key resources. The drawn out period of unrest led to high demand for military forces, particularly the prized jinba. At that point, jinba were considered much like expensive horses- one sees that it is fed, well cared for, and equipped with good tack, but in the end... it isn't human. It's an animal. Years of using jinba as tools of war made most humans lose their regard for the creatures as equals, and with this stripping of their humanity came the sort of behavior one might expect, including mental, physical, and sexual abuse. The capture, training, and breeding of jinba was a difficult yet lucrative trade, with military leaders willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money on the right creatures.

Part Two of the manga takes us to a thirty year time skip, to the beginning of the Tokugawa period. In the wake of the wars ending jinba have become slightly more integrated into human society, in more progressive areas even working alongside humans doing work such as construction, farming, courier work, and the like. However, there remains a lot of tensions between the races, and older generations still haven't let go of their prejudices or grudges.

Konoha was born at the tail end of the war period, and she was just an infant when she lost her family. She was taken in by an older human couple who lost their natural children to war and raised in a small farming village on the edge of the mountains. She considers them no different than natural parents, and loves them dearly. To help support them, she went to the nearest city once she was old enough and sought out Sha Gozen, a jinba renowned in the area for being able to secure work for her fellows. Since then, she's been working as in the lumber industry, working with humans on the mountain and hauling timber back and forth to the mills below, then hauling the treated wood back up to building sites. It is in her capacity as foreman that she encounters the main characters of the series, two of whom come to work under her.

In the story she takes on something of an unwitting mentor role to the older two, both of whom grew up in the isolated mountains in harsher times, by encouraging them to judge humans as individuals rather than based on their past experiences. While working towards the construction of a shrine on the mountain, Konoha gets involved in several hijinks, including being chased by hungry wolves, having her mother completely embarrass her in front of her first crush, and several rousing pep talks about the nature of humanity and nature. She's just your average young Tokugawa era country gal! ... With four hooves.

... Unfortunately, that doesn't prepare her at all for the world, magic, tech, or literally anything of Karteria.

Personality answers:

Who in your character's canon influenced the most growth in your character? What do they think about this character? Though it is tempting to say "her parents", since they are responsible for raising her as a friendly, and capable young woman... Sha Gozen, Konoha's boss, receives more of the "growth" credit. Sha is a middle-aged jinba who runs a staffing agency. In her young teens, Konoha approached Sha for a job, and Sha found a placement for her on the lumberyard she has worked ever since. Having been raised by humans, Konoha had a lot to learn about her own kind, and Sha served as a mentor when it came to teaching Konoha what she now knows about jinba history, culture, and manners. She also helped form Konoha's nuanced and complicated feelings about living amongst the race that for centuries subjugated and abused her own, giving her an experienced and tempered way to accept that though humanity as a whole could be a cruel and callous species, that humans as individuals could be anything, and all she can do is work hard to serve as an example to those around her. ... Also, her husband was human! Which is romantic and also maybe hopefully inspiring, since she's afraid she won't be able to find a jinba husband herself...

What is your character most afraid of? What she's actually afraid of, however, is that the fragile peace of the current era might end, spelling a return to the age only twenty-some years past in which her kind were kept as battle mounts, slave laborers, "companions", and breeding stock. It's worth noting that she does not let this fear rule her, and she does her best not to let it affect her even when she encounters remnants of that culture in the form of lingering discriminations, insults, microaggressions, threats of violence, and other tensions between the races. But it's impossible to bury the fear when she straddles the world of humans and jinba both, considered never fully part of human society outside those loved ones who accept her and yet considered a traitor by many older jinba who spit on her for accepting a place with humans. Though she grew up loved in her own home, she was denied treatment as an equal by many others around her, and just because she learned how to smile and think positively doesn't mean she doesn't wake up in a cold sweat from nightmares or flinch internally when someone comments loudly in her vicinity that jinba once knew their place.

What would your character say is their best trait? What is truly their best trait? Konoha would say that her best trait was her resilience, partly because it is a strength of hers and partly just because her father named her Konoha ("leaves on the trees") in the hopes that, as the leaves return fresh in the spring, she would always be able to pick herself back up and survive no matter what life blew her way. (That resilience is going to be tested in Karteria, though, because sure she remained strong and positive in her own world... but natural souls and other worlds is A Lot.) Konoha's actual best trait is her capacity for forgiveness and hope. Anyone who had experienced the society she has could easily become bitter, and yet Konoha continues to smile, to offer a hand, and to extend service even to those who might treat her poorly. She would contribute this to low intelligence or coincidence if asked, but very early on in life, she made a conscious decision for her parents' sake to be that way. To smile brightly, trust until given reason she couldn't, remain open-minded like she wished others would be, and to hope... that the world they wished for their daughter was possible.

What is your character's biggest ambition at their current canon point? To what lengths would they go to see it to fruition? Konoha's greatest ambition at her current canon point is to be wed. To confess her feelings to Gonta, a jinba stallion that has been working under her at the lumberyard, and to ask him to take her as his wife, bringing a strong man into the house, letting her parents stop worrying that their fast-becoming-old-maid daughter might never be able to find a husband, and then... having a family of her own. But... She's already decided that she can't have this. If she asked Gonta to stay in her village with her, she knows that he will, just to try and make her happy. But at the same time, she knows that he would be miserable, leaving behind the wilds and forcing himself to live among humans after all the horrible things they had done to him, his family, and their race. She can't do that to him, and she can't abandon her elderly parents to follow him to the mountains, and so... She is going to swallow her feelings down and stay quiet. She'll return to her usual ambitions. Work hard. Take care of her parents. Eat nice food every now and then. It will be fine.


Inventory:

(1) modified equine work harness
(1) carved wooden comb
(1) small belt knife
(1) bento box wrapped in a silk kerchief

Powers/Abilities: Konoha has absolutely no powers of either magical, supernatural, or technological nature. As a centaur though, she is physically much stronger than a human woman of comparative size to her top half would be, capable of lifting a man off his feet with one hand, or of carrying hundreds of pounds on her equine back. As a stockier, draft breed example of her species, she is stronger than she is fast, but is still far faster than a human. As negative consequences of her anatomy, however, she is not capable of laying down on her side for a long period of time and it is an exceedingly difficult and lengthy recovery should she suffer leg injuries. It is also implied that jinba are at least somewhat affected by the breeding seasons that rule the reproduction of their more fully equine cousins.

Samples: Here & Here (or Here, if prose is preferable to network.)

Goals: Though there's always the chance that it ends up not working, I enjoy bringing a character who is mostly "normal" to games, because I think it provides a POV not as commonly found in RP where many characters are from series in which they are main players in very dramatic adventures, events, romances, and crises. In her canon, Konoha fulfills a role that comforts and grounds the main characters, giving them direction and a safe, accepting person with which to be open and vulnerable. It's fun for me to supply that sort of character to other players who might want that sort of CR. Now, I know Konoha will spend at least the early days of the game freaking out just because the setting is so shockingly different from everything "normal" she has ever known or imagined, and I am interested in playing the complicated feelings she will have about her soul being messed with, as well as magic and tech existing in general. But once she gets settled and understands how things work, I would look forward to offering a comparatively mundane IC perspective on game happenings, as well as pursuing meaningful CR within the bounds of... whatever the game throws at us!

Soul Choice: Aves