App, ninja
What month and year is this application for?: December, 2007
Your character's name: Ayla
Your character's canon: Clan of the Cave Bear
What type of canon is it (Book series, film, etc.): Book
Your character's LJ: http://cavelion-totem.livejournal.com
Is your character living or dead at their time of entry?: Alive
Does your character have any pre-existing disabilities of a medical, physical, or psychiatric nature?: (paralyzed or missing limbs, AIDS, barren, schizophrenia, etc.) No.
Tell us about your character's background: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing your character's past and present. The future may be included, if relevant. Also be sure to include the point at which s/he is leaving canon)
As a child, Ayla lost her parents in an earthquake. The shelter they were in was swallowed by a chasm that opened, leaving the five year old on her own. Naked and starving, she wandered into cave lion territory and had to hide from the head male in a cave barely big enough to hold her. The lion clawed her leg, leaving four parallel scars on her thigh. When she finally emerged, she was dehydrated, infected, and feverish. Vultures were circling to pick her carcass when she was found by The Clan.
She was taken in by the medicine woman who nurtured her back to health and she lived with Iza, calling her 'mother'. Iza's brother Creb, the Clan's shaman was also part of the family group, as well as Iza's daughter, Uba. Despite being adopted, Ayla was always different, and not entirely accepted by some members of the Clan. Ayla is what the Clan calls the Others.
The Others are simply early homo sapiens sapiens, what would commonly be called Cro Magnon man. The Clan are part of the dwindling remains of Neanderthal man. These two groups shared the earth at the same time.
Ayla was raised by the Clan, and something was inherently different about her other than her appearance. Creb noticed it and struggled to make sense of it. Ayla did things often considered taboo, even as she struggled to fit in in a culture that expected her to be silent, unobtrusive, obedient and deferential.
She became The Woman Who Hunts, she became a Medicine Woman, despite not having the race memories of the Clan, and she became a mother at the age of eleven to an 'abomination'. She loved her son, Durc, and disobeyed every Clan law to keep him alive until the seventh day of his life, forcing the leader's hand so the child had to be accepted.
She was always despised by the leader's son, Broud, and when he became leader, there was another earthquake. He blamed the angry spirits on Ayla, finally taking a lifetime of revenge out on her. She was cursed with death...which was being forced out of the Clan, ignored by all the members. Having lost Creb and Iza, the protection of Brun, and her son, who was forcibly taken from her and given to her sister, Ayla took what supplies she needed. She recognized she wasn't dead, and wasn't going to lay down and succumb. She left the Clan, finally, to search out the Others on her own.
Your character's personality: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing the major aspects of your pup's personality. This is NOT the same as background information.)
Ayla is predominantly curious about the world around her. She is less concerned with rules and taboos than exploring her own capabilities. This curiosity is what drives her to apply herself to learn everything she can. She watched the men practicing to hunt with a sling and she takes up a discarded weapon and practices in secret until she is better than any of the hunters. The curiosity extends to the spirit realm and she asks questions until the people around her become uncomfortable because the questions she asks are intuitive, deep, and unanswerable. The spirit world is a mystery, but her curiosity drives her to understand it on a practical level.
The drive to succeed leads to her logical and inventive ways. When presented with a problem, she is capable of making connections and leaps in logic to solve her problems. In the Clan, this is often misunderstood and frowned upon, but her independence isn't something she can, or even tries, to hide (most of the time). Because she is different from everyone she is surrounded by, Ayla has trouble balancing her independence and curiosity with the strict rules of her society. To her, most rules seem arbitrary, and she is proven right when Broud casts all blame for the Clan's troubles on her. Broud's father pays her the ultimate compliment when he tells Broud that Ayla should have been the son of his mate. This speaks volumes about how she embodies the qualities that are admirable in men in their culture, but are taboo for women.
Because of the patriarchal culture she was raised in, she is deferential to men despite her independent streak. This acculturation comes out most obviously as seating herself at their feet and waiting to be acknowledged, averting eye contact, and stooping to not tower over them. Encountering men who are taller than her will be one of many things that will astound her. However, she believes women are more powerful, more spiritual, and more capable than most men. She thinks of it in terms of the cave lions she saw when she was a child, alone in the wild. The lionesses did the hunting, they had the babies, they were the pride. The male was only useful for procreation and destruction.
But those qualities are what drives life, and Ayla is so much more. She is intuitive and loving, fiercely protective of those she loves, and she is drawn to people. At first she may be wary, but once she finds people non-threatening, she is willing to give everything of herself to the bonds of friendship.
Why do you want to play this character?: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing your character's general ability to contribute to the fictional community of Tabula Rasa.)
I have wanted to play Ayla for so long, but I've never been able to decide when to pull her from in canon, and frankly, I've been nervous about playing a character who is the sole member of her canon. However, she is compelling, even after a year of consideration and I think I'm ready to take on the challenge. I want to play a character who will offer the opportunity for long term development.
Ayla is primitive, and much of the island will be wholly unfamiliar, but the people look like her, so that will be a base of comfort for her. She won't be able to speak, much, and in no language anyone will know, although she can communicate in the language of the clan. There are certain pups on the island now who weren't here before who could facilitate the learning of English;Daniel Jackson and Lucifer, for example, as well as the Doctor, and maybe the Master (although helping a primitive woman likely won't rank high on his list of things to do). Until she does, the challenge of writing strictly body language is something I feel I'm ready for. I've been attempting to integrate the style in my other pup's tags-how Jack moves, Greggo's expressions, etc. It helps that Auel is very clear in her book about the movements and subtle nuances of the Clan's language.
As far as function on the island, she can work with people like Maturin and Abby who are cataloging the plant life. She could hunt for the kitchen, although cooking in it would be beyond her. I see the majority of her integration being developmental and I want to commit to her. I have no plans for an arc that will end and precipitate dropping her. I want her for a long time and I want her to grow and progress, integrating into this society, which will require time, interaction, and dedication.
On a couple final notes, I think she'd be a unique addition to the island population. A pup who is from the paleolithic era would be a true challenge, yet fun for me to play and interesting for other pups to play off of. Also, in the beginning, her tags will be heavily narrative until she gets to know and trust people, and that aspect of writing is something I'm excited to explore.
Your character's initial personal inventory:
1 skin wrap
1 totem pouch
2 fur wraps
1 medicine bag made of the skin of one whole otter, filled with various pouches and packets of healing herbs and compounds, including one holy pouch containing a portion of a hallucinogenic root.
1 leather sling
2 pairs of foot coverings
Leggings
Mittens
Hood made of wolverine fur
Food:
Pemmican
Maple sugar
Nuts
Dried fruit
Ground grains
Dried meat and fish
Vegetables
Cups and bowls
Water bag
Stone tools-blades and flakes
Durc's infant wrap
Hide shelter
1 large basket, carried on her back, containing all her items
Your character's entrance post: (This may be altered once you actually post your pup in, but our primary goal here is to ensure you have put a modicum of thought into how you will go about portraying your pup.)
Ayla passed the broken ridge and kept walking until dark. She didn't know where she was going, and she was alone. Creb and Iza, both dead. Her son, her Durc, his plaintive cries for her haunted her dreaming. More than once in her travels toward the rising sun her weak eyes poured hot tears that cooled fast before she wiped them away.
She followed the river at an easy pace. She was dead, and there was no reason to hurry. She had survived in her cave in the coldest of winter and she'd prepared when she left the Clan, taking her furs. When she woke up one morning to find snow and the crisp cold that scoured the air clean, it simply meant her pack was lighter. Dressed in her leggings and furs, her hood around her face, she pushed on. Iza had told her to find The Others. To find her people. That thought guided her, and it made her stomach twist and lurch. Find the Others, but what would she do when she found them? It had been eleven springs that she had lived with the Clan, sixteen since she was born to a people she had no memory of.
Her thoughts consumed her as she made her way across the steppe until it changed into stands of trees, then thicker forest. She kept the river in sight, or at least in earshot, even when she would hunt. Fires proved problematic, and she had no aurochs horn in which to keep an ember alive, so every time she stopped it was her first priority. Fire, then shelter, then food.
The snow grew deeper and the temperature kept dropping. The next morning she awoke and the sun was different. Clearer. Mountains rose up nearer than before. She ate a hasty meal and longed for time to make tea, but when she emerged from her shelter, she was amazed.
There were mammoth!
Huge beasts, the long fur hanging from their hides, they gave off the unmistakable musky scent without any taint of panic. She had no hope of bringing one down herself, but she followed the herd anyway, gathering tufts of gamey fur they shed as they passed trees and bushes. One day of the task and she'd forgotten about the river, about the land of the rising sun, about her journey. If she was to survive the bitter cold, she would need the added warmth.
She tracked the herd, careful to keep her scent off the wind. She spooked a red deer with a massive rack of antlers and once thought she saw a large cat with teeth like spears. The land here was different, along with the plants. Such things she'd never seen, or had only been told of. Plants that stayed green through the snow. Trees that towered over her. Trees that kept the snow from the forest floor for a while, until they became more sparse and opened up to a trail.
Ayla spotted a rabbit and brought it down with a single stone from her sling. As she went to retrieve it, she noted that the area was almost like a trail. Cleared by the heavy passage of many large animals, surely. She followed it, knowing that she was going the wrong direction by the position of the sun shining low in the sky through the steely clouds. The air smelled of snow and smoke, and it was the latter that drew her along, creeping ever closer. She hunkered lower, stalking something she couldn't yet see, but could smell. Slowly, steadily, she thought she couldn't be so lucky as to have found the Others already. Only days from the Clan? It couldn't be possible. More likely that she would come upon another Clan and they might know her from the Clan Gathering. She might be able to gain one night in a warm cave. One night around a true fire. She might find someone who would talk to her.
Ayla crept closer.
[See this post in Slated for more information on Ayla]
(I'll do as many players do and create a detailed 'interacting with Ayla section on her wiki)
Your character's name: Ayla
Your character's canon: Clan of the Cave Bear
What type of canon is it (Book series, film, etc.): Book
Your character's LJ: http://cavelion-totem.livejournal.com
Is your character living or dead at their time of entry?: Alive
Does your character have any pre-existing disabilities of a medical, physical, or psychiatric nature?: (paralyzed or missing limbs, AIDS, barren, schizophrenia, etc.) No.
Tell us about your character's background: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing your character's past and present. The future may be included, if relevant. Also be sure to include the point at which s/he is leaving canon)
As a child, Ayla lost her parents in an earthquake. The shelter they were in was swallowed by a chasm that opened, leaving the five year old on her own. Naked and starving, she wandered into cave lion territory and had to hide from the head male in a cave barely big enough to hold her. The lion clawed her leg, leaving four parallel scars on her thigh. When she finally emerged, she was dehydrated, infected, and feverish. Vultures were circling to pick her carcass when she was found by The Clan.
She was taken in by the medicine woman who nurtured her back to health and she lived with Iza, calling her 'mother'. Iza's brother Creb, the Clan's shaman was also part of the family group, as well as Iza's daughter, Uba. Despite being adopted, Ayla was always different, and not entirely accepted by some members of the Clan. Ayla is what the Clan calls the Others.
The Others are simply early homo sapiens sapiens, what would commonly be called Cro Magnon man. The Clan are part of the dwindling remains of Neanderthal man. These two groups shared the earth at the same time.
Ayla was raised by the Clan, and something was inherently different about her other than her appearance. Creb noticed it and struggled to make sense of it. Ayla did things often considered taboo, even as she struggled to fit in in a culture that expected her to be silent, unobtrusive, obedient and deferential.
She became The Woman Who Hunts, she became a Medicine Woman, despite not having the race memories of the Clan, and she became a mother at the age of eleven to an 'abomination'. She loved her son, Durc, and disobeyed every Clan law to keep him alive until the seventh day of his life, forcing the leader's hand so the child had to be accepted.
She was always despised by the leader's son, Broud, and when he became leader, there was another earthquake. He blamed the angry spirits on Ayla, finally taking a lifetime of revenge out on her. She was cursed with death...which was being forced out of the Clan, ignored by all the members. Having lost Creb and Iza, the protection of Brun, and her son, who was forcibly taken from her and given to her sister, Ayla took what supplies she needed. She recognized she wasn't dead, and wasn't going to lay down and succumb. She left the Clan, finally, to search out the Others on her own.
Your character's personality: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing the major aspects of your pup's personality. This is NOT the same as background information.)
Ayla is predominantly curious about the world around her. She is less concerned with rules and taboos than exploring her own capabilities. This curiosity is what drives her to apply herself to learn everything she can. She watched the men practicing to hunt with a sling and she takes up a discarded weapon and practices in secret until she is better than any of the hunters. The curiosity extends to the spirit realm and she asks questions until the people around her become uncomfortable because the questions she asks are intuitive, deep, and unanswerable. The spirit world is a mystery, but her curiosity drives her to understand it on a practical level.
The drive to succeed leads to her logical and inventive ways. When presented with a problem, she is capable of making connections and leaps in logic to solve her problems. In the Clan, this is often misunderstood and frowned upon, but her independence isn't something she can, or even tries, to hide (most of the time). Because she is different from everyone she is surrounded by, Ayla has trouble balancing her independence and curiosity with the strict rules of her society. To her, most rules seem arbitrary, and she is proven right when Broud casts all blame for the Clan's troubles on her. Broud's father pays her the ultimate compliment when he tells Broud that Ayla should have been the son of his mate. This speaks volumes about how she embodies the qualities that are admirable in men in their culture, but are taboo for women.
Because of the patriarchal culture she was raised in, she is deferential to men despite her independent streak. This acculturation comes out most obviously as seating herself at their feet and waiting to be acknowledged, averting eye contact, and stooping to not tower over them. Encountering men who are taller than her will be one of many things that will astound her. However, she believes women are more powerful, more spiritual, and more capable than most men. She thinks of it in terms of the cave lions she saw when she was a child, alone in the wild. The lionesses did the hunting, they had the babies, they were the pride. The male was only useful for procreation and destruction.
But those qualities are what drives life, and Ayla is so much more. She is intuitive and loving, fiercely protective of those she loves, and she is drawn to people. At first she may be wary, but once she finds people non-threatening, she is willing to give everything of herself to the bonds of friendship.
Why do you want to play this character?: (This should be between 150 and 400 words detailing your character's general ability to contribute to the fictional community of Tabula Rasa.)
I have wanted to play Ayla for so long, but I've never been able to decide when to pull her from in canon, and frankly, I've been nervous about playing a character who is the sole member of her canon. However, she is compelling, even after a year of consideration and I think I'm ready to take on the challenge. I want to play a character who will offer the opportunity for long term development.
Ayla is primitive, and much of the island will be wholly unfamiliar, but the people look like her, so that will be a base of comfort for her. She won't be able to speak, much, and in no language anyone will know, although she can communicate in the language of the clan. There are certain pups on the island now who weren't here before who could facilitate the learning of English;Daniel Jackson and Lucifer, for example, as well as the Doctor, and maybe the Master (although helping a primitive woman likely won't rank high on his list of things to do). Until she does, the challenge of writing strictly body language is something I feel I'm ready for. I've been attempting to integrate the style in my other pup's tags-how Jack moves, Greggo's expressions, etc. It helps that Auel is very clear in her book about the movements and subtle nuances of the Clan's language.
As far as function on the island, she can work with people like Maturin and Abby who are cataloging the plant life. She could hunt for the kitchen, although cooking in it would be beyond her. I see the majority of her integration being developmental and I want to commit to her. I have no plans for an arc that will end and precipitate dropping her. I want her for a long time and I want her to grow and progress, integrating into this society, which will require time, interaction, and dedication.
On a couple final notes, I think she'd be a unique addition to the island population. A pup who is from the paleolithic era would be a true challenge, yet fun for me to play and interesting for other pups to play off of. Also, in the beginning, her tags will be heavily narrative until she gets to know and trust people, and that aspect of writing is something I'm excited to explore.
Your character's initial personal inventory:
1 skin wrap
1 totem pouch
2 fur wraps
1 medicine bag made of the skin of one whole otter, filled with various pouches and packets of healing herbs and compounds, including one holy pouch containing a portion of a hallucinogenic root.
1 leather sling
2 pairs of foot coverings
Leggings
Mittens
Hood made of wolverine fur
Food:
Pemmican
Maple sugar
Nuts
Dried fruit
Ground grains
Dried meat and fish
Vegetables
Cups and bowls
Water bag
Stone tools-blades and flakes
Durc's infant wrap
Hide shelter
1 large basket, carried on her back, containing all her items
Your character's entrance post: (This may be altered once you actually post your pup in, but our primary goal here is to ensure you have put a modicum of thought into how you will go about portraying your pup.)
Ayla passed the broken ridge and kept walking until dark. She didn't know where she was going, and she was alone. Creb and Iza, both dead. Her son, her Durc, his plaintive cries for her haunted her dreaming. More than once in her travels toward the rising sun her weak eyes poured hot tears that cooled fast before she wiped them away.
She followed the river at an easy pace. She was dead, and there was no reason to hurry. She had survived in her cave in the coldest of winter and she'd prepared when she left the Clan, taking her furs. When she woke up one morning to find snow and the crisp cold that scoured the air clean, it simply meant her pack was lighter. Dressed in her leggings and furs, her hood around her face, she pushed on. Iza had told her to find The Others. To find her people. That thought guided her, and it made her stomach twist and lurch. Find the Others, but what would she do when she found them? It had been eleven springs that she had lived with the Clan, sixteen since she was born to a people she had no memory of.
Her thoughts consumed her as she made her way across the steppe until it changed into stands of trees, then thicker forest. She kept the river in sight, or at least in earshot, even when she would hunt. Fires proved problematic, and she had no aurochs horn in which to keep an ember alive, so every time she stopped it was her first priority. Fire, then shelter, then food.
The snow grew deeper and the temperature kept dropping. The next morning she awoke and the sun was different. Clearer. Mountains rose up nearer than before. She ate a hasty meal and longed for time to make tea, but when she emerged from her shelter, she was amazed.
There were mammoth!
Huge beasts, the long fur hanging from their hides, they gave off the unmistakable musky scent without any taint of panic. She had no hope of bringing one down herself, but she followed the herd anyway, gathering tufts of gamey fur they shed as they passed trees and bushes. One day of the task and she'd forgotten about the river, about the land of the rising sun, about her journey. If she was to survive the bitter cold, she would need the added warmth.
She tracked the herd, careful to keep her scent off the wind. She spooked a red deer with a massive rack of antlers and once thought she saw a large cat with teeth like spears. The land here was different, along with the plants. Such things she'd never seen, or had only been told of. Plants that stayed green through the snow. Trees that towered over her. Trees that kept the snow from the forest floor for a while, until they became more sparse and opened up to a trail.
Ayla spotted a rabbit and brought it down with a single stone from her sling. As she went to retrieve it, she noted that the area was almost like a trail. Cleared by the heavy passage of many large animals, surely. She followed it, knowing that she was going the wrong direction by the position of the sun shining low in the sky through the steely clouds. The air smelled of snow and smoke, and it was the latter that drew her along, creeping ever closer. She hunkered lower, stalking something she couldn't yet see, but could smell. Slowly, steadily, she thought she couldn't be so lucky as to have found the Others already. Only days from the Clan? It couldn't be possible. More likely that she would come upon another Clan and they might know her from the Clan Gathering. She might be able to gain one night in a warm cave. One night around a true fire. She might find someone who would talk to her.
Ayla crept closer.
[See this post in Slated for more information on Ayla]
(I'll do as many players do and create a detailed 'interacting with Ayla section on her wiki)