app for sirenspull!
Player Information
Name: Liz
Age: 22
AIM SN: the p0rn nun
email: silkenaracna at gmail dot com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? yep!
Currrently Played Characters: Carrie/Robin/girlyboywonder
Conditional: Activity Check Link: n/a
Conditional: Official Reserve Link: Here!
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Dragonlance: The Black Wing
Canon Format: book
Character's Name: Khisanth, "Onyx"
Character's Age: ~200
Conditional: If your character is 13 years of age or under, please clarify how they will be played. n/a
What form will your character's NV take? smartphone! The same thing she uses at capeandcowl, really.
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Aside from being a generally competent fighter (only as a dragon! she's totally balls at fighting as a human), Khisanth has two main abilities. One is the art of qhen, which is a mental discipline more than a magical skill. Think of it as zen. At its most simple, it's taught her to calm herself, reason her way out of anger, and behave logically - far more logically than most greedy, rage-driven dragons. It also allows her to understand the general Nature of Things, and so shapechange into any animal she sees. The change is instant, but it's not an exact copy. Just as she turns into her version of a human every time, she turns into her version of a badger every time.
The second power is more varied, and comes naturally to all dragons. It's never concretely defined, but it seems to be a manifestation of will. If a dragon pictures its immediate area cloaked in darkness, that will happen. If a dragon pictures a particular treasure of theirs suddenly smaller and easier to carry, it will happen. It requires concentration, but no spell components or incantations-though the "language of magic" comes naturally to dragons, and she understands all spoken spells (in her world). For sake of not going insane or being too godmody, I've compiled a list of every example of magic Khisanth displays in canon, and I'll keep her use of it limited or related to these.
-Extinguish light
-Create fog
-Create flame at fingertips, fireball with enough concentration
-Shrink/grow objects
-Teleport short distances if she can envision the area
-Telepathically nudge heavy objects
-Create swirling lights/colors to blind
-Rain giant icicles from the sky
-Form a bubble shield
-Hasten movement
-Create illusions- including those for other senses, including smell.
-Mimic any voice perfectly
-Create "recordings" to be played back from animals or inanimate objects
-Blood mingling (allow her to see into the heart of someone else, and vice versa)
-Form invisible walls
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them? n/a
Weapons: Just a dinky little dagger she keeps in her boot sometimes.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History: Dragons ruled, once. They filled the sky, lorded their power over lesser beings, and generally had exactly everything they ever could have wanted. It was an unfortunate time to be a human. It was either an evil dragon devouring your children or a good dragon doing battle with an evil dragon and crushing your barn. This went on for a tiresomely long time, until the tension between evil and good dragons escalated into a full-out war. Famous heroes were born, famous weapons were forged, and the patron goddess of the evil dragons struck a deal with the Forces of Good. In exchange for her life, she would be sealed into the Abyss, and all of her children sent into a deep sleep beneath the earth. It was foretold that they would wake again when she'd gathered her forces for another strike at that goody two-shoes Goodness, and so, predictably, this was what the black dragon Khisanth assumed was happening when she awoke. Imagine her dismay to discover it was two measly nymphids, waking her with some sob story about the last female of their species being captured and held captive by humans, instead of her Queen, calling her to battle.
Kadagan and Joad were two of the last three remaining nymphids on Krynn. The third one, Dela, Kadagan's fiance and Joad's daughter, had recently been captured by humans. After failing to get her back themselves, the two decided to enlist the help of a third party. As Kadagan put it to Khisanth, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." There was really no more logical a choice for an ally for two two-foot-tall fairy-like creatures than a 30-foot dragon, even if that dragon had recently (in her memory) been a hatchling, and woken suddenly to find herself full-grown and not sure what to do with her sudden strength and power. Khisanth initially refused to help them, but of course the nymphids had known she wouldn't lend assistance for free. They offered to teach her qhen, the mental discipline that would allow her to shapechange. Greed being the number one motivator of black dragons like Khisanth, she promptly agreed. "Anger will defeat thee in battle as well as in life," were lessons that were often taught to her, and grudgingly taken to heart. Joad took her once, after she'd mastered shapechanging, to a quiet grove filled with fireflies. The elderly nymphid fondly explained that these little creatures collected energy, expending it each night to light the darkness for others. It was a life well spent, he said. Khisanth didn't understand, but for the first time was content to wait for experience to catch up and provide comprehension.
It took a month or so for Khisanth to learn to fly, fight, and control herself with the use of qhen well enough to satisfy the nymphids. They still weren't entirely convinced that she was well trained enough to recapture Dela from the humans, especially after a greedy display of destruction in front of Kadagan of the massacre of a band of ogres, but it came to their attention that Dela was being relocated. The time for the rescue mission was now or never. Khisanth had made progress from when the two nymphids had found her, though. Where as she was once impulsive, brash, and entirely self-serving, she was now slightly less impulsive and brash, only mostly self-serving, and occasionally able to control her rage and greed through the calming techniques of qhen. And so, lessons in hand, Khisanth took the shape of a human and the name "Onyx", just outside the town that held the imprisoned nymphid. After a short while spent learning the strange rules and customs of her new shape (you must wear clothes, eat with utensils and not your face, and shaking your breasts at males will almost always get you what you want), Onyx was hired by a traveling merchant, Led, to be part of his mercenary guard. She impressed the man with her use of magic, as magic in the world was currently all but unheard of. She, in turn, was enchanted by his smooth manners and not-totally-unpleasant face. Eager to fully experience the human form, and utterly overwhelmed by the tangle of emotions that didn't usually effect her as a dragon, Onyx allowed herself to be seduced by him- both figuratively and literally.
After confirming that Dela was indeed the precious cargo Led was traveling with, Onyx knew she ought to free the nymphid right then. But that would mean killing Led, to whom she'd grown a little attached. Fortunately, an unexpected battle took the choice out of her hands. She was still looking for a way to recover Dela without having to betray Led when the mercenary group encountered a band of knights. When the knights demanded to see what Led was shipping and he refused, a fight broke out. In the course of it, the wagon housing Dela was broken open, and the nymphid was killed. Onyx and Led managed to win, but just as the battle was winding down, Onyx spotted a young knight dragging himself from the carnage. She ran after him, still high on killing and glad for the chance to finish off the group. Of course, casting spells at a group of knights from behind an able fighter is one thing, taking on a knight on your unarmed lonesome was another. The knight promptly punched her out and took off. When Onyx came to, it was to find herself with a broken nose and abandoned by Led. He and the rest of the group had assumed her dead and taken off without her. She was, as you might guess, a little peeved. It was then that she encountered Kadagan, who informed her calmly that Joad had died, he would shortly follow, and he was sorry she hadn't performed better. She insisted that she'd done all she could to rescue Dela, and Kadagan merely countered with a sad, "Did you?" ("Didst thee", really, but who's counting) before expiring himself. Three out of season fireflies floated off through the evening.
Once again in the shape of a dragon, Khisanth wasted no time in tracking Led's band down. She killed all of them but Led in one fell swoop, breathing acid down on them as they slept from the cover of darkness. One ogre managed to survive, whom Khisanth took great pleasure in slowly dismembering for Led's benefit. When she finally turned on him, she took just a little time to turn back into a human and mock him. She wanted him to understand why he was being killed, after all. His cowering fear was instantly replaced by charm to see that hot little number he'd tapped and ditched suddenly naked in front of him, and it almost looked like he might convince her to join with him as a dragon. Right up until she changed back and bit his face off, of course. Khisanth decided then that she'd been human for the last time, and would never again let herself be manipulated by a human or the ridiculous emotions that went with being one.
Suddenly freed of both lessons and obligations, Khisanth promptly settled down in what her instincts told her was the best place to make a lair: a dingy, bleak swamp. She lived happily enough, killing wildlife some days and turning into it other days, until she began to feel watched. The feelings built until one day a black dragon showed. It dive-bombed her lair, set a tree dissolving with acid, and took off again. Finding that to be a little rude, Khisanth promptly tracked him down to what she thought was his lair - only to find an elderly black dragon, blinking and perplexed at this intrusion. Pteros, as he introduced himself, was a victim of this mysterious dragon as well. Once it was established that neither bore the other animosity, Khisanth and Pteros got to talking. They agreed to coexist. Pteros would tell Khisanth stories of the glorious war that had gotten them all sent away, and teach her magic, while Khisanth would train Pteros and get his flabby old self back in shape. It was mutually beneficial, right up until the two dragons began to examine the bauble that the nymphids had left with Khisanth. Called the maynus, it seemed to be nothing more than wish-granting magic, and that was all Khisanth wanted out of it. But when Pteros gave it the poorly-worded command "take us home", it brought the two of them to a different plane. The plane of lightning, from which it, a sentient being, had originated. It offers to send them home in exchange for their having freed it, but all Khisanth could do was uncomprehendingly demand her maynus returned to her, and she cost them the chance to return when the maynus saw an old enemy and wandered off to do battle.
Unfortunately, the winner of the battle was none too friendly. A creature named Fraz approached the two dragons, claiming to be the strongest thing on the plane, and demanded that they do battle for it. They had little choice but to agree or be killed, so it turned them into feathery snakes and sent them after a giant. It cost Khisanth a wing and permanent damage, but she saw through Fraz's illusion before long. Fraz seemed ready to play more games with her, until a voice neither she nor Pteros could hear seemed to command it to send the two of them back. Fraz obliged, but mischievously transported them directly into the middle of Talon's lair. Khisanth quickly outlined a plan for the two of them to take him down, involving Pteros disappearing for a sneak attack from behind - only to discover Talon had company. Pteros never upheld his part of the plan and attacked, leaving Khisanth to fight Talon alone. The second, unnamed dragon went to attack Pteros, while Khisanth managed to kill Talon. Pteros managed to kill his dragon, but crashed to the ground shortly after. Finding him lethally wounded, and angry at having been betrayed by his cowardice, Khisanth finished him off.
Having previously discussed the slowly growing armies of the Dark Queen, Khisanth decided after his death to join one. The idea that dragons in the army took riders was absolutely unconceivable to her. However, the Highlord Maldeev allowed to join, despite refusing to carry a human, solely because of her impressive skills and ability. She outshone every other dragon in the wing, although she was kept at the lowest rank because of her refusal. Despite that, she becomes fast friends with the Highlord's dragon, Jahet. Two years are spent in the service Black Wing until Khisanth begins to suspect treachery from the second ranked dragon, Khoal. There had been an outpost of Solamnic knights nearby, the champion of Good with which the Queen's armies, by default, were in opposition. Khoal repeatedly reported that their numbers were paltry and hardly worth bothering with, right up until an entire regiment marched to launch a surprise attack on the Wing. Khisanth and Jahnet were trapped by unknown magic in their lairs and unable to see what the klaxons were sounding for, until Khisanth managed to free them with her magic. Changing into a human, she realized that Khoal and the other two dragons were all in on the treachery, betraying their comrades in exchange for choice pieces of Solamnic land. She managed to trick two of the traitor dragons into leaving the battlefield. Khoal, though, had to be fought and killed. Khisanth managed to do this, and then turned her attention on the invading knights.
She squared off against their leader, ready to pick him apart or melt him with acid - right up until she recognized him. Sir Tate, this opposing general, was unmistakably that young knight that had punched her out all those years ago. Before she got a chance to rip him apart for having wounded her pride so sorely so long ago, he was rescued and pulled away by his subordinates. The armies parted ways, and Khisanth began to understand why it was humans and not dragons that currently ruled the world. Enraged that three dragons had so easily been turned against their own kind, she sent a general demand to know why up gods-wards. Strangely enough, a god answered. It was the Dark Queen herself that pulled Khisanth into the Abyss for an audience, and explained that the betrayal had been in her plans all along. By thwarting the scheme and killing Khoal, Khisanth had disobeyed the god's wishes. She was sent back to the material plane with a warning and an order: don't screw up again, and take a human rider. The Queen added that Khisanth would find her rider in an unlikely place, and know him when she saw him.
It wasn't long before the Black Wing had mounted their counterattack. The knights were ready with solid defenses and griffins to fight against the dragons, though. Maldeev asked Khisanth to fly wing to him and Jahet; an unexpected honor. Khisanth accepted, and just as the three of them were closing on Tate and his griffin, Jahet unexpectedly seized up, died, and fell out of the air. Khisanth snatched Maldeev up before he could fall as well, then finally got her chance to end her feud with Tate. She didn't hesitate to send a claw through his brain, but then immediately wondered if it hadn't been a mistake. Glancing at Maldeev, who, by the death of Jahet, would become her rider, she wondered if she hadn't killed the wrong human. After the battle she returned for Jahet's corpse, only to find obvious signs of death by magic.
During the ceremony to bond the two of them, Khisanth asked Maldeev to participate in a ritual that Pteros had shown her. Bloodmingling was an old dragon tradition, wherein both parties would clearly see the thoughts and motivations of the other for an instant. Pteros had told her never to trust anyone she hadn't bloodmingled with. Maldeev agreed, and Khisanth discovered that it had been he that had arranged Jahet's murder. She knew immediately that he was hateful, afraid of anything more powerful than he, and basically a despicable person not at all to be trusted. And so she didn't. She worked carefully with him, right up until the day that he asked a new dragon, unexpectedly, to fly wing to him and Khisanth. Remembering this as the exact scene that had lead to Jahet's death, Khisanth snapped and clawed his face off. She was again pulled to the Abyss for an audience with the Queen, and again berated for screwing up her plans. But she would be given one more chance, and so she was sent into boredom and exile to guard a staff. The book, a prequel, ends with her about to encounter the heroes of the original book - an encounter that goes none too well for her.
Point in Canon: After Tate's surprise attack, before the Black Wing's return assault. This is just after she's realized Khoal, Neetra, and Dnestr's betrayals, killed them and their riders, and begun to train for the return attack. She's been spirited away to meet the Dark Queen in the Abyss, and seen the arrival of the draconian shocktroops to the Black Wing. The only thing she hasn't done is get to finally kill that stupid Tate guy. (Or see Jahet die, or become the Highlord's mount in her stead.)
Conditional: Brief summary of previous RP history: I'll be taking Khisanth from capeandcowl. She was, as one might expect, a little bewildered to suddenly end up in a modern setting. She just barely figured out how to work the communicator, and it took her a good long while to realize that she might need somewhere to sleep besides the benches in Central Park. This was where Booga came in, the mutant kangaroo with the amazing ability to put up with all of her bitchiness. He offered to let her sleep in his workshop/warehouse, supplied her with a large-size communicator (for when she was a dragon), and took her drinking. That made him pretty okay in her book. Enough so that when he said they were friends, she decided to agree (after a quick bloodmingle to make sure he wasn't about to betray her or anything. Which, coincidentally, let him know that she was a dragon).
Booga wasn't the only strong attachment she formed in the City, though. Zevran, the elf, was another. He was from a world similar to hers (although lacking in sentient dragons, which seemed a shame to Khisanth), and after a bumpy start, the two began to hesitantly get along. Zevran quickly discovered that Onyx and Khisanth were the same creature, and the conditions under which Khisanth agreed not to kill him to ensure silence were that he teach her to be more human. It was a pretty awful disguise at first, as she'd only spent two days as a human before her arrival in the City. These lessons were everything from "how not to smile like you're about to eat someone" to "figuring out how to work a DVD player and enjoy movies". It was an unlikely bond that slowly graduated from threat-of-death to actual friendship. Right until the goddess Aphrodite cursed Khisanth to fall in love with him for a while, that was. The process was slow enough to seem natural, and had both of them convinced she actually did love him - right up until the curse suddenly wore off. Embarrassed that she'd expressed such a human emotion, and ashamed that she had actually asked Zevran to fly with her (an honor she'd so far granted no one in her canon), Khisanth immediately cut off all ties with Zevran, and the only reason she didn't kill him outright was because he hadn't taken advantage of her false feelings and used them against her. She would be likely to kill him if forced to interact with him again.
But of course, although she herself had goaded Aphrodite into casting the spell, she took no personal responsibility for this event. How could she? It was entirely Aphrodite's fault, and so Khisanth immediately challenged her to a fight. This fight was interrupted by the City's other resident dragon, the great, green Ysera. Although green dragons are just as evil as blacks in Khisanth's world, Khisanth quickly learned that this wasn't quite the case with Ysera. The giant, older dragon demanded peace and cooperation from Khisanth, who was willing to give it only because she'd never seen a dragon so enormous before, and she's very willing to cooperate with a creature that could so easily kill her. These "peace lessons" haven't had a chance to develop into anything particularly meaningful or lasting yet for Khisanth, and she'll be all too happy to disregard them in the Port.
Another strong bond she formed was to James Bond. Although only Booga and Zevran know Khisanth's real name, James is one of the few (along with Aphrodite and Ysera) to know that she's a dragon. It was James that convinced Khisanth that not all humans are exactly like Led, who would sleep with her and then immediately abandon her. Sex, she's discovered, is just as pleasant a pastime as she'd originally thought- but doesn't have to end in betrayal and subsequently eating your lover. Although with James acting so similarly to how Khisanth remembered Led, it took an attempt on his life to come to that conclusion. She was so ready to see betrayal in all of his actions, that an unfortunately-timed attempted mugging had her immediately assuming he was behind it, and would have to be killed. It was lucky that James's in-City power is durability. By the time she realized that knocking him into a building hadn't actually killed him, she'd calmed down enough to decide that maybe it had been a coincidence after all. She then began to appreciate that even after her attempt to kill her, James was still willing to take her to expensive dinners and sleep with her. She grew to be fond enough of him to consider him an almost-friend, to the point that she would consider going out of her way to (unsuccessfully) cheer him up after he'd screwed up on his body guarding job and the CIty's Mayor had been killed.
Essentially, being in the City has taught Khisanth a lot about human nature. She's realized that to some people, sex carries meaning, and one-night-stands are less than desirable. (Thank you, Dick Grayson.) She's learned that you can't sleep with someone's ex without making them uncomfortable. (There's Harley and the Joker to thank for that lesson.) She's learned that some people are eager for friendship (Booga and Jade Harley), but not very many are deserving of it (sorry, Jade). And most amusingly, she's learned that while life in the City isn't quite as exciting as life in the middle of a war, you can get involved with forces that might usually be your enemy at home and invent your own excitement and intrigue. It doesn't matter very much who is fighting for what- she's a valuable asset to any side, and her temporary loyalty can be awarded to the most amusing for great personal profits.
And, of course, she's very good at working a DVD player by now.
Character Personality: Black dragons, on the whole, are evil creatures. They're unpredictable and unreliable, driven by greed, self-aggrandizement, and self-preservation, in that order, and Khisanth is certainly no exception to the generalization. They're your typical treasure-hoarding evil dragon, straight out of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Intelligent enough to mock humans, cruel enough to do it right before killing them. And, again, Khisanth fits the bill. She's petty, she's easily offended, she has a childish and insistent sense of retribution and revenge, and she's impossibly vain. These are, again, traits common to all black dragons.
But Khisanth also manages to be a little different. She spent a good part of her limited life in the company of two undeniably good creatures. Kadagan and Joad taught Khisanth something that no black dragon ever learns: they taught her patience. With patience came the ability to see past useless rage and petty greed. Khisanth can even rise above evil intentions and mindless cruelty, if she sees fit to. The problem is that she rarely does see fit to. Still, the possibility for it remains, and every time that she fails to act thoughtfully or responsibly, she finds yet another one-up on her fellow dragons. She recognizes her failures as such, and can learn from them.
In addition to this unusual capacity for rationality, she's seen more worlds than most dragons can claim to have, through her shapechanging. She understands, albeit begrudgingly, a human's perspective. She's been human, she's felt the sweep of emotions that goes with the change. And because that sweep of emotion got her betrayed, she's far more guarded against ever letting herself be carried away by them again. But she understands her capacity to feel them, and is far more comprehending of the sensation than any other dragon would be. It should also be noted that when she changes, her entire mentality makes a subtle shift. If she takes the shape of a small, nervous animal, she'll find herself furtive and darting far more often. As an aggressive animal, she's more likely to attack, and will be fighting urges to do so. And so, as a human, she's more emotional. The change is a subtle one, but it builds. The longer she spends as a human, the less she acts like a dragon. She doesn't notice this change until she's a dragon again, and can look back on her own actions and decisions with a clearer mind. It took Khisanth just two days as a human to begin envisioning teaming up with Led to conquer the world with him- visions she looked back on with disgust and derision once she was a dragon again. And so while she's more likely to guard against the rapid swing of emotions she experiences as a human, they do start to build for her. It stands to reason that if she spent any more time as a human, she could be swept away entirely by the unfamiliar emotions she experiences.
Once or twice in her life, Khisanth has even been victim to feelings of duty, respect, and even rarer - pity. These are also foreign to the nature of a black dragon, but Khisanth has formed stronger relationships than dragons tend to. Solitary creatures by nature, Khisanth has defied these inclinations often enough to form another rarity: friends. In Pteros, Khisanth found a dragon she could look up to. He was old, wise, and knowledgeable. And, yes, he was a coward, and contemptuous for that, but she still felt enough gratitude (and pity) for him to forgive him his cowardice and put him out of his misery in the end. In Jahet, Khisanth found something even more valuable. The other female provided her with an equal. Khisanth respected Jahet, even going so far as to seek her body to give it a proper burial after Jahet had been killed. Jahet had been the only dragon Khisanth had ever met that hadn't betrayed her, and for that Khisanth really, truly, and unexpectedly liked her.
So, while Khisanth easily succumbs to the natural self-serving, and violent inclinations common to all black dragons, she's also capable of rising above them. She can see past her own greed and desires now and then, and she can even go so far as to have relationships resembling those humans are more familiar with.
Conditional: Personality development in previous game: I covered the bonds that Khisanth formed in her history, because of course it's other characters that define a character's experiences. Well, experiences go hand-in-hand with personality development. Booga's friendship, for example, has taught her that Kadagan and Joad, Pteros, and Jahet, don't have to be the only friends she ever makes. If she looks in the right places, she can find them just about anywhere. She's ever cautious of who she trusts, of course, but the option of friendship is open to her.
Her experiences with Zevran, on the other hand, have taught her to trust very carefully. She had known from the start that Zevran hadn't intended to be friends with her- he was only agreeing to teach her to save his own life. Over time she came to be fond of him, although when she suggested that they bloodmingle, his reluctance was a little insulting. It made it clear to her that while she was coming to see this bond as friendship, he was reluctant to get involved at any depth. It was immediately after this that the love spell began, and so she'd decided to chalk up her desire to be friends to the false feelings inspired by the spell and pretend that she'd never cared about him in the slightest. It was easy enough on the surface, but underneath that, losing a potential friend made her all the more grateful to have one in Booga. For as much of a powerful loner as she prefers to be, she does value her rare friendships. There's nothing quite like losing one to make her appreciate them, even if she won't admit it to herself.
James Bond has made her more willing to simply enjoy someone else's company. She's always been a huge fan of the pleasures of life (flying, killing, swimming, and, when human, sex), but he helped her to realize that it's not such a bad thing to include someone else in a mutual beneficial relationshop. It's a certain measure of trust, allowing someone close enough and relaxing enough around them to enjoy yourself. But with him, and other men she's done the same with in the City, it's worth it.
Two more important interactions can be merged into one lesson. Having met Tavros Nitram, Khisanth, out of boredom, offered to protect one person from Gamzee to him. He chose Jade Harley, and Khisanth was so impressed that the cowardly and stuttering child didn't pick himself, that she decided to honor her offer. This, no matter how you look at it, is a Selfless Act of Good, and decidedly against her nature as an evil dragon. She'd preformed good deeds before, of course (rescuing Dela for the nymphids), but never for absolutely no personal gain beyond her own amusement. She looked at it as a game, although she became decidedly invested in said game when she learned that her summoning spell hadn't worked, and Gamzee had hurt Jade after all. Then her good deed was a matter of personal pride, and protection became less of a game and more of a self-imposed duty. This was the first instance of serving "good", and it never quite occurred to her that this should be against her nature. It was a good indication that she doesn't see the world as good and evil at all, but rather in terms of self-interest and self-gain.
The second interaction in this lesson was a deal made with Vic Sage. Mysterious newcomers to the imPort community had begun spying on the Network, and Khisanth offered to do some return spying for Vic. It reminded her of her work with the Black Wing, and she was eager for some excitement. It turned out not to quite be all it was cracked up to be, but working with Vic and other assorted heroes (the "knightly people", as she thinks of them) gave her a chance to see and work with people that she would usually consider her enemies. It was an interesting experience, and while she was completely willing to turn against them if a more profitable opportunity arose, the point remains that she was, for a while, on the "good side", and she didn't find it to be absolutely intolerable.
All of this is very much against the nature that she would have reveled in had she stayed in canon, and this lifestyle won't work forever. While it's currently building up in the City, there will come a time that she realizes she's gone too far from her dragon nature. This will, naturally, not be her fault. She'll blame it on having been a human too often and for too long, and she'll make attempts to reconnect with her true nature. I can't say what form that will take, but it's guaranteed to happen much more quickly in a setting where she can't "dragon out" and "recharge" nearly as often.
Character Plans: I'm interested to see how Khisanth will take being in such a confined area! In the previous game, she had the entire world to travel and explore, and could often leave the City when she felt too closed in or surrounded by humans. In the Port, there's just not far she can go. This will mean she can be a dragon far less, and that's going to have some kind of psychological toll on her. I look forward to playing with that!
Appearance/PB: As a dragon: She's a black dragon, meaning, well, she's entirely black. Also that she's somewhat aquatically inclined, and adapted to living in swampy areas. She's 35 feet long, with her head being about the size of a human, and bright orange eyes. Then there's the basics: four feet, thumbs on her front feet, tail, wings, horns… Pretty basic dragon.
As a human: She looks to be in her mid-twenties, with tanned skin, black hair, and gold eyes. She's described as being shapely and attractive (of course- thank you, fantasy), and tall, so I put her at about 5' 9". Her PB is Maria Ozawa.
Writing Samples
First Person Sample This again, hmm? You can spare me the introductory package. I've heard it once already. Let's see how much of it I still remember.
[ She clears her throat, cocks her head, and adopts a bored, imperious look. ] "You've been whisked from your home plane to this new world. You'll find yourself with new abilities, and no guarantees that anyone you know is here. Enjoy your new life, and try not to kill any of your fellow imports, as they'll only return to point you out as their murderer." [ The look drops away, and one eyebrow cocks. ] How was that, was I missing anything?
[ Any pretense of a good mood drops away suddenly, and she just looks irritated and bored. ]
Whipping about through worlds is beginning to get old. I hope this one has cheaper drinks than the last.
Third Person Sample
She hadn't stayed to listen to the greeter. No, she hadn't even learned that that had been his intention until later, after she'd perused the NV's network. Instead, when she'd first arrived, her main priority had been escape. It hadn't taken her long to orient herself enough to spring into the air, large wings beating frantically to lift herself away from the humans. Not that she considered them a threat, no, not these humans. She'd merely learned, over the months spent in the City, that humans were not quite as dispensable as she'd been used to. If you killed one, eventually someone would come looking. And if you killed al lot of them, a lot of someones came, and came armed.
She knew the rules. And it was only this knowledge that spared the baseball diamond her wrath, because Khisanth was not pleased. She'd just been coming to enjoy- or at least to tolerate- her life among humans in the City. To be jolted suddenly from this decent life, and thrust into a brand new one? Well, no one had ever accused life of being kind, she supposed.
Khisanth snorted in irritation, and her claws clutched at the concrete edge of the building below them. It had already decayed significantly as darkness fell. That had been an interesting process, she had to admit. The blaring sirens were none too pleasant, but she'd been somewhat taken by the rust and rot that grew over the area. Some areas, she'd found, smelled appalling. Some of them smelled like home. And the creatures? Well, some of them didn't taste half bad. (Some of them tasted beyond fully bad, though, and she'd learned quickly that it was better to kill from a distance.) Her wings half spread, and Khisanth eased her long body up from its recline. She was in a new place, and as near as she could tell there was nothing to be done about it but learn the ins and outs of it.
Fine. She would do that, then. She'd survived well enough in the City, she would survive just as well in the Port. She always did.
Name: Liz
Age: 22
AIM SN: the p0rn nun
email: silkenaracna at gmail dot com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? yep!
Currrently Played Characters: Carrie/Robin/girlyboywonder
Conditional: Activity Check Link: n/a
Conditional: Official Reserve Link: Here!
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Dragonlance: The Black Wing
Canon Format: book
Character's Name: Khisanth, "Onyx"
Character's Age: ~200
Conditional: If your character is 13 years of age or under, please clarify how they will be played. n/a
What form will your character's NV take? smartphone! The same thing she uses at capeandcowl, really.
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Aside from being a generally competent fighter (only as a dragon! she's totally balls at fighting as a human), Khisanth has two main abilities. One is the art of qhen, which is a mental discipline more than a magical skill. Think of it as zen. At its most simple, it's taught her to calm herself, reason her way out of anger, and behave logically - far more logically than most greedy, rage-driven dragons. It also allows her to understand the general Nature of Things, and so shapechange into any animal she sees. The change is instant, but it's not an exact copy. Just as she turns into her version of a human every time, she turns into her version of a badger every time.
The second power is more varied, and comes naturally to all dragons. It's never concretely defined, but it seems to be a manifestation of will. If a dragon pictures its immediate area cloaked in darkness, that will happen. If a dragon pictures a particular treasure of theirs suddenly smaller and easier to carry, it will happen. It requires concentration, but no spell components or incantations-though the "language of magic" comes naturally to dragons, and she understands all spoken spells (in her world). For sake of not going insane or being too godmody, I've compiled a list of every example of magic Khisanth displays in canon, and I'll keep her use of it limited or related to these.
-Extinguish light
-Create fog
-Create flame at fingertips, fireball with enough concentration
-Shrink/grow objects
-Teleport short distances if she can envision the area
-Telepathically nudge heavy objects
-Create swirling lights/colors to blind
-Rain giant icicles from the sky
-Form a bubble shield
-Hasten movement
-Create illusions- including those for other senses, including smell.
-Mimic any voice perfectly
-Create "recordings" to be played back from animals or inanimate objects
-Blood mingling (allow her to see into the heart of someone else, and vice versa)
-Form invisible walls
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them? n/a
Weapons: Just a dinky little dagger she keeps in her boot sometimes.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History: Dragons ruled, once. They filled the sky, lorded their power over lesser beings, and generally had exactly everything they ever could have wanted. It was an unfortunate time to be a human. It was either an evil dragon devouring your children or a good dragon doing battle with an evil dragon and crushing your barn. This went on for a tiresomely long time, until the tension between evil and good dragons escalated into a full-out war. Famous heroes were born, famous weapons were forged, and the patron goddess of the evil dragons struck a deal with the Forces of Good. In exchange for her life, she would be sealed into the Abyss, and all of her children sent into a deep sleep beneath the earth. It was foretold that they would wake again when she'd gathered her forces for another strike at that goody two-shoes Goodness, and so, predictably, this was what the black dragon Khisanth assumed was happening when she awoke. Imagine her dismay to discover it was two measly nymphids, waking her with some sob story about the last female of their species being captured and held captive by humans, instead of her Queen, calling her to battle.
Kadagan and Joad were two of the last three remaining nymphids on Krynn. The third one, Dela, Kadagan's fiance and Joad's daughter, had recently been captured by humans. After failing to get her back themselves, the two decided to enlist the help of a third party. As Kadagan put it to Khisanth, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." There was really no more logical a choice for an ally for two two-foot-tall fairy-like creatures than a 30-foot dragon, even if that dragon had recently (in her memory) been a hatchling, and woken suddenly to find herself full-grown and not sure what to do with her sudden strength and power. Khisanth initially refused to help them, but of course the nymphids had known she wouldn't lend assistance for free. They offered to teach her qhen, the mental discipline that would allow her to shapechange. Greed being the number one motivator of black dragons like Khisanth, she promptly agreed. "Anger will defeat thee in battle as well as in life," were lessons that were often taught to her, and grudgingly taken to heart. Joad took her once, after she'd mastered shapechanging, to a quiet grove filled with fireflies. The elderly nymphid fondly explained that these little creatures collected energy, expending it each night to light the darkness for others. It was a life well spent, he said. Khisanth didn't understand, but for the first time was content to wait for experience to catch up and provide comprehension.
It took a month or so for Khisanth to learn to fly, fight, and control herself with the use of qhen well enough to satisfy the nymphids. They still weren't entirely convinced that she was well trained enough to recapture Dela from the humans, especially after a greedy display of destruction in front of Kadagan of the massacre of a band of ogres, but it came to their attention that Dela was being relocated. The time for the rescue mission was now or never. Khisanth had made progress from when the two nymphids had found her, though. Where as she was once impulsive, brash, and entirely self-serving, she was now slightly less impulsive and brash, only mostly self-serving, and occasionally able to control her rage and greed through the calming techniques of qhen. And so, lessons in hand, Khisanth took the shape of a human and the name "Onyx", just outside the town that held the imprisoned nymphid. After a short while spent learning the strange rules and customs of her new shape (you must wear clothes, eat with utensils and not your face, and shaking your breasts at males will almost always get you what you want), Onyx was hired by a traveling merchant, Led, to be part of his mercenary guard. She impressed the man with her use of magic, as magic in the world was currently all but unheard of. She, in turn, was enchanted by his smooth manners and not-totally-unpleasant face. Eager to fully experience the human form, and utterly overwhelmed by the tangle of emotions that didn't usually effect her as a dragon, Onyx allowed herself to be seduced by him- both figuratively and literally.
After confirming that Dela was indeed the precious cargo Led was traveling with, Onyx knew she ought to free the nymphid right then. But that would mean killing Led, to whom she'd grown a little attached. Fortunately, an unexpected battle took the choice out of her hands. She was still looking for a way to recover Dela without having to betray Led when the mercenary group encountered a band of knights. When the knights demanded to see what Led was shipping and he refused, a fight broke out. In the course of it, the wagon housing Dela was broken open, and the nymphid was killed. Onyx and Led managed to win, but just as the battle was winding down, Onyx spotted a young knight dragging himself from the carnage. She ran after him, still high on killing and glad for the chance to finish off the group. Of course, casting spells at a group of knights from behind an able fighter is one thing, taking on a knight on your unarmed lonesome was another. The knight promptly punched her out and took off. When Onyx came to, it was to find herself with a broken nose and abandoned by Led. He and the rest of the group had assumed her dead and taken off without her. She was, as you might guess, a little peeved. It was then that she encountered Kadagan, who informed her calmly that Joad had died, he would shortly follow, and he was sorry she hadn't performed better. She insisted that she'd done all she could to rescue Dela, and Kadagan merely countered with a sad, "Did you?" ("Didst thee", really, but who's counting) before expiring himself. Three out of season fireflies floated off through the evening.
Once again in the shape of a dragon, Khisanth wasted no time in tracking Led's band down. She killed all of them but Led in one fell swoop, breathing acid down on them as they slept from the cover of darkness. One ogre managed to survive, whom Khisanth took great pleasure in slowly dismembering for Led's benefit. When she finally turned on him, she took just a little time to turn back into a human and mock him. She wanted him to understand why he was being killed, after all. His cowering fear was instantly replaced by charm to see that hot little number he'd tapped and ditched suddenly naked in front of him, and it almost looked like he might convince her to join with him as a dragon. Right up until she changed back and bit his face off, of course. Khisanth decided then that she'd been human for the last time, and would never again let herself be manipulated by a human or the ridiculous emotions that went with being one.
Suddenly freed of both lessons and obligations, Khisanth promptly settled down in what her instincts told her was the best place to make a lair: a dingy, bleak swamp. She lived happily enough, killing wildlife some days and turning into it other days, until she began to feel watched. The feelings built until one day a black dragon showed. It dive-bombed her lair, set a tree dissolving with acid, and took off again. Finding that to be a little rude, Khisanth promptly tracked him down to what she thought was his lair - only to find an elderly black dragon, blinking and perplexed at this intrusion. Pteros, as he introduced himself, was a victim of this mysterious dragon as well. Once it was established that neither bore the other animosity, Khisanth and Pteros got to talking. They agreed to coexist. Pteros would tell Khisanth stories of the glorious war that had gotten them all sent away, and teach her magic, while Khisanth would train Pteros and get his flabby old self back in shape. It was mutually beneficial, right up until the two dragons began to examine the bauble that the nymphids had left with Khisanth. Called the maynus, it seemed to be nothing more than wish-granting magic, and that was all Khisanth wanted out of it. But when Pteros gave it the poorly-worded command "take us home", it brought the two of them to a different plane. The plane of lightning, from which it, a sentient being, had originated. It offers to send them home in exchange for their having freed it, but all Khisanth could do was uncomprehendingly demand her maynus returned to her, and she cost them the chance to return when the maynus saw an old enemy and wandered off to do battle.
Unfortunately, the winner of the battle was none too friendly. A creature named Fraz approached the two dragons, claiming to be the strongest thing on the plane, and demanded that they do battle for it. They had little choice but to agree or be killed, so it turned them into feathery snakes and sent them after a giant. It cost Khisanth a wing and permanent damage, but she saw through Fraz's illusion before long. Fraz seemed ready to play more games with her, until a voice neither she nor Pteros could hear seemed to command it to send the two of them back. Fraz obliged, but mischievously transported them directly into the middle of Talon's lair. Khisanth quickly outlined a plan for the two of them to take him down, involving Pteros disappearing for a sneak attack from behind - only to discover Talon had company. Pteros never upheld his part of the plan and attacked, leaving Khisanth to fight Talon alone. The second, unnamed dragon went to attack Pteros, while Khisanth managed to kill Talon. Pteros managed to kill his dragon, but crashed to the ground shortly after. Finding him lethally wounded, and angry at having been betrayed by his cowardice, Khisanth finished him off.
Having previously discussed the slowly growing armies of the Dark Queen, Khisanth decided after his death to join one. The idea that dragons in the army took riders was absolutely unconceivable to her. However, the Highlord Maldeev allowed to join, despite refusing to carry a human, solely because of her impressive skills and ability. She outshone every other dragon in the wing, although she was kept at the lowest rank because of her refusal. Despite that, she becomes fast friends with the Highlord's dragon, Jahet. Two years are spent in the service Black Wing until Khisanth begins to suspect treachery from the second ranked dragon, Khoal. There had been an outpost of Solamnic knights nearby, the champion of Good with which the Queen's armies, by default, were in opposition. Khoal repeatedly reported that their numbers were paltry and hardly worth bothering with, right up until an entire regiment marched to launch a surprise attack on the Wing. Khisanth and Jahnet were trapped by unknown magic in their lairs and unable to see what the klaxons were sounding for, until Khisanth managed to free them with her magic. Changing into a human, she realized that Khoal and the other two dragons were all in on the treachery, betraying their comrades in exchange for choice pieces of Solamnic land. She managed to trick two of the traitor dragons into leaving the battlefield. Khoal, though, had to be fought and killed. Khisanth managed to do this, and then turned her attention on the invading knights.
She squared off against their leader, ready to pick him apart or melt him with acid - right up until she recognized him. Sir Tate, this opposing general, was unmistakably that young knight that had punched her out all those years ago. Before she got a chance to rip him apart for having wounded her pride so sorely so long ago, he was rescued and pulled away by his subordinates. The armies parted ways, and Khisanth began to understand why it was humans and not dragons that currently ruled the world. Enraged that three dragons had so easily been turned against their own kind, she sent a general demand to know why up gods-wards. Strangely enough, a god answered. It was the Dark Queen herself that pulled Khisanth into the Abyss for an audience, and explained that the betrayal had been in her plans all along. By thwarting the scheme and killing Khoal, Khisanth had disobeyed the god's wishes. She was sent back to the material plane with a warning and an order: don't screw up again, and take a human rider. The Queen added that Khisanth would find her rider in an unlikely place, and know him when she saw him.
It wasn't long before the Black Wing had mounted their counterattack. The knights were ready with solid defenses and griffins to fight against the dragons, though. Maldeev asked Khisanth to fly wing to him and Jahet; an unexpected honor. Khisanth accepted, and just as the three of them were closing on Tate and his griffin, Jahet unexpectedly seized up, died, and fell out of the air. Khisanth snatched Maldeev up before he could fall as well, then finally got her chance to end her feud with Tate. She didn't hesitate to send a claw through his brain, but then immediately wondered if it hadn't been a mistake. Glancing at Maldeev, who, by the death of Jahet, would become her rider, she wondered if she hadn't killed the wrong human. After the battle she returned for Jahet's corpse, only to find obvious signs of death by magic.
During the ceremony to bond the two of them, Khisanth asked Maldeev to participate in a ritual that Pteros had shown her. Bloodmingling was an old dragon tradition, wherein both parties would clearly see the thoughts and motivations of the other for an instant. Pteros had told her never to trust anyone she hadn't bloodmingled with. Maldeev agreed, and Khisanth discovered that it had been he that had arranged Jahet's murder. She knew immediately that he was hateful, afraid of anything more powerful than he, and basically a despicable person not at all to be trusted. And so she didn't. She worked carefully with him, right up until the day that he asked a new dragon, unexpectedly, to fly wing to him and Khisanth. Remembering this as the exact scene that had lead to Jahet's death, Khisanth snapped and clawed his face off. She was again pulled to the Abyss for an audience with the Queen, and again berated for screwing up her plans. But she would be given one more chance, and so she was sent into boredom and exile to guard a staff. The book, a prequel, ends with her about to encounter the heroes of the original book - an encounter that goes none too well for her.
Point in Canon: After Tate's surprise attack, before the Black Wing's return assault. This is just after she's realized Khoal, Neetra, and Dnestr's betrayals, killed them and their riders, and begun to train for the return attack. She's been spirited away to meet the Dark Queen in the Abyss, and seen the arrival of the draconian shocktroops to the Black Wing. The only thing she hasn't done is get to finally kill that stupid Tate guy. (Or see Jahet die, or become the Highlord's mount in her stead.)
Conditional: Brief summary of previous RP history: I'll be taking Khisanth from capeandcowl. She was, as one might expect, a little bewildered to suddenly end up in a modern setting. She just barely figured out how to work the communicator, and it took her a good long while to realize that she might need somewhere to sleep besides the benches in Central Park. This was where Booga came in, the mutant kangaroo with the amazing ability to put up with all of her bitchiness. He offered to let her sleep in his workshop/warehouse, supplied her with a large-size communicator (for when she was a dragon), and took her drinking. That made him pretty okay in her book. Enough so that when he said they were friends, she decided to agree (after a quick bloodmingle to make sure he wasn't about to betray her or anything. Which, coincidentally, let him know that she was a dragon).
Booga wasn't the only strong attachment she formed in the City, though. Zevran, the elf, was another. He was from a world similar to hers (although lacking in sentient dragons, which seemed a shame to Khisanth), and after a bumpy start, the two began to hesitantly get along. Zevran quickly discovered that Onyx and Khisanth were the same creature, and the conditions under which Khisanth agreed not to kill him to ensure silence were that he teach her to be more human. It was a pretty awful disguise at first, as she'd only spent two days as a human before her arrival in the City. These lessons were everything from "how not to smile like you're about to eat someone" to "figuring out how to work a DVD player and enjoy movies". It was an unlikely bond that slowly graduated from threat-of-death to actual friendship. Right until the goddess Aphrodite cursed Khisanth to fall in love with him for a while, that was. The process was slow enough to seem natural, and had both of them convinced she actually did love him - right up until the curse suddenly wore off. Embarrassed that she'd expressed such a human emotion, and ashamed that she had actually asked Zevran to fly with her (an honor she'd so far granted no one in her canon), Khisanth immediately cut off all ties with Zevran, and the only reason she didn't kill him outright was because he hadn't taken advantage of her false feelings and used them against her. She would be likely to kill him if forced to interact with him again.
But of course, although she herself had goaded Aphrodite into casting the spell, she took no personal responsibility for this event. How could she? It was entirely Aphrodite's fault, and so Khisanth immediately challenged her to a fight. This fight was interrupted by the City's other resident dragon, the great, green Ysera. Although green dragons are just as evil as blacks in Khisanth's world, Khisanth quickly learned that this wasn't quite the case with Ysera. The giant, older dragon demanded peace and cooperation from Khisanth, who was willing to give it only because she'd never seen a dragon so enormous before, and she's very willing to cooperate with a creature that could so easily kill her. These "peace lessons" haven't had a chance to develop into anything particularly meaningful or lasting yet for Khisanth, and she'll be all too happy to disregard them in the Port.
Another strong bond she formed was to James Bond. Although only Booga and Zevran know Khisanth's real name, James is one of the few (along with Aphrodite and Ysera) to know that she's a dragon. It was James that convinced Khisanth that not all humans are exactly like Led, who would sleep with her and then immediately abandon her. Sex, she's discovered, is just as pleasant a pastime as she'd originally thought- but doesn't have to end in betrayal and subsequently eating your lover. Although with James acting so similarly to how Khisanth remembered Led, it took an attempt on his life to come to that conclusion. She was so ready to see betrayal in all of his actions, that an unfortunately-timed attempted mugging had her immediately assuming he was behind it, and would have to be killed. It was lucky that James's in-City power is durability. By the time she realized that knocking him into a building hadn't actually killed him, she'd calmed down enough to decide that maybe it had been a coincidence after all. She then began to appreciate that even after her attempt to kill her, James was still willing to take her to expensive dinners and sleep with her. She grew to be fond enough of him to consider him an almost-friend, to the point that she would consider going out of her way to (unsuccessfully) cheer him up after he'd screwed up on his body guarding job and the CIty's Mayor had been killed.
Essentially, being in the City has taught Khisanth a lot about human nature. She's realized that to some people, sex carries meaning, and one-night-stands are less than desirable. (Thank you, Dick Grayson.) She's learned that you can't sleep with someone's ex without making them uncomfortable. (There's Harley and the Joker to thank for that lesson.) She's learned that some people are eager for friendship (Booga and Jade Harley), but not very many are deserving of it (sorry, Jade). And most amusingly, she's learned that while life in the City isn't quite as exciting as life in the middle of a war, you can get involved with forces that might usually be your enemy at home and invent your own excitement and intrigue. It doesn't matter very much who is fighting for what- she's a valuable asset to any side, and her temporary loyalty can be awarded to the most amusing for great personal profits.
And, of course, she's very good at working a DVD player by now.
Character Personality: Black dragons, on the whole, are evil creatures. They're unpredictable and unreliable, driven by greed, self-aggrandizement, and self-preservation, in that order, and Khisanth is certainly no exception to the generalization. They're your typical treasure-hoarding evil dragon, straight out of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Intelligent enough to mock humans, cruel enough to do it right before killing them. And, again, Khisanth fits the bill. She's petty, she's easily offended, she has a childish and insistent sense of retribution and revenge, and she's impossibly vain. These are, again, traits common to all black dragons.
But Khisanth also manages to be a little different. She spent a good part of her limited life in the company of two undeniably good creatures. Kadagan and Joad taught Khisanth something that no black dragon ever learns: they taught her patience. With patience came the ability to see past useless rage and petty greed. Khisanth can even rise above evil intentions and mindless cruelty, if she sees fit to. The problem is that she rarely does see fit to. Still, the possibility for it remains, and every time that she fails to act thoughtfully or responsibly, she finds yet another one-up on her fellow dragons. She recognizes her failures as such, and can learn from them.
In addition to this unusual capacity for rationality, she's seen more worlds than most dragons can claim to have, through her shapechanging. She understands, albeit begrudgingly, a human's perspective. She's been human, she's felt the sweep of emotions that goes with the change. And because that sweep of emotion got her betrayed, she's far more guarded against ever letting herself be carried away by them again. But she understands her capacity to feel them, and is far more comprehending of the sensation than any other dragon would be. It should also be noted that when she changes, her entire mentality makes a subtle shift. If she takes the shape of a small, nervous animal, she'll find herself furtive and darting far more often. As an aggressive animal, she's more likely to attack, and will be fighting urges to do so. And so, as a human, she's more emotional. The change is a subtle one, but it builds. The longer she spends as a human, the less she acts like a dragon. She doesn't notice this change until she's a dragon again, and can look back on her own actions and decisions with a clearer mind. It took Khisanth just two days as a human to begin envisioning teaming up with Led to conquer the world with him- visions she looked back on with disgust and derision once she was a dragon again. And so while she's more likely to guard against the rapid swing of emotions she experiences as a human, they do start to build for her. It stands to reason that if she spent any more time as a human, she could be swept away entirely by the unfamiliar emotions she experiences.
Once or twice in her life, Khisanth has even been victim to feelings of duty, respect, and even rarer - pity. These are also foreign to the nature of a black dragon, but Khisanth has formed stronger relationships than dragons tend to. Solitary creatures by nature, Khisanth has defied these inclinations often enough to form another rarity: friends. In Pteros, Khisanth found a dragon she could look up to. He was old, wise, and knowledgeable. And, yes, he was a coward, and contemptuous for that, but she still felt enough gratitude (and pity) for him to forgive him his cowardice and put him out of his misery in the end. In Jahet, Khisanth found something even more valuable. The other female provided her with an equal. Khisanth respected Jahet, even going so far as to seek her body to give it a proper burial after Jahet had been killed. Jahet had been the only dragon Khisanth had ever met that hadn't betrayed her, and for that Khisanth really, truly, and unexpectedly liked her.
So, while Khisanth easily succumbs to the natural self-serving, and violent inclinations common to all black dragons, she's also capable of rising above them. She can see past her own greed and desires now and then, and she can even go so far as to have relationships resembling those humans are more familiar with.
Conditional: Personality development in previous game: I covered the bonds that Khisanth formed in her history, because of course it's other characters that define a character's experiences. Well, experiences go hand-in-hand with personality development. Booga's friendship, for example, has taught her that Kadagan and Joad, Pteros, and Jahet, don't have to be the only friends she ever makes. If she looks in the right places, she can find them just about anywhere. She's ever cautious of who she trusts, of course, but the option of friendship is open to her.
Her experiences with Zevran, on the other hand, have taught her to trust very carefully. She had known from the start that Zevran hadn't intended to be friends with her- he was only agreeing to teach her to save his own life. Over time she came to be fond of him, although when she suggested that they bloodmingle, his reluctance was a little insulting. It made it clear to her that while she was coming to see this bond as friendship, he was reluctant to get involved at any depth. It was immediately after this that the love spell began, and so she'd decided to chalk up her desire to be friends to the false feelings inspired by the spell and pretend that she'd never cared about him in the slightest. It was easy enough on the surface, but underneath that, losing a potential friend made her all the more grateful to have one in Booga. For as much of a powerful loner as she prefers to be, she does value her rare friendships. There's nothing quite like losing one to make her appreciate them, even if she won't admit it to herself.
James Bond has made her more willing to simply enjoy someone else's company. She's always been a huge fan of the pleasures of life (flying, killing, swimming, and, when human, sex), but he helped her to realize that it's not such a bad thing to include someone else in a mutual beneficial relationshop. It's a certain measure of trust, allowing someone close enough and relaxing enough around them to enjoy yourself. But with him, and other men she's done the same with in the City, it's worth it.
Two more important interactions can be merged into one lesson. Having met Tavros Nitram, Khisanth, out of boredom, offered to protect one person from Gamzee to him. He chose Jade Harley, and Khisanth was so impressed that the cowardly and stuttering child didn't pick himself, that she decided to honor her offer. This, no matter how you look at it, is a Selfless Act of Good, and decidedly against her nature as an evil dragon. She'd preformed good deeds before, of course (rescuing Dela for the nymphids), but never for absolutely no personal gain beyond her own amusement. She looked at it as a game, although she became decidedly invested in said game when she learned that her summoning spell hadn't worked, and Gamzee had hurt Jade after all. Then her good deed was a matter of personal pride, and protection became less of a game and more of a self-imposed duty. This was the first instance of serving "good", and it never quite occurred to her that this should be against her nature. It was a good indication that she doesn't see the world as good and evil at all, but rather in terms of self-interest and self-gain.
The second interaction in this lesson was a deal made with Vic Sage. Mysterious newcomers to the imPort community had begun spying on the Network, and Khisanth offered to do some return spying for Vic. It reminded her of her work with the Black Wing, and she was eager for some excitement. It turned out not to quite be all it was cracked up to be, but working with Vic and other assorted heroes (the "knightly people", as she thinks of them) gave her a chance to see and work with people that she would usually consider her enemies. It was an interesting experience, and while she was completely willing to turn against them if a more profitable opportunity arose, the point remains that she was, for a while, on the "good side", and she didn't find it to be absolutely intolerable.
All of this is very much against the nature that she would have reveled in had she stayed in canon, and this lifestyle won't work forever. While it's currently building up in the City, there will come a time that she realizes she's gone too far from her dragon nature. This will, naturally, not be her fault. She'll blame it on having been a human too often and for too long, and she'll make attempts to reconnect with her true nature. I can't say what form that will take, but it's guaranteed to happen much more quickly in a setting where she can't "dragon out" and "recharge" nearly as often.
Character Plans: I'm interested to see how Khisanth will take being in such a confined area! In the previous game, she had the entire world to travel and explore, and could often leave the City when she felt too closed in or surrounded by humans. In the Port, there's just not far she can go. This will mean she can be a dragon far less, and that's going to have some kind of psychological toll on her. I look forward to playing with that!
Appearance/PB: As a dragon: She's a black dragon, meaning, well, she's entirely black. Also that she's somewhat aquatically inclined, and adapted to living in swampy areas. She's 35 feet long, with her head being about the size of a human, and bright orange eyes. Then there's the basics: four feet, thumbs on her front feet, tail, wings, horns… Pretty basic dragon.
As a human: She looks to be in her mid-twenties, with tanned skin, black hair, and gold eyes. She's described as being shapely and attractive (of course- thank you, fantasy), and tall, so I put her at about 5' 9". Her PB is Maria Ozawa.
Writing Samples
First Person Sample This again, hmm? You can spare me the introductory package. I've heard it once already. Let's see how much of it I still remember.
[ She clears her throat, cocks her head, and adopts a bored, imperious look. ] "You've been whisked from your home plane to this new world. You'll find yourself with new abilities, and no guarantees that anyone you know is here. Enjoy your new life, and try not to kill any of your fellow imports, as they'll only return to point you out as their murderer." [ The look drops away, and one eyebrow cocks. ] How was that, was I missing anything?
[ Any pretense of a good mood drops away suddenly, and she just looks irritated and bored. ]
Whipping about through worlds is beginning to get old. I hope this one has cheaper drinks than the last.
Third Person Sample
She hadn't stayed to listen to the greeter. No, she hadn't even learned that that had been his intention until later, after she'd perused the NV's network. Instead, when she'd first arrived, her main priority had been escape. It hadn't taken her long to orient herself enough to spring into the air, large wings beating frantically to lift herself away from the humans. Not that she considered them a threat, no, not these humans. She'd merely learned, over the months spent in the City, that humans were not quite as dispensable as she'd been used to. If you killed one, eventually someone would come looking. And if you killed al lot of them, a lot of someones came, and came armed.
She knew the rules. And it was only this knowledge that spared the baseball diamond her wrath, because Khisanth was not pleased. She'd just been coming to enjoy- or at least to tolerate- her life among humans in the City. To be jolted suddenly from this decent life, and thrust into a brand new one? Well, no one had ever accused life of being kind, she supposed.
Khisanth snorted in irritation, and her claws clutched at the concrete edge of the building below them. It had already decayed significantly as darkness fell. That had been an interesting process, she had to admit. The blaring sirens were none too pleasant, but she'd been somewhat taken by the rust and rot that grew over the area. Some areas, she'd found, smelled appalling. Some of them smelled like home. And the creatures? Well, some of them didn't taste half bad. (Some of them tasted beyond fully bad, though, and she'd learned quickly that it was better to kill from a distance.) Her wings half spread, and Khisanth eased her long body up from its recline. She was in a new place, and as near as she could tell there was nothing to be done about it but learn the ins and outs of it.
Fine. She would do that, then. She'd survived well enough in the City, she would survive just as well in the Port. She always did.