application
APPLICANT INFO.
NAME: Rizu
CONTACT: stormcoming [plurk]
CURRENT CHARACTERS: Sieglinde Sullivan [![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
grunehexe]
ACTIVITY PROOFS: march proof 01 / march proof 02 / march proof 03 / march proof 04 / feb. proof 01 / feb. proof 02 / feb. proof 03 / feb. proof 04
CHARACTER INFO.
NAME: Hayame
CANON: Jinba
AGE: 16 - 20
APPEARANCE: From the waist up, Hayame has the appearance of a Japanese woman in her prime, lithe and muscular and at the peak of physical fitness. Her hair his black and very long, usually worn in a tight, high ponytail. Though her features possess a certain classical beauty in the purely physical sense, her harsh expressions tend to offset any sense of the feminine. As a centaur, her lower half is that of a horse, and she tends to tower over most humanoids. With dun coloring, her coat is a sandy-gold and her tail black. Her dress is that of a practical hunter- simple tops without much to snag on, animal hide wraps, and necessary items such as her quiver and blade strapped to various belts and harnesses. Colored image here.
CANON POINT: ch. 10, after realizing the messenger she sent to her human masters actually made it, and the village she's grown to care for will soon be under attack.
BACKGROUND: The world of Jinba is that of Japan- the one key difference between this setting and the actual historical one being the existence of jinba, (essentially centaurs). Creatures half man and half horse who lived deep in the wilderness, they were revered in the past as gods, divine creatures who occasionally shared their wisdom with humans, taught them to harness the properties of nature, and could be called upon to deal with dangerous beasts. For many centuries man and jinba lived in harmony, rarely meeting or coming into conflict... until humans truly discovered war. Soon enough the thought was born to harness the power of the creatures of legend... and over time, the peaceful race of jinba became nothing but tools to humanity.
The story of Jinba takes place towards the end of the Warring States period, (16th century), when countless local warlords are locked in power struggles with each other over land, political power, and control of key resources. The drawn out period of unrest has led to high demand for military forces, particularly the prized jinba.
At this point, jinba are considered nearly on par with how one might consider an expensive horse- one sees that it is fed, well cared for, and equipped with good tack, but in the end... it isn't human. It's an animal. Years of using jinba as tools of war has made most humans lose their regard for the creatures as equals, and with this stripping of their humanity has come the sort of behavior one might expect, including mental, physical, and sexual abuse. The capture, training, and breeding of jinba is a difficult yet lucrative trade, with military leaders willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money on the right creatures.
The dwindling members of the jinba race can be divided generally into two groups: wild and domesticated. The wild jinba consist of mountain-dwelling and field-dwelling types, though the majority of field-dwelling jinba have already fallen prey to humans who make a living capturing and breaking them for sale, while the mountain-dwelling types are under siege by humans encroaching further and further into their territory.
Domesticated jinba likewise are divided generally into two groups: the "armed", and the "armless". Wild jinba who prove difficult to break once captured, or domesticated ones with rebellious attitudes are subject to amputation, and have their human limbs cut off at the shoulder joint. This makes them helpless to properly feed, bathe, dress, and care for themselves, making escape attempts akin to suicide and making them easier for human masters to control. The "armless" are often used as first wave soldiers with weapons strapped to their bodies, or as show mounts for the rich or noble if they have prettier features.
The "armed" domesticated jinba are perhaps the rarest type. Usually born within human-run breeding stables, they are the few jinba trusted by humans as being obedient enough to keep their full physical abilities, and seem to be used much like overseers/slave drivers, policing their own kind in exchange for preferential treatment from their masters.
Hayame is one such jinba. Born in the stables of a breeding and training outpost in Japan's northeastern mountainous region, it is implied that she was born to an armless broodmare and raised very harshly by humans, taught from infancy that her place in the world was to earn her masters a pretty fortune at auction once she came of age. As a child she watched disobedient and defiant members of her race have their arms amputated and reduced to weaklings, and swore to do whatever she had to do in order to prevent such a fate for herself.
And she has fulfilled that promise, surviving to adulthood by proving her loyalty to her masters, by being a "good horse". Hayame is introduced into the story during the rituals held before the year's annual auction at the outpost, where commenters can be heard discussing her merits as a purchase- a very expensive one, apparently, as its mentioned a "mare like her" (good pedigree, loyal, obedient, handsome), would fetch as much as a small fief. Proving herself an excellent archer at these rituals, however, does not change the fact that buyers seem to view it as a pity that she is female and not male.
When the main characters of Jinba, the newly captured Matsukaze and the armless Kohibari, escape from the compound during the auction banquet, it is Hayame who is tasked with leading a team of humans on horseback to recapture them. This is a task she views as her opportunity to show off her skills and worth, to prove herself every inch a fighter as a man with the goal of making sure she's bought by a military leader as a warrior instead of being used as a broodmare or mount.
Though she does manage to recapture the two, and also capture Matsukaze's sister Koume as a bonus, things take a turn for the worst for Hayame when they are ambushed by a group of young jinba from a nearby village. Hayame finds herself now the captive, taken as a prisoner to the hidden village in the mountains. One of the humans from her team manages to survive and track them, and though he offers to free her so they can run she commands him to return to the outpost and report on the location of the community they've discovered, which is made up largely of young and orphaned jinba without much ability to defend themselves. Judging herself not worthy of freedom due to her failure, she suggests she will stay behind to do what she can to sabotage things before her masters arrive, or die trying to cleanse her dishonor.
Despite everything, Matsukaze places trust in Hayame and asks her to assist him in checking the condition of a nearby waterfall (albeit with hands still bound and he holding the tether). Though Hayame attempts to kill Matsukaze by diving off and pulling him over the edge with her, she is ashamed to find that not only does he pull her back up and save her, but she finds herself relieved to be alive, and terrified to die despite how sure she had been that she could throw her life away for her duty and honor.
From this point on Hayame's life begins to change. She is allowed to roam the village freely, and agrees to teach the village children archery. Over time, she gets a taste of what it is like to live without a master, to be around members of her own kind who aren't broken tools, to be able to form bonds. Even with the horrifying realization that the leader of the village, a young jinba named Mikuni, has been using human corpses as food, she still is given the hope that perhaps there might be a life out there that she never could have imagined for herself.
Until word comes that the man she sent moons ago has finally returned... with a giant hunting party in tow.
PERSONALITY: Hayame has lived her life consumed with the goal of surviving with her arms intact to reach a point where she might be sold as a warrior and not be condemned to life as mount or broodmare. To this end, the tenets of a Japanese warrior have been the most important thing for her to live by. Chief among these are strength, honor, pride, and loyalty, traits that she has cultivated ever since she was old enough to realize they were what would give her the best chance in the slavery system jinba live in amongst humans.
Hayame is not a nice person. Or rather, she certainly doesn't come off that way. As part of her goal she has cultivated a cold, stoic exterior, and in battle or on missions is capable of ruthlessness and cruelty, having seen no problem at all in not only recapturing escaped jinba, but in capturing new ones and condemning them to a life of slavery and perhaps amputation or death in order to advance her own standing with her masters. Having been hand-raised by humans (and not with a gentle hand, either, when she tries to teach her own students she yells and hits them after it's suggested she just "teach how you were taught"), she has absorbed a lot of their way of thinking, and that includes jinba inferiority and a certain justification for their use.
She is not a talkative person, tending to keep to short, to-the-point speech, and also has a temper she struggles to keep in check at times. When she is in control of her situation she appears aloof and icy, but when she isn't, she has a bad habit of lashing out and not being able to reign in her words or actions.
Hayame is capable of kindness, if given time. Still learning to allow herself to form bonds or appear soft/weak, Hayame can be somewhat frustrating to deal with in the interim as she struggles through trying to figure out what to do with a "normal" life. In the compound she had a reputation as a "stallion hater", likely stemming from her distaste at the idea of being sold as a broodmare and her jealousy over the fact that male jinba have more opportunities than females, but she is slowly overcoming her general distrust and harsh judgement of men. She has also proven herself capable of some degree of naivety, caught off guard and shocked by simple things like a couple who have only known each other a short while becoming intimate, a far cry from the highly ritualized and affection-less environment she grew up in.
Above all else, Hayame is determined. Once she's dedicated herself to something she serves it unwavering... or at least, she did. It was easy to be a "warrior" when she was the strongest in the pack, and easy to be cold and aloof when you are surrounded by people who you know would lop off your arms at the slightest sign of weakness, but she begins to undergo a bit of a shift when taken prisoner in the jinba village.
Most recently, she's discovered that she isn't nearly as strong as she thought she was. Having failed in her mission, having disgraced herself and her masters, the code of the warrior demands her death, either by suicide or in a battle for the sake of regaining her honor. But Hayame is absolutely shattered by the realization, hanging off the edge of a raging waterfall by a single rope, that she is afraid. That when she is saved, she is relieved. Though she is disgusted by this weakness, it's a new discovery about herself she's having to deal with.
That doesn't mean, however, that she isn't still looking to die. Hayame is torn between two worlds, the enslavement she has always known, and the freedom and acceptance she's been offered that seems too good to be true. It is difficult for her to trust, unable to after her upbringing, and so she does not know how to accept it or give it- not really. But with recent canon events, facing the fact that she is about to be responsible for the destruction of something she's growing to love, is once again feeling the pull of death to cleanse her dishonor and make her apologies for her actions.
In fact, in later events, she will manage to find her chance, committing suicide in order to cause an explosion that will block the mountain pass and let the villagers escape. Dying for a cause and to absolve herself through sacrifice is not a passing fancy for her, and will likely cause problems in Futurology unless she finds a reason to live- until she can return home, at the very least.
ABILITIES: As a jinba (centaur), Hayame is possessed of the best features of both human and horse. Physically she is much stronger than a human woman of comparative size to her top half would be, capable of lifting a man off his feet with one hand, or of carrying hundreds of pounds on her equine back. As a speedier, lighter example of her species, she is capable of galloping at up to 30mph.
Though she carries a sword and knows how to use it, Hayame's skills lie primarily in archery, carrying and utilizing with deadly efficiency a bow over six feet tall with a 100+ pound draw weight with no sign of strain.
As negative consequences of her anatomy, she is not capable of laying down on her side for a long period of time without difficulty breathing and discomfort. It is an exceedingly difficult and lengthy recovery should she suffer leg injuries. It is also implied that jinba are at least somewhat affected by the breeding seasons that rule the reproduction of their more fully equine cousins.
INVENTORY:
[1] bow
[1] quiver
[1] set of arrows
[1] shirt
[1] animal hide wrap
WRITING SAMPLES.
NETWORK SAMPLE:
I require four members of this "team" for a hunting party. The enemy has been sending out patrols that are encroaching on our position, and it is our duty to apprehend and interrogate one of their number.
[The voice is female, beneath the harsh business of it, accompanied by the sound of hoofbeats.]
We will move quickly, so do not bother volunteering unless you've a mount. Or... possess some sort of "ability".
[After all this time she still almost stumbles over the discussion of "magic", and creatures beyond her own world, but she manages.]
... Note we will only need one for interrogation.
[Added coolly- a warning, no pacifists allowed.]
LOG SAMPLE: here at the TDM
NAME: Rizu
CONTACT: stormcoming [plurk]
CURRENT CHARACTERS: Sieglinde Sullivan [
grunehexe]ACTIVITY PROOFS: march proof 01 / march proof 02 / march proof 03 / march proof 04 / feb. proof 01 / feb. proof 02 / feb. proof 03 / feb. proof 04
CHARACTER INFO.
NAME: Hayame
CANON: Jinba
AGE: 16 - 20
APPEARANCE: From the waist up, Hayame has the appearance of a Japanese woman in her prime, lithe and muscular and at the peak of physical fitness. Her hair his black and very long, usually worn in a tight, high ponytail. Though her features possess a certain classical beauty in the purely physical sense, her harsh expressions tend to offset any sense of the feminine. As a centaur, her lower half is that of a horse, and she tends to tower over most humanoids. With dun coloring, her coat is a sandy-gold and her tail black. Her dress is that of a practical hunter- simple tops without much to snag on, animal hide wraps, and necessary items such as her quiver and blade strapped to various belts and harnesses. Colored image here.
CANON POINT: ch. 10, after realizing the messenger she sent to her human masters actually made it, and the village she's grown to care for will soon be under attack.
BACKGROUND: The world of Jinba is that of Japan- the one key difference between this setting and the actual historical one being the existence of jinba, (essentially centaurs). Creatures half man and half horse who lived deep in the wilderness, they were revered in the past as gods, divine creatures who occasionally shared their wisdom with humans, taught them to harness the properties of nature, and could be called upon to deal with dangerous beasts. For many centuries man and jinba lived in harmony, rarely meeting or coming into conflict... until humans truly discovered war. Soon enough the thought was born to harness the power of the creatures of legend... and over time, the peaceful race of jinba became nothing but tools to humanity.
The story of Jinba takes place towards the end of the Warring States period, (16th century), when countless local warlords are locked in power struggles with each other over land, political power, and control of key resources. The drawn out period of unrest has led to high demand for military forces, particularly the prized jinba.
At this point, jinba are considered nearly on par with how one might consider an expensive horse- one sees that it is fed, well cared for, and equipped with good tack, but in the end... it isn't human. It's an animal. Years of using jinba as tools of war has made most humans lose their regard for the creatures as equals, and with this stripping of their humanity has come the sort of behavior one might expect, including mental, physical, and sexual abuse. The capture, training, and breeding of jinba is a difficult yet lucrative trade, with military leaders willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money on the right creatures.
The dwindling members of the jinba race can be divided generally into two groups: wild and domesticated. The wild jinba consist of mountain-dwelling and field-dwelling types, though the majority of field-dwelling jinba have already fallen prey to humans who make a living capturing and breaking them for sale, while the mountain-dwelling types are under siege by humans encroaching further and further into their territory.
Domesticated jinba likewise are divided generally into two groups: the "armed", and the "armless". Wild jinba who prove difficult to break once captured, or domesticated ones with rebellious attitudes are subject to amputation, and have their human limbs cut off at the shoulder joint. This makes them helpless to properly feed, bathe, dress, and care for themselves, making escape attempts akin to suicide and making them easier for human masters to control. The "armless" are often used as first wave soldiers with weapons strapped to their bodies, or as show mounts for the rich or noble if they have prettier features.
The "armed" domesticated jinba are perhaps the rarest type. Usually born within human-run breeding stables, they are the few jinba trusted by humans as being obedient enough to keep their full physical abilities, and seem to be used much like overseers/slave drivers, policing their own kind in exchange for preferential treatment from their masters.
Hayame is one such jinba. Born in the stables of a breeding and training outpost in Japan's northeastern mountainous region, it is implied that she was born to an armless broodmare and raised very harshly by humans, taught from infancy that her place in the world was to earn her masters a pretty fortune at auction once she came of age. As a child she watched disobedient and defiant members of her race have their arms amputated and reduced to weaklings, and swore to do whatever she had to do in order to prevent such a fate for herself.
And she has fulfilled that promise, surviving to adulthood by proving her loyalty to her masters, by being a "good horse". Hayame is introduced into the story during the rituals held before the year's annual auction at the outpost, where commenters can be heard discussing her merits as a purchase- a very expensive one, apparently, as its mentioned a "mare like her" (good pedigree, loyal, obedient, handsome), would fetch as much as a small fief. Proving herself an excellent archer at these rituals, however, does not change the fact that buyers seem to view it as a pity that she is female and not male.
When the main characters of Jinba, the newly captured Matsukaze and the armless Kohibari, escape from the compound during the auction banquet, it is Hayame who is tasked with leading a team of humans on horseback to recapture them. This is a task she views as her opportunity to show off her skills and worth, to prove herself every inch a fighter as a man with the goal of making sure she's bought by a military leader as a warrior instead of being used as a broodmare or mount.
Though she does manage to recapture the two, and also capture Matsukaze's sister Koume as a bonus, things take a turn for the worst for Hayame when they are ambushed by a group of young jinba from a nearby village. Hayame finds herself now the captive, taken as a prisoner to the hidden village in the mountains. One of the humans from her team manages to survive and track them, and though he offers to free her so they can run she commands him to return to the outpost and report on the location of the community they've discovered, which is made up largely of young and orphaned jinba without much ability to defend themselves. Judging herself not worthy of freedom due to her failure, she suggests she will stay behind to do what she can to sabotage things before her masters arrive, or die trying to cleanse her dishonor.
Despite everything, Matsukaze places trust in Hayame and asks her to assist him in checking the condition of a nearby waterfall (albeit with hands still bound and he holding the tether). Though Hayame attempts to kill Matsukaze by diving off and pulling him over the edge with her, she is ashamed to find that not only does he pull her back up and save her, but she finds herself relieved to be alive, and terrified to die despite how sure she had been that she could throw her life away for her duty and honor.
From this point on Hayame's life begins to change. She is allowed to roam the village freely, and agrees to teach the village children archery. Over time, she gets a taste of what it is like to live without a master, to be around members of her own kind who aren't broken tools, to be able to form bonds. Even with the horrifying realization that the leader of the village, a young jinba named Mikuni, has been using human corpses as food, she still is given the hope that perhaps there might be a life out there that she never could have imagined for herself.
Until word comes that the man she sent moons ago has finally returned... with a giant hunting party in tow.
PERSONALITY: Hayame has lived her life consumed with the goal of surviving with her arms intact to reach a point where she might be sold as a warrior and not be condemned to life as mount or broodmare. To this end, the tenets of a Japanese warrior have been the most important thing for her to live by. Chief among these are strength, honor, pride, and loyalty, traits that she has cultivated ever since she was old enough to realize they were what would give her the best chance in the slavery system jinba live in amongst humans.
Hayame is not a nice person. Or rather, she certainly doesn't come off that way. As part of her goal she has cultivated a cold, stoic exterior, and in battle or on missions is capable of ruthlessness and cruelty, having seen no problem at all in not only recapturing escaped jinba, but in capturing new ones and condemning them to a life of slavery and perhaps amputation or death in order to advance her own standing with her masters. Having been hand-raised by humans (and not with a gentle hand, either, when she tries to teach her own students she yells and hits them after it's suggested she just "teach how you were taught"), she has absorbed a lot of their way of thinking, and that includes jinba inferiority and a certain justification for their use.
She is not a talkative person, tending to keep to short, to-the-point speech, and also has a temper she struggles to keep in check at times. When she is in control of her situation she appears aloof and icy, but when she isn't, she has a bad habit of lashing out and not being able to reign in her words or actions.
Hayame is capable of kindness, if given time. Still learning to allow herself to form bonds or appear soft/weak, Hayame can be somewhat frustrating to deal with in the interim as she struggles through trying to figure out what to do with a "normal" life. In the compound she had a reputation as a "stallion hater", likely stemming from her distaste at the idea of being sold as a broodmare and her jealousy over the fact that male jinba have more opportunities than females, but she is slowly overcoming her general distrust and harsh judgement of men. She has also proven herself capable of some degree of naivety, caught off guard and shocked by simple things like a couple who have only known each other a short while becoming intimate, a far cry from the highly ritualized and affection-less environment she grew up in.
Above all else, Hayame is determined. Once she's dedicated herself to something she serves it unwavering... or at least, she did. It was easy to be a "warrior" when she was the strongest in the pack, and easy to be cold and aloof when you are surrounded by people who you know would lop off your arms at the slightest sign of weakness, but she begins to undergo a bit of a shift when taken prisoner in the jinba village.
Most recently, she's discovered that she isn't nearly as strong as she thought she was. Having failed in her mission, having disgraced herself and her masters, the code of the warrior demands her death, either by suicide or in a battle for the sake of regaining her honor. But Hayame is absolutely shattered by the realization, hanging off the edge of a raging waterfall by a single rope, that she is afraid. That when she is saved, she is relieved. Though she is disgusted by this weakness, it's a new discovery about herself she's having to deal with.
That doesn't mean, however, that she isn't still looking to die. Hayame is torn between two worlds, the enslavement she has always known, and the freedom and acceptance she's been offered that seems too good to be true. It is difficult for her to trust, unable to after her upbringing, and so she does not know how to accept it or give it- not really. But with recent canon events, facing the fact that she is about to be responsible for the destruction of something she's growing to love, is once again feeling the pull of death to cleanse her dishonor and make her apologies for her actions.
In fact, in later events, she will manage to find her chance, committing suicide in order to cause an explosion that will block the mountain pass and let the villagers escape. Dying for a cause and to absolve herself through sacrifice is not a passing fancy for her, and will likely cause problems in Futurology unless she finds a reason to live- until she can return home, at the very least.
ABILITIES: As a jinba (centaur), Hayame is possessed of the best features of both human and horse. Physically she is much stronger than a human woman of comparative size to her top half would be, capable of lifting a man off his feet with one hand, or of carrying hundreds of pounds on her equine back. As a speedier, lighter example of her species, she is capable of galloping at up to 30mph.
Though she carries a sword and knows how to use it, Hayame's skills lie primarily in archery, carrying and utilizing with deadly efficiency a bow over six feet tall with a 100+ pound draw weight with no sign of strain.
As negative consequences of her anatomy, she is not capable of laying down on her side for a long period of time without difficulty breathing and discomfort. It is an exceedingly difficult and lengthy recovery should she suffer leg injuries. It is also implied that jinba are at least somewhat affected by the breeding seasons that rule the reproduction of their more fully equine cousins.
INVENTORY:
[1] bow
[1] quiver
[1] set of arrows
[1] shirt
[1] animal hide wrap
WRITING SAMPLES.
NETWORK SAMPLE:
I require four members of this "team" for a hunting party. The enemy has been sending out patrols that are encroaching on our position, and it is our duty to apprehend and interrogate one of their number.
[The voice is female, beneath the harsh business of it, accompanied by the sound of hoofbeats.]
We will move quickly, so do not bother volunteering unless you've a mount. Or... possess some sort of "ability".
[After all this time she still almost stumbles over the discussion of "magic", and creatures beyond her own world, but she manages.]
... Note we will only need one for interrogation.
[Added coolly- a warning, no pacifists allowed.]
LOG SAMPLE: here at the TDM