Solana [CC Approved]

[Solana]

Name: Solana to most.  Generally addressed as "Nightshade" among her comrades.
Gender: Female
Age: Mare
Species: Pegasus
Eye color: Magenta
Character color: Black
Mane/Tail/Other: White mane and tail. She keeps her mane pulled up in a bun.  She has the appearance of actually putting a small bit of effort in the way she looks, but not much.
Physique:  Slightly taller and slimmer than the average pegasi.  Toned, but not muscular.
Residence: Solana is a wander, moving from place to place constantly, mostly as a habit due to her previous life style requiring it.  Therefore, she considers her home wherever she happens to be laying her head for the night.
Occupation:  Being the wanderer she is, she doesn't stick to one place long enough to hold an actual job.  Because of this, she considers herself a freelancer.  No job is too big or too small, so long as the bits match the deeds, accepting anything from simple deliveries, to body guard detail, and even takes on the role of a hired mercenary,  Though there are jobs she won't accept if they conflict with her personal beliefs, most notably when it comes to merc work.  For instance, she refuses to play the role of assassin, but if a group of royal guards are in a tight spot, she's willing to temporarily join their ranks until the situation is resolved.
Cutie Mark: Winged Sword, representing her ability to come from seemingly out of nowhere and land a strike, usually before most soldiers of Seasoned Veteran status to have time to notice it coming, much less react to.
Unique Traits:

     Solana carries a large Dagger on her right foreleg, which she uses for anything from collecting herbs for simple medicines and other "recipes", to usage in battle. Although since leaving her homeland, there has been little need of it for the latter, save for the occasional timberwolf. 

     She also carries with her a mask typically used in battle.  Though it's purpose is primarily for intimidation, it is also useful in harsh environments, shielding the eyes from sand and snow, as well as filtering the air to prevent dust from choking the wearer.

Since leaving her homeland, She normally just uses it for it's protection from the environment, though she does wear it when in the presence of large unfamiliar crowds, as it seems to put her at ease, in much the same way a child clings to their blanket.

 

Strengths:    A lifetime of battle has forged her into a capable fighter.  As she lacks physical strength, she focuses on speed, stealth, and stamina and attempts to compensate with superior agility, often trying to throw her opponents off balance. 
   She is a good tactician.  If given a chance to think things through, she has been known to turn seemingly impossible situations around.
   She has an extensive knowledge of plant life that she learned from those who raised her; what's edible, what isn't, what is toxic, what can act as pain killers, what can cure various common diseases, etc... (not to be confused with potion brewing. There's a difference between being able to make a form of Aspirin, and making a potion to allow you to view past events.)

 

Weaknesses:  Physically weak, Solana doesn't stick around very long in "Sticky Situations".  As she considers survival to be top priority, If it can't be resolved quickly, escape becomes a legitimate strategy.
Although she is a good tactician, If taken by surprise, or otherwise doesn't have time to think and plan, her tactics pretty much boil down to "Fly that way, really fast!"
   Due to her military upbringing, she lacks schooling.  She learns quickly, and knows "survival" better than most anypony, but when it comes to reading and the like, she is sub-par.
She occasionally becomes melancholic when alone, losing herself within her own mind. When this happens, she tends to lose concentration, and fails to observe her surroundings, sometimes even passing her destination only to realize it miles later.

 

Socially, Solana is handicapped in that she has never dealt with anypony outside of a militarized setting before leaving her homeland.  She is cautious of strangers, and may come across as a little shy around them, but it doesn't take her long to loosen up.  Once this happens, she is prone to creating some rather awkward moments, as things like "Hanging out" and random friendly chit-chat are things that are new to her.

History:  As a foal, Solana was found, alone and frightened, by a group of Maretonian soldiers. Unable to locate her parents, that particular squad raised her as their own, and named her Solana because of how she was found; hiding in a patch of flora called Solanaceae, or Nightshade. She traveled with this group of ponies until the day she got her cutie mark during a particularly chaotic sparring session.  In her nation, once a foal receives his or her cutie mark, he or she is considered an adult, and being the only life she knew, officially joined the armed forces. She continued this path in life for years before she decided it was time to find a new life elsewhere.

    After leaving Maretonia, Solana spent several months traveling, never staying in one place more than a day or two.  After traveling from one nation to another, she eventually arrived in the city of Roam, and upon hearing of the nation of Equestria from the locals, she decided that would be her next destination.  It was the windy season, so all airships that had captains with any common sense were grounded, but that didn't stop her.  She found an old, run down, and overall unsafe ship even in the calmest of weather, which had a captain desperate to deliver his cargo to the Cloudsdale Airship Port in Equestria.  After shelling out a few bits and agreeing to work in the Galley for the duration of the trip, the captain allowed her on board, and after a three week journey, her adventures in Equestria begins.
 

Character Summary/Personality:  Solana is hard to get to know in the first place, due to her social awkwardness, but easy to understand once you've been around her for a while. She rarely displays any negative emotions, as she has experienced so many of them so often that they amount to just another day. Weather she's upset, angry, afraid, worried, or sad, her facial expressions and mannerisms usually reflect what appears to be indifference, unless whatever she is feeling is on the extreme end of things. If she actually looks a little bit mad, it's probably best to steer clear of her for the time being.
Another effect of those experiences is that now, even the worst of them only lasts mere minutes, save for when the melancholy makes a pass. Positive emotions on the other hoof seem to be amplified, due to them actually being relatively new. A small, kind, meaningful gesture will usually have her in a great mood all day.

    Although she isn't a bearer of an element of harmony, If she were, Loyalty would be the element that best fits her.  While she can be kind, generous and honest, these traits pale in comparison to her sense of loyalty.  This being said, she is very careful about deciding who she should be loyal to, and to gain her loyalty, you must first gain her trust, and this tends to take more time to accomplish with her than most other ponies.  To those who she calls friends, she is willing and ready to place herself in immense danger if it means helping them.

   Unlike many Pegasi, when traveling without any particular need to reach her destination in a timely manner, she prefers to walk, due to a combination of her desire to take in the scenery, admiring it as much as possible, and from habits learned in her life before arriving in Equestria.  It's a lot easier to see a flying Pegasus than it is to spot a pony creeping through the woods.  This also leads her to be nocturnal, usually traveling at night, and sleeping through the day, and also tends to have her traveling not on the roads themselves, but along side them in the treelines.
     She loves children, and often when passing through a town, takes time to play with the local fillies and colts, although at times this causes trouble.  Parents sometimes do not appreciate the stranger hanging around the park playing with the children as though she were a filly herself. This can be attributed to the fact that she never really had a childhood of her own.

[RainbowFoxxy]

I'm good with this app I'll be putting it up for a second review!

[Blueblood]

Hm...

 

I'm curious as to what nation she is actually from, as far as our boards go.  Maretonia (a land where the three tribes of ponies never came to live in harmony) might make sense for the militarized culture, though Unyasi (the lands of the Zebras) might also make sense for the survival aspect.  Which would you prefer?  The former might make more sense, given her socialization troubles.

[Solana]

Well, if I must choose a playable location for her homeland, I suppose Maretonia will fit the bill, though I intended to never have her return "Home".   My original intent was for her "Homeland" to be a rather unknown place to Equestria, as Equestria is rather unknown to the people of her nation, mostly due to being quite distant, both Geographically as well as Diplomatically.  BUT after reading the Lore on Maretonia, It seems close enough to work. 

 

And I would think the key difference in "Survival" between her and zebras is that zebras have managed to weave magic into their potions and salves.  Her creations are non-magical, but effective none-the-less.

[Blueblood]

Right.  We've made a lot of outlying countries for our players to use, just so their origins would be more evocative than anonymous.  If you could just edit Maretonia into your backstory, we'll be good to go!

[Solana]

Should be good to go now.  While many areas of the app still state "Her homeland",  the edits in her history betray Maretonia as being the homeland spoken of.

 

As for her history goes though, she boarded an airship in another nation outside of Maretonia.  I also left out the name of the city she found this airship in, as originally it was Maredrid, a city I don't believe is on the current maps of this site.  Can you think of a good substitute for this as well?

Unlike Maretonia, it does not need to be a land of conflict, nor does it have to be unknown to Equestria (As this place is where she first learned of Equestria, so they're familiar with each other) it just needs to be geographically distant (3 week airship ride, at least on a sub-par craft).  It wouldn't serve as any significant importance, it's just the last area she traveled through before boarding the airship and making her way to Equestria.

I only ask because there is a LOT of site lore here to filter through, and given my internet connection taking anywhere from 3 to 7 minutes to load a page, i'd be here a week solid going through them all looking for something that fit the bill.

[Blueblood]

Roam would work; we have three Europe-inspired regions (Germaney, Itailia, and Prance) on the fringes of Equestria, with 3 named cities in each (Hoofenheim, Roam, and Calnais respectively)

[Solana]

And with that, I believe we're done with locations.

Is there anything else that needs attention?

[Blueblood]

Nope, looks good!