griffon Ashley 'Ash' Ravencrest [Ready]

[Dubstep]

Name: Ashley ‘Ash’ Ravencrest

 

Sex: Male

 

Age: Adult

 

Species: Griffon (Blue Jay/Leopard)

 

Eye Colour: Orange-Red (#FF4500)

 

Coat: Light, Goldish fur with Black patchy spots across it.

 

Feathers: Light Blue (#ADD8E6), feathers cover the majority of his head, interspersed by white feathers as well as bands of black.

 

Physique: Rather tall, as well as toned and muscular from years of exploration and adventure!

 

Residence: Wherever there’s treasure to be found! Though originally hails from Talonopolis.

 

Occupation: Adventurer, Explorer, Travel Guide Author

 

Unique Traits:

An Eye For Adventure: Years of adventure and study of ancient ruins have left Ashley with a great sense of where one can find the greatest treasure!...And danger. A knack for knowing the ‘tropes of traps’. After all, there’s only so many rolling boulders you have to run from before you can spot the trigger from a mile away. This combined with his rather unorthodox stint in Celestia’s School for Magically Gifted Unicorns also has taught him quite a few signs of enchanted or cursed treasure.

Fortune and Glory: Being a world renowned adventurer means, well, being world renowned! In some places, Ashley is a household name thanks to not only his oft talked about adventures (which still aren’t as popular as a certain Yearling’s stories. Some adventurers seem to have all the luck) but also due to his insightful and entertaining resource books on the people and places of Equestria and beyond. This comes with the reward of having friends in some fairly high places...but also a few enemies in the same.

 

 

History: Born in Talonopolis and raised by two loving parents, his mother a teacher and his father a smith, Ashley was always an adventurous and excitable griffon. As a grifflet, his father would read him tall tales of adventure and derring-do – certainly not to be confused with Daring Do – much to his mother’s chagrin. She already had trouble getting the boy to sit still in class as it was. He was far less interested in mathematics and science and reading at the time, no the little griff’s passion was in perilous journeys through the streets of Talonopolis or high adventure in their basement or seeking the lost treasure of the local bakery. Wherever his imagination could take him, he would follow!

In time, Ashley grew from a young child to a teen, and with him so to did his thirst for adventure and excitement. But with even a bit of age came wisdom. Math, science, history, the things he had mostly shirked as a little grifflet held his interest much more now. Okay, well history and science did for the most part, math was always and forever a boring topic unless applied right. But still, the spark of learning lit the beginning of a roaring flame inside Ashley’s heart. He knew by then that most of the stories he heard as a child were just that, stories. But even so, those stories inspired him! Maybe they weren’t all real. Maybe not every treasure was there to find. But if no one tried to look, how could anyone ever know?

As Ashley grew, the young griffon poured himself into a multitude of topics, including magic though griffons weren’t blessed with the gift for magic like unicorns or qilin were. Not just magic itself but the history of it, as well as the history of magical artefacts both abroad and domestic. This, along with study into the mundane history of various locales would surely prove invaluable if he were to be a true blue adventurer someday. This study of magical history would take Ashley out of the confines of Talonopolis to places all around Equestria. It was in the pony capital of Canterlot though where the griffon’s first steps towards becoming the renowned adventurer he always dreamt of becoming began.

 

The griffon’s arrival at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns was rather strange in and of itself. But his request for enrollment came as even more of a shock. The staff were rather quick to point out to Ashley that he was not, in fact, a Unicorn. To which his reply was a resounding “Well duh”. Still he insisted on being given a chance to enroll. Persistent as he was, eventually they acquiesced and allowed the griffon a chance to prove himself. Being unable to cast magic, the enrollment test was describing the process of particular spells. Showing is much more easy than telling, after all. One particular member of the faculty insisted that the griffon wouldn’t be able to describe even the process of a simple levitation spell.

Which of course, Ashley proved them wrong. Rather spectacularly at that. The griffon, with very little trouble, was able to not only describe how each spell worked but map out the spell matrices as well as runes that were often used for capturing said spells as enchantments. There wasn’t much any of the judges could do other than allow the griffon to enroll, even if it was highly unorthodox. Unorthodox or no, Ashley proved to be a dutiful student! His mother was of course very proud and likely was thinking ‘Ugh finally’.

 

When finally he graduated from the school, Ashley dove right for college. Or rather, colleges. There was much he felt he had to learn besides magic and history if he wanted to make his dream of adventure a reality. Archaeology, physics, astrology, astronomy, art, you name it! So much to learn and so little time it always felt like. But it wasn’t as though Ashley wasn’t accustomed to biting off more than he could chew and chewing it anyway. Life just wasn’t as fun if you didn’t find your limits and push past them! Eventually though the griffon settled for an archaeology major and let the rest be for study in his spare time.

Deciding that he was finally prepared to make his first steps towards real adventure, the griffon gathered up his funds and bought everything a temple delving archaeologist could need Ropes, lantern oil, food. Even a nice hat!...Which he promptly decided against as hats just weren’t his style he felt. Too cliche! How many adventurers in stories wore hats like that? Always jumping back in to save the hat. Hat or no Ashley sat out to travel the world in search of treasure and mystery!

The griffon was met with many successful expeditions, saving relics and sending them off to museums or to the descendants of civilizations that birthed them. Though he had just as many that turned up nothing, but he didn’t count them as failures, no. Until proven otherwise, Ashley wouldn’t ever count a story of treasure as false. This persistence sometimes paid off in the end either in proving himself right or at least winning some friends along the way...and a few enemies too, you can only snatch magical relic out from under thieves noses for so long before they start spouting arch-nemesis speeches at you every time you run into one another.

 

It was on one fateful expedition to Unyasi though, that Ashley met those who would become his lifelong friends. In a dark and remote corner of the Unyasian continent, hunting for a long lost temple, Ashley managed to run into a pair of unicorns who were also seeking the same ancient monument. The two introduced themselves as Translucent Shine and Shimmering Veil, a couple from Stalliongrad, whose families had been adventurers and explorers for generations! Deciding that since they were all looking for the same place and extra pairs of eyes never hurt, the trio sat out into the jungle together.

As one would come to expect, the way to the temple was fraught with danger. Not just with the thick vines and territorial beasts that the jungle threw in their path, but the traps and pitfalls that whatever ancient civilization that had built the temple left behind. More than once Ashley saved one of the duo from a log trap or a pitfall, and more than once one of them saved him from darts or snares. The journey was a learning experience for all three of them. While not the first adventure for any of them, it was proving to be one of the more exciting and fun ones they had been on. While dodging traps and creatures, the three waxed poetic about their journeys throughout the world, how much they had seen, and how what they saw only proved how little they had really seen in the world, how much more was truly out there!

For as dangerous as the jungle was, the intrepid trio managed to make their way through and find the temple that they had been seeking. The ancient structure was made of alabaster and dolerite and covered with plants and vines from the ages of neglect. Yet in spite of this the structure was far from a state of disrepair. Where it not for the creeping plants and moss that swarmed over the building, one might think that time had stood still for it.

Just inside the massive building, the atmosphere changed. Rather than the humid air of the jungle, there was an almost cool and soothing breeze that permeated the dark halls. Ashley’s companions lit up their horns to guide the way. Gosh being a unicorn was handy. Carved into the walls of the temple were designs that mixed both Zebra and Abada style, as well as some that none of them seemed to recognize. Most of the carvings along the outer walls seemed to depict the rituals that likely took place there. Though the ones that graced the inner walls seemed to be the history of the area. Covering the building of the temple, the founding of the village that once surrounded it, the life and death of their great chieftains, the typical sort of thing one would come to find in these sort of places.

 

However a large portion of the wall was left blank, smooth and untouched until a certain point, where the carvings showed a mass exodus from the area. It was hard to say if the wall was purposefully left blank, or if something had expunged it from the wall. Confusing to say the least. Throughout the inner sanctum at the center of the temple were more carvings, though these seemed to be purely decorative they did gently glow with a soft green light. Enchanted, Translucent explained. It really made for a beautiful atmosphere, though likely the enchantment was once much stronger, probably lighting up the whole room.

With their mission complete, Ashley sat about documenting their findings, sketching out the temple in their journals, explaining the dangerous trek there, and the beauty of the surrounding area. Both Translucent and Shimmering were impressed with his writing, even going so far as to suggest that he should publish some of it. Something that he had certainly considered before.

 

The trek back through the jungle was much more easy since they were prepared for any traps that might still be active in their path. Though upon their return to civilization, the three began to discuss some things. After such a successful expedition, parting ways so soon would be a downright shame. And so what was a chance encounter in the wilds of Unyasi turned from one adventure into two, and that two into more, and those even more still.

 

Along the way and across the world, Ashley continued compiling stories and descriptions of all the places they had visited. Both the average locales and the perilous places they found themselves. Many would be adventurers or just those looking to learn a little more about the world sought out the books and pamphlets that the griffon published during his travels.

Eventually though, like most adventurer couples do, Translucent and Shimmering decided to settle down in Translucent's home city of Stalliongrad. While Ashley wasn’t nearly ready to hang up his lantern yet so to speak, he was ever supportive of his greatest friends’ choice. Even showing up to the birth of their first child, Dawn Valiant, where Translucent named the griffon the foal’s godfather and gave the colt Ashley as a middle name. Later he would show up for their daughter Evershine’s birth as well.

 

With an ever burning passion for adventure and thrills, Ashley still travels throughout the world seeking out lost and hidden places and objects. Doing his best to preserve the ancient knowledge and keep it out of the claws of those that would use it for ill. Now and again you can find him in the larger cities of Equestria, Long Guo, or Neighpon - relaxing, giving the occasional speech, or signing one of his published books. But rarely for long, as soon as the griffon catches hint of a possibly new adventure, he’s fast out the gate.
 

 

Character Summary/Personality: Ashley is an excitable, friendly, and knowledgeable griffon. Years spent adventuring has given him an open heart and open mind that he uses to try and help others see the wonder of the world around him, and occasionally drag them on an adventure to get their blood flowing.

There’s little that keeps Ashley still for long, though you can capture his full attention by telling him a good story. Even hearing about someone’s life experiences can get the griffon to sit down and listen intently. He enjoys when others are willing to tell him about themselves, as everyone has something new to teach.

Aside from adventuring, Ashley also writes and publishes two series of books and pamphlets. One for locales such as Poninawa or Polyneighsia, or detailing information about different species or important families, such as Sirens or the Goldplume family in Talonopolis. The other series is more focused around his adventures and the more hidden or out of the way places he’s visited. Some information is often omitted from these, such as their location, as to keep the sanctity of sacred areas safe or what have you.

 

Text Colour: (#FF4500)

Poison Joke Reaction: Inverts the cat and bird parts of his body (Leopard Head/Blue Bird Body, same size as usual)

[RainbowFoxxy]

Very solid character and app was a good read! 

 

 

Happy adventuring!!