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(Peryton) Lichen [FINAL]

flutterscotch

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flutterscotch Equestrian

flutterscotch

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Roleplay Type: World of Equestria

Name: Lichen

Sex: buck

Age: fawn, but his spots are starting to fade, and he has two tiny little nubs where one day he will have antlers.

Species: Peryton

Eye Color: amber

Coat Color: a pale green somewhere between chartreuse and mint and seafoam.

Mane/Tail/Markings Color & Style: a short little white tail, he has a soft, slightly curly coat, much like a Devon Rex cat. His wings are a slightly darker color than his fur, and barred.

Physique: His entire family is on the small side, about the size of a medium dog, but bigger than a muntjac.

Cutie Mark: n/a

Origin/Residence: Everfree Forest

Occupation: Defender of the wild and glorious forest of Everfree, keeping it free of the tyranny of weather-and growth controlling ponies. But not really; really he's just a kid learning the ways of a Peryton.

Motivation: At this point his motivation is exploring the world and seeing if his parents are right, at least insofar as he has goals to strive for as he gets older. Perytons as a whole are not really ones for having career goals. They kind of just hang out in the woods and be magical. Right now he's the emotional and intellectual equivalent of a 6 year old human. Some know what they want to be when they grow up, or have set goals...some are just OK playing pretend all the time and wanting to see what's just beyond the boundaries their parents have already set up for them.

Likes: juniper, mint and all manners of tasty foodstuffs. He particularly likes the new bark of sassafras.

Dislikes: he has not been exposed to much that he firmly dislikes, but having his parents be disappointed in him, and stinky stagnant mud. He thinks he dislikes ponies, but that's only because he has never met one, and is kind of afraid of them, because of ideas his older cousin has filled his head with, ideas that his parents soundly refute to no avail.

Character Summary:

Born into a close-knit herd, little Lichen was the first of many fawns to be born to childhood sweethearts Snowdrop and Shale in a little sun dappled grotto in the Everfree Forest. Their family's hidden location was ideal for generations of cohabitation, as, despite the perytons' natural affinity to be solitary, it always seemed that two or more related does were fawning at the same time. As the generations passed, it just became a trait of Lichen's family to use the same grotto for raising their weak young, with the same soft moss carpeting ringed with sweet grass, kept warm year-round by the same hot spring, and to form a protective family unit around the fawns, and pregnant does to keep the young fawns safe corralled within the safety of the grotto's high walls. Once the fawns are old enough to fend for themselves, their parents retreat to their secret places in the woods, only to come together again when the call of the wild beckons again in early spring.

Generally speaking, there is never usually more than one or who pairs of new parents living in the grotto at any given time. At the moment, though, Lichen is treated to a once in a blue moon event. Every one of his parents' siblings is also either ready to fawn, or still has fawns too young to leave home and they all live in the grotto together! 4 breeding pairs, and between them 3 fawns, and twins on the way! Luckily the forest is lush and plentiful in that area and can support them all.

The three fawns, of which Lichen is the youngest, often spend their time exploring the immediate vicinity of their safe little grotto, to play in the sweet-smelling underbrush, and to explore as far as their parents felt they could afford to let them. Orris, the deep forest green buck-fawn, looked at himself as the one who was supposed to show Lichen the ropes, and would more often than not fill his little head will all kinds of misinformation, about the forest, about the ruins deep in the forest (that he's only heard his parents describe), and about the occasional pony that is brave enough to wander into the generally gloomy and fearful forest. Orris also, to Lichen's chagrin, tries to roughhouse with play-fight with the tiny green fawn, which usually sends Lichen scuttling to his hideout.

Amaranth, the yellow-green doe-fawn and the oldest of the little ones, also speaks of "those who are ruled by the Sun Princess" in hushed and ominous tones, when she is not trying to rope Lichen into being her "'iddle baby" when she plays house, and sets up tea parties on an old stump in the grotto that she makes him attend, since Orris isn't having it. Lichen's not often good at escaping this,and submits to it.

As the quietest and least obtrusive of the 3 fawns, in addition to the other two always trying to boss him around and him usually going along with it, Lichen found himself a tiny little nook in the middle of a patch of wild rose where he can hide and play his games of pretend. The tiny little clearing's entrance is too small for the bigger fawns to get into, so when he wants to be alone with his thoughts, he makes for the little hideout. Soft moss and pink mushrooms form a lovely carpet that he can lay in. Just the right amount of shimmery sunlight speckles the ground, and an old decayed cedar stump that fairly constantly grows shelf fungi sits in a corner. Often Lichen will build little houses out of sticks and twigs along the base of this stump in hopes that little insects will take up residence. In his mind and entire family of pill bugs lives there and think of him as their friendly neighbor.

When he is not hiding and playing quiet games of pretend, he often breaks from his cousins' woodland frolics to play a game he likes to call "the Everfree Freedom Brigade" where he jumps and pounces on various small shrubs pretending they are ponies who want to shepherd the plants and animals in the area with their magic, and he is a Robin Hood type figure who is fighting for their rights. A few times his parents caught him at this and gave him a stern talking to about making assumptions about creatures before he knew them.

Mostly though, Lichen just enjoys the wonder of the growing world around him, he is just so curious and in awe of the tiniest little things that grow and thrive in the forest, and can't wait to explore more wild areas when he grows up. And maybe, just maybe, visit some pony-tended forest to see if his parents are right. Of course, he won't admit it to them until he's much older, if they are right, but he wants to find that out on his own.

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Trilobite

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Looking good so far! I'm curious to see what Lichen's motivation will be, and whether it will be different from or even unrelated to his listed 'occupation'. I like what you did with that, by the way. Oh, and I know this is a work in progress, but I think you might mean 'became' rather than 'because' in the character summary. Not a problem whatsoever! Just thought I might point it out in case, like me, your eyes auto-correct when you proofread. Also, great use of 'chartreuse'. I love chartreuse, and it just doesn't get enough circulation.

Now I'm off to read more Peryton lore, and I'll be back.

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flutterscotch Equestrian

flutterscotch

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Thanks! I just needed to get him up there and secure the name until i can accurately describe his motivation. (hint, it is pretty similar to those of most 9 year old humans... "but Mooooooom, i'm old enough to go there by myself.")

More like my iPad auto-corrected for me . The thing's a terror! :)

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flutterscotch Equestrian

flutterscotch

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Yeah, it usually takes me 2 weeks or so to get a character done, but they do get done. Drives Tales nuts.

Sadly, I'm in crunch time at work, having some family issues, and I want him to be perfect, so I'll be dragging my feet a little bit more. :D

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flutterscotch Equestrian

flutterscotch

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I know, I know. What happens is that I have a firm idea in my head when I set out to write and think I can get it done in one sitting, and then change my mind mid-write. Or stumble on a transition sentence, in this case.

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Woot! Looking good. I love the backstory you filled in there, which seems to have a very personal tone, as in, to feels as though it's really the story of a character's life. I think you may be missing motivation still, and there might be a type or two in the backstory (like hebis instead of he is) but honestly I don't know how important the latter is. Otherwise the whole thing is really solid and I think this will be a great character.

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flutterscotch Equestrian

flutterscotch

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the Hebis was the only typo. "iddle" is intentional, it's meant to be affected. Other things showing up in my word editor as errors, Orris, Muntjac and Seafoam are words and acceptable.

And his motivation at this point is exploring the world and seeing if his parents are right, at least insofar as he has goals to strive for as he gets older. Perytons as a whole are not really ones for having career goals. They kind of just hang out in the woods and be magical. And right now he's the emotional and intellectual equivalent of a 6 year old human. Some know what they want to be when they grow up, or have set goals...some are just OK playing pretend all the time and wanting to see what's just beyond the boundaries their parents have already set up for them.

i don't want him to collect anything, or want to be a forest ranger or anything, I kind of want him to tend towards a naive almost doormat who goes along with anything with wide-eyed enthusiasm until he can run away and hide in his little secret spot when he gets overwhelmed or scared. He's not very assertive or decisive, and is rather gullible and malleable, as evidenced by how much control his older cousins have over him.

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Excellent! The motivation sounds good to me, and more importantly it sounds like you have a good grasp on what drives this little fellow. I might suggest copying and pasting some what you wrote above directly into the motivation section and calling it good!

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flutterscotch Equestrian

flutterscotch

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But it's already implied and/or stated in the application. It would be redundant information. Show don't tell.

I am not trying to be difficult here, but this character is SUPER simple, and people should be able to grasp that he doesn't quite have much figured out and just wants to see what's beyond the next hill without having to state it several times. He's just a kid.

If there was another kind of issue pointed out, that would be different. Wanting to explore because he's a kid and his family is kind of overprotective, and he had his head filled with weird ideas is really enough of a motivation for a small child.

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Trilobite

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Oh, I agree that the character is very clear and really well-written (and I totally agree with show, don't tell). I'm just uncertain as to whether that 'motivation' section needs to be filled in for it to be considered as a 'final' application or not. More a formality than because something is missing from the character--nothing is! Heck, you could probably move this over to 'Final' and see what folks have to say about it, then fill in something if it's required.

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