Asteria Stillheart [final]

[Gerrard]

Name: Asteria Stillheart

Race: Unicorn

Gender: Female

Age: Mare

Additional Status: Usually wears a dark hooded cloak to hide her cutie mark. It also can serve to hide her mane and tail.

Pelt colour: Jet Black

Mane/Tail colour and Style: She has a dark red mane and tail that are kept lightly trimmed back in length.

Eye colour: Crimson red

Cutie Mark: A silver griffon feather that denotes her familiarity with with a variety of species. It is usually kept hidden under her cloak to prevent strangers from easily identifying her as someone who associates with unusual creatures.

Physique: Asteria is relatively tall for a mare, able to look most stallions in the eyes without having to look up. She is extremely toned to the state of a marathon runner. Her muscles are not large, but they are well trained and she keeps herself at the minimum healthy weight for someone of her stature.

Current Residence: Asteria does not have an official home, finding such a thing pointless for someone who is always traveling. That being said, her base of operations is in Canterlot. She has been sent off to all the major cities across Equestria, and a few obscure locations of importance. In Canterlot, she lives in a room of her parent's manor, the unicorn residing in hotels while abroad.

Job: Asteria works as a courier who retrieves and delivers high profile items for equally important people. She works for the highest bidder, and often finds herself working for non-ponies. Asteria rationalizes that such clients are more willing to pay premium prices for her services and she can use that to pursue her goals further. Although she is not as fast as a pegasus, she delivers items in secret, using her profile as a unicorn to keep packages hidden and safe. When work is slow, she can sometimes be seen delivering normal items across short distances. The mare uses her talents to raise as much capital as possible for her investments in charities and organizations that support unfortunate and misunderstood ponies, and non-ponies across Equestria.

Mother: Elegant Star, a theater actress and former model in Canterlot.

Father: Stern Gavel, a judge of high esteem in Canterlot, well known to anyone in that circle.

Likes: Asteria comes off as apathetic to almost everything at first glance. Of course that isn't completely true because she does appreciate many things. She likes those who hold true to their ideals, especially those who refuse to lie. She appreciates those who are selfless enough to sacrifice their time and resources to help others that are less fortunate. Asteria likes to read while on travels and often finds herself learning things, cultural differences in particular, as she crosses Equestria.

Dislikes: Asteria tries to be open minded about everyone and everything. She does not like judging others, especially with limited information. The unicorn does not like people who nonchalantly lie and go out of their way to deceive others. She will usually not express her opinions, unless specifically asked to, because she feels that she could unfairly bias the opinions of others.

Backstory: Asteria was a strangely agreeable filly in her youth, the peculiar pony always looking to help and please her classmates. She never seemed to get flustered when playing with her classmates, the youth seeming well versed in maintaining her composure. Her last name, Stillheart, represents her calm demeanor that she slowly gained over time. The unicorn learned to rationalize the reasoning of others and learned that problems could be addressed by being impartial and understanding the motivation of all parties involved. She is a pony who always seeks to avoid conflict. If she angers someone, she will always apologize and seek a way to make amends with irritated parties. She earned her cutie mark when she delivered the work of a sick classmate to her teacher, the young pony learning she could help others by simply donating her time. After objectively thinking things over, she quickly came to the conclusion that some residents of Equestria, dragons and griffons in particular, tend to scare off delivery ponies with their presence. She also realized that nobody would expect a unicorn to be a courier, that profession normally reserved for pegasus. This allowed her to also deliver important items safely, most people not suspecting a unicorn to be a secret courier. Her father, a judge, was disappointed to find that his daughter took to a life of delivering items for shady characters, but Asteria was not one to irrationally forget her abilities. She took it upon herself to prove to her father that delivering important items for misunderstood characters could be a fulfilling career. Her first name, Asteria, is a play on the word hysteria, the very thing that the presence of her clients tend to bring on fearful ponies. After returning a dragon's gem that was stolen from him by burglars, her father begrudgingly accepted his daughter's career, admitting that there are individuals and items that need help, even if they are a scary dragon or a threatening griffon.

Strengths: Asteria is about as physically fit as a unicorn can manage, her constant travel across Equestria giving her the physique of a marathon runner. She is always open to hear the words of anyone she meets, be they a pony, dragon or some other creature. She is well versed in the customs of griffons and other creatures, speaking with them in a manner that respects their culture. She is aware and reliable, always focusing on her work and never letting it slip her mind.

Weaknesses/Flaws: Asteria's biggest weakness is her refusal to judge others without appropriate information on them. She can be very gullible about claims made by others because she always hopes for the best in others. She is very slow to make friends because she has a tendency to put her work above everything else. Asteria is able to think through situations thoroughly and objectively, but suffers from being very literal minded. She often misinterprets figures of speech and many metaphors, unintentionally misunderstanding the words of others. She doesn't tend to hold these understandings against others, somewhat aware of her odd disconnect.

Fears: Asteria prefers to go through things logically, and she deems that fear is irrational, causing others to make poor decisions. When put into a dangerous situation, she simply consolidates her position and tries to examine what is going on. While she isn't afraid of anything in particular, she often worries about certain things. She is always concerned about the task she is assigned to and hopes to not ruin her reputation by botching a job. Asteria is also wary that her efforts might not cause the desired positive effect and that her actions might prove her critics correct.

Overall Persona: At first glance, Asteria appears to be a very melancholy, if not completely apathetic pony. She is very secretive and never goes out of her way to reveal anything about herself. She always appears to be completely stoic, masking her thoughts behind an unflinching expression. Asteria is not a recluse though and understands that extremely suspicious activity would be counter productive to her goals. If approached, she will speak in the most polite of ways possible, and answer questions to the best of her ability while being as vague as possible about specifics about herself. She is prone to being too trustworthy with new strangers, almost refusing to judge others based on their immediate actions.

Picture Notes: Asteria will almost always be seen in a simple cloak, but on the occasional nights where her upper class Canterlot parents force her to a gala, she will often wear fancy clothing similar to this (as drawn by my friend IcyHooves), chosen of course by her doting mother.

[Blueblood]

Hm, a misunderstander of metaphors, and a fumbler of figures of speech? Wonder how she would deal with my torrential conversationalist, Wordsworth Psmith.

[Gerrard]

She would be confused, but I'm sure Wordsworth would have a few hearty heartfelt laughs.

[aFlatmajor]

Epic character and character app, if I do say so myself. Though you should mark this app as [Final] or [Wip], just to let RP staff and people know if it is ready for review.

[Gerrard]

Wait till you see the art of her that Brained drew for me on his stream =3

[Rosewind]

Is this application ready for review? Please tag it [Ready] in the title by editing your first post. Thanks!

[Gerrard]

I forgot and put it on the character name instead of Title, yes, she has been ready for a week.

[Mojo]

Wow Gerrard! This app looks amazing!

Very well written, all required fields are filled and you went to great lengths to describe this char!

She is original, and that counts a lot in my book.

There might be a little problem with the references to burgulary and crime in the app, but to me, they fit the character's backstory.

[starswirlthebearded]

I have only one issue... the ability to change her appearance is too much like changlings. That would probably have to be changed or removed. I remember a unicorn with a similar ability being denied when I first joined.

Otherwise this is a first rate app. Excellent work.

[Mojo]

I have only one issue... the ability to change her appearance is too much like changlings. That would probably have to be changed our removed. I remember a unicorn with a similar ability being denied when I first joined.

Otherwise this is a first rate app. Excellent work.

Good catch, starswirl, but I think if this is an ability to cast illusion spells, then it could be acceptable.

[Gerrard]

Any problems with the application then? Everything seems in order. She could change herself to look like something else, but her disposition wouldn't let her fool anyone familiar with them. It is more useful to simply not look like herself. There are minor petty crimes in Equestria, stealing or deception (think gilda theft, flim flam confidence scam, ect). Not to mention that a courier would a be safe way to deliver items in areas with dangerous monsters.

[starswirlthebearded]

Good catch, starswirl, but I think if this is an ability to cast illusion spells, then it could be acceptable.

I could be wrong, but when I asked robi about that before he said disguising magic was instant no. I'm not sure if this would be an exception due to the limits placed, but I suppose that would need word from Sr rp helper. But that is the only thing I noticed that might be an issue. Crime I'm not sure about, but I'd assume that would be another thing that would be discussed or a point of contention with the app.

[Rosewind]

After review, the SRPs have decided that this character's use of illusion magic to change appearances and make herself invisible is not compatible with Mane RP rules. I'm very sorry, as I know this character is built heavily around that idea. I also recognize you attempted to balance this idea with a fault (her personality giving her away), but there are too many problems that can arise from this. The Changelings as an entire race were deemed unfit for play in Mane RP because of their ability to copy the look of other characters or creatures, which would create confusion within the roleplay. This character (as she is designed now) hinges too closely to that design element. I have some suggestions, to help you reshape this application into something we can stamp with confidence:

1. Avoid specifics on "special" abilities and talents, as these typically gain the most scrutiny for balance, and create the most frustration for the player.

2. Make use of other creative ways for this character to illusion herself. Use of camouflage would be okay, but using magic to vanish or change her appearance into that of another will not work.

3. Try to lighten the tone of this application. She shouldn't be so scary-looking or nightmarish that other ponies should cower in her presence, or she should have to apologize to others for how she looks. Equestria just isn't that kind of place. I know Zecora could be a counter-argument to that, but she was different because of her race as a zebra, vocation, and choice of home that caused the gossip, not her appearance in general.

Please remember that Mane RP is a lighthearted extension of FiM, so your design choices for a character should reflect one that might be seen in the cartoon for real. If you have any questions, or wish to throw sharp objects at me, please feel free to ask!

[Gerrard]

Like my OC, I am objective enough to accept your feedback. I have altered the tone of the application, her appearance not meant to be a major portion of the application. Her race serves as a great way to avoid attention as a courier now, most ponies expecting pegasus to be delivering important packages. There is no mention of her specific talents, her magic kept vague as you suggested.

[Rosewind]

Thanks! The changes look much better, and I think you've given Asteria more personality and complexity as a result. We have one more thing to ask for, and this application will be ready:

She is a fluent speaker of the native tongues of griffons and dragons, speaking with them in their own language out of respect to their culture.

I'm sorry we did not catch this the first time, but this part of the application will need to be removed. No language barrier exists, or canon evidence to suggest that either dragons or griffons have their own native language. Once that part is changed, this application will be finally ready to go!

[Gerrard]

Fixed to simply be culturally sensitive. (Dragons and Griffons having their own spin on how to go about things)

[Rosewind]

Have fun!