Daahir N'em [Ready]

[Zeig]

Roleplay Type: WoE

Name: Daahir N'em, roughly translating into 'Pure Waters'

Sex: Male

Age: Young Stallion

Species: Abada

Eye colour: A pale orange

Coat: A healthy but muted brown, with long fetlocks falling over his cloven hooves.

Mane/Tail: Daahir's mane is dull green in color, and falls in messy and tussled waves around his face, as if he doesn't take the time to groom it on a daily basis. His mane also spots one lock of hair that has a white tip, and it usually falls in the middle of his face. The hair on Daahir's tail is similarly colored, and has grown so long that it more resembles a very long zebra's tail than a boar's.

Physique: Sleek and slender, Daahir's body is leaner, longer, and taller than the body of an average Earth Pony. It's made to quickly leap through dense jungles and even across treetops, rather than open plains and savannas.

Residence: Near the southern edge of the Brakenweald in Unyasi. A small treehouse near the top of a very large jungle tree serves as his primary home, though it is not uncommon for him to construct and dismantle temporary shelters while he is out gathering resources in the jungle.

Occupation: N/A. Daahir and his sister are foragers and survivalists, living off the wild and having no need to work for modern currency.

Cutie Mark: A stylized droplet of water, signifying Daahir's special talent of purifying substances, in particular water.

Daahir grew up foraging off the wilds of Unyasi, but that never meant it was easy. A particularly harsh drought hit the country when the Abada was a young colt, and even the wet rainforests and jungles of the Brakenweald began to suffer for it. Both of his parents were talented aether-users who were able to continually produce edible foods, but water was a different story, as none of Daahir's family was strong or talented enough to simply create water from nothing.

Their family eventually decided to move to a spring some distance away for the duration of the drought, in order to be close to a water source. Even before they arrived however, they could feel the imbalance in nature beneath their hooves. Daahir's family came to the spring to find it dank and sullied, the plants around it wilting. It was obvious that the spring had somehow become poisoned, but it was impossible to explain how.

Overcome with both anger and despair, Daahir collapsed by the spring with his sister, while their parents frantically discussed what to do. Thirsty and parched from the long journey, the young foal yearned for fresh, clean water to drink, heedless of everything else around him. Daahir was so lost in his wanting for a drink that it took him a moment to acknowledge the frantic calls of his sister, who was quick to point out a sudden clearing in the water where his horn was dipped into, before it quickly faded.

Overhearing, his parents thought for a moment, before taking their water jug and scooping out a smaller portion of water for Daahir. Again, the young Abada focused all his desires on wanting pure, clean water to drink, and before long, the water was purified. Daahir's family gratefully drank up the water, while the young colt himself marveled at his new mark, his newly revealed talent for purification enough to put a genuine smile on his face.

Unique Traits: Unlike the majority of Unicorns, Daahir's magic is focused on supplementing and complimenting the natural, rather than going against it. He can no more magically bend a spoon than he can conjure a sofa out of thin air, but few can match his control over plant life. Daahir can bend tree branches without hurting them to allow him safe passage across treetops, and control vines to both gently pick him up and violently lash about to ward off dangers. He is also skilled enough to rapidly grow crops and fruits, useful for an unintended outing into the jungle.

The obsidian-colored ornament on his necklace was crafted and shaped to resemble the tip of an Abadan's horns, gifted to Daahir before his parents left for Amani. Knowing of his ambitions to visit and explore the land of Unicorns across the sea, the ornament is meant to be both a good luck charm, and a remainder of Daahir's heritage and history in the Brakenweald. The young Abada usually keeps the ornament strung up around his neck along with some other, nonsensical beads.

History: Growing up as part of an isolated and reclusive family, Daahir has lived a simplistic but hard-working life. Born in the wild jungles of the Brakenweald, Daahir grew up in a very small and isolated herd of Abada consisting of himself, his sister and parents, and one unrelated elder. The five Abada lived a peaceful, if labored, life, and Daahir was taught all the skills he needed to survive in the jungle from a very early age. He and his sister were raised to be self-sufficient, and the small herd of Abada wandered the jungle, content with their relatively tranquil lives.

However, the herd was not entirely self-contained, as Daahir began to learn. The elder Abada would sometimes disappear for months at a times, and Daahir soon found out that she ventured into the Zebra settlement of Mti Nguvu once every few years or so, bartering rare and exotic plants from deep within the jungle for goods that made their lives easier - clay pots were used to store rainwater, while salts could preserve some dried foods for longer. They weren't strictly necessary for their herd's survival, but Daahir learned that they were entirely useful.

Age eventually caught up to the herd, unfortunately, and the elder Abada passed away in the middle of one night. Now down to four, the concerns of Daahir's parents shifted to taking over the responsibility of interacting with Zebra settlements for their needs - specifically, they discussed traveling to settlements aside from Mti Nguvu, feeling that the dwindling herd needed to integrate more into Zebra civilization. After letting the elder Abada take care of bartering with Zebras for so long however, the entire family felt some fear and apprehension over the prospect, simply having grown used to only interacting with the herd and the jungle.

Eventually, it was Daahir and his father who took up the mantle of venturing into Zebra settlements. Their first few trips into Mti Nguvu were frightening and gut-wrenching, but after the uneventful encounters, they soon learned they had nothing to fear from the peaceful settlement. As he became a young adult, Daahir soon took over the responsibility himself, becoming quite at ease among the leafy canopy of the tree city. The foalhood stories he had grown up with, about stripe-faced potion masters wanting to steal his horns, were nothing more than folk tales, scary stories that had scared him when he was younger.

It was during one of these bartering sessions that Daahir met a visiting pony from a land across the sea, who called herself a Unicorn and had only a single horn upon her skull. Daahir was intrigued to learn of other ponies that could control the aether as his family could, and expressed this interest with his parents. This conversation eventually prompted more discussion within the family, with Daahir's growing interest in this faraway land filed with Unicorns being the forefront, until it was decided that the herd of only blood-relatives should split up. Daahir and his sister chose to remain together, and together they bid farewell to their parents who chose to head south towards the region of Amani.

His interest in seeing the land of Unicorns has no changed since then, but at the present, Daahir contents himself with his continued bartering amongst Zebra settlements, and has even begun earning some metal currency that will apparently be needed if he and his sister should ever hope to cross the sea. The young Abada is content to wait however, and continues his life amongst the wild trees of the Brakenweald, careful and free.

Character Personality: Given the stories he's grown up with, it's no surprise that Daahir has grown into a defensive and paranoid young stallion. With a penchant for mistrusting anything he is unfamiliar with, Daahir is a mercurial and volatile young Abada who feels and often acts as if the weight of the entire world is upon his shoulders - especially when his sister playfully throws herself onto his back. Thanks to the isolation and separation his herd had from others, Daahir often forgets that he and his sister are not alone, that they could easily settle down in a Zebra settlement if they so chose. They simply don't, carrying out the ways of the herd they grew up within. This sometimes overwhelming sense of isolation has manifested into a stiff and humorless facade that Daahir presents to the rest of the world, and each day is a constant struggle to keep his temper in check.

Perhaps the most debilitating aspect of Daahir's personality is his paranoia of anything and everything that isn't the Brakenweald. Like most foals, Daahir and his sister grew up with folk tales and stories, and given the separation his herd practiced from other civilizations, those stories tended to focus on naughty Abada who ran away from home only to be spirited away by other species who were jealous of the Abadans' two horns. Whether or not those types of folks tales hold any grain of truth is irrelevant - Daahir has learned, just as his parents and sister did, that other species are not to be trusted, even Zebras as they are renowned potion makers. His and his parents' outings into Mti Nguvu and beyond have worked to soften those foalhood lessons, but they still can't completely erase what Daahir has been taught all his life. He is entirely cautious and wary with whatever venture he undertakes, and no matter how many times he has made the same venture.

While mistrustful and fearful of the general world around him, Daahir's grim persona is prevalent in his wanderings around the Brakenweald. He is still serious and dour when in the comfort of the jungle, often nagging his younger sister to be more careful or aware of her surroundings, and prefers keeping watch in the trees to splashing around rain puddles on the ground. With his parents down south and living out their years in the beautiful region of Amani, Daahir views himself as 'the stallion' of the herd, taking his role of leading and protecting his sister very seriously. The young Abada's temper runs hot, often resulting in quick outbursts of raised voices, sometimes over nonsensical and utterly harmless things. Luckily for him, his sister understands the pressures he places upon himself, and never resents him for his outbursts.

Despite the stoic face he wears over his mercurial temperament however, Daahir is not made of stone. A friendly relationship goes a long way in causing the Abada to loosen up, allowing him to laugh freer and easier, even if he doesn't do it often. Though he doesn't take much humor from anything, Daahir is fairly sarcastic in nature, finding what laughter he does in wry or ironic situations, and is wildly competitive, racing creatures across the jungle flooring from time to time. Daahir is not a fan of losing, whether his made-up contests with jungle creatures or anything greater, and has a persistent drive to get what it is he is seeking. He is a compassionate Abada who cares about others and can empathize with them, but most often places his own sense of survival and selfishness above others.

Character Summary: Daahir is just about what one could expect from a being who's lived his entire life in a jungle - stiff, mistrustful, and temperamental, an unforgiving jungle to those that throw themselves head-long into the thicket without any idea of what they face. However, those that can navigate their way through the dense brush can find a softer core to the Abada, a young colt like any other who simply wants to live his life out with his sister.

[QuickLime]

It's a really neat character and concept, but that's a LOT of lore building and I dunno if the staff are okay with you inventing a whole new species, good luck to you though!

[Zeig]

The new RP changes include "FiM appropriate" species being included. To be honest, I wasn't sure how the staff was going to judge newly apped species because all of them would require some sort of lore building, but I wanted to give it a try anyways. The Abada have also been mentioned on the forums already (and I can link the threads) and I didn't make them up - you can do a Google search for them, they're basically the African equivalent of a Unicorn. And since we have an African inspired country on the forum map, I thought an Abada was a pretty appropriate species for FiM. So it's not like I made up an entire new species that has no basis anywhere else except in my head.

We'll see how it goes. Again, not sure how new species can be added without there being some lore building on the part of the RPer, but it doesn't hurt to try.

[Rosewind]

I had a feeling an application like this would come along. My immediate (and main) caveat here is that this application reads more like a lore write up to explain this new species rather than a character-focused subject of merit. That's not to say this species (or the application itself) is bad, it's just a stretch with the sheer amount of lore you've needed to use in your write up here. 

 

I will say that having a unique OC is great. Making it too unique can be a turn off for other players if they're forced to reference an essay on what your character is, and how to play with them. Unique traits or species do not make a good OC; your ability to play a character well in a balanced roleplay with others -- in a way that will give equal amounts of spotlight to all participants -- is the crux of what makes a good roleplayer. A skilled player can back up any creation they can throw into the game, rather than rely on super special characters to make things interesting.

 

Don't get me wrong, the characters do count too. It's an art of balance, one that is difficult and unwieldy to impose on a wacky roleplay based on a kids' cartoon. But, we do it anyway. I know you're a passionate person Zeig, I see it in your art and with the various characters I've seen you make here. I've been talking with my staff about this specific character, and we're at a bit of an impasse.

 

So, here's my idea: if you're willing, I'd like you to explain why this character would be a good addition for our roleplay. If you can give examples of how it can expand and improve the game for everyone (rather than just you trying to get a super-unique character species into WoE), it would be really helpful in convincing me to pass this application. Good luck!

[Zeig]

To be perfectly honest, when I saw how fast an admin posted in this thread, I was expecting an immediate "sorry but no". This is already more than I was hoping for, so I thank the RP staff for giving me a chance.

Before I make any changes though, or attempt to explain the benefits of adding Abada to the forums, there's one major point that I need clarification on. The whole premise on Abada being sparse and thought to be nothing but a legend comes from material that already establishes them as such on the forums - Abada have been 'canonized' as a zebra myth on Canterlot.com. That's why I built up so much lore to explain that they weren't a myth, they were simply scattered, they had stories explaining why they should hide themselves away in the jungle, etc (and I felt most of the lore building I did was related specifically to Daahir's family rather than all Abada). I wasn't attempting to make a, "super-unique character species", I was trying to abide by what's already been established as canon.

So my question is, what should I do about this premise? Just, ignore it? Continuity is a very important RPing aspect to me, which is, again, why I went with this "lost civilization and lost species" aspect of the application. Honestly, I can change this part of the application up (Abada being a thought-to-be extinct species is not a super critical part of Daahir's character), but again, I designed parts of his personality, lifestyle, and family this way in order to adhere to canon that had been established on the site years before.

[Bellosh]

Just to clear something up, we don't take RP threads into consideration when determining the acceptability of world-building lore. As far as applications are concerned, only the FiM TV show and our Lore writeups count. My advice for setting up your Abada's background is to concentrate only on his particular circumstances. Do not concern yourself with what the rest of his species is up to; no single player is authorized make such a call.

[Rosewind]

Continuity is important, but so is accessibility and making things work for the sake of other players in this game. Again, we're back to balance. I have to look at each character (or major game inclusion) subjectively. What are the pros? What are the cons? How will it affect the game for one player? For all of them?

 

We've built an exceedingly complex roleplay here, and it often comes down to honoring a system we must hold fast to keep within the spirit of what it is based on: Friendship is Magic. We've made a lot of concessions and allowed things to go beyond typical cartoon canon, but this is only done if the context dictates that we are not abandoning this fundamental value. It could very well be this new species "already existed" in the roleplay, but never in any official capacity at the behest of our source material. Right now I'm questioning if this species would make a worthy and worthwhile inclusion in the game based on the information you are presenting.

 

Back to your character, frame your information more about who he is, not what he is. You don't have to rewrite much, just give more consideration about any absolute statements you're making regarding the species -- or roleplay lore as a whole -- and focus on the individual traits of your character outside the bounds of his species. Bellosh gave some very sound feedback that echoes my sentiment: don't worry about the species as a whole. That is, indeed, not your call to make, and sets up limits for other players that may want to make their own characters using this species if we choose to pass this.

[Zeig]

Alright, I understand. Honestly, not needing to follow the canon that's been established for Abada helps things immensely, since the lore-building I did concentrating on explaining why that canon existed. Changes have been made to the application to be looked over.

As for what benefit Abada could bring to RP on these forums, diversity is the obvious answer. All the countries we have on the forums here, with the exception of Equestria, boil down to one species. Unyasi is the land of Zebras, Whitescar is the land of Caribou, Aquelia is the land of Griffons. But Africa isn't home to just zebras, there are oryxes and impalas and hippos. Adding other species to the list provides more diversity for each country but still keeps the real-world influence for each country in tact.

Plus, Unicorns are so insanely popular because (at least from what I can tell) they can actively control magic, whereas no other species can. Players like having that control because it allows them to play around with a power that will never be seen in reality. Everyone wants to be a wizard after all. Abada can, again, add to that diversity, give players another species to explore and experiment with. How would an Unyasan Unicorn differ from an Equestrian one? Would they use the same terms or call 'magic' something different? There's another choice now, if a player wants to make a character that can use magic.

[Rosewind]

Your application reads much better now.

 

Just to clarify: this character is not as powerful (magically) as a unicorn, correct? And their horns grow back after being snapped? The reason I ask is we typically disallow any kind of snapped-horn trope as part of the generally-accepted unicorn lore sphere. (Imagine that coming up in a conversation off this forum, eh?)

 

I'll need some time to process this, and allow my staffers some time to mull on it before we come to a decision. Thanks for your patience while we hash this out, Zeig!

[Zeig]

No, Daahir is not particularly powerful. I'll try to word it better in his unique traits section, but I was trying to explain that any magic talent he has is uniquely focused on manipulating the natural world. He can't power a steam engine or cast fire spells, but he can make plants grow rapidly and sometimes in unfavorable conditions, that sort of thing. So he's not as versatile as a Unicorn is, which makes him less powerful maybe?

Honestly, I didn't give much thought as to whether or not he's as magically powerful as a standard Unicorn - since the idea was that they are the Unyasan equivalent of Unicorns, I thought Abada would be as talented with magic as the average Unicorn, stronger or weaker depending on the individual character. If Abada needing to be less powerful than Unicorns is required for the species to be accepted however, than I wouldn't mind that. He's not going to be competing with powerful magic users or anything like that.

And ah, I see. I must have misread/misheard something about Unicorn horns then, because I thought I read/heard something about them being able to grow back (and I've seen them getting bitten/snapped off in RPs, only for them to grow back). Also, Abada horns growing back quickly was part of Dubstep's original write-up for the species, which I was trying to subtly follow in deference to him. But this isn't too big of a detail for the character - again, I wouldn't mind changing this part of the app. But yeah, as he is designed right now, Abadan horns grow back rather rapidly after being snapped off.

There's no rush here, thanks to you and the staff for taking the time to look this over and consider it.

[Bellosh]

Honestly, I didn't give much thought as to whether or not he's as magically powerful as a standard Unicorn - since the idea was that they are the Unyasan equivalent of Unicorns, I thought Abada would be as talented with magic as the average Unicorn, stronger or weaker depending on the individual character. If Abada needing to be less powerful than Unicorns is required for the species to be accepted however, than I wouldn't mind that. He's not going to be competing with powerful magic users or anything like that.

 

Consensus among the Staff is that Abada should not be able to wield magic as effectively as a Unicorn. Gameplay-wise, we want to ensure that unicorns maintain their niche as the magically dominant species. ^_^

[QuickLime]

...All hail the Unicorn overlords!

[Zeig]

That works for me - Daahir wasn't intended to be as magically component as Unicorns anyways, more that he has a firm control over a specific type of magic usage.

[Bellosh]

Okie dokie, completed my run-through of this app, and there's only one passage I want to comment on:

 

According to old stories that have been passed down in his herd, Abada horns used to be freely donated and shared amongst Abada as powerful potion ingredients. By the time Daahir's parents were born, that practice had all but died out within his herd, save for his mother's parting gift.

 

Since we're dealing with an extended-canon species based off of real-world mythology, the underlying concept behind it should be as simple and uncomplicated as possible. Otherwise, this experimental system we've set up can easily be exploited by unscrupulous players attempting to app an OP character. While nothing is wrong with the idea of chipping off horn tips for potion ingredients per say, to err on the side of caution, we have to disallow it. Without official WoE Lore to back you up, RPH will be powerless to mandate this trait for all Abada OCs.

[Zeig]

Alright, fair enough. Again, that bit of lore was more in deference to the author of the original Abada write-up rather than being a necessity to the character, so it was an easy change. I think all references to their horns being donated or chipped off have been removed.

[MidnightMask]

He is also skilled enough to rapidly grow crops and fruits, useful for an unintended outing into the jungle.

Not an admin or anything, but doesn't this sort of step on the one magic trait Earth ponies have in forum canon?

[Zeig]

The same way a Unicorn who's special talent is manipulating plant life steps on Earth Pony magic, I suppose. I'm fairly certain I didn't mention that as a trait all Abada share, just Daahir specifically.

[Rosewind]

I thought about the plant-growth thing too, but I trust you'll keep that in proper check. It seems to be a compliment to the character design, rather than a defining trait.

 

Okay Zeig, you have our blessing. Do us proud with your new creation in bringing more diversity to the World of Equestria roleplay.

 

[Bellosh]

Not an admin or anything, but doesn't this sort of step on the one magic trait Earth ponies have in forum canon?

 

Nobody cares for earth ponies anyway; they're too dull and ordinary to make OP characters with.