Zebra Akila

[Dunes]

Name: Akila

Sex: Female

Age: Mare

Species: Zebra

Coat Color: White

Mane/Tail/Markings Color & Style: Typical zebra marking pattern. Medium brown/ginger stripes. Mane looks like a typical zebra mane, albeit a bit messy. Hair on tail is all one color, and generally spiky and windswept-looking.

Eye Color: Pinkish brown.

Tribal Symbol: See spoiler tag below!

Physique: Tall and muscular. Bigger and generally more masculine-looking than the other mares in her tribe.

Origin: Savannah, but wanders around quite a bit, and not entirely by choice.

Roleplay Type: Mane

Occupation: Warrior (more like a tribal guard/defender), but is on a mission. Quest. Thing.

Motivation: To live a normal life in her tribe, and do her duty. They do not always coincide. She also wants to be a proper singer for her tribe, but is willing to let it wait until she is older and not so good of a warrior anymore.

Likes: (optional) Singing, keeping the ones she loves safe, not being stared at, her dog (Jelani, a rhodesian ridgeback/african lion dog), girly stuff/anything that shows she is Not Male

Dislikes: (optional) Situations she can't muscle out of, being stared at and/or mistaken for male, wastes of time

Character Summary: It started with a dream; one she now regrets having.

Akila's life had been as ordinary as it could've been for a zebra such as herself. Her ginger stripes meant she stuck out as it was, and then she had to go and grow to be so much bigger and more muscular than the other fillies. The others often joked that she looked like a colt. Her cousin, Eulah, was the most frequent and cruel. Akila tended to get in a lot of fights, and won them frequently. Her brawls with Eulah became a frequent occurrence; Eulah was one of the few who matched Akila for strength and determination.

Akila hated it, but the tribe saw it as an opportunity. Here was a filly who was big, strong, and distinct from the others -- the perfect distraction and defense should the tribe be attacked! With some urging, she trained for the warrior rank. When she was grown, she undertook the Warrior Trials. She passed tests of speed, strength, and endurance, and spent a month in the dry grasslands, alone - a test of survival. Upon her return, she was accepted to the warrior rank, and was given her tribal tattoo.

Apart from occasional monster attacks, when the warriors of the tribe would pull together to defend their home, the Warrior Trials were the hardest thing she'd had to endure. As a grown mare, and a warrior of some rank, she even commanded some respect within her tribe. The taunts had stopped, and many of her former tormentors became friends, or else kept respectful distance. She and Eulah had even begun to mend bridges.

She felt somewhat apart from the other mares in her tribe; she found she had much more in common with the other warriors. She got more of their jokes, for one thing (not that she got many, even then). It wasn't as if she wasn't clever, precisely. She just understood things she could touch a little better than she understood wordplay. Warrior jokes involved far more foodfights and pranks. She liked those.

She did want to be closer to the other mares. They traded jewelry, which she liked, and they sang songs, which she really liked, but she felt a bit like an elephant in a pottery shop around them. Still, they were nice enough to her.

All in all, she was happy, and felt she'd found her place.

But then she had that inconvenient dream.

In it, strange, angry creatures she had never seen before swarmed the village. They were all so different. Some looked like large, gaunt zebras, but with no stripes, and were of different colors. Some had horns, some had wings, some had none. Others looked even stranger - creatures that were half-lion, half bird (such a thing!); ones that looked like ordinary lizards, but so much larger; still others she couldn't make out at all. Monsters certainly lurked close by, but these were like nothing she had seen before. It was the most fitful and unsettling nightmare of her life.

Akila thought that so terrifying a dream must be an illness, or perhaps something slightly mystical. So she sought the advice of one of the tribe's elders, known for her mystical wisdom; her aunt. The elder's interpretation was quite a bit more mystical than Akila had hoped.

These creatures, the elder explained, did exist. Not half so corrupted and terrifying, but they walked the world nonetheless. The twisted forms she saw might have been angry spirits, or a symbol of these foreign creatures bearing their village ill-will, perhaps readying an attack. That Akila saw this meant she was to take steps to prevent it - she must go abroad and seek the source, be it spirits or earth-beings.

"But I'm not a mystic, or a diplomat, nor do I want to be!" Akila said.

"Too bad. It was your dream," her aunt grinned.

Akila had a funny feeling this was retribution for all of the swollen eyes and bruises she'd given her cousin over the years.

Still, though she might have heard descriptions of foreign creatures abroad when she was a little filly (she couldn't quite remember), and it might have just been a nightmare from all that stress... Her aunt was an elder. Akila didn't think she could very well go on with any respect in the tribe if she ignored a direct request, especially one that sounded so important. She was of the opinion it was a colossal waste of time, and wasn't entirely sure how much of that spiritual mumbo-jumbo she really believed anymore, but Akila the Warrior never shirked her duties. She'd treat it with all due reverence... stupid a task as it was.

So, with only a vague idea of what she was supposed to be doing, and a nagging feeling that she was being punished, she and her dog Jelani set out to explore. Maybe she could scrape together some proof that she'd pacified something, just to shut her aunt up.

--------------

(And, yes, the intention is that her aunt is just messing with her; I'm not trying to set her up to be some sort of Mythical Tribal Savior, tempting as it would be to have her shout, "I AM THE KWIZEBRA HADERACH!")

---

EDIT: PICTURE FINISHED!

Akila and Jelani! First time I've ever done anything in Flash. Can't believe I'd waited that long! That program is awesome once you know what the tools do.

Jelani's little ridge is dyed red. I'm debating putting other tribal markers on him, but he's a dog. He might just lick them off.

Tribal mark explanation behind the spoiler -

I'm a little unsure of the last one. I do know that, for sure, they try to work in the tribe's symbol (the swooping bird) and that zebra's class into each mark, but the other stuff is kinda just... stuff I saw.

I squeezed as much of her personality into it as I could! Marking this as final.

[Pony_Sage]

Hay there Dunes, pleasure to meet you! Since this is an application for a Zebra I thought I would stop by and lend a helping hoof, as it were. I like seeing more Zebras out there, I really do. For quite some time, Monty was one of the few Zebras on the boards. As you can see, the colour of Akila's stripes won't be a problem at all. It seems as though you have read through the Zebra lore, and if you haven't, may I suggest doing so to help you along with the character's development.

First things first though, the field titled cutie-mark, if you could please change that to Tribal Symbol: it would be greatly appreciated. As it stands the Tribal symbols, although similar to cutie-marks do not appear in the same manner, they are in fact tattoos that represent both the tribe and that Zebra's special talent. Since the tribes wander more often than not, and have very little communication between each other outside the Festival of Life, it is quite possible that this tribe might only know of vague descriptions of the outside world. After all Unyasi, the Zebra Homeland is an island, here is a map to help you out a little. You might want to add a little more on her personality, she seems the type to have dogged determination in the face of any adversity, am I correct? Which has a very nice contrast against her love of looking more like a female, this could make for some fun RPing to be honest!

I just want to point out really quickly, even though she lives in Unyasi, you can RP with her anywhere on the map. Also at the moment Unyasi is kind of a ghost town, so there might not be that many RP's going on there. If you started one with this character, after approval of course, that would be a wonderful thing. All in all, I like the Zebra, I like the direction you are taking her in, and I can't wait to see her completed! I hope the pointers I have given you help out a little!

~Sage AkA Freddie Freewings

[Dunes]

Ohhh I totally missed the map! That's awesome.

Oops, yeah, forgot the bit about the cutie mark field. It was rather late when I wrote this - flash of inspiration and I wanted to get it written down before bed, y'know.

Her personality is sorta still in the works, too, but I do see her as being determined, devoted, and loving, but without much of a sense of humor and easily irritated. One of those "nice if you get to know her, but kind of a drag otherwise" types. Which I do think would be fun to contrast with "loves frou-frou girly stuff". I'll do some thinking on it and tinker with that a little later today.

But oh! The thought occurs that I'm not exactly sure what the norm is for male zebras, so I am not sure what appearance standard she'd be rebelling against. I know Zecora wears jewelry, and the neck rings she wears are probably equivalent to the neck rings that women in a few African and Asian cultures wear. Would male zebras wear jewelry, and would it be significantly different than what the females wore? Hmm.

I do intend to see if I can start somethin' in the zebra boards, but thought it might be a smart idea to work it into her story that she'd pop up in a variety of places, considering how slow it is over there at the moment!

[Dessa]

But oh! The thought occurs that I'm not exactly sure what the norm is for male zebras, so I am not sure what appearance standard she'd be rebelling against. I know Zecora wears jewelry, and the neck rings she wears are probably equivalent to the neck rings that women in a few African and Asian cultures wear. Would male zebras wear jewelry, and would it be significantly different than what the females wore? Hmm.

At least as far as Africans go, it looks like the Ndebele used to rock the neck rings:

So I checked out "Ndebele Men" if you were thinking of sticking to that tribal theme:

Luckily enough, some warrior images were among the first hits!

Googled a few other warrior tribes as well: Maasai, Zulu, and Samburu, because I was curious about the differences between men and women's wear too, and wow, there's some cool stuff out there. I grabbed a few images of African warriors:

Maasai:

This lion-guy is awesome. I can see a pony dressed as a lion in my head right now.

Most Maasai Warrior pics I see look like this though:

By western standers it looks kinda feminine, but I wouldn't wanna mess with that guy.

Zulu:

Interestingly enough, I also saw some images of Zulu women wearing the same thing as below.

This guy's face paint is AWESOME, and looks simple enough to adapt to a drawing a pony

Samburu:

These guys can get pretty ornate:

Plenty more in the googles. Looks like in a lot of cases, the women are even MORE decked out, with big cumbersome (but pretty!) neckwear and the like.

[Dunes]

Holy awesome! Thanks for finding those! I LOVE the lion-face guy. *Squint* Though... I think the guy with the face paint might... just have a watermark over his face. It would be totally badass as face paint though.

Buahaha, I guess this means I get to draw some super ornate jewelry! I think I'll draw her as going over-the-top. And maybe draw some male zebras too. I feel all inspired now!

I think it would be fun to write her in a pony jewelry store or something. BUY ALL THE THINGS!

[Dunes]

Would I be allowed to come up with a few basic conventions for this tribe she comes from? (Subject to approval and input, of course.) Simple stuff like "dudes tend to wear this kind of jewelry, in these colors, and girls tend to wear this stuff, here's what they tend to wear in common, here's some examples of what their body art looks like and means..." Since tribes aren't all that interconnected and all, and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of zebra activity, I wondered if it might be within bounds to do so.

I... I just love worldbuilding so much.

[Dessa]

Perfect! Because right now there's a lot of worldbuilding going on here over in the world and lore discussion threads (mane rp-> world & lore discussion. I can post a link when I get to a real computer, and not this iPad).

You may need to get approved before you can post there, but I'm not sure about that. If you can post, just start up a thread and maybe some other folks will get on board?

In any case, they tend to give you a lot of space to define stuff like that. I can't speak for the mods, but you probably won't run into much trouble if you stay in theme.

[Pony_Sage]

Hello again! Sorry it took so long for me to get back to this topic today, I could only use the laptop for so long, it was a very busy day. I would like to correct myself if I may. I made an error as pertaining to the Zebra's 'Flank-mark'. As it stands, in the board's cannon at least, the Zebra race does indeed have what falls under the blanket term of 'Cutie-Mark'. Also as it currently stands, this 'cutie-mark' is acceptable is both forms, magically appearing, as it were, or tattooed on as a right of passage. I felt it remiss not to correct my previous statement as pertaining to that aspect of the character.

Now as for developing her tribe, I see no problem with that, and to be honest I'm not sure if you have to be accepted into the RP group to be able to post in the proposed lore section. You might want to post this topic in the OOC Chatter section. Since the Tribe would act as almost her extended family. There are two other 'family' threads being posted at the moment, so a Tribe post would make all the sense in the world. Describe a bit about them, ask some questions, propose ideas about the tribe. Who knows maybe somepony will want to join the tribe!

As said above, I can not wait to see this character come to completion, she seems like a very interesting Zebra! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to PM any one of the staff members here, I am sure that they will be able to answer your questions! And if you ever want to talk about Zebra world building, feel free to shoot me a PM!

~Sage AkA Freddie Freewings

[Dunes]

Edited to add some WIP pictures!

[Dessa]

Art looks great, mang.

[Pony_Sage]

I really like where this character is going! You have pretty much everything a good application needs. You already said that you are working on her personality a bit more, so it seems that you are on-top of everything that needs to be done! Plus your pictures are rather well done, I can't wait to see them finished to be honest with you. The explanation behind the tribal mark is top notch as well. We don't have that many Zebras and it will be wonderful to have you in the Mane RP once the character gets processed through! I shall keep an eye out for a final tag!

~Sage AkA Freddie Freewings

P.S. The Zebra lore went through a major tune up, although not much changed it was made more verbose and descriptive. You might want to take another gander at it to see if it might help you out with anything that you are stuck on! Here.

[Dunes]

I really like where this character is going! You have pretty much everything a good application needs. You already said that you are working on her personality a bit more, so it seems that you are on-top of everything that needs to be done! Plus your pictures are rather well done, I can't wait to see them finished to be honest with you. The explanation behind the tribal mark is top notch as well. We don't have that many Zebras and it will be wonderful to have you in the Mane RP once the character gets processed through! I shall keep an eye out for a final tag!

~Sage AkA Freddie Freewings

P.S. The Zebra lore went through a major tune up, although not much changed it was made more verbose and descriptive. You might want to take another gander at it to see if it might help you out with anything that you are stuck on! Here.

Oooh, rockin'! That was a cool read. Makes me feel like I should expand on her relations with her family... Right now it sorta seems like her tribe doesn't like her, when really, most of it was "kids can be major jerks sometimes". (Even in a nice place where everyone generally gets along! E.g., Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara.) Her aunt definitely holds a grudge, but there's one of those in every family. I'm gonna put on some tunes and work on this!

[Dunes]

Updated and marked as final!

[Pony_Sage]

"Assessed!" Thus spake the Sage.

[Skye]