Unicorn Solemn Song [Final]

[LysanderasD]

[Ready for analysis.]

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria

Name: Solemn Song

Sex: Female

Age: Young Mare

Species: Unicorn

Eye Color: Dark brown, bordering on black

Coat Color: Laurel green (#A9BA9D), which is a very pale color, bordering on grey.

Mane/Tail/Markings Color & Style: Beaver brown (#9F8170), which is, again, extremely pale. Her tail is kept short and precisely groomed, and her mane is almost always done up into a bun.

Physique: Smallish, and delicately built.

Cutie Mark: A white whole rest over a black circle

Origin/Residence: Born in Canterlot; still lives there, though not in the same house.

Occupation: Composer, though this is primarily on the side. Most of her time is spent as a librarian in one of Canterlot's smaller and less-visited libraries.

Motivation: Understanding the eventual inevitabilities of life, Solemn derives her greatest pleasure from indirectly making others' lives better, usually by imposing order on the things she can control. While she is far from social, she does derive joy from seeing other ponies happy and satisfied, or at least at peace with the world around them.

Likes: (optional) Classical music; order; calm; being left to do her own thing; spending time with family; cats; spinach; the number eight.

Dislikes: (optional) Disorder, especially rampant and/or intentional; loud noises; crowds; being bothered; strangers; foals; cabbage.

Character Summary:

Solemn is the eldest of three siblings--Sole Star is her little sister, and Solace Seeker, the youngest, her brother. Her mother died shortly after Solace's birth, when Solemn was still a filly, and her father, seeming lost without her, wandered away one day and did not come back. Solemn and her siblings were taken in by their maternal uncle and his wife, who had no foals of their own. Though she had always been fairly quiet, the death of her mother and the loss of her father seemed to deal a great deal of damage to her psyche, and the already-quiet filly drew further into herself and has remained largely that way since.

Solemn is a dour, serious pony, who has little appreciation for humor and very rarely smiles, unless with a friend. She is extremely polite and, while friendly enough, always manages to come off as slightly frigid. She stands rigidly, and always appears tense when out in public unless she is with someone she trusts, and there are very few ponies that she fully and completely trusts. She is at her best in enclosed, quiet spaces and only dealing with one creature at a time.

Solemn Song suffers from mild compulsion and if left to her own devices will organize the space around her into very rigid, logical patterns. The disruption of these patterns distresses her, but if she is distracted she will very quickly forget they are there. She has a very firm sense of personal space and becomes actively stressed should anyone she doesn't trust break it. On the opposite hoof, she tends to be very clingy around ponies she does know, often to the point of annoyance. She moves very slowly and deliberately; even her telekinesis has an air of intentionality about it.

Solemn tends to stare with unnerving steadiness at whatever she's focusing on at the moment, which is made more obvious by the stark color of her eyes against her pale coat. She does not stutter, but the more stressed she becomes, the more fragmented her sentences.

Music is a good way to get her to unwind, and one of the few things she will actively enjoy talking about, even if her face doesn't betray it. The music she composes isn't terribly popular, even among the upper class--infamous for its unsurprising regularity and sameness, though it has a quiet majesty about it that makes it very apt for things like funerals.

Solemn is somewhat emotionally fragile and spends most of her time on her own or with her family. She is particularly upset by personal questions and tends to panic if she is not given the proper space and time she needs. If pushed altogether too hard, she is prone to bursts of anger and raw magic--mostly debilitating ultrasonic attacks, enough to give anypony nearby a noticeable headache, but far from strong enough to do any lasting damage.

Her brother has slowly been encouraging her to get out more; it has so far been only somewhat successful, but she occasionally finds the time and courage she needs to explore Canterlot and talk to others.

Solemn dislikes being pushed around and does not react well to impatience. She dislikes foals because of their unpredictable, noisy, and energetic nature.

She has never left Canterlot, and does not foresee herself ever needing to. One city is enough, thank you very much.

Alone of the siblings, Solemn's Cutie Mark was earned before her mother's death. Though as a foal she was remarkably quiet and well-known for keeping to herself, young Solemn would often gravitate toward ponies that looked troubled or sad, and, very quietly, sing a song for them.

This song was different for every pony she came to, seeming constructed, lyrically and musically, on the spot for that particular pony. They did, however, have one thing in common: regardless of the words or the melody, each song carried with it an idea of comfort, a soothing, solemn song. The song that earned her her Cutie Mark--in what she later came to see as a cruel twist of fate--was given to a young filly about her age, who had recently lost her mother in a cart accident. Though she refused to elaborate on the song later, the filly in question described it as "full of lots of silence"--whole rests--"that stood out like bright stars in the depths of despair."

Since her mother's death and the onset of her compulsion, Solemn no longer sings these songs, usually offering a rushed explanation--she "just can't anymore," although she realizes that that is no explanation at all. In truth, she is scared--the fate of the filly she sang to became her fate, after all, and it could happen again. As well, she lacks the self-confidence and inspiration to come up with the songs as easily as she once did, and feels ashamed to admit it.

Solemn mainly works in a small, rarely-visited library; she is skilled at keeping the books in order, and she is comforted by the constant quiet. The pay is modest, but sufficient for her, and she is satisfied by her ability to keep the library organized to her specifications.

By UMAT standards, Solemn is classified as Г, though she is functionally Δ; her family's predilection toward sound magic mostly likely manifested in her ability to soothe in song, although as she no longer sings or uses her magic for much of anything short of telekinesis and her self-defense sound wave, this is hard to say for certain.

[brianblackberry]

Interesting character, although be careful, you don't want to make her too aloof and anti-social or she won't be any fun to play in RP, which depends on interaction between characters. That being said, I have a couple questions about her I felt being answered would strengthen her character.

The main question is how she acquire her cutie mark, and also it being the representation of her special talent what does it mean to her and in what way did it affect what she decided to do with her life?

My only other (and minor) question is how does she like her job as a librarian? Did she take it for a reason other than just bits or was it just for the bits?

[LysanderasD]

Apologies for the delay. Solemn's application has been revised and expanded (and also slightly rearranged, becaue it was kind of a mess earlier).

Your input is valuable. Thank you. ^^

I should also note that the two other unicorns mentioned by name in this application--that is, Solemn's siblings--will both be apped somewhere down the line, but for the moment are NPCs.

[brianblackberry]

Looks good, for the record, you can keep those characters as NPCs, you are not required to apply for them (unless of course, you want to).

For Great Justice!

[Dio]