[Yay, thank you both Ria and Rachel very much!
Hello everyone, I'm the newest addition and am looking forward to role playing with you enormously.]
Primary Character Info
Name: Althea Lune
Age: 16 (to all intents and purposes, she will be passing her sixteenth birthday near the beginning of posting)
Kingdom: Zircon
Position in Kingdom: Officially called 'Lady' although her position is something like a queen.
Appearance: Like all the other people in Zircon, Althea's physical appearance is directly affected by the lack of sunlight and the limited diet available. Stunted growth, poor health and extraordinarily pale skin and facial features are all characteristic of Zirconians which Althea also possesses. Because of the relative dampness that comes with living in underwater caves, Althea's main priority in dressing is to remain cool and composed. To the unobservant eye, her clothes are similar in style to a commoner's: a loose, flowing robe with detachable sleeves made of a different, filmy material and a veil of the same translucent material over her face. Subtle changes make all the difference, though: her clothes are not made of the commoner's cotton, but of light, expensive silk; she wears the royal blue and white colours instead of bright, riotous dyes; and her veil hangs from a circlet of silver on her head that marks her to be a member of the royal family. Instead of very short hair, her own white-blond hair hangs down to her shoulders. The light of Zirconian glow-flies in the underground caves casts a silvery tinge to her hair and her blue-grey eyes. She has a really lovely smile when she smiles, but it is not often that she does so.
Personality: Life expectancy is short in Zircon, only thirty-five years, but many die before then due to constant ill health. Most children die before they reach the age of five years. Althea's world-weary eyes and facial expressions do not seem to belong to a young girl of sixteen. A compassinate, caring young person, she is fiercely dedicated to her kingdom and her people. All the troubles of the kingdom -- ill health, early deaths, lack of sunlight, poor diet -- are carried on her young shoulders and constant worrying has forced her to grow up long before her time. She spends much of her time worrying and thinking quietly about these problems and looking for solutions, so has become something of a melancholy recluse over the years. When not cocooned in a room with advisors when running the kingdom, Althea studies hard to become the best healer she can possibly be.
A gifted healer, the talent runs in the royal family and is seen as a means of serving the people. What Althea lacks in skill taught by experience and learning, she makes up for in natural talent and intuition. What little time she spends away from the palace and her studies is spent with the sick and dying. Her work with the sick has taught her to be patient and gentle. Being needed and being able to help makes her feel better about herself; she feels guilty about not being able to solve all of Zircon's problems, even though they are beyond anyone's power. Whenever she catches herself thinking selfishly, Althea feels guilty and overexerts herself in the care of her kingdom as a self-punishment for forgetting her people. As a result, she is unable to express her own emotions and finds it difficult to confide in anyone.
History: Long ago, Zircon was an island on the surface of the sea. No one knows exactly when the island began to sink because the movement was so miniscule, but by the time someone noticed it, the island had begun its slow and sure descent below the ocean. The wisest sages of the kingdom did not know why the island was sinking and nothing anyone could do would stop it from drowning itself. Eventually, they gave up and tried to find another way of surviving. None of the other kingdoms were able to accomodate all the Zirconian refugees and it seemed that they were doomed to die. That was, until the Lord of the Island (as the ruler was called back then) discovered the underground caves. That was when a flicker of hope was lit for Zircon.
Slowly, people migrated to the underground caves. People learned to set traps underwater for seafood and breed land animals as best as they could. They learned to make dishes out of seaweed, their only vegetation. They distilled salt water using what little fuel they could invent and they chopped down all the trees above the surface for emergency storage. Springs were opened and underwater lakes were formed, providing fresh water. Glow-flies were bred to provide light. By and by, it seemed the Zirconians would continue to survive.
Time passed and the Lord who had discovered the caves had passed on the throne to his daughter, Althea's mother. (Rulers of the Island were usually women; the Lord of the Island had been an exception.) Althea's mother had three children but only Althea survived babyhood and continued to grow up. Althea's father drowned when she was six.
While the island was sinking, pathways up to the surface were still available. People often came up for sunlight while they could. With time, the pathways became ever more treacherous and dangerous as water leaked in. Eventually it was decreed that the people had to obtain special permission to go up with experts, for fear they would slip and fall. As time passed, even that was not possible and only the court advisors continued going up to assess their danger. Ten years ago, Althea's father was among those who made the last journey to the surface -- and found that there was no surface anymore, only ocean. The island had sunk and Althea's father had been washed away and drowned.
Althea's mother never quite recovered from his death. Her grief and the new worries about having no sunlight whatsoever, not to mention running out of water and fuel
and all the previous troubles about her people's health, combined to cause an early death four years later when she was only twenty-eight. Althea began to rule the country at ten with the help of all her advisors (who did most of the actual ruling while she learned the ropes). Her actual crowning ceremony as Queen of Zircon is expected to take place on her sixteenth birthday.
When Althea is crowned, Zircon's worries will officially be hers to look after. This is not much, though, seeing as she has been unofficially worrying over them for six years. A new concern is that her only means of contact with the other kingdoms is too dangerous to continue much longer. At the moment she is sending expert divers to swim up towards the surface of the ocean. They are beginning to run out of oxygen before they reach the surface and she does not want to risk any lives, but she is at a loss for what she will do when this means of contact is gone.
News: Althea's sixteenth birthday is about to be celebrated by the kingdom. On this day she will officially become the Lady and Queen of Zircon (which she has been in action, if not in name, so far).
Secondary Character Info
Name: Devlin "Dev" Keith
Age: 17
Kingdom: Zircon
Position in Kingdom: Youngest diver, recently had an accident returning to Zircon. He ran out of breath as the island had sunk further since the last trip and began drowning. The Lady Althea saved his life.
Appearance: A youth on the brink of manhood, physically well-developed (necessary for a diver) surprisingly tall for his age by Zircon standards (although he would be average height in other kingdoms). Brown hair and deep brown eyes, he prefers to wear brown clothes as the dye is more common than other colours, thus more affordable.
Personality: He's usually easygoing and chats quite comfortably so has positive relationships with the other divers. However, he doesn't like to talk about himself and will shut up like a clam on some topics. Superficial conversations are all very well, but Dev doesn't let anyone know the deeper part of himself. If anyone ever thought about it, they would realise that no one really knows Dev, but no one has thought about this. Dev is surprisingly stubborn about certain things and refuses to change his mind once he has taken a position. A lot of the time he won't give his reasons for why he does something but he certainly has them.
Weapons: Dev is no mean hand at wielding a lightweight sword and he always keeps a dagger close by him.
History: Dev has no family that he knows of and was raised by the community, as are many orphaned children. Not many people know much about Dev's parents, who were also the silent type. They died when he was five and people suppose that he has forgotten what his parents are like. That is true for the most part but he has a few secret memories he guards jealously and never mentions. Surprisingly fit for a Zircon boy, he began training to be a diver when he reached his teens. He has been on a couple of trips to the surface already so has a little experience. When he is not going on a diving trip, he lives in a community centre with other people who have nowhere to go. Having no parents to make proud, he works hard for his kingdom instead, and has a degree of respect for Lady Althea, who has managed to govern Zircon quite well at a tender age. He had never seen her in person, though. When she saved his life, he had not known it was her until much later and was only amazed that she had taken the trouble to heal him. Dev has heard tales of Althea's kindness before, but never witnessing them first-hand, had doubts as to how much she actually did. Now the respect has grown larger and into something more akin to worship.
Kingdom Info
Government Type: A cross between a democracy and a monarchy. The royal family rules the kingdom, but the people ultimately decide who their ruler will be. They have the right to choose another member of the royal family to replace a corrupt one (only if the ruler is not doing right by the people, otherwise it is something of a sin to overthrow a good ruler) and the right to choose who will rule when the Lord or Lady retires or dies. During a peaceful reign, voting is usually a matter of whether the ruler should be replaced or not. Thus they are both Lord and King/Lady and Queen of Zircon and people address them as the former.
For example, Althea's grandmother was the original Lady and Queen of the Island but she died prematurely. The people voted for her husband to take over as they thought his children were too young to rule, even with the help of court advisors. That was how Althea's grandfather became Lord of the Island.
When Althea's mother died, leaving Althea as the only member of the royal family alive, there was a buzz about what was to be done. Most felt that Althea was too young to handle a whole kingdom on her own, but no one was sure of who would rule instead. This situation had never come up before. It seemed wrong to remove the royal family from the throne since Althea hadn't actually done anything bad. At last it was decided that Althea was on probation; she had five years to prove herself of becoming a worthy potential ruler before the people decided to do anything else. Althea did reasonably well and when she was fifteen, it was voted that Althea could be crowned the following year as the official ruler.
Cultural Info: Light is provided by glow-flies especially bred and hung in lanterns around the city on the walls. They produce a dim silvery light that casts a strange glow on everything, but it does soften people's features and make them look prettier. This much is important, seeing how most are sickly individuals and show it. Healing has become a necessary skill to survive, which is what makes Zirconians such good healers. Day and night are really "waking hours" and "sleeping hours" to Zircon, having no sun or moon or stars to go by, and only glow-flies which shine all the time.
Wood, coal and oil are precious resources carefully hoarded and guarded jealously by the royal family. They do not permit anyone to use it unless in absolute emergencies as they fear the day there will be no more fuel. Most people make do with animal excrement if they make any fire at all.
Most people are fishermen or cultivators of seaweed. Many people search for other sources of food. Diet consists mainly of cold fish, seaweed and water. The richer ones may be lucky enough to have chickens, goats or cows. These animals have not thrived well in underwater conditions and are scrawny beasts. Milk has a taste of the sea in it and eggs are soft, watery excuses but they are better than the plain diet.
Money is not used as a currency in this kingdom; more an exotic thing of the past. People rely on themselves for food and those who cannot are provided for, as the law states. It would be impossible to survive if people only took care of themselves and did not help each other here. Wealth is more a measure of how well someone can survive: their diet, their animals, the cleanliness and area of their homes. Those who have old antiques from the past when they lived on land are generally the old ones who grew up on land as children and came down here later. They hope they can live on land again someday. The first-generation to be born in the underwater caves, Althea's generation, have little concern for the past and worry about how to live underwater instead.
In such a gloomy atmosphere, it is important to find ways of being cheerful. People dye their clothes using the earth and other materials they have found: red, purple, yellow, orange, brown, green -- any colours they can find, perhaps mixtures of these. Blue is worn by court advisors and nobles, as blue and white are the royal colours. Althea wears white as befits the Lady and trimmings of blue are worn on special occasions. No one wears black as it is so miserable in this dark world, and grey appears silver under the light of the glow-flies. Silver is considered something of an unofficial royal colour as the circlet the monarch wears is made of silver. Besides, it would seem too miserable. Clothes are made of cotton, but as they are now finding it more and more difficult to contact the outside world, people are having to make do with old clothes. Advisors and experts are racking their brains for another material.
Once a week, every able person takes hold of a glow-fly lantern and parades the city streets with it into the largest cave of all, which was made to accomodate five thousand, where there is a dance by the light of the glow-flies. On the Lady's birthday, coloured coral and other bright, underwater objects are strewn all over the city streets and she makes a speech, which is followed by a night of dancing. On this day everyone has enough to satisfy their hunger (although still not enough to over-indulge) for one meal. Zircon can only afford a feast once a year.
Books are precious items of knowledge kept in a special library but are decaying fast in these bad conditions. Scribes are currently copying out the ones deteriorating quickest on crab-shells, coral and anything else they can lay their hands on, including cave walls. Teaching is mostly done orally and by example. Afraid of losing knowledge, Zirconian adults stuff as much as they can into children. A carefree childhood ends around the time one is three, which is schooling age.
Architecture/City Appearance: Zircon is a complex network of underground caves, some natural and others hollowed out by the previous Lord of the Island. They were linked together and different areas consititute different quarters of the city: living quarters, medical quarters, fishing quarters and so on and so forth. Caves make up people's homes with passageways being the alleys, streets and roads. The richer people have smaller, inner caves in their homes. Doors are either small boulders that can be rolled away or just open doorways. Not many people live in Zircon; Althea rules over a diminishing population of about a thousand.
Overall Zircon cannot be called rich. The people do their best to stay clean and keep their city clean, but there is only so much that people can do. Living in damp, underwater caves is really not a healthy arrangement in the first place, and many diseases are brought about by the bad living conditions.
Main Palace/Castle: The "palace" consists of a large cave with a few inner caves behind it. One is a room where Althea cocoons herself up with advisors discussing different problems, another is her bedroom and the third has been converted from her parents' bedroom to a place of study. The main entrance hall is a place to receive people and serves as a spare place for the sick and dying should there be a mass disease or plague. A young cook and a maid come to help cook and clean for the Lady everyday but they have their own home to go to. A guard or two may stand watch at night outside "the Lady's abode", as it is known throughout Zircon, but otherwise Althea lives on her own.
Demon Info
Name: Kraka
Appearance: An enormous, slimy dark mass of green, brown, black and general vomit colour, Kraka has twelve eyes and tentacle-like limbs. There are protruding spikes or horns around its body as well and it carries a massive stink about it (absolutely phewy). No human has actually seen Kraka and the name is unknown throughout the Zirconian library. The problem is, Kraka and its kind all differ in appearance but are all immensely ugly. Being the ugliest, smelliest creature of all, Kraka is naturally the leader.
Personality: Kraka is probably slightly demented, as befits all proper demons. He (for lack of a better pronoun -- "it" can get rather impersonal after a while; Kraka probably has no gender as we know it) has a serious problem when it comes to what he considers his territory: the whole ocean is his, in his opinion. Of course, a whole ocean is a rather large amount of water to try and terrorise (he is a regular tyrant who likes gruesome things and is determined to feast upon every other sea creature) so he can't really be bothered to control any more than the deepest, darkest depths where he resides. The deepest, darkest depths are the gloomiest, murkiest depths ever, just like his personality. If anything so much as touch the borders of the depths (which is pretty hard to measure -- where are the borders anyway?), he gets into a right royal fit of passion and the poor victim meets a sticky end. Violent demon, this is.
Abilities: Apart from thinking out the most violent things possible? Kraka's also very good at casting out a black smog that hangs in air and water, suffocating anything that is not his personal minion. His body odour alone would probably suffocate most normal beings, come to that.
History: Kraka has been dwelling peacefully (as peacefully as a sadistic demon that likes to kill can live) in his murky waters, venturing out only occasionally to terrorise innocent sea creatures outside his main home. That all ended when the island of Zircon began to sink. The island was unfortunately positioned above the deepest, darkest depths of the ocean and right above Kraka's home too, if you so please. He was absolutely furious when it began to sink. Nothing he could do would push it back up, although he tried. Oh yes, he tried. He just made it sink faster, though. Now it is intruding on his territory and is coming down even further, which makes him very angry indeed. He's never done anything yet to the people inside the caves, so the people don't know about him, but he's determined to take more drastic action now. He's going to break that island into little pieces and eat all its occupants up if it's the last thing he ever does.
Besides, he's been wanting a change in his diet for a while now.
Minions: Kraka has many Karpans to obey his every whim. The ugliest species to have ever walked the ocean floor, none of them can quite match Kraka in ugliness, though. They differ in appearance but are all rather gloopy, disgusting creatures. Perhaps the only similar feature amongst the Karpans is their lack of beauty. All enjoy doing evil, which they see as a kind of sport and are more than happy to do whatever Kraka says, as whatever he says is rather nasty. Apart from their ability to do violence without any limits, they aren't capable of doing much else.
Note: And of course, how could I forget -Diamond Dust-?
---
Gasping, Althea lifted her head out of the water and looked at the time. Two minutes and forty-five seconds. It simply wasn't good enough! Releasing a sound of exasparation and frustration, she slid to the floor and lay weakly on her side, too tired to move. Her shoulders shook with each ragged breath and it took a long time before she breathed a little easier. Even when she had returned to normal, though, she didn't move. She continued to lie on her side, looking at the clockwork watch she was holding.
The watch was an heirloom from her father, a relic of better days on land. Althea rarely used it to preserve it as long as possible, but even so, the watch's days were limited in these damp conditions. As were Zircon's days if Althea did not find a solution to their problems. Her grip around it tightened at the thought.
Nobody seemed to notice it, but the Lady was very frightened of the days to come. In fact, Althea was absolutely terrified. What was she going to do? The question haunted her every waking moment and terrible nightmares haunting her while she slept, but she had no answer. She had had no answer as a princess and tomorrow, when she would be crowned queen, she still would have no answer.
"Lady Althea?" a quavering voice echoed through the caves. Althea groaned and pushed herself up from the cold stone floor. The maid, Yoanne, was evidently looking for her. "Lady Althea?" she called again, hearing the groan.
"I am in my room, Yoanne. Please wait a while!" Althea rubbed her wet hair vigorously and put the watch away. She decided to leave the water for later; it wasn't too dirty and she could not bear to waste it. One day there would be no more water ... She sighed and left her room.
Yoanne was in the main entrance cave with the head of the guards beside her, looking distraught. Althea stood up a little straighter as she approached them. He must have important news. She fretted silently about what new calamity might have befallen them. The guard bowed and the maid curtsied.
"Forgive me, my Lady," the guard began immediately, without waiting for her to give him permission to speak. "The divers are back from land and, and one is in need of your, your help." He stopped, looking helplessly at the sixteen year old girl. Althea's eyes widened in horror. Without wasting a moment longer, she walked straight out of the room with both Yoanne and the head guard at her heels. To think that she had been drying her hair when someone might be dying!
"Where is he?"
"By the ocean, we daren't move him."
"What happened?" she demanded as they made in that direction at a rapid pace.
"The island has sunk some more. He couldn't hold his breath in any longer on the way back and lost it. Someone saw him begin to drown and the others brought him to shore." Althea said nothing to this but walked faster, pressing her lips together in a thin, hard line.
The trio had been taking several shortcuts through an intricate maze of alleys and passageways usually abandoned by most people. A few late night walkers bowed when they saw the Lady, but otherwise they met no one else. As they progressed further, the lanterns were hanging with greater and greater distances between them and the air was getting even more humid. A salty tang became quite distinctive.
[It's getting late and I'm dreadfully sleepy. I don't think I'm writing very coherently now, so I'll add more tomorrow morning or something...]
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I don't know if I will even write for another kingdom. But if I do, it will probably be Zircon.
))
