Post by Crystal on Aug 11, 2009 3:27:04 GMT -5
Medusa said:
Name: Medusa
Species: Dire Wolf
Sex: Female
Age: 9
Height: 3'3"
Weight: 100lbs
Details: Medusa's face is pretty much charred to bits. She is blind in both eyes, and deaf in her right ear. The right eye is completely burnt shut. Her face is burnt into a permanent "grin" as when the skin finally cooled, parts of the muzzle crumbled away, exposing her gums. The nails on her front paws are barely stubs. Her nose has been burnt down raw as well, so though she can still smell, the sense is not as acute as it would be for the average wolf. The rest of her body, however, is intact, the fur pitch black with deep gray swirls for markings.
Pack: Lykopis
Rank: weird old lady in the woods?
Mate: Could YOU ever love a face like that?
Voice: Cracked and aged, medium pitch. Think "creepy old lady".
Personality: Nowadays Medusa is somewhat mysterious and reclusive. She has a certain level of confidence back now that she has honed her "gift", which she truly believes is a talent bestowed on her by the gods. More than likely her "cryptic visions" are just products of her brain creating images to replace the sight she lost, but she sees them as symbols that, when properly interpreted, will show her future events. She has honed this talent and has at least on a few occasions predicted some things with eerie accuracy, but rather than attributing it to a keen sense of the world around her and the typical pattern of events, she is convinced she has been honored with the gift of second sight.
Treasuring this talent greatly, she can have a bit of an ego about it, which can be bruised. She will get defensive if anyone expresses doubt to her about it - usually surprising them into believing her as, though she can't pick up on visual cues, she has learned to navigate and read expression by slight changes in the air, the few smells she can still pick up, and subtle sounds that alert her to changes in position and expression.
She does not share the same hatred of males that many Lykopians hold. She treats most creatures about the same, really. If they bring her food to sustain herself, she will tell them what they need to know. Of course, this is now only limited to those of Lykopis, as by some agreement - perhaps because Lykopis seems so close to the gods she has come to love - she has chosen this pack to hold her loyalty. Spies beware, she will treat you with a friendly face and false prophecies... right before slinking off to tell the queens.
History: One fine spring day many years ago, a dark-furred pup was born to the pack beneath the great volcano. This pup grew into a beautiful young wolf who, showered with charming words from others, became vain and arrogant.
One day the great volcano erupted, taking the pack by surprise as it had not done so in many generations. The beautiful young wolf, thinking only of herself, fled without a single thought to the wellbeing of her family. But as she ran to safety, by some chance a cascade of lava and ash landed in front of her. She threw up her paws but it was too late - her lovely face had been covered in lava and burned by the terrible heat. Her forepaws, too, were burned as she tried desperately to wipe away the molten rock lest the burns kill her.
The young wolf knew that this was no mere chance that had led to this terrible fate. Chance would have taken her from behind. This was a message from the gods... a punishment. They took her beauty as a penalty for her act of selfishness - they blinded her and deafened her right ear, leaving one so that she may hear the cries of how horrific she'd become. And as the weight of her abandonment fell upon her and she watched her home fall to ashes, she began to feel a terrible remorse for all she had lost, and for the arrogance of her youth.
Her burns, she thought, were not enough to make up for the life she had led. And so, in constrast with her former arrogance and vanity, she began to dedicate her life to spiritual pursuits. She had to learn humility as now only through the kindness of others could she survive. So she traveled around aimlessly, offering what little she could in return for food and temporary shelter, studying every legend known to the packs that would harbor her and passing on the wisdom to the next place she traveled.
Then one day she found a new talent emerging. It had been a few years since the gods had taken her sight. Now they replaced it with a much more powerful sense. Her eyes were useless, but she began to see vivid yet cryptic visions, and soon found that these visions seemed to foretell the future. She believed that at last she had not only paid for her crimes, but regained such favor with the gods that they gave her the gift of prophecy.
Of course, she still has difficulty in hunting, but now she has a real service to offer in return. For the meat she is given she offers her prophecies. Perhaps a little of her arrogance has come back after the talent has blossomed for so many years, but it no longer swallows her as it did in her youth. And, in some strange way, hideous as she has become, the now-old wolf seems at last to be happy.
Finding Lykopis: At some point in the old she-wolf's travels she fell asleep with strange and fitful dreams of a trio of faces rising larger and larger, more shadowy figures rising behind them as the sun rose bursting from the horizon. Within a week she stumbled across a trio of sisters, and in that instant swore fealty for truly the great lady of the sky had blessed these three with the task of bringing a great pack to power. She told the three of her dream, the three who would rebuild the mighty Lykopis. It was an old prophecy brought back to life in her own dreams, and for that she chose to settle in the lands of the Trinity.
As she was growing older, however, Medusa became more drawn to the calm and quiet solitude, in part because the skin of her face burns painfully in sunlight, a reminder that she is still cursed despite her blessings now being much greater. And, to, does she find that the dark heart of the forest give her silence enough to continue fostering her talents and reading her dreams. And so now she resides in the darkest part of the Lykopian South, rarely seen by any but the queens and perhaps the occasional mage or priestess. To the rest of the pack she is but a fairy tale, a ghost story told by pups who wandered off too far and were carried back by a strange black creature who disappeared even before thanks could be offered.
Many thanks to Fleetfang for helping me add onto her history. <3
Reference pic:
Voice Clips:
(Yes, these are all me)
sites.google.com/site/slupine/files/medusa1.mp3?attredirects=0
sites.google.com/site/slupine/files/medusa2.mp3?attredirects=0 (my least favorite of the 3)
sites.google.com/site/slupine/files/medusa3.mp3?attredirects=0