Lanyra Talbot - Greenblood

[Wizardy Herbert]

Name: Lanyra Talbot
Lanyra: from “Lanyer,” the surname of Amelia Lanyer, 17th Century English Poet.
Talbot: from “Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury”, another famous 17th Century English Poet.

Blood colour: Green [#609D01]

Gender: Female

Symbol: A decorated egg.

Personality:

Lanyra adores hoofbeasts in almost every way. She watches movies about them, reads about them, writes poems about them, and pictures of them adorn her respiteblock. She finds them so very majestic and wonderful, she has a hard time believing it when other trolls tell her that hoofbeasts aren’t that great.

Lanyra loves hoofbeast culture and literature, however, far more than the creatures themselves. Lanyra is a creative spirit at heart, driven by a need to express herself and that which she adores through language and art. Such expression mainly involves writing poetry in dated, classical highblood forms. She is, however, known for making pilgrimages to the breeding caverns on All-Egg day to collect egg shells for painting, what else, scenes of her beloved hoofbeasts roaming free.

Her appreciation for hoofbeasts is served by her appreciation of highblood culture. As mentioned, she regularly writes poetry in traditional highblood forms, and even as a young troll she has produced a considerable body of work. Lanyra hopes to one day publish her poetry and share her passion for hoofbeasts with others. Of course, the quality of her poetry this early in her career is debatable. Easily.

Lanyra is diligent and adherent to the hemospectrum, eager to show highbloods how much she appreciates their way of life. She looks down on those who don’t appreciate highblood culture as much as she does, and believes such people to be barbaric and crude. Association with lowbloods is avoided at all costs, except in cases where the lowblood’s passion for hoofbeasts or literature (read: Lanyra’s interests) is considerable. These lowbloods, of course, would have to be justified to any highblooded acquaintences: “It’s for my writing” or “it’s good to mingle with the lesser folk to see how well we have it” or some other similar response. Lanyra is somewhat self-conscious about being a midblood, and might be seen as a little too eager to let higher castes know that she is in no way lower than her station.

Navigating the social order is a source of anxiety for Lanyra. She puts a lot of pressure on herself to be the best midblood she can be, and her biggest fears are to be subject to public embarrassment or faux-pas. She doesn’t like to feel out of place in the world around her, and her tendencies to conform and mesh fuels both her eager-to-please nature and her passion for highblood culture and literature.

Lanyra needs the feeling of stability, and when something threatens that stability, she falters. When threatened or frightened, her main tactic is avoidance; to get away, or to ignore the challenge entirely. This is a problem of hers that tends to get her into trouble, and at its worst turns her into an outright coward.

When it comes to the dangers of living in troll society, Lanyra is ready and prepared to do whatever it takes to appease the higher castes of society. While her eagerness to conform could easily come off as mere flattery, with practice her skills could be used to subtly get what she wants from others.

Strengths:

Creative:
Lanyra is a creative spirit. When alone (which is often), she busies herself with writing poetry, painting, and discovering different ways to do both. It’s a passion that truly opens herself

Erudite:
Lanyra is savant when it comes to knowledge and practice of highblood art, literature, and tradition. Few have the time and effort to “sophisticate” themselves through their own diligence and effort, and even fewer have done so at such a young age. If there is anything other trolls could admire about Lanyra, it is her level of prestige and cultivated tastes.

Flaws:

Pretentious: Lanyra believes that showing an appreciation for high culture is what separates the lesser from the great. Trolls of any caste that don’t quite care for art or literature or even proper etiquette are liable to be judged and even reprimanded for their crude behavior. Lanyra sees all her interests, hoofbeast-love included, as the most sophisticated and gentile of pursuits, and those who disagree openly are dismissed like the ill-bred barbarians she believes them to be.

Strange: Lanyra is tragically blind to her oddities. The level of adulation she gives to hoofbeasts is, quite obviously, a little odd. However, she seems to delude herself that this fascination is perfectly normal, and loves to talk about them to others. This, as opposed to her pretentious attitudes, is likely why she has so few friends.

Weapon: Grenades. Being proficient in a weapon is a staple of Alternian custom, and although she is not a confrontational type, grenades suit her fine: pull-pin, run away. Lanyra rarely, if ever, uses them; perhaps if her lusus is rowdy, she’ll drop a flashbang to drive him away, or a sleeping gas canister to put him out. Mainly, she enjoys decorating them with paints before writing poetry, as it helps her get her creative energy flowing.

Appearance: Lanyra is as meticulous with her physical appearance as she is with her social one. Her hair is always well washed and groomed every day, with bangs stylishly framing her face, done up in the back with little curls spiraling down the sides. Her large front teeth are brushed to gleaming every morning. Her shirts are ready-pressed, and her sweaters are un-wrinkled and painstakingly clean. Her light pants are tucked into practical yet stylish boots. Her work-sweater features occasional paints spatters, although her instinct for neatness prevents much paint from getting on her clothes anyways.

Home: Four Fronds. Lanyra lives in a small hive far from the lake at the edge of forest. It’s a small dwelling with a main living space on the first floor, and an attic that Lanyra uses as her respiteblock and workplace. Her house is decorated with her egg art from All-Egg day, while her respiteblock gleefully displays her passion for hoofbeasts. Due to her hive’s proximity to the forest, some days she can be awoken by the culling parties going by. She rarely manages to sleep on those nights

Lusus: Lanyra’s lusus is a mix between a platypus and a porcupine. A platypine? Porcupus? You decide. Needless to say, all of its quills are highly poisonous, and Porcuplaty-pop is a protective and powerful lusus. On those days when the culling parties can be heard, Porcuplaty-pop lets her rest downstairs in hi  

[Sypon]

Time for a Sypon crit!

Personality:
Lanyra is a hoot… There are a few things I wanted to address, because she’s pretty solid. I’d like some elaboration and clarity on a few points. But enough of that, here we gooo!

Lanyra’s love of hoofbeasts and her love of highbloods seems to serve and flow back into itself. Where did her appreciation originate? Did she have an experience that made her love hoofbeasts, then branch into highblood culture? Or reverse? Did she like the two separately and then justify her obsession by connecting the two?

Also, an interesting thing you may want to think about: which is she more passionate about? If a highblood who she dearly respected responded negatively to hoofbeasts, would she conform or resist, for instance?

Be careful where you tread with Lanyra’s obsessions, because she’s very focused on those two things at the moment. If it doesn’t have to do with culture, she’s not interested – and that may be a struggle when trying to RP. Does she have any other hobbies that don’t feed into her passions?

Another detail to consider for the personality section: Lanyra’s relationship with her lusus. How has he affected her beliefs? What does he think about her interests? How does he affect her, particularly because he’ll have to accompany her in her roleplays?

Strengths/Flaws:

“It’s a passion that truly opens herself”
Whoops! Doesn’t look like you finished this sentence?

How does her creativity help her thrive in Alternian culture? Maybe you were gonna explain more in that unfinished sentence 

Both of Lanyra’s strengths have to do with the creative side of her skills, and those that feed completely into her obsessions. Think about this: if she is in a situation where this cultured knowledge does not apply or assist her, what helps her survive? She won’t always be in perfect situations where her interests are relevant, after all.

Flaws:
My only issue here is this: make sure that Lanyra is able to socially interact in some way! That sounds silly, but as this is a RP shop it’s important to at least be able to interact with other people’s characters. If she refuses to associate with others and then ticks off trolls with her incessancy, it’ll leave you high and dry. It’s fine to have a socially inept character, but try to find the bright side within her social interactions so that she can garner some pals and not just make possible kismeses ;P

If you decide to add another strength, don’t forget to add another flaw! That may help you in the long run anyway 

Weapon: Awesome.

Appearance: I wouldn’t call workboots stylish, but whatever floats your boat soul sister wink (this is not a critique)

Home: “Due to her hive’s proximity to the forest, some days she can be awoken by the culling parties going by. She rarely manages to sleep on those nights” – The culling parties probably don’t happen during the day because the trolls would definitely burn to death. Also, she would sleep in the day!

Lusus: “On those days when the culling parties can be heard, Porcuplaty-pop lets her rest downstairs in hi “

Another unfinished sentence! When you go to fix it, make sure to incorporate more of Lanyra’s relationship with Porcuplatydad, as well as his personality and those general details.

Great work! Love this horse-girl.