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General

A faction thought to be an evolved form of humans, the Beast Keeper Faction earned its subfaction names by the color of their eyes and armor - both which seem to be made out of priceless jewels, sparkling in all lights. Each subfaction specializes in raising and domesticating a certain beast - whether it be for riding or food products. Highly intelligent and insightful, Beast Keepers are gifted with heightened senses and exceptional strength, capable of besting even an ogre in physical prowess. Though they would make exceptional fighters, they are - in truth - a very peaceful people, and will only pick up their weapons when their flock or faction is threatened. Because Beast Keepers lack pupils, they were at first thought to be blind, but - in truth - they have an excellent eyesight that could even rival the Phoenix Faction.

SUBFACTION ONE

Ruby

About

Fiery and passionate, Ruby Beast Keepers specialize in Borakus - which are large, ostrich-like birds used for traveling long distances and whose eggs and meat are also used for food products. Since these birds are rebellious and stubborn, they need patient, powerful teachers to break them in. Family is top priority to this subfaction, and they would sacrifice everything for the ones they love. Mostly made up of women, this subfaction is power paired with passion and intelligence, and they are the only known group capable of taming the ferocious Borakus. Usually wielding spears or staffs, the Ruby Beast Keepers use these to hit the Borakus along their flanks to either discipline them or teach them endurance. Honorable and trustworthy, the Ruby subfaction is a proud group.

SUBFACTION TWO

Emerald

About

These Beast Keepers specialize in the growth of various forest creatures. Some train Legas - dog-like creatures with a poisonous bite and protective mindset - while others breed CawCaws - colorful birds with an amazing sense of sight. Thoughtful and creative, Emerald Beast Keepers are deeply in tune with nature, and can speak to the trees and grass. Living in the forest allows them to raise their animals naturally, and thus have finer-quality Legas and CawCaws than other non-Beast-Keeper breeders. Emerald Beast-Keepers usually carry only a wooden sword and scissors - the former to discipline the fierce Legas and the latter to clip the wings of the curious CawCaws. Gentle and loving, the Emeralds care deeply for their animals, but are a little on the antisocial side when it comes to anything else. However, their easy-going nature makes them easy to get along with, but they are lethal when threatened.

SUBFACTION THREE

Sapphire

About

Beautiful and quiet, these Beast Keepers specialize in the growth of fish, breeding beautiful Rainbow Koi and meaty saltwater Mavis in fisheries wherever there are large bodies of water. Capable of breathing underwater like fish, the Sapphire subfaction has special armor similar to an exoskeleton: powerful, but lightweight. This subfaction normally doesn't carry weapons, preferring to use their limited magic abilities to raise their animals. Though they are peaceful and shy-looking, they're surprisingly insightful - able to see through trickery and solve the hardest puzzles with ease. These Beast Keepers tend to keep to themselves, and only venture off their lands when absolutely necessary.

SUBFACTION FOUR

Topaz

About

Cheerful and fun-loving, Topaz Beast Keepers raise the equally cheerful and fun-loving Gooma - a cat-like creature with limitless curiosity and boundless energy whose rare but nutritious milk is used for baby food and occasionally medicine. Because of the energy of their charges, the Topaz live on wide open plains, the Gooma running around during the day and returning at night. The Topaz Beast Keepers carry a long staff that can be detached into three rotating parts, held together by wires made of powerful steel. This weapon can be used in a large array of attacks - all of which the Topaz Beast Keepers are masters of. Gifted with endless stamina and powerful attacks, they are also keenly aware of their surroundings, and know the instant someone trespasses on their property. Social and talkative, they enjoy others' company, and aren't afraid of getting to know other factions. Though they're kind and welcoming, they're not gullible, and can smell treachery the instant it steps foot in their vicinity.

SUBFACTION FIVE

Onyx

About

The pioneers of the Beast Keepers, the Onyx subfaction originally bred warhorses for whoever wanted them, but now they've taken to breeding and taming killer unicorns - unicorns with sharp teeth, claws, rhino-tough hide, and a poisonous spiked demon tail. Because of the ferocity of these creatures, the Onyx Beast Keepers are equally powerful and vicious. The killer unicorns are incredibly strong with insane red eyes and a thirst for blood, so the Onyx have taken to wearing thick full-body armor that - because of their size and strength - doesn't hinder them at all. Having raised the K.U.'s in the swamplands of Sirand Valley, the poisonous fumes make the steeds immune to Cardmasters seeking to steal them for themselves. This location however, makes them isolated from the rest of the world, and thus led to interbreeding among the Onyx. However, they are a large enough clan, and no genetic mutations due to interbreeding have been reported. Carrying a spiked whip to keep the their charges in line, Onyx Beast Keepers are harsh and unforgiving, and don't mix well with others outside their subfaction.

SUBFACTION SIX

Amethyst

About

Regal and prideful, this subfaction breeds the beautiful Yachoo birds - massive creatures that serve as the airplanes of this day and age. Powerful birds that are longer than they are wide, Yachoos - once fully grown - change into a pure single color depending on the individual Beast Keeper that raised them. Because of this, Yachoo colorations are rarely the exact same, and they come in all colors of the land, sea and air. Constantly changing colors when they're small, Yachoos take on the color reflecting their caretaker's personality when they reach twenty-seven years of age - when the birds are now adults. Since Yachoos never stop growing and never seem to age - instead dying of diseases like they're often prone to - they are capable of becoming very large in size. At each air base - where up to thirty individual Yachoos can be stored in a five-story building, the youngest on the bottom levels - there are also an equal number of Amethyst Beast Keepers, who serve as the pilots. Gifted with telepathy so they can communicate with both Yachoo and passenger, Ameythst Beast Keepers tend to keep their nose in the air, and speak to others of a different faction only when absolutely necessary. These Beast Keepers carry strong, unbreakable rope laced with flexible steel, used to restrain and keep hold of misbehaving Yachoos.

FINAL SUBFACTION:

Diamond

About

The most clear-cut of the Beast Keeper subfactions, the Diamond Beast Keepers don't believe in lies or deceit, and strictly punishes those who do - no matter the faction or blood. What they raise and breed is a mystery, but its rumored that they're learning how to breed ancient creatures - a mix of bird and demonic wolf - known as Andalae - and use them for defensive and offensive tactics. However, some Diamond Beast Keepers aren't as mysterious - instead choosing to raise snow-white Cortas, mountainous tiger-cousins that are not only used for their beautiful silken fur and tender meat, but also for transportation in snowy regions. Cold and distant, THESE Beast Keepers are purely business, and refuse to speak of the other Diamond Beast Keepers. The Corta-Raisers, as they are also called, carry blowtorch guns that are capable of shooting out long, powerful streams of flame, because if its one thing the Corta fears, it's fire.

FACTION SEVEN

Beast Keeper

END

Username: SilentShadowDreamer
Character Name: Apsalar Didaski
Subfaction: Ruby
Age: 26
Bio: There isn’t a lot to be said about Apsalar’s life story; at least, not much that doesn’t end with “Poor child – she never really stood a chance.” Born with an unusual capacity to feel and the utter inability to turn it off, even the smallest of disappointments or unfortunate happenings would have devastated her. And the tragedies that came in her middle teens were anything but ‘the smallest’. It started out as something that happened among the Keepers from time to time; her mother discovered a good dozen of their flock had gone missing. Since it was rare for that many Borakus to simply stray on their own, the family suspected theft. Fifteen-year-old Apsalar, her sister and her mother chose to guard the flock against further theft by the simplest of methods – being out there themselves to keep an eye on the creatures.

Apsalar will never know for sure what happened next. All she remembers is a whirlwind of pain and shock and a few minutes of blind terror. She can’t even remember for sure where the attack came from, or who the attackers were. But she remembers the aftermath – her mother dead, pierced through with her own damned weapon, her sister left paralyzed and with a flickering and uncertain memory, and she herself bleeding out on the ground. She barely survived the attack, and still bears the scars. Everywhere.

The murder of her mother sent her entire family reeling. Her father had been a quiet and insignificant man, completely bound up in his wife’s powerful personality, and with her death he found no more reason to live. It was barely a year later that he killed himself – not that it could ever be proven. The most anyone could prove was that it had been a bad choice to try and deal with a flock of Boraku younglings all at once, and it had been a terrible accident. But Apsalar knows better, and knows her sister did too – when the girl could think at all. Shortly after their father’s suicide, her sister, in one of her last lucid moments, begged Apsalar for death; she could not stand to live her life as a helpless vegetable. In the last act of love she ever performed, Apsalar obliged.

Left alone to deal with the trauma, Apsalar took the most evident route. Her family had been attacked, her honour soiled, her flock robbed. She began to plot revenge, and in a very short time it took over her life. Vengeance has haunted her thoughts since the day it happened, and it is all she thinks about, all she dreams of, her only goal in life. Until it has been completed, she will never know peace.
Persona: Apsalar began life as a passionate, intelligent and fiery girl with more heart than sense, who felt every emotion as though magnified by ten, loved quickly and deeply, and devoted herself heart and soul to her flock and her family. But ever since the tragedy that turned her life upside-down – and the numerous small personal tragedies that followed – Apsalar’s natural personality has turned in on itself, growing inwards and becoming poisonous where once it was healthy and normal. Now she is ice-cold and sadistic, delighting in blood and death. Mildly psychopathic and entirely focused on her goal, she is willing, even eager, to destroy anyone who gets in her way. Although she still feels every emotion that passes through her too deeply, the fact is that the emotions themselves have very little variation. Hate. Anger. A cold delight in the face of battle. A desire for vengeance. Other emotions – sorrow, pity, grief – come to light so rarely that Apsalar has nearly forgotten she has them. The lighter emotions? Forget about it.

And yet, somewhere buried under all the hate and anger and shame the girl she was still lives. But she hasn’t seen the light of day in eleven years, and (although Apsalar has convinced herself that wreaking vengeance will bring her back to life), barring some incredible circumstance, it’s unlikely that she ever will again.
Weapons/Spells: Alongside the smaller, more manageable teen-sized staff her father made for her, Apsalar carries her mother’s spear, the wood still stained with the woman’s blood – if asked, she states that she’ll clean it once the blood of her mother’s killers has joined hers on it.
Mission in Life: To find the ones who destroyed her family and stole from their flock, and when she finds them, to make them wish their parents had been born sterile.
Quirks: Apsalar does not cry. Ever. It's a showing of grief she refuses to allow herself. She'll cry for her family once she has avenged them, and not before. She also cannot sleep for more than an hour or two at night, preferring to snatch quick catnaps - if she sleeps for longer, the nightmares send her bolting awake anyway.
Any Factions or Subfactions She Likes? Why?: No one. Absolutely no one.
Any She Hates? Why?: It’s not precisely hatred, but she’s suspicious of everyone – mainly because she has yet to know who to blame for the destruction of her family.
Armored Appearance:
Apsalar scorns the armor normally worn by her kin, instead preferring the thin red cloth thickly interwoven with threads of metal – a style of armor not used in many, many years due to its inconsistent protection.
Pets: The most prized of her Borakus, Madeier, follows her everywhere. She’s tried to leave him behind with the rest of her flock, under the care of her aunt and last surviving relative, more than a few times, but has finally accepted that the creature has no intention of staying home and letting her wander without him.
Theme Song: Torn, Natalie Imbruglia
Line of Song that Made You Choose That Song:
“I don’t care, I have no luck/I don’t miss it all that much/There’s just so many things that I can’t fight…”

Username: SilentShadowDreamer
Character Name: Alaiza Mirai
Age: 17
Bio: Alaiza was born holding the spiked whip in one hand and the unicorn’s bridle in the other. Well, no, that’s not true, but it’s a favorite saying of her mother’s. Alaiza learned early how to handle the killer unicorns through the simplest of Onyx training methods – her mother gave her an untouched foal, a spiked whip, and the child-sized suit of armor, and told her to ‘get to work’. It’s sink or swim around those swamps. Needless to say, Alaiza swam, and swam well. She had a natural touch with them, and her parents were unutterably proud of her.

By the time she was thirteen, she had a small herd of her own to manage, and it was into that herd that Kri’zarh was born. Although he fascinated both her parents due to his strange mutation (see Pets), they still managed to keep their distance as they always had before and allow Alaiza to train him as she saw fit. It took her some work – learning to fly at the same time as you’re gentling a new mount is a little frightening, to say the least. She thinks he’s turned out well; well enough that she can actually take him outside of the swamp as her mount.

Nowadays, she still mostly lives in the swamps with her family. Every now and then, though, she’ll travel outside of the swamplands – why, she doesn’t say, and no one asks…as long, of course, as she comes back.
Persona: Alaiza is considered one of the gentlest of the Onyx Beast Keepers, not that that’s saying much. She holds grudges like there’s no tomorrow, forgives little and forgets nothing, but she is less likely to turn her killer unicorns on those she dislikes than some of the others. Because she is smaller and more delicate than some of her subfaction, she is often underestimated both by her charges and her enemies, and is only too happy to correct their assumptions. She has no understanding of tact, and is blunt almost to the point of rude. Although she can be cruel when she has to be, Alaiza prefers a mix of discipline and patience to get what she wants – almost unheard of among her people. However, it’s gotten her good results, and so she keeps it.
Weapons/Spells: She carries a spiked whip, like all the Onyx. Although she rarely has to use it on Kri’zarh, every once in a while (usually after she’s let him kill an enemy or two that stood in her way) she must use it to protect herself even from him.
Mission in Life: To discover the way to breed an improved (and by improved she essentially means gentler) version of the killer unicorn – hopefully without getting killed in the process.
Quirks: Alaiza has quite a nice voice – very soft and melodic, very different from what one would expect of an Onyx Beast Keeper. The difference between the sound of her voice and what she says with it often freaks people out.
Any Factions or Subfactions She Likes? Why?: Alaiza keeps her distance (as much as possible, anyway) from all factions but her own, although she can tolerate all of them.
Any She Hates? Why?: She doesn’t hate anyone because she avoids them all.
Armored Appearance:

Pets: Alaiza, true to her Onyx subfaction, breeds and raises killer unicorns. The only one she trusts enough to take out of the swamplands is Kri’zarh, called Zar by his affectionate mistress. Kri’zarh has always been her favourite because of an odd mutation – somehow, Alaiza will never know how, Kri’zarh ended up with wings. He is highly prized as a breeder because of this. Isn’t he gorgeous?

Theme Song: Dangerous, Kardinal Offishall
Line of Song that Made You Choose That Song:
“I’ve seen her type before. That girl is so dangerous, that girl is so dangerous. That girl is a bad girl.”

Username: Tieaiel
Character Name: Gwayne Ull
Age: 34
Bio: Grew up the youngest son of one of the region's most famous Corta breeders, although he hates all the attention that comes with it. Recently he's begun offering his services as a guide through the snowy regions. For a reasonable price, of course.
Persona: A solitary creature by nature, Gwayne tends to avoid groups of more than 3-4 people, not that he's around them very often, his cold and blunt manner of speaking tends to turn them off rather quick. Despite these seemingly antisocial tendencies, he absolutely refuses to let another die on his watch, whether they're a total stranger or a good friend.
Weapons/Spells: His basic blowtorch gun, as well as enhanced strength and enhanced senses. Also has an uncanny ability to tell when someone's lying to him.
Mission in Life: Really, honestly? To avoid unnecessary contact. But since that's not likely to happen it's probably to help anyone who comes his way...so they'll leave more quickly.
Quirks: Has a slightly allergy to cats which becomes apparent if he forgets to take his medication. Also a bit of a neat freak, although it's far from OCD level.
Any Factions or Subfactions He Likes? Why?: None in particular, but he hasn't really had much contact with any of them as of yet.
Any He Hates? Why?: Same as above
Armored Appearance:

Pets: This is Himesh, the very first Corta he ever raised.

Theme Song: Mrs. O: The Dresden Dolls
Line of Song that Made You Choose That Song:
"The truth won't save you now, ah-ah-oh. The sky is falling down, ah-ah-oh"
Other: Absolutely abhors places where the temperature goes above around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.