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 Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:26 pm
Spiffy Banner here Intro and TOC goes here
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Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:28 pm
spiffy banner here later The Family Legacy: Mambabarang
Account History: It was the year 1760, and in a small Spanish colony located in South East Asia, the natives (more commonly known as Indios) were rebelling against their Spanish oppressors. History shows records of early-stage guns, cannons and various blades such as bolo knives were used in these uprisings. History also shows records how the Indios were sorely lacking in weaponry and strategy, hence their continuous loss against the Spaniards.
But history is always written by the winners, and after remaining colonized for over three centuries, it is obvious that history left some things out. History does not show how certain Indios managed to win their battles, simply because the Spanish historians refused to accept they had lost to mere Indios. History does not show that the Indios were capable of using other weapons.
The first was called kulam, and the second was called barang. The former was a form of witch craft akin to voodoo. It needed a personal possession of the victim (or in this case the target) for the spell to work properly. The latter was a more powerful form of kulam that needed no personal possession. The memory of the intended victim would suffice the barang practitioner. These people were capable of killing their victims with the use of specially cared for insects. With such powerful abilities at their disposal, why then would the Indios not have been able to win the war?
Fear.
Only a select few could master the art of kulam or barang and these masters kept their talents a secret. For you see, the Spaniards have brainwashed the Indios into believing witchcraft is the work of the devil. Many of the Indios' fear of the Spanish god far outweighed their desire for freedom. Many of the Indios feared that those who could use these so-called dark arts would not think twice about using their abilities on them. And many of the Indios feared what they did not know or understood.
In one small village in the province known as Tarlac, a man would experience this fear. His name was Miguel, Miguel Antonio Ferdinand de Lorenzo y de Ignacio, and he was the fourth generation in a family of hacienderos. He was rash, proud, and arrogant, like many of the young men of his time he thought himself invincible. Little did he know that his actions would merit the wrath of a mambabarang.
He had seen one of the farmer's daughters and felt the fire in his loins stir. He did not seduce her, oh no, he was far too powerful to bother wasting his time that way. He simply purchased her from her family (as many farmers were in desperate need of money), and when his desires borne fruit he had her removed from the hacienda.
There are many more women, Miguel thought as he idly scratched at the small welt on his thigh. He went to sleep that night, his thigh tingling and itching slightly. Before the midnight hour came, he awoke to a painful, burning sensation of his body. Throwing the covers off, he found his entire lower body was covered in ants. An entire colony of ants had decided to build their nest inside his legs and they were busy digging, excavating, and eating him alive.
His screams of terror and pain echoed throughout the hacienda. But when he showed his body to his family they found no ants, no bite marks apart from the small, faint remnant of a welt. Miguel continued to cry and shriek as the ants that only he saw continued to carve away at him. His body burned with fever and he writhed in pain every single waking moment.
It was only when the cook suggested to the major domo that Miguel see a special healer that they discovered the cause of Miguel's ailment. Someone had used barang on him, and cursed him. If Miguel had not seen the healer that day, he would have been dead by the next sunrise. The healer performed rituals and prayed in a language no one in the hacienda understood.
From the area where the welt once was, the healer gouged out an ant. It was larger than any ant Miguel had ever seen. As long and thick as a finger, it was drenched in blood, Miguel's blood. Its pincer-like jaws continued to snap at the air as the healer sealed it in a small jar. Another prayer was muttered and the ant stiffened and ceased moving. The healer warned Miguel that if the jar were to be opened, he would suffer dire consequences. Frightened and repulsed by the creature, Miguel gave the major domo the task of finding a safe place for the jar.
One way or another (possibly through numerous bribes and trades in the black market) the jar found its new home to be a safety deposit box in the Past Legacies Corporation. Oddly enough, the account's name does not belong to the family of Miguel but the cook's.
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Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:31 pm
Spiffy banner here Legacy's Name: Oche
Legacy's Sex: Female
Legacy's Ability: Oche is capable of either two skills, the first is communication with insects and commanding them if she manages to persuade them. Usually her means of persuading is through offering them food.
Her second ability allows her to take on certain insect's characteristics. While young, she can only use one characteristic at a time, such as developing insect-like wings to fly, or creating sonic blasts by rubbing her hands or wrists together the way crickets do with their hind legs. She can't fly and make sonic blasts at the same time, at least not until she grows older. I'm intending for her to be in her teens before she will be able to use more than one skill at a time. The catch to this ability, though, is that her Key must have ingested the particular insect she wants to borrow the ability from prior to the execution of said trait.
Legacy's Personality:
Baby: Oche as a baby is highly demanding and an utter attention whore. She dislikes being ignored and expects that everyone will cater to her every whim. At this stage, she has the “Queen Ant” mentality where she views everyone as a mindless drone whose only purpose in life is to serve her. She is not particularly violent, at least not in the physical sense. She can and will scream, shout, yell, whine, shriek and make herself a downright nuisance until either the other person gives in or actually hurts her.
Toddler: As a toddler, Oche has toned down in some sense. She is still quick to lose her temper and is still quite vocal when expressing her distaste or dislike. However, she has begun to consider that the world does not, in fact, revolve around her. She is a little more welcoming of another person's difference in opinion and beliefs. The key word here being little, Oche will still be a demanding little brat if she feels like it.
Child: For personal reasons that she refuses to share with others, Oche has demoted herself from queen to princess at this stage. Most likely because her right to rule is constantly being questioned and her authority is often undermined by people's independence. She still considers herself as royalty and (in her own mind) is making herself equal to the people she used to consider as her servants.
Teenager: Like many of the other teenagers, the hormones are at the most potent in this point in Oche's life. While children are very impressionable and learn from their surroundings, Oche's turning point is actually when she's a teen. She doubts herself and may or may not display the contrary, depending on the company. She will have allowed herself to become close to a choice few, though depending on roleplay this group may or may not be a good influence on her.
She becomes clingy at this stage, almost terrified and paranoid of things that could have just been in her imagination.
Youth & Adult: It is my personal decision not to plan in advance what her personality will be like in her Youth and Adult stages for these are going to be heavily influenced by roleplay and the people/characters she interacts with. The most crucial stage would be her teenager stage as is she currently in the "pupa" stage where situations and events can make or break her growth and development.
Legacy's Appearance:
Heirloom: As an Heirloom, she is a bug-in-a-jar brooch. The brooch is in the shape of an ant and it is kept inside a small glass jar with the cover sealed in wax.
Baby: As a baby, Oche is completely devoid of hair, and her pale skin has this sheen that closely resembles those of an ant's. Her eyes are a solid black the way an ant's eyes would be. Her clothing style is extravagant, flamboyant and (at least in her mind) fitting of a queen. Her body type is pleasantly plump, not obese but round.
Toddler: As a toddler, Oche the beginnings of a pair of antennae peek out from her forehead. Her fashion sense remains as 'royal' as ever, though some might question her taste. She prefers to stand out more than actually being aesthetically appealing. She still remains quite hairless. She still retains most of her baby fat at this stage.
Child: Now that her motor skills are functioning properly, as is her speech patterns, Oche's fingers will begin to appear abnormally long. Her body has lost a large chunk of her baby fat and in effect appears lanky. Her clothes take a turn from eccentric to just plain weird. Purposely mismatched socks, a pink fingerless glove on one hand paired with a polka-dotted wristband on the other, ruffles and feathers and who know what else she can pick up in the street becomes an accessory. Her antennae are usually propped up by a make-shift crown that she fashions from foil or aluminum or anything sparkly and glittery.
And yes, she is still bald.
Teenager: At this stage in her life, Oche's fashion makes a drastic 180. Gone are the blindingly colored outfits. Gone are the tacky and gaudy jewelry. Gone are the clothes that will make one wonder if she got dressed in the dark. They were all replaced by sensible styles, straight lines, simple designs, anything and everything that made one fade in the crowd. The only remnant of her juvenile sense of style is the crown decorated with small, semi-precious stones. Her antennae have grown to their fullest, and she is still hairless.
Youth and Adult: It is my personal decision not to plan in advance how she will look like in her Youth and Adult stages for these are going to be heavily influenced by roleplay and the people/characters she interacts with. The only certainty would be her antennae will be at their most developed, and she remains bald until the very end.
Key's Name: Garapon
Key's Species: Daddy Longlegs Spider
Key's Personality:
Baby: Pon is far too simple-minded at this stage in his life to have anything that resembles a personality. All he's interested in is getting his next meal and not getting squashed. When interacting with other Keys, Pon tends to be skittish and afraid of them, especially if they're bigger than him. His speech usually composes of simple monosyllabic words, or at most a phrase.
Toddler: Pon is still a gluttonous little bugger and quite frankly he can't quite distinguish the difference between friend or foe. So long as you give him food he'll see you as a friend. Often his hunger will get the best of him and he'll end up stealing food, or worse trying to eat a portion of whoever is closest to his mouth. Loyalty does not seem to be in Pon's dictionary as he is far too prone to giving into his hunger. The only one who can truly rely on this fickle little spider and not fear his voracious appetite is his Legacy, Oche. He acts as his underling, doing her dirty deeds such as making others look foolish or scaring them if they displeased her. You would be surprised how many people can get startled by a daddy longlegs spider.
Child: Though Pon is now able to curb his hunger somewhat, he is still prone to binging and overeating. As the yes-man of Oche, Pon is wary of the people who are befriending his Legacy. Even though they are bound together, Pon fears that someone would be able to replace him. He isn't above stooping to using underhanded means when it ensures his place in Oche's eyes. When first meeting others, Pon tends to stay hidden, if only because he fears of getting squashed.
Teenager: In this stage, Pon has mellowed out considerably. He still loves to eat, but he's not as worried about his role in Oche's life. His attempts at making friends are more obvious in this stage because of the drastic change in Oche's personality. He now has to nudge her to take action when she used to lash out at the smallest hint of provocation.
Youth & Adult: It is my personal decision not to plan in advance what his personality will be like in his Youth and Adult stages for these are going to be heavily influenced by roleplay and the people/characters he interacts with.
Key's Appearance:
Key: As a key, it is shaped like any ordinary key except it looks like it was spun entirely out of a spider's web.
Alive: I am aware that Daddy Longlegs don't really have that much to go on, given that they're so small. But the only thing that would change in each stage is his size. He gets bigger, and that's pretty much it.
Special Traits/Talents: Pon has a bottomless pit for a stomach, which explains his name "Garapon" meaning "Jar." His ability to ingest things several times his size allows him to 'store' the essences of the insects whose properties/abilities Oche sometimes uses.
Important Concept Detail: A mambabarang is a person who practices barang, in Oche's case, she is a combination of both the mambabarang and the insect being used to extract revenge. She is based on an ant, and while the usual characteristics people attribute to ants are hard working and diligence, these are more directed to the drones. Oche views herself as the queen ant and not a drone.
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Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:35 pm
Spiffy banner here Guardian info here
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Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:39 pm
Spiffy banner here Just in case
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