Bamax wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:56 am
Read the intermission... not sure if you included remarks about Emberwing's appearance to humans due to reader ignorance (such as mine), but nice touch.
This is party due to the "sleeping princess" trope, but she is indeed beautiful. On the other hand, all Loroi are very pretty,
Arioch the Soia made sure to improve this aspect over its template as well.
Bamax wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:56 am
Like a knew she was pretty, since Zarjow I think said she was.
Even if that was true, it was still flattery.
I've rolled her stats, and her appearance value is quite high. Unfortunately, I'm not well versed in GURPS, so I can't make a comparable character sheet.
Bamax wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:05 am
And what color are Emberwing's eyes? Orange?
Yep, although not quite as bright as Talon's, more like this one's
here.
Bamax wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:05 am
Is that why her parents named her Emberwing? Or did she get that name for a later achievement instead?
Both reasons, actually. I've included two hints about her naming in the dream sequences:
Dreamscape duel:
“Oh, so the tiny Ember grew into a flame bold and bright enough to outshine the moon?” Her sister’s smile grew into a vicious grin, “I thought that you were too much of a coward to wear this heavy armor of command?” The specter that resembled her sister pointed at her chest.
The whole dream was utterly ridiculous, thought Emberwing. This particular hunt back then went wrong, since one of the diral sisters from her group tripped, thus alerting the quarry. The huge boar quickly assembled the herd and charged right at the hapless hunters, forcing her squad to climb a tree in order to escape its fury. The beast relented only half a day later, and upon returning to the camp, the four were mockingly called winged miros for the desperate speed with which they practically flew up the tree. It took her quite some time to transform that “winged” moniker from an insult into an acknowledgment of her fleetness in both mind and body.
I've asked Arioch about the traditions concerning the assignment of a spoken name:
Arioch wrote: ↑Sat Jul 10, 2021 9:16 pm
Spoken names are formally assigned as part of the diral graduation ceremony by the group of elders running the training campus. Prior to that, the child would have been called by a nickname or an epithet chosen by her peers (if she had a spoken nickname at all). The name chosen is based on the individual's perceived personality and reputation, often taking into account existing epithets or nicknames, and the nature of her telepathic signature (you can probably guess how Fireblade got her name). Unlike the diral names which are deliberately rude and derogatory, by tradition the elders try to mane the new spoken names sound as cool as possible; some subcultures are superstitious about a warrior's future success being impacted by how cool her name is. A super-badass name may also be a lot to live up to, and may even be seen as a portent of future heroic sacrifice in subcultures that believe in
dalid. If you get a pretty name like "Beryl" or "Moonglow," that may be the elders' way of saying, "Well... she has a nice personality."
In contrast, a Loroi who drops out of warrior training will probably be stuck with a derogatory nickname as her spoken name. Fortunately, spoken names are not as important for civilians as they are for warriors.
It is possible for a warrior's name to change during her lifetime, based on heroic achievements (or infamous ones). I imagine that Eighth Dawn's got that name later in life, after some super-awesome incident.
It might seem weird for a Loroi to go without a spoken name for most of her childhood, but I seem to recall reading that in some times and places during human history, especially during hard times of plague and strife, child mortality was so high that they didn't bother naming their children until they survived to a certain age, or give them generic placeholder names (such as in Japan; Taro, Jiro and Saburo are just generic names for first, second, and third sons).
During her childhood, Emberwing was regarded as rather promising, but not very ambitious. Maybe because she wanted to be a Listel, but that was not allowed? Therefore, as a girl, her nickname was "Little/Tiny Ember" instead of something more awesome, like "Firelight", for example. Her diral name is a highly private matter, and she won't divulge it. After that hunting failure, she and the three others were called "winged miros" by their diral sisters anyway. However, she managed to prove herself and this was rewarded with a proper, even though not a super-badass spoken name after her trials. Her older sister's name, Moonblade, on the other hand, is meant to be cool.
