August's Featured Character: Irriari!

by **Cayenne** on August 1st, 2011, 4:25 pm

August's Featured Character: Irriari

Please join me in congratulating Irriari, who has been chosen as the featured character for the month of August, 2011! I hope you all enjoy the interview as much as I did.

Cayenne: How did you get into roleplaying? When did you start?

Irriari: I got into roleplaying way back in middle school, with pen and paper. Everything we wrote was one line to a paragraph long and we both managed two characters. I think by the end of my eighth grade year we had about two hundred pages front and back filled up. Later on, reminiscing about it was so wonderful and nostalgic. Throughout high school I always wanted to role play again, but I never really acted on it until my junior year. My writing has improved a lot since then but it showed me how great role playing could be, and then I started looking for a place that would be just as fun, and I found Mizahar!

Cayenne: The Zith aren’t necessarily a very popular race. What drew you to them? What do you like the most about them?

Irriari: My play style is very adventurous and I love taking risks. So, for my second PC, I had always been intrigued by the Zith, and the more I thought about it, and this character started forming in my head, it just felt like a great fit. The Zith have so much potential as a race, and I love how unique everything about them is, from their art to their ethics. When I started really looking more heavily into what playing a Zith would be like, I knew that there was no city (at the time) that would welcome Zith at all. To me, that was almost a deal maker, as I really enjoy having to fight for what my PC's earn, and to have challenges along the way. As a race, none spoke more to that than the Zith.

Out of all the unique characteristics the Zith have, I think I like their culture the best. Their ideals, way of life, and how they die are shaped by it so profoundly that every time I write, I'm forced to think about the differences between the colony and the city, because it is such a massive change. Zith are simply different. I can't think about my PC with human ethics, because they were shaped by the Valterrian, and I love that sort of rewarding challenge.

Cayenne: Irriari has a fascination with poisons - when did this start?

Irriari: This all started for me when I read Brent Weeks' 'Night Angel Trilogy'. The book centered on poison as a weapon of both the weak and the strong. In the book, it wasn't a spineless way of killing people, which poison tends to be portrayed as. In the books, poison was more versatile than the best assassin with a blade. With poison, a character could stage an elaborate plot that would make it seem like a noble committed suicide and through minor poisonings through a period of months, not even the victims family would have doubts. Contact poison can be placed on doors or valuable possessions to where it's nearly invisible.

When I was thinking about Irriari, I realized that poison was not a traditional Zith weapon in any sense. The more I wrote about Irriari, I realized that she didn't think of poisons as the be all end all weapon, but more as a supplement to her claws. Eventually, when the colony started out casting her more, poison became her main interest and refuge (and a big way to prove the colonies misconceptions wrong) until she ended up where she is today.

Cayenne: As a flying character, she has travel a bit easier than most. Your Zith has had an interesting journey - from her colony to Sahova to Ravok. What drives her to travel? Any idea what place will be next?

Irriari: Well, the drive to travel to Ravok was simple- she had to get away from the petching Nuits who tortured her! I think that's a good reason to travel for anyone. But I think she may return some day, in a few seasons. Irriari loves to travel because the cities and lands outside of the Sea of Grass are so different from the damp and dark colony. She doesn't have to spend all her days hunting in the same area of land or in the colony fighting with her biggest rival, Fierce. If I had to pick any location I would love to see Irr go next, it would have to be the Spires. I mean, to have an area that accepts Zith, that's pretty big deal, and I think Irr would have a good time in the forest, if she didn't get herself killed.

Cayenne: You have a dream to join the Ebonstryfe. What sparked this idea?

Irriari: Well, the Zith spend their whole lives in colonies, no matter the location in Mizahar, and I knew that Irriari would miss that and camaraderie. The Ebonstryfe is the type of organization in a human world that I see Irriari fitting in more than any other. There, if accepted, she can hone her poisoncrafting abilities and can act like a Zith should, within reason. The struggle to contain herself and act somewhat human is hard, and the Stryfe doesn't expect it's members to sugarcoat anything, they only have to serve the will of Rhysol.

Cayenne: If you could do any thread at all with Irriari, what would it be?

Irriari: Isn't this where people talk about having a quest with Tarot? Well, barring that possibility, I would love to be able to have Irriari make her way into Syliras and try to wreck some havoc there. I don't have illusions of grandeur about destroying their precious tree (yet), but maybe one day I will!

Cayenne: Irriari is rather (blissfully) unaware of the Gods. If she knew more about them, would there be any in particular that she would follow?

Irriari: Yeah, I'm almost glad that most Zith don't know about gods, it saves them from getting into the divine politics game. Irriari's attitudes about gods stems from that as well. If gods and goddesses were nowhere in her life the last 13 years, why bother with them now? Unless she can truly see their influence on other people or places, they aren't really real to her. Things like combat and bloodshed are much easier to love and be devoted to then a intangible concept like a god that those stupid humans talk about

Cayenne: A lot of us write characters that identify with many of our own traits, or traits that we wish we had or dream of. What parts of you inspired Irriari, and what parts of Irriari inspire you?

Irriari: I think the whole adrenaline-seeking adventurous lifestyle I used to have inspired Irriari for me. As I said up there, I was sick of playing it safe- I'd rather have my PC killed off than spending all her time in taverns. (And to think, now she might be getting killed by a woman who works in a tavern. How ironic!) A few things about Irriari inspire me, but the one that stands out the most is her blatant distaste for people who sugar coat things. Little known fact about Irr: If you stand up to her, act like yourself and are loyal to something, she can respect that, even if you're loyal to maiming her. I like that, and sometimes, I wish I could see things through such an unbiased viewpoint in my real life.

Cayenne: Do you have a specific goal that Irriari dreams of achieving?

Irriari: I really want her to be able to join the Stryfe and start something big in Ravok, though I have no idea what it would be, though. If she gets into the Stryfe, I think that's something that will become apparent with a few more seasons.

Cayenne: Pie or cake?

Irriari: Brownies!!! Seriously, I'm not a huge fan of pie or cake, so I'll be a rebel. And while I have a second to ramble off before I go, I just wanted to thank everyone who has threaded with me, and encouraged me, as well as all the Founders and mods. I wouldn't be having this great adventure without everyone else.

Cayenne: Thank you, Irr! And once again, congratulations!