 Race: Akontak Birthday & Age: Spring 10, 487 AV, 24 Gender: Female Fluent: Kontinese Conversational: Common Basic: Tukant Raiha is 6'6" tall, with dark blue skin and long, wavy white hair that reaches her waist. Her eyes are bright gold. She does not appear to be beyond the age of 16, as the last traces of childhood linger in her features. Her neck bears the usual gills of her mother’s people, and she has some of the scales, primarily on her torso. She weighs around 190 pounds and has a somewhat curvy figure, with lean, taut muscles under her skin. She bears a number of scars on her hands and arms, most notably on her right arm, where it looks like someone cut her to the bone. On her left shoulder, she bears the first mark of Rak'keli. Between her shoulder blades is the dark blue triangle for Akajia. Raiha is calm, patient, and level-headed. She does not get angry easily, and has only ever truly lost her temper once. She is persistent, sometimes to the point of stubbornness, and values her independence. While she enjoys the company of others, she loves her solitude. She has never minded being on her own. She is level-headed, and does not mind stepping up to the plate to help lead and organize when the situation calls for it; but she is still developing her confidence in this regard - compared to some of the others she lives with, after all, she is only a child. While usually serious, she does like to occasionally play light-hearted practical jokes on others. She is inquisitive, sometimes to a fault, especially when she smells a secret underfoot that needs to be ferreted out. As a Nightstalker, she can be very, very quiet, especially about personal details. Raiha will often keep her counsel to herself until it is asked for, and sometimes even then. She is not a person who trusts others easily, and can often be described as aloof and reserved. She likes to watch others and let them speak, and see what that says about them. She has matured quite a bit since she came to Riverfall, beginning to grow into her own. Thanks to Akajia, Raiha has found a balance with Kanikra, losing some of what her sister-soul calls her ‘softness’ and accepting that the idyllistic life they had in Mura is the exception rather than the rule - that Mizahar is a place where the strong survive, and the weak feed the strong. She loves falconry, envying them for the gracefulness and their utter sense of belonging, sometimes regretting her hybridized vigor – she knows that unlike these birds, she walks between two worlds... neither one, nor quite the other, and often sees it as being on the outside looking in - not only in Mura, but in Riverfall as well. Kanikra is Raiha’s sister-soul... or, as she calls herself, the black twin. She is cold, critical, practical, and logical to a fault. Kanikra is Raiha’s antagonist and defender, critic and supporter. She is as different as Raiha from the day is from the night. For a long time, she fought at odds against Raiha, fighting a guerrilla war in order to drive Raiha to insanity. That was her goal - to purge Raiha of all of that sickening, debilitating ‘softness’ she had been raised in in Mura; to rebuild and strengthen her and teach her not only how to live in the real world around them, but to thrive in it. Kanikra knows that no one gives it to you - you have to take it. It was she who encouraged Raiha’s love of birds, and channeled it into falconry, to the art of hunting and delivering death through her winged partners. She is often malicious towards others - often seeking to wound and make them doubt themselves and their capabilities. She does not freely give respect to anyone - it must be earned. Where Raiha trusts sporadically, Kanikra trusts none but herself. Even more than her sister, Kanikra holds secrets tight, and does not repeat them. Ever since she was young, Kanikra was old. She was born into what she termed emptiness - the fate of every Akalak and Akontak soul that wasn’t born ‘first’. She has always whispered to Raiha, dark encouragement meant to hurt and harass, to encourage and detract. For years, until an Akalak explained it to her, Raiha thought she was going crazy - Kanikra had convinced her that they were one and the same, that she was the guiding voice of reason. She claims that she received her name from the mother of shadows Herself. If she has one deity that she pays homage to, it is Akajia. It was Akajia who corrected her, showed her the value of her and Raiha working together instead of at other ends. She has always had a preference for the night time, struggling out of her bed as a sickly child and going outside to sit in it, just convincing her mother that Raiha had sleep-walked. To this day, although she would never admit it, she bears a grudge against Tanaha for not recognizing her, for not naming her, even though it has led to her penchant for fooling and tricking others by imitating her sister. If your own mother cannot recognize you, then who can? While some would call Kanikra sick, broken, deranged; she disagrees. She does not feel hindered or handicapped, as she calls it, by emotions - she is genuinely incapable of feeling them, and years of struggling against Raiha has tamed most of her sudden impulses, and short of abruptly taking over her twin mid-activity, she doesn’t act on them, which is likely for the better. Were it not for Raiha, Kanikra would not have that little voice that everyone else has in their head, telling them “right” from “wrong”. While she tends to think in the long-term when it comes to schemes and pulling strings, she has no problem with acting quickly and decisively, and often without any warning whatever. She does, however, seem to have a sliver of weakness for Kavala’s little Akontak sons. Tanaha Sarasarri: Mother Tanaha Sarasarri is a Konti jeweler living in Mura. She is usually calm and thoughtful, but occasionally she gets a “wild hair” that leads to spending bells upon bells at her work table making beautiful, delicate things. She works best with chainmaille, which is her specialty, as well as doing wire work and filigree. She did the best she could with her Akontak daughter. She has a good relationship with Raiha, but try as she might, she cannot bridge the gaps between her and Kanikra, and essentially gave up trying, instead deciding to give the girl her space and hope that at some point, Kanikra might warm up to her. She raised Raiha as a single mother, and has no other children. She still loves Raikev, even though they are no longer together. Raikev/Kanrath: Father Raikev and Kanrath are Raiha’s fathers. They are employed by the city council of Riverfall, though none of them are aware of the relationship between them and the young Akontak who came to Riverfall looking for them. He was too busy with his duty to his city to be around when Raiha was growing up, but he did send other Akalak in his stead to look in on her and offer her some guidance and advice. Raikev is tactical, patient, and protective, where Kanrath is cunning, visceral, and harsh. But they understand the concept of working in balance, something they have advised their daughter to understand and achieve. Raiha carries one of his twin lakans so that he can always find her. Raiha’s mother met her father while he was visiting Konti Isle in hopes of possibly finding one amongst the pale women he could connect with and, perhaps, try to raise a family with. He did with Tana, a jewel crafter with deft hands and a quiet laugh for all occasions. They developed a close relationship based on love and respect for the other's abilities. This mutual infatuation lasted until midway through Tana’s pregnancy. They were simply too different in irreconcilable matters: where they would live, where they would raise the child. Each preferred their own home to the other’s, and after many long discussions, they eventually came to a mutual decision: after the child was born, they would go their own way. The child would be the deciding factor. If it was a boy, then he, Raikev, would take the infant back to Riverfall. If it was a girl, then she would stay with Tana. Tana carried her child to full term, and managed her birth with the help of healers from the Opal Order. Raikev did not attend to the birth – waiting outside, hoping for a little blue son. Upon hearing the infant’s first wail, and seeing fuzzy wisps of white hair from around a blanket, Raikev was gone. He didn’t linger to see that he had sired an Akontak. He left without a backward glance to return to Riverfall, leaving his once-lover with a blue-skinned baby girl. Raiha, as Tana proceeded to name her, did not have an easy childhood. She was visited by healers of the Opal Order extensively for the first several years of her life. She seemed to go through malady after malady, leaving her bony, with stick-like limbs and eyes that were far too big in such a thin face. The little Akontak couldn’t seem to catch a break. Just as she was finally putting on weight again and running around happily, she would be unable to keep food down and suddenly listless... stricken with shaking fevers that would not subside, leaving her drained of energy, and Tana would go to get the healers once more. This led her to an interest in books, and began her envy of watching birds from the windows of her mother’s home. By the time she reached her tenth year, it looked like her bouts with ill health had finally been conquered, leaving her vigorously trying to catch up with the last of her childhood that had slipped through her fingers so many years before. Raiha had plenty of lost time to make up, although she found this a challenge. She was not like the other Kontinese daughters. She was taller than them, she was blue, and occasionally, occasionally, she had fierce tantrums that came with the sudden ferocity of Zulrav’s storms. There was always a voice in the back of her head. Sometimes it was quiet, sometimes it was louder, but it was always there. She was different, and while Raiha eventually got used being treated like she was something different, something special, she longed for them to treat her like one of the others. When her playmates were settling down into a quieter stage of their life, Raiha was still bursting with energy, energy that she decided to quash in her attempts to fit in, even as Tana counseled her daughter to be proud of herself: she was a child of the gods, just like they were, and she was different… and there was nothing wrong with that. She found that being an Akontak was a double-edged sword. When she was eighteen, she lost herself to her dark side for the first time, with a tourist who was visiting her mother’s forge and shop. Tana was in the back, and Raiha was in the front organizing, tidying, and wishing desperately to be outside with a certain little kestrel that she had named Kefi. A man had come in, looking for something, a trinket, for his wife. She had suggested a mirror, and he didn’t like the colour... All she remembered after that was being a blinding pain in her arm, the shrill screams of ‘killy killy killy killy killy’ that Kefi made when she was excited as Raiha was pulled off of the man, her knuckles split open to the bone while he lay unconscious on the once-immaculate floor, her forearm with numerous open lacerations as the kestrel scolded her ceaselessly... as dark thrills raced through her from the ends of her hair to the tips of her toes... and told her that he had had it coming. That incident frightened her... and those around her, even as Raiha prayed at night to Avalis and Akajia. Why did she do that? What had the man done to deserve that? How could she possibly even justify it? When an answer failed to come to her, she imposed exile on herself, to give herself a break from being around others, and from others being around her... lest she risk nearly killing someone again. She returned to her mother some ten-odd days later, feeling much better, if it a little worn, but none the worse for wear, hoping that there would not be a second such incident. Such peace was not to be, as the second incident was as bad as the first when it came shortly after her twenty-second birthday. That incident was worse than the first, as Kanikra took over, beating an overly-aggressive suitor into a coma. That was when Raiha decided to leave Mura, and seek out her father's people in Riverfall. Perhaps their regimen of discipline would soothe the need to see others with their blood on her hands... and if it didn't, well, perhaps they would know what would. Armed with a name, the goshawk Uzima, her Firemane mare, Yakini, and Diallo, her Akinva Deerstalker, Raiha set out for Riverfall. Gods willing, she would find her father...and herself. Spring 510 AV Raiha made the trip from Mura to Riverfall from Winter 509 to early Spring 510, AV, wanting to see if her father was still around, and to learn more about her father’s people. On the way there, she made the acquaintance of a grizzly bear Kelvic named Asim, who agreed to accompany her for the trip down the Suvan Sea. While they were beginning to bond, they got separated on the way down when Asim went to fish and never came back to the boat. Raiha had little choice but to go on without him, not knowing where he had ended up. The Akontak made it to Riverfall. On her first day there, she met up with Kavala Denusk, owner and operator of the Sanctuary, an animal healing clinic on the outskirts of Riverfall, who offered the young healer a job and a place to stay. Raiha accepted her offer, and settled in at the Sanctuary as a healer and falconer. Asim caught up with her at last, and decided to stay for a while. Raiha and Kavala, with some assistance from the bear Kelvic, built the mews together, a new place for the birds and the falconer to stay. She went looking for and found her father, learning some surprising secrets about him and her heritage. It was a life-changing, harrowing encounter in which Raiha and Kanikra both had been tricked by a Cerulean who used her as bait to draw her father, a covert operative secretly employed by the city. Among other details, he told her where to find Valkallah, the lost city of the Akalaks from before the Valterrian. She also met up with Laeraix Cerys, a lovely young eagle Kelvic, who she showed around Sanctuary and convinced to stay for a while. Summer 510 AV Summer proved a turbulent season for the young Akontak. Family issues for Kavala and her sister Akela spilled over, introducing Raiha to Vanator, the Konti sisters’ older Drykas brother, who renewed her fascination by teaching her more about the fabled Web that covered Cyphrus. Kanikra introduced herself to Kavala for the first time, although certainly not the last, and Raiha told Kavala a secret - that the Konti was pregnant with her first child. Later on in the season, she met yet another Kelvic, a rough-and-touble Talderian eagle-owl named Akasha. A strange mystery encounter with a ghost led to a forced possession and morphing, igniting a renewed interest in magic. But lessons with Hatot and Radris, combined with Kanikra’s encounter with Kavala, started setting the stage for a final showdown between the sister souls of the Akontak over the best way to get by. Kanikra had had enough of Raiha’s weakness, and Raiha simply did not want to consign herself to oblivion and hope for the best. Fall 510 AV While somewhat quieter than the season before, Fall was not entirely uneventful. Laeraix disappeared, the first of the three Kelvics to do so, and Raiha felt the bond break. The sister-souls received a powerful lesson from the Night-Mother, Akajia, Herself, and was marked with the first Gnosis Mark of Night-Stalking, and gifted with the Sulvanon, the Black Vanquisher, an artifact that dealt with phantoms, in order to dispatch some creatures that Akajia wanted dealt with. Towards the tail end of the season, Akasha promised to return after a bout of homesickness - only for that bond to break, leaving Raiha to wonder just what had happened, and if, perhaps, there was something wrong with her that was simply not compatible with Kelvics. Winter 510 AV As Kavala’s pregnancy continued, Raiha dug in to get through her first Riverfall winter, something extremely different from Mura, practicing Reimancy, and making a general mess of the back pastures. Spring 511 AV Days after a harrowing assault on the Sanctuary, Kavala birthed an Akontak son named Tasival with Raiha at her side and lending a hand. It was there that the two of them were pulled into a vision of Valkallah, as it was, before the Valterrian. She was thanked, later, by the gift of three little butter-yellow goslings to raise, two geese and a gander, that Raiha named Astarra, Tianka, and Tanemray. She met up with a young human man named Murdoch, and a friendly Drykas named Sama’el. But perhaps most importantly to Raiha, Kefi, her first hawk, arrived from Mura, along with a new potential mate for Uzima, a powerful male named Chuki. Love at first bite meant needing a trip to Kavala to repair some serious wounds. But while trial by fire might burn, the scars are neat reminders. Summer 511 AV When Kavala disappears in the heat of the night to race off with her infant son, without word of warning to anyone else, Raiha is left to hold down the fort and face the authorities, doing the best she can. In the mean time, she began working with Chuki in earnest, wanting to bond with the goshawk and train him, as well as rebonding with Kefi. She found another kestrel with hopes of mating him with Kefi. Upon Kavala’s return, Raiha loses her temper for the first time in her life at her best friend. The kennels are built, and another Akalak joins Sanctuary. When Kavala’s contract is up for renewal, Raiha and Kanikra end the life of a Kelvic brought to the Clinic for treatment. Fall 511 AV As the seasons grow colder, the hunt for supplies and foraging grows stronger still, and Raiha continues to watch the new males about Sanctuary with deepening suspicion about both. One, a new veterinarian, another, Kavala’s new Talvis. As a Nightwalker, someone marked by Akajia, Raiha and Kanikra’s thirst for secrets lead her to Kavala’s lab, and find out something that could put Kavala, the Akontak, and Sanctuary itself at risk. When Kavala is savagely beaten, Raiha silently plans a bloody, brutal revenge for her friend... while she and Kanikra watch for the opportunity to carry it out. A whirlwind adventure in pursuit of her lost goshawk hen brings about surprising encounter. Towards the tail end of the season, a friendship forged in similar interests and carefully guarded secrets brings about a new relationship with Kanrath and Uruk. Winter 511 AV
Lores from Stitches in the Sun :
Lores from It's For the Birds! :
Raiha has a connection to birds, particularly birds of prey. She understands and grasps basic concepts of communication with them, aiding her in understanding their behaviour and their needs and wants.
Diallo: Akinva Deerstalker  Diallo is Raiha's Akinva Deerstalker. She's had the big beast for quite some time. His brown eyes stand out rather sharply from his white and grey coat. He's a great guard dog, and Raiha sometimes jokes she could probably ride him instead of Yakini. Uzima: Goshawk  Uzima is a four-year-old goshawk that Raiha hatched and has been training ever since. She has imprinted on Raiha. She can be rather unfriendly, but secretly doesn't seem to mind a few scritches now and then. Chuki: Goshawk Chuki is a male goshawk that Raiha had sent from Mura to retrain and mate with Uzima. It was love at first bite.He has turned out a dependable hunter and a solid flyer. He is Uzima's mate, and surprisingly almost equal to her in size. Kefi: Kestrel Kefi was Raiha's first hawk - a nasty little Kestrel that taught Raiha more about birds than anything and anyone else in her life. She had to leave her behind in Mura when she made her original trek, and had her sent to her new home once she was established. She is mated with Oanu. Oanu: Kestrel Oanu is a kestrel that she and Kefi found one summer outside of the Sanctuary with a broken wing. She brought him back, nursed him back to health, and hung onto him since Kefi seemed to like him. He is mated with Kefi, and has a slightly better attitude than his partner. Kiwidinok: Golden Eagle Kiwidinok is Raiha's golden eagle hen. She has a fondness for hunting truly large prey - from deer to people. She reminds Raiha of Kanikra with her natural, chilling malevolence. Yakini: Firemane Mare  Drawn to Yakini because of her dark colouring and lighter hair (which reminded Raiha of herself), the Akontak fell in love with the mare when she first saw her. On the taller end as far as Firemanes go, the big horse carries Raiha well. If pressed, Raiha would admit that the mare is spoiled rotten, especially since she seems to have a way of begging like Diallo with those eyes of hers.
Flashbacks: Flashback: On The Outside Looking In (1 XP Riding, 5 XP Suvai, 2 XP Interrogation, 4 XP Observation) Flashback: The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste (5 XP Writing, 5 XP Research) Flashback: Soothing Ruffled Feathers (2 XP Auristics, 1 XP Teaching, 1 XP Negotiation, 1 XP Debating, 1 XP Rhetoric) Spring, 510 AV: 1st: Come West Along The Road (3 XP Riding, 3 XP Dog Handling, 4 XP Medicine, 1 XP Falconry, 1 XP Leadership) 2nd: Grin and Bear It (2 XP Falconry, 2 XP Interrogation) 10th: What Lurks Beneath The Skin (1 XP Auristics, 5 XP Rhetoric, 4 XP Intimidation) 22nd: Finding Sanctuary (1 XP Rhetoric, 1 XP Interrogation) Early: Stitches In The Sun (2 XP Riding, 2 XP Falconry, 1 XP Auristics, 5 XP Observation, 3 XP Rhetoric(Or Conversation), 1 XP Scolding, 2 XP Debate, 1 XP Negotiation, 3 XP Sewing, 1 XP Embroidery) 40th: It's For The Birds! (4 XP Observation, 2 XP Rhetoric, 2 XP Design(Construction), 2 XP Planning, 2 XP Rhetoric, 5 XP Construction, 1 XP Cooking) 45th: About Your Father (5 XP Observation, 5 XP Rhetoric, 5 XP Auristics, 4 XP Investigation, 4 XP Suvai, 3 XP Tactics, 2 XP Subterfuge, 1 XP Drinking) 65th: Of Earth And Air (5 XP Falconry, 1 XP Observation, 1 XP Herbalism, 3 XP Teaching, 4 XP Rhetoric, 2 XP Hostessing) Summer, 510 AV: 14th: If You Can Meet With Triumph And Disaster... (1 XP Meditation, 1 XP Animal Husbandry, 5 XP Falconry, 1 XP Observation, 4 XP Rhetoric, 3 XP Interrogation, 3 XP Teaching, 3 XP Auristics) 15th: Shelter Beneath The Waves (1 XP Auristics, 1 XP Intimidation, 3 XP Philosophy, 3 XP Unarmed Combat, 1 XP Swimming) 20th: Body and Souls 30th: Visiting the Arma'Drex Smithy 30th: In Your Element 45th: Of Cats and Curiosity (1 XP Hunting, 1 XP Animal Husbandry, 1 XP Auristics, 1 XP Falconry, 1 XP Teaching, 2 XP Medicine) 60th: When the Stars Align (4 XP Hunting, 5 XP Observation, 2 XP Suvai) 65th: The Call, The Dream, The Water (1 XP Animal Husbandry, 1 XP Cooking, 1 XP Observation) 79th: The First Configuration Fall, 510 AV: 25th: Roughin' It (2 XP Falconry, 1 XP Planning, 1 XP Auristics) 42nd: Squatters in the Tower 30th: Digging where the Darkness Lies (3 XP Flanged Maces, 3 XP Meditation, 4 XP Philosophy) 85th: Going Through The Motions Winter, 510 AV: Spring, 511 AV: 1st: Welcoming In The New Year (1 XP Animal Husbandry) 8th: Black Clouds and Blood Red Rain (1 XP Animal Husbandry, 2 XP Suvai, 2 XP Flanged Maces) 10th: As the Rush Comes 15th: I've Got A Theory! (1 XP Falconry, 1 XP Planning) 16th: Manipulating Water 20th: The Ferocity and Madness of Love and Life 30th: A Special Thank You 40th: Poetry in Motion 55th: The Clashing of Shiny Pointy Things... and Weapons 67th: Birds Gone Wild! (1 XP Horsemanship, 1 XP Riding, 1 XP Falconry, 1 XP Meditation) Summer, 511 AV: 20th: Dog Days of Summer (2 XP Flanged Maces, 1 XP Observation, 1 XP Construction, 1 XP Auristics, 1 XP Medicine) 40th: Calling The Flock 60th: A Warm Welcome Home 65th: To Build A Home 85th: The Light Fades (2 XP Animal Husbandry) 90th: Earning Thy Keep Fall, 511 AV: 3rd: Couplet 13rd: The Darkness in the Light 15th: The Wounded Return 25th: The Wild Hearted 58th: Common Interests 70th: Don't Clam Up On Me 80th: Pulling Punches 91st: The Cusp of a First Winter Morning Winter, 511 AV: 8th: Love Does Not Give Prior Notice 8th: Loose Tongues and Lucid Hearts Early: The Savage Garden 29th: Tell Me Something Good 30th: Crossover Medicine 35th: Winter Raiding Party 40th: Winter's Breath Mid: When Shadows Speak And Sometimes Scream 59th: Preparations 84th: We Can't Be Paralyzed By Fear 85th: Gotta Get Up Early If You Wanna Hunt For Eggs 86th: If It Moves And Tastes Good Kill It 88th: Going Underground 92nd: The Eye of the Storm Spring, 512 AV: 1st: Aftermath 15th: An Offering To Wysar 18th: Summons to Raiha 50th: The Kite Festival Summer, 512 AV: 12th: The Dog Days of Summer Late: The Door of Mysteries: Where Truths Lie |
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Raiha
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Raiha
by Raiha on February 27th, 2010, 10:05 am
The first rule of Akajia is you do not talk about Akajia.
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Raiha - Raiha Shadowplayer
- Posts: 380
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- Joined roleplay: February 6th, 2010, 4:07 pm
- Race: Mixed blood
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