Who Is Ialari?
I can't believe I haven't started a scrapbook before now. I guess it's better late than never, right? So for my first post in my scrapbook I figured I would address something that has as of late has become an issue. The character, Ialari, who is she? Over the course of the past year I have received a number of requests that stem from the current thread I have going on in Nyka where I am learning the lost magical discipline of Dominion. The requests have been for me to train others in Dominion. There are a few things that I find somewhat humorous about this while at the same time annoying.
First, the thread isn't even finished and up until just recently, Dominion didn't even have a write-up.
Second, some of the requests have come from players of human characters. This is where my biggest issue tends to dive right into the annoying stage. Disclaimer first, I understand that people are excited about Dominion and I don't blame anyone for that. It is a damn cool thing to learn for one's character and excitement and anticipation are well warranted. I just wish people would become more familiar with my character, even just a little, before asking me about training; check out my CS and/or at the very least, skim over my other threads and get an idea of who Ialari is or what she is like. By the way, most of my threads so far have been leading up to the learning of Dominion. These threads go back almost two years so while many have been interested in this for awhile, I have personally been waiting and working toward it; stuck in rp-limbo, while waiting for the final thread to complete.
That said, for whatever reason, many people choose not to learn something about the character before asking for such an important favor. So, I'm going to make it easy on everyone interested and spell it out here now.
Who is Ialari? She is an isur and member of the Pitrius clan. The Pitrius clan is identified by their metallic black, silver-veined arm and their interest in learning things that are forbidden by others, taboo in some way, lost in history or otherwise abnormal. She is extremely patriotic and highly religious with heavy devotion to the gods in general though more specifically to Izurdin, God of Patience, Strength and Industry. Ialari is a selfish individual to the extreme HOWEVER, that selfishness is not for her but for her people. She loves her people so much that she would do ANYTHING for them.
As an isur, Ialari views herself as being superior to non-isur. This is a mindset that the vast majority of the isur hold. In addition, she was raised to believe that humans are a threat, not only to the isur, but to the world in general. See, according to the Lore on the isur, following the Valterrian, they believed it was the humans that caused the devastation. In the years preceding the Valterrian, the isur began to feel that the humans were becoming rather greedy and selfish in their dealings with them. The humans tended to want more and more from the isur while wanting to give little in return. When the Valterrian hit and the isur kingdom at the time was all but destroyed, the isur fled into the mountains of Kalea and locked themselves away from the outside world. Over the following centuries, they developed the perspective that it had to be the humans that caused all of the horrors that befell the isurian race. This perspective was further enhanced by nomadic human tribes migrating into and through the Unforgiving of Kalea. These humans often attacked isur outposts and trade caravans, further solidifying the isur's views on humanity. It wasn't until recently that this mindset began to change and the isur started attempting more open relationships with what humans did travel through and live in the Unforgiving.
Not all of the isur were willing to become so open however. Many retained the old view of humanity. In their centuries long isolation, many isur still fear and hate the humans. This is the atmosphere Ialari was born into. Throughout her young life, Ialari had some encounters with humans in some of the trade outposts outside of the main isur cities. To her, they looked dirty, savage and less than imperfect. She did not trust them, did not like them and basically wanted little to do with them.
As she grew older, Ialari eventually became an apprentice at the Silver Tower; the center for all things magical in the isurian kingdom as well as the center for the study of subjects not always embraced by others, isur or otherwise. Her area of study was heavily influenced by the nature of her family. The Pythone family has been associated with snakes and serpents since its founding. As a result, Ialari took to the study of poisons with some interest in a number of magical disciplines. Early on in her studies, Ialari realized that the Tower would only be able to offer her so much as far as poisons were concerned. This was mainly due to the isolation of the kingdom from the outside world; only so many poisons were available. Though the patience of the isur is legendary, Ialari struggled with patience since she was a little girl and this struggle continued into her studies. She wanted to learn more and learn it quicly. Unfortunately, this was not to be and after becoming a competent poisoncrafter, Ialari resigned herself on having to take more drastic action to learn what she wanted.
Petitioning her instructors at the Tower, Ialari wished to leave the kingdom in search of more opportunities for delving into poisons. Thanks to her father being an instructor and putting forth his approval, Ialari was given permission to carry her studies abroad as it were. Thus she left the Tower and journeyed into the Unforgiving of Kalea. Shortly after leaving, a rather grueling Winter came crashing down on the region. Looking for shelter from the elements, Ialari sought a nearby isur trading outpost. She found it however it wasn't what she was expecting. It had been attacked by what appeared to be one of the nomadic tribes of humans that occasionally wandered into and around the Unforgiving. While the main attack had been over for a few days, there were still a few human scavengers picking through the ruins. It was during her encounter with these humans that something in Ialari snapped. The brutality of the human scavengers and the attack on the outpost turned Ialari's distaste for humans into something far worse.
As she traveled further west, to the Suvan Sea and beyond, Ialari couldn't get the encounter out of her mind. There it continued to fester and poison until it evolved into a venomous hatred of such potency that Ialari refocused her studies toward the complete and utter destruction of the human race. The horrors that the humans were capable of in Ialari's mind were worthy of eradication. While she did encounter a handful of humans that defied her hatred, they were extreme exceptions. The journey east from Sultros was a long one and offered quite a bit of time for Ialari's mind to grow more poisoned by her hatred. Her faith however was incredibly strong and was probably the only thing that helped temper her hatred and allowed her to avoid insanity. The hate mixed with faith added a new dimension to Ialari's mindset.
Ialari is just short of being fanatical in her faith in Izurdin. What she doesn't do for her people, she does for her god with her own personal wishes coming last. In her daily communion with her lord, Ialari realized that hatred was not the only thing in life. Her perspective on life and on humans evolved yet again. Maybe it was Izurdin trying to save his child from self-destruction or maybe it was simply Ialari's disturbed mind trying to rationalize everything. Whatever the reason for it, Ialari's hatred was finally given perspective and a solid direction. Ialari learned in her studies that the isur conquered great obstacles to rebuild their kingdom. With all that they had gone through, she felt they deserved something great in return. For her, the greatest gift she could give her people was freedom from the fear of humans and ironically enough even freedom from the hatred directed at humans. She wanted the isur to return to their place of greatness where they did not feel they had to isolate themselves from everyone else, where they were respected and held in high regard. Where hatred and fear no longer existed. To Ialari, the only way to achieve this was to eliminate the human threat. To eliminate the human threat, the humans had to be eliminated.
Eventually, Ialari found her way to Sahova where she became involved in the internal strife between different factions of nuit residing there. In helping resolve the conflict, Ialari managed to save Sahova from destruction and in the process, gained unique knowledge of the citadel's layout as well as access that very few outsiders could hope to attain. Her already twisted mind however, was tweaked even further when she temporarily stepped in place of Drainira, the entity that controlled much of the citadel's unique functions. How that will effect her later on is yet to be seen. During this conflict, Ialari also made an enemy of the new Champion of Sagallius while also allying with a powerful elder wizard. This alliance granted her access to prisoners that had allied themselves against the ruling body of Sahova. These rebels were to be interrogated by Ialari for any information that may be useful. What she discovered were fragments of information regarding the lost magical discipline of Dominion. With this information, Ialari and one of the prisoners whom she had set free, left Sahova for Nyka in search of the last known individual who knew of Dominion, Master Amir Berliotz, Wizard of Sahova.
Traveling to Nyka and delving into the infamous Aperature, Shalla and Ialari found Berliotz. The wizard was long dead now a fractured ghost split into echoed copies; a side-effect of over-giving. Using her own body, mind and soul, Ialari was able to merge the fractured Berliotz into one being. In return for doing this, the dead mage revealed to Ialari what he knew of Dominion. The encounter has, thus far, tested Ialari in every way imaginable. At the time of this posting, Ialari's mind and body have been stretched to the breaking point; even further than when she briefly attempted to take Drainira's place. The thread continues thus far with Ialari having been granted the secret of Dominion from Izurdin, Himself on behalf of the gods as a whole. She is still in the Aperature facing an infuriated, monstrous, Berliotz.
How all of this will pan out is still up in the air. Will Ialari live through the encounter? I hope so. If/when she does, where does she go next? What does become based on all that she has been through? The simple answer to it all is, I don't know. I do know that Ialari's faith will become so much greater after having been entrusted with a secret kept for ages by the gods. Will she teach it to others? Of course. The whole point of restoring a lost discipline of magic to the world is to have it spread to those who are worthy of its use. Will she freely teach any human who wishes to learn from her? If you think the answer is yes after reading this post up to this point, then all I can do is shake my head in pity. Assuming Ialari makes it out of the current thread alive and functional, she is going to spend a lot of time practicing, experimenting, learning and becoming Dominion. Where she goes from there is something I have plans for but don't want to reveal right now. Some of the things I have in mind opens up the opportunity for other characters to associate with Ialari and potentially gain inside knowledge into the use of Dominion. That however is a bit further down the road.
