Neophyte Redglare

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PLAYER INFO:
Name: Michi
Preferred pronoun: feminine
Preferred means of contact: AIM (streams of time) is preferred, but Gmail (pebbleintheocean) and Plurk (yumesukidesho) are also available.
Any other characters currently in-game? Nope!

CHARACTER INFO
Name: Neophyte Redglare
Gender: Female
Source: Homestuck
Canon point: After Mindfang's capture, but before the trial is held
Age: 13 sweeps (approximately 28 years old)
Color: Teal (#008282)
Chumhandle: judicialPotentia

History:
On Alternia, troll eggs are created en mass by a giant mother grub through a complicated process involving a incestuous slurry of genetic material. Ancestry is impossible to trace, and once hatched, the trolls face a series of grueling trials that are meant to weed out those less fit for survival. Afterwards, those remaining are typically left in the care of a lusus--a guardian creature of some kind. The lusus acts as a parental figure and usually teaches the troll the basics of what to do and what not to do, while the troll learns to provide for/feed it. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.

Like most trolls, Redglare was taken in by her lusus at a very young age... Her lusus being a fire-breathing, sight-searing white dragon named Pyralspite. Redglare acted as a capable keeper in her younger years, during which she studied Brutal Alternian Law extensively. Her efforts gave way to a seat among the League of Legislacerators, Alternia's collection of legal bounty hunters. Rather than the modern day system of courts and trials, Alternian justice was dispensed through these Legislacerators, who were charged with apprehending their assigned criminals and bringing them in--dead or alive.

Thanks to her intuitive nature and with Pyralspite as her aide, Redglare quickly made a name for herself as a rising prodigy. Despite her lack of experience, she handled her cases with precision and skill, and her favorable reputation eventually afforded her the chance to go after more notorious fare. Such as the pirate rogue, Marquise Spinneret Mindfang.

Unfortunately, this was the mark that led to her downfall. It wasn't in the apprehension that Redglare miscalculated. That part went as perfectly as she could have planned. With Pyralspite, she hunted down and assaulted her prey, setting alight Mindfang's armada of ships with her dragon's flaming breath. The dragon's eyes, which burned with red light, seared Mindfang's own eyes, damaging one beyond repair. By the time the pirate could see again, her fleet was in ruins, and Redglare was standing on her deck. The Legislacerator didn't need to restrain Mindfang; the odds were firmly stacked against her, she had no chance of escape. But Redglare did choose instead to lop off Mindfang's arm for good measure. Her lusus deserved a treat.

Confident of her success, Redglare dragged the pirate back to face justice in front of His Honorable Tyranny. A public trial and execution was expected for a troll of such infamy.

And it was the trial that did Redglare in.

If not for the audience that came to witness justice being done, Redglare might have escaped the encounter with her life. With her powers of manipulation, Mindfang took control of the entire crowd, a move that the young Legislacerator hadn't anticipated. They overwhelmed Redglare, yanked her weapon from her grasp, forced her into the noose that she had prepared for Mindfang, and hung her.

Personality:

Alternian history first and foremost remembers Redglare as a Legislacerator: a shrewd and merciless deliverer of justice. She was young, but talented and dedicated to her work. Key aspects of her job included: craftiness, decisiveness, deduction, intuition. To rise as quickly as she did, it can be assumed that Redglare had these in spades.

We can also assume by her career that Redglare prized justice over everything else. Mindfang remarked that she was too concerned with red tape to pursue a black romantic entanglement with a criminal, even if their partnership would have been a thing of legends. Given that romance is kind of a Big Deal in Alternian culture, this gives adequate testimony to Redglare's priorities. Being a Legislacerator and meting out punishment to those who deserve it is her highest calling, and nothing is more important to her.

Another trait that can be inferred from her behavior is her confidence. When returning with the captive Mindfang, Redglare had no need to put her in chains or restrain her in any way, and she didn't. She was assured of her ability to keep Mindfang subdued without resorting to those measures, an assurance that was backed by a confidence and understanding of her own skills. It can be assumed that this confidence extended to all areas of her job, but not quite to a foolhardy degree. Just more than strictly necessary. This becomes more apparent in her lack of preparation against Mindfang's abilities, which ultimately resulted in her death.

What history doesn't recount is Redglare's devotion to the Teachings of the Signless. She kept that bit of knowledge under lock and key, and rightfully so, when the Alternian Empress was set on erasing him and his Followers from existence.

From what we already know, it can be inferred that Redglare would find the concept of true equality most appealing out of all the teachings. Given the hierarchical bias of the caste system, it wouldn't be hard to imagine that those of higher castes could buy their way out of punishment through money and favors, while the lower castes would be left to pay for whatever crimes they were charged with--guilty or not. Part of the sensationalism of Mindfang's trial was the idea that a blue-blood was being made to receive her just deserts.

If Redglare valued Justice as much as she claimed, then stomaching that kind of corruption in the legal system wouldn't have sat well with her. Signless's idea of true equality among the castes would also mean true equality under the law.

Abilities & physical limitations:

As a certified Legislacerator and also an adult troll, Redglare is undoubtedly trained in combat--trained well, considering how highly acclaimed she is for her work. She is equally gifted in deduction and deception, and has a keen understanding of how people work. In her line of work, ferreting information out of uncooperative sources is key, as well as the ability to intuitively guess what her opponent is thinking or planning just by observing their actions.

Redglare also shares her descendent's unique way of experiencing the world, meaning that she is blind. She's not capable of seeing anything. Instead, she was taught by her dragon lusus to develop her own "sight" through a kind of synesthesia. Instead of directly seeing the colors around her, Redglare can smell, hear, and taste them. Thus, she "sees" the world in scent, sound, and flavor. Granted, this ability is nowhere near perfect. The image presented to her is blurry at best, like someone trying to paint a detailed picture with a sponge. However, her sense of taste undoubtedly paints a stronger picture than her sense of smell, so she seems to be able to "see" better when she's capable of licking the object she's looking at.

Appearance:
This lovely troll dame.

Strife Specibus: Canekind

Prototyping: Pyralspite, Redglare's lusus (self-prototyped)

Title: Sphinx of Trust

In-game abilities:
As the Sphinx of Trust, Redglare is capable of smelling the bonds of trust joining two people together. Given a single person, she can discern any strong attachments that they have towards other people. This ability manifests as the attachment's scent that clings to the person like an aura. The stronger the attachment, the stronger the scent. Also, a single person can have multiple scent attachments, but the more that there are, the harder it becomes to pick out a specific one, unless particularly strong.

As she grows in level, her ability to discern individual bonds grows as well, and she gains the ability to persuade the bonds that other people have with her. When she speaks, she can choose to befuddle the other person's emotions and strength their attachment to her, causing them to believe in her and the things that she says, despite a lack of reason for the trust. At lower levels, the persuasion only lasts for a few minutes and is relatively faint, more like an inclination than an outright manipulation. At higher levels, the effect can last for hours and is much stronger, but still not complete.

At GodTier levels, Redglare has the power to fully ensnare someone's trust in her, and the effect can last for days before wearing off. She also gradually learns the ability to manipulate the bonds of trust attached to other people, instead of only sensing them. Duration and potency of this ability increases through increased godtier levels.

*It should be noted that any trust manipulation is done vocally, which has its own set of drawbacks. Anyone who is incapable of listening to her via whatever means, is incapable of being manipulated. They have to be able to hear what she is saying.

Planet: The Land of Order and Oasis
LOOAO is a arid world of heated sands. A single vast river flows around the equator, while weathered stone temples and pools of water pepper the surface of the planet. Sanctuaries of lush vegetation gather around the water sources, drawing the civilization of the lizardfolk that inhabit the world. Recently, a plague has swept across the land, causing widespread famine and disaster for the hapless creatures. The two tribes, split between the northern and southern banks both attribute the hardships to the Denizen, but blame the other tribe for her anger.


RP Sample:

[Notice of Mandatory Attendance: Trial of Marquise Spinneret Mindfang, to be held at sunset on the...]

Redglare let the scent of the words waft up towards her, but her attention was anywhere but on their meaning. She knew this song and dance by now, she knew the lettering of this document, word for word. As if they needed to remind her that her attendance was required. She smiled, the expression creeping in from one corner of her mouth to the other until it was less a smile than a grin of sharp pearly daggers.

She loved it, the thought of Mindfang's expression when she rode through the skies overheard, brandishing dragonfire across deck after deck of her fleet. That was always her favorite part. She cherished the memory and basked in it often: the quaint mix of horror, disbelief, and anger overlaying the stark realization that defeat was inevitable. Who could hope to trifle with a dragon? Let alone the dragon's keeper...

Speaking of which, she could hear the low rumbles of her lusus from outside her hive. It had been a long, eventful night, and her partner had earned a decent meal. Fortunately, Redglare had saved a special treat for her. Spider legs were a delicacy on some parts of the planet. Spider arms were undoubtedly just as well.

Faint hues of green and pink shone through the windows of her dark hive, splashing bubblegum and lime against the walls. Redglare tossed the notice onto her desk as she pushed her chair back and went to stand. The moonlight bled into the white parchment. She couldn't help but note that it smelled better that way. She could file it with the others later, when she returned from tending to her lusus.

Two days. Just two days hence, and she would tighten the noose and eke the last bit of breath from that criminal's throat. Justice should never be required to wait two days, but Redglare was used to playing by the court's rules. Just as long as this spider stayed in her net, she could afford as much patience as needed.

Pesterlog sample

OOC Information:
Name: Michi
Are you over 15? Quite.
Contact: AIM | streams of time; Plurk | yumesukidesho

IC Information:
Name: Neophyte Redglare (Reincarnated Name: Lani Ah Yee)
Canon: Homestuck
Age: Unknown (~30 years); (Reincarnated Age: 29 years)
Preincarnation Appearance: This lovely troll lady.

Any differences: Plenty, since she is clearly not human. I'll be basing her reincarnated human off of Kelly Hu.

Preincarnated History:
On Alternia, troll eggs are created en mass by a giant mother grub through a complicated process involving a incestuous slurry of genetic material. Ancestry is impossible to trace, and once hatched, the trolls face a series of grueling trials that are meant to weed out those less fit for survival. Afterwards, those remaining are typically left in the care of a lusus--a guardian creature of some kind. The lusus acts as a parental figure and usually teaches the troll the basics of what to do and what not to do, while the troll learns to provide for/feed it. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.

That's not what happened with Redglare.

In a lab situated on a meteor floating around a large blue planet in a distant part of paradoxspace, Redglare was created--along with twenty-three other trolls--as a infant(larva) clone of her future self. This paradox clone was then teleported to a different meteor and hurled through a portal in space to crash land on Alternia in the distant past, where she would grow up completely oblivious to the strange time shenanigans that actually caused her birth.

Like most trolls, Redglare was taken in by her lusus at a very young age... Her lusus being a fire-breathing, sight-searing white dragon named Pyralspite. Redglare acted as a capable keeper in her younger years, during which she studied Brutal Alternian Law extensively. Her efforts gave way to a seat among the League of Legislacerators, Alternia's collection of legal bounty hunters. Rather than the modern day system of courts and trials, Alternian justice was dispensed through these Legislacerators, who were charged with apprehending their assigned criminals and bringing them in--dead or alive.

Thanks to her intuitive nature and with Pyralspite as her aide, Redglare quickly made a name for herself as a rising prodigy. Despite her lack of experience, she handled her cases with precision and skill, and her favorable reputation eventually afforded her the chance to go after more notorious fare. Such as the pirate rogue, Marquise Spinneret Mindfang.

Unfortunately, this was the mark that led to her downfall. It wasn't in the apprehension that Redglare miscalculated. That part went as perfectly as she could have planned. With Pyralspite, she hunted down and assaulted her prey, setting alight Mindfang's armada of ships with her dragon's flaming breath. The dragon's eyes, which burned with red light, seared Mindfang's own eyes, damaging one beyond repair. By the time the pirate could see again, her fleet was in ruins, and Redglare was standing on her deck. The Legislacerator didn't need to restrain Mindfang; the odds were firmly stacked against her, she had no chance of escape. But Redglare did choose instead to lop off Mindfang's arm for good measure. Her lusus deserved a treat.

Confident of her success, Redglare dragged the pirate back to face justice in front of His Honorable Tyranny. A public trial and execution was expected for a troll of such infamy.

And it was the trial that did Redglare in.

If not for the audience that came to witness justice being done, Redglare might have escaped the encounter with her life. With her powers of manipulation, Mindfang took control of the entire crowd, a move that the young Legislacerator hadn't anticipated. They overwhelmed Redglare, yanked her weapon from her grasp, forced her into the noose that she had prepared for Mindfang, and hung her.

Reincarnated History Lani was born in Kane'ohe, Hawai'i on October 1, 1984 to two loving parents. Her childhood was fairly typical, but heavily influenced by the environment around her. Her father and mother impressed heavily on her two important lessons from the very start: the Importance of Family, and Respect for Others. Lani took well to their words, as her parents were keen on setting an example by their own actions as well.

In her early years, she grew up playing beneath the sun and the palm trees and developed a bold, adventurous spirit--one that her parents did their best to both encourage and discourage where they thought the situation warranted. She learned to swim only a few years after learning to walk; and when she was only nine years old, her father began to teach her how to surf. He warned her, however, that she should never rush to try something that she knew was too dangerous for her. "Know your limits," he cautioned. "Once you're up on that wave, there's only one way down." This didn't stop Lani from breaking her arm while surfing when she was fifteen and headstrong, but it certainly helped her to avoid more serious troubles later in life.

As she went through high school, Lani slowly came to the decision that she wanted to work in law enforcement--a career where she could put her strong values and determination to good use. As graduation approached, her parents tried to encourage her to stay at home, but she was convinced that her best option would be to go to school on the Mainland, where jobs and opportunities were more accessible. She was accepted into a college on the mainland's east coast, where she met Arianna. Both girls being unfamiliar with their new environment, they quickly became good friends.

Upon graduating college, Lani moved around between jobs for a few years before finally finding a job with the police department in Locke City, where she currently resides. She lives alone in an apartment just a few miles away from the precinct.

First Echo: Lani's first echo occurs while she's at work. During her break, she overhears a rumor about one of her coworkers lifting confiscated illegal items from the precinct. This clashes with her own ethics, but since she's still a rookie on the force, she's hesitant to speak up. The moment passes leaving her with a feeling of ill-ease--and something bitterly nostalgic. After work, she finds a necklace in her pocket that she doesn't remember putting there, and a sequence of numbers in her head that just won't go away.

The necklace is small and silver, shaped like the Cancer zodiac. It belonged to her past life, a symbol that represented the revolutionary faction that she secretly supported. Lani wouldn't know the significance of the necklace yet, but she feels that it's something inexplicably (and eerily) important. She finds herself preoccupied with the piece of jewelry when she's not wearing it, so she takes to keeping it on her person at all times, as much as it weirds her out. She's not entirely convinced that it's not possessed or something.

Preincarnation Personality: Alternian history first and foremost remembers Redglare as a Legislacerator: a shrewd and merciless deliverer of justice. She was young, but talented and dedicated to her work. Key aspects of her job included: craftiness, decisiveness, deduction, intuition. To rise as quickly as she did, it can be assumed that Redglare had these in spades.

We can also assume by her career that Redglare prized justice over everything else. Mindfang remarked that she was too concerned with red tape to pursue a romantic entanglement with a criminal, even if their partnership would have been a thing of legends. Given that romance is kind of a Big Deal in Alternian culture, this gives adequate testimony to Redglare's priorities. Being a Legislacerator and meting out punishment to those who deserve it is her highest calling, and nothing is more important to her.

Another trait that can be inferred from her behavior is her confidence. When returning with the captive Mindfang, Redglare had no need to put her in chains or restrain her in any way, and she didn't. She was assured of her ability to keep Mindfang subdued without resorting to those measures, an assurance that was backed by a comprehensive understanding of her own skills and limitations. It can be assumed that this confidence extended to all areas of her job, but not quite to a foolhardy degree. Just more than strictly necessary. This becomes more apparent in her lack of preparation against Mindfang's abilities, which ultimately resulted in her death.

What history doesn't recount is Redglare's devotion to the Teachings of the Signless. She kept that bit of knowledge under lock and key, and rightfully so, when the Alternian Empress was set on erasing him and his Followers from existence. To let anyone discover her secret loyalties would be a risk not only to her job but also her life.

From what we already know, it can be inferred that Redglare would find the concept of true equality most appealing out of all the teachings. Given the hierarchical bias of the caste system, it wouldn't be hard to imagine that those of higher castes could buy their way out of punishment through money and favors, while the lower castes would be left to pay for whatever crimes they were charged with--guilty or not. Part of the sensationalism of Mindfang's trial was the idea that a blue-blood was being made to receive her just deserts.

If Redglare valued Justice as much as she claimed, then stomaching that kind of corruption in the legal system wouldn't have sat well with her. Signless's idea of true equality among the castes would also mean true equality under the law.

Any differences: In the absence of the enforced social norms of Alternian culture, Lani is a much more well-adjusted person. While she still retains her strong sense of justice and equality, she also has a considerable respect for life, and her ethical code involves trying her best not to kill on the job. She also does not have the same jaded view of the system that she works for, since there's no innate reason why the system shouldn't be a fair one.

As such, Lani does not lead the secret life that Redglare did in her past life. Therefore, her ability to socialize with her peers was never stunted, like I imagine it was with Redglare. Instead, Lani is a fairly outgoing, up-beat young woman. She has no trouble making friends and acquaintances, and though she still prioritizes her work above most other commitments, she's not opposed to a night on the town with friends or coworkers once in a while. In her spare time, she takes up surfing and jujitsu as hobbies to keep in shape--the former less so now that she's on the East Coast.

((It should be noted that in more previous life than this, Redglare was know as Latula Pyrope. Not a lot is known other than she was an up-beat, "radical" skater-girl, who played a game and reset the universe with eleven of her other friends--which caused the reincarnation that created Redglare. A few of the changed aspects of Lani's personality are being drawn from this previous-previous life as well.))

Abilities: As a certified Legislacerator and also an adult troll, Redglare is undoubtedly trained in combat--trained well, considering how highly acclaimed she is for her work. She is equally gifted in deduction and deception, and has a keen understanding of how people work. In her line of work, ferreting information out of uncooperative sources is key, as well as the ability to intuitively guess what her opponent is thinking or planning just by observing their actions.

It probably doesn't hurt that she also rides her fire-breathing, vision-searing dragon lusus into battle.

Redglare also shares her descendent's unique way of experiencing the world, meaning that she is blind. She's not capable of seeing anything. Instead, she was taught by her dragon lusus to develop her own "sight" through a kind of synesthesia. Instead of directly seeing colors around a person, this ability works by smelling, hearing, and tasting them. Thus, one can "see" the world in scent, sound, and flavor. Granted, this ability is nowhere near perfect. The image presented to the user is blurry at best, like someone trying to paint a detailed picture with a sponge. However, one's sense of taste paints a much stronger picture than one's sense of smell, so one seems to be able to "see" better when one is capable of licking the object one is looking at.

Roleplay Sample – Third Person:
--three-seven-one-six-seven-two--

It didn't matter what she did. She'd tried saying the numbers forward and backwards; she'd tried counting to ten, reciting phone numbers and addresses and birthdays, adding and subtracting pointless numbers again and again. It didn't matter at all. That sequence of numbers always resurfaced, vivid and untarnished, pristine in her memory.

It was completely alarming in every sense.

One hand went to her mouth, pushing her lip between her teeth as she worried on it nervously. Where was she remembering that from? It was too long to be a phone number or a social, or anything else she could think of, really. It was just a string of bizarre digits with no meaning. A code of some kind, then? She didn't know, and that really bothered her.

Her other hand pressed against her hip where her gun would be if she were on duty--a habit of security by this point in her career. Instead of the cold metal, she found a lump in her pocket that she didn't recall being there. Tentatively, she reached her hand in and pulled out a necklace. It was silver in color and small, barely more than a trinket. She recognized the shape--the Cancer Zodiac, like on those cheap astrological horoscopes she saw on magazines at the convenience store--but there was something about it that only heightened her distress in a primitive subconscious sort of way.

She shouldn't be holding it out in the open, she realized. This was a secret, something close and personal and dangerous. Her fist clenched tight around the necklace, her heart racing as it dug little points into her skin. Panic was rising in her chest.

Oh my god, I'm losing my mind. Shaking her head, she shoved the necklace back into her pocket. She was definitely going to toss the creepy thing out the first chance she got.

"Hey Lani!"

The sound jerked her out of her thoughts, head snapping to the side with attention to look back at the coworker that had called her name. The necklace dug harder into her palm.

"A bunch of the guys are heading down to the pub for a drink. You want in?"

Lani just barely kept the relief from showing on her face. There was no reason to be on edge like that. What the hell was wrong with her?

"Nah, sorry." She smiled apologetically. "I've got some stuff to do in town. I'll catch you guys next time." She gave a casual wave as the officer shrugged and left, listening to him call a few more names that had just punched the clock. As she left the precinct and headed towards home, it occurred to her that maybe she shouldn't have turned down the offer. Maybe she was working too hard lately. That was a symptom of a psychotic break, right? Hearing voices and having weird thoughts?

Maybe she could have used that drink.

Roleplay Sample - Network:
[After punching her number into a telephone, like a normal person... Not that she even expects it to work.]

Hello? Is anyone there?

[Pause. This is a really stupid idea. Why is she even trying this again? As some last ditch effort to prove she's still sane? Maybe she remembered this number from one of the various reports she's been filling out lately. They all sort of blend together after a while. Maybe it was one of those subliminal cognizant things? Please don't be going crazy, please don't be going crazy, please don't--]

Seriously, is this a real number or not? You can't answer and not say anything. The dial-tone stopped, so someone has to be there.

[Another longer pause... Maybe the line is dead. Maybe she's just talking to dead air. Maybe this is some sort of belated April fool's prank. Or a telemarketer. Yeah, that's probably it. Her voice drops to a mutter:]

Cha... You lôlô. What were you expecting?

((Some examples of her past life, as well:
Checking up on/being concerned for a new acquaintance.
Having a sense of humor with her close friend.))


Any Questions?
How long is it going to take before no one trusts the police officer 8D?
(I did not plan this at all, I swear. I started working on this before the game even opened.)