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ezra-iolite · 2 years ago

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The O'Murchadha-Mutheru Kids: Conduit, Sira and Bori

Because I can't draw for shit, and I'm too scared to...... Have some bios of Asya's main kids. Along with some cringey Picrews to help with visualizing them..... ART IS HARD, OK?! ;A;

| Conduit (The Eldest of all the kids- Adopted by Asya) |

~ Brief Description ~

He/Him pronouns. Gay/Achillean orientation.

Voice Claim: Hanta Sero- My Hero Academia (Japanese voice) Singing voice: Stratovarius

His full mortal name is Natori Siwatu O'Murchadha-Mutheru. He prefers to be called Conduit due to the comfort the nickname brings, though his adoptive mother Asya usually calls him "Little Bird", which is what his first name actually means.

Conduit is a curse-made Gargoyle just like Fort Max (link here if you need a visual reference), but while Conduit should turn into stone during the day, the crystals that grow along his back and wings (sometimes his arms, legs and tail, if he uses his powers too much) are shards of moonstones that save him from the curse's stone-form effect. They are what prevents his ability to speak from being stolen and keeps his head and chest from becoming fully gargoyle in appearance, aside from his horns and fangs, and allow him to be active during the day and night.

If the moonstone shards are all removed, the grey scales will creep further up his human skin and he will become a statue at dawn, which will continue until a new crystal patch grows on his back again. But if he cannot regrow the crystals at all before the end of a week.... he will become a full gargoyle and lose his human side forever.

The appearance of his human side only consists of his light tan skin on his upper-torso area and head. But, from his shoulders to his hands, his hips to his feet, his tail and his wings down along his back... Conduit has dark grey scales befitting a gargoyle. He also has scraggly blonde hair and baby blue eyes, with short, straight-arching, dark grey horns. He got his scar across his face long before he met Asya, when he was a feral child struggling to survive against the Deep Dweller sirens constantly attacking him.

Those constant attacks from the Deep Dwellers are the reason why Conduit has a fear of going into the ocean and of sirens, other than Elbent, Ferrous or Indi. Starstrike (@dimorphodon-x's OC) does unnerve him for this reason, but also because of his infamous stare reminding him of a Deep Dweller, but Conduit instinctually masks his fear and does his best to not react to it around him, to ensure he isn't rude or hurtful towards Strike. (He's a very polite little man, even in the face of his PTSD, ok?!)

He quickly grew to reach 8 feet tall by the time he turned 19, making him a full foot taller than Verglaust. But for a while, he was considered the shortest on the ship due purely to his malnourishment, so as soon as he gained some pounds and healthy chonkiness, he quickly gained muscle and size thanks to the healthier lifestyle and care Asya and the gang gave him... Making both Conduit AND Asya late bloomers that gained their growth spurt at the same stage in their life.

He's around 27 years old by the time he arrives at Joka Ardhi, making him the oldest kid on the ship by six years. Once Ferrous becomes captain of the ship, Conduit will take over his father's role as the Immortal Sun's main doctor, helping Nicole even after her retirement.

Overall.... Conduit's a very good boy, kind-hearted, well mannered, and always eager to help. Also very protective of his siblings, especially his sister Sira and Bori.

~ Backstory ~

Asya and her two husbands had spent only five years living on the Immortal Sun, when they came across an island full of pearlescent shards of moonstone crystals, with some growing as tall as trees in towering clusters. Upon landing on the island to investigate, the crew found a cave full of different veins of crystals, a majority of which were magical in nature and could therefore be used for medical or practical purposes. And with Asya's childhood being spent studying the magic of crystals, as is commonly used in Jokani culture, they began to mine for them and bringing back barrels worth of them, a majority of which could be sold for a great fortune.

During their excavation adventure, Asya stumbled across a hut made of palm leaves and crystal shards, as well as a crowd of Deep Dweller sirens flocking at the shore of the hut. There, being pulled down by the sirens and frantically trying to escape their bloodthirsty hunt, was a young boy. A gargoyle somehow moving about in daylight, and being pulled down under the water by the Deep Dwellers. Without even a moment to hesitate, Asya jumped into the water and fought off the sirens, before she pulled the boy to shore and helped him catch his breath.

Weak, malnourished, riddled with injuries, old scars and crystals just like the ones on this island covering his back and wings, the boy looked to be no older than seven, but by his gargoyle features and face, Asya knew he was physically older but was too weak to develop into his teen body properly. And despite her feeling the sting of trauma from a child she previously rescued long before she met her husbands (a purple Dragonkin toddler she named Hyacinth who died at the hands of his captors despite her best efforts to save him).... Asya chose right there and then to take this boy in and raise him to be stronger, healthier and adored, to never face his struggles in life alone ever again.

After checking to be absolutely certain that he was the only one on this island, Asya marched right back to the ship with the boy in her arms, and without even looking back or saying a word to anyone she passed by, despite the obvious confusion and questions of the crew and her captain, Asya brought the boy below deck and nursed him back to health, making him the first child on board the Immortal Sun. The moment he regained consciousness, the child began to act defensively feral, hissing and swatting at anyone who dared come near him, with the only real way to treat his wounds being to wait until he was asleep or wait for him to trust Asya, Nicole or Kevin to touch him while he was too exhausted to fight back, and only then could they fully patch him up. Not even Max during his nightly rounds brought the fellow gargoyle any comfort, but no matter who came and went out of the cage room... Asya was always there, spending every moment she could by his side, patiently waiting for him to lower his guard and simply spoke to him with a soft, maternal voice to soothe his worries, oftentimes calling him "Little bird" affectionately, all without realizing just how suddenly she was adopting the role of a mother.

Four months later, the now healed up and less frightened boy finally began to explore the ship, curious yet timid but in a way a child should be. No longer did he show his feral side, but still he preferred to walk on all fours and move or act like a beast, not that Asya minded as she encouraged him while also showing him how to rely on his hind legs (a secret she had yet to reveal to the crew about her own childhood habit of walking on all fours and learning to transition onto her paws). And after another month, he finally began to speak but with very few words, like a toddler learning how to grasp the concept of speech. It was, however, more than enough to learn his story...

Of how he lived with his human father and mother, a Primus fisherman and a Unicronian weaver, on a tiny ship that relied on the sea for all they needed. Of how the ship suddenly crashed on a small island that was home to a mage, and how the mage angrily cursed Conduit, the only survivor, for stealing from his trash for food, and thus cursed him to bear the appearance of a true beast scavenging to survive. The moment the curse took form, it went rogue from the boy's fear, trauma and anguish, and thus the island became completely surrounded by crystals born of his body and power, killing the mage with it on accident. And since then, the boy grew up surviving on his own, until he was attacked yet again by the same Deep Dwellers who caused his family's ship to crash and killed his parents.

Since that faithful day, Asya has since taken him under her wing and raised him with all her love and praise, and with a healthier lifestyle he immediately shot up in size and grew physically stronger and bigger as a result, reaching well above Ferrous's height when he reached twelve years old, while the gargoyle child was twenty and already surpassed the average human height easily. Nowadays, rather than going by the name Asya chose for him in place of the one he can no longer remember from his parents, he usually goes by Conduit, in reference to his crystals being conduits of the elements.

~ Appearance ~

Present day Conduit (during the timeline of One Last Wish) is a 27 year old cursed Gargoyle who stands at 8 feet tall, with a wingspan of 7 feet. He has light tan skin with more human features than gargoyle ones, with his wings, entire lower torso down to his digitigrade legs and tail, and his hands up to just below the elbows, all being grey like a gargoyle. From the middle of back and the arms up to the thumb of his wings are all covered in small moonstone clusters, which aid in his ability to stay unfrozen during the day and grant him his powers over the sky-based elements (air, heat, water and lightning). He also has short, scraggly, golden blonde hair and blue eyes, nearly the same hue as his adoptive mother's, a large scar right across the bridge of his nose and under his eyes, and short, straight, grey horns.

Clothing wise, Conduit normally just wears grey, baggy shorts or haram pants, due to the sheer thick size of his digitigrade legs, and a sleeveless yellow top that must have no buttons due to how large and beefy he is naturally as an adult. More often than not, he's usually shirtless when he doesn't feel like struggling with his clothes.

When he uses his powers, the crystals glow the colour of what element he uses (red for heat, light blue for air, yellow for lightning, sapphire blue for water) and he can use up to two elements at a time. However, the more or longer he uses his powers, the more the crystals grow along his body, which mainly gather along his back and wings. But if he uses them too often during a battle, they'll begin to creep more and more along his body, starting with his spine area on his back, down to his tail, and then along his arms and the back of his legs. The more crystals that grow, the more unstable his powers become, until he'll start losing control entirely and lighting or heat begin to spout from his crystals and body against his will. The only way to stop this is to break the crystals off and bring them down to a minimum amount at least on his wing tips.

Growing and trimming the crystals always cause him pain since they pierce through his flesh and grow directly from his bones, but Asya's white fire always helps to soothe it a little during their removal.

~ Personality ~

Conduit is a very sweet, empathetic, kind and patient gentleman, and the older he becomes, the more polite and patient he ends up being through experience and age. Even as a man in his late 20s, he's still the kind of person who helps anyone and everyone, even animals... With such an example being his habit of picking up snails when on land, and putting them in the grass or somewhere safe and hidden to keep them safe from a human path. Despite him understanding that he lives a safe life, however, he always excessively worries about his parents due to their collective trauma. And despite Asya's best efforts in making sure Conduit lives a good and happy life, he still worries about his Mama's wellbeing every time she plays the role of the hero for her family. This has resulted in him developing constant nightmares and insomnia.

... Which led to him becoming close with Blue Heron, Max and his adoptive father, Verglaust, when they're all out and about during the night. Once he becomes a doctor, Conduit will grow even closer to Max and Blue Heron, considering them his uncles.

| Sira (Second child of Asya, Third born on the ship- Biological Daughter of Asya and Kevin) |

~ Brief Description ~

She/Her, Lesbian/Sapphic - Asexual

Voice Claim: Yasha- Critical Role Campaign 2 (she IS mute and literally has no means of talking vocally... but Indi does find a crystal that can grant her one, so this is what she would sound like, after a long while of training to relearn how to speak) Singing voice: Lethabo Mello

Her full name is Sira Citrine O'Murchadha-Mutheru, but like most on the ship, she gained a "pirate" name later on in life, based on her assassin skills and lack of voice... Whisper.

Sira is the shortest of all the kids, with her being just two inches taller than her adoptive mother, Elbent, and only reaching below her closest friend Divot's nose when facing them. On average, she can only reach below the chest of the majority of the Immortal Sun's crew, and can very easily sit on Solclave and Verglaust's shoulder without feeling heavy on them, even as an adult, mostly thanks to her lanky build.

She's known as the "smartest" kid on the ship, due to her analytical and quick-thinking nature, so she usually always knows what to do to solve a problem. She inherited her high intelligence and beauty (alongside her height) from her father, but learned her fighting skills and wit from her mother and Uncle Blue Heron. However, she's often considered a know-it-all due to this, and is often teased when she tries to infodump any exciting new thing she's learned.

On that note, she also inherited her Mama Asya's autism (as well as the Mutheru aquiline nose), which only adds to her struggles due to her being born mute and becoming more reclusive as she grew up. She often hides in high places hidden from view to read and stay away from everyone, mostly due to her being so frequently ignored because of her mutism or teased for her book-smarts but lack of knowledge on how to properly express her emotions. This developed into her "cold and stoic" reputation and masking method, even though she is an emotional and highly empathetic person thanks to Asya teaching her and Divot comforting her.

Sira is one of the only two Dragonkin of Asya's lineage living on the Immortal Sun, after Asya and her poly-fam move to Joka Ardhi. But despite Asya being a Ruby breed of Dragonkin, Sira and her younger brother Bori are both Opal Dragonkin, due to them both not being Sun Blessed or bearing the traits of their mother's pedigree. This is because specific conditions must be met in order for a Ruby Dragonkin to be born, and thereafter are considered their own species or breed. (But without these conditions tampering with Asya's firstborn or any child afterwards, every child born of Asya's blood are therefore all Opal Dragonkin (But only Njeri, Asya and Elbent's child, is a Ruby Dragonkin like Asya, since they were born on Joka Ardhi, and has since become the only one of Asya's species to be born during her reign as Dragon Queen)).

Divot (@cuppajj's OC, the child of Drillburst and Fort Max) is the only one who can truly understand Sira on a personal level. For even with them learning how to fluently use sign language, Divot has always been able to "read" and deeply understand Sira since they were kids, and as they grew up together to become warriors and wiser people as a whole, Divot can now read her body language just as clearly as her hand sign. To Divot, Sira can speak a thousand words with just a mere shrug, or say all that she needs to say with just a glance or glare. Deep down, Sira considers Divot her soulmate, thanks to their deep understanding of the mute Dragonkin, and deep down she feels drawn to them in a certain way~

~ Backstory ~

After the troubling birth of Elbent's second-born daughter Indicolite (in which Asya aided in the delivery, but when she was born blue and deathly still, she used the forbidden Soul Fire magic and gave up a piece of her soul to revive Indi), Asya immediately knew deep down that she yearned to bear a child of her own. The baby blues hit even stronger the moment she held the crying and lively newborn siren in her arms, now bearing a tiny shard of Asya's soul for the rest of her life.

There was just one problem with her wish... She was still stuck with the remnant parts of a man, despite her hormone replacement therapy granting her the physique of a woman.

So, it was decided, after much discussion and argument between Asya, Kevin, and Elbent, that until a more permanent solution could be found, they would craft a potion to temporarily grant Asya the full form of a woman, with her first love, Kevin, being chosen as the sire of this child. And for the first few months of her pregnancy, despite all the sickness and aches she felt... Asya finally felt whole. The dysphoria was gone, for the first time in her life, and Asya had never felt so happy since that day.

But the joy did not last... For when she reached only her seventh month, Asya began to bleed and knew something was wrong. The baby was coming. And she knew, despite the constant reassurance she gave to her spouses through her agony... She was dying. The potion was wearing off too soon, and Asya's body was reverting to its old state, with her womb slowly disappearing and the labor now starting to tear Asya apart from the inside.

Working quickly and efficiently, they finally delivered a healthy baby girl, but... Asya couldn't wake up. And while the newborn never cried her first breath, the screams that echoed from Elbent rang across the ship marked the event for all to remember for the rest of their lives, as her spouses soon ran in to witness Elbent slowly turning feral with grief, as she held her dead wife. Kevin and Conduit quickly worked together to patch Asya up and used Conduit's electricity to shock her back to life. And even though it worked... the new mother remained sleeping, too weak to wake up or even move. And upon checking on the premature infant, Nicole discovered why she was so eerily quiet....

The baby was born without a voice. Not even a voice box could be found in the newborn's throat, despite her having everything else she needed to breathe, drink, eat and live without any issues.

So, when Asya finally healed and came out of her coma a month later, the new parents worked during Asya's bed rest to learn sign language and form a curriculum for their mute daughter and all their kids and the crew of the ship to learn, in order to grant their youngest child the right to communicate as she grew. And as she did grow up strong but silent, Asya finally figured out a name for her now three month old, based purely on the appearance she inherited...

Sira, after her late grandmother, Gasira Mutheru, and Citrine for her middle name, after Apophis's daughter, the dragon who was meant to become the next Dragon Queen were it not for the Founders.

....... Growing up on the ship soon became a challenge all on its own for Sira, as without a voice or a clear way to communicate, the young Dragonkin was easily ignored due to how chaotic and loud everyone else was, despite their love and care for her. So, instead of trying to stand out to be seen, Sira opted to simply hide and be patient, wait for her turn for attention to get the things she needed, or simply go to Solclave, Blue Heron, Hawk or, more frequently, Divot for help.

Her visits to Divot and Drill to get away from the frantic lifestyle of her family grew more and more common, even more so when Sira became fully fluent in hand sign alongside her parents, her brothers and sister, and of course Divot, the only person quiet enough to listen to Sira who aided in helping her learn. Now with a more visual way of communicating beyond being dragged around, pointing and writing to show Sira's needs, the blue Dragonkin and the child of the bard quickly became a common sight around the ship, as they grew into mischievous teenagers and eventually witty young adults, masters in the ways of a warrior and seafaring pirates.

Mastering her icy blue flames and the ballet-like grace of her steel barbed whip, a weapon she hides as a belt under her sash while her leather corset protects her skin, Sira grew up into a formidable warrior due to the speed of her attacks and the range of both her fire magic and her weapon. However, Sira's greatest strength lies in her stealth and silence, alongside her quick wit and the trust she has in Divot.

~ Appearance ~

As she grew and neared her pre-teens, Sira looked almost entirely human during this phase of her childhood development, were it not for her sky blue hands and feet (aside from her soles and palms, which were the normal pale brown befitting a person of colour) alongside the very tiny stumps for horns hidden in her afro of dreadlocks. But as she reached her mid-teen years, she developed the traits befitting a blue Opal Dragonkin, with clawed draconic feet upon scaly legs, sharp clawed hands and fangs, a long tail with a short black tuft of fur at the tip, and short, slightly curved, gazelle-like horns. She hated this form of puberty since Dragonkin grow their scales through pimples, just like a human teenager with acne, but are extremely itchy as they emerge and become scales along the skin, which is also oily to help the scales develop into strong, vibrant and hard armour... but it stinks like rotting fish, unfortunately for Sira.

Fashion wise, Sira wears dusty-pastel blue, shoulderless blouses with long draping sleeves, all of them being made of silk or any soft fabrics she can find due to her finding cotton and linen too rough for her comfort. This is normally paired up with simple navy or dark blue pants that only reach her knees, to accommodate for her digitigrade legs, held up by a scarf belt Asya weaved for her 18th birthday, made of dark green and yellow cashmere... The colours of her crush, Divot, which she started wearing as a belt on the day Divot explained their pronouns to show her support for her She/They friend. (Yes, Asya knows this, and she excitedly ships them... She already has a golden cow statuette ready to give to Drillburst, as it is Jokani tradition for a parent or partner to give the family of the betrothed a cow as their dowry) And due to her constant reading, Sira developed bad eyesight and at the age of 12, earning her rectangular glasses that she cannot take off for anything other than baths and sleeping.

Sira inherited her mother's ebony skin tone, but due to her half-black genes, she's just one hue lighter than Asya but is still MUCH darker than Blue Heron. Alongside the Jokani completion, Sira also inherited her mother's long curls, and so keeping in her half-Jokani tradition and for easier hair maintenance, Sira has skinny and tight box braids that only reach below her chin and jaw, styled in a side-swept bob, with a few colourful beads to decorate the very ends of some of her braids in the colours of her parents:

Orange for Asya, Red for Kevin, Dark Blue for Brynjolf, Sky Blue for Elbent, and Emerald Green for Verglaust.

Two pairs are on the first two braids framing her face, to represent all four parents evenly, and two more pairs are on either side of her ears....... And yes, when it's windy, they do tend to whack her glasses.

~ Personality ~

Due to her growing up surrounded by loud, energetic and constantly busy family members, and an even louder ship full of crewmates constantly arguing, bantering, singing and fighting monsters of the sea or other pirates, Sira grew up feeling invisible for most of her life, finding comfort in books and solitude. But because of this lifestyle, she never felt the need to be emotionally expressive to make up for her lack of a voice, for who would even see her expressions or emotions when no one can hear her or remember to look her way?

As such, Sira doesn't speak, or rather sign, as much as she'd like to, simply because she rarely has much to say knowing she would just end up being talked over or not given attention in order to communicate at all, due to her mutism and her need to have someone who knows hand sign to speak to. So, when she does hold a conversation with someone, she often has a chilling and stoic aura around her, almost like an inability to use any of her emotions, which surprisingly aids in showing just how intelligent she can be.

However, Sira is actually very shy and introverted, and oftentimes finds herself acting rather awkward in most social situations due to her solitary lifestyle. This is where Divot comes in as her saving grace and her advocate.... For without them, Sira would be even more antisocial and outright afraid to even approach people, due to the huge barrier her disability causes.

When she's with Divot, Sira is much more expressive, relaxed and happy, to the point that no one on the entire ship, other than her parents, have ever seen her smile without Divot being there. It's gotten to the point, now that they are all older and have formed their adult lives on the ship, that every time Divot enters the room, Sira immediately brightens up and her fire magic flares due to her magic being fueled by her emotions and her literal heart. They usually show up as a smoke-filled sigh that comes out in the shape of a heart, or her tail tip catching fire suddenly. Divot has yet to realize this, much to Sira's relief in her hope of revealing her fiery heart's desire to them one day~

| Bori (Third child of Asya, Last child born on the ship to Elbent's family- Son of Asya and Verglaust) |

(Art belongs to PammyJammy117 on Twitter... I'm just using it as a placeholder cause HE EERIE LOOKS JUST LIKE VERGLAUST AND ASYA BUT WHITEWASHED, LIKE DAYUM)

He/Him, Pansexual

Voice Claim- Lon'qu from Fire Emblem Heroes Singing Voice: Rengoku's part in this... Bori would most likely sing this with Flora (Nicole's daughter) for a karaoke night of drunken fun.... but also I just really like this song ;3;

His full name is Borealis Kaito O'Murchadha-Mutheru, and instead of gaining a badass pirate name like the rest of his family... his appearance and the teasing from his much older siblings led to him earning the nickname "Panda". But, when he's finally treated more seriously, he bears the proud moniker of his name, Bori, after the adoptive albino Dunefarer that Asya considered her true father in her past.

His usual reaction to being called Panda is to immediately snap/spin to the one who called him that (usually just his siblings) and yell at the top of his voice "YOU..... Shut your face!!" and then just as suddenly return to whatever he was doing, including speaking at a calmer and quieter tone, as if it never happened. It's become an inside joke to the O'Murchadha-Mutheru siblings, to see just how far away they can be to see how loud Bori's voice can get.

Bori became the strongest person on the ship, in order to inherit his father's role as the protector of the Immortal Sun. And thanks to the crystal magic Asya discovered during her battle against her father, Bori soon gained the ability to transform into a 35 foot long white Lindwyrm.

Because he's the youngest on the ship, Bori was half raised on Joka Ardhi until he was around 20 years old, when he felt ready to live on the Immortal Sun away from his parents. During his time on land, he discovered his orientation and became a bit of a playboy amongst the Jokani. He did meet and eventually fall for a Dragonkin transwoman with lavender scales named Djamila, whom he visits once a year when the ship returns to Joka Ardhi for their annual family meeting to keep in touch. He hopes one day to bring her with him for the year to see the world beyond the southern kingdom's shores.... and marry her~

Should anything happen to Njeri or her future heirs when they becomes the next Dragon Monarch after Asya, Bori has given his consent to come back to Joka Ardhi and step in as a "stand-in" Dragon Lord until a suitable heir can replace him, be it his own children or someone he feels can bear the mantle of the crown. So, despite his Opal Dragonkin birth and his lack of coronation as crown prince, Bori is a real prince, and a cautionary heir apparent to the Throne of Crimson Sands. And should he actually become Dragon Lord, none would dare to oppose him due to his strength and kindness.

~ Backstory ~

Once again, the baby blues hit a now fully transitioned intersex Asya, only this time she was more severely warned by her husbands and wife that she cannot, under any circumstances, carry a child. Not until they were truly sure of her body being capable of undergoing such a taxing event and survive.

So, a deal was struck... Kevin would carry the child by undergoing an upgraded and longer lasting gender-bending potion, and through a mix of science and meticulous magical aid, a piece of Asya's DNA (her "seed") was altered to ensure she was the biological mother of the child. And, with Verglaust chosen as the sire, Kevin would henceforth be their gender-bent surrogate to the very first Half-Fauna dragon-hybrid, that being a half Desert Lindwyrm Dragon - half Sea Dragon.

Despite their worries of Kevin possibly facing body dysphoria and pain from carrying a child, let alone one bearing a plethora of sturdy genes (of both an increased dragon bloodline instead of a half human one, and Verglaust's dominant giant-size gene), Kevin had no issues and instead experienced a surprisingly pleasant pregnancy and birth... At the result of him realizing that he was genderfluid and loved appearing as masculine or as feminine as he felt each day, to the point that he and Elbent now have daily arguments over her dresses that he steals borrows.

When the baby was born, there was no question on what to name him, especially after the shock wore off from the fact that the infant's ebony skin had white Dragonkin traits. The white scales of his Dragonkin features would soon lead to his parents deciding on the name Borealis, after Asya's father figure who often wore a white wolf pelt to cover his pale, albino skin.

However, because of his literal "black and white" appearance, as well as his early growth spurt making him as tall as Elbent by the time he was ten, his siblings and most of the crew started calling him "Panda". This, however, would be a name that he'd greatly benefit from as it perfectly described him in personality too... For when the day came that his parents decided to leave the Immortal Sun and live in Joka Ardhi, bringing Bori with them after consent was given to let him be raised by his parents until he was ready to return to the ship, many of his now adult aged siblings were given the roles of their parents, be it by the child's choice or inherited by birthright.

And so, Bori grew up for half his life in the royal palace of Joka Ardhi, a designated prince by blood as he grew in both size and power, while also growing up hearing the tales of his parents' heroic deeds during their decades at sea. And as he grew to be just as big as his father, Bori was inspired by him and so chose to inherit the role of the "guardian" of the ship, once he was old enough and felt ready to leave. During his final month in preparation for his departure, his mother Asya revealed to him the secret of her family, of how she won the war against her father for the crown... The crystals that bore the ability to change a dragon from before the Founder's War into humans could also allow humans bearing their blood to turn into titan sized dragons.

Immediately, Bori took his chance to fully embrace the old mantle of his father and gained the ability to turn into a giant Lindwyrm at will, just like his mother could, but one capable of rapid speeds through both air and sea thanks to his inherited White and Yellow fire magic allowing him to hop and glide through the air, while his father's sea dragon genes allowed him to swim faster than the wind... Even though he requires a potion to grant him gills.

~ Appearance ~

Bori is the only one so far to be JUST as tall as Solclave once he's fully grown, all thanks to his father's tall genes and his mother's Dragonkin size boosting genes adding onto it. It certainly doesn't help that he's also huge in a physical way, due to his training to tone his growing body and prepare it for his chosen role as guardian of the ship, a mantle he eagerly wished to gain to honour both his father and maternal grandfather-by-choice.

As such, Bori usually wears armour that mostly consists of leather pants, metal knee pads and boots, leather straps crossed over his bare chest (that constantly creak with strain when he crosses his arms) that hold his twin sinmalayat swords at his hips, and a metal pauldron covering the entirety of each shoulder down to his bicep, one cut in the shape of a wolf skull, the other of a dragon.

...... He refuses to wear a shirt or coat.

Beyond that, he mostly inherited his father's looks, but he has his mother's ebony skin tone, though his is a bit lighter and towards a bronze hue. He also has central heterochromia, with his father's sunset-orange eyes being in the center while his mother's aquamarine-blue hue surround the rings of orange... And sometimes, when his eyes are half-lidded, they appear just like a golden sun on the sea horizon. He often wears his black, wavy curls half-up in a messy bun to hide them, while the rest of his hair reaches just past his shoulders, with three beads (green, orange and red for his father, mother and surrogate carrier) in a single row woven into the hair-tie, as is tradition of a Jokani child.

~ Personality ~

Upon first impressions, Bori appears stoic, intimidating and a terrifying presence to be near, which certainly fit his overshadowing appearance and height. However, once someone gets to truly talk to him without showing him any fear, Bori finally reveals his true personality...

A kind, mannerly, sweet and caring guy who tends to be rather sheepish and easily flustered at the simplest of compliments.

He is very playful with his siblings, since they rarely saw each other before he joined the crew once he was of age, and to make up for lost time they constantly prank each other. In turn, he is very protective of his older sister Sira, the only other Dragonkin on the ship, and the two form a close bond as they celebrate both sabbatic and religious traditions of their Jokani culture together, to honour their mother and family when they miss them.

And when the day comes that he finally brings his girlfriend on board, they celebrate their Jokani ways as a new family to help Djamila (often called Millie for short) settle in and enjoy her time on the ship... just as the crew did when Asya first came on board~

And to finish this off.... here's everyone's heights, with Asya (in her true Dragonkin form), Verglaust, Elbent, Kevin and Solclave for comparisons.

#pirateformers au #tigracespace #ezra iolite og work #character bios #Conduit #Sira #Bori the Second

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archivyrep · 2 years ago

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It makes my head hurt: Analyzing terrible records management in "Tangled"

As I said on Twitter, when I posted these images (which I've combined here for your benefit), "Rapunzel, I know you love Cass, but can you organize your scrolls, books, and artifacts (?) correctly? 'Cause this looks really bad. What's your organizational system here? Stuff is gonna get lost, I guarantee it."

Ever thought, what would happen if you stuck a bunch of valuable scrolls in a wall, inside a big hallowed out tree, and left them there for thousands of years? Well, the Tangled animated series, called Tangled: The Series and Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure beat you to it, ha. The records management in this series really makes my head hurt. When re-watching this series I wondered, again, where the archivists, or librarians, are. I held out some hope, however little, that they re-organized records and hired some archivists. In this post, I'll review notoriously awful records management in this animated series, focusing on two episodes, connecting to actual preservation of scrolls, and other paper documents, by archivists, conservators, and others, and information about trees, especially dead ones, to give further context.

This post was originally published on WordPress on Apr. 12, 2023

In the past, I've noted how the abandoned scrolls inside a tree shown in the episodes "Rapunzel and the Great Tree" and "Islands Apart", which are organized but no archivist is in sight. [1] These scrolls are sitting around a tree, and there seems to be no set organization system, and writing that "sticking scrolls in random wall slots doesn't seem like a good organizational system". I've also pointed out that a well-educated man named Ricky Roxburgh, with a degree from SUNY Albany, wrote episodes for the The Ghost and Molly McGee and the aforementioned Tangled series, both of which contributed to perpetuation of archives stereotypes! Beyond that, the scrolls themselves clearly have value, as there are incantations written on them, but are still within a tree in what could be called scroll boxes, specifically the Great Tree, rather than in a library or an archive.

Specifically, the scrolls, in the episode, [2] are deserted and clearly untended. In the episode it is revealed that it has been millennia since the tree was a sentient being, then corrupted by evil sorcerer Zhan Tiri, and then put in a sort of stasis by Lord Demantius who stopped the magic of the tree by using an enchanted spear. Considering that Demantius used magic and science to build machines, capturing evil spirits almost like the ghostbusters, perhaps he installed these scroll boxes? Anyway, by the Rapunzel (Raps), Cassandra (Cass), and their compatriots arrive there, no one is there to help them. No one warns Raps to not use an incantation which unleashes death and decay to anyone around it, and changes her "seventy-feet long hair from blonde to black, and her eyes from green to black"! This incantation almost kills her, and she is only helped/saved by her friend, Cass.

There is more to the scrolls than this. Not only is there a scroll for ancient, and magical, spell that grants "miraculous, life/light-based powers to heal minor injuries and even return those to life" which can only be activated by singing it, but there are many other scrolls. Presumably, all these scrolls are other incantations. This spell is more directly associated with Raps (Mandy Moore), who is the manifestation of the Sundrop Flower, while the other spell I mentioned in the previous paragraph is associated with the Moonstone.

So many disorganized scrolls, which I noted on Twitter. But, why? And who put the scrolls there? This is never answered.

These scrolls are put in an even worse position when the tree, a magical and ancient place, collapses after Raps uses the death and decay spell. However, this room makes a reappearance later in the series. At the end of the episode "Islands Apart", Cass (Eden Espinosa) and the evil blue fairy, the Enchanted Girl (a manifestation of Zhan Tiri) visit the tree looking for scrolls in hopes of unlocking the Moonstone's full powers, but find these scrolls have been destroyed. It is then that the Enchanted Girl mentions the Demanitus Scroll, and Cass realizes she needs to go to Corona to retrieve it. At the same time, neither of these characters seem to care about the scrolls, which are in worse shape, lying scattered across the ground due to the tree's collapse.

The aforementioned Demanitius Scroll has an important role in the series, as it is an ancient parchment which outlines the abilities of the Sundrop and Moonstone, giving "instructions of how to wield a supreme power of unknown heavenly origin". The scroll, written by Demanitus, was later ripped apart and hidden in different parts, since the valuable document would be dangerous if it fell into the "wrong hands". Raps goes on a quest to find the missing pieces in the show's second season, along with her companions. The scroll, in the right hands, however, can be "used for good". It is later examined, in the episode "Cassandra's Revenge", by Varian (Jeremy Jordan), who finds a third incantation, allowing Cass to "control the Moonstone and create a fortress" in the place where Raps had been imprisoned in the infamous tower. He later finds another incantation and transcribes it before the scroll is destroyed, allowing Raps to "recite it and unlock the full powers of the reborn Sundrop Flower".

With this summary of what happened in the two episodes, from which I excluded some details so as to make sure it was not too long, it brings me to preservation of actual paper documents by archives and other institutions. Sometimes loose items, like a map or brochure can be repaired with "conservation-grade double-sided tape" but there's also pamphlet binds, repair of pages with heat-set tissue, and inside hinges. At other times, new spines are added to books, while original and damaged ones are removed. There are specific and specialty conservator labs, with repairs to documents by conservators, reference staff, and others with experience with rare materials or even interns with work at libraries and archives. [3]

The Library of Congress (LOC) has a whole division that focuses on this, called the Preservation Research and Testing Division or PRTD, which works with the Conservation Division, as preservation is a major priority for the library. The PRTD, which undertakes research to "advance and support Library preservation", even has a pigment reference collection used to "gain historical understanding and scientific information about the materials." The division often has projects which evaluate "condition of fragile and damaged items and proposing preservation actions". There are also machines, like the BC100 which takes extensive photos of "brittle books and newspapers for archival purposes." [4] Imagine if something like that was used on any of the scrolls inside the Great Tree or the Demanitius Scroll? Both would need to have restricted access if anything equivalent to them existed in archival collections, with extensive conservation care.

Two scrolls from the Dead Sea Scrolls lie at their location in the Qumran Caves before being removed for scholarly examination by archaeologists. Original image on Wikimedia, reprinting an image from an 1959 Israeli book.

This is another way that the Great Tree is a terrible place to store documents. What kind of ways does the tree "properly manage temperature, humidity, and other conditions" which can prevent "damage to materials" [5]? If that isn't enough, there are no organization of the scrolls. There is no method shown for protection of fragile and vulnerable items, i.e. the scrolls. The scroll boxes, as they could be called, are nothing akin to boxes used by LOC to store valuable records, nor any stabilization statements or deacidification conservation treatments. The latter can be used on records like older comic books, for example. There are further issues if the paper is acidic, and yellows over time, as it can decompose more, and faster, than neutral paper. None of this was considered by whoever put the scrolls in boxes, of sorts, within the tree. [6]

The LOC also notes that paper of a good quality which is "stored in good conditions," i.e. cooler temperatures with 30-40% relative humidity can last a long time, perhaps "even hundreds of years." Is this the case with the tree? Well, another paper from LOC adds this:

"Good storage significantly prolongs the preservation of paper materials and includes…A cool (room temperature or below), relatively dry (about 35% relative humidity), clean, and stable environment (avoid attics, basements, and other locations with high risk of leaks and environmental extremes)…Minimal exposure to all kinds of light; no exposure to direct or intense light…Distance from radiators and vents…Supportive protective enclosures*…Unfolded and flat or rolled storage for oversized papers[, and] individual/isolated storage of acidic papers to prevent acids from migrating into the other works on paper…Supportive protective enclosures include…document boxes…and polyester film sleeves that are stiff enough to adequately support the paper(s) within"

Now, it has been shown that trees across the world strive to "maintain a near-constant temperature of 70 degrees in their leaves". It has also been shown that trees can have a cooling effect. But what about inside a hollow tree? Can it still regulate its own temperature? They can regulate their own internal temperature and have homeostatis, i.e. keeping temperatures "mostly stable no matter what's going on outside", although they regulate temperatures more with leaves.

In some ways they can. In fact, a 2016 study by Chris O'Connell and Gunnar Keppel in Wildlife Biology, an open-access, and high-quality, scientific journal, stated that tree hollows can be crucial habitats for fauna and even buffering "ambient environmental conditions". This means that these hollows can provide stable microclimates, even "maintaining lower temperatures and higher humidity during the day and higher temperatures and lower humidity during the night." However, the Great Tree in Tangled is dead, and tree hollows are a cavity in a living tree, as the tree was a living organism, but became dead over time. Instead, the tree is almost equivalent, in some ways, to coarse woody debris or large woody debris.

More than that, dead tress, generally, can be teeming with life, playing a vital role in "lifecycles of hundreds of species of wildlife, providing a place to nest, rest, eat and grow". They can provide excellent habitats, benefit the environment, shelter, regenerate soil, or provide additional resources to an ecosystem. [7] This is clear from the aforementioned "Rapunzel and the Great Tree" episode, where the inside of the tree is teeming with life. However, by the "Islands Apart" episode, this is likely no longer the case, especially due to effects from Raps' death and dying spell, although the tree would continue its decomposition into the ground around it, but perhaps faster than before.

This article took a direction I did not originally plan for when I started writing it, but that made it all the more fascinating! I am no expert in trees, nor in preservation (or conservation) of documents, by any means, but this does give me a bit more context and analysis than any of my previous posts focusing on or mentioning this series. I had originally intended review all the episodes with themes about records and archives in one post, but decided it would make more sense to divide them into various posts. Those will follow later this year. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Notes

[1] The show has at least four episodes with archivy themes: "Keeper of the Spire," "Rapunzel and the Great Tree," "Islands Apart," and "Race to the Spire." On an additional note, I mentioned the series in passing in posts here and here.

[2] On Disney+, the episode "Rapunzel and the Great Tree" is divided into two parts, each of which is 25 minutes long. There is also another magic tree in the series, the Eternal Tree which is used to order to open a portal and free Zhan Tiri.

[3] See Tydall, Lily. "Librarians Learning Conservation: My 10 Weeks as the First General Collections Conservation Section Intern." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Aug. 29, 2022.

[4] See Villafana, Tana. "Paints and Pigments – When Art and Science Combines". Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Aug. 20, 2022; Hasbo, Beatriz. "Exploring Collections Management and so Much More: a Summer Experience at the Library of Congress." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Aug. 18, 2022; Chaletzky, Aaron D. "Preservation Intern Profile: Brandon Mack." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Aug. 11, 2022.

[5] For information on LOC doing this, see Overstreet, Anna Katherine and Alexandra Ptacek, "Climate Correlation: Environmental Monitoring at the Library of Congress." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Aug. 1, 2022.

[6] See Long, Leslie and Lily Tyndall, "Box Making Activities in the General Collections Conservation Section." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Jul. 28, 2022, Tyndall, Lily, "Live Long and Repair: Caring for the Library of Congress’ Comic Book Collection." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Jul. 21, 2022, and Shovlin, K.F. "When the Paper Fails the Test." Guardians of Memory. Library of Congress, Jul. 14, 2022.

[7] See "Tim-ber? … Not So Fast: The Important Role of Dead and Dying Trees | EarthCare Northwest", Seattle Audubon Society, Mar. 7, 2022; Miranda, Tango. "Dead Trees and Their Role: A Naked Encounter." Age of Awareness. Medium, Dec. 8, 2020; "Snags: The Life-Affirming Role of Dead Trees." Blue Thumb, Apr. 6, 2022; Wiebe, Shiela. "Why do we leave dead trees in the forest?" Ontario Parks, Nov. 12, 2021; Wuerther, George. "The ecological value of dead trees." The Wildlife News, Dec. 20, 2018; Bundell, Shamini and Nick Petrić Howe, "Dead trees play an under-appreciated role in climate change." Nature, Sept. 1, 2021 for more information.

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel #cassandra #records management #archives #sundrop #moonstone #rapunzel tts #rapunzel tangled #dead sea scrolls #scrolls #pop culture #reviews #trees #tree caverns #nature #environmentalism

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