We ask that potential applicants post their application in comments rather than linking. If their application contains explicit references to 'hard' spoilers (character death, unforeseen plot twists, big reveals, he was evil all along etc), players should put the application in their own journal or their character's journal and link it, making sure to mention the presence of spoilers within. For further clarification on our spoilers policy and whether or not your application needs to be linked, please check this page. Thank you for your cooperation!
The comment character limit on Dreamwidth is 16,000 characters so apps no longer need to be split into multiple comments; however this is at players' discretion.
While players are welcome to play multiple characters (five characters maximum are allowed per player!), please only apply for one character at a time, and wait for a decision before submitting another application!
A reminder for those waiting to hear back: Please don't be worried if we skip yours while going through them. It only means we needed a little more time to research!
Please use the form below to apply! If you have any questions, feel free to ask any of the mods.
Helpful links!
Taken / Reserves Please do not app a character from either of these unless you reserved them!
Starter Pokémon! A compiled list of the starter Pokémon to choose from offered in Victory Road!
Player Name: Bramble E-mail: raspberrywhisper (at) gmail (dot) com Preferred Contact:bramblepatch or discord @ bramble#6628 Timezone: Pacific (GMT+8) Current Characters in Victory Road: none
Character Name: Vierna Do'Urden Series: Legend of Drizzt Timeline: After Chapter 5 of The Legacy, having transformed Dinin into a drider but before setting out to hunt Drizzt Canon Resource Links:Vierna on the FR wiki
Vierna also appears in the flashback sections of Relentless, which does not have a plot summary on the wiki yet; these flashbacks cover roughly the same span of time as the events of Homeland, showing the events of that time period from a less Drizzt-centric perspective.
Personality: Vierna is, fundamentally, both a product of Menzoberranzan and very much her father's daughter.
As a noble daughter of an ambitious House in the City of Spiders, Vierna has been taught from a very early age to trust no one, to revere the demon goddess Lolth, and to hold herself above all drow males and all non-drow of any gender. In fact, "taught" is probably not a strong enough word; "indoctrinated" or "brainwashed" is probably closer to the mark, as Menzoberranzan is a theocracy ruled by the cult of Lolth. Vierna, like all drow noblewomen, was expected to serve as a Priestess of Lolth for the advancement of her House, and her mother, Matron Mother Malice, and elder half sister Briza, were not gentle in teaching her the ruthless violence expected of her in that position. The early childhood of any drow can be assumed to be physically and emotionally abusive, although girls usually have a better time of it than boys, and Malice and Briza neither showed Vierna any mercy nor tolerated any display of mercy from Vierna toward others.
This was a real concern for them, as Vierna inherited her sire Zaknafein's sense of empathy - perhaps if Zaknafein had been permitted to take part in raising her, as he did her younger brother Drizzt, Vierna would have developed the morality and principled behavior that her father and brother both exhibit to varying degrees. Unfortunately for everyone involved, her contact with her father during her early years was extremely limited, both because as a lower-status male Zaknafein had little legitimate reason to interact with the daughters of the house, and because Malice intentionally allowed Zaknafein to believe that Vierna's paternity was in question as part of her centuries-long campaign of being as abusive toward him as possible in as many ways as possible. Drow men are not expected to take a parental role, but as Zak was easily the least-awful adult in the family compound, his disinterest in her as a child and open dislike of her priestess status as an adult was still painful - and even more so when he did take an active interest in her younger brother Drizzt.
Even without his direct influence, though, Vierna is unusually soft-hearted for a drow. She does not enjoy inflicting pain on others, and although she will do so as required by her station, her family was always perfectly aware that she disliked doing so. This was, of course, only a reason for her mother to place her in situations where she was required to harm others, frequently family members - most notably, her younger brother. She was given responsibility for Drizzt's early care and education, a role which included the expectation that she make liberal use of corporal punishment, up to and including with the magical viper-headed scourge that is part of Lolthian clerical regalia. Vierna both resented her brother and was honestly fond and proud of him, and only beat Drizzt in response to actual infractions or misbehavior. This lead Malice or Briza to frequently step in and deliver harsher and more arbitrary punishments than Vierna was willing to dole out - discouraging Vierna from showing mercy, and also denying her control over the task for which, in theory, she was solely responsible.
Because of the trauma that following her conscience has often caused, Vierna does not always - or even often - treat other people with kindness. She craves the approval of her superiors and the relative security that it brings, and tries to live up to the standard of cruelty expected of a woman of her station. The cognitive dissonance caused by the conflict between her inborn compassion and the violence expected of her, as well as her experience with having her agency over her own affairs denied to her because of her softness, sometimes causes Vierna to lash out or overreact - up to and including at least one case where she attempted to murder Drizzt as an adolescent, when she caught him sneaking out of the initiation ceremony/orgy that marked his graduation from warrior training. (Notably, though, she followed him immediately and her initial reaction was concern, until his defiance and blasphemy made it clear he would not voluntarily return to the ceremony; I believe that initially she welcomed the excuse to remove herself from the situation as well, if only temporarily.) She also does not handle change well, as her attempts to live up to expectations have left her inflexible in her thinking as she tries to stick to the behavior that she knows will keep her safest in Menzoberranzan. After the collapse of her House and the death of most of her family, Vierna became obsessed with regaining Lolth's favor and her standing as a noblewoman. Working with Bregan D'aerthe and under the protection of Jarlaxle, who had been a close friend of her father, Vierna was arguably more secure than she had ever been as a daughter of House Do'Urden; however, her sense of self-worth and security was too deeply tied to the power struggles of Menzoberranzan's nobility and she was unable to accept her change in circumstances, ultimately leading her to reckless and fanatical behavior.
Vierna's closest relationships are with two of her brothers - Dinin, older than her by at least fifty years, is one of the few people who ever genuinely cared about her wellbeing, and Drizzt, her only full-blooded sibling and most of a century younger, is in turn the only person she was ever allowed to nurture in any capacity whatsoever. However, these bonds did not ultimately offer either brother any protection from her desperate need for what she saw as redemption, even though they were also the only two other members of the family to survive the fall of their House. It was clear from well before House Do'Urden fell that it was Drizzt's heresy and abandonment of the family that had lead to them losing Lolth's favor and doomed them, and although it took her nearly twenty years to psyche herself up, Vierna ultimately decided that she ought to be the one to capture or kill him - a mission that was completely self-imposed, and which ultimately lead to her death when she refused to surrender to Drizzt, who honestly would have been only too happy to spare her. And where once she might have accepted Dinin's better judgment, when he objected to her plans to hunt down their long-absent and very dangerous brother, she transformed him into a drider - a cursed half-spider form traditionally used as punishment for drow who defy Lolth's priestesses.
And it must also be acknowledged that Vierna was relatively young when her self-destructive desire to fit in and succeed in Menzoberranzan lead to her death at Drizzt's blade - elves, of which drow are a subset, can live well into their 700s, and Vierna was only 144 at the time of her death (which occurs within, at most, a few weeks of her canon point). She also was forced into adult life young; all elves grow and age at the same rate, but by the lore presented in the Player's Handbook for Dungeons and Dragons, for which the Legend of Drizzt books are a tie-in, most elves consider their young people to be fully adult at around age 100; by the lore presented in the novels, drow nobles take on adult responsibilities when they graduate from their Academy training, which for most noble girls is somewhere in their 80s.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Trainer Starter: Zubat Password: Atomic Fireball
Victory Road Sample: The sun had long set before Vierna had to admit that this strange new form’s vision was simply not adequate for her to feel comfortable traveling through unfamiliar territory by night.
It did not take her long to set up camp, with her gear as meager as it was – she found a spot by the side of the road where the grass was not so high as to hide wandering monsters, rolled out the odd bedroll from her pack, and morosely ate a little of the strange and laughably meager food. Then, out of responsible measures to take, she pulled out the red and white capsule and, flinching a little in anticipation, opened it.
She was rewarded, as she’d been back in the village, with a fair-sized blue-and-purple bat creature flapping excitedly around her. Vierna lifted an arm to shield her face, and the creature caught at her sleeve with claws so small as to be nearly invisible and settled, hanging at her wrist, as she looked at it in bemusement. Zubat, the pokedex had called it; she wasn’t sure what “zu-” was supposed to mean, but it was certainly very much like the bats of the Underdark. As she watched, it yawned, showing sharp teeth that shone very white in the darkness, and folded its wings around itself.
As much as she wished to return to her own plane and her own business... perhaps this wasn’t all bad. It was a rather appealing little animal, after all. “I suppose you’ll need a name,” she commented – how did one go about naming an animal? Vierna had never been permitted a pet bat as a child, which was perhaps for the best, given her mother and sister’s attitudes toward weaker creatures. It did leave her a little at a loss for what to do with one now, though. Could she just... give it a name fitting a person? It wasn’t a person, but anything else seemed demeaning, somehow. “Ethetyrr?”
The zubat shrieked – but agreeably, Vierna thought. She carefully lifted her other hand to scratch the creature between its big ears. “Ethetyrr it is, then.”
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon! Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.
Now that you've been accepted... [○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must! [○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here. [○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it. Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places. [○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted. [○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms! [○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!
We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
indigo_league) wrote2016-05-03 09:48 pm
APPLICATIONS!
Vierna Do'Urden | Legend of Drizzt
Name: Bramble
E-mail: raspberrywhisper (at) gmail (dot) com
Preferred Contact:
Timezone: Pacific (GMT+8)
Current Characters in Victory Road: none
Character
Name: Vierna Do'Urden
Series: Legend of Drizzt
Timeline: After Chapter 5 of The Legacy, having transformed Dinin into a drider but before setting out to hunt Drizzt
Canon Resource Links: Vierna on the FR wiki
Vierna also appears in the flashback sections of Relentless, which does not have a plot summary on the wiki yet; these flashbacks cover roughly the same span of time as the events of Homeland, showing the events of that time period from a less Drizzt-centric perspective.
Personality: Vierna is, fundamentally, both a product of Menzoberranzan and very much her father's daughter.
As a noble daughter of an ambitious House in the City of Spiders, Vierna has been taught from a very early age to trust no one, to revere the demon goddess Lolth, and to hold herself above all drow males and all non-drow of any gender. In fact, "taught" is probably not a strong enough word; "indoctrinated" or "brainwashed" is probably closer to the mark, as Menzoberranzan is a theocracy ruled by the cult of Lolth. Vierna, like all drow noblewomen, was expected to serve as a Priestess of Lolth for the advancement of her House, and her mother, Matron Mother Malice, and elder half sister Briza, were not gentle in teaching her the ruthless violence expected of her in that position. The early childhood of any drow can be assumed to be physically and emotionally abusive, although girls usually have a better time of it than boys, and Malice and Briza neither showed Vierna any mercy nor tolerated any display of mercy from Vierna toward others.
This was a real concern for them, as Vierna inherited her sire Zaknafein's sense of empathy - perhaps if Zaknafein had been permitted to take part in raising her, as he did her younger brother Drizzt, Vierna would have developed the morality and principled behavior that her father and brother both exhibit to varying degrees. Unfortunately for everyone involved, her contact with her father during her early years was extremely limited, both because as a lower-status male Zaknafein had little legitimate reason to interact with the daughters of the house, and because Malice intentionally allowed Zaknafein to believe that Vierna's paternity was in question as part of her centuries-long campaign of being as abusive toward him as possible in as many ways as possible. Drow men are not expected to take a parental role, but as Zak was easily the least-awful adult in the family compound, his disinterest in her as a child and open dislike of her priestess status as an adult was still painful - and even more so when he did take an active interest in her younger brother Drizzt.
Even without his direct influence, though, Vierna is unusually soft-hearted for a drow. She does not enjoy inflicting pain on others, and although she will do so as required by her station, her family was always perfectly aware that she disliked doing so. This was, of course, only a reason for her mother to place her in situations where she was required to harm others, frequently family members - most notably, her younger brother. She was given responsibility for Drizzt's early care and education, a role which included the expectation that she make liberal use of corporal punishment, up to and including with the magical viper-headed scourge that is part of Lolthian clerical regalia. Vierna both resented her brother and was honestly fond and proud of him, and only beat Drizzt in response to actual infractions or misbehavior. This lead Malice or Briza to frequently step in and deliver harsher and more arbitrary punishments than Vierna was willing to dole out - discouraging Vierna from showing mercy, and also denying her control over the task for which, in theory, she was solely responsible.
Because of the trauma that following her conscience has often caused, Vierna does not always - or even often - treat other people with kindness. She craves the approval of her superiors and the relative security that it brings, and tries to live up to the standard of cruelty expected of a woman of her station. The cognitive dissonance caused by the conflict between her inborn compassion and the violence expected of her, as well as her experience with having her agency over her own affairs denied to her because of her softness, sometimes causes Vierna to lash out or overreact - up to and including at least one case where she attempted to murder Drizzt as an adolescent, when she caught him sneaking out of the initiation ceremony/orgy that marked his graduation from warrior training. (Notably, though, she followed him immediately and her initial reaction was concern, until his defiance and blasphemy made it clear he would not voluntarily return to the ceremony; I believe that initially she welcomed the excuse to remove herself from the situation as well, if only temporarily.) She also does not handle change well, as her attempts to live up to expectations have left her inflexible in her thinking as she tries to stick to the behavior that she knows will keep her safest in Menzoberranzan. After the collapse of her House and the death of most of her family, Vierna became obsessed with regaining Lolth's favor and her standing as a noblewoman. Working with Bregan D'aerthe and under the protection of Jarlaxle, who had been a close friend of her father, Vierna was arguably more secure than she had ever been as a daughter of House Do'Urden; however, her sense of self-worth and security was too deeply tied to the power struggles of Menzoberranzan's nobility and she was unable to accept her change in circumstances, ultimately leading her to reckless and fanatical behavior.
Vierna's closest relationships are with two of her brothers - Dinin, older than her by at least fifty years, is one of the few people who ever genuinely cared about her wellbeing, and Drizzt, her only full-blooded sibling and most of a century younger, is in turn the only person she was ever allowed to nurture in any capacity whatsoever. However, these bonds did not ultimately offer either brother any protection from her desperate need for what she saw as redemption, even though they were also the only two other members of the family to survive the fall of their House. It was clear from well before House Do'Urden fell that it was Drizzt's heresy and abandonment of the family that had lead to them losing Lolth's favor and doomed them, and although it took her nearly twenty years to psyche herself up, Vierna ultimately decided that she ought to be the one to capture or kill him - a mission that was completely self-imposed, and which ultimately lead to her death when she refused to surrender to Drizzt, who honestly would have been only too happy to spare her. And where once she might have accepted Dinin's better judgment, when he objected to her plans to hunt down their long-absent and very dangerous brother, she transformed him into a drider - a cursed half-spider form traditionally used as punishment for drow who defy Lolth's priestesses.
And it must also be acknowledged that Vierna was relatively young when her self-destructive desire to fit in and succeed in Menzoberranzan lead to her death at Drizzt's blade - elves, of which drow are a subset, can live well into their 700s, and Vierna was only 144 at the time of her death (which occurs within, at most, a few weeks of her canon point). She also was forced into adult life young; all elves grow and age at the same rate, but by the lore presented in the Player's Handbook for Dungeons and Dragons, for which the Legend of Drizzt books are a tie-in, most elves consider their young people to be fully adult at around age 100; by the lore presented in the novels, drow nobles take on adult responsibilities when they graduate from their Academy training, which for most noble girls is somewhere in their 80s.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Zubat
Password: Atomic Fireball
Samples
RP Sample: Test Drive toplevel
Victory Road Sample:
The sun had long set before Vierna had to admit that this strange new form’s vision was simply not adequate for her to feel comfortable traveling through unfamiliar territory by night.
It did not take her long to set up camp, with her gear as meager as it was – she found a spot by the side of the road where the grass was not so high as to hide wandering monsters, rolled out the odd bedroll from her pack, and morosely ate a little of the strange and laughably meager food. Then, out of responsible measures to take, she pulled out the red and white capsule and, flinching a little in anticipation, opened it.
She was rewarded, as she’d been back in the village, with a fair-sized blue-and-purple bat creature flapping excitedly around her. Vierna lifted an arm to shield her face, and the creature caught at her sleeve with claws so small as to be nearly invisible and settled, hanging at her wrist, as she looked at it in bemusement. Zubat, the pokedex had called it; she wasn’t sure what “zu-” was supposed to mean, but it was certainly very much like the bats of the Underdark. As she watched, it yawned, showing sharp teeth that shone very white in the darkness, and folded its wings around itself.
As much as she wished to return to her own plane and her own business... perhaps this wasn’t all bad. It was a rather appealing little animal, after all. “I suppose you’ll need a name,” she commented – how did one go about naming an animal? Vierna had never been permitted a pet bat as a child, which was perhaps for the best, given her mother and sister’s attitudes toward weaker creatures. It did leave her a little at a loss for what to do with one now, though. Could she just... give it a name fitting a person? It wasn’t a person, but anything else seemed demeaning, somehow. “Ethetyrr?”
The zubat shrieked – but agreeably, Vierna thought. She carefully lifted her other hand to scratch the creature between its big ears. “Ethetyrr it is, then.”
ACCEPTED!
Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.
Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities:
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at
We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!
Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!
no subject