Meet My Character: Jaye MacCullagh

 

(images via Pinterest, I take no credit for them)

Today's character is Jaye and she is actually the only character in this blogging series not from Rage Like the Gods. That's right, Jaye is actually the only POV character from Of Stars and Shadows.

Ravven presses his lips together. “Why, pest, for as ugly and mortal as you are, you certainly think like a faerie.”

I don’t know why, but I am oddly complimented by that even though essentially he is saying that I am evil, conniving, and twisted.

Personality-wise Jaye is a sarcastic and grumpy person. She's an overthinker and oftentimes takes things too personally. She is extremely loyal and will do anything for those that she cares about. She never gives up, no matter how steep the odds, even if she doesn't think she will make it, she will still at least try. She has a hard time expressing the way she feels towards people and prefers to be left alone more often than not. She enjoys a good argument and will consider it a personal loss if she can't come up with a witty response.

INTP//Gryffindor

“I like risky plans, they’re my favorites.”

Theme songs:

Still Rolling Stones

Immortalized

Bleeding Out

Young and Beautiful

Sometimes Jaye feels like all she has going for her is her determination. But hey, at least she's got that. When she was born, Jaye was supposed to have received both a blessing from the Seelie faeries and a curse from the Unseelie, however she believes that she was overlooked on that day since she received no gifts or curses. Still she won't let anything stop her from the destiny she believes that she was born into as the next of the MacCullagh line, even if she thinks she will be doing it at a marked advantage.

Even if we get home. Will I ever be able to fully leave the Otherworlds behind?

And that begs the question that I don’t want to ask.

Do I even truly want to leave?

Jaye's family is part of a long line of human guardians, descended from Ireland, who defend the world from the faeries. Now living in the Midwest of the good ol' USofA with this current branch of Guardians that includes her parents and uncles, Jaye is determined to carry the family legacy even without a blessing. She has a little bit of a phobia of the faeries after spending her whole life learning about them and all the terrible things they are capable of. Her homeschool education included reading, math, but also extensive faerie studies and learning to wield weapons such as her iron knife. Jaye is quick thinking and resourceful and not afraid to cross some moral boundaries if it comes down to it.

“This just doesn’t sit right with me; the ends don’t justify the means.”

“It does if the means is a faerie. Need I remind you that faeries are evil.”

Ravven clears his throat. “Need I remind you that I am standing right here. Your argument for morality is admirable, mortal, but that is all it is. You are in the Otherworld now, there is no morality.”

A darker part of her is that Jaye has a lot of insecurities and she tries to hide them all behind her more caustic personality, it's a defense mechanism after having spent most of her life thinking that she had been passed up and is not good enough to be a Guardian.

Thomas is her brother and helps to balance out some of her wilder tendencies. Sometimes he has had to stand in as her moral center, and he will always be there to protect his younger sis. And then there's Ravven... Jaye isn't exactly sure what she thinks of Ravven, but no matter what happens they're still there for each other. So call it what you will, but they don't trust each other, and they definitely don't like each other so don't even suggest such a thing.

We were foolish. We thought we could be the exception to the rule. And now we are paying the price.

Meet My Character: Meruna Kotov

 

(Images via Pinterest I take no credit for them)

Today's character is Meruna Kotov a magicker in training from Rage Like the Gods.

“A kraken?” I cry, breaking the silence. “But krakens don’t exist!”

I don’t suppose anyone was really waiting with bated breath for my opinion of the matter.

Personality-wise Meruna is quite arrogant, friendly, but arrogant. She has a kind heart, but due to her upbringing, actually believes that she is better than everyone else, therefore it is her job to conduct herself in a manner that will be a good example to others. She generally means well even if it comes out all wrong. Meruna is quite klutzy and accident prone, still she is extremely smart and she knows it. Meruna is quite religious and has taken a vow of nonviolence believing that only the gods have the right to send anyone to Skyhold or not.

ISTP//Ravenclaw

This academy with its stone walls, and ancient libraries, where the purpose of everyone here is the furthering of knowledge. I may have only just gotten here, but already I know this place is home.

My home.

I turn in a circle, holding out my arms. I’m finally home.

Theme songs:

Naturally

The Greatest

All of the Stars

Calling

Meruna's inquisitive and accident prone nature combine in sometimes very dangerous ways. She now wears her hair short after an accident with a flame spell caused her hair to catch on fire. Still, Meruna is no to be deterred from her dream of becoming a magicker. Not just that, but the best magicker there ever was. Did I mention that she is ambitious? Because yeah, she is pretty ambitious, however it is really more of a coping mechanism from spending her entire life fearing that her parent's will choose a life for her that will not amount to anything.

“Named after the goddess of magic huh? I will never understand the entitlement of the valley dwellers.”

“Hey!” I say. I actually happen to be quite proud of my name. Meruna is also the goddess of virtues so she isn’t solely the god of us “valley dwellers” and every day I strive to live up to every one of her virtues. Something this Fell apparently does not try to do as well.

Meruna comes from a powerful Lowlander family, and is the heir to quite an inheritance. Her family name was tainted in scandal when her uncle ran off to become a necromancer and then her aunt ran away to marry a vampire, due to this fact, Meruna has been watched over closely by her parents and prepped since childhood for the life that her family wishes for her to live. Kept far away from other children who might be a bad influence to her, Meruna found solace in books and soon discovered a passion for magic. Meruna resents her family's plans to sell her hand in marriage to someone who can help further her father's political goals, what she would rather do instead is attend the Academy of Magickers and learn more about magic. Out of fear of her doing something irrevocable like run away and follow in her uncle or aunt's footsteps, Meruna's' family finally relented and allowed her to attend the academy. However, they all know that once her years of studying are through and she is bestowed the title of magicker, the only thing waiting for her afterwards is a loveless marriage.

I don’t know how wishing to attend a college and learn some about the spells and magic that have fascinated me since before I could even wear robes, and wanting to do something with my life before I am carted off to marriage quite compares to the infamous aunt who ran away to be the bride of a vampire lord. But if you ask my mother they are equal sins.

Meruna's darker side is that she judges herself harshly and has begun to regard herself in a negative light because she keeps falling short of her own expectations. She also takes her oath of nonviolence so far that oftentimes she will not even engage in self-defense and she will become angered by other people not behaving in the pacifist manner she prefers.

Fortunately for Meruna, Aoife, a warrior nun, has named herself her bodyguard. Fell is her study partner and he oftentimes also has to intercede to save Meruna's life from the danger she naturally attracts. Being a chosen one is a dangerous business, but between Aoife and Fell they just might be able to keep Meruna alive long enough for her to save the world.

Fell frowns as he rests a hand on my shoulder. “You’re really going to say that the gods made a mistake? Here? In one of their temples?”

I tug on the end of my hair and grimace. That’s one step from blasphemy. The gods are divines, who are we humans to question their methods? “I well… no.”

He gently squeezes my shoulder and steps back looking proud of himself. “So if they didn’t make a mistake then that means you were the perfect person to choose.”

Meet My Character: Dagmy of the Deserts

 

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Today's character is Dagmy the vampiric mercenary also from Rage Like the Gods.

That is the code of the sellswords. There is no code. Just one law, do not betray the person who hired you.

Tends to be bad for business.

Now the contracts that you take. What you can be hired to do. There are no limitations. There are no laws forbidding the unspeakable. We aren’t assassins per say but we could be hired to kill.

There is no honor in it.

There is no honor in me.

And someday I will regain my honor, buy it back with the blood of my enemies or the sweat of my brows, but today. Today I will settle for making a little gold and getting out of this city.

Personality-wise Dagmy is quiet, she is a woman of actions and believes that talking is often times a waste of time. She isn't much of a people person, much preferring her own solitude. She is a proud individual with great confidence in her abilities and little fear to speak of, however she does bear the weight of crippling shame for being exiled and that fuels her fierce desire to prove herself. She believes that stealing is morally wrong and a sign of a weak hearted coward. If you want something you must fight and kill for it, no easy way out.

ISTJ//Slytherine

Theme songs:

Journey (Ready To Fly)

Monster

Soldiers

Army

Dagmy has very poor luck indeed. Once she was part of a powerful and tightknit clan of mercenaries. Everyone feared them, they were considered some of the most powerful in all the desert lands that were once their home, and Dagmy took great pride in her heritage. However when faced with the choice of dying with honor or living without it she chose the latter, believing that if given the chance she could reclaim what was once hers.

There wasn’t an ounce of honor in these lands. I could not even count my own because I had lost it. But I am hoping that a land so devoid of honorable men is just the place for me to reclaim my own.

Now exiled from her homeland she finds herself in Ruskhazar, a land where water is not scarce and yet it is still just as much a struggle to survive. Now instead of the oppressive heat of the desert, Dagmy finds herself having to cope with the cold of the mountains. In the place of rival clans she now finds herself against monsters. However, she is convinced that one way that Ruskhazar and her homeland are in common is that a show of might and military prowess will earn her the respect that she deserves. Instead she finds herself bitten by a vampire, a creature she did not even know exist, and an outcast in her new home. Cursed to avoid daylight and always thirst for blood, Dagmy will never be able to return to the deserts or reclaim her honor unless she finds a cure for her affliction.

This is terrible, I came here as a last resort, but I came here strong and healthy and capable of handling anything thrown at me.

Now I am a creature that shrivels in the daylight.

Her darker side is that often times her preferred solitude can become loneliness and she won't notice. Also the fact that she has no compunction with killing or beating up someone for money.

However Hakon the mercenary she hired to aid her in her quest to regain her honor, and his giant, telepathic dog Garth will at least keep her from getting too lonely. She can't shake either obstinate talkative fool no matter how hard she tries and believe me she has. As for killing well... they oftentimes argue over which is more deadly: magic, swords, or fangs.

Garth seems like any other dog, loyal, and obedient to us of all people, I cannot fathom why he chose us, but choose us he did. He could possibly be a powerful ally. Perhaps Hakon was not wrong to adopt the mutt. Still, I don’t want it meddling through my thoughts.

Dark and lonely as they may be, at least they are mine.

Meet My Character: Thyre No-Name

 

(all images via Pinterest, I take no credit for them)

Today's character is Thyre my werewolf assassin from Rage Like the Gods. She no longer believes that she is worthy to carry her family name, so she has been known as No-Name on some occasions.

I may seem like a scrawny hapless girl, but what I lack in size I make up for in fighting spirit and pure savagery. It takes a lot of people by surprise, especially those who are drunk enough to think that brawling is a good idea. They are already off balance, and then when they find out the hidden strength of my seemingly stick thin arms. Well, I live off the thrill of seeing their shock and surprise. And also helping myself to their coin purses cause I don’t fight for free.

Personality-wise Thyre has a grim outlook on life. She has been dealt a hard hand, and doesn't expect her prospects to ever turn up. She doesn't think she deserves a better life. Still she is nothing if not a survivor. No matter what life throws at her, she will at least figure out how to get through it. Happiness is simply a luxury, what really matters is who is living and breathing at the end of the day. Still, despite her pessimism and darker temperament Thyre does have an almost innocent romantic heart. She believes in true love and that it is forever.

INFJ//Gryfindor

Elwis the Eel turns back to me with a smile. “I find it absolutely darling that you now an assassin, are named after the god of burials. That is poetic justice.”

“I’m an assassin?” I ask, arching my brow. “Since when did that happen?”

Theme Songs:

Yellow Flicker Beat

Two Straight Lines

Sinners

Castle

Thyre is a Highlander, through and through. Tall, angry, born a warrior, unsatisfied by how her people are represented in the leadership, and not afraid to act on impulse. She is a trained killer, and knows how to go undetected if she wants. The only thing Thyre wants is a place to belong and someone to love again, until then she will simply continue on her existence as a lone wolf, merely surviving each day and nothing more. She feels passionately, except she just hasn't found a cause to fully dedicate herself to.

I smile somewhat wistfully. Oh, what would father think of his wayward daughter and the messes she just seems to keep getting herself into? Perhaps it is a blessing of the gods that he is not here to see it. Or perhaps if he were still around, I would be training by his hand to become an undertaker. Fate is an odd thing.

Her father was a tender of a burial mound and a loyal servant to Thyre the Guardian of the Dead so much so that he named his eldest child after him. Due to the Highlander's superstitious nature and fear of the dead, Thyre and her family lived outside of the city. That was until a band of bandits raided their home and killed her family in order to rob from the dead. Thyre was the only one to survive and she set out on the path of revenge, joining the bandit clan and fighting her way to the top to be able to kill those responsible for her family's death. However, her past as a bandit and the things she did while she was a part of their clan make it so that she will forever be an outcast in society. She finds a second chance in the unlikeliest of places, a clandestine family of assassins, as well as a pack of werewolves after they accidentally turn her into one. She will do anything to make sure that she is deserving of this second chance and that no one will ever take her families from her again.

“I haven’t chosen anything in my life and yet I must live with the consequences regardless. Not one jetting thing.” I didn’t choose to live on the outskirts of civilization where we would be easy prey to sacrilegious bandits who believe that they can plunder the dead, I didn’t choose to watch my family die before my eyes cut down by heartless fools. I don’t even know if I chose vengeance or if it was simply the only way to go, sacrificing so much to join and then move up the ranks in the bandit clan that took everything from me all to get close enough to their leader and well... I once again was an outcast, a former bandit of a clan I had destroyed but people didn’t care about that if anyone learned of my past I would face death just like my family. Just like the bandits. Just like everyone I ever seemed to know. And then the prison ship facing charges that I didn’t even know of, and having to leave Kirkwood, the assassins. Even this werewolf life. I didn’t choose it. I heave a bitter sigh. “I’m beginning to sense a pattern here.”

The darker side to Thyre is that she has a terrible temper and will never forgive a grudge. She is capable of killing without compunction, and just all around lost her moral compass years ago, or perhaps it is buried with her family. She knows that she does terrible things, but has long since passed the point of caring.

Elwis the Eel the leader of Thyre's family of assassins has become an almost surrogate father figure to her. When Elwis sees Thyre he sees his younger self, and Thyre sees someone to look up to. Together they are quite the heartless duo. However, Vrom, the kind hearted werewolf from her other family, believes that there are options other than murder and he is determined to show Thyre that she isn't actually as bad as she thinks she is.

He turns to me. “But mark my words if there is ever a revolution, I will be the first to sign up.”

“And I will be the second,” I say piping up.

“Maybe that’s the destiny you are looking for. Bringing glory and freedom to your people. You could do it I think.”

“Do what?” I ask with a small laugh. I wonder when the last time I laughed was but Kirkwood sets me at ease in a way that no one has before. I could spend eternity here in his company, I think.

“Force the lowlander king to surrender to us. To see reason. You have a fire in your eyes, you know. A fire that could consume the whole world if you let it. You are a conqueror.”