RPG Characters

Brave and Noble Unicorns
Elf Life Adventurers II (Jan 2001 - March 2002)

I created two herds of unicorns for ELA II who live in herds in Alfheim. They are nothing like the popularized version of the unicorn, a huge horse with a sharp horn that bites like a lion and kicks like a donkey. As the elderly leader of one herd often chuckles, "It's amazing what you can do with good propoganda!" The goat-like creatures circulated the exaggerated tales to protect themselves from attackers. These days, times are peaceful enough that the young generation has time for frivolous pursuits.

Eugene - my main RP character for ELA II.

Cherri

If Eugene is the nerd, Cherri is the airhead. She's silly, but in a pop-culture induced, sinister kind of way, not at all like Evania's bounciness. She's shallow. Think prime-time television, Backstreet Boys, brand-name clothing. She's every clique-forming popular girl that's ever excluded you, rolled into one. (Bitter from unpleasant middle school years? Who, me? ;)

Her life is an elaborate deception of innocence. She's the kind of person who, even if she had a day job as an exterminator, would scream "Eek! A mouse!" and jump on a chair if there was anyone else around. This exterior hides someone who's more than willing to fight dirty.

Nynaeve

A foil for Cherri; Nynaeve knows what she's doing and isn't afraid to get dirty doing it. Lost my notes on her, but there never were many...

Ither

Nynaeve's father; tried to raise an army to conquer the Meadow Unicorns. Like all the best villains he was only after what he considered rightfully his.

"Grandmother might not always be right or even nice, but she's not worth a war! Not the kind of war you're talking about!" Nynaeve stammered. "Unicorns will be killed!"

"Isn't that a given, in war?" asked Eugene sarcastically.

Nynaeve stared at him for a moment.

"We keep forgetting how ignorant you are of our customs," sighed Ither. "We're not exactly built for lethal fighting. In a 'war' a few stallions usually knock their heads together, more like a jousting tournament than a conflict..."

"Oh, like mountain goats?" said Eugene knowingly.

"What are those?" asked Nynaeve, puzzled.

Ither stared at Eugene for a moment, then shook his head. "You're as strange as your friends. As I was saying, absolutely nothing is accomplished in these little spats. If we want change, there's going to have to be blood---"

"Blood? Blood? We've never killed one another! Even when the herds split, the worst casualty was that old unicorn who tripped in a mud pit and broke her leg!" Nynaeve was vehement. "There must be a way, if things need to change, we can protest peacefully---"

"Protest peacefully? That's what your mother said! She organized protests, do you think they worked?" Ither's voice trailed off. "...and if she hadn't been out there that day... that goblin would never have gotten her..."

Nynaeve stared down into the chasm again during the uncomfortable pause.

"Ither found himself again. "...I've found some mercenaries. Some goblins, even an orc or two. They're willing to fight to kill..."

"Mercenaries? What are they fighting for?" Nynaeve asked sharply.

"Free passage through our lands after the war."

"So you'll doom the entire region to pillaging by these beasts?" Nynaeve was livid. "How's that any better than grandmother, no matter how unreasonable she is at times? Just because they aren't unicorns doesn't mean... that village! The one that had been burned! Do you want that to happen all the time? And your meadow unicorn friends, how could they agree to this?"

"They... don't know yet." Ither turned away. "But your grandmother's been responsible for enough deaths, Nynaeve."

"So you'll even the score by being responsible for a few deaths yourself?"

"The army will be gathering soon, Scout Nynaeve, if you care to join us; you certainly won't stop us." Ither began walking away. "Now, I'm going to follow up on that water's excellent question and go inquire of of fearless leader exactly what we are doing next." He stalked off after Shelagh.

The wind rustled the two unicorns' fur.

"Your father scares me," said Eugene.

"Really? He just makes me angry." Nynaeve craned her neck over the edge of the chasm again. "Well, I'm guessing that we're following that elf, so we'll need to find a way down. Want to come help me look?"

"Sure." The two unicorns trotted off along the sheer edge, being careful to keep in sight of the main group

Mr. Simile paused to interrogate a passing mayfly about its distant relatives and one of the elven children yawned. "What were the unicorns doing while all of that was going on, Eugie?" he asked, scratching the unicorn behind the ears.

"Oh, uh, well, it's funny you should ask that, because, well, we were all... all... uh, doing very brave and noble things..." said the unicorn.

"They were running this way and that way," clarified Mr. Simile, "very fast. And bumping into one another a lot, and tripping, and yelling, and accidentally poking one another with their horns..."

"All right, that's enough," said Eugene.

"I think that they inflicted just a few casualties on the other side when their antics distracted a sorcerer, who ended up hitting some orcs..." continued Mr. Simile.

"I said that's enough!"

The unicorns gathered on the hillside. Nynaeve and Cherri stood slightly apart, looking over the carnage of the battlefield.

“That was horrible,” Nynaeve said quietly.

“Like, totally,” Cherri agreed. “I’m all depressed and disgusted an’ whatever now. I’m thinking of becoming, y’know, one of those goth people. I can dye my fur black and it, like, makes accessorizing totally easy when everything’s one color!”

Nynaeve looked at her with an odd expression. Cherri beamed back, oblivious.

Then Eugene came bouncing up the hillside. “Nyna! Did you hear what Dxxrt said? He---”

“Eugene,” Nynaeve interrupted him, “What are you doing after all this?”

“Huh?” The question derailed the small unicorn both mentally and physically as he tripped in surprise. “Well, I hadn’t thought about it that much… I always lived in that forest but now I think I might stay here, some of them said something about ‘native species’ and wanting to leave me.” He shrugged, surprisingly un-hysterical over potential abandonment.

“The… well, both groups of unicorns sent us to ask you something.” Nynaeve sighed. “After living through today, we don’t want to fight any more. The herds are planning to re-unite.”

“But the meadow unicorns won’t, like, let one of those swamp unicorns y’know, lead them,” Cherri said.
“ And the swamp unicorns refuse to be governed by a meadow-dweller,” Nynaeve said. “So…” Both unicorns looked at Eugene expectantly.

Eugene looked blank. “…so…?”

Nynaeve rolled her eyes. “Eugene…”
“… they want you to be, like, king,” Cherri beamed. “Isn’t that like totally cool?”

Eugene stared at them. “King? King?!?! OH NO! NOT ME!” He started to back away and tripped over his own feet again. “But I don’t want to be king! That’s worse than being a military commander!! That sounds like responsibility! And commitment! And more responsibility! And I don’t want to be a king, I just want to be—”
“ EUGENE!” Evania shouted, jumping onto the unicorn’s head and grabbing his ears.

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” the sprite said, hugging the fuzzy donkey-ears. “I’m bored, but Dalen doesn’t want to play, he’s sad, and besides he always hangs around with Ele now so I need another friend and you can come back to the forest and play with me and Lenalai and everybody and we’ll have so much fun and…”
(Eugene’s look of panic was priceless.)
“… and I’ll name you Fluffy!” Evania finished.

Eugene shook his head briskly and tossed the sprite to the ground. “King, you say?”

“Well, something like that. The herds haven’t decided whether to form a republic or a monarchy,” Nynaeve said.

“What’s the difference?” Eugene asked.

“Well, in a republic, everyone will tell you what to do,” Nynaeve said.

“And in a monarchy?”

“Then I’ll tell you what to do,” Nyna said.

“Oh. Well, I guess that’s all right, then. As long as I don’t have to decide anything. Do I get to order everyone around? That could be fun…”

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