bindsthedead | Sixth Iteration Application (Reply)

BASICS

Your name or nickname: Sarah
Your year of birth:
A reliable DW account the mods can PM to reach you: bindthedead
Who you currently play at 6I: no one
Link to your hold comment: Here
Referral: Sharn and Zalein

Character name: Sabriel
Character type: Fandom characer
Fandom/Canon: Old Kingdom Chronicles
Character DW journal: bindsthedead
Does this character have previous CR?: No

HISTORY

Here and Here

What is your canon exit point?: The end of Sabriel

PERSONALITY OVERVIEW

N/A

PERSONALITY QUESTIONS

What skills does your character bring to the situation? Sabriel has considerable skill in combat, at least some experience and knowledge of wilderness survival, although her knowledge of herbal medicine won't be much use in a new setting. Sabriel also has both an excellent memory and a strong will, as well as the drive to keep going and try to come up with new tactics when faced with a bad situation. She's capable of focusing on a goal while also being willing to adjust the route she'll take to it as circumstances change.

She's generally able to keep her head in strange and stressful situations, up to and including being at the mercy of powerful supernatural entities that want her dead, and is fairly observant, including of odd details like whether a cat's shadow is always cat-shaped, and is able to puzzle out the nature and purpose of spells and implements she's unfamiliar with, including learning whistled wind-spells after only being shown the marks for them once. I think it's safe to say that she's a quick learner.

While she's independent enough to walk into what she knew to be dangerous wilderness without anyone else, she's also willing to take any help she can get in accomplishing her goals, whether that be from soldiers, talking cats that are actually powerful magical monsters bound to serve her, amnesiac men who've spent centuries trapped in slumber as wooden figureheads, or the students and faculty at her old school.

Also like all necromancers in her canon she's really musical and knows how to use handbells. She also has experience cross country skiing and wading through cold water with strong currents and uncertain footing.

Why did you choose this specific character for 6I, and how do you picture them fitting into the game? Sabriel is a character I'm fairly comfortable with, but I've mostly played her in settings where she had at least some access to her powers, and I want play out her reacting to stressful and dangerous situations without her magic to fall back on. I want to play with the fact that Sabriel can be pleasant, teasing, and a teenage girl- a mature one, but still only eighteen, and lacking a lot of life experience- while contrasting that with how focused, determined, and sometimes even ruthless she can be when the pressure's on. I'd love for her to find friends and mentors to influence her both for good and ill, pushing her to either become more ruthless and focused on her goals, or to relax and not feel quite so responsible all the time.

She'll probably come off initially as overly serious and have some bad reactions to any undead characters she encounters if she realizes what they are. But Sabriel will generally try to be pleasant and useful. While it's not impossible for her to generate negative CR, even at her worst she's more likely to act vaguely snippy and condescending after some antagonism than ever throw a punch.
Part of it is that she's generally a friendly person who knows what it feels like for people to die and doesn't like that feeling, part of it is pragmatism- getting into fights doesn't help anything and is probably going to be counterproductive, so it's better to try to smooth things over if possible. She'll always be seeking a way back to the Old Kingdom, and will probably gravitate to characters who share that goal and seek to aid them.

How do you imagine your character will survive in 6I, and in what ways will they contribute to the settlement, if any? Sabriel will probably struggle initially, dealing with the loss of her magic and her sudden disconnection from any place she's familiar with. But she'd adjust quickly, and I think she'd seek out new CR, particularly those willing to teach her more about survival and who share her interest in investigating this new world. She'd eventually settle in to a role as a hunter and forager, partially as a way to explore more of the island and learn more about the plants and animals there (and find a way home, she'll hope), or devoting herself to learning new skills and helping maintain the buildings and tools of the village. In either case, she won't be content with sitting back and letting herself be taken care of. She'd want answers, and she'd want to return to the Old Kingdom, to fulfill her responsibilities there.

How will your character react to...

Being separated, possibly permanently, from loved ones and their previous life, including loss of powers, if applicable? Initially, it will be a blow. At the end of Sabriel, Sabriel has completely accepted her role as Abhorsen and the end of her time in Ancelstierre and the start of a life dedicated to fighting the Dead and rebuilding the Old Kingdom with Touchstone, who she hadn't known for long but realized she loved, along with trying to deal with the grief of losing her father. Arriving in a strange situation, stripped of her powers, will throw her for a loop. But she's likely to react to the loss of control by trying to gain control through acquiring useful skills and trying to learn as much about the setting as she can, in order to find a way home.

Their environment being manipulated, possibly in strange or extraordinary ways, and possibly in ways which restrain them? She'd be both concerned and incredibly curious about any changes in the environment, and probably not immediately fearful unless it seemed directly threatening- she's seen enough strange things in the Old Kingdom that she'd want to understand what's happening, especially if she thinks it will give her some insight into why she's been taken away from her world. If she's with others, she'll try to stay with and assist them, especially if the situation seems dangerous, but if she feels entirely safe she'll wander off a short distance, but try to avoid getting separated.

If she's restrained, she's likely to observe the situation and try to explore possible routes for escape- more urgently if the environment seems dangerous, and more cautiously if not. If she can't escape, she'll try to survive whatever dangers present themselves and keep examining the environment. If she's trapped with others, she'll do her best to cooperate, and protect them if they can't do it themselves.

Being physically and/or mentally manipulated, such as having hallucinations or suddenly possessing special abilities they did not have before? Sabriel won't react well to mental manipulation- it will bother her far more than physical manipulation will, and if she's able to she's try to fight past hallucinations, trying to find the source. She's used to exerting magical control over the dead, rather than being controlled- necromancy is all about having a strong will and using music to force the Dead to bend to it, and it's something Sabriel is adept at. Being the one controlled will be a blow to her sense of herself, and it will scare her.

While some part of Sabriel would be thrilled to have any kind of power, she'd also be cautious- magic in her setting that doesn't require extensive training and memorization tends to turn its users into terrible people, and both types of magic she knows of are dangerous to the user if mishandled. If she finds herself with powers, she's likely to experiment and use them- carefully, and not frivolously, and try to prepare for mental or physical consequences of using them.

POWERS & SPECIAL ABILITIES

Magic in Sabriel's canon is often vaguely described, so I'll stick with spells and abilities she's seen using. Sabriel's skills fall under two umbrellas- her powers as an Abhorsen/Necromancer, and her skills as a Charter mage.

Her demonstrated powers as a necromancer include-

Patching up injuries with Charter magic and resurrecting a FRESHLY dead bunny, making it an entirely healthy living bunny by whistling. She had promised her father that she'd never do anything like this, but a little girl really liked that bunny.

Exerting control over the undead for a few moments just by making sound and using her voice. Clapping, stomping, singing, whistling, she just needs to generate sound and be musical about it- musical skill is pretty much a requirement to be a successful necromancer. Resurrecting the rabbit was just an application of this power and a healing spell.

Sending her spirit into Death, a parallel realm where the Dead pass through. When she does so, her body is literally frozen, in a state of suspended animation. It's creepy. Both this and her control of the Dead are tied to her status as Abhorsen. She also has the ability to detect the presence of the Dead and corpses, as well as tell at a glance whether a corpse has been moved since it died, as well as if someone has died in an area, and feel when people and animals die-vividly. She feels drowning people's last breaths breathing in water instead of air.

In terms of her demonstrated abilities with Charter magic, she's shown using a variety of spells, including the previously mentioned patching up of the rabbit's body, as well as the following-

Calming down a room full of screaming, terrified children and making them sleepy

Conjuring light, controlling its brightness, and having it float ahead of her to mark her path, as well as creating stationary lights.

Creating protective shields that can last for hours, but break instantly whenever someone inside of them steps out of them. Her father is shown casting the same spell but having it last for weeks, so it's unclear how long it can last without being broken. The spell seems to take at least a minute, or possibly a few, to cast, and can cover enough area to let several people lie down and sleep.

Calling up wind to blow in whatever direction she wants! And then losing control of it because she overreached herself.

Magically immobilizing and silencing someone by tracing magical symbols on the back of their neck.

Unlocking doors and opening a magically sealed casket.

She almost uses a spell to blind and confuse some people, before being stopped and told they have other things to worry about, and prepares a counterspell to magical immobilization before realizing she should talk her way out of things instead.

WRITING SAMPLES

SAMPLE 1
Why did you choose this sample? Given that Sabriel's the sort of character who uses her abilities fairly frequently, I wanted to have one sample where she's depowered, and I wanted to use the TDM to show how she might react to the setting, and show off a bit of her potential to act a little silly in the second thread.
Linked or pasted sample: here

SAMPLE 2
Why did you choose this sample? General writing sample! Also, I wanted to show how Sabriel acts when in danger/under pressure. Besides, I wanted at least one sample where she's doing Abhorsen stuff.
Linked or pasted sample: Here