Dzuna the Harpy

• Storyline
• Rules
• Staff Roster
• Canon List
• Character Application
• Available Creatures

[Character of the Month]

Character of the Month
Prince Caspian

Read the Application
Played by Cara

"Cara has managed to...create a character that is both mythical and life-like. Impulsive, moody, and yet kind and good-hearted, Caspian is just beginning to show the makings of a true leader."
Character of the Month Archive

<a href="http://intonarnia.com/index.php" target="_blank"><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/Jennifu/Images/Narnia/IntoNarniaAffiliateBadge.png"></a>

[We've moved!]

We've moved!

[Dzuna]

About You
Name: Kai
Age: 18
How did you find us: Stumbling through a closet!
Rules Password: [Password Accepted ~Misha]

Character Basics
Name: Name unpronounceable by humans- first called Dzuna by Rynelf De La Braose some 45 years ago
Alias(es)/Nickname(s): Dzuna of the Owl Wood, Dzuna
Gender: Female
Age: 49 (equivalent of about 24 years old in human time)
Race: Harpy
Status/Title: Flock leader
Affiliation: Narnia (though currently neutral)

Character Appearance
Hair: Red, usually worn long and groomed, decorated with feathers; sometimes decorated with beads or flowers.
Eyes: Tawny- very hawk-like in appearance, allow for long-distance sight and nighttime vision
Overall:

Dzuna is a harpy, half bird and half human; a large creature, she stands at 6 feet tall at full height and sports an impressive 16-foot wingspan; her plumage is a bright mottle of red, copper and black, her hair as well being vibrant red and decorated with feathers (and on occasion with beads or flowers). Her eyes are a tawny color very similar to the more common hawk, and sports a tanned complexion from being constantly outside; like her flockmates, Dzuna is identified by the markings inked into her skin at the age of 20 years. Hers are red in color, primarily stripes on her arms and a sun pattern around her navel.
 
    She is built with a strong, lean physique, and constantly needs to feed her extremely fast metabolism, as flying burns calories at a very fast rate; for this reason, harpies rarely, if ever venture outside of the muscled, slim build of most others of their kind. Dzuna's head, arms to the elbow and torso to the hips are human, while her forearms, lower body and wings make up the bird half. She stands on bird legs, complete with 4 digits on her hands and feet with sharp talons that are useful for hunting and well-known harpy embroidery and carving, but makes walking on land an awkward task. Bird-like arms with feathers at the elbow taper down to 4-fingered hands with thumbs and smaller, sharp talons.
 
    From the hips down, Dzuna has a human pelvis but is covered in plumage that extends to just past the knee joint before it gives way to the leathery texture of her bird's feet; they are especially good for snatching up prey and gripping trees, but with hooked talons, it is a clumsy and slow going walking on land. Her wings expand 15 feet at full span, but have 3 joints that allow her to fold them up when not in use.
 
    Her clothing is a bit scant, consisting of a leather top piece that extends to the middle of her ribcage and has a red stone sewn into the chest; the back is tied shut to make for easy removal without entangling her wings. She wears a long, belted loincloth about her hips; all of her clothing is lightweight with the intent of avoiding hindering flight. On special occasions, Dzuna can be seen with beaded jewelry around her neck, arms and ankles, and in her hair; (for future reference) in battle, armor extends only as far as covering the torso, shins, arms and back between the wings.
 
    Like the harpies of her flock, Dzuna uses bird sounds and a series of gestures and expressions to communicate with other harpies or other creatures, such as members of the De La Braose family that has kept them a secret for decades. Harpies also age much more slowly than humans, and despite that Dzuna is nearly 50 years old in human time, physically she appears to be only in her mid-20s; she will live to be anywhere from 150 to as much as 250 years old, but takes anywhere from 2 to 4 times longer to show the signs of age. Despite stories, harpies are not necessarily ugly, as their features are distinctly hawk-like and wild-looking; Dzuna is no exception.

Portrayal:
    ARMOR
 (just pretend I found talon-hands for the avatars >.> shhh...)

Kate Mara (graphics face)

Character Personality
Likes:
- Colorful materials
- Beads
- Her flockmates
- Rynelf
- Sephen
- Killian
- Flying
- Exploring
- Hunting
- Springtime
- Sunny days
- Windy weather

Dislikes:
- Javin (finds him annoying)
- Telmarines
- Stormy weather
- High winds
- Being grounded
- Trees being cut down
- Hiding
- Intruders on territory
- Snow
- Deep water (ie above waist-height)

Strengths:
- Screech
- Flight
- Physical Strength
- Leadership
- Stealth
- Honing
- Hunting
- Artisan crafts
- Mimicry (can copy noises)
 
Weaknesses:
- Bright colors/things that shine
- Curiosity
- Moving on the ground
- Water (cannot swim)
- Overprotective of flockmates
- Highly territorial
- Naivety
- Inexperience with issues outside of flock

General Personality:

Dzuna is the leader of a middle-sized flock of harpies in the Owl Wood, and as expected of a leader is very good at keeping a group in order; she does not take well to those who might question her authority, and as such greatly dislikes her flockmate Javin, who has the tendency to disobey commands to get Dzuna's attention. Since her father became to old to lead, she has taken charge of the flock and takes it upon herself to be protective of its members; Dzuna is known to have a short temper when the safety of her family is concerned, and will viciously attack anything she believes poses a threat to her flock.
 
    Naturally, as a harpy, Dzuna loves to fly; she is particularly fond of diving and weaving through trees, as well as making sharp turns to evade those that might give chase, either in play or pursuit. She also likes hunting, preferable over getting wet going fishing in one of the many small ponds within the woods. However, the limited space and isolated Owl Wood has cut off the harpies from the rest of the creatures in Narnia, including Telmarines save for the De La Braose traders that provide them with exotic produce and materials. Otherwise, Dzuna is entirely unaware of most of the outside world.
 
    One of the most noticeable traits about Dzuna is her insatiable curiosity; she knows Owl Wood inside and out, front and back, but never fails to be fascinated by the ordinary creatures that reside inside of it and some of the things the human traders have brought with them, including Dzuna's companion, a kestrel Sephen has nicknamed Seev. She is particularly skilled in the noteworthy harpy embroidery, being able to use her talons for very delicate, intricate patterning, as well as woodworking to make carvings.
 
    Despite appearances, Dzuna is actually quick to make friends with those she does not find a threat in; for instance, she is on good terms with some of the larger inhabitants of Owl Wood, such as the deer, and will spend much of her day playing with them. Though a leader, Dzuna is still very young and can have a rather childlike curiosity and lightheartedness about her that shows through when she is in an environment in which Dzuna feels safe in displaying such behavior. However, she is quick to change faces and take charge when the situation calls for it, being concerned with her flock as her first priority.

   With a lack of education from the harpies' isolated location, Dzuna's primary skills are in the basics; hunting, craft and leading her flock. As of yet, she knows next to nothing about battle outside of spats within the flock, and only knows a few human words and phrases from Sephen's tutelage. Dzuna is capable of learning to speak (harpies intelligence is about that of humans') and do other things, but for the time being has not had the chance to expand her knowledge.

   Besides just protecting them, Dzuna is for the most part affectionate towards the members of her flock (though she is still very annoyed by Javin); a flock as a whole looks out for one another, though Dzuna's responsibility as a leader makes her especially intuitive about finding out what her flock needs or wants. They will groom one another to keep their feathers and hair free of bugs and other impurities as they cannot swim to clean themselves (Dzuna in particular is afraid of water). She spends most of her time with her younger brother Galhat or best friend Zhinni, but will drop whatever she is doing either alone or with another harpy to come to the aid of her flock.

Character History
Parents: "Arquillion" (father- age 129); "Jidaia" (mother- age 132)
Siblings: "Galhat" (younger brother- age 41)

General History:

Since the Telmarines took over much of Narnia centuries ago, there was little to say for the large flocks of harpies that were either killed off with the other Narnians, or retreated to the seemingly unlivable niches in the mountains, faces of cliffs and depths of forests. Though the groups remained isolated, the fear of being discovered still remained; the forest harpies, with their closer proximity to the humans, remained almost silent before they started learning to blend in with their surroundings, making signing motions to one another and locating one another with bird calls. Not much is known about the mountain harpies, as they have not been heard from since they fled the Telmarines. Harpies today do not generally use human speech, but like birds are able to mimic other sounds and could essentially be taught to speak again.

   Dzuna's birth was not particularly noteworthy beyond the fact that she was her parents' first child. She took primarily after her father with red hair and plumage, with the smallest traces of her mother in her tawny eyes, dark complexion and visage; she, like other harpies, would spend her first several years under her parents' almost constant watch, and has no memory of her infancy.
 
    Growing up, Dzuna learned with the rest of the children her age to walk and fly, and would earn her nickname from the human that visited their wood to trade goods with them every once in a while. One thing worth mentioning is that Dzuna spent much of her childhood with who would later grow to be her best friend, a white harpy dubbed Zhinni by the human, the two becoming next to inseparable quickly.

   Now, the relationship to the human family is more than it appears; while the two groups do keep one another busy trading, the harpy flock is also one of the guarded secrets of the De La Braose family. The family had moved north with the invasion and eventual settlement of the Telmarines, their land very close to the forest that one part of the once great flock of harpies would split off from and take refuge in. Owl Wood has since shrunk with trees being cut down, but upon Lord Killian the Second's discovery of the harpies exploring the family's land, the grandson of the first De La Braose to have alliances with the Narnians, they've been the best-kept secret for many generations. With the lack of predators outside of Telmarines, which had stopped coming once the De La Braose family was granted the land on which Owl Wood resided, the harpies' lifespans drew longer; as such, Dzuna is around the 12th generation since the invasion and well used to the peaceful life of being undisturbed.
 
    When she was 8 years old, Jidaia presented Dzuna with her new younger brother Galhat, who seemed to have had the opposite result of his sister taking his mother's green and brown plumage; Dzuna quickly came to care for the younger harpy, and would become especially protective of her brother as he grew older and began to interact with the rest of the flock.

   Perhaps the most out-of-the-ordinary event to occur in Dzuna's otherwise peaceful life was also the source of her fear of bodies of water. At age 10, Dzuna was well able to fly and walk, and was exploring every nook and cranny of her home she could find; in the middle of Owl Wood is a series of ponds that are fed by and drained by a brook that starts elsewhere in the forest from a spring. In any case, curious as she was, Dzuna became curious what it would be like to step into the water that the flock fished in and drank from. In the shallow water, she was delighted, at least until wading out a little further; slipping on the rocky bottom, Dzuna found out the hard way that harpies were not built for swimming. The flock, thankfully, found the floundering harpy before much more harm could come to Dzuna other than becoming afraid of water, but regardless the memory has stuck with her and she remains cautious around bodies of water, visiting the brook only when unavoidable.
 
    At the age of 20 years, Dzuna like all other harpies went through the ritual of earning the markings that would allow her to be identified as an adult and an individual; she took her father's red with her mother's markings, something that would later become one of her most distinctive features being recognized as a leader. All the while, she was learning the ways of the world such as hunting, fishing, and crafts work.
 
    It wouldn't be until age 30 that Dzuna would come to take her father's place as the leader of the flock of Owl Wood, Arquillion growing too old to lead and passing on the position to the next stronger leader; it was more or less an easy process, as there were no challengers for the spot. By then, Rynelf had his sons Sephen and Killian, and would encounter Dzuna and her flock when they were 16 and 12, respectively, Dzuna at age 36 by that time. She was quick to befriend the sons of their human ally, and continued to keep in contact with the two for trade even after Rynelf's passing. For the time being, her flock has remained unaware of the war going on and hasn't much concern for the world outside of their woods.

Other/Notes:
- Harpy-given names are unpronounceable by humans, so names shown are nicknames given by the De La Braose family members to identify individuals; do not have last names
- Dzuna is female, and her higher voice gives her the ability to use a screeching attack; it's an extremely loud, high-pitched shriek that can cause disorientation, pain and even deafness
- Leader of the flock of Owl Wood (12 members in flock)
- Has never seen any of the other Narnian creatures or humans other than Sephen, Rynelf or Killian
- Do trade with the De La Braose family (see Sephen's Log)

Sample
RP Sample: See Sephen's app or any of his posts

[Lucy Pevensie]

I think harpies would be able to use human speech, as most Narnians Animals/Creatures are. Although birds might be an exception; I don't remember, and don't have my books on hand at the moment. But harpies do have human faces, so I'd assume they can speak.

Other than that, it would be nice if you could expand your personality and history sections a bit, as the paragraphs seem rather short. Also, could you expand on the Braoses' relationship with the harpies? Since most Telmarines believe that Narnians creatures are myths, and tend to be rather superstitious about them, this needs a bit of explaining.

[Dzuna]

I don't recall any of the birds being able to speak... but I can elaborate on why the harpies no longer speak (when I finish editing)

Though... I can't think of much else to add to the personality, or the history beyond how they came into contact with the De La Braose family.

[Lucy Pevensie]

You don't have to add too much.  Especially now that I'm back on my normal stream, I see you've written more than  I thought. Still, I'd read over things again, and add at least a little bit to the history section in particular in addition to what you add on the Braose family.

Also, Owls speak at least.  (There's that whole parliament of Owls in Silver Chair, for example.) And actually, searching through the text, it seems like birds do indeed speak.

[Dzuna]

Fixed!

[Lucy Pevensie]

This looks really good, now! It's accepted, but I can't change your account from my phone.  So, you can ask another staff member to do so, or I'll do it when I can get internet access on a computer again (Sunday night at the latest, but I may be able to do it before then).