Groups

Description

Name: Meryla

Sex: Female

Age: Appears 18; actually over 200

Race: Human

Appearance: Meryla, a true beauty, is known for her slender figure and pale skin. She rarely attains colors in her cheeks or flesh, even when she is bruised or blushing. She carries an eternal sad look on her full lips, even when she's not necessarily sad... the only way that expression changes is when she is playing music. Her eyes are a light khaki color, best seen in this picture. Her long curly hair is honey-blond, and she leaves it hanging down, though she will sometimes cover it with a hood or cap.

Speaking of hoods and caps, her attire has changed drastically in the last 200 years. Before she left the Mirian palace, she wore rich attire and fancy clothes. Now, however, she wears much simpler clothing, most typically a faded cloak reminiscent of violet. Since the world can't cause her pain any longer, she goes barefoot. She always, however, wears a crystal necklace.

Personality

Personality: Despite her sorry state in life, Meryla is peaceful person. She's not exactly shy, but she doesn't get to know people as easily as she would have liked to. She keeps things professional. She doesn't like conflict. She is a very empathetic person who is willing to relate to any creature willing to talk to her and accept anything. She tends to get a superiority complex when dealing with certain people, such as those who aren't willing to deal with her at first. However, this breaks whenever she gets to know someone better. She is somewhat selfless and would give up a lot for a stranger. Maybe not her life, but... a lot. She protects those she cares about.


Skills: Meryla is an excellent musician and composer. Her curses, however, prevent her from playing her music properly. Still, her compositions are as good as ever; they are a romantic style, filled with emotion and sadness and joy, which means that they should naturally add emotion to an area, rather than subtract it.

In addition, she is good at dealing with people and creatures and spirits. She's excellent at navigation and survival in the wild


Deficiencies: Meryla is not the best at getting to know people. More important, she can't really fight to save her life; she lets her floating dagger do all the work.


Motives: To restore Mir to its previous state of life and beauty. To reconcile with her sister. Also, she wants to find true love and settle down with her soulmate. Aw. How cute. Not after you see her curses.

Equipment

Powers: Meryla (and her sister, of course) were blessed with a unique power.

Each of them has the ability to change the world around them through the composition of music. The nuance of the gift is that, if performed, the composer's will of the piece will be carried out in the world around. For example, if Meryla were to write a piece of music regarding her feelings about an avalanche, and some random musician got a hold of the music and performed it, the avalanche would occur in real life. However, the avalanche would not be nearly as devastating as it would be if Meryla were to perform it, especially with her vocal talent. However, if Meryla performed a piece written by this random musician, nothing would happen.

This talent would mean that Meryla could restore the world to its former state, with chaos and death and true emotion. Unfortunately, her curses prevent her from doing so. In a short manner, at least.


Curses: Meryla, who is seen as a threat by her sister, has two curses. Three, in a way.

The first. Meryla wants to find her soulmate and settle down with him. So her curse is that she can't settle down. She must always keep roaming; she can't stay in a place for more than a week at a time. She also cannot return to a place too frequently; this prevents her from setting up homes in three or four places and just switching between them. She does have favorite places, such as these ancient ruins, where many ancient and friendly spirits dwell, and these gardens, where a friend of hers lives.

The second. Her musical talent, primarily singing, is considered a threat by her sister. So, she is mute. She cannot sing. In order to communicate, she must write on parchment what it is she wants. Unfortunately...

The third. When she was first banished from the castle where she had spent all eighteen years of her life, mute and forced to roam, she ended up falling from a bridge, high above a freezing river. She would have died, except for no one could die in this new world. So, instead, she just went unconscious for several days. A kind spirit (the woman from the gardens above) saved her and healed most of her wounds. Unfortunately, she had some brain damage, which makes her tactile skills less than proficient. This means that she her handwriting is bad. More importantly, her ability to play the viola is severely reduced. She can still play, but... there's a reason that she's the Goddess of Lesser Tones. She can't help it. Her fingers are slow and clumsy. (It should be noted that this will still be the case when she is cured of her curses; she can't undo the injury).


Equipment: The most important thing that Meryla has with her is a ginormous horse named Pakru, seen in the panoramic picture here. This horse is empathetic and can read emotions, especially that of Meryla. This is a Godsend for the girl, since the horse can help her communicate in a way.

Second most important is the viola that Meryla has. Duh.

Also in Meryla's possession are:

• A charm necklace, a gift from her sister when she was ten.
• A dagger that floats around her head to protect her.
• A book that only spirits can read.
• A frozen rose, a gift from the spirit living in the ruins.
• A glass vial of a substance called 'Startears'.
• A set of keys that changes to fit a different random lock in Mir every day.

History

Alignment: Neutral good

Background: Meryla was born to the Mirian royalty, in the palace, high in the mountains. For seven or eight years, the little royal family lived happily. Meryla, a quiet girl, was a fantastic singer, and very shy about her talent. So, her parents had her take viola lessons, to encourage her musical talent. It worked. By the time she was nine, she was skilled at both singing and playing the viola.

Then Orra was born. Meryla's younger sister always looked up to her greatly, always following her around. During these few years of her life, she gained her true voice, which allowed her to gain confidence and spunk. Orra learned much from her older sister... and she was taking violin lessons by age five, out of example. (Meryla, before her curse and her fall, was the better musician. Now, though, she is forced to be lesser, because she can't sing and her fingers aren't deft enough to properly play the instrument.)

The two sisters shared a special relationship for five years. They learned composition together, delighting in the differences between their styles (Meryla wrote romantic music, while Orra wrote music in which time signature and key were central.)

Then the lightning struck.

During a storm, their father was killed, falling over one of the steep cliffs into the ravine far below. He was never seen again, and he was presumed dead. Their mother died of grief a few weeks later, six months pregnant with a baby boy.

For two more years, Meryla cared for her sister alone, trying not to fall apart. Orra seemed distant, the eight-year-old spending much more time practicing the violin then before. She must have changed during this time, but Meryla didn't see her often enough to tell the difference.

Finally, it snapped. Orra set a curse over the world, freezing everything... time, the river, her sister's heart. Meryla tried to stop her, but instead she was banished and given her two curses. As she sped away from the castle, on foot and mute, she ended up following her father's fate and going into the river below.

The plus side was that she couldn't die. Of course, she still badly injured herself, no longer able to play the viola properly. A woman with red hair (see the garden picture) named Rouge helped restore her to health. Her curse was that she could no longer wander the world, which had been her life's goal; they understood each other and wished they could switch gifts.

And so Meryla continued. At some point during this time, she caught a glimpse of how her former home now looked. She also met Pakru the horse, who guided her onward.

Then she traveled to the ruins, where she met the spirit Jantus, a former warrior and knight in his time. His former home had long since been destroyed, in the same battle in which he had died. His goal was to protect those he loved, so his curse was that he could not wield a true weapon, but instead an ethereal one. Still, he fell in love with Meryla, who played her viola for him for the first time since her fall. He encouraged her, and eventually she re-developed her musical skills. Not to the same level as before, but well enough. Now she could play her compositions at roughly 3/4 tempo, which was her main issue.

Jantus gave her a frozen rose as a gift. Still, she had to leave, due to her curse, and she decided to return often, which she did.

Most recently, she discovered a new place to visit - a large, hidden lake high in the mountains. There's something funny about that place...

Meryla's Story