Character Development: Kiala

Name: Kiala
Race: Gurudan
Gender: Male


I tend to do character creation in a hopelessly backward fashion, so I drew him first and let him 'talk' while I was working. The following is the rather disjointed result.

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His primary 'function' is that of observer, historian, and storyteller. Best suited to a people with a purely oral tradition of passing on history and tales (this strikes me as appropriate for the Gurudan; if you're always moving around, writing everything down is impractical... so in a sense, he's something of a walking library).

He strikes me as something of an itinerant wanderer, even more so than his people as a whole. Reasons aren't entirely clear, but it could be as simple a matter as curiosity and a search for new stories, or something much less pleasant. It's also possible that he hasn't really earned his place as a teacher yet and was just booted out so he could learn more about the world firsthand.

Carries a staff and curved knife. More of a thinker than a warrior, but can kick up a decent fight when pressed. Prefers to use the staff, considering the knife more of a tool. He can forage quite well if need be, and has good knowledge of edible and medicinal plants.

He's roughly 5'10, with a lean build. Fairly soft features. Light brown skin and dark hair plaited into cornrow braids. This is fairly impractical, as they'd need to be re-braided periodically and his hair looks to be quite long. Not sure if it's an issue of personal vanity or something typical of his society.

His eyebrows have been completely removed; he has some teardrop-shaped tattoos in their place. Several small dots are also tattooed around his eyes, and the tear-and-dot style (familial motif, I'd imagine) repeats itself in a larger tattoo on his shoulder. Has fairly large-gauge ear piercings.

Either keeps himself clean-shaven or his race simply doesn't grow facial hair. Appears to have kohl around his eyes. Going with the 'vanity' theory.

He seems a bit skittish and aloof, but very curious. That combined with his role in society and a need to learn more about the world around him could certainly drive him into contact with other races. His goals as they stand now are simple in theory: Learn as much as possible, remember it all, and survive to pass it on to the next generation.

The character seems like he would be very calm, considering the nature of wandering in the nature around them and also being some what of a historian storyteller.

Thinking about why he wanders;

Each of the races has their own equivalent of a rite of passage of some sorts; something they have to do to advance through the society into their adulthood or mastership or something, it would be different for each race and probably each member of each society. Perhaps he is searching for something yet unseen, or maybe to learn something about the land. I think that what you have is a nice open canvas that is going to be awesome when the character decides what he is doing and where he is going.

I'm interested in your point on the cornrows, it's a very unique and quite intriguing feature to have, but you're right about the impracticality. I'm interested to see how thats handled [:

Also, do the tear dot tattoos mean anything to him, or any of the other tattoos? Or are they simply decorative?

Yes, a rite of passage is certainly a plausible reason. Not sure if it would be a generic "here, go be manly" thing like hunting, or something more specific to his job.

Although, speaking of rites of passage... one thing that came to mind was this. One thing I've figured out about Kiala is that he approves of that concept, because he figures it's good to be subjected to incredible levels of pain in a controlled environment so that you can focus despite pain in an actual life-or-death situation.

I'm uncertain about the specific meaning of the tattoos; they may simply be a sort of family 'crest', but those always have some underlying meaning, stylized or not. They're reminiscent of flowers and flower petals to me, and given his botanical knowledge, that seems to fit. Perhaps his family is a group of herbalists by trade?

After giving his braids some further thought--it's possible that his position as a tribal historian is a relatively posh one, and that he has the luxury of getting someone else to fix them up when he's not off on his own. Could lead to frizz and hilarity if he ends up separated from his people for an extended period of time.

And yes, he does strike me as being a calm sort. Perhaps not quite laid-back since he aims to always be attentive to his surroundings, but definitely even-tempered and something of a stoic.