Urahra 5359 Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2021 Art by @shay SARAH STYRNE-NAPIER 1784 - 1815 Sarah Styrne-Napier didn't have a lot of people she considered true friends. People often judged her green skin and her tusks before they judged the mind and heart within her. Only a rare few people actually managed to see past her outward appearance and truly befriend Sarah. One of those people was Joanne-Lorraine Martins. Sarah and Joanne met by chance on the streets of Providence. Joanne had recently moved south from her homeland in Haense, following the traumatic death of her father. Sarah always had an affinity for other misfits - other people who didn't quite fit the norm. From the moment she saw Joanne, she sensed a kindred spirit. Joanne had a strange quality to her, as Sarah quickly discovered. The Haeseni girl studied her surroundings with a detached iciness. She had a habit of asking incisive, disarming questions that cut Sarah to the quick. It hardly surprised Sarah when Joanne ended up studying law. The two of them couldn't be more opposite, Sarah thought. Joanne didn't care one bit about peoples' opinions. She had a way of stripping away peoples' facades and baring their true, writhing, wriggling nature. Meanwhile, Sarah's only concern was what people thought of her. Sarah begged and pleaded to be liked, changing herself in whatever way society demanded. And still, she was hated and rejected for the simple fact that she was green. If Sarah Napier had one single wish, it would be to become like Joanne. That quiet envy of Joanne's stoic self-assuredness formed the basis of their relationship. Sarah turned to Joanne with her family woes, her job troubles, and her romantic failures. Somehow, Joanne seemed to have a direct and simple solution for every last problem. Their friendship didn't flow both ways. Sarah had the sneaking suspicion that Joanne merely tolerated her, but didn't really like her. Still, Sarah found herself growing dependent on Joanne. And then, Joanne disappeared. For ten years. Sarah watched as Providence slowly forgot about her friend. Joanne's boyfriend, Ricky, moved on and got married. He had children with another woman. Joanne's mentors at her law firm simply shrugged their shoulders over her absence. It seemed only Sarah cared where her strange, stoic, pragmatic friend had gone. Eventually, an answer appeared. Sarah learned, much to her shock, that Joanne had abandoned humanity entirely. She had traveled across the continent to Krugmar and given herself to the orcs as a slave. The news left Sarah reeling. The only question on her mind was... why? Sarah Styrne-Napier was a half-orc. Anyone with a working set of eyeballs could see that. Her skin was colored a pale, yellowy shade of green. Two little tusks poked out from her bottom lip. She stood taller and thicker than most of the humans around her. Sarah had a hair-trigger temper that often got her into trouble. She was born as the result of an unlikely love affair between an exiled orcish tribal and an Imperial bureaucrat. But although she resembled her orc mother strongly, Sarah found that she much preferred life among the humans. The people of Oren weren't necessarily kind to her, but Sarah often suspected the orcs of Krugmar would be even more cruel. After all, wasn't she a hated whitewash? Despite never having set foot in Krugmar in her entire life, Sarah knew that the orcs would despise her as soon as they met her. Besides, orcs were primitive. They stank. They lived in mud huts. They were violent and stupid. As for Sarah, she had grown up living in a proper, modern house with running water and soap. Why would she ever want to learn anything about her orcish side? But then Joanne joined Krugmar, willingly became a slave... and Sarah was left with questions. Why had her smart, sensible, pragmatic friend chosen to abandon humanity and live among savages? Why would any human being make that choice? What did Krugmar have that Oren did not? Was there something that Joanne had seen in the orcs... that Sarah had missed? Had she overlooked something in her blind prejudice? The questions tormented Sarah. Why? Why? Why? Maybe the orcs kidnapped Joanne off the side of the road. Maybe Joanne needed to be rescued. On the other hand, maybe Joanne was happier in Krugmar. Maybe she had fallen in love with an orc, just as Sarah's father once did. Maybe orcish society was simply better than human society. Simpler, more in touch with nature. Maybe orcs were kinder, more accepting, more gentle than Sarah had been lead to believe. If the orcs had accepted Joanne... was it possible they could accept someone like Sarah too? Was it possible that, in rejecting her orcish heritage, Sarah had made a mistake? One night, while lying awake and staring at her bedroom ceiling, Sarah decided. She would go to Krugmar and she would find out why Joanne left Oren. Maybe, if possible, she might learn to love her orcish blood along the way. Perhaps the orcs would welcome her and teach her things she had never known before. They would open her mind to a world of spirits, rituals, and harmony with the land. At least, that's what she hoped. Lying awake in the quiet depths of the night, Sarah decided. At long last, she wanted to understand what made the orcs - and by extension, what made her - special. She wanted to know the side of herself that she'd rejected all these years. The journey frightened her. It took some time to work up her courage. Finally, one warm day in 1815, Sarah packed her rucksack and set out for Krugmar. She picked her way through the dense jungles toward the orcish capital, following the decayed and crumbling road through dank caves and under misty boughs. At long last, she found herself standing before the wooden palisade of the city. Sarah swallowed hard and steeled her nerve. She felt herself standing upon a precipice, ready to embark into a great, new unknown. What would the orcs think of her, in her little green dress with her half-moon glasses? Would they hate her immediately as she feared? Or would they welcome her and teach her everything she wanted to know? Would she find her friend Joanne brutally oppressed as a slave? Or maybe... just maybe... happier and more fufilled than Sarah had ever been, for all her years in Oren? A female orc named Song met Sarah at the gate. Sarah paid her a sum of 100 minas as tribute, even though Song only asked for ten. When Sarah asked the female orc for directions, Song happily obliged and pointed her toward the butcher shop where the orcs slaughtered and prepared their food. Sarah left the encounter brimming with optimism. Song had seemed a bit wary of her, yes, but if all orcs were so kind to strangers, Sarah knew she'd have no problems. Sarah followed the steps down into the main square and hung a left into small cave, which served as the orc's food preparation area. Sarah stopped dead as she entered the butchery. There, just feet away, stood her friend Joanne - dressed in a ragtag mishmash of furs and tattered fabrics. Sarah couldn't help but smile at the sight of Joanne. "So, they've got you on kitchen duty, huh?" Sarah quipped. A smile flashed over Joanne's face as she chopped the head off a fish. "I was wondering when you'd show up here," she shot back and Sarah felt a spark of their old rapport returning. Was it possible they could become friends once again? But before they could continue their conversation, a large, red figure suddenly emerged from the nearby shadows. The massive, scarlet-hued orc towered over Sarah, glaring down at her with watery, small, orange eyes. Scars and crude tattoos mottled the creature's face. "DA SKAH AM LAT?" the orc bellowed, hot spittle flying out of his mouth and striking Sarah's glasses. "WEHR LAT KUM FRUM? WHU LAT WURZHIP?" Sarah froze in place, staring up at the orc. "I'm just here to see my friend," she squeaked, barely able to get the words out. "I paid tribute. One hundred minas. I'm not causing trouble." The orc scowled and repeated his questions. "WEHR LAT LIV AGH WHU LAT WURZHIP?" "I'm just a visitor, all right?" Sarah hissed, biting the inside of her cheek. "I only want to talk to my friend!" "ANZWER ME KWESTSHUN!" Sarah knew what would happen if she answered the question. If she dared to say 'I live in Oren and I'm Canonist', the orc would attack her out of hand. It was nothing more than an excuse to hurt her. She felt the anger flare up inside her chest - and she could do nothing to stop what came out of her mouth next. "You're being pretty GOD DAMNED RUDE to a GUEST who paid TRIBUTE to get into your city!" she barked out hoarsely, poking the large, red orc in the chest. "So how about you PISS OFF, ugly?!" Sarah regretted what she said as soon as she said it. But she would regret it even more a split second later. Before Sarah could react, the red orc plunged his spear deep into her stomach. A rush of blood, mixed with spittle and vomit, spilled out of Sarah's mouth. All around her, the world began to swim and blur. And in moments, everything had gone black. Sarah Styrne-Napier died right there on the cold, stone floors of Krugmar. The orcs laughed and spit upon her corpse. One Olog ripped off her arm to keep as a trophy. Joanne would later bury her in a shallow, anonymous grave outside of Krugmar. This was, unfortunately, the fate that awaited half-breeds and whitewashes. No one would mourn Sarah, aside from perhaps her parents and brother. If they ever even learned what became of her. She lived a friendless life and died an equally friendless death. OOC: Thank you to everyone who helped make Sarah a good character, especially @Hanrahan and @Wholesome_Thomas. This is not how I wanted the roleplay to go, but I feel I should just take the L and accept that I made a mistake. Did something stupid, got killed, lost 100 minas, oh well. :/ That's life. Sarah's tailor shop will now be closed. Thank you to everyone who sent in orders. I had a lot of fun making skins. Unfortunately, this also means the rest of her novel is never going to be published either. Sorry for leaving y'all on a cliffhanger. If you're curious to read the rest of the story OOCly, I'll be happy to share it. It's six chapters total and completed. Just drop me a DM if you'd like and I'll link you the google doc. The contents of this post are not public knowledge. This is not a publication - it's just an RP post. Be sure not to meta. 34 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qizu 4037 Share Posted April 13, 2021 Spoiler Nooo I loved your character. She was so sweet and pleasant to see in oren and i think you should bring her back, dont PK to smelly orc roleplay. ): 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryloth 4312 Share Posted April 13, 2021 2 hours ago, Qizu said: Hide contents Nooo I loved your character. She was so sweet and pleasant to see in oren and i think you should bring her back, dont PK to smelly orc roleplay. ): Spoiler big agree, i wrote my pk for haskir but decided it wasnt worth a pk because it was literally just a completely random cbow bolt to the head that i had no option but to react to. look at your character art and all your skins and weigh the value on a scale alongside how much you enjoy the character, but dont feel forced to pk if it's just orc whitewash/halfbreed killing rp. respect either way ❤️ 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urahra 5359 Author Share Posted April 13, 2021 Spoiler OOC: Eh, let me explain my logic a little bit more. This wasn't just me deciding to make a random trip to Krugmar. It had a lot of build up in roleplay. Sarah wanted to know what happened to her friend Joanne and to understand why a human would abandon human society to live among the orcs. It also caused her to reckon with her her own orc heritage. She wanted to learn more and understand herself on a deeper level. So this incident ended up being the conclusion to a character arc that had been extensively roleplayed. Idealistically, I wanted to do some "child of two worlds" RP where Sarah could embrace the two facets of herself and learn to harmonize them. Note that I said 'idealistically'. I know it was a lot to hope for - and it was far more likely that she'd just get beaten up and kicked out of Krugmar. But I wanted to give it a fair shake. One of the old Rexes told Sarah that she was welcome in Krugmar if she ever decided to learn about her orc half. Instead, it ended up with Sarah being killed in front of Joanne. It would have meant weird things for Joanne's character development if Sarah just came back from the dead. This wasn't just a random kill on the road with no witnesses. It was in front of Sarah's only friend - a person with whom I planned to interact regularly. It would have been weird and uncomfortable Joanne to witness Sarah die in such a violent manner, then for Sarah to just be fine. In addition, Sarah was just kind of a dead-end character. There was no possible way for her to advance further in Oren. She couldn't hold down a job. People harassed her and belittled her constantly. She had no friends and no marriage prospects. There was just no opportunity for character development. I was hoping perhaps I could advance her RP a bit more if she started exploring Krugmar. Unfortunately, this interaction sealed off any avenues of roleplay among the orcs. I wouldn't be able to go back to Krugmar on Sarah. If Sarah lived, she'd just continue being a dead-end character with no hope of development in Oren. There are very few other nations she could go to, since orcs and half-orcs face widespread discrimination. So in the end, the best option seemed to be PK. I don't like it. I was hoping for something different. But after weighing my options, this was the only viable conclusion I found. I appreciate that you guys liked Sarah, though, and I'm sorry this is a sad conclusion to her RP. But after this, I didn't really see a path forward for her character development. At the very least, now her death can be used as character development for Joanne and others. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBigBubbles 670 Share Posted April 13, 2021 Spoiler It could have gone either way, sorry you met one of the dumbasses. <3 nice post as always Urara 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urahra 5359 Author Share Posted April 13, 2021 Spoiler ((Love you, Bubbles, but don't meta. This post isn't a publication containing public knowledge - it's just an RP post about her death.)) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBigBubbles 670 Share Posted April 13, 2021 2 minutes ago, Urara said: Reveal hidden contents ((Love you, Bubbles, but don't meta. This post isn't a publication containing public knowledge - it's just an RP post about her death.)) Spoiler whoops! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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