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Dace

Name: Dace
Gender: Stallion
Age: 14
Species: Unicorn
Most Likely Found: Though he was born upon the plains, Dace has made a home in the Vale
Abilities: Dace is a warrior and also quite skilled at survival techniques from many years spent traversing the mare's back
Family: Sire - Preaus and Dam - Bryna are both of the Free People. Mate - Halla, Children - Twins, a daughter - Bryna & Son - Selki, and he and Halla also expecting their 3rd foal
Other Relations: Shoulder Friends - Vari & Scylla, and Rohar
Description: Dace is a black and dark emerald green paint with classic tobiano markings. He's got green legs, a black head, a black chest and other various large blotches of black and green) with a black and green parti-colored mane, tail, tassles, feathers and beard. His eyes are a deep, dark green and his horn and hooves are black.
Personality: Very outgoing and charming, Dace is about as friendly as stallion as you could meet. He's fond of spending time with his family and his friends, and he loves sparring with Vari and training other warriors. He's also quite gregarious and a bit of an unashamed flirt.
Background: Dace was born upon the mare's back to the stallion Preaus and the mare Bryna (for whom he named his first daughter). During his early years, his parents often found themselves travelling with a regular 'band' and around the same time as his birth, one of the other mares in their small group also birthed a son. This bronze dun colt, Vari, would become Dace's closest companion. He and Vari grew up together, almost as brothers, and shared all of their foalhood adventures and trials and tribulations. One such trial that the two faced was a horrific flood that took the life of Vari's father and also cost him the use of his voice due to a resulting illness. Dace stuck by his friend despite his disability and because of their closeness, he learned to 'interpret' Vari's expressive semaphore.

After several more years together with their family groups, the two decided to strike off on their own. They wandered for quite some time, relying on thier friendship and the skills they learned along the way to survive. The journey hardened them both, and turned them into strong, rangy young warriors. Eventually they set their sights on visiting the famed Ringdancer's Vale. Shortly after thier arrival, Vari meet and courted the mare Scylla, and though Dace never thought he'd be the type to forego his plainsdweller roots, he followed Vari's example and also met and courted a mare from the Vale. He and Halla started a family almost immediately and though he experiences occasional bouts of restlessness, he's mostly content.

Recently, with the growing disquiet in the Vale due to unstable relations with the Gryphons, Dace sent Halla and their young children to the Hallow Hills for their protection. He stayed behind at a warrior of the Vale to defend it should the need arise.

Vari

Name: Vari
Gender: Stallion
Age: 14
Species: Unicorn
Most Likely Found: Vari resides in the Vale with his mate, Scylla and thier offspring
Abilities: Vari is a skilled warrior and sentry
Family: Sire - Voras (deceased) and Dam - Feyle, both of the Free People. Mate - Scylla, Children - Son - Vall, Adopted Daughter - Celeste (Born to the mare Dusk), and Scylla is currently expecting their 2nd foal
Other Relations: Shoulder-friends, Dace, Halla & Rohar
Description: Vari is a molten bronze dun that exhibits all of the classic dun markings. His body is the color of liquid bronze and all of his points are coal black. He's got a smutty face, primitive banding on his legs and across his withers, shoulders and flanks, and a dorsal stripe down his back. His mane, tail, beard, tassles, feathers, horn and hooves are all black while his eyes are black flecked with gold.
Personality: Having spent many years of his life without the ability to speak, Vari tends to be very mellow and quiet. Additionally, he expresses himself with his body language very well and is also very empathic towards others. That's not to say he's not a friendly sort, as he's quite chatty when the mood strikes him and likes to make himself available to assist others. Vari is fiercely loyal also, and a dedicated family man. There is nothing he wouldn't do for his mate, his children or his shoulder friend.
Background: Vari was born upon the mare's back to the stallion Voras and the mare Feyle. During his early years, his parents often found themselves travelling with a regular 'band' and around the same time as his birth, one of the other mares in their small group also birthed a son. This motly pied colt of green and black, Dace, would become Vari's closest companion. He and Dace grew up together, almost as brothers, and shared all of their foalhood adventures and trials and tribulations. One such trial that the two faced was a horrific flash flood; young Vari scrambled to avoid the rushing water, but was overcome. Voras saved him, ensuring his son's life at the cost of his own. Having been submerged in the dirty, debris-filled flood water, Vari took ill. A healer was able to nurse him back to health eventually, but his vocal cords were damaged and he found himself with only a very limited ability to speak.

To his greatest relief and joy, Dace stuck by him despite his disability (for which many shunned him) and because of their closeness, he learned to communicate with Dace through the use of exaggerated expressions and pantomime. After several more years together with their family groups, the two decided to strike off on their own. They wandered for quite some time, relying on thier friendship and the skills they learned along the way to survive. The journey hardened them both, and turned them into strong, rangy young warriors. Eventually they set their sights on visiting the famed Ringdancer's Vale. It was at the Vale that Vari came across a singularly unique and beautiful mare with a pelt of vibrant orange. He became enamored of Scylla, and to his utter shock, she felt the same. This amazing mare also turned out to be a skilled healer and with her extensive talents she was able to help him recover the use of his voice. He and Scylla pledged shortly after thier meeting and have since raised one son, took in a 'foster' child and are expecting their next child.

Recent diquiet in the Vale regarding degrading relations with the Gryphons prompted Vari to send his young son Vall to the Hallow Hills in the company of Dace's mate and children, ostensibly to visit his relative. Since Scylla is the Vale's most skilled healer and will be needed should conflict arise, Vari stays to protect her and their home.

Sirraz

Name: Sirraz
Gender: Mare
Age: 16
Species: Unicorn
Most Likely Found: Sirraz can most often be found on the Mare's back, journeying across the Far Plains
Abilities: Sirraz has an unusual seer's ability in that she is able to read the emotions of other's through the visualization of their auras (a glowing nimbus surrouding another figure that changes colors based on their emotions). Through meditation she can actively seek out these visions, although sometimes if they are strong enough, she can see them with very little effort. She also occasionally gets 'feelings' that affect the descisions she makes. She considers this to be the will of Alma.
Family: Sire and Dam who both reside in the Hallow Hills
Other Relations: None (that she is aware of)
Coloring: Her body is a sandy taupe color, darkened just slightly at her muzzle and knees, with ivory stockings on all four legs that extend the full lenght of her cannons. Her mane, tail, beard and over-long feathers are all a soft blush rose color. Her round hooves are a crystalline pink, and her horn gradiates from that same petal pink, to a pale ivory. Her eyes are a dreamy turquoise.
Personality: Sirraz is quiet and gentle and fits the role of a mystic quite well. She often prefers solitude for the opportunity it gives her to get lost in her dreams, however she can also be tenacious when it comes to helping others. Though she's never directly communed with the Mother of All, it is her belief that she is being guided to help others and she uses her ability to read auras to assist her where she can. Despite being born in the Vale and under the laws of the ring, Sirraz feels that she is one of the Free People at heart.
Background: Sirraz was born and raised in the Vale. While her early years were quite staid and pleasant, when she neared a half-growns age, she began to start experiencing her 'gift' and started to feel as though the confines of the Ring weren't meant for her. It was shortly after her Pilgrimage that the young mare slipped away from her home and set off to explore the world. Her wandering took her all over the known lands and eventually her curiosity saw her traveling beyond the Salt-Flats and across the harsh desert. Blind luck saw too it that she survived, thanks to her being found by a Sandstalker of the Lost Desert, on the far edges of his patrol. She regained her strength at an oasis with the Sandstalker, and learned quite a bit of his culture. When she was strong enough, she made the return journey to the known plains. It was during her continues travels that Sirraz once again got a 'feeling' that she was needed and some deliberate wandering brought her upon the unlikely pair of a moody, bitter stallion, and a gentle but mute mare. She feels this is where Alma wants her to be and it is her duty to help them both.

Kaiara

Name: Kaiara
Gender: Mare
Age: 16
Species: Unicorn
Most Likely Found: Though Kaiara wanders around the plains, she tends to return quite often to the oasis of Alma's Heart.
Abilities: Kaiara is skilled with horn and hoof and is quite experienced at surviving upon the Mare's Back.
Coloring: She is a plum pointed ivory dun. Her body is a crisp ivory, which just the barest hint of velvety plum touching the tips of her fur, which shades into rich, ripe plum at all her extremities. She's also got all of the other classic dun markings: a dorsal stripe, smutty face, primitive leg banding and striping on her shoulders and flanks. Her mane, tail, feathers and beard are all the rich, dark purple of ripe concord grapes. Her hooves and horn are white with an opalescent sheen, and her eyes are amethyst.
Family: Cousin - Ororn
Other Relations: Friends from her youth - Tahar, Sahana, and Rohar. She is currently trying to have a foal with the stallion Tahar.
Personality: Kaiara is a fiesty young mare. She's sweet and loyal and protective... if a little mixed up in matters of the heart. Having been 'burnt' once before because of her infatuation with a stallion she'd known many years, she tends to be a bit more hesitant about being free with her feelings. Mostly she just wants to be loved, and she feels that having a foal is the most important thing in her life right now.
Background: Kaiara spent a normal filly-hood upon the mare's back, often spending time with her cousin Ororn and a group of other young colts and fillies. When they grew older, this group took to wandering together, and as a result of a wild dog attack, they were separated from one of their number - the stallion Rohar. The remaining members searched for him for quite a long time an in his absence, she began to study her feelings for him. During this time, however she also grew strongly aware of the stallion Tahar.

Kaiara was quite conflicted over her feelings for the two and it wasn't until she and the others finally tracked Rohar down upon the shores of the sea where the Ringdancer's held their marital rites, that she was forced to face the truth. Rohar had pledged himself in the Ringdancer way to a mare he'd met during his absence. Angry with herself for having nursed feelings for him for so long, only to end up looking quite the fool, Kaiara tried to distance herself from the others. Tahar stuck with her though, even after thier band split up, and she's decided that since she does care for him, and she wants to have a foal, Tahar would make a suitable sire. Unfortunately the pair have yet to concieve and she's growing frustrated. Word of gifted healers in the Hallow Hills has inspired Kaiara to talk Tahar into joining her in heading that direction. If they can get along long enough to make it.
Doìmhéal

Name: Doìmhéal (goes by Dom)
Gender: Stallion
Age: 11
Species: Unicorn
Most Likely Found: Dom can always be found somewhere about the Hallow Hills; most often on it's verges where he is frequently posted at sentry.
Abilities: Dom is a warrior and a guardian of the Hallow Hills. He and often serves Sentry duty as well as assists the Battle-Prince in training young warriors.
Family: Sire Siònnach and Dam Azure. Elder brother - Cal, Younger sister - Nin (all of whom reside in the Vale). Son - Suede (whom he does not know about)
Other Relations: Shoulder Friend - Puck, friends - Basil, Kika and Coalfoot
Description: Dom is an extremely handsome stallion. He is a minimally marked, rosey sooty-bay tobiano. His body is a deep rose color that shades nearly to black at his points, while his dorsal side has sooty markings, looking though he's perpetually damp, and his underbelly and tender areas are all a lighter rose shade that's hued with gold. Each leg is streaked with irregular, white stockings, some that reach up to mark his stomach, while a white blaze covers his dished face from the base of his horn to his lips. A few small blotches of white mark his left shoulder, and one of these drapes his withers and trails down to his right elbow. His mane, tail, feathers and beard are all a dark, nearly black rose except where they are interrupted by his white markings. Two of his hooves are the same shade of gold that shades his belly, while the other pair are dark ruby. His long, wicked skewer is twined with garnet and onyx, and his sagacious eyes are a soft gray.
Personality: Dom (as he is called by nearly everyone) is the epitome of a Warrior's warrior. This handsome stallion exemplifies the characteristics that set a truly heroic warrior apart from the throng; strength, speed, cunning, intelligence, bravery, ferocity and unwavering loyalty. He is a friendly enough fellow to his comrades, a mentor to the young half-growns eager to sharpen their horns, and an unabashed flirt with the mares. It is this latter attribute that causes him the most trouble. Though he's a Ringdancer through and through, he sometimes feels that his heart belongs to the Free people, as he doesn't want to ever settle down with just one mare. Though it goes against all tradition, he much prefers to spend a single evening in the company of a mare and then depart at dawn.
Background: Dom was born in the Vale and was barely a half-grown when the Ring Dancers returned to the Hallow Hills to reclaim their ancestral lands from the Wyverns. Though too young to participate in the battle itself, stories of the battle reached the nearby plains where young Dom and his fellow uninitiated waited, and the young colt gloried in every triumph and mourned every loss as though he were there. This colored the youngster's development and he pushed himself to become one of the youngest initiates ever to join the ranks of Warrior.

Brionglaìd

Name: Brionglaìd aka Brig
Gender: Stallion
Age:18
Species:Unicorn
Most Likely Found: On the Mare’s Back - he's one of the Free People.
Abilities: Brig is a stalwart warrior and is extremely skilled in tracking and survival.
Family: Sire - Briathran, Dam - Dovetail, Half-Siblings – Ternbriar (elder through Dam), and Greysun Dawn (younger through Sire)
Other Relations: Currently travels with a small group including Neo, Pardling, Wiser and three others.
Description: Brig is a handsomely colored stallion. His flanks and barrel are a dark, dusty taupe that shades a bit rosy as it moves down his legs, and then darkens abruptly to blackened stockings; while a sooty blanket coats his back, rump, withers, crest and the slope of his dished face. Dove grey eyes shine dramatically against this dusky mask. His tender areas are faded to a dusty grey-blue, and faint, but dark dapples are scattered across his shoulders, hips and along his elegantly curving neck. Two small, fetlock-high socks mark his front right, and left rear legs, and the hooves beneath those white socklets are silvery-grey. The hooves on his non-marked legs, as well as his gleaming skewer are a blackened rose, not quite matching his mane and tassels which are wine-dark.
Personality:Perhaps the best word to describe Brig is dutiful. Though never legitimately initiated into the ranks of Vale warriors, Brig has always done his utmost to emulate what he believes are their ways. He takes any responsibility he is given with sincerity and dedication and is always on the lookout to help those who need it. He gives little thought to his own needs, and he tends to be overly stiff and polite when dealing with others. He’s not very good at social interaction unless it involves helping or protecting or tracking someone.
Background:To understand Brig’s history, it is necessary to understand more of his parents. Briathran was a loyal and dutiful warrior of the Ring and during his eleventh year escorting the half-growns to be made warriors at the Moon’s Mere, the pilgrimage was overcome by a serpentcloud. Briath managed to get the youngsters to safety but he himself was swept up in the powerful storm. Through the grace of Alma, he managed to survive, but was left badly injured and separated from the rest of the band. A group of ‘renegades’ came upon the wounded stallion and one mare in particular cared for him and nursed him back to health. His recovery took many months, and during that time he grew quite attached to the mare, Dovetail. Having no mate of his own back in the Vale, he shared intimacies with Dovetail, and he wished her to return with him to his home when he was well enough to make such a long journey, to pledge with him under the eyes of Alma. He was quite devastated to learn that his were not the ways of the free people and that Dovetail had no interest in going with him, and so he planned to make the journey alone when he was able

Fate intervened yet again, as just days before he intended to leave he found out that Dovetail was with foal. Bound by the duty to see his get delivered safely and despite her protests, Briath stayed with Dovetail. He did not stick by her side at all times, however, as he found that he needed to do ‘something’ that was familiar. And so he took to patrolling the surrounding lands, dispatching pards and acting as a guardian for the area, and would often be gone for many days at a time. He returned several days after Brig’s birth and though he’d originally intended to leave for the Vale after his son was born, he found he couldn’t leave. Once again he set a goal for himself: when his son was weaned, he’d head back to his long abandoned Ring.

Alas, when Brig was barely weaned his mother came into foal again, but the pregnancy was troubled and both she and the foal died prior to its birth. Once again, Briath found himself bound by duty to stay upon the plains. He tried to raise Brig, but he couldn’t seem to stop his habit of going on long patrols. Brig was often left in the care of Dovetail’s own dam. When father and son did spend their brief bits of time together, Briath would regale his son with stories of the Vale and its warriors and noble traditions. Brig was enamored of the idea of growing up to be a ring-bound warrior just like his sire. He hoped that when he was of age, his father would take him to the Hallow Hills that he might stand his own pilgrimage over the waters of the mere. However when he was just over three and a half years old, his father set off yet again, only this time did not return. He later learned that Briath had finally made good on his vow to return to his beloved ring.

Despite having been abandoned by his father, Brig continued to idolize him and the idea of being a warrior of the Vale. He trained as often as he could with anyone who would teach him and sought knowledge from anyone that he and his Granddam traveled with. By the time he was a half-grown and of age to become an initiated warrior, Brig had learned much in the way of combat and tracking and survival. He set off on his own towards the Hallow Hills and waited there for the next pilgrimage to arrive. When they did, Brig observed them for a time, and awaited an opportunity that he might speak to the leader of the band - a fierce, pitch-dark stallion - and when the time seemed right he finally brought himself out of cover and proclaimed his wish to join their numbers. To his dismay, Brig was met with anger and shouts and the word ‘renegade’ was spat at him from many mouths. No matter how he tried to explain, they would not listen and he was chased away from the Hallows by a score of hardened warriors.

Dejected, but still not without his own aspirations, Brig returned to the ringdancers sacred land just after their departure. He knew the ritual from his father’s own telling and so he stood his own private vigil on the mere’s edge and supped his single mouthful of water from the briny pool, and he beheld his own vision upon its mirror-surface. The next morning Brig left the moon pool and the milkwood groves behind him, and though he knew he would never be able to find a home in his father’s ring, he swore to always comport himself as one of their number.
Glisterhoof

Name: Glisterhoof (Glister)
Gender: Stallion
Age: 9 & 1/2
Species: Unicorn
Most Likely Found: Traveling the Mare’s back – never too far from Alma’s Heart
Abilities:Like most of the free people, Glister is handy with his horn and hooves.
Family:Family: Kitebone (Dam), Shale Silverfoot (Sire), Goshawk (Uncle)
Other Relations:Shoulder Friend – Vehran. Part of a group of foalhood friends who dubbed themselves ‘Alma’s Stars’.
Description: Glister is a pewter and oyster tobiano (patterned quite like a Dutch rabbit). From the middle of his barrel all the way over his flanks to the top of his gaskins his coat is a gleaming dark grey with just a hint of blue-green.This same color also masks most of his head and ears, but is split down the middle by a broad stripe of a dark cream that paints his muzzle, pours down his neck, and across his chest and forelegs, while his rear legs are dipped in this oyster-pearl color as well. His mane and tail are demarcated by the color of his hide, being mostly a taupe with just a hint of the dark steel mixed in. His horn is a shade of soft silver. It is his hooves, though, that are most often remarked upon. Shimmering silver, the color of skystuff, they gleam and glisten in the light.
Personality:A cheerful, outgoing stallion who likes to laugh and jest. Although sometimes those jests might be made at the expense of others, he means no harm. He’s a kind soul who enjoys meeting new people and traveling in whatever direction his horn is pointed. His friendship is easily earned, but his loyalty is slow to forge, although once developed, is strong as steel.
Background: Glister had a very ‘normal’ colthood upon the Mare’s Back. His sire and dam met at a gather, courted briefly and danced the longdance to its end. His early years were frequently spent amongst the both of them - as his parents found a bond of friendship between them as well as their more primitive connection - along with various other friends and relatives. It was during these formative years that the young colt attended a Gather and forged a pact with a dozen others. When he was just weaned, his mother danced again, so after his half-sib was born, Glister found himself more and more in the company of Shale and his dam’s sib, Goshawk. A few seasons later his mother’s brother parted ways from Kitebone and her new foal, and while his sire chose to continue traveling with her, Glister left them both to join Goshawk. The two ventured together for quite awhile, picking up and losing companions, both new and old, along the way. Eventually, he and Goshawk found themselves at a gather, and while the offer of companionship lured his Uncle away, Glister felt no such urge. Instead, the young stallion who verged on the cusp of adulthood, chose another path.

Parting ways from Goshawk, he drifted from one small cluster of travelers to another. This listless wandering took him, eventually, near to the Hallow Hills. It was not far from the milkwood groves and chalk cliffs, that the pied stallion quite literally stumbled over a unicorn who was to become his dearest shoulder-friend. He’d been plodding along with eyes half-lidded against the noonday sun, and then he’d ducked around a stand of brush and scrub trees and barreled clumsily into another unicorn, who reclined in their shade. After righting himself and untangling limbs, he’d apologized while the stranger grumbled and it wasn’t until he heard the lilt of her voice that he realized the sturdy figure to be a mare. She chided him the same way his Uncle would have, bullying him with her words and her sturdy body, and something about her roughness caught Glister’s attention. Somehow, he knew that he and this feisty, bawdy mare were destined to friendship.

Glister continues to wander, sometimes with Vehran and sometimes in the company of others. He lives a pleasant existence but cannot help his excitement over the upcoming reunion with the small group that so shaped his early years.

Naveed

Name: Naveed
Gender:9 & ½
Age: Stallion
Species: Unicorn
Most Likely Found: Wandering the plains
Abilities:Used to be a capable warrior and strategist. In his current state, he is capable of very little
Family: Sire - unknown stallion, Dam - Oaktail, Siblings - Unknown
Other Relations:Part of a group of foalhood friends who dubbed themselves ‘Alma’s Stars’. Currently traveling with one of them, Iris and a mare called Sky.
Description:Once a big and bold stallion of rich mahogany bay tobiano, with a blanket of soot over his broad back, pale tender areas, and streaks of white crossing his haunches and withers to chase down each leg. Eyes of bluest midnight used to stare out from that noble visage. Formerly strong of limb and fleet of hoof, Naveed has since become a shadow of his former self. His coat is dulled, his body wasted from deprivation, and his eyes very rarely find focus.
Personality:Though he was once a quiet but friendly sort and loyal beyond telling, Naveed is plagued by the weakness of addiction and knows that he has very little to offer anyone. He is moody from the withdrawal and prone to dark moods and odd fits. And when the memories that he tries so hard to chase away come forth to plague him, he can even go a bit mad.
Background:Born of free people upon the mare’s back, son to a proud mother and product of a joyous longdance tryst, Naveed had a very normal colthood. The high-point of his formative years being the adventure he shared with a dozen other colts and fillies one fateful night. But like most children of the free people, his dam soon had another foal to look after, and he set out from her side with a beard barely sprung from his chin. What followed for this tortured stallion… he cannot bring himself to remember. It is far too painful to recall, but it is this tragic event though, that led Naveed to his current addiction. He has not seen any of the others from that foalhood group, save on one occasion. He encountered a mare with a coat of sun, and though his recollections of this encounter are herb-muddled, it is yet another memory he tries so very hard to keep quiet.

Several years later, Naveed’s life is made up of one dreary day after another. Most days that he can track down more of the terrible ghostleaf are spent in a mindless haze, and on those days when he goes without, he knows only pain and agony. He aches for nothing more than the time of the reunion with his old friends, but he dreads and fears this meeting as well. It is because of this terrible conflict within him that he cannot bring himself to live without the vile herb that has so wasted his mind and body.
Freewind

Name: Freewind (Called Free)
Gender: Stallion
Age: 11
Species: Delta Unicorn (sire is a Plains Unicorn, Dam a Dayan-Unicorn)
Most Likely Found: Born on the Delta, but now wandering the Mare's Back
Abilities: Extremely smart and a good problem solver. A good fighter, when he's not too busy being a coward. Also extremely gifted at being annoying yet inexplicably charming at the same time.
Family: Sire - Kickdust, Dam – Karrayeh. Younger Half- Sister – Egret (by Leoben & Karrayeh), Younger Half-Sibling (by Kickdust & Ara) Skygold, Younger Half-Sister (by Leoben & Karreyah) – Sandhill, Elder Half-brother (by Kickdust x Cloversnip) Rushlight, Younger Half-sister (by Kickdust x Stasya) Dayspring
Other Relations: Shoulder friends – Kavik (a Da Gelding) and Born. The ‘family’ group: Ara (Scout Mare), Stasya (Dayan-Unicorn Mare), Cloversnip (Plains Mare), Leoben (Dayan-Unicorn Stallion). Non-siblings from the family group: Mallard, Heronblue, Seaspray & Jonquil.
Description: Free is a handsome copper bay roan, with minimal tobiano markings of pale pearl. His body is a soft, creamy pale orange with hints of rose and gold which shades to vibrant, brassy copper at his legs and head, and then to pitch-dark black. Random, jagged, lightning-strikes of creamy pearl streak across his belly, down his legs, across his shoulders, haunches and down his face. His hooves, horn and hair are all coal black, except where demarcated by the pearl, and there they are bright copper. His left eye is pale sage, and his right dark forest. Free takes after his sire in build, being far leaner and longer limbed than his dayan-turned-unicorn mother. However, a few of his dam’s traits show through; the fore part of his mane stands up a few inches before flopping over in an unruly mess, and almost the whole length of his tail has a fringe of long, fine hairs that sprout into a full, thick tassel.
Personality: Freewind is a very smart, somewhat prickly and occasionally abrasive sort who loves to learn things for the sake of learning them. He's highly intelligent and not always very good at being social, despite being raised amongst so many. He'll snip at those who interrupt him when he's got his mind focused on something, and will occasionally chide those who ask him questions he thinks they should already know the answer too. He's a supportive big brother, though, and even if he grouses and grumbles, he's usually willing to help any of them out whenever they need it. Free is also quite brave, even of situations that scare him silly. He suspects that he's often afraid due to the fact that because of his intellect, he's much more aware of his own mortality than most. Living on the Delta, where flash-floods and other hazards often require much teamwork and dangerous rescues, he's often one of the first to put himself to the hazard (even if he whines about it the whole while).
Background: Half a score of years ago, a plains born stallion called Kickdust found himself meandering the mare's back in the company of a mare called Cloversnip with whom he'd danced, their infant foal Rushlight and two others who he found fond company. These happy travelers came upon a group of hornless, solid-hoofed strangers and knew at once to escort them to the sacred waters of the Ringdancers. Sometime after, several of his companions and some of the Daya departed, but Kickdust found himself quite entranced by one of the Da mares, called Karrayeh, who returned his affection. Finding out she was with foal, he decided (along with Cloversnip and their colt) to escort the remaining Dayan to the shores of the Delta. Despite being born upon the haycorn-blanketed plains, he became entranced by the lands at river's end, and there he and the others chose to stay. The birth of he and Karrayeh's colt, Freewind, cemented his decision.
When Freewind was born, he was doted upon by all of those mares and stallions –and the one gelding – who came together at the Delta to form his loose family unit. He was the first foal born amongst them (his elder half-brother having traveled with his parents to the Delta) and was treated with parental affection and concern from all of them. As a result of being raised this way, Freewind was surrounded by those who constantly wanted to teach him things and who also spoiled him a bit too much. He was indulged when it came to his desires for knowledge and often got himself into trouble seeking it out. Many was the time that one of the mares or stallion's of his small group had to 'rescue' him from his own adventures.
Oddly, of all his 'siblings' (related by blood or not), the unicorn he finds himself closest to is Duck. He suspects that's because despite Duck being so much younger, he's also willing to listen to Free when he wants to ramble, and he hardly ever interrupts. Over the past few seasons, Free has felt a restlessness growing within him. He's decided that he needs to get away from the relative security of his family group and head out into the rest of the world to learn all that he can.

Mallard

Name: Mallard (known to everyone as Duck)
Gender: Stallion
Age: 8
Species: Delta Unicorn (sire was a Dayan-Unicorn, dam a Scout of Halla)
Most Likely Found: He was born in the Delta, but has since ventured onto the plains.
Abilities: He’s quite handy at fixing things that need fixing. Quite an adept fighter should the situation call for it.
Family: Sire - Leoben, Dam – Ara. Full Sister – Heronblue (2 yo). Elder Half-Sister(by Leoben & Stasya) Jonquil, Younger Half-Sister(by Leoben & Karrayeh) Egret, Younger Half-Sister(by Leoben & Karrayeh) Sandhill, Elder Half-Sister(by Leoben & Cloversnip) Seaspray, Younger Half-Sister(by Ara & Kickdust) Skygold.
Other Relations: Shoulder friends – Kavik (a Da Gelding) and Born. The ‘family’ group: Karrayeh (Dayan-Unicorn Mare), Stasya (Dayan-Unicorn Mare), Cloversnip (Plains Mare), Kickdust (Plains Stallion). Non-siblings from the family group: Freewind, Dayspring & Rushlight.
Description: Rubine-eyed Duck is quite the amalgamation of his parents in both coloration and build. From his dam, Duck takes the grey-ghosted taupe that colors most of his body, as well as the ivory that brindles minimally and lightly over his shoulders, rump and barrel. From his sire he gets the points that darken to deep, olivey green and then that dark, shimmery Prussian blue; and also from his paternal side comes the pale cream rabicano roaning at his croup and flank and stifles, the ivory socks and the stripe-snip down his broad face. Where those bright yellow horn and hooves come from is anyone’s guess, but it is those, combined with the sheen of his dark head that prompted his given name. He takes after his sire in height, although Leoben wasn’t all that tall for a Da, but the shagginess of his coat and the stoutness of his build, are definitely scout traits.
Personality: Laid back, laconic, and sometimes even lacksidasical, these are terms that would describe Duck quite well. He’s a mellow young stallion, slow to anger, quick to forgive and it takes quite a bit to ruffle his ‘feathers’. Despite his soft-spoken nature, he’s got a keen mind that’s ever churning, and he uses the simple skills of listening and observation to gather information about those around him. Sometimes, he puts this knowledge to use to help others; sometimes he just files it away. Again, despite being rather unassuming, he’s also very crafty, and can figure out solutions to odd problems. He’s often the last one someone will think to seek out for help, but when they do end up talking to him, he has a round-about way of setting them on the correct path. Buried well-beneath Duck’s gentleness, and the coy, quietude is a depth of passion that is rare to see. His firmest belief is that all that everyone really wants is to love and be loved.
Background: Mallard was born to Ara, a tawny, granite-pointed brindle scout mare, and Leoben, a Da-made-unicorn stallion whose black roan coat took on hues of blue and green at his points after supping from the mere. The story behind his unique moniker is that as a newly birthed foal, the midwife commented that the little colt with his legs all tucked tight beneath his body and his dark, gleaming head, looked like nothing more than a mallard duck, roosting in the grass. In homage to the land they’d both settled, where the waterfowl were quite common, his parents decided the named suited their son just fine. He was mostly called Mallard in his early days but, when his horn sprouted the same yellow-orange as a ducks bill, the diminutive stuck and he was known as Duck almost exclusively thereafter.
Duck was raised in almost a communal manner. His sire kept company with two of the Da-turned-unicorn mares that he’d escaped the Firekeepers with, as well as his dam and another mare of the Free People. Although Ara was his birth mother, all of those mares treated him as their own foal, and Duck was never without motherly attention. Ara, likewise, refused the notion of binding herself to one stallion, and though she loved Leoben, she also felt strongly that it was her duty to encourage genetic diversity amongst her people. She was just as comfortable with the notion of ‘sharing’ him with the other mares, as he was with her sharing herself.
Surrounded by such diversity, Duck learned much about the cultures and histories of all the peoples who made up his life. It was perhaps this continual stream of knowledge and conversation and ‘togetherness’ that made Duck so quiet. He’d always been more content to just sit back and listen. His closest companion from early on, despite a disparity in their ages, was Kavik, one of the Da geldings who’d fled the Firekeepers with his sire. And when he grew a bit older, he also grew close to Freewind, who is like an elder brother to him. Free is as garrulous as Duck quiet, and somehow that works well for the pair of them. He's been listening to Free talk of his desire to venture out into the world, and decided that he'd best go along to keep him out of trouble.

Lew

Name: Palewind Blew (Lew)
Gender: Stallion
Age: 27
Species: Unicorn
Most Likely Found: Somewhere upon the Mare’s Back
Abilities: Enjoying himself, shirking responsibility, and avoiding angry mares
Family: Dam - Siltstone, Sire – Milkfleck (deceased)
Other Relations: Several siblings, though he does not know any. No offspring.
Description: Lew is an extremely good looking stallion, even for his age, and still in surprisingly good shape for as hard as he’s lived. He carries a bit more weight in his belly these days and hints of grey are starting to show on his muzzle, but his back is still strong and hardly sloping, his legs are lean but well-muscled and his neck still carries a proud arch. His coat is a nut-brown that shades to rich, dark cocoa points and a creamy, pale appaloosa blanket sweeps across his back while the whole of his coat is marked here and there by dark-cocoa spots. Two socks of the same pale cream mark his rear legs and the hooves on those marked legs are sand, while his front hooves are dark russet. His horn is a lighter shade of russet then his hooves, and his mane and tail tassel are both auburn, suffused with highlights of cinnamon and nutmeg. His eyes are the only part of him not colored anything like the earth. They are instead, like the sea; the bright turquoise-green of warm shallows just starting to give way to deeper blue depths.
Personality: If there is one thing that Lew lives for, it is to enjoy himself to the fullest and he is in complete denial over the fact that he might want to think of reining himself in as he’s getting older. He is willing and eager to try anything that makes him feel good, and about the only strenuous activity in his life is how hard he works to avoid ever slowing down in that pursuit. He’ll take risks if it means a pleasurable payoff, and he tends to encourage the same kind of behavior in others. Most of the time Lew is a very likeable guy, though more settled folk might find him a bit off putting and crass. He’ll fight for fun, or to impress a mare, but if his life is in danger, he’d much prefer to simply run away. Lew’s biggest fault is that he is quite selfish and therefore has a tendency to wheedle and cozen and make promises he does not intend to keep. He also abhors anyone who wants to stifle his fun, or lecture him about growing up or imply that he’s wasting his life.
Background: Many moonturns ago a mare called Siltstone, a sweet-tempered if slightly flighty plains mare, gave birth to her first child. Although she was learned in herblore and often assisted the midwives in birthing, Siltstone had always fancied herself as having a ‘laysinger’s gift for words’, and dubbed her son Palewind Blew because it looked as if a wind blew up and dusted his haunches and back with pale sand. As a youngster Lew didn't care for his name; but, when he got old enough to make his own decision about such things, instead of changing it entirely he chose to simply shorten it somewhat, thereby still honoring his dam’s ‘creativity’. ‘Lew’ seemed to suit him well enough, and the only one to still call him Palewind is his mother. If one catches him feeling vulnerable, there’s a rare chance he might tell the story of his birth name and where it came from.
When Lew was just a young colt, he was tussling and mock-sparring with another foal as unicorn youngsters are wont to do. Lacking horns as of yet, the pair went at each other with unsharp hooves, eagerly snapping teeth and wildly-flying heels. A particularly poorly aimed kick caught Lew in a tender area, and although he recovered from what ended up a very devastating injury, the result of the damage wasn’t discovered until many years later when Lew was a young stallion in his prime. Although the handsome stallion danced with many a mare, none of those encounters ever bore fruit.
It was a certain special mare who convinced him to speak with a healer to find out why. They spent two seasons traveling together, picking up and losing other companions in the normal way of the free people, but staying ever at each others sides. He’d danced with her more than once, and found that in her presence, he sometimes forgot his urges to be quite so impulsive and irresponsible; she inspired something very deep and passionate in the otherwise capricious stallion. When they encountered another small group that had a healer among them, she urged Lew to ask him about his lack of offspring. The healer confirmed that it was likely that the injury he’d suffered as a colt left the stallion sterile. Learning this truth seemed to change Lew, and he grew even more reckless and wild and abandoned in his behaviors. Despite caring for him, the mare tired of his antics very quickly and Lew woke one late morning after a night’s debauchery, to find that she’d departed without him. He hasn’t seen her since.
The rest of Lew’s history is a storied one, at least as far as he tells it. Any unicorn who’s made a name for them self in recent years seems to have stepped hooves onto Lew’s path. He crossed horns with a mad king, danced shoulder-to-shoulder at a longdance with a star-strewn seer, spent time in the company of a red mare, and joined a handful of his brave brethren in fighting white wyrms beside a night-black warrior marked as Alma’s own. And it’s difficult to know how much of what Lew recalls is embellishment or truth. Only the handsome, appaloosa stallion knows for sure.

Gearran - Retired

Name: Gearran
Gender: Stallion
Age: 8
Species: Dayan/Unicorn
Most Likely Found: Gearran is currently residing on the Near Plains with his parents.
Abilities: Gearran is a young plainsdweller, so he knows enough to protect himself.
Family: Sire - Gyrheth (a Da from the City of Fire), Dam - Duskfall
Other Relations: Shoulder Friend - Cocoro, Friends - Arazulo (Alanaria), Xeral, Neo, Indri, Caspia, Syrte, Fireweave, Sula (all plainsdwellers he has traveled with)
Description: Gearran is an autumnal colored stallion: most of his body is colored a tawny gold, which fades into a burnt orange at the knees and hocks and then shades to a dark russet at his cannons down through the length of his overly-feathered legs. His mane and full tail are a verigated green - starting at a pale sage then gradiating slowly to dark olive at the tips. His horn and hooves are a gleaming earthy, umber and his eyes are heather grey.
Personality: A truly gentle soul, Gearran is friendly and vivacious and gregarious. Though his early life upon the plains was somewhat sheltered by his sire and dam, he's since grown more adventurous and curious about the world around him. He is always friendly and open to new people and new situations.
Background: Gearran's colt hood was a happy one, and when he reached an age to move on his own, he did so with his parent’s blessing. It was during these early days away from his sire and dam that Gearran met up with another young stallion of bright lemon yellow with lime dapples called Cocoro. He and Cocoro became fast friends and the wound up traveling with a small group of equally youthful and exhuberant unicorns. Eventually this motly group found themselves at a longdance. It was here that Gearran and one of his companions, a lovely blue-brindle mare named Caspia, came together and danced the longdance to its end. They parted the next morning as friends, as is the way of the free people, and he rejoined Cocoro, though the others of the band were not to be found.

Heading off at the side of his shoulder friend once more, Gearran and Cocoro came upon a stallion called Razu who was suffering from amnesia and seemed desperate to find a mare. They returned with him to the site of the long dance they'd attended and to their surprise, managed to find the mare he sought. She turned out to be his mate, Alanaria who also had thier half-grown filly Xeral with her. Gearran and Cocoro seemed to bond quickly with Xeral, while her parents reunited, but it was while watching those two reconnect, that Gearran began to wonder about his own parents. He'd left them so suddenly and his memories seemed to suggest that perhaps their parting hadn't been quite as 'blessed' as he'd originally thought. Overcome with the need to see them again, though he knew it would upset Cocoro deeply, Gearran bade farewell to his new friends and headed off to find his parents once again.