Topic: The Garridan Clan: OOC Character Closet

CherubicMagic

Date: 2010-05-04 13:10 EST
Well, well, well my sweetest little peas. It seems that I couldn't keep my buxom's wide, extended, hodge-podge family a secret forever... So how about a little show and tell time for you all, eh?

Now first let me tell you something about the Garridan Clan. Not all of them are of blood relation or a high standing vein of original blood down to the beginning roots of the clan's formation. Lilliana, Melina, and Brishen are of THE original bloodline, though born from different fathers, it's Melina who holds the key to their mild infamy and deep seeded roots in the lengthy history of the family.

The Garridan, as I play them, are an infamous gypsy clan that take all and any, especially those with magic. While the dominant vein of power rests in Melina Garridan, it is because of their readily accepting nature. Those with the brightest flames attract only the most beautiful of moths, but unlike most flames, the Garridan won't burn those that come nearer to them for warmth and a place to lay their head. It is for this reason and many others that their clan has grown to what it is. Folk who 'join' so to speak, are welcome to come and go as they please, but of course they're encouraged to stay... Who wants their family to stray?!

Anywho, be you blood kin or friendly knit-in to the Garridan name and fame, post your profiles here!

Give us a little somethin' somehin': Who are you? How are you affiliated with the Garridan clan? What's your tie-in? Post some pictures your profile wouldn't let you; favorite objects, more shots of the charrie, old family, etc, etc... Anything you can think of really!

PS- Because I, Lilliana's player, am as open, welcoming, and overall a largely social person, I'm encouraging friends and characters involved in various story lines with my gypsy folk to post here as well! After all... everyone starts as a friend to the Garridan before they become on. ;)

Melina Garridan

Date: 2010-05-04 14:21 EST
Name: Melina Isabella Garridan

Alias/Nicknames: Garridan Matriarch, Gypsy Queen

Age: 53

Relation(s): Of the original bloodline; one of three families from the beginning roots of the caravan. Married to Maddoc Garridan.

Status within(to) the Clan: Head Witch, Midwife, Caravan Head

Special Skills: Earth based magics, Medicines and Poultices, Midwifery, Cartography, Astronomy, Navigation, Cooking, Tarot reading, Dancing, Storytelling, Perfuming, Spell crafting, Charm building, Poppet and Doll making, Braiding, Animal care with a specialty in horse training, and various talents that revolve around the care and upkeep of an active caravan such as wheel repair and yoke carving.

Background/History:

Melina could tell you how she was born a girl in a backwater country with a too-big city acting as a tyrannical center for the surrounding lands... She could tell you about how several families banded together in pride and strength to oppose the rulers of this city and their outlandish claims to power and taxes and their acts to cull and keep the peasants from outbreeding the nobler bloods.... but then again. Melina could say and do a lot of things, and telling stories, be they true or false, was one of them.

Born a bright eyed child with her mothers looks and her fathers strong heart, Melina grew in a world wrought with fear and discontent hovering just outside her childhood bubble. Thanks to the strong wills of her parents, their sacrifice, and the kindnesses of similarly strong families willing to take a stand, pack up their lives, and leave all to the road... Well, Melina is now a woman turning to the later years in her life and reaping the rewards of a life well toiled for and spent.

Mother to Lilliana and Brishen, lover to Maddoc, and caretaker to a whole caravan full of gypsy; Melina is a force to be reckoned with. Hey, that fiery spirit of a daughter had to come partway from somewhere, as did the smooth, cool presence of her willowy son, right?

Melina is a part of the Garridan clan's inner circle and council. Acting as head witch, magic expertise, and medicine woman, not to mention being of the original line of the Garridan as a whole, it would come as no surprise to many the figurehead of power she acts as for her family. Melina takes an active, heavy role in the organization, planning, care-taking, and overseeing of the clan's business and as well as their general well being. Often more times than not, it's Melina who oversees and helps new folk who are looking to join their road-bound folk adjust and find a niche into their ranks.

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CherubicMagic

Date: 2010-05-05 14:27 EST
Name: Lilliana Garridan McClae

Alias/Nicknames: Lily, Pain'n'the Arse, Gypsy Princess, Red, AA, Lily-pad, Damn Fool Witch.

Age: 29

Relation(s): Of the original bloodline; daughter to Melina Garridan and Maddoc Garridan, brother to Brishen Garridan. Cousins include almost every member of the Garridan Clan. Currently in a relationship with Z'ev Zayveon.

Status within(to) the Clan: Protege Witch, Second to the Clan Magic Line

Special Skills: Fire and earth based magics, Medicines and Poultices, Cartography, Reading and Grammar, Navigation, Cooking, Dancing, Storytelling, Spell crafting, Warding, Charm building, Ceramics and Sculpture, Jewelry making, Candle Making, and various talents that revolve around the care and upkeep of an active caravan such as wheel repair and yoke carving.

Background/History:

Born to the gypsy clan a while back through a wave of discontent and controversy due to her sire, Lilliana has always stood out from the dark, duskier looking members of her family. Though her curls were from ma, her fire red hair was all from pa, perhaps it was the magic in her blood that turned it a true fire red, and the same can be said for her molten eyes, but all in all, this gypsy witch has always been a color apart from the rest.

Though she grew a privileged child within their small circle, that doesn't mean she didn't work for what she truly wanted; though soft at all angles, Lilliana had been well known for her fiery sense of tenacity as well as her insatiable appetite for bettering herself in every conceivable way. From an early age the red head had known it was her mother's wish that she would take over the head of the clan's magic when she became too old, so to prepare, Lilliana thrust herself wholly and completely into learning what birth had gifted her with.

While it's quite clear fire sings most strongly in the witch from her fierce coloring and fiery zeal, it is also the deep, powerful roots of the very soil that call to her as well; blame her mother for that. The witch grew quickly, because the discontent and controversy of her existence didn't stay at bay for long. At a very tender and still gentle age, Lilliana quickly learned the evils of man and where her heart lies... She learned it in blood and tears and love.

For these reasons as well as many others, Lilliana's strength and passion are well known and admired throughout her caravan family. One thing the gypsy witch was NOT known for, however, was letting someone capture her heart. That was a gauntlet she made many a man run in her wilder days. Little did she know all it would take was a figure of scales and fire...


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Brishen

Date: 2010-05-05 15:46 EST
Name: Brishen Maddoc Garridan

Alias/Nicknames: Brish, Gypsy Prince, Silver-Tongue

Age: 23

Relation(s): Son of Melina and Maddoc Garridan, related to just about everyone in the clan; engaged to Niamh O?Donovan

Status within(to) the Clan: Prodigal Son

Special Skills: Surprisingly strong, good at building and repairing structures such as houses (currently works as a construction worker for the city), dancing, playing various musical instruments (mostly strings), the uncanny ability to keep a conversation light hearted, and learning to be a herbalist from Niamh. There?s also an odd power brimming in untouched parts of his mind and soul, only now beginning to truly manifest.

Background/History: His birth was the result of much more fortunate events, the son of Maddoc and Melina Garridan, half-brother to Lilliana. He grew up as a child with privileges and learned how to charm older members of the clan from an early age. Though he had often times been accused of being lazy for the lack of work he did amongst the clan, when a task was laid out for him, it was completed without complaint.

His father, being the enigmatic man that he is, became a subject of fascination when Brishen was a young boy. After a few years of enjoying the relative ease of his life for being the sun of two of the clan?s most prominent members, the young boy Brishen sought to become more like the proud and reliable Maddoc.

A sore point for him was when he attempted to learn the magic employed by his sister and mother; the power inherited from Maddoc being fundamentally different in nearly every way.

He never quite settled for any one woman as a young man, he always claimed it was because no woman could tie him down. Of course, he hadn?t met Niamh before saying that.

Niamh Garridan

Date: 2010-05-05 18:40 EST
Name: Niamh Mairead O'Donovan-Garridan

Alias/Nicknames: Irish Rose; Nee; Nia; 'damn woman' - although only one person gets to call her that; Ma

Age: 22

Relation(s): Not a member of the Garridan clan by blood or marriage (yet); Mother - Carwen, Summer Queen of the Sidhe Court of T?r na n?g; Father - Lorcan O'Donovan, mortal and very Irish; sisters - Aoife and Shauna (only Shauna is in RhyDin at present); wife of Brishen Garridan; Son - Connor Garridan.

Status within(to) the Clan: Sister-witch.

Special Skills: The harvesting and preparing of herbs, the brewing of various medicinal and placebo herbal concoctions, reading and writing, cooking, various skills that go into making a house a home, sewing, knitting. From her Sidhe blood, she gets a rather powerful wallop of Air Element-based magics, which she is still learning to get to grips with, and with Brishen, she has a magical bond, which she also has no clue how to use.

Background/History:

Born to a Sidhe mother in disguise and a mortal man in the south of Ireland on Earth, Niamh was always the runaway, difficult middle child in her family, more prone to scrapes and accidents than her older, more sensible sister, and her younger, babied sister.

She had the average sort of childhood anyone would expect from an Irish family. It was only when she reached her teens that things got a little darker for this wee miss. Her first love broke her heart in the cruelest way she could imagine, and it was only the intervention of her mother - who gave her the Sidhe light she had been using to disguise herself - that saved her from falling into depression.

From then on, Niamh became quite the town flirt, breaking as many hearts as she mended, and it did not abate with the apparent death of her mother three years later.

However, a fortuitous accident brought her to RhyDin, and almost from her first night, she found herself equated with the Garridans, namely Lilli and Brishen. She's been through quite a lot since coming here, and no doubt it will only get more interesting as the years roll by. Just as well Brishen's decided to tie her to the clan; there's no knowing what trouble she can get into on her own.

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Alenka

Date: 2010-05-05 19:28 EST
Name: Alenka Garridan

Alias/Nicknames: 'lenka, Mischief, Witch.

Age: 24

Relation(s): A full-blooded Garridan; cousin to Lilli and Brishen; niece to Melina; generally considers most who call themselves Garridans to be family, whether they're related by blood or not.

Status within(to) the Clan: The Bard's Apprentice, Storyteller, One of many who entertains.

Special Skills: Aside from being a full-blood Garridan and the magical bounty that entails ... Storytelling, Dancing, Singing, Playing Fiddle or Drum, Dealing with Galen, Reading and Writing, Teaching.

Background/History:

Born to the Garridans a full-blooded female child, Alenka was always bound to have a little privilege in her lifetime. Only a little, though; she was expected to pull her weight like everyone else as soon as she could walk. She grew into an interesting figure of Garridan womanhood, all black hair and pale skin, and brown eyes that held that tell-tale molten sheen.

Her gift of the gab became very obvious throughout her early education, and one of the clan's bards took her on as an apprentice, teasing her the skills of a gypsy entertainer as best he could. With a love of lore and music, it wasn't a particularly hard set of lessons to learn, and though she is approaching her mastery, she still returns to her tutor for his lessons whenever she can.

Alenka has been as sheltered as a gypsy life can get - which isn't very - but it was enough to instill in her a deep and fierce loyalty to her clan and friends. She refuses to call any one place home, but so long as there are friends and family there, she will linger for as long as she is welcome.

Unlike many of the clan, she has never had a roving eye, or been particularly interested in carrying on with handsome strangers in every port and town. She knew pretty early on she was intended for Galen, and has spent several years coming to terms with that. And even then she had to seduce him!

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Bladecatcher

Date: 2010-05-05 21:48 EST
Name: Vorn Garridan

Alias/Nicknames: The Bladecatcher, Whisper, Lightning

Age: Unknown. He appears about 30.

Relation(s): Unknown. Adopted by the Clan.

Status within(to) the Clan: Freeloader mostly, but tends to make himself useful when needed.

Special Skills: Incredible speed, only limited by the friction of the air molecules around him (he must control his movements to keep from catching on fire).

Background/History:

Most of his background is a haze. Abducted at around 4 years old for his talents, he was drugged and used as a circus performer for nearly a decade before escaping his captors. Ever since, he has traveled throughout many worlds, usually making his coin performing (although once upon a time he was not above stealing to get by). Vorn arrived on RhyDin last year, and soon after had a run-in with the caravan.

The gypsy folk didn't seem to mind his bizarre talent (and even put them to good use from time to time) and eventually adopted him as one of their own.


-will look for pics at some point.-

Cettin

Date: 2010-05-07 15:24 EST
Name: Cettin Garridan

Alias/Nicknames: Cit, Kitty, Pest.

Age: According her she's 20, but odds are she's younger than that.

Relation(s): Adopted by the clan, but not related by blood to any of them.

Status within(to) the Clan: Eager provider. She doesn't have magic so she usually tries to make herself useful in any way possible. Within the clan itself she would be the low-man on the totem pole.

Special Skills: Hunting, Skinning, Dancing, Animal Husbandry, Cooking (mostly making jerky or dried meat), Brewing Ale and Wine, minor understand of herbs as they apply to cooking. She is also talented at doing henna tattoos.

Background/History: Cettin is extremely secretive about her past life. She acknowledges that she had a family and something happened to separate her from them. Whenever she is asked about her previous home she always says it was located on 'The Cliffs' and leaves it at that. Before encountering the Garridans someone apparently taught her how to track and hunt. This remains her most useful skill along the road. Unlike the majority of the Garridan clan she has no accent at all.

The companionship and mentoring the gypsy witches give mean a great deal to Cettin and she works very hard to try and make up for it. She has a knack for getting into trouble. Her most annoying quality, however, would be her unnatural need to talk agnosium. The only time she is ever silent is when she is listening to Melina talk about plants or Alenka telling a story.

Cettin also prizes her two Ayrshire cows that she is raising to use for meat whenever they are properly fattened. The cows are named Loki and Hermes.

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Galen Garridan

Date: 2010-05-10 15:20 EST
Name: Galen Garridan

Alias/Nicknames: Firestarter, or any profanities you can think of

Age: Guessing to be between 24 and 25, maybe 26

Relation(s): Adopted Garridan, taken in as a small child

Status within(to) the Clan: Trickster, showman, attention grabber.

Special Skills: Dancing, singing, various instruments, acrobatics, and an affinity for magics based around fires and manipulation of various elements.

Background/History: He was a small boy when the caravan stumbled upon him, a waifish little thing that had little more to his name than the rags that halfheartedly shielded him from the elements. The kindhearted folk soon took him in after learning his name, making him a Garridan.

Being a mischievous person at heart, he put his odd affinity for fire to use along with his uncanny dexterity by being the cause of many pranks, which were viewed with a mixture of humor and annoyance. He especially loved teasing Alenka, anything to make her more miserable was a good thing in his book.

He began learning from the jugglers, the dancers, the acrobats, and the rest of the clan?s entertainers and soon joined them in the task of gathering coin to help support the caravan, generally heading into towns with a small group ahead of the clan to begin money making.