Player
Name: Rav-T
E-mail: hiddenkrypt@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: General purpose contact at plurk: hiddenKrypt
Immediate / high priority contact on steam or discord: Steam Profile, Discord:Rav-T#0266

Timezone: PST[UTC-8]
Current Characters in Victory Road: None.

Character
Name: Kanaya Maryam
Series: Homestuck
Timeline: End of Homestuck Snapchat Epilogue

Canon Resource Links: MSPA Wiki

Personality: Give us at minimum 2-3 full paragraphs of how you understand your character's personality. Talk about basic characteristics, any major developments over the course of their canon, their motives, their social behavior, strengths and weaknesses, and anything else you can think of that shows off your knowledge of this character.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: What career path will your character be taking? Breeder, Trainer? Or maybe even down the dark path of becoming a member of Team Rocket? Note: All Rocket members start as grunts. (For right now, only those three positions are available, whether your character chooses to follow their assigned path or not.)
Starter: What starter Pokémon do you want your character to have? Please use the list linked above to choose from. Certain Pokémon have an orange star next to their names; if you choose one of these starters (Deino, Zorua, Litwick, Pikachu, Scyther, Dratini, Bagon, Gible, Axew, Ralts, Riolu, Beldum, Larvitar, Eevee, or Beldum) you must provide reasoning. You do not need to explain your reasoning for Pokémon other than those listed above.
Password: This is where you'll put the passwords from the Rules and the F.A.Q. There are two words, to assure you've read both.

Samples
RP Sample: The sample must be a post, log, or thread you have made with this character in the last four months at the canon point you have chosen for said character. It does not have to be set in Victory Road's setting, but it does require at least ten comments in total from you if it is a post or a thread, and five comments in total from you if it is a log. What we are looking for here is grasp of your character's voice and a sense of how you operate as a role-player. This sample can be in any format (e.g. network post, prose log, actionspam, Dear Mun post, and so on). You can use a Victory Road test drive thread for this sample, but you cannot use the same thread for the second sample below.

Victory Road Sample: This sample must take place in Victory Road's setting. The minimum is 300 words for a prose sample, eight sentences for a network post/actionspam sample, or ten comments total (five from you) in an RP sample. What we are looking for here is how the character responds to the Pokéworld's setting. You can also use a Victory Road test drive thread for this sample, but you cannot use the same thread for the first sample above.

APPLICATION



▸PLAYER
Name: Rav-T
Means of Contact:
--Plurk: https://www.plurk.com/hiddenKrypt
--Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/ravt/
Age: 31
Other Characters Played: none



▸CHARACTER
Name: Kanaya Maryam
Journal: sylphauxiliatrix
Canon: Homestuck
Age: No specific canon age, must be between between 7 and 8 sweeps, a range of 16-18 years. I'm going to fiat say 18 years old.
Canon Point: Act 6 Act 6 Act 2 Gigapause http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=008752



Background Information:

Wiki Link -- http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Kanaya_Maryam
Kanaya's introduction page in the comic serves as a good guide to her background up to the moment she becomes a primary character in the story -- http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004223
A Quick Synopsis:
Kanaya and her eleven friends were all fairly typical alien teenagers on the planet Alternia, a brutal world that starts life with hunger games for babies (losers may literally end up as paint or catsup) and only gets worse from there. They decided as a group to play a new video game, SGRUB. The game seems to affect reality, starting with the destruction of their homeworld as they all escape into a place between universes, the Medium. They fought long and hard through their game, gaining all the levels, some of them realizing the full potential of their roles, and finally all coming together to beat the final boss and collect their prize. Before collecting though, some demon appeared out of nowhere, forcing them to flee to a lab hidden in a rock in the Medium. There, they learned of a group of humans who were playing the same game. These humans created the demon that screwed the trolls over. At first the trolls harass them over the internet (which works between worlds because of the game), but eventually they become friends. The humans screw up their game to an insane degree, and have to reset. In escaping the reset, two of the humans meet up with the surviving trolls, and travel on the rock for three years to reach the newly reset game session, which has been set up with four different humans playing. The canon point I've selected is at most a few hours after arriving in the new game session, where everything has gone south in a huge way.

A note on age: It's heavily implied that all of the trolls were six sweeps old at the start of their adventure. A sweep is equal to 26 months, or 2.1666 years (2 years, 2 months). Thus, a six sweep old troll could be, in human terms, 13, 14 or even 15 years old (in the later case, they would be within two human months of their seventh troll 'birthday'). The canon point I'm choosing is a little over three years after their adventure. I'm choosing to have Kanaya be a bit older, and going with the high end: currently 18 years old by human standards. Though the age of consent in my area is 16 and I have no qualms roleplaying just about anything, the age of 18 does make a lot of things easier for others in an out of character way.



Personality:

Kanaya is a passionate aesthete, spending much of her free time on fashion and interior design, as well as gardening when she has the opportunity. She loves horror and romance novels, with a particular weakness to trashy vampire erotica. Her no-nonsense attitude and calm demeanor make her seem somewhat humorless, but that's only because her humor specializes in the sarcastic and acerbic. She'd detail oriented, and speaks in a precise manner enhanced by her wide vocabulary. When she uses large or rare words, it's not in an attempt to seem smart, but because those words carry the precise meaning she wishes to convey. She's a worrier to a fault, and has made a bad habit out of butting into other people's business if she thinks she can help. Helping people is something of an obsession for her, really. Despite her kind nature, she's no stranger to violence, and is ready to inflict a staggering amount of it on any target she deems deserving.

That's a nice short synopsis of some of her personality traits, but far from a sufficient exploration of her character. Here I'm going to break this down to three major sections: The symbolism that occurs around her in her canon, the recurring themes attached to this character, and a section on her sexuality and relationships. Given the nature of this game, this will include a more detailed than usual look at her sexuality.

--Literary symbolism-- Andrew Hussie (creator of Homestuck) is a huge fan of using symbolic hints and Easter eggs throughout his work as a way of providing more information about the world and his characters. Some of this is evident in the themes explored later, such as the meaning behind Kanaya's name. Like most of the trolls, there are three good sources for this sort of indirect examination of her character: trollhandles, Ancestors, and Sgrub Roles.

Kanaya's chat handle is "grimAuxiliatrix". Auxiliatrix is Latin for a "helpful woman", a core component of Kanaya's personality. The grim aspect is reflected in her willingness to do whatever she needs to, and how little she flinches at necessary tasks. In this way she is almost a fairly typical troll, unfazed by violence. She killed Eridan Ampora pretty much entirely out of revenge and in a horrifically violent manner. She has shown little thought or remorse for this act. She may seem like a nice person but under the right circumstances she has no problems with killing, something that may be off putting to any members of other cultures should they find out about her history. Besides the normal violence inherent in Trolls and Alternian society in general, Kanaya's grim nature may be a result of her time spent gardening and landscaping around her hive. To have maintained such a lush and well grown area in the middle of what seems like arid desert would take quite a dedication the craft of agriculture. Such skills often lead to necessarily but unfortunate decisions, a form of triage being necessary to decide what plants will not be able to grow properly. In a way Kanaya has likely been culling the weak to protect what she can for a while and this attitude for plants matches in some ways her attitude in other unfortunate circumstances. Her willingness to kill is not a symptom of evil, but of utilitarianism. She does not have any problem doing whatever it takes to protect those she cares about. Another good example of this would be amputating a friend's paralyzed legs while he was asleep so he could receive a robotic replacement.

Troll ancestors are a legend in their culture. It suggests that every troll has an ancestor that is a replica of them, living ages in the past. The legends say that a troll's ancestor will live a life that mirrors their own, with the younger descendant being given the chance to face similar challenges to them with possibly different results. We get to see some of Kanaya's ancestor in Homestuck, and we learn that the ancestors are literally genetically identical to their descendants. Kanaya's Ancestor is the Dolorosa.

The life story of an ancestor seems to mirror the story of the descendant through some sort of literary resonance. The Dolorosa was a jade blood troll who became rather unique in her own right, abandoning the duties of her caste to instead raise a young mutated troll named the Signless. The Dolorosa raised Signless as his mother, while Kanaya had quite a close friendship with Signless's descendant, Karkat. The Dolorosa was romantically involved with a woman named Mindfang, though it's implied that the Dolorosa had no choice in the matter. This reflects into Kanaya's unrequited crush for Mindfang's Descendant, Vriska. The situation is similar, but reversed. So too is the fate of the Dolorosa. She was murdered either directly by, or on the orders of Dualscar Ampora. Kanaya was murdered by his descendant, Eridan. But when Kanaya died, she rose back up as a rainbow drinker. She then hunted for Ampora, and killed him in return. In that moment, it's as if Kanaya was getting revenge for herself as well as her ancestor who didn't have the same second chance Kanaya got.

Kanaya's title in the game of Sgrub is the "sylph of space". For the most part she never really explored her role, and it's not exactly clear in the comic what a sylph of space is or does. We know that Sylphs are a sort of healer class, and we've seen space players affect the physical properties of things, but Kanaya never gains any powers related to this. However, as a space player she was responsible for the 'breeding duties' of the game, breeding frogs together to solve the puzzle at the heart of the whole game. This has an interesting duality with the traditional role of her caste, a role she never got to fulfill in her time, the same role her ancestor cast aside.

--Themes-- Most Homestuck characters have several major themes that come up time and time again in various ways when examining them as characters, and Kanaya is no exception. The ones I've identified here are Uniqueness, Purity, Motherhood, and Vampires.

Uniqueness : The phrase "you are one of the few" is used six times in Kanaya's second person introduction. Constantly Kanaya is marked as being a bit different from other trolls, either by actions, by accident, or by personality. Obviously it's this last point we should focus on for a personality section. Unlike most trolls, Kanaya:
- Cares about appearances instead of just function ("an affection for the aesthetic"). Few trolls care at all for form, but Kanaya loves fashion. She designs her own clothing, and likes to make clothes for others.
- Has an expressed interest in one gender over the other. Most trolls are epansexual by nature, but Kanaya is not. Further discussion below.
- Enjoys the feel of the harsh Alternian sun. Most trolls are injured by it, but Kanaya enjoys the warmth. Also, she's not nocturnal like most of her race.
- Has little to no interest in politics, personal power, or killing for fun. Such things are almost required of her species, but Kanaya has no interest in it. This may be typical for her blood caste though, since they are supposed to spend their time helping and protecting mother grubs.
- Was granted the unprecedented honor of having a mother grub for a lusus. While this isn't an aspect of her personality, it's very likely that this is where she gets her mothering instincts.

Further, Kanaya is made of strange and unique juxtapositions. She's a lumberjack, and a seamstress. A Chainsaw Surgeon, and a caretaker.

Purity: Kanaya's first name is a Sanskrit word for the constellation Virgo, and her personal symbol is the zodiac sign for that constellation, the virgin. This isn't just a crack about her love life, but rather a recurring part of her character. While she never shies away from necessary bloodshed, she is far less violent than many trolls. Her motives in killing Eridan, hunting Gamzee, and even taking Vriska as a moirail have always been based in protecting others, and providing a calming effect to her friends. The homestuck Tarot card collection even has Kanaya on the Strength [VIII] card (http://i.imgur.com/U2cbXwo.jpg). The card's design shows Kanaya holding down an enraged Gamzee. This is based on the classic Rider tarot design of a woman holding a lion, an image of the strength of purity and serenity. While most of the trolls aren't very well connected to the zodiac symbols they represent, this description of the Virgo star sign is almost a perfect description of Kanaya, to the point where I would be tempted to just use that as a personality section some time, just to see if it would work: http://www.astrology.com/article/zodiac-signs-virgo-sun-sign.html

Motherhood: Motherhood is a strange theme for a troll, as they don't really have the concept. Her connection to her Ancestor shows a lot of this theme. Their reproductive cycle means that Trolls never care for their young, and cannot usually trace their lineage. Your average troll is violent and self-centered. The fact that Kanaya cares about her friends and wants to protect them is strange to begin with. On top of that, she's literally connected with the concept of motherhood. Her lusus gave her the task of restarting the troll race after it's destruction. She was literally raised by a mother grub, one of the creatures responsible for the birthing of all trolls. The Jade blood caste traditionally served the Mother grubs, providing a part of the process at the core of troll reproduction. For a while Kanaya avoided her duties, but she had promised her lusus she would try. After Eridan destroyed the matriorb, Kanaya wasn't sure she'd be able to fulfill that promise, but recently she's actually been somewhat hopeful.

Vampires: What a wonderful theme to go with Purity and Motherhood. Kanaya's character has been defined, from her very first appearance, by stereotypical vampire stories. Her hair in her first appearance has an intentional similarity to a high collared cape stereotypically worn by vampires, and a visible pair of vampire-style fangs. Later, when Kanaya is properly introduced, we learn that she's a huge fan of well, basically trashy vampire erotica. Uh, I mean, "sensuous tales of rainbow drinkers and secret passion". through this we learn that 'Rainbow Drinkers' are trolls own version of vampires, and exist in pretty much the same way as they do for humans. They're fictional beings, long regarded as monsters, though recent media has been reinventing them as tragic romantic figures. Unlike typical vampire myths, rainbow drinkers are called 'daywalkers', who hunt in the sun. This inversion is partially because trolls are typically nocturnal and hurt by the sun, and partially as a reference to Twilight's particular reimagining of the vampire myth.
After dying, she arises as a rainbow drinker herself, revealing them as a very real thing. Her skin glows white, further cementing the reference to Twilight's sparkling vampires. Kanaya comes to find that the condition is not quite like it's depicted in her books. The need to feed on blood has proven to be more of an annoyance than a tragic motivation. In later discussions, she theorizes that the condition is actually an occasional adaptation by members of the Jade blood caste. The speed, strength, and fortitude of the condition all would help a jade blood deal with threats to the mother grubs, and the glowing helps navigate in dark caves.

--Sexuality-- Let's start with the elephant in the room. Trolls are inherently bisexual. They have no concept of homosexuality or heterosexuality. Kanaya, however, has only ever shown attraction to women. The fan-arguments here were legendary. Finally, someone got the creator to answer a question about it. His response was long and somewhat vague, but it ended with the line "From a human perspective, she's an unmistakably gay character." This solved the problem for a lot of people, but a few took this as evidence that she's not gay. Because Hussie included some detail about the troll's cultural view on sexuality, the argument is that the phrase "from a human perspective" changes the result. This line of argument usually claims that Kanaya is bi like most trolls, but she has a "gay kink" or "female kink". these arguments have mostly settled down, but every now and then they flare back up.

As such, I try not to claim that my opinion is the "right" answer. I play Kanaya as a lesbian, only interested in Women. As a troll, she has no concept of homosexuality, so if someone identifies her as such she would just get confused. If someone pointed out that she's only ever interested in females, her response would be something like "Oh. That's true, isn't it? I never really thought about it." If hit on by males, she'd most likely turn them down with some variant of "not interested". This only applies to presented gender, since the genitalia for trolls is a complete mystery as is, and if it is anything different than human, her relationship with an alien (human) named Rose proves that she doesn't focus on what's in someone's pants.

Kanaya's symbol of virgo, the virgin, rather obviously has some sort of impact on her sexuality as well. In canon she had an unrequited crush that lasted for years without ever really doing anything about it. When trapped on a meteor with another crush for three years, they didn't even really hook up for two years of the trip, and even then it was Rose who drunkenly made the first move. By all available evidence, Kanaya has not done anything more than kiss with anybody (though a year of her relationship with Rose occurred almost entirely off camera). At the same time, it's hard to imagine her as a total prude! The themes of motherhood, of pragmatic control... in general, I think she'd be comfortable discussing sexual topics at length, as long as the conversation isn't about her. Kanaya is the type of person that would have done exhaustive studies of sexual topics, out of curiosity if nothing else, but always in a dispassionate, intellectual way. She'd be perfectly happy to help others with their problems, and could take all the weird shit this game's setting could throw at her without reacting. She's only really easily embarrassed when it comes to her own sexuality. Naturally, for the format of this game, she wouldn't be a total prude, instead having an attitude more in line with Ivan the Apprentice. Given a few initial encounters to get used to the idea, she'd be quite interested in sex, but very cautious.

In general, Kanaya is horribly attracted to dangerous women. This isn't because she's a submissive sort, drawn to dominating types, but that the danger adds a certain thrill... not to mention her natural inclination to try and curb the more hazardous traits of others. Her initial attraction to Vriska was built around Vriska's propensity for violence. Kanaya can't really help but try and protect others by getting close to these hazards and trying to convince them to be less dangerous. As such, she'd probably sign up to be an apprentice initially, but let’s be honest she's not going to make any headway if she tries to pacify the Mistress. Hopefully she figures that out quickly.



Appearance:

Kanaya is tall and slender. Roughly 178cm/5'10", 61kg/135lbs. Her skin may either be grey or glowing white (described in Abilities). Her hair is black, medium-short length, and usually in an eccentric style, a combination of spikes and curls somewhat reminiscent of a stereotypical vampire's cape. She has two candy-corn colored horns, one of which sports a sharp barb. Her teeth include a set of long sharp fangs, also in a vampire style. Kanaya almost always wears makeup, most noticeably black or jade green lipstick. A galley of a few of her canon appearances is available on the Wiki address in the Background Information section.



Abilities:

Unlike most members of her race, Kanaya is not particularly nocturnal nor does she abhor sunlight. The average troll appears to be physically somewhat stronger and more resilient than the average human. Her preferred weapon in combat is a chainsaw, an ungainly weapon which she nevertheless wields with speed and grace. Many aspects of being a rainbow Drinker (troll vampire) are left ambiguous.

Here is what is solidly canon: As a Rainbow Drinker, Kanaya has become even more physically formidable. She survived and continued to run and fight with a large gaping hole where her spine should be. She can move with superhuman speed in a sort of vampiric celerity which one character dubs "Drinker Fastness". Kanaya's skin can glow with a soft white light, bright enough to illuminate up a large hallway. This glowing feature can be turned on and off at will. Like a vampire, she must ingest blood to survive.The bite has no lasting effects beyond a small pair of puncture wounds that are treatable with a bandaid, suggesting that either the bite is small (and thus only a small amount of blood is drawn) or the feeding process includes some sort of healing agent to reduce the harm. The rainbow drinker condition is not passed by the bite, or by any other process, and is theorized in canon to be an adaptation to help some jade blood trolls fulfill the tasks of their caste. She can and does drink blood from dead bodies without issue, including blood that has been bottled and kept in someone's inventory for several years.

The following is extrapolated from canon: Apparently only small quantities of blood are required as she survived for three years with a handful of friends, none of whom seemed to suffer from any ill effects. A human can give about a pint of blood every week with no symptoms, and about two pints of blood in a sitting without requiring medical attention. Assuming that she takes about a pint per feeding, the most she could feed without it being apparent would be less than once per day, and that would require careful balancing of which of her friends she fed off of. So we have an upper bound of 5-6 times per week, and a lower bound of 'just enough to be considered a bit of an annoyance'. I like to put it at about twice per week. When Kanaya died and changed into a rainbow drinker, she seemed to go on a bit of a rampage. Granted, this mostly seemed to be due to anger at the person that killed her, but it did include drinking from two of her friends that were unconscious. She still seemed to be 'in control', as she took the time to bandage the wounds she caused by feeding before going on to saw her killer in half. I postulate that going without for some time does build up a hunger in a rainbow drinker, but hunger isn't likely to cause them to flip out the way some vampire stories have it. The worst that can happen is a typical sort of desperation anybody would have from being starved.

There's nothing else really hinted at by canon to work with, aside from the condition obviously being influenced by vampire myths. I am fine suggesting that this is the extent of the situation. Kanaya died and was reborn as a rainbow drinker. She's alive again, not a walking corpse. She still requires food and drink, she still needs to breathe, she's still affected the same as any of her race by drugs, poisons, radiation, etc. The canon has not suggested any special weaknesses to garlic, crosses, running water, wooden stakes, or any other typical vampire things.



▸SAMPLES:

(One sample may be a link to a post/log thread of decent length that's occurred in the last six months from another game, or from a meme/musebox if the setting is the same as what the character will be apped from and the thread provides a good example of characterization — i.e. no AU settings or overly cracky memes. The other sample must be written to take place in Carvaka's setting.

For the Carvaka-specific sample, we're looking for a good example of character voice and how the character will adapt to the setting. We suggest avoiding "where am I?" or "where are my friends?" type samples, as these tend to be generic and often not fully representative of a character's normal behavior. You can still send in these kinds of samples if you wish to, but we advise applicants to consider whether or not they fulfill the requirements that we're looking for.)

First Person:
[Video]
Hello. I don't know if anybody has noticed yet, but there seems to be some newly accessible areas now that the floodwaters have receded. This happens to include what was apparently once a cultivated agricultural exhibit. I was wondering if anybody would like to join me in a restoration effort. While I don't possess any seeds at the moment I think we can obtain some through the belief powers of this place. Also, in the exhibit area is a solar growhut. I am claiming 'dibs' at this moment, though I am willing to share. After all, that structure will likely be vital to the restoration effort.

I know this sort of project may not be the most important or beneficial to us in terms of survival. It will provide psychological benefits, however, both as a finished project, and as a task to focus on. If anybody has any particular flora from their homeworld that they would like to be represented, please contact me. With enough requests, perhaps we could set up different ecological sectors.

Third Person:
Third person prose on the TDM http://metakosmia.dreamwidth.org/11826.html?thread=3489842#cmt3489842

PLAYER
Name: Rav-T
Age: 28
Personal Journal: N/A
E-mail: hiddenkrypt@gmail.com
AIM/MSN/etc: AIM: hiddenkrypt, STEAM: hiddenkrypt, PLURK: hiddenKrypt

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CHARACTER
Name: Kanaya Maryam
Canon: Homestuck
Age: ~7 1/2 sweeps, 16-17 years.
Timeline: GigaPause aka as up-to-date as possible.
If playing another character from the same canon, how will you deal with this?: n/a

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PERSONALITY
Kanaya is a passionate aesthete, spending much of her free time on fashion and interior design, as well as gardening when she has the opportunity. She loves horror and romance novels, with a particular weakness to trashy vampire erotica. Her no-nonsense attitude and calm demeanor make her seem somewhat humorless, but that's only because her humor specializes in the sarcastic and acerbic. She'd detail oriented, and speaks in a precise manner enhanced by her wide vocabulary. When she uses large or rare words, it's not in an attempt to seem smart, but because those words carry the precise meaning she wishes to convey. She's a worrier to a fault, and has made a bad habit out of butting into other people's business if she thinks she can help. Helping people is something of an obsession for her, really.

That's a nice short synopsis of some of her personality traits, but far from a sufficient exploration of her character. Here I'm going to break this down to three major sections: The reoccurring themes attached to this character, the symbolism that occurs around her in her canon, and a section on her sexuality and relationships. For most characters I wouldn't think that I'd need to go into much detail regarding those last traits, but they do add a interesting dimension to Kanaya's character, and the potential for flame wars (and what I do to prevent them) is something that I think and game mods would like to know.

------Themes------

Uniqueness : The phrase 'you are one of the few' is mentioned six times in Kanaya's second person introduction. Constantly, Kanaya is marked as being a bit different from other trolls, either by actions, by accident, or by personality. Obviously it's this last point we should focus on for this personality section. Unlike most trolls, Kanaya:
- Cares about appearances instead of just function ("an affection for the aesthetic")
- Has an expressed interest in one gender over the other
- Enjoys the feel of the harsh Alternian sun
- Has little to no interest in politics, personal power, or killing for fun
- Was granted the unprecedented honor of having a mother grub for a lusus

Purity: Kanaya's personal symbol is the zodiac sign for Virgo, the virgin. This isn't just a crack about her love life, but rather a reoccurring part of her character. While she never shies away from necessary bloodshed, she is far less violent than many trolls. Her motives in killing Eridan, hunting Gamzee, and even taking Vriska as a moirail have always been based in protecting others, and providing a calming effect to her friends. The homestuck Tarot card collection even has Kanaya on the Strength [VIII] card. The card's design shows Kanaya holding down an enraged Gamzee. This is based on the classic Rider tarot design of a woman holding a lion. It's an image of the strength of purity and serenity. Kanaya's name is even a Sanskrit word for the constellation Virgo. While most of the trolls aren't very well connected to the zodiac symbols they represent, this descriptiuon of the Virgo star sign is almost a perfect description of Kanaya, to the point where I would be tempted to just use that as a personality section some time, just to see if it would work.

Motherhood: This theme is brought in from her connections to her Ancestor, the literally matronly Dolorosa. Kanaya's last name, Maryam, is one that she shares with the Dolorosa and Porrim, and it's a Arabic form of the name 'Mary', as in the virgin Mary. Fitting of course, as the Signless is a pretty blatant Jesus analogue. Motherhood is a strange theme for a troll, as they don't really have the concept. Their reproductive cycle means that Trolls never care for their young, and cannot usually trace their lineage. Your average troll is violent and self-centered. The fact that Kanaya cares about her friends and wants to protect them is strange to begin with. On top of that, she's literally connected with the concept of motherhood. Her lusus gave her the task of restarting the troll race after it's destruction. She was literally raised by a mother grub, one of the creatures responsible for the birthing of all trolls. The Jade blood caste traditionally served the Mother grubs, providing a part of the process at the core of troll reproduction. For a while Kanaya avoided her duties, but she had promised her lusus she would try. After Eridan destroyed the matriorb, Kanaya wasn't sure she'd be able to fulfill that promise, but recently she's actually been somewhat hopeful. We've seen that the Batterwitch has her own plan to acquire a new matriorb, so it may be possible for Kanaya to finally do what she promised.

------Literary symbolism------

Hussie is a huge fan of using symbolic hints and Easter eggs throughout his work as a way of providing more information about the world and his characters. Some of this is evident in the themes explored above, such as the meaning behind Kanaya's name. Like most of the trolls, there are two good sources for this sort of indirect examination of the character: Their trollhandles, and their Ancestors.

Kanaya's chat handle is "grimAuxiliatrix". Auxiliatrix is Latin for a "helpful woman", something we've discussed quite a bit already. The grim aspect is reflected in her willingness to do whatever she needs to, and how little she flinches at necessary tasks. In this way she is a fairly typical troll, unfazed by violence. She killed Eridan pretty much entirely out of revenge and in a horrifically violent manner. She has shown little thought or remorse for this act. She may seem like a nice person but under the right circumstances she has no problems with killing, something that may be off putting to any members of other cultures should they find out about her history. Besides the normal violence inherent in Trolls and Alternian society in general, Kanaya's grim nature may be a result of her time spent gardening and landscaping around her hive. To have maintained such a lush and well grown area in the middle of what seems like arid desert would take quite a dedication the craft of agriculture. Such skills often lead to necessarily but unfortunate decisions, a form of triage being necessary to decide what plants will not be able to grow properly. In a way Kanaya has likely been culling the weak to protect what she can for a while and this attitude for plants matches in some ways her attitude in other unfortunate circumstances. Her willingness to kill is not a symptom of evil, but of utilitarianism. She does not have any problem doing whatever it takes to protect those she cares about.

The life of Kanaya's ancestor provides some interesting insight as well, reflecting in a way what Kanaya had to go through herself. The Dolorosa raised Signless as his mother, while Kanaya had quite a close friendship with Signless's descendant, Karkat. The Dancestors Porrim and Kankri seem to be somewhere between these two: Porrim mothers on Kankri a bit, but they are similar in age and do not have a relationship as analogous to the Dolorosa and Signless. The Dolorosa was romantically involved with Mindfang, though it's implied that the Dolorosa had no choice in the matter. This reflects into Kanaya's unrequited flush for Mindfang's Descendant, Vriska. The situation is similar, but reversed. So too is the fate of the Dolorosa. She was murdered either directly by, or on the orders of Dualscar. Kanaya was murdered by his descendant, Eridan. But when Kanaya died, she rose back up as a rainbow drinker. She then hunted for Ampora, and killed him in return. In that moment, it's as if Kanaya was getting revenge for herself as well as her ancestor who didn't have the same second chance Kanaya got.

Kanaya's title in the game of Sgrub is the "sylph of space". For the most part she never really explored her role, and it's quite unclear in the comic what a sylph of space is or does. However, as a space player she was responsible for the 'breeding duties' of the game, breeding frogs together to solve the puzzle at the heart of the whole game. This has an interesting duality with the traditional role of her caste, a role she never got to fulfill in her time, the same role her ancestor cast aside.

------Sexuality and Relationships------

Let's start with the elephant in the room. Trolls are inherently bisexual. They have no concept of homosexuality or heterosexuality. Kanaya, however, has only ever shown attraction to women. The fan-arguments here have been legendary. Finally, someone got the creator to answer a question about it. His response was long and somewhat vague, but it ended with the line "From a human perspective, she's an unmistakably gay character." This... really didn't solve any of the flamewars, and for a while they actually got worse. Because Hussie included some detail about the troll's cultural view on sexuality, the argument is that the phrase "from a human perspective" changes the result. This line of argument usually claims that Kanaya is bi like most trolls, but she has a "gay kink" or "female kink", and that such things happen sometimes with trolls. These arguments have mostly settled down, but every now and then they flare back up. As such, I try not to claim that my opinion is the "right" answer. I play Kanaya as a lesbian, only interested in women. As a troll, she has no concept of homosexuality, so if someone identifies her as such she would just get confused. If someone pointed out that she's only ever interested in females, her response would be something like "Oh. That's true, isn't it? I never really thought about it." If hit on by males, she'd most likely turn them down with some variant of "not interested". Because I state this as it being my choice to play her this way, rather than saying that this is what is canon, I've been able to avoid any sort of arguments that I've seen crop up when this topic is broached. I've been playing Kanaya for over two years without once being the cause of a fight over her sexuality, and I'd love to keep that record going.

In general, Kanaya is horribly attracted to dangerous women. This isn't because she's a submissive sort, drawn to dominating types, but that the danger adds a certain thrill... not to mention her natural inclination to try and curb the more hazardous traits of others. Her initial attraction to Vriska was built around Vriska's propensity for violence, and she notes to Jade that she seems to be falling into the same pattern again when she started to develop her crush on Rose. Kanaya can't really help but try and protect others by getting close to these hazards and trying to convince them to be less dangerous.

At the canon point I'm taking her from, Kanaya is in a Matespritship (a romantic relationship fairly analogous to human romance) with Rose Lalonde. This relationship has been a bit rocky, as her girlfriend has been suffering from alcoholism. Kanaya really didn't know what to do about that. As a non-human, she wasn't sure it was her place to comment on the addiction. Rose continued to tell her that it was fine, so she trusted her. Shortly before arriving in the alpha session Kanaya started to suspect that Rose wasn't being truthful, and while she did confront Rose about her problem, arrival in the new session meant that things were suddenly too chaotic for there to be any resolution.

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BACKGROUND
Fan Wiki link

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ABILITIES
Kanaya is a skilled landscaper, growing an oasis in the desert. Granted, she was assisted by advanced technology, but gardening, agriculture, and topiary are all hobbies she enjoys a decent level of skill in. She's also a talented seamstress, making a majority of her own clothing. She often offers to make clothes for friends as well. She can work almost any creation out of cloth, needle, and thread. Tailoring, repair, and custom creations are all within her purview.

Kanaya is a rainbow drinker, a sort of alien vampire. In canon we know this gives her super speed, described at one point as "drinker fastness". There is evidence that she also has increased physical resilience and strength. The extent of rainbow drinker powers is not really explored in canon. I have a list of my own headcanons and theories that I like to use in games, including facts from canon to back them up wherever appropriate. Some of the claims I make are a bit sketchy, but that's to be expected when the canon provides so very little explicit information to go on, and a good deal of hints. If anybody else is playing a rainbow drinker in the game (Porrim, the Dolorosa), I'm perfectly willing to discuss and adjust my headcanons here in whatever way pleases people.

Rainbow Drinker TL:DR; Vampire. Super speed, strength, stamina. Needs to drink blood; otherwise things get weird, then dangerous. Enjoys sunlight. Can't make other people into vampires. Doesn't need normal food/drink, but can enjoy it.

Kanaya is a "Sylph of Space", but not god tier. While some Homestuck characters have displayed elements of their power from their title before going god-tier, Kanaya has never done anything to indicate that her title has given her any sort of special abilities. We're not even really sure what those powers might be like, beyond the vague concept that it has something to do with 'healing space'.

Psychologically Kanaya is a very resilient and stable person. She is not easily frightened or startled, and she doesn't have any problem with sudden scenes of gore or violence. It's very unlikely that she would ever scream in fear or surprise. This may make her seem a little cold and detached, but really it's her compassion for others that drives this. If disaster strikes, she needs to help, and that means not losing her head. It would make sense for her to possess rudimentary first aid skills, if not for the fact that she comes from a planet where such skills are unlikely. It's something that I think she would be interested in picking up, given a chance to do so.

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FIRST PERSON SAMPLE
Here's a sample of action/bracketspam/firstperson from your December test drive meme.

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THIRD PERSON SAMPLE
The sight of an imperial battleship was bad enough without knowing who that was standing on its bow. As always, just when Kanaya was certain things couldn't get much worse reality had to step in an remind her how pitifully insignificant her imagination is compared to the nigh infinite ways that reality could conspire to further fuck her and her friends over. It’s not fair really. When you’re trapped between a pit of lava and a forest fire powered by three gods, watching a psychotic murderclown you've unsuccessfully been able to hunt for the last three years as he beats the ever-loving shit out of one of your friends, and your alien girlfriend is stuck on the far side of the lava pit, and who knows what happened to your good friend-turned-evil-god-dog, things aren't supposed to be able to get any worse.

But Her Imperious Condescension has arrived, and time seems to stand still. Time seems to have stood still for quite a while actually. Wow. I mean ages are passing, and nothing is happening. The lull in action caused by her arrival is insane, perhaps even reaching kilo… nay, mega proportions.

This is getting rather silly. I’ll stop now.

Kanaya, along with everybody else aside from the gods running around with Dave in hot pursuit, stops and stares at the new arrival to the scene, waiting for something to happen. She's not really sure what she expects, some sort of attack, or a psychic assault. It certainly wasn't blacking out and appearing alone in some sort of moving vehicle quite unlike any she’s ever seen.
Immediately Kanaya starts to take in the situation. Obviously the Condesce has transported her somewhere. This vehicle seems to be ground bound, and moving at a pace a bit fast to consider jumping as a means of escape. She seems to be alone, though she can’t shake the feeling that she's being watched…

"Is there anybody else here?" she asks aloud, as a prelude to actually searching the cabin. Kanaya checks each seat to make sure she’s alone before taking in the view from the windows. A strange, alien landscape. Great. There seems to be some sort of light up ahead, but it's hard to see where this vehicle is taking her without opening a window and sticking her head out. First she gives the doors at the rear and front a try, finding them locked with no surprise. She does attempt to open the windows as well, fully expecting to find her efforts equally wasted, when the vista before her changes suddenly. The train has entered the city, and is slowing down noticeably.

It’s obviously a population center of some sort. The architecture is not completely unfamiliar, matching depictions of some human cities from Rose’s fictional media. As the brakes of the train begin to squeal, Kanaya figures this must be her destination. She exits cautiously once the doors open, and begins to read the posters. Perhaps this isn't the work of Her Imperious Condescension after all, but something else entirely. She checks her inventory and sure enough, finds the watch mentioned. Well, if she’s going to find a way out of here, she might as well start by getting ahold of any of her fellow captives.

I understand that you've reached your canon limit for Homestuck characters in reserves. If all those reserves apply I will gladly recuse myself and my app. I have no problem being passed up for all those that reserved, and would of course understand that you're going to ignore this app until the end of the app round, just in case those reserves come in. I just hope that you'll accept me in the case that enough reserves fall through that you still have a Homestuck slot open.

PLAYER INFORMATION
Name: Rav-T
Timezone: GMT-5 (EST)
Personal Journal: krypt
Player Contact: hiddenKrypt
Characters in Game (previously too): N/A

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Kanaya Maryam
Canon: Homestuck
Gender: Female
Age: 16 1/2 -ish
Suitability: Kanaya is at least 16 in canon. She was 13 to 14 when introduced and a little over three years have past in canon.
Species: Troll (Alternia)
Canon Point: From the most recent update at time of writing. [megahiatus]
World/Setting: n/a

History: Fan Wiki link

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Personality

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Kanaya is a passionate aesthete, spending much of her free time on fashion and interior design, as well as gardening when she has the opportunity. She loves horror and romance novels, with a particular weakness to trashy vampire erotica. Her no-nonsense attitude and calm demeanor make her seem somewhat humorless, but that's only because her humor specializes in the sarcastic and acerbic. She'd detail oriented, and speaks in a precise manner enhanced by her wide vocabulary. When she uses large or rare words, it's not in an attempt to seem smart, but because those words carry the precise meaning she wishes to convey. She's a worrier to a fault, and has made a bad habit out of butting into other people's business if she thinks she can help.

I'm going to break the rest of this personality segment into three subcategories. First, the overarching themes that are repeatedly shown throughout her character. Second, the literary hints and references that indicate elements of her personality indirectly. Finally, given the nature of this game, a more detailed than usual look at her sexuality.


------Themes------

Uniqueness : The phrase 'you are one of the few' is mentioned six times in Kanaya's second person introduction. Constantly, Kanaya is marked as being a bit different from other trolls, either by actions, by accident, or by personality. Obviously it's this last point we should focus on for this personality section. Unlike most trolls, Kanaya:
- Cares about appearances instead of just function ("an affection for the aesthetic")
- Has an expressed interest in one gender over the other
- Enjoys the feel of the harsh Alternian sun
- Has little to no interest in politics, personal power, or killing for fun
- Was granted the unprecedented honor of having a mother grub for a lusus

Purity: Kanaya's personal symbol is the zodiac sign for Virgo, the virgin. This isn't just a crack about her love life, but rather a reoccurring part of her character. While she never shies away from necessary bloodshed, she is far less violent than many trolls. Her motives in killing Eridan, hunting Gamzee, and even taking Vriska as a moirail have always been based in protecting others, and providing a calming effect to her friends. The homestuck Tarot card collection even has Kanaya on the Strength [VIII] card. The card's design shows Kanaya holding down an enraged Gamzee. This is based on the classic Rider tarot design of a woman holding a lion. It's an image of the strength of purity and serenity. Kanaya's name is even a Sanskrit word for the constellation Virgo. While most of the trolls aren't very well connected to the zodiac symbols they represent, this descriptiuon of the Virgo star sign is almost a perfect description of Kanaya, to the point where I would be tempted to just use that as a personality section some time, just to see if it would work.

Motherhood: This theme is brought in from her connections to her Ancestor, the literally matronly Dolorosa. Kanaya's last name, Maryam, is one that she shares with the Dolorosa and Porrim, and it's a Arabic form of the name 'Mary', as in the virgin Mary. Fitting of course, as the Signless is a pretty blatant Jesus analogue. Motherhood is a strange theme for a troll, as they don't really have the concept. Their reproductive cycle means that Trolls never care for their young, and cannot usually trace their lineage. Your average troll is violent and self-centered. The fact that Kanaya cares about her friends and wants to protect them is strange to begin with. On top of that, she's literally connected with the concept of motherhood. Her lusus gave her the task of restarting the troll race after it's destruction. She was literally raised by a mother grub, one of the creatures responsible for the birthing of all trolls. The Jade blood caste traditionally served the Mother grubs, providing a part of the process at the core of troll reproduction. For a while Kanaya avoided her duties, but she had promised her lusus she would try. After Eridan destroyed the matriorb, Kanaya wasn't sure she'd be able to fulfill that promise, but recently she's actually been somewhat hopeful. We've seen that the Batterwitch has her own plan to acquire a new matriorb, so it may be possible for Kanaya to finally do what she promised.

------Literary symbolism------

Hussie is a huge fan of using symbolic hints and Easter eggs throughout his work as a way of providing more information about the world and his characters. Some of this is evident in the themes explored above, such as the meaning behind Kanaya's name. Like most of the trolls, there are two good sources for this sort of indirect examination of the character: Their trollhandles, and their Ancestors.

Kanaya's chat handle is "grimAuxiliatrix". Auxiliatrix is Latin for a "helpful woman", something we've discussed quite a bit already. The grim aspect is reflected in her willingness to do whatever she needs to, and how little she flinches at necessary tasks. In this way she is a fairly typical troll, unfazed by violence. She killed Eridan pretty much entirely out of revenge and in a horrifically violent manner. She has shown little thought or remorse for this act. She may seem like a nice person but under the right circumstances she has no problems with killing, something that may be off putting to any members of other cultures should they find out about her history. Besides the normal violence inherent in Trolls and Alternian society in general, Kanaya's grim nature may be a result of her time spent gardening and landscaping around her hive. To have maintained such a lush and well grown area in the middle of what seems like arid desert would take quite a dedication the craft of agriculture. Such skills often lead to necessarily but unfortunate decisions, a form of triage being necessary to decide what plants will not be able to grow properly. In a way Kanaya has likely been culling the weak to protect what she can for a while and this attitude for plants matches in some ways her attitude in other unfortunate circumstances. Her willingness to kill is not a symptom of evil, but of utilitarianism. She does not have any problem doing whatever it takes to protect those she cares about.

The life of Kanaya's ancestor provides some interesting insight as well, reflecting in a way what Kanaya had to go through herself. The Dolorosa raised Signless as his mother, while Kanaya had quite a close friendship with Signless's descendant, Karkat. The Dancestors Porrim and Kankri seem to be somewhere between these two: Porrim mothers on Kankri a bit, but they are similar in age and do not have a relationship as analogous to the Dolorosa and Signless. The Dolorosa was romantically involved with Mindfang, though it's implied that the Dolorosa had no choice in the matter. This reflects into Kanaya's unrequited flush for Mindfang's Descendant, Vriska. The situation is similar, but reversed. So too is the fate of the Dolorosa. She was murdered either directly by, or on the orders of Dualscar. Kanaya was murdered by his descendant, Eridan. But when Kanaya died, she rose back up as a rainbow drinker. She then hunted for Ampora, and killed him in return. In that moment, it's as if Kanaya was getting revenge for herself as well as her ancestor who didn't have the same second chance Kanaya got.

Kanaya's title in the game of Sgrub is the "sylph of space". For the most part she never really explored her role, and it's quite unclear in the comic what a sylph of space is or does. However, as a space player she was responsible for the 'breeding duties' of the game, breeding frogs together to solve the puzzle at the heart of the whole game. This has an interesting duality with the traditional role of her caste, a role she never got to fulfill in her time, the same role her ancestor cast aside.

------Sexuality------

Let's start with the elephant in the room. Trolls are inherently bisexual. They have no concept of homosexuality or heterosexuality. Kanaya, however, has only ever shown attraction to women. The fan-arguments here were legendary. Finally, someone got the creator to answer a question about it. His response was long and somewhat vague, but it ended with the line "From a human perspective, she's an unmistakably gay character." This solved the problem for a lot of people, but a few took this as evidence that she's not gay. Because Hussie included some detail about the troll's cultural view on sexuality, the argument is that the phrase "from a human perspective" changes the result. This line of argument usually claims that Kanaya is bi like most trolls, but she has a "gay kink" or "female kink". these arguments have mostly settled down, but every now and then they flare back up. As such, I try not to claim that my opinion is the "right" answer. I play Kanaya as a lesbian, only interested in Women. As a troll, she has no concept of homosexuality, so if someone identifies her as such she would just get confused. If someone pointed out that she's only ever interested in females, her response would be something like "Oh. That's true, isn't it? I never really thought about it." If hit on by males, she'd most likely turn them down with some variant of "not interested".

Kanaya's personal symbol is the zodiac symbol for Virgo, the virgin. In canon she's had an unrequited crush that lasted for years without ever really doing anything about it. When trapped on a meteor with her new crush for three years, they didn't even really hook up for two years of the trip, and even then it was Rose who drunkenly made the first move. By all available evidence, Kanaya has not done anything more than kiss with anybody. At the same time, it's hard to imagine her as a total prude! The themes of motherhood, of pragmatic control... in general, I think she'd be comfortable discussing sexual topics at length, as long as the conversation isn't about her. Kanaya is the type of person that would have done exhaustive studies of sexual topics, out of curiosity if nothing else, but always in a dispassionate, intellectual way. She'd be perfectly happy to help others with their problems, and could take all the weird shit this game's setting could throw at her without reacting. She's only really easily embarrassed when it comes to her own sexuality. Naturally, for the format of this game, she wouldn't be a total prude, instead having an attitude more in line with Ivan the Apprentice. Given a few initial encounters to get used to the idea, she'd be quite interested in sex, but very cautious.

In general, Kanaya is horribly attracted to dangerous women. This isn't because she's a submissive sort, drawn to dominating types, but that the danger adds a certain thrill... not to mention her natural inclination to try and curb the more hazardous traits of others. Her initial attraction to Vriska was built around Vriska's propensity for violence. Kanaya can't really help but try and protect others by getting close to these hazards and trying to convince them to be less dangerous. As such, she'd probably sign up to be an apprentice initially, but let’s be honest she's not going to make any headway if she tries to pacify the Mistress. Hopefully she figures that out quickly.

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Abilities/Weaknesses: Kanaya is a weird troll-vampire thing known as a "Rainbow Drinker". She has a few decent advantages from this: Increased speed, strength, and resilience. All three of these are implicit in canon, though only the speed has been specifically addressed. She also can make her skin glow. This is... not really useful? I dunno. In canon, the traits that define a rainbow drinker are infuriatingly vague. For a previous game I prepared my own headcanon on the topic.

The alien vampire thing comes with the weakness of requiring blood to live. Again, this isn't well explored or specified in canon, and my headcanon link above addresses the facts known compared to how I play it out. TL:DR; She needs blood to live, can go a week without feeding regularly, a little longer if she gets plenty of sunlight (one way that rainbow drinkers are different from the standard vampire myths), and even longer (up to a month) if she drinks plenty of blood from non-living sources (bottles, transfusion packs, etc.)

Kanaya is a "Sylph of Space", but not god tier. While some Homestuck characters have displayed elements of their power from their title before going god-tier, Kanaya has never done anything to indicate that her title has given her any sort of special abilities. We're not even really sure what those powers might be like.

RP Samples:
A thread in your Taste Test Meme starting here, with my response over here, if you don't feel like searching through the other replies.

Something from a previous game.

*Coming soon*

I'll get around to describing her hive soon enough. I think. We'll see.

Any questions, complaints, or concerns over my characterization of Kanaya? Tell me here! I'm always willing to try and improve. Be detailed, and thanks for your concern.

Comment screening is on for privacy.

This store has a large sign over it, written in a specific shade of green that may be quite familiar to those that know the store's owner.



Boy, this place keeps odd hours! A small sign on the glass door says this business opens an hour after sundown on the surface, and closes an hour before dawn. Beneath that another sign reads "Sorry But The Proprietor Of This Establishment Is Not Currently Present" during the day, but when she opens up the sign is flipped over to it's much simpler "Welcome" side. Sometimes the store is open outside of it's normal hours, especially on days where the weather up on the island is not so nice, or whenever Kanaya feels like getting some extra work done.

The front face of the building includes a large picture window which holds a few dress forms, backed by a thick curtain of velvet. Hanging off this window is a planter box filled with a variety of colorful flowers. Inside, more dress forms and mannequins stand, clothed in many different styles from the ultra-modern to historical period wear, to casual clothing and traditional outfits of many different cultures, fleshed out with a little of everything in between. The specific outfits on display change frequently, sometimes as often as every day, and the styles shift as their creator experiments and discovers different ideas. Men's and women's fashions are available, though usually there are more dresses than anything else.

None of these outfits have a price tag, as the clothing here is either made on commission or actually a part of the proprietor's own wardrobe. A small sign on the back wall indicates that this business is for clothing repairs, tailoring, and custom commission work, though you are welcome to make an offer on something if you like it.

A small counter stands next to a door leading to the back of the shop. The counter has a few fashion magazines and portfolios, material chosen to provide prospective clients with inspiration. A pair of stools are available as well, should one like to sit while perusing the books, or discussing designs with the owner.


A colorful curtain covers the doorway into the work room in back. This area used to be a chaotic mess of materials, but after the flooding damage things are decidedly under control. A few sparsely populated racks are available for half finished projects. Nearby are several closets and bins. Kanaya learned from her earlier mistake of leaving a lot of her materials around, and has invested heavily in organization.

In the far corner from the entryway is where most of the real work gets done. There's a collection of different sewing machines there, though some are sadly out of action. These devices can be finicky machines when they haven't been doused with salt water. Luckily Kanaya had a spare machine on the island in her hive, though she sorely feels the loss of her serger.

The final corner has a three angle mirror and a stepping block, perfect for test fittings. A nearby partition is available for changing, should a client prefer a bit of privacy.




A single bell chimes when the front door is opened, summoning the proud owner of this workshop and boutique from her work.

[ Player Name ] : HiddenKrypt
[ Personal DW ] : I don't have one. If I made one just for you to get ahold of me, I wouldn't log into it as often as I do this one. This is my primary and pretty much only DW account. I have a Plurk under the name hiddenKrypt, if that helps.
[ Age ] : I am 26.
[ Timezone ] : PST (GMT-8)
[ Other Characters ] : None

[ Character's Name ] : Kanaya Maryam
[ Character's Age ] : 6 Sweeps / 13 years
[ Series ] : HOMESTUCK
[ Canon Point ] : Up to date, having just left the green sun.
[ History ] : Wiki link


[ Personality ] :
As Great-Grandpa Alphonse always used to say: "When You don't know where to start, go back to da beginnin'"

To look at the aspects of Kanaya's personality I think it's helpful to examine the largest contributors and indicators of those aspects.

First of all, the ancestor thing. Troll society claims that the lives of your ancestors will be reflected in your own life. There seems to be some indications that this is true, even for the Trolls who have not discovered anything about their ancestors. Kanaya's ancestor had something resembling a mothering instinct, a pattern of behavior complely foreign to Trolls. Kanaya may have some of this instinct, but if so it mostly shows from her desire to help others. Not enough is known about the Dolorosa though to make much of any sort of inference from here. She may have had some form of a matespriteship with Mindfang, which might have been reflected in Kanaya's pining for Vriska pre-sgrub.

Kanaya was raised by a unique lusus, a Virign Mother Grub. This creature acted as her guardian and parent, and it is likely that from here Kanaya gained some social mores unique amongst her race. A Mother Grub accepting a young troll and becoming a lusus is an event so rare as to be without recorded precedent in a society where every good movie title has been taken so modern movies have horrifically long names. This is the first of several events that marked Kanaya as different from other Trolls. She was raised by a creature that is shown to fit the "caring mother" archetype. This is most likely the origin of Kanaya's friendly and helpful nature. In the end, Kanaya just wants to help people. sometimes this results in her getting accused of Meddling, but she does what she can to help anyway. She is accused of being "the vvillage twwo wwheel devvice wwhen it comes to auspisticing". Auspisticing is a troll quadrant position of mediating between two rivals to help them avoid their rivalry getting out of hand. The village two wheel device is a troll way of saying the village bicycle. It is readily apparent that Kanaya often is put in this position of mediator for her friends, helping wherever she can. Her Lusus may not have given her a true mothering instinct like her ancestor had (Trolls don't seem to be mammals, they don't care for their young at all), but the protective nature of a mother does seem to be a permanent part of Kanaya's personality.

Her chat handle is "grimAuxiliatrix". This, like many handles in Homestuck is a window in to her personality as well. Auxiliatrix is Latin for a "helpful woman", something we've discussed quite a bit already. The grim aspect is reflected in her willingness to do whatever she needs to, and how little she flinches at necessary tasks. In this way she is a fairly typical troll, unfazed by violence. She killed Eridan pretty much entirely out of revenge and in a horrifically violent manner. She has shown little thought or remorse for this act. She may seem like a nice person but under the right circumstances she has no problems with killing, something that may be off putting to any members of other cultures should they find out about her history. Besides the normal violence inherent in Trolls and Alternian society in general, Kanaya's grim nature may be a result of her time spent gardening and landscaping around her hive. To have maintained such a lush and well grown area in the middle of what seems like arid desert would take quite a dedication the the craft of agriculture. Such skills often lead to necessarily but unfortunate decisions, a form of triage being necessary to decide what plants will not be able to grow properly. In a way Kanaya has likely been culling the weak to protect what she can for a while, and this attitude for plants matches in some ways her attitude in other unfortunate circumstances. Her willingness to kill is not a symptom of evil, but of utilitarianism. She does not have any problem doing whatever it takes to protect those she cares about.

At an early age The First Guardian of Alternia, Doc Scratch, took an interest in Kanaya. What exactly he did there is not known, but Scratch's monologue suggests he may have been responsible for some aspects of Kanaya's oddness in her society, possibly including her eventual change into a Rainbow Drinker. This may have influenced her greatly. She shows a love of novels involving rainbow drinkers and she enjoys the sun, something which is said to be actively harmful to other trolls.

Romantically she is constantly attracted to women who live dangerous lives. This resulted in her infatuation with Vriska for a while, which was mostly ignored by the other Troll. She tried to curb Vriska's more violent tendencies, but could not keep an eye on her constantly, a fact that may bring her some remorse. She was hurt by Vriska, and has become more hesitant in her romantic inclinations. She is aware of her tendency to fall for dangerous women, and isn't sure if it is worth the risks anymore. She recognizes the same patterns with Rose, thus her infatuations are tainted with the fears caused by the wounds she has fairly recently gotten. Her primarily same-sex attraction is another aspect that separates her from most trolls whom Humans would identify as being normally Bisexual.

Finally, fashion and design. Kanaya is a consummate aesthete, taking time to landscape the area around her hive, to decorate her home, and to make unique clothing. It seems she is unique amongst trolls for a dedication to style as well as or instead of function. She enjoys making the world around her look better, and has on occasion made clothes for others, even though her friends have no care for frippery.

[ Strengths/Weaknesses ] :
Strenghts: Psychologically, she is quite resilient; barely fazed by scenes of violence or unpleasant necessities (sawing off Tavros's legs to prepare him for the robot prosthetics, cutting a disarmed Troll in half out of revenge.) Physically she seems to have gained much from becoming a Rainbow Drinker. She obviously can survive injuries, as we have no indication that the hole in her torso has been magically healed and yet it doesn't even seem to be an inconvenience. She also shows greater strength and speed, having punted Gamzee into the air and having sent Vriska flying with a punch. Seems like your typical undead vampiric damage resistance, strength, and speed, but not as over the top as often shown in films. For example, I doubt she's as strong as Equius even with her new state.

Weaknesses: In canon we haven't seen anything to indicate any special weaknesses really. There seem to be hints that Rainbow Drinkers receive energy from the sun though, and Kanaya misses sunlight quite a bit (it's why she wanted to stay with Sollux and Aradia a the sun.) Because there's some obvious advantages to being a rainbow Drinker, I think this would be turned into a weakness as well. Vatheon lies beneath the waves, so she will not get the sun she needs. I think she will lose energy a bit quicker than other characters, needing to spend more time touching Coral to get a "full charge", and needing to do so more often than others might.
There's also the matter of Blood. The canon has not indicated if Blood is a requirement of rainbow drinkers or something they just enjoy. It doesn't look like it will matter too much either way though, as this question in the FAQ seems to indicate that Kanaya will not be without options when it comes to drinking. Should I end up in a situation where blood is not available, I'll roleplay out the hunger anyway and probably try to petition other player characters for a drink. Either way, if she can't get to the locals for blood I doubt she can get to the coral, so she'll probably be pretty bad off from the energy thing already. If you think this is something that should be figured out anyway let me know what you think, I could play it nearly any way.

[ Other Important Facts ] :
She is armed with a chainsaw that doubles are black or green lipstick. She's alchemicalized a more powerful chainsaw, but really, it's a chainsaw. We're all pretty familiar with the sort of damage it can cause. IT seems to change from it's innocuous double to a weapon at Kanaya's will, so there's no chance of her accidentally chopping her head off while touching up her makeup. This also makes such a bulky weapon surprisingly portable.
Kanaya is a Rainbow Drinker, which is sort of a Troll reverse vampire. They "charge up" in the sunlight, and glow in the dark. They drink blood with the attitude of a connoisseur, and seem to have heightened physical prowess. They differ greatly from and in opposition to many vampire myths of human culture. The canon has not suggested any special weaknesses to garlic, crosses, running water, wooden stakes, or any other typical vampire things. The weaknesses I suggested above are pretty much headcanon, added because a character with this sort of a buff and no drawbacks isn't much fun!

[ Sample ] :
My primary example is this thread in a friend's musebox. That friend is the one that convinced me to apply to Vatheon, I don't know what name she uses here though.

For completeness and humor I will respond to the prompts you have as well:

- A new curse has settled upon the city of Vatheon: Suddenly you character realizes they are unable to lie for the duration of a week. How do they react?
I Don't See What The Problem Is. There Is Some Inconvenience Here But Is Honesty Really That Bad? I Don't Know What You're All Complaining About.

- What is this? Is that rain? How nice-- wait a minute, is it raining rubber duckies? Seriously?
...No comment. Goes about her day, ignoring the rubber quackbeasts.

- Suddenly, by the force of Vatheon, an over zealous npc, or even your character's friends playing a joke, your character suddenly finds themselves wearing clothes they otherwise would never wear. What do?
This Do.
But seriously, she would not be pleased. The first goal is to get OUT of this horrible outfit or at least modify it into something less appalling. Then, find out who or what is responsible for this travesty. Make them Pay. Preferably in a manner that with either serve as a lesson to others, or in such way as to give the perpetrators a lesson in proper fashion.

- The city of Vatheon is under attack (again). Giant sea-creatures are wrecking the city (again). Time to prepare for battle.
Prepare my Chainsaw/lipstick, touch the coral again just to be sure, and head to battle. I must protect this place, not for myself but for the friends I have here.

- A new plot development has happened and your character has decided to get some more information from one of the NPCs. How do they proceed?
Perhaps If I Simply Ask Nicely I Can Get The Information I Require With A Minimal Fuss. It Depends On How Much I Need The Information Though; I Just Want To Make Sure We Are All Safe. I Will Resort To Threats Or Even Violence If I Must.


[ Questions? Comments? Concerns? ] :
I don't know how other Homestucks handle the quirks thing. If I am accepted I'll just mimic their ways of doing the Quirks, or I'll do it the way I have above for the prompts.

With Kanaya it isn't so bad, but I use punctuation just because it makes dialog so much easier to understand when I'm not using newlines to indicate sentence ends. If I am communicating via some sort of chat client I will follow the quirk faithfully (No punctuation at all, each word starts with a capital letter, text will be styles ala pesterchum / trollian)
i.e.
GA: Hello
GA: Is Anybody Receiving This
GA: I May Require Assistance

Hello

You Have Reached The Communication Device Of Kanaya Maryam

Please Leave A Message Detailing Your Name Your Contact Information And The Reason You Are Looking To Hear From Me

Thank You

-BEEP-