biography / baedal app
Out of Character Information
Name: Jillian
Username: (if applicable) carnivalcodex
Are you over the age of eighteen? y
Current characters in Baedal: Rodolphus, Evan, Balthazar, St. John, Jason
In Character Information
Basics
Character Name: Sarasi Manandhar
Username: irandati
Fandom: OC
Played By: Sonam Kapoor
Icon: http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/114763012/44468233
Original Character Section
Physical Description: A tall woman of Indian descent, Sarasi is roughly 5'9" and 160 pounds, soft-figured but not particularly buxom. Her hair is a very dark brown-black, and falls almost to her shoulder blades, sometimes with a hint of curl; her eyes are dark brown. While her attire often varies based on the role she's playing, the style of the persona she most often presents is dressy, somewhat formal, and prone to wearing jewelry.
Sexuality:
World Information: KAY'S WORLD OF APOCALYPSE HUGS AND LADYMONSTERS
History: A daughter of the Pallavas, a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram from roughly 555 - 901 CE, Sarasi claims descent from the nagas who once lived in an underground kingdom known as Naga-loka or Patala-loka. Long ago a resplendent realm, it lies empty and in ruins now, the snake descendants scattered, dying, and dead. Its decay is linked to the thinning of power with human integration as well as the desecration and pollution of the waters that served as the link and gateway between that world and the human world. Sarasi too had declined, growing old and weak as the years passed, until the Apocalypse, when her powers were renewed. She'd never been much of a humanist, but being among those released by Sonja from the Prometheus labs, she willingly joined their cause, though she only cares about it in the most general of ways, i.e. being opposed to everything being destroyed.
Irandati was the name of a naga princess. Sarasi is not Irandati, but she finds it to her advantage, from time to time, to pretend that she is, for Purposes and Reasons. She may in fact be related, somewhat distantly, to Irandati; both of her parents were of partial naga heritage themselves. From the Velurpalaiyam plates dated to 852 CE:...from him (Asvatthaman) in order (came) Pallava, the lord of the whole earth, whose fame was bewildering. Thence, came into existence the race of Pallavas... [including the son of Chutapallava] Virakurcha, of celebrated name, who simultaneously with (the hand of) the daughter of the chief of serpents grasped also the complete insignia of royalty and became famous.
From the Kasakadi plates, composed in 753 AD:From [them] descended the powerful, spotless Pallava dynasty [vamsavatara], which resembled a partial incarnation [amsavatara] of Visnu, as it displayed unbroken courage in conquering the circle of the world...and which resembled the descent of the Ganges [gangavatara] as it purified the whole world.
So some of her ancestors were kings, but she and her immediate family were not royalty, though they were well off and of the Kshatriya caste. They lived primarily on earth, but traveled several times a year to Patala-loka, up until Sarasi was about thirteen, which is when it started to become more difficult and dangerous. Additionally, the Pallava dominion passed to the Chola kings around 880 (from whom they are perhaps descended -- the matter is under debate due to a lack of reputable documents). There are other dynasties that claim descent from nagas, but her particular branch was decimated. She, her sister, and her mother fled to Patala-loka, where they lived for some time before its decline forced them to rejoin the human world.
The time that passed in declining Patala-loka was, to them, little more than a year. When they returned to the human realm, however, they found that nearly five hundred years had passed. Though the new world and era was incredibly difficult to manage, it was debateably better than emerging into their own, where they would have had to face persecution from the Chola dynasty which had succeeded theirs. India in the 1400s was largely under control of Persian-based Muslim armies: in 1206, the Sultanate of Delhi had been established, an empire based on Muslim theocracy and military might. It would last until 1526. Despite Muslim rule, the caste system continued, now with Muslim rulers at the top, and the native Indians kept poor through harsh taxation. The Muslim accepted Hindus as "people of the book" (what they called Jews and Christians in the west, because they shared the same Biblical traditions as the Muslim), as long as they kept to their place in society. Sarasi and her family's first interaction with this new paradigm was a disaster which led to her mother's death. She and her sister were separated in the ensuing flight; when Sarasi took refuge in a village temple, her life as con artist began. She was taken as and then actively made herself out to be various supernatural entities of lore and occasionally, reincarnations. Manasa was the original con, as she is a Hindu folk goddess of snakes, a daughter of Shiva and the one from whom the byname "of the poison eye" comes. At the time, Sarasi did not actually possess the ability to strike people down with a glance, but she could heal people of poison very easily, as Manasa is venerated for, and she could from time to time and with enough preparation take various shapes. Her reception was varied over the years. In some places she was accepted as, if not a reincarnation, at least someone capable of doing some seriously weird shit, and in other places, she was run out of town.
Powers: Propensity for and limited control of water. She can sense (both with smell and an inner instinct) the presence of water, and it improves her general well-being, mental state, and powers. She can use it to scry or to travel between places, but only if the bodies of water are natural, she's not going to pop out of your toilet. Even a manmade lake is not sufficient, though if it's been there for a few years, then maybe she'll be able to squeeze through. She can purify a body of water, but it takes a lot out of her, and the bigger the body of water, the harder it is. Much easier to take a handful of water from a dirty source and purify just that handful for drinking than trying to bless the whole damn thing.
Shape-shifting. She can assume a few different forms ranging between human and snake (normal snake, bigger snake, GIANT SNAKE, human torso with snake tail, human body with multiple snake heads -- the last two are extra taxing and will wipe her out once she resumes human form). In these various snake forms she still is able to travel via water, but scrying, healing, and purifying require that she be in an at least partially human form. Her snake forms also allow her to be venomous :E the venom is comparable to that of Oxyuranus scutellatus (coastal or common taipan), capable of causing death in humans anywhere from 30 minutes to eight hours if left untreated.
Communication with snakes. She can communicate with and... sort of command them, but generally speaking, snakes aren't really biddable, nor do they have a language. Though it depends on the individual snake's temperament, they will usually (if they aren't magical) recognize her for what she is, and give her a wide berth. She could herd them around a bit, drive them to an area maybe, or drive them out of an area, but it's mostly done with pheromones and posturing. Soothing them is about the most nuanced form of control she has, so she can, in fact, "charm" snakes, if she wished to do such a silly thing.
Healing. Her personal regeneration is quicker than that of a human's, but her healing powers, which she can only use on other people or animals, are much stronger and more effective, capable of repairing broken limbs and internal damage as well as curing poison and disease. However, even with the power upgrade from the apocalypse, she has a limit of about ten critically injured people, perhaps twenty if their injuries aren't too bad. Furthermore, doing all ten or all twenty will knock her out for the rest of the day.
Poison eye. With a single gaze, she can strike a baseline human with no magical defenses down by infusing them with poison. Effects range from partial paralysis to intense pain, hallucinations, and if not removed or left untreated, death. This is different from her natural poisoning capabilities (available only in her various snake forms) -- it comes from her fake left eye, in which is embedded a shard of the Nagamani jewel, that which was once the gem in Vasuki's forehead. It can only be used 2-3 times within a short period, because she takes some damage from using it as well, though not nearly as much. Magical defenses, supernatural constitutions, etc., will weaken or outright block the effect. Someone like Balthazar, for instance, who is immune to most poisons, would still reel as if whacked in the face (and probably feel some temporary pain), but would not actually be damaged much.
Talents/Abilities: She is a trained classical dancer, though not a very good one. Raised in a time when writing was a far more arduous task than it is now, her auditory memory is very good. She speaks and reads a few languages, and is a passable singer in the Carnatic style (she would do better accompanying other vocalists).
Personality: Anything but cold-blooded, Sarasi is above all else a conwoman. Personal gain has been the name of her game for centuries, but she is philosophical about it, not ruthless -- not malicious in her manipulativeness, not greedy, but opportunistic -- a gambler who does it for the its own sake, a good loser but an unscrupulous cheater as well. With that comes a certain callousness, a default level of disregard for the trouble she puts people through, but she is not without empathy, just lacking in sympathy. She doesn't balk at killing people, but before the apocalypse happened, she would have said it's often more trouble than it's worth, or may come with bigger potential unforeseen consequences than leaving a person alive. She would also have said, though, that that would depend on the situation. Moral flexibility and an easy conscience are useful things to develop as someone who plays the odds. Now, her world is in a pretty shitty place, and as she sees it, people are going to die anyway, it's not really the appropriate time to be fussy about these matters. She's not much of a hero (none of them are!), nor is she much of a humanist, but the world ending is not in her interest, so she is aligned with Sonja's cause. Other than personal gain, however, the cause closest to her heart would be the restoration of Patala-loka and the gathering up of her people. It's not something she talks or even thinks about often, being too cynical to dream of such an unlikely event, but if anyone were in a position to set these matters to that course, it's her and she knows it. She's one of the oldest remaining nagas (as far as she knows, there are a few others in various parts of Asia) and she has a piece of an important cultural relic. Obviously, however, destroying Lucas takes priority.
She can be kind just as easily as she can be cruel, though she often assigns neither value to her actions. One of her past aliases was Lucky, short for Lakshmi, and while she was a follower of Hinduism growing up, the way she's lived her life is really in devotion to that idea of luck or fortune. That isn't to say she's opposed to hard work, but Sarasi prefers to be picky about what she'll put hard work into, and thus ends up choosing very few such pursuits. But, for instance, you can't con your way into learning traditional Indian dances -- you have to practice and work at it, something which she did as little as possible of, because while growing up it was her parents who wanted her to learn and she had no real interest.
Object:
Reason for playing: Aw man I just like Kay's world a lot, and I wanna play a neat kickass lady for a gosh darn change.
Gods: Rundas, for luck and gambling. Toivo for healing, though she's not very generous or gracious about it unless you're a friend. Shada for sea serpents :3~ and Maryis for the river.
Writing Samples
First-Person Network Post:
First-Person Journal Post:
Third-Person Arrival Post:
Third-Person Action Post:
Misc
Other:
Name: Jillian
Username: (if applicable) carnivalcodex
Are you over the age of eighteen? y
Current characters in Baedal: Rodolphus, Evan, Balthazar, St. John, Jason
In Character Information
Basics
Character Name: Sarasi Manandhar
Username: irandati
Fandom: OC
Played By: Sonam Kapoor
Icon: http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/114763012/44468233
Original Character Section
Physical Description: A tall woman of Indian descent, Sarasi is roughly 5'9" and 160 pounds, soft-figured but not particularly buxom. Her hair is a very dark brown-black, and falls almost to her shoulder blades, sometimes with a hint of curl; her eyes are dark brown. While her attire often varies based on the role she's playing, the style of the persona she most often presents is dressy, somewhat formal, and prone to wearing jewelry.
Sexuality:
World Information: KAY'S WORLD OF APOCALYPSE HUGS AND LADYMONSTERS
History: A daughter of the Pallavas, a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram from roughly 555 - 901 CE, Sarasi claims descent from the nagas who once lived in an underground kingdom known as Naga-loka or Patala-loka. Long ago a resplendent realm, it lies empty and in ruins now, the snake descendants scattered, dying, and dead. Its decay is linked to the thinning of power with human integration as well as the desecration and pollution of the waters that served as the link and gateway between that world and the human world. Sarasi too had declined, growing old and weak as the years passed, until the Apocalypse, when her powers were renewed. She'd never been much of a humanist, but being among those released by Sonja from the Prometheus labs, she willingly joined their cause, though she only cares about it in the most general of ways, i.e. being opposed to everything being destroyed.
Irandati was the name of a naga princess. Sarasi is not Irandati, but she finds it to her advantage, from time to time, to pretend that she is, for Purposes and Reasons. She may in fact be related, somewhat distantly, to Irandati; both of her parents were of partial naga heritage themselves. From the Velurpalaiyam plates dated to 852 CE:...from him (Asvatthaman) in order (came) Pallava, the lord of the whole earth, whose fame was bewildering. Thence, came into existence the race of Pallavas... [including the son of Chutapallava] Virakurcha, of celebrated name, who simultaneously with (the hand of) the daughter of the chief of serpents grasped also the complete insignia of royalty and became famous.
From the Kasakadi plates, composed in 753 AD:From [them] descended the powerful, spotless Pallava dynasty [vamsavatara], which resembled a partial incarnation [amsavatara] of Visnu, as it displayed unbroken courage in conquering the circle of the world...and which resembled the descent of the Ganges [gangavatara] as it purified the whole world.
So some of her ancestors were kings, but she and her immediate family were not royalty, though they were well off and of the Kshatriya caste. They lived primarily on earth, but traveled several times a year to Patala-loka, up until Sarasi was about thirteen, which is when it started to become more difficult and dangerous. Additionally, the Pallava dominion passed to the Chola kings around 880 (from whom they are perhaps descended -- the matter is under debate due to a lack of reputable documents). There are other dynasties that claim descent from nagas, but her particular branch was decimated. She, her sister, and her mother fled to Patala-loka, where they lived for some time before its decline forced them to rejoin the human world.
The time that passed in declining Patala-loka was, to them, little more than a year. When they returned to the human realm, however, they found that nearly five hundred years had passed. Though the new world and era was incredibly difficult to manage, it was debateably better than emerging into their own, where they would have had to face persecution from the Chola dynasty which had succeeded theirs. India in the 1400s was largely under control of Persian-based Muslim armies: in 1206, the Sultanate of Delhi had been established, an empire based on Muslim theocracy and military might. It would last until 1526. Despite Muslim rule, the caste system continued, now with Muslim rulers at the top, and the native Indians kept poor through harsh taxation. The Muslim accepted Hindus as "people of the book" (what they called Jews and Christians in the west, because they shared the same Biblical traditions as the Muslim), as long as they kept to their place in society. Sarasi and her family's first interaction with this new paradigm was a disaster which led to her mother's death. She and her sister were separated in the ensuing flight; when Sarasi took refuge in a village temple, her life as con artist began. She was taken as and then actively made herself out to be various supernatural entities of lore and occasionally, reincarnations. Manasa was the original con, as she is a Hindu folk goddess of snakes, a daughter of Shiva and the one from whom the byname "of the poison eye" comes. At the time, Sarasi did not actually possess the ability to strike people down with a glance, but she could heal people of poison very easily, as Manasa is venerated for, and she could from time to time and with enough preparation take various shapes. Her reception was varied over the years. In some places she was accepted as, if not a reincarnation, at least someone capable of doing some seriously weird shit, and in other places, she was run out of town.
Powers: Propensity for and limited control of water. She can sense (both with smell and an inner instinct) the presence of water, and it improves her general well-being, mental state, and powers. She can use it to scry or to travel between places, but only if the bodies of water are natural, she's not going to pop out of your toilet. Even a manmade lake is not sufficient, though if it's been there for a few years, then maybe she'll be able to squeeze through. She can purify a body of water, but it takes a lot out of her, and the bigger the body of water, the harder it is. Much easier to take a handful of water from a dirty source and purify just that handful for drinking than trying to bless the whole damn thing.
Shape-shifting. She can assume a few different forms ranging between human and snake (normal snake, bigger snake, GIANT SNAKE, human torso with snake tail, human body with multiple snake heads -- the last two are extra taxing and will wipe her out once she resumes human form). In these various snake forms she still is able to travel via water, but scrying, healing, and purifying require that she be in an at least partially human form. Her snake forms also allow her to be venomous :E the venom is comparable to that of Oxyuranus scutellatus (coastal or common taipan), capable of causing death in humans anywhere from 30 minutes to eight hours if left untreated.
Communication with snakes. She can communicate with and... sort of command them, but generally speaking, snakes aren't really biddable, nor do they have a language. Though it depends on the individual snake's temperament, they will usually (if they aren't magical) recognize her for what she is, and give her a wide berth. She could herd them around a bit, drive them to an area maybe, or drive them out of an area, but it's mostly done with pheromones and posturing. Soothing them is about the most nuanced form of control she has, so she can, in fact, "charm" snakes, if she wished to do such a silly thing.
Healing. Her personal regeneration is quicker than that of a human's, but her healing powers, which she can only use on other people or animals, are much stronger and more effective, capable of repairing broken limbs and internal damage as well as curing poison and disease. However, even with the power upgrade from the apocalypse, she has a limit of about ten critically injured people, perhaps twenty if their injuries aren't too bad. Furthermore, doing all ten or all twenty will knock her out for the rest of the day.
Poison eye. With a single gaze, she can strike a baseline human with no magical defenses down by infusing them with poison. Effects range from partial paralysis to intense pain, hallucinations, and if not removed or left untreated, death. This is different from her natural poisoning capabilities (available only in her various snake forms) -- it comes from her fake left eye, in which is embedded a shard of the Nagamani jewel, that which was once the gem in Vasuki's forehead. It can only be used 2-3 times within a short period, because she takes some damage from using it as well, though not nearly as much. Magical defenses, supernatural constitutions, etc., will weaken or outright block the effect. Someone like Balthazar, for instance, who is immune to most poisons, would still reel as if whacked in the face (and probably feel some temporary pain), but would not actually be damaged much.
Talents/Abilities: She is a trained classical dancer, though not a very good one. Raised in a time when writing was a far more arduous task than it is now, her auditory memory is very good. She speaks and reads a few languages, and is a passable singer in the Carnatic style (she would do better accompanying other vocalists).
Personality: Anything but cold-blooded, Sarasi is above all else a conwoman. Personal gain has been the name of her game for centuries, but she is philosophical about it, not ruthless -- not malicious in her manipulativeness, not greedy, but opportunistic -- a gambler who does it for the its own sake, a good loser but an unscrupulous cheater as well. With that comes a certain callousness, a default level of disregard for the trouble she puts people through, but she is not without empathy, just lacking in sympathy. She doesn't balk at killing people, but before the apocalypse happened, she would have said it's often more trouble than it's worth, or may come with bigger potential unforeseen consequences than leaving a person alive. She would also have said, though, that that would depend on the situation. Moral flexibility and an easy conscience are useful things to develop as someone who plays the odds. Now, her world is in a pretty shitty place, and as she sees it, people are going to die anyway, it's not really the appropriate time to be fussy about these matters. She's not much of a hero (none of them are!), nor is she much of a humanist, but the world ending is not in her interest, so she is aligned with Sonja's cause. Other than personal gain, however, the cause closest to her heart would be the restoration of Patala-loka and the gathering up of her people. It's not something she talks or even thinks about often, being too cynical to dream of such an unlikely event, but if anyone were in a position to set these matters to that course, it's her and she knows it. She's one of the oldest remaining nagas (as far as she knows, there are a few others in various parts of Asia) and she has a piece of an important cultural relic. Obviously, however, destroying Lucas takes priority.
She can be kind just as easily as she can be cruel, though she often assigns neither value to her actions. One of her past aliases was Lucky, short for Lakshmi, and while she was a follower of Hinduism growing up, the way she's lived her life is really in devotion to that idea of luck or fortune. That isn't to say she's opposed to hard work, but Sarasi prefers to be picky about what she'll put hard work into, and thus ends up choosing very few such pursuits. But, for instance, you can't con your way into learning traditional Indian dances -- you have to practice and work at it, something which she did as little as possible of, because while growing up it was her parents who wanted her to learn and she had no real interest.
Object:
Reason for playing: Aw man I just like Kay's world a lot, and I wanna play a neat kickass lady for a gosh darn change.
Gods: Rundas, for luck and gambling. Toivo for healing, though she's not very generous or gracious about it unless you're a friend. Shada for sea serpents :3~ and Maryis for the river.
Writing Samples
First-Person Network Post:
First-Person Journal Post:
Third-Person Arrival Post:
Third-Person Action Post:
Misc
Other: