Unfinished Library App
Jan. 5th, 2026 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silkwaltzPlayer Name: Kiwi
Player Contact(s):![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
atomic_kiwi, 
Atomic_Kiwi, or PMs
Are you over 18? yes
Do you have any other characters in game?: Charles Rowland
Who invited you?: N/A
Character Name: Klori Demure Pax of Clan Hla'afin (Or Demi for short)
Canon: Original/DnD
Canon Point: In the preparations for leaving his mother's home to join Lhaca's harem next year.
Age: 23
History:
-Driders in this world are not misshapen drow but more convergent evolution. They and the drow in recent decades allied to kill their oppressive goddess the Great Weaver, with the driders devouring her body and the drow sipping her blood to share the power and to cement their alliance as something the drider call ‘Devourer Kin’. Even with this new alliance, society is still in the process of shifting from that overt control to something else. Factions have sprung up, from those who think this is all a test by the Great Weaver and don't want anything to change, to those who think they should take her place and nothing else changes, to those who want things to change, whether with themselves in power or something else entirely. Most of the Clans fall into one of these camps, with Demure's Clan being a somewhat moderate sort, knowing change is inevitable, but not wanting too much to be different at least in how much power they have.
- Demure was born into the Hla'afin clan to the matriarch Klori. His family is well-known as being a line that produces powerful Seers and mages, so in general he's rather well-off (That he's the eighth son also plays into that given drider society's consideration of the eight of anything being lucky or a good omen.) Since his father also comes from a line well-known for siring females and magic-users both, a match was arranged fairly early on in his life as a way to bind the Hla'afin to another powerful clan, where he was to be consort for the third daughter of Clan Detral, Yivu.
- He spent his years being brought up in a way that reflected Yivu's preferences for her consorts, learning music as she prefers her consorts be able to entertain. This also included subtle lessons in self-defense. While not 'technically' appropriate, males in a harem could be rather violent towards one another to keep their status or climb higher so it was better for them to have some method to fight back that didn't require their fangs and could be executed out of the social eye. For Demure this meant hidden weapons such as hair pins, poisons, and as a mainstay, a pair of fans designed with combat in mind.
- As far as he was concerned, this was a life to look forward to- his betrothed only ate her consorts in 'reasonable' situations or for romance rather than indiscriminately, and he enjoyed the hobbies that were being encouraged.
- Unfortunately for him, when he was around 20, Yivu was slain in a raid- there were suspicions of sabotage by another house or one of her sisters but nothing provable. Her younger sister Lhaca agreed to take up the betrothal in her stead, both for the alliance on offer as well as the potential for magic in her future daughters.
- This changed quite a bit for Demure however- unlike Yivu, Lhaca is more deeply traditional, dislikes her consorts having hobbies, and is well-known to be more quick to maim or outright eat them. While not forbidden this can be seen as a bit rash and wasteful, especially as easily as Lhaca tends to do this. She also hates the color blue, which means Demure has to paint the blue markings on his face red to match her preferred aesthetic, wear toecaps that disallow him from climbing or doing much jumping, and wear a half mask that hinders his ability to bite or speak.
- While he's doing his best to live by the new rules as his 24th birthday comes closer and with it the day he's to join Lhaca's harem, he finds himself having... doubts if this is really what he wants to do. But at the same time what else could he do?
Is this character an AU? What type?: n/a
Personality:
At first blush, Demure tends to be what one would expect from a well-brought up drider male, especially from a well-off Clan. Well-mannered, not overly loud or boisterous, not too energetic, but not so retiring as to vanish entirely into the background. Companionable when social mores allow, happy to make friends if the situation lets him. And for a drider, he's sweet-tempered, for all that is sometimes skewed by the society he was raised in.
Maybe with a bit too much of an adventurous streak or curiosity for his own good, but he's managed to keep a lid on it when it matters so far- he might want to know things, but he also has a healthy fear of being eaten that tempers him to exercise more caution in pursuit of that curiosity. There is a part of him that is uneasy with his place, with the fate expected of him, but it's fairly solidly buried right now under both the expectations of the society he was born and raised in, as well as the duty he feels to the family he loves, flaws and all. Even if he did recognize those parts of himself, he would do his best to bury them as it stands, both to avoid bringing shame to his Clan, and out of a healthy like of staying in one piece.
None of this means he won't defend himself though- as with most males in his social strata, he was taught to defend himself, with the general expectation that he would only use the skills against other males gunning for his position, and especially not anywhere it could be observed. Not that he would be cruel about it- he knows that they're all just doing their best for themselves and their Clans, but he's not about to just let someone else do him harm. He doesn't typically take any joy from that situation either, for all others would think him soft for it. He'd just rather make friends than have to worry about all of the backbiting and potential violence, for all he's well aware he's the minority in that respect.
All in all, while he'd protest the idea, Demure fits less in the society he's been raised in than he'd like to think, but desperate to prove his usefulness to his family and make his mother proud, he's not likely to realize that without being launched wildly out of his comfort zone.
Powers and Abilities:
Demure’s magic is a variation on traditional silk magic found in drider society, using silk he spins as a focus or component for spell work that at it’s core is about manipulating the Unending Web. At this point he has no training in it, and his abilities are still developing. This means it is largely subconscious, with most effects appearing instinctive at this point rather than as deliberate spell work, and he tends to excuse the effects as happenstance or something with a logical base, as the idea of a male able to manipulate the Even Weave is not considered possible amongst the matriarchal driders. He can do spell work without the silk focus, but it is very likely to fail or backfire catastrophically on him. (Abilities he’s not figured out but has the capacity for are in italics.)
Inventory: Amongst his general outfit, Demure has two combat fans (disguised as normal fans, but with sharp edges) a multitude of hair and clothing pins that could be used as weapons akin to a lady’s hat pin, a small knife hidden in a bracelet, as well as a few poisons he could coat any of these with. None of the poisons are deadly to a drider, and are things like hallucinogens, anesthetics, or paralytics- the sort of things if he was caught with, he could claim are for ‘recreational’ use. He also has what amounts to a bag of holding that acts as a pull-out instrument case for a guzheng.
Sample: TDM
When presented with a choice, is the character more likely to stick with tried and true methods? Or make something new up on the fly?
In general, Demure is going to try and stick with the familiar at first, given his upbringing and social conditioning. However, there is a curious streak to him, a burgeoning sense of adventure under the caution and family loyalty that encourages the occasional experimentation, though he tends to be almost wary of it and only indulges when the risk seems acceptable to him in some way. When faced with a problem, he's most likely to try to adapt known skills or solutions in a creative manner than risk an entirely untested solution, in a balance of careful prudence and creativity.
What is more important to your character, preserving the past or forging a future?
Thanks to his upbringing, Demure places a high importance on preserving the past; tradition, family expectations, and clan stability are all deeply ingrained priorities. His loyalty to his Clan, especially his mother, and his desire to avoid shaming them through his actions strongly influence this choice. While he doesn’t consciously seek change, he does sometimes wonder what lies beyond the idea of what’s always been done, and will, when feeling especially brave, reach for that instead. He preserves the past not out of belief in it’s perfection, rather because it feels safer to him now than imagining alternatives.
How does your character influence their own story? What about the stories of others?
Demure’s influence on his own story is quiet, and subtle- through careful compliance, self-discipline, and small privately made choices that allow him to survive and be useful in the existing social structure he’s grown up in. By fulfilling expectations, adapting to what’s required of him, he steers his life away from potential harm, even if this does limit his visible agency in the process. In other’s lives, his influence is similarly subtle, he listens, tries to offer calm in a conflict, rather than using any sort of overt control as a matter of safety both for himself and others- in drider culture weaknesses of any sort are not to be highlighted after all. He doesn’t direct events outright, but his presence can alter the course of a situation through easing tensions, preserving a balance in fragile social environments in a way that is easy to overlook but is meaningful all the same.
Are you alright with your character’s canon being used as a Recommended Reading?: Go for it!
Player Contact(s):
Atomic_Kiwi, or PMsAre you over 18? yes
Do you have any other characters in game?: Charles Rowland
Who invited you?: N/A
Character Name: Klori Demure Pax of Clan Hla'afin (Or Demi for short)
Canon: Original/DnD
Canon Point: In the preparations for leaving his mother's home to join Lhaca's harem next year.
Age: 23
History:
-Driders in this world are not misshapen drow but more convergent evolution. They and the drow in recent decades allied to kill their oppressive goddess the Great Weaver, with the driders devouring her body and the drow sipping her blood to share the power and to cement their alliance as something the drider call ‘Devourer Kin’. Even with this new alliance, society is still in the process of shifting from that overt control to something else. Factions have sprung up, from those who think this is all a test by the Great Weaver and don't want anything to change, to those who think they should take her place and nothing else changes, to those who want things to change, whether with themselves in power or something else entirely. Most of the Clans fall into one of these camps, with Demure's Clan being a somewhat moderate sort, knowing change is inevitable, but not wanting too much to be different at least in how much power they have.
- Demure was born into the Hla'afin clan to the matriarch Klori. His family is well-known as being a line that produces powerful Seers and mages, so in general he's rather well-off (That he's the eighth son also plays into that given drider society's consideration of the eight of anything being lucky or a good omen.) Since his father also comes from a line well-known for siring females and magic-users both, a match was arranged fairly early on in his life as a way to bind the Hla'afin to another powerful clan, where he was to be consort for the third daughter of Clan Detral, Yivu.
- He spent his years being brought up in a way that reflected Yivu's preferences for her consorts, learning music as she prefers her consorts be able to entertain. This also included subtle lessons in self-defense. While not 'technically' appropriate, males in a harem could be rather violent towards one another to keep their status or climb higher so it was better for them to have some method to fight back that didn't require their fangs and could be executed out of the social eye. For Demure this meant hidden weapons such as hair pins, poisons, and as a mainstay, a pair of fans designed with combat in mind.
- As far as he was concerned, this was a life to look forward to- his betrothed only ate her consorts in 'reasonable' situations or for romance rather than indiscriminately, and he enjoyed the hobbies that were being encouraged.
- Unfortunately for him, when he was around 20, Yivu was slain in a raid- there were suspicions of sabotage by another house or one of her sisters but nothing provable. Her younger sister Lhaca agreed to take up the betrothal in her stead, both for the alliance on offer as well as the potential for magic in her future daughters.
- This changed quite a bit for Demure however- unlike Yivu, Lhaca is more deeply traditional, dislikes her consorts having hobbies, and is well-known to be more quick to maim or outright eat them. While not forbidden this can be seen as a bit rash and wasteful, especially as easily as Lhaca tends to do this. She also hates the color blue, which means Demure has to paint the blue markings on his face red to match her preferred aesthetic, wear toecaps that disallow him from climbing or doing much jumping, and wear a half mask that hinders his ability to bite or speak.
- While he's doing his best to live by the new rules as his 24th birthday comes closer and with it the day he's to join Lhaca's harem, he finds himself having... doubts if this is really what he wants to do. But at the same time what else could he do?
Is this character an AU? What type?: n/a
Personality:
At first blush, Demure tends to be what one would expect from a well-brought up drider male, especially from a well-off Clan. Well-mannered, not overly loud or boisterous, not too energetic, but not so retiring as to vanish entirely into the background. Companionable when social mores allow, happy to make friends if the situation lets him. And for a drider, he's sweet-tempered, for all that is sometimes skewed by the society he was raised in.
Maybe with a bit too much of an adventurous streak or curiosity for his own good, but he's managed to keep a lid on it when it matters so far- he might want to know things, but he also has a healthy fear of being eaten that tempers him to exercise more caution in pursuit of that curiosity. There is a part of him that is uneasy with his place, with the fate expected of him, but it's fairly solidly buried right now under both the expectations of the society he was born and raised in, as well as the duty he feels to the family he loves, flaws and all. Even if he did recognize those parts of himself, he would do his best to bury them as it stands, both to avoid bringing shame to his Clan, and out of a healthy like of staying in one piece.
None of this means he won't defend himself though- as with most males in his social strata, he was taught to defend himself, with the general expectation that he would only use the skills against other males gunning for his position, and especially not anywhere it could be observed. Not that he would be cruel about it- he knows that they're all just doing their best for themselves and their Clans, but he's not about to just let someone else do him harm. He doesn't typically take any joy from that situation either, for all others would think him soft for it. He'd just rather make friends than have to worry about all of the backbiting and potential violence, for all he's well aware he's the minority in that respect.
All in all, while he'd protest the idea, Demure fits less in the society he's been raised in than he'd like to think, but desperate to prove his usefulness to his family and make his mother proud, he's not likely to realize that without being launched wildly out of his comfort zone.
Powers and Abilities:
- He can jump real high!
- Can climb any surface a spider could reasonably clamber up.
- Has a mild venom when he bites- an irritant and mild paralytic.
- He can excrete silk of several varieties, limited by his own energy, and how much he’s been eating lately:
- Structural: non-adhesive, this is general thread for structures/climbing/fabrics/etc
- Binding: adhesive, this is for wrapping, adhesion, stabilization (how long it stays adhesive depends on how much of that compound gets woven in)
- Stellate: This is ‘medical’ silk- can be applied as a bandage, is antimicrobial, and dries semi-rigid.
- Even Weave: This is the silk specifically spun for his magic
- Limb regeneration: If he loses a leg, Demure can regenerate it. This takes time, and several molts, assuming nothing goes wrong. How long it takes depends on how quickly he forces a molt, which is generally not ideal as they are risky.
- Thanks to his training, he’s a level 3 rogue, with a Dancer subclass. This means that rather than focusing on assassin work or thievery, his focus is on performance and dance as a misdirection and combat style, using things like combat fans and fighting techniques that can be masked as simple dance steps, as it is designed to allow male driders to have a method of self-defense against rivals in a harem, but that allows for plausible deniability, as it’s simply dancing to the unaware.
Demure’s magic is a variation on traditional silk magic found in drider society, using silk he spins as a focus or component for spell work that at it’s core is about manipulating the Unending Web. At this point he has no training in it, and his abilities are still developing. This means it is largely subconscious, with most effects appearing instinctive at this point rather than as deliberate spell work, and he tends to excuse the effects as happenstance or something with a logical base, as the idea of a male able to manipulate the Even Weave is not considered possible amongst the matriarchal driders. He can do spell work without the silk focus, but it is very likely to fail or backfire catastrophically on him. (Abilities he’s not figured out but has the capacity for are in italics.)
- Comfort Thread: Calms nearby individuals and eases tension.
- Silk Sense: Detects motion, presence, or emotional resonance along silk lines he has spun. (He does not need to be touching the silk for this to work)
- Silk Stitch: Cuts in materials or flesh heal or repair at a much faster pace than expected. (even if such a cut would not normally self-repair)
- Web of Quiet: Dampens sound and stabilizes the magical energies within the web.
- Tangleglow: Projects patterns or motes of light from silk spun in sleep, storing fragments of memory or emotion.
- Heartstring: Creates subtle connections to others, providing awareness of their presence or mood.
- Whisper-Web: Transmits sound or short messages along silk threads.
- Thread of Stillness: Temporarily halts motion or soothes agitation.
- Memory Lattice: Replays a fragment of a memory or dream, either Demure’s or a willing companion.
- Binding Thread: Entangles and immobilizes a target, beyond the normal capabilities of silk- this includes things that would otherwise be unable to be caught, such as a person in a fog shape, or aflame.
- Veil Weave: Can be used on himself or another as a minor glamour, or to more efficiently hide in the shadows. The effects are subtle, enhancing, minorly altering, or downplaying traits already in existence.
- Echo Stitch: Captures brief sounds or phrases for later playback.
- Thread of Defiance: Breaks magical restraint or domination
- Starlit Veil: Allows a willing person a peaceful sleep with good dreams, even if the person is not typically able to sleep or dream. It also enhances any healing or restorative treatments or spell work done beforehand. Demure cannot benefit from this himself.
Inventory: Amongst his general outfit, Demure has two combat fans (disguised as normal fans, but with sharp edges) a multitude of hair and clothing pins that could be used as weapons akin to a lady’s hat pin, a small knife hidden in a bracelet, as well as a few poisons he could coat any of these with. None of the poisons are deadly to a drider, and are things like hallucinogens, anesthetics, or paralytics- the sort of things if he was caught with, he could claim are for ‘recreational’ use. He also has what amounts to a bag of holding that acts as a pull-out instrument case for a guzheng.
Sample: TDM
When presented with a choice, is the character more likely to stick with tried and true methods? Or make something new up on the fly?
In general, Demure is going to try and stick with the familiar at first, given his upbringing and social conditioning. However, there is a curious streak to him, a burgeoning sense of adventure under the caution and family loyalty that encourages the occasional experimentation, though he tends to be almost wary of it and only indulges when the risk seems acceptable to him in some way. When faced with a problem, he's most likely to try to adapt known skills or solutions in a creative manner than risk an entirely untested solution, in a balance of careful prudence and creativity.
What is more important to your character, preserving the past or forging a future?
Thanks to his upbringing, Demure places a high importance on preserving the past; tradition, family expectations, and clan stability are all deeply ingrained priorities. His loyalty to his Clan, especially his mother, and his desire to avoid shaming them through his actions strongly influence this choice. While he doesn’t consciously seek change, he does sometimes wonder what lies beyond the idea of what’s always been done, and will, when feeling especially brave, reach for that instead. He preserves the past not out of belief in it’s perfection, rather because it feels safer to him now than imagining alternatives.
How does your character influence their own story? What about the stories of others?
Demure’s influence on his own story is quiet, and subtle- through careful compliance, self-discipline, and small privately made choices that allow him to survive and be useful in the existing social structure he’s grown up in. By fulfilling expectations, adapting to what’s required of him, he steers his life away from potential harm, even if this does limit his visible agency in the process. In other’s lives, his influence is similarly subtle, he listens, tries to offer calm in a conflict, rather than using any sort of overt control as a matter of safety both for himself and others- in drider culture weaknesses of any sort are not to be highlighted after all. He doesn’t direct events outright, but his presence can alter the course of a situation through easing tensions, preserving a balance in fragile social environments in a way that is easy to overlook but is meaningful all the same.
Are you alright with your character’s canon being used as a Recommended Reading?: Go for it!
