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[eclipse_of_time]

1. Player Information

Name: Faye!

Username: crossthesky on Plurk!

Current characters in ToS: Cuthbert Allgood!

Reserve: My reserve!


2. Canon Character Information

Name: Ming Numara

PB: Game art and stills

Journal: http://eclipse-of-time.dreamwidth.org/

Age: Ming is 1,230 at the time I'm taking her from, and looks to be in her late 20s/early 30s. Her physical age is listed as 30.

Appearance: Ming is average height with long reddish blond hair she tends to wear up in a high horse tail. She's remarkably pale with an oval face and vaguely Asian features. And while delicate, she's not exactly a small woman, possessing large hips, thighs and bust. Her movements are always graceful and performed with precision, and she tends to fold her hands before or behind her, like a schoolgirl. She's very expressive, and speaks with her hands as much as her voice. Her eyes are a dark gray, but turn violet when she's channeling and using magic.

She has a glowing blue abstract mark just above her breasts, in the center of her chest. This is the crest of Numara, and marks her as queen. She keeps it covered with a bit of jewelry that clips to her top, that mimics the design. It looks almost like an oblong diamond with wings bits and more detailed patterns inside the diamond.

She tends to wear very little clothing, coming from a humid and tropical climate.

History: Ming Numara is a powerful Sorceress, known in her word for being the Queen and founder of the Free Ocean State of Numara in the world of Plank. She is also an Immortal and has ruled Numara (mostly alone) for the past 1090 years. She existed at first in The Shining World, a being of pure energy, before her world began to die. She and four others were sent through a magical gate to another world, one which existed directly connected to her own. There, she lost all memories of The Shining World and was reformed into a human body. She was separated from her companions and came to live in a small coastal village. She knew only she had been sent here, and she was to live among the native peoples of this world and study their magical energy.

Unfortunately, her powers of healing marked her a witch, and the villagers she had healed and cared for turned against her. When she wouldn't die at their hands, they tossed her into the sea. Eventually she washed up on a barren group of islands. The people there were poor and unable to coax much life from the rocky soil and sweltering climate. But they didn't fear Ming. Rather they welcomed her with open arms and cared for her, and upon discovering her powers worshiped her as a holy woman. In turn, she used her gifts to transform the barren islands into the flourishing paradise now known as Numara.

But due to her first experiences with mortals, and a repeated history of generals and advisors plotting against her, Ming made the decision to never allow herself any manner of close relationship with mortals. If they didn't stab her in the back, they grew old, sick…died. It was far too much pain for her tender heart to bear. She kept herself aloof, distanced, and allowed herself no friendships or intimate relationships whatsoever. And for a thousand years she reigned as such. Numara remained entirely isolated. A neighboring power once thought to invade Numara, but fearing for her subjects, Ming destroyed the Eastern People entirely, wiping them out with magic before they ever reached Numara's borders.

All was peaceful and paradisiacal (as far as Ming was concerned) in the Ocean State...

Until the sorcerer and fellow Immortal Gongora set great monsters to destroy Numara, chaining Ming and offering her an ultimatum: either he destroyed her beloved people, or she sealed away her own memories of who she was and why she was here. Her people being everything to her, Ming did as she was forced to and sealed away her memories of the last thousand years. And for thirty years she was little more than a puppet ruler, a confused and curious woman who didn't even understand why her body didn't age, or why she had supposedly lived and ruled for a thousand years.

And then Numara's pacifist, isolation policy was dropped. Ming was being taken advantage of by her general, Kakanas, and was being coerced into starting a war with the country of Uhra against her will. Uhra was building giant magical engines called Grand Staffs, and Numara was investigating one. There, Ming found her private quarters invaded by a rather charismatic wandering mage named Jansen. She was kidnapped willfully by two fellow Immortals (Kaim and Seth) and Jansen - an alcoholic chivalrous pervert who had once been Gongora's personal valet. She learned why she had no memories - Gongora sealed the minds of all those who had come with him from the Shining World - and agreed to join them in stopping Gongora from attempting to take over Plank. She also learned that they were supposed to return to their homeward, that staying and leaving open the gate between the two worlds was killing both Plank and The Shining World.

Abandoning - for the moment - her throne, Ming became something of a fugitive, traveling with her kin and the mortals that joined them as well - including a pair of children who's mother Ming had been close to. Unbeknownst to her, as her memories were sealed, Lirrum - the closest thing Ming had to a friend - was the daughter of one of Ming's own kin, Kaim. Technically their leader, and the Immortal who had suffered greatest at the hands of Gongora.

Together they journeyed to the country of Gohtza, also at war with Uhra, and the center of industrial magic. Along the way, Jansen repeatedly attempted to woo Ming, who while interested, kept herself at a distance. It was a confusing time for her, as she felt a strong connection to Seth but couldn't remember why. It turned out that two hundred years ago, the two had been quite close. Closer than Ming had ever allowed herself to be with another person. And awkward love triangle was formed - though Jansen didn't quite realize exactly what was going on, only that Seth was fiercely possessive of Ming and tried to chase him away whenever he got close.

Upon reaching Gohtza, tragedy struck. Gongora, seeking to take all three major thrones, unleashed a devastating magical attack on the city. Everyone was frozen, killed by the cold or suffocating as living ice statues. Ming, Jansen and Seth had been meeting with the king of Gohtza and the young king Tolten of Uhra - even more a puppet than Ming - when the attack hit. Seth and Tolten escaped via means of magic. Ming and Jansen were left on the royal train, protected only by Ming's ever-weakening magic shield.

But then, just as her shield began to break and the deadly cold overtook Jansen, something happened. The powerful and painful thought of losing Jansen was the emotional power needed to unlock her memories. And her full potential as a mage. She remembered her life of loneliness and solitude, and confessed everything to Jansen. Something was clearly growing between the two, but then wasn't the time to explore it. They rescued Kaim's grandchildren, who had been caught in the wilds during the attack, and tracked down the rest of their motley little group.

At this point, they understood what needed to be done to save Plank - the Shining World was dying, no matter what was done. It was nothing more than the natural living energies of Plank that was killing it - human emotion. But the longer the gate stayed open and the longer the Immortals stayed, the more damage Plank itself would take. They needed to return through the gate and destroy the Tower of Mirrors, the keystone that linked the two worlds together.

It was at this point disagreements began to break out. Ming - as well as Kaim's wife - had no desire to return to their homeward. Kaim accused Ming of being selfish, and told them all they had no choice. But before they left to assault the Tower, Ming confessed to Jansen she wanted to stay. With him. She'd fallen deeply and madly in love with him, so much so that it frightened her. But she couldn't imagine an existence without him in it.

When it came down to it, the choice was taken away from them all. They fought Gongora in the Tower of Mirrors, in front of the Mirror Gate, and he used its power to gain the upper hand over his fellow Immortals. In the light of the Gate, they were mortal. However, Jansen, understanding magic and being a skilled mage, used his own magical energy to block the light of the gate. The other mortals joined in, forming a shield that allowed Ming, Kaim, Sarah and Seth to defeat their once-friend. But the light from the gate had warped the energy used to block it, forming a cage around the mortals who'd made it. And killing them slowly.

With - so she assumed - next to no time left, Jansen and Ming had a tearful confession of love, both admitting they'd never felt this way about another person before.

While distracted with their dying loved ones, Gongora rallied once more. But Seth grappled him, and both fell through the mirror gate, returning to their world and breaking the gate itself. The light, the magic shield, everything was gone. Those remaining fled the falling Tower, Ming, Kaim and Sarah currently trapped in Plank with no way to return home.

A year following the collapse of the Tower and Ming reclaiming her throne, she and Jansen were married. And from here on is extrapolated headcanon. The two had over sixty wonderful years together, three children and twice as many grandchildren. When Jansen finally passed - an old, happy man in his bed, surrounded by his family - Ming turned the throne over to her eldest daughter and took to a life of quiet seclusion to mourn her husband. For a century she simply lived in the palace, guiding her daughter when need be and waiting for the grief to pass.

By the time it had, her granddaughter was queen and Ming decided it was time for her to experience life beyond the walls of Numara.

Powers/Talents: Ming is an Immortal, which in her canon means she's a creature of pure magical energy stuffed into a human body. As she can't exist in that pure energy form outside of her own homeward, her body was reformed into that of a human's, and her magical energy manifests itself in extremely powerful magical abilities. She possess both healing and destructive magic, but focuses on her healing and defensive talents. Her magic is elemental based, and while she knows the strongest spells from her canon, she hasn't bothered to go through the process of learning how to cast them. And she does require a staff for any large spells - basically anything beyond fixing up bruises and scrapes and minor ailments, or creating a weak shield around herself or another, a ball of light to see by, etc etc. First level RPG magic, basically.

She also has the unique gift to see in someone's eyes whether or not that person has the capacity to betray her. Not whether or not they will, just if they have it within them to potentially betray her.

Non-magically she's a gifted harpist, singer, and public speaker, as well as a skilled monarch and diplomat.

Personality: Ming Numara is at her heart a patient, gentle and kind woman who is ruled by her emotions. She spent a thousand years keeping herself closed off from people, not allowing anyone close or beneath her calm public mask. She was known sometimes as the Melancholy Queen, and it was oft remarked there was an air of quiet sadness about her. But in her mind, it was better this way. A dull, constant small sadness was much better than the grief and pain that came from betrayal and loss.

She turned all the love and kindness in her heart to her people as a whole. And a thousand years of meditating and studying pacifistic religions has given Ming a sense of calm and peace within her. She's remarkably difficult to anger, and tries to see all sides of any given problem. She believes fully in giving the benefit of the doubt, and tends to think the best of people. Unless, of course, she's been given a reason different. Even then, she hopes. There was a general she was fond of, and one day she saw in his eyes the capacity to betray her. Rather than dealing with the problem then and there, Ming decided to wait and allow the general to make his own choice when the time came. But, as tended to happen, he attempted to take power from her and was executed as a traitor. Ming's justice is swift and final - for all traitors, there is a choice offered. Honorable death by their own hand…or dishonorable by hers. Despite her pleasant and kind nature, she can suffer no betrayal.

Due to the fact she kept herself away from people and out of social situations (or anything that wasn't being a priestess mage queen), she tends to have an almost childlike sense of wonder and excitement. New things amaze her, and she has an ability to find goodness and beauty in everything. She's very inquisitive, and loves to listen to the stories of other people. Having so few adventures of her own, the adventures of others are her favorite sort of things to hear. She can listen for hours and hours, content to not say a word, only nod and lose herself in the exciting ives of others. And now that she's moved beyond her crippling fear of emotional involvement of any sort, she takes great pleasure in meeting people and gathering new stories and new experiences from them.

And despite her pacifistic stance, Ming is more than willing to get her own hands dirty if she or her people are threatened. When her temper is roused, Ming's anger is swift and cold. It takes an extreme event to rouse that anger, however, or break through her calm kindness. Hurt a child or animal, or threaten her loved ones however, and the wrath of Ming is a terrible thing. She executes justice (she'd never think to call it vengeance. A queen's vengeance is justice, as far as she's concerned) clinically and quickly, with little fanfare.

Ming can get frustrated and exasperated when she isn't getting her ideas across, or when she feels unnecessarily challenged. As the only female monarch in Plank, when she dissolves her isolationist policy, she sometimes finds it difficult to be taken seriously. She's put out when she's dismissed as just a silly woman, more useful for decoration and music-making than ruling. And for those thirty years of amnesia, that was essentially all that she was. Reminders of that time get under her skin like few others do.

However, she sees no distinction in class or status. She treats the highest kind and the lowest town drunk with the same manner of respect and amicability. Unless given a very good reason to dislike someone, Ming typically doesn't.

She has a rather girlish sense of humor, and is quite easily amused - though she's not at all good at making jokes herself, and sarcasm is a foreign concept to her.

Even though Ming enjoys new experiences, she fears losing control of herself or having her wits addled. She doesn't drink - she's had two drinks in her entire life, both of which knocked her out immediately - and won't touch anything that could possibly muddle her senses. At first it was due to not wanting to slip up and accidentally get close to someone, these days it's lingering fear from when her memories were scrambled and she wasn't herself. She was a weak, foolish thing those thirty years and she has sworn she will never revisit that state, even a little.

She's also mostly a vegetarian, and will only eat fish.


Why would your character be chosen? Ming is considered the most beautiful and desirable woman in her world - akin to Helen of Troy. And beyond that, she's a skilled diplomat with an extremely kind nature and powerful magics.

How much does your character know about nonhumans? Ming is over a thousand years old and has spent most of that time studying magic and otherworldly phenomena, as researching Plank's magical energy was one of her main missions. She knows all about the various races on Plank, the world she's chosen as her home, and has a basic grasp of her own homeward - known as The Shining World. And she's aware that other worlds beyond those two exist, but she doesn't know anything about them.

Why this character: Lost Odyssey is my favorite video game, and I've always had a very special place in my heart for Ming. I've been writing her in fic for a few years, and have wanted to have her in a game, but it hasn't been a fit until now.

4. Samples


First-Person:

My goodness! While I understand what's being done here and that there's currently some manner of an upheaval, that's a rather frightening way of broaching the subject! It isn't always the best course of action to thrust one's customs on foreigners. Or one's magic! Surely you could simply ask? I imagine it would be far easier on all parties involved.

[The lilting, British-accented voice over the Network sounds more mildly put out than anything by the situation. But by the time she's moved on to address the others of the Waiting Room, that bit of mild annoyance is gone.]

Well, I'd best introduce myself! I understand there are a good number of us here. I am Ming Numara, and I'm so very pleased to meet you all. Whoever you are! Perhaps someone would be so kind as to provide whatever further information it would behoove me to know….?



Third-Person: Ming almost pitied her husband. The sun hadn't even fully set, and already he was collapsed on a fainting couch in his bed robes, a glass of wine in his hand and his hair unbound and hanging awkwardly about his face. He wasn't used to early mornings, to long meetings, to the protocols and practices of Numaran royalty. And besides that, he had difficulty conducting himself as a king. He spent as much time with the servants of the palace and the common folk as he did with the nobility, and treated all the same. Which meant he often found himself tugged aside by whomever had some manner of problem, knowing full well that King Jansen would listen honestly and promise to see what he could do. Which of course he always did.

And Ming was thankful for it. Through Jansen, news and affairs that needed attention reach her that never would have otherwise. Kakanas had wrought a great deal of wrong in the decades he had taken advantage of her amnesia. There were homeless on the streets, shopkeepers driven out of business, mercenaries and hard men amongst the common city guard…. And Jansen was as upset and bothered by these things as she was. He cared about people, and the manner in which he'd thrown himself into making their voices heard touched her deeply.

But it took so much out of him. And in the evening, seeing him like this, so tired and distraught… it did bring something of an ache to her heart. But she couldn't pity him. Not when she had lived this life for centuries. And it had only been a few months, he was still simply making the adjustment.

"So…" Jansen started, when he looked up and sheepishly met her eyes. "How important was that guy I called a…you know?"

"A swaggering donkey who wouldn't know taste if it bit him on the rear?" Ming supplied, cleaning up her husband's language a touch.

"Close enough."

"A representative from a minor barony on the western borders of Uhra." Ming removed her earrings and set them aside. A light evening meal was waiting for her on the dining table, and a glass of chilled fruit juice. "And to be fair, he was rather boorish. And of little consequence. We open our borders and suddenly everyone with a holding or title has to rush in to pay their respects." And hope to return home with some manner of trade agreement or alliance. It was beginning to become as much frustration as flattery!

"Well, you can't blame them," Jansen offered. Ming tensed for just a moment - it was a phrase she never enjoyed hearing from Jansen, though she knew he didn't intend to chastise her. "Numara's been this big, exotic mystery for about as long as it's been around. Nobody knew much of anything about it, except 'never been at war', 'gorgeous immortal demigod queen' and 'they're rich and artsy'. And you know…it's made up of islands. I mean, when I met you, I actually didn't know your name. I wasn't asking just to be polite, I just knew the queen of Numara was supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world. And I know a lot of stuff about a lot of places. And then all of a sudden the mysterious immortal queen's got her hands in Uhra and Gohtza, and then she's getting married to some random guy, Numara's opening its ports up to everybody… they all wanna see if it's really this kind of magic utopia that it seems like to outsiders."

"You make it sound as though Numara's some ancient land from a legend."

"Well…it kind of is?" Jansen sat up and raked a hand through his hair, pulling it back and out of his face. "I mean… alright, you know how you aways go nuts over stories about other places, and adventure and legends from far away and everything? Because for most of your life you didn't know anything about those places or that stuff? Well, the rest of the world pretty much looks at Numara the same way. And once the whole novelty wears off, the noble types'll stop bugging us and we'll just be getting tourist trade. Everybody loves a beach vacation."

Ming had to snort a bit at that. But she supposed Jansen had a point, and one she'd never thought of. So much of her isolation policy existed because of the outside countries, not Numara. It had never occurred to her to think how they appeared to the world. It had come as a shock to her to discover in some far western places, Numara was known as The Unmentionable Islands. Well, those days were over at any rate.

And she doubted that traffic to their kingdom would ever be reduced to what Jansen referred to as 'tourist trade'.

Third Sample Thread from an AU premise where Ming harnesses the power of gates and goes dimension hopping for fun.