__________________QUICK STATS
Name Kolara Emberwing (Self-given surname)
Age 24
Gender Female
Species Phoenix-kin
Ethnicity Yoreiqi
Height 6'6"
Occupation Supreme Sun-Crown, Golden-Winged Beast of Worship, QUEEN of the Emberwing clan (Unemployed w/a benefactor)
Residence ALL THAT THE LIGHT SHINES ON. But technically Yoreiq.
__________________IN-DEPTH STUFF
Physical Description From youth, Kolara was raised as a Yoreiqi, despite not being born of Yoreiqi heritage. If you give her a quick look-over, it's easy to tell why. She has dark skin, and large, golden-red wings with a reach almost twice her own regular arm span stretch from her back, reminiscent of the winged people of the islands. If you look closer, however, that's about where the similarities end. Kolara isn't actually Yoreiqi; She's part-phoenix, and her wings, unlike Yoreiqi natives, function as a second pair of webbed 'arms'-- complete with talon-like claws at their ends— all the better to capture prey with, naturally. Her bird-like features extend to her even having long, beautiful phoenix tail feathers, which reach about as low as her mid-calfs when she's standing. Her hair isn't a highlighted mixture of black and other colors; It's crimson red, and by itself it loosely curls and twists this way and that— making her almost look as though she has a mane. Her eyes are a bright, glowing gold— so bright that it hurts to stare directly into them. At the shins, her otherwise human legs harden and transition into a digitigrade anatomy, with talons— not unlike her secondary 'hands' yet larger and far more pronounced— where her feet would've been if she were a Yoreiqi woman.
Personality You've never met someone so full of themselves that they could put out and egg and it'd hatch an exact replica of them until you've met Kolara, who, from birth, just knew she was better than everyone else. Technically, she wasn't... 'wrong'? She was definitely different, and those differences certainly gave her a chip on her shoulder when they began to manifest in ways that made put her typically ahead of her competitors (Having four hands is surprisingly useful in wrestling, for example). As a result, Kolara and humility are on a surname basis at best.
That doesn't necessarily mean she can't be humbled. And it definitely doesn't mean she's delusional, or spoiled. She worked— and still works— extremely hard to be stronger, faster, and just generally more dominant than anyone around her. Why? She has a praise kink— a huge one, which started when she was young and grew into the monster that is half of her personality. You want to get on her good side? Compliment her. You want to get deep, deep in her good side? Compliment her like you mean it. There's benefits to this, of course— the biggest being that she IS able to back up just about anything she says, and for the people in her good graces, she's more than willing to bend over backwards for more praise.
Magic/Abilities Kolara has an innate aptitude for fire magic, as well as healing— both thanks to her heritage as a phoenix-kin. She can set things ablaze with just a thought— though her fires don't always burn for the sake of destruction. By wielding her natural inclinations together she can create what she calls a phoenix flame— warm to the touch, and able to burn away wounds and illnesses in living objects.
Her feathers possess her innate healing magics be default as well, pulsing a faint gold with the power of life. The smallest and newest of them are able to mend minor wounds before they lose their glow— the oldest and largest of them, like her tail feathers, can even restore life to the very recently deceased. You would think she'd be hunted for this, but... I mean, come on. She's built different. Having trained in both Yoreiqi hunting arts, as well as self-taught hunting from having lived on her own for a while, better believe you're not the one hunting Kolara— she's the one hunting you.
Relationships
History No one's exactly sure where Kolara actually came from. Certainly not from a Yoreiqi mother. What is known is that one night, after what many of the tribesmen groggily reported as a "Strange firestorm, soaring through the night toward the Eastern sea", a crying infant was found off the shore of one of the islands. That child was Kolara— named by the woman that took her in and began raising her as her own, despite some protest and concern by a couple of the villagers, after a vote.
You might wonder, why would there be such division over a child? Oh, Kolara was no ordinary child. Not one bit. She was 'quirky'. She had a bad habit of doing quirky things. Y'know, like climbing across the roof of buildings with her talons, setting things on fire with her mind, and flying. Like, flying-flying. Her feathers also turned out to possess unnaturally strong, dormant life energy— the likes of which could cure grievous wounds, and more. Just quirky things.
Needless to say, Kolara grew up with a chip on her shoulder— primarily because as unique— in her mind, special— as she was, the village chief did not coddle or treat her in any way better than the other plebian, normal natives. He did this for her own sake, of course— feeding a young ego was a recipe for disaster, and also had potential to invite internal conflict among the village, but Kolara didn't see it that way— she saw it as her being looked down upon, not being treated like the god-given gift that she was. And so, as she grew, she became more prideful, aggressive, and determined to be treated like royalty— so much so that it earned her the collective disdain of her fellow youths, who were often on the receiving end of her dominant personality in sparring, hunting, or just about anything else.
Eventually, things came to a head between her and the village chief, resulting in the two having a heated argument practically in the center of the village. This was pretty normal— happened at least once or twice a week. This particular time was abnormal, because it lasted almost an entire sun-up and sun-down, and only really ended because the chief started to lose his voice from all the yelling like the loser that he was.
He made the (in his mind) grave decision to, as a last resort, hold council over the village to determine Kolara's future with their people— whether she would be allowed to stay and continue in her arrogant ways, or if they would exile her. Unfortunately for him, two could play at that game, and so before he could exile her, Kolara just declared him and everyone in the village 'unworthy of her greatness' before telling them that she would start her own village, with her own loyal subjects, and her own rules, et cetera— and fled on her own accord— choking back a tear or two as she did so— making her way by sky to the mainland.
There, after fumbling about for a while in her attempt to learn the ways of non-Yoreiqi society, she met a female alchemist— one who desperately sought her unique feathers for their incredible magical effects, identifying them as genuine phoenix feathers. This was absolutely blasphemous for Kolara, who not only had no intentions of helping some inferior human for no apparent gain, but also refused to be looked upon as some marketplace-value item to be oogled and used as one desired. The alchemist was probably 13 seconds away from shaking hands with her ancestors in crematory heaven when, in a desperate, last-ditch attempt for her life, she made the ultimate play.
She laid on the compliments. And she laid them on THICK. Her wings, her feathers, her great aptitude for fire and life magics, even the way she carried herself— the alchemist practically began kissing the ground Kolara stood upon. And for a normal person, this probably would've been pretty creepy— but for the praise-starved Kolara? It was a critical hit. Darn-near fatal. She eventually let herself be talked into a rather lucrative deal for them both— Kolara would willingly give the alchemist a few of her feathers every time they met (if she felt like it), and in return, some 70% of the profits of her efforts would come back to her. It eventually made her rather lush with gold, to say nothing of the continued praise it brought her every time they met, as the alchemist gushed over how incredible her healing properties were. Oh yeah. It was all coming together.
Having taken a few years to establish herself as something of a self-made celebrity, as well as further mastering her strengths as a phoenix, Kolara had it all. HAS it all.
AND since she technically wasn't banished from her village, she occasionally comes home to eat dinner with her mom and help around the house. Gotta take your praise where you can get it.
__________________THREAD TRACKER
Current Threads
Complete Threads
