Starling Flint

On this page... (hide)

  1.   1.  Personality
    1.   1.1  Overview
    2.   1.2  Detail
  2.   2.  Appearance
    1.   2.1  Basics
    2.   2.2  Gallery
  3.   3.  Relationships
    1.   3.1  Family
  4.   4.  History
    1.   4.1  Pre-'Souls Biography
    2.   4.2  'Souls Timeline
    3.   4.3  Thread Archive

Artwork by Lin

Starling Flint is a defector of the Eyes of Omni. Born female to The Preacher and Harper Flint alongside his sister Stella Flint, he was among the first generation to be born at the Watchtower, but defected and cut off all ties before his first birthday. Upbeat, fearless and scrappy, Starling prioritizes and promotes freedom, self-discovery, and the fulfillment of one's potential above all else.

Overview

Basics

Heritage

Affiliation

Player

  • Date of Birth: January 7, 2017
  • Gender: Male (biologically female)
  • Luperci: Ortus
  • Residence: Nowhere permanent!
  • Mate: None
  • Species: Dog-dominant hybrid 1
starling — songbird with dark lustrous/iridescent plumage
flint — stone used with steel to produce an igniting spark
  • Nicknames: Star
  • Epithet: Apostate
  • Loner Band: None
  • Title: None
  • Former Pack(s): None

NPCs

OOC Assumptions

Plot Opportunities

  • cNPC: Florian Aatte
  • Animals: Two wild pigeons, mottled majority white and gray

Residents and travelers of TBD may assume and reference the following without discussion/asking:

1.  Personality

1.1  Overview

Summary

Chipper, confident and self-assured, Starling experienced a reasonable amount of early-life trauma and came out of it well aware of his life goals and preferences—and will do what he needs to retain his freedom, which he values above all else. Starling maintains a strong and mouthy bias against spiritual folk given his upbringing, finding them misguided, short-sighted, or fanatical. He is an extrovert and is generally positive and talkative, although he is not always the wisest read of his fellows. He strives to model himself well and help others become their best selves. Starling did not escape the Eyes of Omni untarnished, however: He has a deeply vengeful streak, holds grudges, and is not afraid to commit crimes or violence for what he perceives as the greater good.

Star is athletic and happiest in open fields and water. He has little by way of boundaries and prefers working in teams or company of any kind over being alone. He has no patience for things like nobility and kings and queens, seeing this as an inherently flawed system of government. Deeply but quietly nihilistic, he suppresses a lot of personal issues instead of dealing with them by being overindulgent, a little wild, and a touch hedonistic—and will become very defensive if his actions are called out. Overall, Starling is good-hearted and a fine enough role model, at least until his values or loved ones are put to the test,at which point his chosen form of retaliation is startlingly extreme.

Traits

  • Demeanor: upbeat, scrappy, valiant, athletic
  • Speech: raspy and emotive, with a natural depth that falls between the range of high biological male and low biological female
  • Languages: English, sign language (Watchtower-based, but may apply for wider use)
  • Scent: field and meadow scents (dried grass, dandelion, clover) and/or seasalt and sand; intentionally and heavily covers scent with these to make any and all natural scents indistinguishable
  • Outlook: See The Anti-Nihilist trope
  • Tropes: The Pollyanna, Good Is Not Soft, The Paragon, Cult Defector
  • Alignment: Chaotic Good
"Freedom and independence are as important to life and happiness."
"Their actions are guided by their own moral compass."
"Dislikes confining laws, self-discipline, and they distrust authority."

1.2  Detail

Interests

  • Likes: the sea, open fields, kids, carpentry, running, wine
  • Dislikes: enclosed spaces, liars, layabouts, stationary or detail-oriented labor

Biases

Distrusts and avoids witchy, spiritual, or openly religious types; even being around visibly bothers him. He also has little patience for those hugging nobility systems or kings and queens, as he finds these governments inherently flawed for putting so much value on blood ties and in how leadership is handed out. Otherwise, Starling is generally welcoming and open-minded.

Motivations

Most of his motivations stem from his escape from the Eyes at the Watchtower: freedom, self-realization, doing good in the world, being a good model for others, protecting the safety and freedoms of the downtrodden (no matter how much it takes), bringing joy to others' lives, and having the most fun one can have in their short time of life. He likes to show his support where it matters and bolster up those around him in so doing, and will contribute to any project or cause he can to do so.

Fears

Starling fears restrictions in all forms, e.g. injuries that would remove his ability to contribute or live well, captivity, enclosed spaces, relationships, even certain oaths and promises. He also avoids being alone.

Sexuality

Starling seems to be open-minded on all fronts. He is likely pansexual, though he doesn't give it much thought. He is more likely to crush on personalities than appearances, but isn't above the occasional flirt and indulgence. Whatever his type is, it's difficult to nail down... but it seems as if his general fear of restrictions extends into relationships, because he's terrified of any level of commitment. Even kids.

Substances

A touch hedonistic, Star appreciates a good wine and smoke. Indulging on these in the good company of friends is just about his favorite way to spend his time.

Spirituality

Vehemently non-spiritual and atheistic thanks to his upbringing in the Eyes of Omni, and judging of people that aren't the same.

2.  Appearance

2.1  Basics

Overview

Doggish and built like a border collie, Starling is of an athletic, light-to-medium build meant purely for agility. Biologically female, Starling is femininely curvy in terms of bone structure, but between his shaggy fur and clothing choices he is generally evened out in a way he likes. His hair is thick, straight, and just beyond shoulder-length; he does not style it other than tying it back to get it out of his face, and in so doing exposing the lowest layer of white hair near the scruff of his neck. He is built for speed and warm weather, and in both of these he performs his tasks effortlessly, while struggling with cold weather and strength-oriented work. Starling intentionally covers up his scent, making it difficult to impossible to determine his biological gender.

Forms

Splits his time evenly between Lupus and Optime forms and enjoys both for different reasons. Not built for strength or dexterity, but purely for agility. Tends to take on whichever form he feels like, regardless of what he is up to.

  • Lupus: 29 in (74 cm) ↔ 45 lbs (20 kg)
  • Optime: 6 ft 0 in (122 cm) ↔ 160 lbs (72 kg)

Gear

Generally confident with his body, Star only dresses in non-restricting, thin clothing and only covers up his top half when traveling far beyond his home. In the warmer months, one can usually assume this clothing will be covered in dirt/grass stains or with small holes and tears. During the winter we wears several loose layers. Star is generally wearing at minimum, thin pants at all times. He has a necklace or two, but otherwise stays away from jewelry. All that said, when he wants to clean up well, he can!

Clothing & Accessories

  • Always in loose pants (ref)
  • Thin, white shirt, especially when traveling (ref)
  • Colder months: multiple loose-fitting and draping layers (ref)
  • A simple silver chain or two, occasionally; no other jewelry
  • A fairly simple one-handed sword with hip sheath; right-handed use
  • Two daggers, usually only carried on long journeys and sheathed on thighs

Scars

Reference

by Lin

Color Palette

General Colors
 Woodsmoke (#101113)nose, pads, in ears
 Shark (#1c1e21)main pelt & mottling, hair
 Mondo (#43362a)secondary highlights
 Leather (#92714c)primary highlights
 Beaver (#876959)scars
 Iron (#d6d8db)belly, face, hair underlayer
Eye Color
 Saffron (#f4b034)
Design by Lin, lines by freewolf7 @ dA

2.2  Gallery

Hover over images for artist credit!

Quick hair underlayer reference when hair is up, by Lin Design by Lin, lines by freewolf7 @ dAby Lin

3.  Relationships

3.1  Family

  • Parents: Obedient only briefly as a child at the Watchtower, Starling was never particularly close with either of his parents. His mother was never warm or maternal, while his father was outright distant, too busy with day-to-day business as leader of the Eyes. His parents never quite answered their pup's many questions in ways that made sense, and his upbringing quickly felt inherently wrong even from a young age. Starling fled the Eyes shortly after his first shift and has not communicated with his parents since then. He pities them, but he retains no love for them.
  • Siblings: Stella was never a confidante and never saw eye-to-eye with Starling. She fit right in with the mold presented by their parents, and Starling felt more alone with his sister than without. He sincerely wishes he could free her and cleanse her of the Omniscients' brainwashing, but he knows it's a lost cause. Instead, he finds her dedication more scary than not, and is happy to maintain no relationship with her as such.

4.  History

4.1  Pre-'Souls Biography

Starling was born female to Harper Flint and The Preacher at the Watchtower in Canaan Valley, West Virginia. Together with his sister and only littermate Stella Flint, Starling was born into a cult by the name of the Eyes of Omni, and was among the first litters born on the site of their newly claimed territory in Canaan Valley. His father, known only as The Preacher even to his children, was one of several co-founders who collaborated upon and formed the Omniscients' religion, and became a member of its leadership council at the Watchtower not long after the Omniscients planted their roots in Canaan Valley.

Starling was raised an Omniscient, and was fully engulfed in their religion from the start. With both parents busy with day-to-day business of the Watchtower, the twins were often left to be parented by appointed babysitters who tended large numbers of children at once. His household was cold, responding to emotions with hard facts or religious teachings. By his father's authority, Starling and his sister were not allowed to leave Canaan Valley until their first birthday; while Stella devoted herself to her religion so as to impress and connect with their otherwise distant parents, Starling disregarded and pressed against his boundaries. Between his parents' heavy favoritism for his sister, and Starling's own body dismorphia from a young age that led him to question himself and his environment more than he might have otherwise, Starling did not fit the mold for Omniscients, and especially not for his family, from the very beginning.

After questioning strangers traveling through Canaan Valley, Starling was enthralled by stories of the world far beyond the Watchtower. His first shift to two legs heavily worsened his pre-existing dismorphia. An argument with his father about wanting to see the world left a permanent scar on Starling's face; shortly after this, Starling fled the Watchtower in the night. Proudly taking on male pronouns, Starling made his way relying on strangers in local settlements and made a point to act out against Omniscients active in public outside Canaan Valley. In October 2019, after meeting a young woman with her own grudges against the cult, Starling set fire to several buildings at the Watchtower with her help, causing minimal damage and narrowly evading capture with severe scratches and burns. He spent a long time recovering, and has wandered eastern North America alone ever since.

4.2  'Souls Timeline

  • 2021, mid-January: Arrives in Nova Scotia for the first time as a loner.

4.3  Thread Archive

2021

January - March

Spurred to visit Nova Scotia by, and traveling alongside, a fellow vagrant named Florian, Starling arrives in 'Souls territory in mid-January as a loner. With no expectations and only a motivation to meet people and see the sights, Starling and Florian meander the region without permanent settlement.

Threads

  1. the doctors got their claws in you
    With Rhodes Winthrop.
  2. either honest or an optimist
    With Asher Johansen, Florian Aatte (cNPC).

Month

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur viverra magna diam, a scelerisque nibh commodo vitae. Nullam facilisis varius diam et mattis. Suspendisse suscipit tellus eu est consectetur, non vestibulum diam faucibus.

Threads

  1. Title
    With Character?, Character?. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur viverra magna diam, a scelerisque nibh commodo vitae.
  2. Title
    With Character?, Character?. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur viverra magna diam, a scelerisque nibh commodo vitae.

Month

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur viverra magna diam, a scelerisque nibh commodo vitae. Nullam facilisis varius diam et mattis. Suspendisse suscipit tellus eu est consectetur, non vestibulum diam faucibus.

Threads

  1. Title
    With Character?, Character?. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur viverra magna diam, a scelerisque nibh commodo vitae.
  2. Title
    With Character?, Character?. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur viverra magna diam, a scelerisque nibh commodo vitae.

Month

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur viverra magna diam, a scelerisque nibh commodo vitae. Nullam facilisis varius diam et mattis. Suspendisse suscipit tellus eu est consectetur, non vestibulum diam faucibus.

Threads

  1. Title
    With Character?, Character?. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur viverra magna diam, a scelerisque nibh commodo vitae.
  2. Title
    With Character?, Character?. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur viverra magna diam, a scelerisque nibh commodo vitae.
 

1 Dog breeds (75%): mostly mutt with some predominant Border Collie. Wolf breeds (25%): Eastern Timber Wolf, Common Gray Wolf