Koralia's Biography

Koralia's Biography
_{By Silencelabyrinth/TheYoungestDaughter
Winx bio template belonged to Magicalsoul}




Koralia Westrunner

Alias: Koralia Westrunner, Princess Koralia, Kia.
Status: She is a Princess from Planet Merend, but is not THE princess of Merend (That would be Helenori, Princess of City-kingdom Luc, which is the current ruler of the planet). Kia is the younger princess of the City-Kingdom Nok, but is currently pretending to be an ordinary citizen while she's in Magix. This isn't so hard as none of the students have heard much of Merend before.
Species: Merish human, winx fairy.
Birthday: In Earth terms, 21 November. In Merish terms, she was born in a second winter.
Age: 16 years old when she gets to Alfea.
Fairy Sign: Dragon
Powers: Kia is the Fairy of Dusk and Dawn. She gets her power from sunsets and sunrises, the gaps where the day and night touch and the sun kisses the earth, if you feel like getting all poetic about it, which I clearly do. When the sun is on the horizon line, she glows.
Theme Song:  Florence + the Machine 'Rabbit heart' has quite a few lines that can be twisted to imagery from her life, even if its overall theme does not fit. 'Drumming song' is also a good song for her total fear about a lot of things.
Fairy Pet: A small black and cream rabbit with green wings. It does not act like a pet and is more of a wandering nuisance to Alfea's fairies when it does appear. Kia is not that attached to it and has not given it a name.
Associated Pixie: None yet! _{maybe none ever. I've an undisguised hate of drawing the things...}
Affiliations/friends: Alfea. She spends a lot of time with the girls in her dormitory, 3.16, and the girls in the dorm opposite, 3,15. They will eventually become the Star Blazers. Dawn, Krysten, Nikki, Xylie, Catalina, Sierra, Alyniara. Opal, Mel, Levy, Ellynna and Luna.
Possible Friends: (DA people's OCs who Kia would probably get on with if they were in the same winx canon or in some alternate together-space :3 Idea taken from lepurebliss/lelocokoko)  Alyniara, Zwei, Christine, Amina, Anya, Trinity, Lume, Onnedhiel, Delphine, Neviera, Vega, Lily, Trinitia, Avril. And she's probably a little bit scared of these guys, but still likes to hang out with them: Dara, Henna, Kokoah, Thoko, Sylvie.

Relationships: Family wise, she has her older sister Melonin and her mother Midren, both of whom she looks up to so much it cripples her. There is also her mother's childhood friend Mal, who runs a tavern with her son Drake. The princesses pretty much grew up with him. Other than that Kia hardly went anywhere but the libraries when she was on her home planet, and doesn't really have any friends. She was made to contact the other Merish Royal offspring at least once or twice a year but was always too timid to speak up and never made any friends there either. The friends she makes at Alfea are extremely precious to her because of this.

History: Koralia grew up on Merend in Nok, where there should have been nothing to hold her back. There is no real gender or gentry divide on the planet, which is careful to judge its people on ability and personality alone so that all places can be reached by those best suited to them or those determined to work hard enough. However Koralia was always a very timid, needy child and all she wanted was her mother to love her. Unfortunately her mother, Midren, had never been able to respond to other people's emotions. When she came to the throne it was after years as a soldier and then a general, who was pushed into the role of a dutiful queen which made her seem even more indifferent to Koralia. Always looking up to her sister and her mother's achievements, Kia somehow got the idea that the problem must be her and that her mother was cold to her because she hated her for her failings. Unlike either of them Kia was always easily beaten in fights and despite her love of reading, she lacked the quick wit her sister possessed, or the decision making skills her mother had spent a lifetime building. She did not have her sister's grace, or her rare magical ability. The younger princess immediately began striving to improve herself by following in her mother and her sister's footsteps, determined to gain her mother's love, to one day become less than an irritation in her eye.
She failed miserably. Her mother remained as indifferent as ever and she got mostly scorn from her older sister, who did not see to the heart of the problem and grew annoyed at her younger sister constantly trying to copy her every move. Even as she grew up and got an understanding of the world, Kia continued to fail to recognize how her mother was simply not like other people, sure that the fault was with herself for not trying hard enough. She persisted with the 'training' she'd set for herself but the rest of the time she retreated into books more and more. Always alone and with no close friends to balance her, her focus on it became too strong and she became terrified of her fierce, cold mother; but still the only thing she wanted was her love. Not being able to please her began to turn into an actual fear of her as Kia started interpreting Midren's every indifferent move as displaying disgust at her failings. Her life boiled down to this vicious circle, nothing else mattered to her. She grew thin, jumpy, and this constant sense of fear never left her alone.

One day during a practice fight she got punched in the left eye. This should have eventually healed over but instead the blood veins became ever more vivid and the pupil began turning slowly red. Koralia had no idea why this was happening, but already living in a near-constant state of anxiety, she easily convinced herself that somehow this was also her fault and was another thing her mother would hate her for. Instead of being sensible and talking to a doctor, she got scared and completely worked up about it. She cut a fringe to hide the eye under and pretended it wasn't there in the hope that if she did it for long enough, it would go away on its own. It did not.
She eventually got so wound up over her mother's continual 'hatred' of her and the burden of hiding her eye, that in a state of near of madness she packed a few belongings, left the palace, stole a ship and ran away from home. As soon as Koralia realized she had actually done it, she panicked and crashed her ship on the nearest planet; fortunately for her it was a habitable one. From them on she then hitch-hiked or stowed away on various cargo ships, in the blind aim of getting further away from home and her mother, who she was sure would be very, very angry with her over everything.

Her fairy powers came to her out of nowhere while traveling through the vastwoods on Planet Marcas, when she started glowing one sundown. Her first reaction was that these powers must not be hers, but they didn't go away. She became even more unsure if she would ever be able to return home. Merend hardly ever has fairies and sees them as magical tools that must use their powers to work forever for the good of the whole planet, which she wasn't sure she wanted. Of course she then began worrying over how her warrior mother would respond to her new powers.
But for once in her life Kia did not have time to stop and brood on the subject. Professor Palladium found her soon after that. Faragonda was using the tree of life and many other spells to know when a new fairy's powers had broken through and had sent the teachers of Alfea out to find these precious few fairies. Once she was at Alfea, Faragonda recognized her from a 'missing child' message Merend had sent out to Magix. She also recognized that Kia refused to be drawn on the subject of home. She and Griselda decided that it was best to inform Midren that her daughter had been found and was attending Alfea, but to convince her to leave Kia where she was, in safe hands and wait for her daughter make contact when she feels secure enough to speak to them again. An impassive Midren and a confused Melonin agreed to it. Kia has no knowledge of this.

Personality: Once taken away from her little hamster wheel of fear, Kia is naturally hard-working and treasures Alfea's learning environment. She is not super-intelligent but she is studious and loves to read anything and everything. Once she understands something she doesn't forget easily. She is questioning and curious about all sorts of things, which can get her in trouble. She is hyper-aware of not knowing every little social nuance of the universe outside her world and at the start of term is constantly feeling paranoid over this. She tries to be tactful and honest at all times as she doesn't like to get in trouble.
When it comes to other people Kia can be different, depending on how she's feeling, although she is still at heart that timid girl and always strives to be polite. Back at home she felt intimidated by everything and stayed away from people. Once she gets to Alfea, she chooses to make a change and tries her hardest to make friends. So far she has been delighted to find the girls there are so friendly and kind. She forms a strong, loyal attachment to her closest friends after not having any for so long. She is afraid of a lot of things but has learnt to hide her fear, mostly. If someone does wrong by her, she won't forget it for a long time, but she has a tendency to get sad instead of angry over things. She's not a total doormat and does have a stubborn streak somewhere, but when someone starts pushing her around, Kia is the type of girl to quietly disappear rather than begin pushing back.

Appearance: When she lived as a Princess of Nok, Kia's wardrobe was limited mostly to the traditional princess white theyoungestdaughter.deviantart… and so the casual clothes she picks up in Magix are quite a range of colours as she seems to want to try them all. theyoungestdaughter.deviantart… two favourite outfits are a yellow bell-sleeved shirt and a green dress (she made these from a pattern and cloth she bought in Central Magix market), as well as a yellow and grey top matched with black jeans (shop bought. She's amazed how shop bought clothes are less expensive than making your own in Magix). The second one fits much more with what the other students at Alfea are wearing.
Kia's normal eye colour is a dark (midnight) blue but her left eye has a red pupil and is bloodshot. On days that she has not slept or is unwell, the whole eye looks worse. She strives to keep it hidden at all times. No-one has discovered it yet. Her straight, dark brown hair is floor-length; she usually wears it in a long, loose plait or anything else that will keep it tidy. Her fringe is cut longer on the left and is a bit untidy, parting over her right eye and sloping down on either side of her face into two longer locks that fall to her collarbones. Kia has fair skin and is a bit pale from being indoors and under winter shields half the year in Merend, but has a tendancy to tan rather than burn if left in the sun.




Winx Appearance: Give a description or if you have a picture, link their Magic Winx!
Welllll….You can see it here: theyoungestdaughter.deviantart…
fav.me/d3cziyb
But I'm going to describe it too, for the hell of it >:3
Kia's winx is mainly dark orange. The secondary colour is rose pink. The outfit consists of....A pair of dark orange short-shorts with a sort of V at the top that sits on her hipbones. These shorts match with a low-cut dark orange halter top which crosses over behind her back, across the shoulder blades. The halter top slopes down in a V shape again, in the back and in the front. _{check it out}
Beneath the halter top she has a rose pink, short-sleeved, off-the-shoulder undershirt, and from her elbows hang detached bell sleeves in matching rose pink. The sleeves are full, but gather at the wrist and the cuffs flop over her hands.
On her feet are square-toed orange ankle boots, which have a point sticking up at the top, decorated with a criss-cross pattern over the tip. You can just see pink socks sticking out above them. Her hair stays in its ordinary long plait, or whatever other style it was in before she transformed.
Her wings are peach coloured, and slightly lattice-y. I don't know how to describe them otherwise XD

Charmix: lepurebliss.deviantart.com/art… Jen you rule
Earned By: I have no idea what she did yet, but I'll bet it has something to do with getting over fear.

Enchantix Appearance: It's still being a work in progress…. theyoungestdaughter.deviantart…
Basically it is a leotard, like an acrobat would wear, that extends down the right leg. This is the same leg on which her wire/ribbon/whatever that stuff is supposed to be 'shoe' thing wraps all the way from her toes up to her bust line, whereas on the other it's a normal enchantix length, coming to just below the knee. She has decorative wire/ribbon/whatever it is making the leotard a halter-neck, this same stuff is wrapped around her neck and neckline making a pattern. Floaty semi-transparent frills float around her. She also has a fancy 'sunrise' crown which is surprise surprise, back in the workshop again.
Earned By: I am not sure what she sacrifices yet, but I think the Star Blazers are fighting monsters to protect some civilians and one of them just happens to be a Merish citizen on holiday. Kia has never even met them before and so gets her enchantix nearly by accident.

Believix Appearance: Give a description or if you have  picture, link their Believix! –Noooope, hahaha XD
Earned By: How did they earn their Believix? Did they go to a non-magical realm and make them believe in Magic? Did they help people to believe in Fairies when they didn't before?

Sophix Appearance: Give a description or if you have a picture, link their Sophix! –Nope!

Lovix Appearance: But no believix or Sophix yet. How did this come first? theyoungestdaughter.deviantart…
Maybe I'll write a fancy description later XD





Spells:-

Magic Winx:-   

When she first arrives at Alfea, her merish upbringing coupled with a total lack of knowledge about magic use meant she had a tendency to panic and try to hit attackers with any heavy object she could find, instead of using her winx. Alfea's lessons and extensive library soon remedied that though.

Offensive spells:
Making things explode. Less of a spell, more of a common symptom of a fairy who does not have a clue how to use her winx. But it can be helpful in battles if she aims it well. After a few lessons at Alfea, this develops into the usual 'magic sparks' attack that most fairies can perform a variation of.

Kia can replicate at any time, the first light the sun sent over the horizon that day. She can throw these rays of dawn light and she often uses them to blind enemies. It mostly shows as a flash of bright yellow light, but depends on what kind of sunrise that day had, how effective it is. It is slightly warm.

The dawn light attack can be grown either into a simple heat spell, or her signature 'Morning Glory' attack. This is a blaze of dawn light mixed with magic. It's fired from the hands and behaves like fire until impact, when it shatters like glass, becoming as sharp as knives to the target. It dissolves away.  theyoungestdaughter.deviantart…

Defensive spells:
'Cloak of dusk' is a simple energy shield, the type that most fairies can summon. It's orange with tints of dark blue at the edges and sparkly all over.

'Gloaming' is an odd technique that lets Kia hold back 'true' night by keeping the sky around her frozen in twilight. She's never tested how long she can hold the night back for, since this spell wipes her out and she can't really see much use for it, except maybe for preventing light-sensitive monsters getting up at night...But as she inevitably faints from exhaustion from using the Gloaming, the night would fully fall and they would be able to get her at her weakest...so yeah.

Other:- She seems to have more of these than the others XD

'Dawn Chorus' is another odd spell. Kia is able to locate and with a little effort, coax any bird that was singing in the dawn chorus that morning to come to her. This is another spell she has yet to find any use for.

Some time into her second term, somebody taught her a hair de-tangling spell, which she has since been incredibly grateful for.

However, the two spells Kia uses most are technically not her own magic.
She never carries a bag for her books, as she has her magic pocket. Her sister Melonin long ago bartered with an off-world wizard, exchanging a pair of exquisite metal-worked spell shoes for three enchanted pockets, one each, for her, her sister and their mother. These 'Enchanted pockets' are basically an invisible 'other space' which the person it is attached to can store things in. It's like having a couple of large suitcases on you at all times, without the inconveniences of weight or carrying them around. This magic pocket was why Kia was able to run away from home with so little trouble and also how she made herself at home in her Alfea room so quickly; she had stuffed her patchwork quilt, personal diaries and even some of her pot plants into it before she left. Once she settles into Alfea she completely empties her magic pocket out (Except for the library card) and she now uses it as her school bag. It's certainly not limitless and it simply does not carry live matter, except for non-sentient plants. _{I admit it. She only has this so I never have to remember to draw her with a bag, ever. I am a lazy, forgetful artist on such things.}

The second spell that is not hers is a Merish library card that she took with her when she left. theyoungestdaughter.deviantart… The Merish library system is one of the few things on the planet running on magic and this card allows her to search for and take-out any book from any of the libraries back home. Once the books are due back, they simply disappear and re-appear back on their shelf. This card is how she survived away from home, by summoning books on local hazards for wherever she was at the time. She continues this practice on Alfea, which is why she uses her magic pocket practically every day.

And lastly, these ones are not really spells, more like side-effects of having her power source. Like how Flora got really affected by the pain of plants? It never really helped her, but it was an important part of her powers as a plant fairy. Every fairy has one or two of these idiosyncratic magic side-effects, I'll bet. This is Kia's.
Whenever the sun is on the horizon, Kia glows along with it. This can't be considered a true spell as it is completely involuntary on her part. But it does recharge her powers and her general health, as well as acting like a shield while it is going on. It speeds up natural healing processes and is the main reason scars and bruises don't stay on her for very long. But the glowing only lasts until the sun is fully up or down. Kia can do nothing to stop or start it. It also would not happen if she was in a spaceship or otherwise off-planet, or on a planet with no sun. She has to be between a planet and its sun for there to be sunsets and sunrises, without these it does not happen.
Related to this side-effect of her powers, Kia is a morning person. She naturally wakes up with day break (the Glow is the main reason for this), and once the night falls again, after the second glow, she has trouble keeping her eyes open unless something really exciting is going on. She suffers for staying up late on the whole.


Enchantix:-  
She still uses Morning Glory, she can now produce many at once, or much larger ones, whereas she was limited to one at a time before.

'Warmth of the earth' is a spell that lets her imitate the effect of the sun on the planet. It can melt or set fire to things if she's not careful with it.

'Blinding light' is a flash of light as a pulse, only from her wings rather than her whole body. She can use this as a shield by sticking a wing in the way of an attack, as it gives her wings enough strength to stand up to attacks temporarily.

Although it still only occurs with dawn and dusk, her glow becomes far stronger. It's now so bright you can't look at her.
With her new enchantix wings, she can also fly much higher than before, enabling her to pull a move that is literally following the sun. This is how it works. At a certain height/angle in the sky, she can keep the sun on the horizon line, which is what activates her glow. With the glow, she is enfolded in a shield of magic strong enough that she can survive at such a high altitude. The enchantix wings, boosted by the glow, have enough power to fly her high and fly fast enough that she is able to 'surf' the dawn/dusk line as the planet beneath her rotates.
She's pretty much untouchable during this, surrounded by the glow and that high up, but it's also impossible to interact with anyone unless she brought a communications link. In theory, it should let her travel huge distances- as long as it is in the right direction!- but she has great trouble putting it to practical use. In general, it is an invigorating and peaceful experience for her and she tends to do it for the joy of it, when she wants a moment to herself. Once she leaves the dawn/dusk line, she loses her glow shield and she has to descend pretty quickly.


Believix:- What spells do they use in their Believix?
Include at least: two offensive, two defensive and their Believix Power: i.e. Bloom's is Strength of Life. Note- ALL BELIEVIX SPELLS ARE TEMPORARY. I'm not sure how I feel about them yet XD
Offensive: 'Dark before the dawn!' Temporarily blocks all light from an enemy's vision
'Kisses of the sun' hits you with warm rays, but can only hurt the users of bad magic. Other fairies only feel like they're standing in a warm patch of sunlight.
Defensive: 'Last Rays' Used only when she's nearly incapable of any more spells. It lets out the last of her power as a shield until her magic is exhausted.

Sophix:- What is their Sophix Power? 'Flower of the sun' 'Melting tropic sun' (I'm thinking she needs to be on a shoreline for that one to work out :/….)

Lovix:- What is their Lovix Power? 'The longest sunrise', 'Winter's dusk', or 'Dawn's Frosty Rainbow'. (First two are distinctly orange. That last one would let sun rays create rainbows from ice-crystals…And I keep seeing 's Dawn standing by in her enchantix going 'Yo' with that XD)





Curiosities:-

Favourite Meal: A hearty stew, with dumplings or fresh, crusty bread.
Favourite Colour: Anything that is not white. Since coming to Alfea, she's become fond of greens, pear green in particular.
Favourite Hobby: Reading about the planets of Magix, spending time with her new friends. She also enjoys dancing, it is one of the few things she's confident in doing.
Favourite Pet: None...She's not even sure why that rabbit is bothering her in particular.
Ideal Boyfriend: pfffftpftftft!
Best Friends: The Star Blazers girls, she is very close to Alyniara.
Favourite Movies: She finds documentaries very useful, but usually enjoys Krysten's earth Sci-Fi movies when Aly makes her watch them.
Favourite Food: Plain, floury foods, mostly savoury things. She loves bread and cheese.
Loves: Her friends. Reading books of spells, learning the planets and histories of Magix. Flying. Feeling quiet and calm. The sense of achievement that hard work gives her, she isn't afraid of manual labour.
Hates: She doesn't really hate. But things guaranteed upset her are: Aggression, fights, or having to fight. Being scared of something (which she is 85% the time). Girls who are horrible to other girls for no reason. Boys who tease. Losing the book she was reading is another big one. Worst for her is feeling alone and helpless.
Favourite Music: She doesn't have a favourite as long as she can dance to it. Although she keeps a soft spot for Merish music, she misses home more than she lets on, but still can't stomach thinking about returning to her mother.
Favourite Shoes: Her Merish boots. On Merend, boots are custom made to fit comfortably and give support forever. Most Merish citizens choose to have their soles or uppers replaced when they wear out more often than they would have a new pair made. As boot-makers usually only serve their local neighbours, there is a unique understanding between maker and wearer. Kia does not know what to think about mass-produced shoes at first, although she does have a few pairs now as her Alfean friends assure her, despite her attachment to them, that her boots do not go with everything.
Favourite Subject: Every one of them fascinates her. Although she simply can't take anything in during Rainer's class, which bothers her.





EXTRA INFO:-

Homeworld: Merend is a planet quite far from Magix, it was discovered by explorers from the centre of the Magix universe about 100 years ago.
It has an extreme elliptical orbit making it a difficult place to live, and its two main priorities at all times are firstly, survival and secondly, happiness. Merish people are seen as quite backward by the rest of the universe due to their stubborn spirit and love of punching in all situations, something that even their off-world diplomats can't quite be trained out of. To 'have the Merish plague' is fast on its way to becoming a common piece of Magix political slang for diplomats acting hot-headed and loose-fisted in places of political decorum.

Population: It's densely populated in the cities, but the winters prevent much exploration or settling. City expansion is carefully planned years in advance and only carried out when it absolutely has to be, so there are people to move into the new dome immediately.  Whole new cities are an even bigger project because there are about six months to make a new shield before the next winter.

Military Strength:   on planet surface, because Merend has been fighting since before it began making records. They will hit you with everything and anything they have and although public brawls nowadays are decidedly friendly, when it comes to war they will use EVERYTHING as a weapon and will pull every dirty trick they can think of...And they have a history of dreaming up more than you could have accounted for. Its people dearly love a scrap. Even though they do not have the fancy laser weapons Magix has, if someone came trying to invade them they would fight to the death rather than give up to such arrogant people who think they have the right to take by force what others have hard earned. Off planet however...   They have no space-ship defense systems, the space ports were assembled by Magix. If an army bombarded them from space, unless Magix came to their defense, they are probably totally screwed. No-one's ever tested the city shields against orbital cannons before, and without the shields, nobody will survive the next winter.

Economic Strength: Merend is one of the few planets where money doesn't exist. For Merend, where a killing winter comes around every six months, you work together or die. There's no place for capitalism or free market. Citizens are fed, clothed and housed for no cost in return for working, and their main work is to grow and make everything they need. Every waste product they create, they find a way to reuse or recycle for fear of negatively affecting the seasons. Everyone is a farmer for at least two weeks during the growing seasons. After rudimentary learning, citizens can chose pursue education at their own rate of interest. The royals and 'courtiers' roles are far from decorative, they are responsible for all the organization and administration needed to account for the well-being of every single person in their city. The main priorities on Merend have always been first to keep everything running and secondly, to ensure every citizen is to some degree, happy. Yes, that's right. Every citizen. Despite its harsh weather limiting them, lack of magic and their slow rate of advancement compared to the central planets of the universe, contentment rates are high on Merend. They have an incredibly strong sense of community and are fiercely loyal to their planet. Since linking up with Magix, Merend does export some goods (metal work and good strong cloth in particular) and Magix pays them money for it, but more usefully lends them ships with pilots and technology for it. Merend stores the money and use it to buy magic from off-planet when they need it, but mainly it is stored in funds that let merish citizens holiday off-planet.


Environment: They have extreme seasons due to the elliptical orbit, two harsh winters and two summers where the soil is super-fertile. During the winters cities raise their shields and are often completely buried in snow. The citizens focus on entertainment, manufacturing and building over winter. In the summers everyone focused on growing and storing enough enough food for the winter. Most native animal and vegetable species die off during the winters and their descendants hatch or grow from deep underground as soon as it is warm enough. Merend does not know its flora or fauna's secrets to coming back after winter, as scientific instruments left outside during winter inevitably fail in the extreme temperatures. The only creatures confirmed to function through the winters are the Basrker beasts, giant omnivorous creatures covered with vast swathes of thick dark wool. When the shields come down, there is a real danger of finding a starving herd of them ready to stampede in, trample people down and start devouring them. The freezing oceans are thought to be empty aside from the few species of shellfish that cling to the coasts and coldwater corals and jellyfish further out. You'll get more information on wildlife when I finish and upload those super-massive Merend info-dumps…. Merend has pretty much no magic whatsoever. However rarely, sometimes a fairy is born and she usually is kept busy producing magic for the planet. There are also the metal-shapers, who have a magical affinity with the substance, barely enough to register as magic, but enough to make their smith work particularly fine and strong. Finally, there are the merish berserkers. Whenever one is found, that city focuses on keeping their life as calm as possible to prevent any rages. Again, info on them later. I'm trying to keep this short…

Overseeing leader: Each city has a royal family, and every decade the citizens all vote on one of the five capital cities should be the 'overall' royals of Merend. This usually means they have to do all the off-planet relations work, but the other cities also have to fall in line with their policies if they choose to enforce them planet-wide, although whoever is in charge, each city is usually left alone to run itself as usual. The royal 'family' often has little to do with blood, rather who is best at running the place. Every city is fully prepared to boot a monarch off the throne if they does not take care of them. Merend's citizens do not suffer tyrants. Nok votes in a Queen and tends to choose whichever of her daughters proves most suitable as next in line, and if the previous queen dies without heirs, they vote in whoever they think is worthy to be the next one, as happened with Midren. Luc's royal family has stayed in power for a long time through simply being caring and attentive, but have also made a habit of marrying inspired thinkers. So far the only people to get onto the throne of Luc are those who care most about their city, and planet, which is one reason they have been voted to rule the whole planet so often. Hack's royal family is so big it's a joke that half the citizens there have touched royalty. Rygr's current royal family has stayed in place for three generations. The royals continually consult with the Merish wizards and scholars, as well as frequently talking with any normal person who wants a minute, to stay on top of things and govern well. The merish army is at peace and so put to every possible use the citizens can make of it.

Traditions: Merend LOVES fighting. It's practically the national sport, viewed as a healthy way of letting off steam, getting a problem off your chest, making a friend…One angry punch in public can lead to a free-for all as the whole street gets involved. There are of course a few unspoken sensible 'rules' to it, such as no knives/groin-stamping, if someone passes out, stop and carry them to medics, etc, to keep it friendly. Despite not being as developed as other planets, Merend is one of the best places in the universe for medical care for bumps, bruises and breaks. On this note, the most noticeable feature of their dress is body armour, usually worn laced over the torso. It can be mistaken for some sort of corset but they are not. Made of light plate, or chain mail, or simple padding and incased in stiff leather, it protects the wearer from the worst blows. Someone wearing light body armour will be taken as a sign to go easy on them in a fight, to the point that attacking someone without armour on, especially if they were not fighting in the first place, is considered a big, rude faux pas. However, turning your back and walking away on someone when you've punched them down, or saying something as cocky as 'Was that all you've got?/Come on, let's see what you're made of' or other such 'I-am-such-a-hardass, lookit-me-go' lines, guarantees you a hard uppercut to the jaw and no quick end to the fight. The Merish are utterly disgusted by blood sports though and can't stand the idea of gladiators and fights to the death as sport or punishment, seeing it as an expression of unhealthy repression in a populace. The Merish also love to drink socially, and to dance. They have frequent street parties which helps contribute to their strong sense of community. They don't worship any gods, and although they are still unable to find the planet they must have originally come from, they have always known the legend of the Great Dragon.




Relationships:-

Mother:
Name: Midren Westrunner
Age: 39? I worked it out once ><
Hair: Dark brown, usually braided. She has a bit of a fringe. She's grown it down past her breasts since becoming queen (Nok likes its queens to have long hair)
Eyes: Dark blue, usually half closed and dull-looking.
Skin: Same as Kia's. She has many scars on her body, but the only visible ones are those on her face. Her nose has been broken at least twice.
Personality: Indifferent. Monosyllabic. Deeply calm, which stems from an intrinsic emptiness. Midren is pretty much unable to feel emotion. I am not sure what happened to her, if she was born this way of she experienced some trauma that stopped her from feeling, or identifying with other people's emotions. I don't know if psychopath is the right word, but it's some sort of severe personality disorder.
The closest she ever got to feeling alive was cutting people down, which she can't do any more since the wars are over. She has no particular attachment to anything other than her oldest friend Mal and the loyalty to the city that Nok's army trained into her. This relentless loyalty she learnt towards the army and the city of Nok is perhaps the only reason she accepted the job as Queen and became any good at it; the citizens wanted her and the army told her what was the right thing to do. Her friend Mal is still near to her and so she keeps forcing herself forwards through the duties, dreaming of nothing.
History: Midren's great-grandparents earned the name 'Westrunner' by fleeing to Nok generations ago but their children continued moving around between cities. Midren's parents died when she was young in a winter plague and she finally made the same journey to Nok, where she was taken in by the owners of a tavern and befriended by their daughter Mal.  When the last Great War (between Rygr and Nok) reached them, the girls joined up together at about 14. Midren was a great soldier and worked (some say fought) her way to the top, becoming a highly ranked general. Some say that even with Luc finding out what was going on and forcing the two cities to a halt, Midren had as good as won Nok the war anyway, forcing Rygr to hand over the tactician who had nearly defeated her city, and executing him herself before Luc could stop her. She had an outstanding military career behind her when the Queen of Nok died without heirs. The citizens of Nok voted her in as their new queen and it is widely believed the previous queen would have chosen Midren as heir herself, for great service to the city kingdom.
Being a soldier almost her whole life and never having identified with emotions in the first place, Midren is almost incapable of motherly love. She had her children with an unknown concubine only because the city expected it. She does not feel attached to either of her children and usually fails to show any interest in them. Melonin never seemed to have a problem with this, but it really affects Koralia as she is unable to understand her mother has problems and takes it that she is hated, as was detailed above in lovingly whiny emo detail.

Sister:
Name: Melonin Westrunner
Age: 23
Hair: Dark brown, floor length. Nok likes its queens to have long hair, and has been taking care of Melonin's and Koralia's their whole lives. Mel has no fringe and usually brushes her hair back a bit. Somehow her hair sweeps more grandly than Kia's.
Eyes: Blue, slightly almond shaped.
Skin: Same as Kia's. Melonin also has the same sort of nose as her mother and sister (although Midren's is now all scarred and broken) but is heads taller than both of them and also has more generous hips and bust. She has an outrageous amount of poise, grace and confidence compared to her little sister.
Personality: Princess Melonin is a tall, beautiful and intelligent princess and so doesn't take any nonsense from anyone. Not even you. She is a flawless in verbal or psychical fights and has become one of the youngest people nominated to become a Merish Wizard. This order actually has nothing to do with magic, but she is also one of Merend's metal-shapers and a very talented one at that.
History: Melonin has always been able to do what she wanted, through charm or hard work. She has always been talented and clever and quite sharp-witted, becoming the youngest Merish Wizard for a quarter-century. Unlike Kia, Melonin recognized at an early age that Midren was not like other mothers and that seeking affection from her was not going to work. In fact, she thrived from it, becoming self-dependant and strong. When she was older she worked out Midren's real problem for herself, but has remained on friendly terms with her mother because she knows how to handle her and because she has high enough self-esteem to not be bothered by Midren's inability to give motherly love. Melonin considers herself pretty close to her quiet little sister and is the first one who called her Kia. However, Melonin never really understood Koralia's intrinsic neediness and failed to see how Kia had interpreted their mother's lack of interest in them. She was irritated by what she perceived as Kia's teenage attempts to copy her and is still utterly baffled as to why she ran away. She misses her shy little sister and is relieved to hear from Faragonda that she is safe at Alfea.

Her mother's only friend:
Name: Mal Leirrrd, previously Gruine. She has become known, with added years and weight, as 'Ma lardy' by her tavern regulars.
Age: 38? A bit older than Midren.
Hair: Reddish brown, going a bit grey in places. It's usually scraped up and back.
Eyes: Brown, expressive.
Skin: Fair, but warmed by hard work. Usually freckled and a bit flush.
Personality: Mal is in some ways your typical Tavern lady. She can strong-arm anyone, and spew forth more lewdness than any of the guys there, but she's generally known for her curiously belligerent mothering approach to anyone who walks through her door lacking either a happy or hostile expression. The war has changed her though, and she seems to understand Midren better than anyone else. The queen is frequently found in her tavern.
History: After many years in the Army with Midren, where she thrived even though she did not become a general, Mal Gruine inherited the Damned Drunk from her parents. She ran it with one of the soldiers she had taken up with, but peacetime changed them both too much and they split after some time (he now lives in a different city-kingdom). With a busy Tavern to run, a child on the way and her impassive best friend's sudden queenship to deal with, Mal just got on with it the way she always had. Drake was born a few months before Melonin was and Mal could easily be seen as a second mother to the two princesses; they spent perhaps as much time with her as they did with their own mother, as Midren usually brought them with her on her visits to Mal's tavern. They would play with Mal's son Drake and explore the Tavern while Midren and Mal drank and talked. Koralia found Mal and Drake and the tavern a bit scary and overbearing, but Melonin always liked visiting and exploring the place, talking to the customers and as picking mercilessly on Drake as he would pick on her and her sister. Through their teenage years Mal encouraged the princesses to come to the pub as often as possible to talk to everybody and anybody about their lives, to give them the idea of being in touch with the people, trying to get them ready for queenship.  

The childhood friend:
Name: Drake Leirrrd. Mal Leirrrd/Gruine's son.
Age: 23, born the same year as Melonin.
Hair: Reddish brown, but cropped so close to the skull you can't really tell. This is an unusual cut for most Merish people, who wear it a bit long for warmth but Drake frequently applies for the hardest and dirtiest jobs the planet has to offer, so keeping it close-cropped is easiest to wash clean.
Eyes: Brown.
Skin: A bit more tan than his mother's, calloused. He also has his mother's tendencies to freckle and flush.
Personality: Stubborn and strong, Drake is a talkative and friendly fellow. He once thought he'd join the army like his mother, but hasn't so far. He has taken a wide variety of tough manual jobs and seems constantly in need of a challenge. He likes drinking and fighting as much as the next merish bloke, but being brought up by a tavern-keeper like Mal means –annoyingly for him- that he can never quite relax into it. He always has his eye out to make sure no-one drinks or is punched more than they can handle, and is the first to put a stop to things if any situation gets out of hand. He's well liked in his local area for having a good, tough head on his shoulders. He's a good guy but is rough around the edges.  
History: Grew up pulling Koralia and Melonin's hair, until Mel got tall enough to pound him until he dropped the habit. He left education as soon as possible and has pursued the messiest jobs available, including mechanics, construction jobs, anything involving heavy lifting, and taking shifts as -literally- a shit-stirrer. He doesn't see the girls as often these days, pursuing heavy jobs, but is as confused as Mel as to why Kia ran away.