The Garas

[thefleet_mods]

✦ GARAS ✦
You are one of the lights.	... We have trained them to think of the Future as a promised land which favored heroes attain ...
✦ What are garas? Garas are the gem-like stones set into a character's body upon arrival. They connect the character's life essence to the Orakallas. If a gara is removed, the character dies. Every Ibere has their own gara or set of garas, and every character who arrives in game will be implanted with 1-3 garas. ✦ What types of garas are there? Garas are categorized by many criteria, and there are some silly pseudo-sciences that suggest that there is personality significance for each categorization - much like palm-reading, but this is generally considered nonsense by most serious-minded Owmi. The first two criteria, however, are as clinical as measureing height and weight. They are: Orakalla affiliation and Rank. Orakalla affiliation: There are four Orakalla affiliations for garas: Owm, Vii, Lea, and Afe. They each have their own distinct colorations. ✦ Owm Owm garas are blue, green, turquoise, and/or aqua. They can be a combination of these colors, or just one solid color. ✦ Vii Vii garas are red, pink, orange, and/or yellow. They can be a combination of these colors, or just one solid color. ✦ Lea Lea garas are brown, purple, and/or black. They can be a combination of these colors, or just one solid color. ✦ Afe Afe garas are white, pearl, silver, gray, and/or clear. They can be a combination of these colors, or just one solid color. Gara rank: There are three ranks for garas. An individual can have up to three (3) garas, only one would be primary, the others would be a secondary and tertiary. ✦ Primary gara Primary garas are the largest gara in the set. When an individual has more than one gara, the primary gara is controlling regarding the individual's main affinity to the Orakallas. Meaning, if someone has two gara, and their primary gara is Vii, that individual's main affinity is with the Vii Orakalla. All of the Owmi have Owm primary gara. Though many have secondary and tertiary garas. ✦ Secondary gara Secondary garas are the second largest of an individual's set of garas. They lend their owner some affinity to the associated Orakalla. ✦ Tertiary Tertiary garas are the third largest of an individual's set of garas, or the smallest of the three garas. They grant their owner a marginal affinity to the associated Orakalla. Aside from these two main types of classification, garas are categorized in other ways, too, as shown below. ✦ What do garas look like? The precise shape, appearance, and coloration of a gara is unique to the individual who possesses it. Body Location For humans/humanoids, garas are located on the center of the chest, on the sternum just above the breasts. For non-humans for whose phsyiology this does not work, their garas will be located prominantly on the front of their bodies. (If your character falls into the latter catagory, talk to the MODS.) Number Everyone will have at least one (1) gara, but they can have up to three. (No one will be allowed to have four gara, and it has never occured in Owmi recorded history.) But the number of gara your character has is up to you, the player, to decide. Size The garas - whether a single gem or a cluster of two or three - cover an area on the individual's body no bigger than 2 in. x 2 in. Everyone will have at least one primary gara, but they can also have up to two smaller garas clustered around the primary gara. The primary gara is always the largest and any other garas will be smaller in descending order according to their rank as discussed above. Shape Each gara has a unique shape. They can be geometric - circles, squares, triangles, octagons, stars, diamonds, etc. or not fit at all into a defined shape. They can be angular with numerous edges, or sinuous and curvy. They might resemble a shape in nature - leaves, waves, flames, flowers, fractals, mountains, clouds, fruits, etc. They might resembled an animal - hawks, snakes, spider, etc. They might resemble something more man-made - a sword, a bridge, a house, a vehicle, etc. The possible shapes of garas are too numerous to list. Whatever their shape, however, an individual gara is always one whole piece, they are never broken in to many pieces. They can be jagged or convoluted, dotted with holes inside the larger piece, but never fragmented into separate sections that are not connected. There are two restrictions when designing your character's gara(s): They will not be a sentient being's face. And they will not be something distinctly obscene (no obvious penises or vaginas, ok?). Colors As outlined above, each gara's colors are determined by their Orakalla affiliation. The colors from one gara do not 'bleed' into an individual's other garas. These color deliniations are, again: ✦ Owm - Blues, turquois, aquas, and greens ✦ Vii - Reds/pinks, oranges, and yellows ✦ Lea - Purples, browns, and black ✦ Afe - White, pearl, silver, and gray To further clarify. An Owm gara can be solid blue or solid green; or in parts both blue and green; or multiple shades or just one blue color or just one green color, etc; but it will never contain, for example, red or purple or white. A Vii gara can be solid red, yellow, or orange; or a combination of red in parts and yellow in parts and orange in parts; or various shades of just red, or just yellow, or just orange, etc.; but will never contain green, gray, or brown. And so on with the other classifications of gara. Each gara remains within the color range of its Orakalla affiliation. Illumination All garas are illuminated from within. This shine is not normally blinding, but does fluctuate depending on the possessors mood and health and emotional state. Moments of intense emotion will make the gara shine brighter. Feeling ill or depressed will dull the light. While living, the light is always there (so if you want to sneak around, you'll want to cover up). When an individual dies, the light goes out completely. ✦ What do garas do? Aside from glowing and looking a bit like permanent jewelry, garas do have functions. Orakalla Connection Garas are the characters' direct connection to the Orakallas. Through the garas the Orakallas can control the character, HOWEVER, don't panic, your character won't be mind controlled against your will in this game. But this connection will show up in various ways: ✦ Distance - the boundaries of the space your character can move around in is determined by the Orakallas. A character cannot simply steal a ship and then head out into the wild black yonder. All characters are confined to an area the size of a very large solar system, basically the area an Orakalla has direct influence. If your character tries to travel outside of this boundary, once they reach that invisible boundary they will experience 1) immense pain, and 2) be instantly transported back to the base of the Orakalla in the sacred keep of the Temple Ship. This is still a very large space for your character to play in. ✦ Game Bling - When you use points to get items from home for your character, the connection between your character and the Orakallas is how this game mechanic is fullfilled. ✦ Powers from the Orakalla - Orakallas grant powers to those who possess gara affiliated with them. If your character has an Owm Orakalla, they can, over time, learn how to use the powers associated with the Orakallas. This is also how the general powers are gained. ✦ Plots - Sometimes plots (aka 'Strange things happening') will happen in game, and sometimes those plots will be directly related to those possessing certain kinds of garas (but do not fret, even these plots will most likely be non-mandatory). ✦ Crime Consequences - Depending on a player's choice for consequences for their character's bad behavior, they might choose to utilize the connection between the character and the Orakalla. This must be approved by the Mods before it can be implimented, but it is an option open to players. To see more about Crime, Punishment, and Consequences, go HERE. ✦ How do garas even work with genetic diversity? This is a very good question. Because it is odd that all the Owmi have the same primary gara when, it would make sense that the Ibere would be a genetically diverse species. For the Ibere people, the primary gara is passed down to each new generation matraliniarily. The secondary and tertiary garas can be from either parent or grandparents. For game play, however, we'll be more lenient. For the characters in game, in the event a character gives birth while in game, the Mods will just leave it up to the players to determine what those garas will be. Also, if you are bringing in a character whose parents or offspring are already in game, you do not need to match garas to your character's family members. Only the Ibere people are bound by the matraliniar nature of garas. We detail below how to determine your character's garas. ✦ Tell me more about the physiology of garas. Ibere are born with garas. Characters receive them upon arrival - they wake up in the Sacred Keep of the Temple ship with the garas already implanted, and with no memory of it happening. In the event a character gives birth while in game, their offspring will be born with a gara. All through infancy and adolescence, garas are actually undefined nubs. The medical community refers to them as 'proto-garas'. Only the primary gara is noticeable during pre-pubescent adolescence, and the coloring is a dark bluish-green (for Owmi - the colors are different for other Orakalla affiliations). The secondary and tertiary garas will show up later. When puberty sets in, the garas begin to change and they start to develop into what they will look like in adulthood. It's at this point that secondary and tertiary garas show up. Shape, color, and design all start to develop at this age. Some develop faster than others, but everyone's gara is fully formed by age 24 (the age of adulthood in Owmi society). This process can cause discomfort as the garas develop, the most common complaint is soreness and itchyness at the site of the gara. You know, because puberty needed more problems. ✦ How do I determine what my character's garas look like? Each player determines the number, the shape, and the colors of the garas for their characters! It's one of the fun parts of the application. We have some hard rules outline below, and players must abide by these. But within these rules, players are left to their creative imaginations, and the Mods will do little to police player creativity. There is a silly notion within a few circles of the Owmi society that the types and forms of garas are linked to a person's personality, much like how palm-reading suggests that the lines on palms can detail a person's personality. But there is no scientific evidence that proves this to be true. However, if players would like to use their character's personality as a way to create their character's gara(s), by all means! Go for it. Further down on this page we've included the character traits most commonly believed to be associated with specific Orakalla affiliations. You can use that as a guide if you want, choose the garas that fits your character's personality best. Or don't and just pick the garas you want for your character. But rest asured that the Mods are not going to police this to make sure every character's garas fit their personality. If you would like, you can simply choose colors, shapes, and number of garas that tickle your fancy (so long as your colors, shapes, and number adhere to the 'hard rules'). Number: Choose the number of garas you want your character to have. The Hard Rule - Every character gets at least one gara, so start there. Whether or not your character has a single gara, or a primary gara with one or two smaller garas clustered near it depends on you, the player, and what you feel best fits your character. The Personality Option - If you are using the idea that garas represent your character's personality, your character's primary gara would naturally represent your character's most dominant personality traits. But sometimes a character doesn't fit in just one Orakalla affiliation; a small, but noticeable part of a character might fit another affiliation. In this case, these would be your character's secondary and tertiary garas. Size: Decide how big you want each of your character's garas to be, but remember the sizing rules outlined above. The Hard Rule - Your character's primary gara will be your character's largest gara. If it's you character's only gara, it has the option of filling the whole 2in. x 2in. space. If your character has more than one gara, your character's primary gara will need to be sized to allow room for those other garas. The Personality Option - If you are using the idea that garas represent your character's personality, the size of each gara would be an expression of how much those personality dominate your character's personality. And the size of each gara in relation to the other would express that as well. Maybe your character's primary personality traits align with the Owm Orakalla, but almost in equal proportions with the Vii Orakalla. In this instance, the Owm gara would be biggest, but the Vii gara would be almost the same size. Shape: Decide the shape of your character's garas. The Hard Rule - Each gara has a unique shape. This is pretty much left up to you, the player, to decide. There are three things to keep in mind:    ✦ garas cannot be someone's face;    ✦ the shape cannot be obscene;    ✦ each distinct gara is whole and cannot be broken into two or more pieces in the design. Other than that, your imagination is your limit. So be creative! The Personality Option - Does a geometric shape fit your character best or does something resembling a paint splatter seem more appropriate? Maybe there a object significant to character that could influence the shape of our character's gara? Colors: Decide the colors of each of your character's garas. The Hard Rule - The color of your character's garas must follow the rules for Orakalla affiliation. Owm garas are blue/green, Vii garas are red/pink/orange/yellow. Lea garas are purple/brown/black. And Afe garas are white/pearl/silver/gray/clear. First decide your character's primary gara, and then go to town determining the unquie coloration for your character's gara. Next, if applicable to your character, choose your character's secondary and tertiary garas - and then do the same as before. Determine, within the color parameters, what color your character's secondary and tertiary gara will be. Just remember that each gara affiliation's color sets are discrete - meaning, they do not bleed into other gara affiliations. The Personality Option - If you're going this route to determine your character's gara(s), we've listed below the personality traits that are commonly believed in Owmi society to be associated with each gara type. Children: If you are apping what is considered a 'prepubecent child' for your character's species, you will need to talk to the Mods about determing your character's garas. Your character will still get their own garas, but as children have undeveloped garas, they will look a bit different and the Mods need to go over that with you. Summary: the following rules apply to designing your character's gara(s):      ✦ A gara cannot be a sentient being's face.      ✦ A gara cannot be distinctly obscene (no distinct penises or vaginas, c'mon folks).      ✦ Individual garas are whole, they can have holes, but they cannot be in two or more separate pieces.      ✦ Primary gara is the largest, the secondary and tertiary garas (if applicable) must be smaller.      ✦ The color of garas are discrete and inmutable to their type (Orakalla affiliation).      ✦ In total, garas cover an area/span no more than 2in. x 2in.      ✦ If you're apping a prepubescent child, you must talk to the Mods first.      ✦ If you want, you can use your character's personality to determine their gara(s) ✦ I have more questions? If you have more questions, you can ask them below in the comment titled 'Questions,' or you can contact the Mods. Visuals and Diagrams. These visuals below are to help give you an idea about the number, configuration, color, and shape of your character's gara(s). The listed gara traits are what the Owmi believe are most commonly affiliated with each gara type. The images shown are not ~exact~ nor are they to be considered the only options, they are to only help you in chosing your character's gara(s). To see some suggested gara pairing ideas, take a look at the garas of our NPCs HERE and you may also look on the Gara Gallery Page. The Gara Gallery page contains pictures of garas players have created for their characters. ✦ Colors and Gara Affiliation Personality Characteristics . Owm ❈ Clever ❈ Witty ❈ Wise ❈ Creative ❈ Original ❈ Individual ❈ Realists ❈ Innovative ❈ Obsessive ❈ Ambivalent ❈ Detached ❈ Cold ❈ Indifferent ❈ Focused ❈ Philosophical ❈ Observant ❈ Dedicated . . . . . Vii ☀ Courageous ☀ Daring ☀ Chivalrous ☀ Impulsive ☀ Bombastic ☀ Optimistic ☀ Reckless ☀ Fractious ☀ Impatience ☀ Short-Sighted ☀ Charismatic ☀ Gregarious ☀ Unforgiving ☀ Social ☀ Hot Tempered ☀ Thoughtless ☀ Ernest . . . . . Lea ☉ Dedicated ☉ Hard Working ☉ Fair ☉ Patient ☉ Tolerant ☉ Even-tempered ☉ Idealistic ☉ Utopian ☉ Sanguine ☉ Self-effacing ☉ Forgiving ☉ Complacent ☉ Aimless ☉ Obsequious ☉ Good-natured ☉ Social ☉ Diplomatic . . . . . Afe ✷ Traditionalist ✷ Resourceful ✷ Cunning ✷ Ambitious ✷ Authoritative ✷ Self-Preserving ✷ Determined ✷ Calculating ✷ Fraternalistic ✷ Power-oriented ✷ Discerning ✷ Manipulative ✷ Exploitive ✷ Opportunistic ✷ Philosophical ✷ Spirited ✷ Patient . . . . ✦ Shapes Below we've listed a ~few~ ideas for gara shapes. This is by no means a definitive list of ideas, you should let your creativity direct your character's garas. We wanted a starting point to show you possibilities. Do not feel like you have to be like everyone else. Also keep in mind that the color patterns of the images below do not necessarily comport with the color rules of garas - this does not mean we are endorcing breaking those rules. You will still need to abide by the gara rules outlined above. The images below are just to suggest shape ideas, not color ideas.	GAME ADMIN Navigation Premise Game Rules FAQ Taken Characters    ✦ Taken A - I    ✦ Taken J - R    ✦ Taken S - Z+ Reserves Applications Player Contact Mod Contact Hiatus Drops EMP/Wanted SETTING INFO New Arrival Info Setting Overview    ✦ Current Location    ✦ Previous Locations    ✦ The Ibere    ✦ The Owmi    ✦ Orakallas    ▶ Garas    ✦ Civilian Ships    ✦ Habitat Station    ✦ Housing    ✦ Leisure Ship    ✦ Military Ships Orakallas Powers    ✦ Gen. 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