Manya Slitherstone

Name: Manya Slitherstone

Gender: Female

Age: 23

Occupation: Faculty: Teacher in Training

Area of Study: Magical Beasts(monsters)

Mastery: Scholar

Height: 5'4"(Standing height) 11'2"(Total length)

Appearance:



Personality: For as long as she has been alive Manya has faced many forms of prejudice and malice due to the inherent nature of her eyes. Never truly wanting to cause trouble for those around her, Manya developed a weakness for being unquestionably obedient to those deemed to be in a position of authority. It started with her parents and now extends into her role as a Teacher in training under the academy’s staff and faculty.

Though Manya was bullied throughout her childhood and most of her time spent in school, she did eventually find friends who cared about and confided in her. Thanks to these experiences Manya’s life hasn’t all been turmoil and misunderstanding. She has a certain attraction to those in trouble or mental distress and is often willing to help others in need, so long as doing so doesn’t interfere with her more important duties…

Years of being wary of others has caused Manya to become needlessly considerate and often apologizes to authoritative figures whenever a problem arises, even if she wasn’t directly involved in the incident. She believes that people’s private lives belong to the individual and one shouldn’t pry into matters where they’re not welcomed.

Though she may be a particularly kind and considerate person, Manya isn’t without her assertive side. She is a strong believer in discipline as it was used on her, often times to ensure the safety of others thanks to the uncontrollable power of her eyes. Discipline builds character, obedience, and understanding and no good person should be raised without it.


History: After she was born it wasn't long before Manya's parents discovered that their newborn baby girl was strikingly different from other Serpentes children. Her eyes were strangely silver-gray and seemed to glow whenever the child looked at her parents. It wasn't until the couple scheduled a play-date with one of the other Serpentes families that they discovered the meaning behind their daughter's strange eyes. Leaving Manya with the other Serpentes children, they soon came back to a disturbing scene. All of the other Serpentes children appeared to have been induced into varying states of paralysis. At first the parents rushed to retrieve their children, thinking it had something to do with the immediate environment. It wasn't until Manya's parents picked her up that they realized what had happened. Not only was their child not paralyzed like the other kids, but her eyes were glowing.

At the age of five, Manya had finally gotten used to her eyes being constantly covered. Since the incident with the other Serpentes children, it had become a stipulation Manya's parents enforced upon her at all times whenever she was with them or anyone else. Originally she'd been allowed to go without the mask at home but at the age of three the paralyzing effects of the girl's eyes had become strong enough to affect even her own parents. It was about this time Manya also stopped trying to socialize with the other kids as they would constantly tease and make fun of the mask Manya's parents required her to wear whenever she went outside to play. In one particular incident involving the other Serpentes kids Manya became agitated as one of them (an older Serpentes boy) ripped the mask off her face. He taunting her by holding the mask above her reach and calling her "Black Eyes" as at the time this was the color of the masks she was required to wear. In a fit of anger Manya opened her eyes to glare at the boy who'd stolen her mask. The effects of her stare instantly manifested and the boy, frightened as he was, could do nothing but fall to the ground completely unable to move. Seeing what her eyes had done, Manya quickly closed them again and tried to locate the lost mask so she could put it back on. But the damage had already been done. Not understanding what exactly had happened, the other kids fled out of fear. Later that night, after word got back to her parents, Manya was strictly punished...

School was another hell Manya unfortunately was forced to go through. "Education is essential" her parents decided despite their daughter's protests against it. Manya even tried to convince them to home school her instead but they refused to accept it because they were worried about Manya's capacity to socialize with others in light of the fact that she'd been refusing to play or even interact at all with the other kids. And thus she was enrolled and became a student.

"Are you blind?" One of the students had asked Manya, to which she replied simply; "No." The teasing had continued well into her years of education, Manya deciding simply to accept it as her cruel fate to suffer. But this person who approached Manya was none other than her dorm roommate who'd come to understand the gravity of Manya's circumstances. "I want to show you something, can you be at the dorms by five tonight?" She'd asked, to which Manya tried to refuse. Being shown meant seeing. Seeing meant removing her mask. And she was afraid to remove her mask. But eventually Manya's roommate convinced her to attend this mystery showing. Later that night Manya's roommate sat her in front of her desk and placed something in front of her. Standing behind Manya and reaching up to remove the mask, Manya grabbed her arms and said; "Don't!" to which the girl replied; "It's alright, don't worry." More than a little fearful of what would happen once her mask was removed, Manya cringed squeezing her eyes shut as tight as she could while her roommate removed the mask covering Manya's cursed eyes. "Look." The girl said. Slowly, cautiously, Manya obeyed. Opening one eye, keeping her attention forward towards the desk. What Manya saw in front of her was a bug-jar. But inside the jar was some sort of glowing firefly-like creature she'd never seen before. "Looks like your eyes don't work on it." Manya's roommate confirmed with a smile. "It's a magical creature called a Firebug. I found it earlier this morning in the campus library and caught it." It was in this moment Manya developed a deep interest in Magical creatures and beasts.

Manya became Fascinated by magical beasts, not just the firebug that her roommate had shown her, but all magical beasts she'd encountered since that time were completely unaffected by the power of her eyes. It led the previously hopeless Manya onto a desired career path as she chose to spend her time studying these magical creatures and everything about them. Taking classes with a magical focus towards beasts and mythical animals to better understand what it was about them that gave them the ability to resist being paralyzed. Through Manya's course study she earned honors and was recommended college courses to further her chosen area of expertise.

As a fresh college graduate, Manya chose to continue her studies and ingrain the information she'd learned into her very being. She could think of no better way to do this than by taking up a position at the very academy that'd taught her as a student.

Name of Species: Serpentes

Baseline Dimension: They are massive, at least length wise. Most Serpentes easily reach the lengths of 13 feet, though most start at a short 3 feet when young. Rarely is a Serpentes lacking any sort of muscle, genetically buff and lean.

Baseline Appearance: Serpentes have a human top and a snake bottom. Features may include multiple limbs, scales along some parts of their body, fangs, glassy eyes and the prominent snake tail which may or may not have rattles. Forked tongues may or may not be included.

Culture/Origin of Species: Hailing from Arka, these serpentine species have learnt to survive the cold and thrive in the frozen desert. Thanks to a special herbivore called the Iceland Goliath, the Serpentes have essentially created oasis homes in Arka by using the dung of this herbivore to create farms and heat up the area. Serpentes essentially learnt to tame the animal that called the Arka ice land its home. Thus it is not often to see the motif of Iceland Goliaths along clothes the Serpentes wear and a religion where the serpentes worship a Massive Iceland Goliath they call 'Iceland Granmoth'.
While Serpentes in Mystere no longer wear Iceland Goliath fur clothes and care for the herbivore, they still uphold the tradition of wearing paint either on their body or their face in order to help distinct family without needing to ask for names or to express occasions like birthdays and the lost of loved ones.

Traits:
• Serpentes are either spitters or constrictors. Either they spit venom at incredible accuracy or bite hard with their fangs to inject the venom, or have the strength to crush cars with their hands or tails.
• Serpentes have more than 5 senses, they have 6. Heat sense allows them to see things that have heat, and they can sense vibrations in the ground to give them a visual image similar to echolocation.

Flaws:
• Serpentes lack any smelling capabilities despite having a nose, the part is essentially a vestigial organ. They can still technically taste the smell.